I've got a beautiful, performance quality grand piano, and it needs a good home. My personal conviction is that even things need love and I shouldn't hold on to them if I can't give that to them. For much of my life, my piano has been my refuge and happy place. But I'm pretty happy all the time anymore, and--I have to be honest with myself--it has ( Read more... )

Well, we have passed the first major cohabiting hurdle: the purchase of a couch. Two, in fact.

I wanted to keep my enormous and comfy sectional pieces, but she didn't like them. (And, I must admit, they would have completely dominated the small apartment and blocked the fabulous views.) But I found her "couch" about as comfortable as hay bale. What ( Read more... )

OK, peeps, I have a relationship problem and I need your help ( Read more... )

Back from a too short vacation. Now that Habiba is feeling better, we made a lovely trip out to Toronto (T'ronna, for you Canucks) to visit her brother, sister-in-law, and nephew (who she has been missing desperately). Plus, I got to catch up with an old friend from my days in grad school in C'ville ( Read more... )

Randy Pausch, computer science professor and virtual reality researcher, most recently popular for his book "The Last Lecture" (based on the talk he would give if he knew it were his last), died today, at age 47. (In 2006, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, after unsuccessful treatment, was given 3 to 6 months to live in August 2007 ( Read more... )

And how glad I am to be back.

The last 6 months have been damn intense.
Shortly after my last post, Habiba was diagnosed with esthesioneuroblastoma (an aggressive, rare kind of type sinus cancer). By the time it was caught it was already Stage 4 (there is no Stage 5) and had wended its way down into her right lymph nodes, up behind her eye and into ( Read more... )

Well, we still don't know what kind of cancer it is. They've got it narrowed down to two kinds, but they couldn't sort it out at the lab here. So, they sent the sample off to the Mayo clinic. (I always knew my girlfriend was exceptional! :) We should hopefully have a diagnosis on Monday ( Read more... )

In the style of 2007, the year has ended and the new one begun with a flurry of change ( Read more... )

This whole Salida house buying thing has just been quite an education in grace. Not only did this place fall in my lap when I was only daydreaming about a house in Salida and not even looking. Not only is the place perfect for my needs. Not only did I not have to compete with any other offers and my soon-to-be neighbors are friends of mine. But my ( Read more... )

The little house in the country is mine! It's a 105 year old, cottage-style duplex near downtown Salida. It's in need of no immediate repairs (although the floor in the back of the house is going to need some help at some point because the locusts are managing to grow their way up through the floor boards ( Read more... )