12 of 12 - October 2008

Finally posting my 12 of 12. It has been a long exhausting couple of days. I went to Vegas (kudos to Laura/Zin for guessing correctly) with my parents and a couple of Dad's friends.

Unfortunately, after the first day, the trip ended up abruptly coming to an end, as my Dad got really sick. He was already coming off of knee replacement surgery 6 weeks ago and pushing himself to go on the trip to prove that he was recovered. But the first night there, he couldn't sleep and said he felt like he was drowning. Helping him with his shoes in the morning, I noticed that his feet and legs were swollen, and so the decision was made to come home immediately. He is now in the hospital and it looks like he was going into congestive heart failure. They have treated him with some diuretics and other meds and he is already looking better, but his cardiologist wants to hold him for a few more days to be safe. But thank God he is improving.

So anyway, here are my pics before the trip took a turn. Leaving the times off, since once I leave on vacation, I have no concept of what time it is anywhere.

Me and Dad at the airport awaiting our flight.

High above the Mississippi River.

Mom on a plane.

In Vegas, next to the tram that takes you from the D terminal to the main terminal. They have murals done by local kids of various destinations. This one is obviously Berlin.

And a little shout out to my Dallas friends.

I wanted to head down the strip and take photos at Paris and New York to play up the angle of multiple destinations, but when I walked out to take the photo of ancient Rome/Caesar's Palace, it was like 40 degrees and windy, so this ....

and this (The Mirage) is all I got.

I hate when they put up Christmas before we've even had Halloween. But, since it is a Flamingo tree, I will give them a small break.

We went down to get Mom (Maxine) signed in for her tournament, and we ran into the other Maxine - an event coordinator for the Flamingo. She is one of many friends that Mom and Dad have made at the hotel over the years.

I went back up to the room to slip in a little nap, and I spotted a wedding taking place down in the hotel gardens out back. You can see the bride coming up the pathway, about to make her walk down the aisle.

They really don't like for you to take random photos in the casino area, so I sort of snapped this one with the camera down by my side as I walked through on the way to meet Dad and his friends. I have turned this photo every which way, but I'm still not sure which way was up.

Here is Dad and his friends Fred and Buck. We really enjoyed having them along, and they were a huge help when we determined that Dad was starting to get sick and needed to get back home. Dad really does have some of the best friends, and they can really be counted on in times of need. I'm sure once word gets out that he is in the hospital, there will be a revolving door of his buddies coming in and out visiting and lightening his mood.

Farewell to a Favorite Uncle

My great uncle, J W "Chubby" Thomas, passed away today. He was 93 years old. He had battled and beat cancer a number of times over the years, but blessedly, he appears to have died peacefully at home, sitting in his favorite chair.

Chubby was my grandmother Cleo's younger brother and the fourth of nine children. Apparently, he was pretty fat as a baby, hence the nickname "Chubby". And in spite of the fact that he ended up a pretty skinny guy, the nickname stuck. His actual name was J.W. - that's it - just the initials. I have no idea why. Maybe if he had been the ninth kid, I could see where you might run out of names. When he joined the military during WWII, they wouldn't accept just the initials, so he became John Wesley - the name of his grandfather.

During WWII, he served in the infantry and spent almost 4 years fighting in foxholes across Europe. His unit was in Milan in April 1945 where he saw the body of Mussolini hanging following his assassination. It was something he rarely talked about, but he did talk to me about it once when I was working on a school paper about the war. It seemed hard for him to talk about, but he knew my love of history - both world history and our family history - and he wanted me to do well. It was a special feeling to know that he cared about me enough to share such an obviously troubling memory.

Chubby and his wife Lil really doted on my mom and her sister, and I know that they were among Mom's favorites. They were the only relatives other than my grandparents that accompanied my parents when they went to New York for their TV Wedding. Their daughter Susan, 3 at the time, was the flower girl. When my brother was born prematurely and was hospitalized for several months, and again after I was born with several birth defects and had to spend a lot of time in and out of the hospital during the first 3 years of my life, Chubby and Lil would come down from North Georgia and would sit with us at the hospital so that Mom could get out and have a short break once in a while. They also came down and helped my mom and aunt when my grandmother was dying.

(Uncle Chubby, my grandmother Cleo, my great-grandfather Papa, Uncle Tom Jack and me - 1966)

It was always a treat to drive up to North Georgia with Mom and stop for a visit. He loved putting together puzzles, and he always had one in process when we would stop by. I enjoyed helping him out and listening to his silly jokes as we worked.

(Great uncle Chubby and my aunt (and his niece) Charlsie during one of our visits in 1999.)

In spite of his advancing years and bouts with cancer, he was still one of the most vital and alive people I've ever known. He could still drive, and when his younger family members fell ill, he would drive them to the doctor, pick up their groceries, and cut their grass to help out. He was just an all around good guy. I will miss him, but I am thankful to have had him be part of my life.

TiFaux Alert

My friend and honorary cousin via my real cousin, Faith Salie, will be the guest expert featured on tomorrow's Oprah show. The show is about how to handle life's stickiest situations. Faith is a regular contributor to O magazine. She is both brilliant and funny, so I'm betting that it will be a great show. Please watch if you get a chance.

I also found out today that my bestest (and newly retired) work buddy Glenda and her family will be attending a taping of Oprah next week. I hate that they missed Faith by a week, but I am crossing my fingers that the show they are attending will be one of those Oprah's Favorite Things shows where everyone in the audience gets a ton of free stuff, like a refrigerator with a built in TV, a pair of $500 cashmere socks, and a washing machine that criticizes you like my mother does if you wash the dark clothes with the colors.

Life would be so much easier....

If I just had some super powers.

Happy Days are here again

Hapeville's annual Happy Days Festival was this weekend. It is essentially our founder's day celebration - the town is 117 years old. Oddly, it seems as if half the towns in Georgia have a founder's day celebration sometime in mid-September. It is as if all the town founders independently decided around the same time in September "Hey - the weather is not too hot, not too cold - it is just the right time to found a city so that future generations can have a nice anniversary celebration and not sweat to death in the process." So, from the future generation - "Thank you Dr. Samual Hape!"

The festival kicks off on Friday night with a concert and alumni night. Although I didn't go to Hapeville High, my mom and her sister did, my cousins did and my brother taught at the school. So pretty much anyone I come across knows someone in my family (which is sometimes good, and sometimes, not so much.)

The evening was nice, and I met several new Hapevillians, including Heather, a girl who's blog I have been following. She was very sweet and I enjoyed chatting with her and her friends. No photos from the evening as I forgot to take my camera.

On Saturday, they have an assortment of booths with sort of a homemade/home grown theme, as well as a local artists market, games and rides for the kids, a couple of bands, and plenty of good food. Our neighborhood association had a booth where we sold fresh churned ice cream and baked goods. I spent half the night making several dozen cookies, burning myself on the over door in the process. That says a lot about your cooking skills, or lack thereof, when you get injured baking cookies.
Here is Cheryl and Mrs. P. sampling the homemade ice cream - it was a big hit with the crowd.

Here I am with my neighbors Mindy, Katrina and Cheryl. We all worked the early shift at the booth. Looking at the picture, I'm wondering why everyone looks so nice and colorful and festive and I look like I'm still pushing the all black Goth look 20 years later.

This is my friend and former neighbor Dale. He is a wonderful photographer and artist, and I have a number of his beautiful photos adorning my walls. He designs museum displays for a living, but has recently started selling some of his own photography on the side. He had a couple of sales while I was visiting him, which made me really happy for him.

The great thing about living in a community so close to where you grew up is that you often run into people you grew up with. Along with several old high school friends, I ran into Lorrie (above.) Lorrie is the younger sister of one of my high school friends, and she and her twin sister Mary were my and my best friend Traci's "Mini-Me"s when we were younger. Traci and Mary were the sweet, innocent ones, while Lorrie and I were the cool, funny ones.

Well, that is about it for the day, as I headed home not long after the last photo. Since then, I've pretty much been napping. So, all in all, a good weekend.

12 of 12 - September 2008

Wow - is it the 12th already? Here we go for another round of Chad's 12 of 12.

9:00 a.m. - No prework photos today as I woke up late and threw on my clothes and ran (well, as much as I can run - probably closer to hobbling) out the door to work. So, the first shot of the day is after I'm already at work - it is my 'kiss up' background on my work PC - that is me and the Prez of the company at the unveiling of one of our new aircraft a few months back. Not likely that he will ever be in my office to see my effort at sucking up, but I like to be prepared, just in case.
9:02 a.m. - My birthday card from the team. How long after your birthday must you display the card on your shelf? I've worked with people that keep them up for years. I'm thinking a couple of weeks should be good. Anyone else want to weigh in on the appropriate work birthday card etiquette?

9:04 a.m. - Kind of blurry, but this is a corporate poster from a few years back that I was featured on. (See - I really am the 'Poster Child' for my company.) My Dad had it framed for me and I have it up in my office. Is that braggy? I don't mean it to be braggy.

12:50 p.m. - Leftovers from lunch with the team at Noodle. One of my favorite places.

12:52 p.m. - Railroad/Vegas poster from Noodle. Just sort of liked it.

1:15 p.m. - On the way back to work after lunch we passed by the church that I went to for a while when I was in high school and college.

3:30ish - Been pulling data all day long for an upcoming project, and I needed a break from the tedium for a couple of minutes, so I checked out Twitter for the updates from the Project Rungay guys who were at Bryant Park today for the showing of this seasons collections. These guys are so funny - it was just what I needed before diving back in.

8:00ish - Was invited to a gathering with some of the Hapeville ladies tonight along with neighbor Katie. That is Katie with Linda, the hostess of the gathering.

9:00ish - Still at the gathering. This is Cami. She's one of my favorites from around town. Sweet as can be and very funny. She has recently started focusing on photography, and I want to get her into doing the 12 of 12 as I think she would enjoy it.

9:30 p.m. - This is Zoe - Linda's puppy. I believe that she is thinking, "If you people won't drop some food on the floor for me, would you just please get the hell out of my house, cause you are all making me nervous."
10:20 p.m. - After we left Linda's, Katie and I stopped of at Perk Place Bistro and split a Death by Chocolate. It was yummy. (We were very nice and left a bite for the waitress to finish off.)

10:35 p.m. - I had a Diet Coke to offset the chocolate cake, but Katie had a glass of wine, which gave her what she calls "The Drunk Eye." Drunk Eye is apparently a trait that she inherited from her grandma, where any photo taken of her after she has had a drink (or 2 or 3) results in her left eyelid being almost shut.

OK - I think that is 12. I've counted them 3 times and come up with 11, 13 and finally 12. Sort of hard to focus after all that chocolate - I think I'm having a sugar rush. Anyway, I'm off to watch Best Soup Ever (tm MCB) then hitting the bed. Hope you all enjoy.

Happy Day or Two After my Birthday

Had a little birthday celebration at my parent's house yesterday.

My sister-in-law had one of her friends make this cake for me - it was sooooo cute. She was so thoughtful to do this for me. The airplane was perfect, and I loved the little fluffy clouds. It was way cooler than the Powerpuff Girls cake I had asked for.


Also took home some good birthday loot. A couple of books and a DVD (all sitting atop the scanner my mom gave me as an early b-day gift.) Can't wait to start reading the Outlander book, as BFF Traci has highly recommended the series.

Glad to know that even in your mid-40s, you can still get presents and fancy cakes.

Cuteness

Scanned another dozen today - little by little, I will conquer these 10 boxes of photos without giving up the rest of my life in the process.

This was my favorite scan of today - my niece was so little and cute. My sister-in-law too. (And they still are cute 10 years later.)

I believe that they are at the Renaissance Fair - which would explain the flowers wreaths in their hair. Or, it could have just been a fashion statement - you never know.

Who knew???

....that I could fix a refrigerator all by myself?

I sure as hell didn't know.

But somehow, after spending an hour or two of cleaning up all the water in the floor from the melted ice and running all over my neighborhood storing my frozen food in various neighbor's freezers, I was able to sit down quietly, look over the situation, and figure out that two of the doohickeys with the wires coming out of them that plug into each other had ever so slightly jiggled themselves loose from each other. And, after tightening them just a bit - Presto - freezer starts freezing again.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to toss out everything in the freezer and fridge that were this close to expiring, and that I probably wasn't going to eat anyway.

Too bad the same thing can't happen to my closet, so I could be inspired to toss out those clothes that expired in 1996, or that I have no intention of wearing.

Scan of the Day

I'm trying to limit myself to 10 a day. At least for now.

So here is my favorite Olan Mills shot of myself at age 4. Not sure if I had freckles, or if the photo is just dirty.

Up and Running

Neighbor Kirk came over and set up my scanner for me today. (Love neighbor Kirk)

I'm fighting the urge to sit here for the next 72 hours straight scanning every photo that I ever owned (and seeing how it looks in sepia tone) but I am going to fight the urge and try to do something more productive instead. Like eat dinner, take a shower, take out the trash.

But, before I close up shop for the night, I thought I'd share one of the test scans for your viewing enjoyment.

That's me at the Spouting Horn in Kauai in about 1970. I was young, cute, weighed less than 100 pounds and was on an all expenses paid (by my Dad) vacation in frikin Hawaii. Life was good.

Ouch Xs 2

Excerpts from conversation in Joni's doctor's office this afternoon -

Dr: "Well, if both knees are in such terrible pain since your surgery, we might be able to do some steroid shots to help ease the pain for a few months while we decide what to do."

Me: "If it will give me some relief without being drugged all day and night - OK."

Dr: "Oh, it will help a lot. Most people feel immediate relief."

Cut to moments after first shot goes into left knee...

Me: "Crap! That stings."

Dr: "It should pass in a minute or so."

Shot goes into right knee....

Me: "Oh man, that one is even worse. It feels like it is moving around in both of my knees, like little alien babies are in there and trying to find a way out."

Dr: "Yeah - sometimes you don't get relief right away. Sometimes, it actually makes you feel worse for 2 or 3 days before you start feeling better."

Me (possessed by Chandler Bing): "Gee Doc, do you think that was something you could have mentioned BEFORE you shot cranky alien babies into my knees? Could you BE any more of an ass?"

The End.

12 of 12 - August 2008

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the suckiest 12 of 12 on record. Or at least it feels that way.

I spent a good portion of the last 24 hours at the hospital - first in the sleep lab, then in the morning having some other assorted tests run. Once I got home, I took no fewer than 3 showers trying to get the gunk from all the electrodes out of my hair. So, since I couldn't take photos during the tests (although, I did manage to slip a few in) and I wasn't taking the camera into one of my many showers (although I came close), I had very limited options to choose from today. But heck, it was still probably better than a day at work. So here we go......


This one is technically a cheat. It was just after arriving at the sleep lab on the 11th. But, they hadn't plugged me in or turned on the cameras yet, so I snapped a quick one. I figured, it was the 12th in England or China or somewhere, and some other 12 of 12er was already snapping pictures, so why not me too?

Sometime in the middle of the night - They don't really have any way for you to know what time it is in the sleep lab. No clocks, and the windows are all blacked out. I felt the call of nature, so I had to call the technician in so that she could unattach me from the big machine. Of course, I still had all the little wires attached to me, and I had to schlep to the bathroom with what is basically a big surge protector with 10,000 wires all plugged into it hanging off my neck. Anyway, again with the sneaky photo opp before she came to plug me back in. It is my pillow and blanket (it was damn cold in that place) and it was the only photo that even remotely came out without using the flash.

Again, no idea what time it is here. I'm gonna go with "early" - They woke me up, had me fill out some paperwork, and now I'm waiting to go for my EEG. More electrodes and paste in my hair - weeee!

A few minutes after "early" - Apple juice. It's what's for breakfast.

Post hospital - A self-portrait - if you look close enough. Finally home and am on my second attempt at getting electrode adhesive out of my hair. I feel like I'm in kindergarten again, and that some mean girl has dumped paste in my hair. Except instead of the mean girl, it was some lab tech that I think was the inspiration for "ZaZu" from the SNL Boston teens skit.

Post shower, pre-nap - I went out to get the mail, and noticed that my crepe myrtle finally started blooming. Maybe it will fill out enough to block the view of all of my dried out, dead azaleas.

Post nap - My (early) birthday gift from my mother, and I still haven't set it up yet. I know that the minute that I do, I will do nothing but scan old family photos for hours on end and never get anything else done ever again.

Oh crap! Speaking of birthday presents reminded me that when I was packing my overnight bag for the hospital yesterday, I found the present that I took all the way to LA for my cousin Bonnie (MCB) last month when I surprised her for her birthday, and then in all the excitement, forgot to give her. Must find a mailing box.

But first, wanted to show off my new curtains for the office area and living room. Next door neighbor Katie made them for me, as well as an ottoman cover from the leftover scraps. The girl is industrious. What I love about the curtains is that sometimes, they just look like your average solid cream colored curtains.

But then the sun comes out, and you get a nice little surprise when the flowers show up.

Later in the evening - Looking over some photos that I took over the weekend when I took my nephew to the art museum. I think that I ended up taking more photos of the building and surrounding architecture than I did of what was actually on display in the museum....

although I did manage to get this picture to help MCB out with the "Great Sofa/Couch Debate of 'Ought 8." According to the art community, this is a "Sofa."

And speaking of sofas, I think I'll adjorn to my own now and catch a little bit if the Olympics (swimming and gymnastics is so much more fun to watch at 3x speed), followed by the Rescue Me minisode and a repeat of The Office on TBS. Tonight is one of my faves - a bat gets loose in the office ("If a vampire bat was in the U.S., it would make sense for it to come to a “sylvania.” Like Penn-sylvania.") and the reactions of the supporting characters is hysterical - Angela actually Stops, Drops, and Rolls. Also, Jim pretends that he was bit by the bat and makes Dwight think that he is turning into a vampire (episode directed by Joss Whedon of Buffy fame, so of course, vampire reference is so very appropriate. and yes, I'm a geek for knowing that.)

So, thank you for taking a trip through my day, suck (leaving that typo in) as it was.

Mission Accomplished

I swear, I think that half of my company must have had the item, "Drive Joni crazy" on their To Do List today.

100 years ago today.....

100 years ago on this date, my grandfather Ed was born.

Happy Birthday Popo. Wish that I would have had the chance to have you in my life a little longer than I did.