Monday, April 29, 2002
06:01 p.m.
Over the past few days I was able to stop in to see my mom. She is recovering from surgery and is in good spirits. Today she was scheduled to go back to the Mayo Clinic to possibly have tubes removed. I was also able to stop in to see my boss for a little while. I brought some equipment to him and stopped to see my brother, sister, brother-in-law and my nephews who live in nearby Waconia. Now I need to start a few more projects and return some phone calls.
Already, I sent back responses to about 50 emails. And since I was only gone for a week, I'd be afraid to see how many emails I had if I were gone for a month! I need to get better about updating and checking email while I'm on the road.
The problem is that I think I will have time for all of this when I head out, but by the time I reach the hotel, I'm too tired to do anything but sleep. I guess I'll just have to skip sleep!
As I was in the cities, I also stopped by to see my former roommate, James Walsh. I visited with James and his girlfriend Nicky for about an hour, and it was nice to see him, since it had been several months since I had seen James, and about a year since I had seen Nicky. Thankfully they both have not changed, and are just as funny as they were about a year ago. James is still testing software and I believe that Nicky is still working for Minnesota Public Radio. I guess I probably talked too much and didn't listen enough to find out what they've been doing lately. But it was good to know that I can still sit down and chat, just like I had left a week ago. I miss their company, but we can always pick up where we left off.
I have a feeling that many of the friends I met during and after college are that way. James I actually knew back in High School, but we didn't really get to know each other until after we both finished college. Unfortunately, most of the friends I have met are a little like me. They're hard working, they spend a lot of time working on side-projects or hobbies when they're not working. But each one is willing and wanting to catch up and talk about "old times."
The other things I have on the agenda tonight include a motorcycle ride, and then maybe a short trip to Lawrence to pick up some groceries.
Saturday, April 26, 2002
02:09 p.m.
Right now I am visiting my mother. She just got done with cancer surgery, which meant removing lymph nodes and then both breasts. It will mean more chemo therapy treatments and right now she isn't able to do something as simple as lift her arms above her elbows. She is able to eat and drink if she leans her arms against the table, but we are forever telling her to let us get something or do something for her before she tries to do it herself.
It's not as if it's a big deal, but she might forget her limits for a fraction of a second, and she could hurt herself by reaching too far.
I stopped in a couple of days after the surgery, and then went to Green Bay and then Milwaukee for jobs. At that point, I made a swing back through here. It worked out perfect, because the first time I came through my sister Rachel was about to leave, so I was here until my grandma came. Then I came back when my grandma was about to leave and I will stay until Kerris and Mike get here. I will be gone for one day, and will get back here when Kerris and Mike will be ready to go. Then I'll stay around on Sunday night until Roger gets back.
On Monday, mom will go back to the Mayo Clinic for a checkup. And she thinks that about that time she may be able get the tubes out of her arms and begin the rest of the healing process from that. She will still have chemo therapy to deal with, but we all believe that she is through the worst of it right now.
While I've been here, my mom has had a few visitors per day. And while it's great that people have been stopping in each day, it's also good that it hasn't been too many people. By the time the visit is over with each of the people, she typically lays down to nap for a few hours. Sometimes I feel like napping after I have visitors, too. And I didn't just have surgery!
Mom is hoping to be much better by the time my little brother Drew walks through graduation at Winona State. She's pretty sure that will happen, even though that experience will be pretty taxing.
There are plans for a get-together at my grandma's house on the weekend after. But again, she won't be able to do any work while she is there. That said, it's also a family get-together, so it will be nice to see everybody.
As far as my schedule goes, everything is up in the air as it always is. There is a possibility that I will be on my way south on one or both of those weekends, so I told everybody not to plan on me being there. If the situation warrants that I will be swinging through the area I will make every effort to stop by, but this is a slower time of year and we take every job we can get.
While I was going though Milwaukee the other day, I worked with Steve and Marj. They operate the Milwaukee/Chicago truck. We went out to dinner a couple times, and were all there to do a corporate broadcast.
They are both a couple of the funniest people I have ever worked with. Marj is pretty straight-forward in her humor, and Steve is the opposite. If you aren't paying attention to what he's saying or aren't up on current events, the joke will fly right over your head. Either that, or you will catch yourself saying a half-hour later, "Oh," and start laughing.
A lot of people in the television business are like both Steve and Marj, which always makes you feel, "right at home."
Tonight, if things work out, I'm planning to borrow my mom's car and drive up to the cities. Kerris and Mike will arrive to look after mom, and so I can ride up there to take some equipment to my boss. He lives about 15 miles away from my sister and her husband, so I can stop in to see my nephews and my brother Drew at the same time.
After this weekend, unless my schedule changes, I should be heading back to K.C.
Sunday, April 21, 2002
04:07 p.m.
After two days of rain, the skies are clearing. The neighbor kids are out playing, and now that the temperature is going up, that means I can go outside and get some things done.
I will stop by to see my mom this week. She just finished surgery for cancer the other day, and will be recouperating. But I know she wants to see all of us kids, so I will try to stay the night at some point.
My mom had both of her breasts removed, and they removed the lymph nodes inside. She had five chemo therapy treatments before the surgery and will have more now that she got through the surgery. What that means is more chemo therapy, but mom will be going through the worst of it right now. Apparently she has tubes in her arms and needs to empty them out throughout the day. With help, she will empty the tubes and measure it until the amount goes below 30ccs. At that point she goes back to the Mayo Clinic where they will take the tubes out.
As if that isn't awful enough, she probably won't be able to move her arms around, so will need help getting dressed, eating and getting around.
Saturday, April 20, 2002
02:31 a.m.
My little sister Kerris told me the funniest story today. She is student teaching at this little school in southern Wisconsin.
While she was teaching the other day, an announcement came over the loudspeaker, "There is a tornado watch in effect. (click)"
Kerris though, Oh, O.K. She went on with teaching her lesson.
Another announcement came over the speaker, "We are now in a tornado warning. (click)" She thought to herself, "And???"
She went out into the hall. It was empty. This didn't make sense. Where she came from, when they announced a tornado warning that meant that someone in the county (spotter) had spotted a tornado. She went to a next-door classroom to find out why no one was heading to the designated "tornado shelter."
The teacher told her, "We have our own spotters. There are four of them at the four corners of the school. When they spot a tornado, then that's when we are supposed to head to the shelter." When she started, she was informed that this designated spot was to be the locker room, where there was more concrete than the rest of the school. But apparently, most of the school has a tin roof, giving about as much protection as a backyard tool shed.
As Kerris went on with her class, there was another announcement. "A tornado has been spotted, everybody go home!"
She did her best to describe the scene, but I can only really imagine the mass hysteria of kids running through the halls, running into each other, crying, running into each other again, screaming.
Kerris went down to the office to find out what happened to the office staff and why they weren't giving more announcements over the loudspeaker. But the women who worked in the office had their purses in hand and were leaving the building.
Kids were being loaded on buses and some were brought to the grade school, which was apparently well built. Kids were being pelted by hail as they ran outside. Many drove away in their own cars, most kids having never drove through hail before.
Kids who rode the bus to the grade school were again pelted by hail as they ran to safety.
Now, I don't know if their heads are actually made of rocks, but there are manuals put together by professional meteorologists stating what to do in the case of an emergency. Either the administration said to themselves, "Eh, I'll read that later," or they were just too clueless to remember what it said.
That's why we have tornado drills, people!
Thursday, April 18, 2002
10:44 a.m.
In the art of creating humanity, who would have known that so much joy can be found by going to a simple garage sale.
My favorite hauls this year would have to include cooking utensils.
There was a "ORBON" frying griddle that covers two burners on the stove. The object would go for about 40 bucks in the store, and I purchased the heavy little piece of metal for a dollar. There was a catch. I had to buy all four griddles for a dollar, and then give away or throw away the rest.
Another sweet buy was about 20 videotapes I bought for a dollar. Some of them were only 30 minute tapes, but that was all I wanted anyway. I can use them for aircheck tapes for work.
The only other two things I came across this year were a coffee mug and a pint glass, both of which I collect. I'm not a collector, but since I tend to break both of these items, I find myself collecting them to keep from having to pay full price for them.
My sister and my mom both like to go garage sailing. My Aunt Jean is the garage sale queen, which drives my Uncle Rob crazy. My Aunt Pat cruises garage sales, mostly for crafts and little things that might fit well in their northern Minnesota lake cabin. My dad makes his living from garage sales, and he drives me nuts talking about every little thing he bought and how much he sold it for. I scream at him, "I DON'T CARE!" But he keeps babbling on about how he bought some old railroad sign and sold it for "ten times the money." Five minutes later he's talking about what some other yayhoo sold down at Canton, Texas.
Whenever he visits, I should really invest in some earplugs and then tell him to go ahead and start talking. Blah Blah Blah.
I love my dad, but he's nuts.
He reminds me of Calvin's dad (Calvin and Hobbes). When Calvin would ask, "How do they figure out the weight limit on a bridge?" His dad would respond, "They just drive heavier and heavier trucks over it until it collapses. Then they rebuild the bridge."
I remember when an answer like that actually made sense. Now it just makes me think my dad is nuts.
Every once in a while, dad scores a new instrument or new piece of electronics for my collection. And then all is well again. I can't believe that I can be bought off by junk from a garage sale.
Whatever works, I guess.
This morning the wind was blowing so hard here in Kansas that I almost chased my garbage can to Missouri. For the moment the wind has died down, so I should be able to get some errands done and get some work done outside.
And it's a good idea it's a Thursday. I just might be in the mood for a garage sale.
Thursday, April 18, 2002
12:29 a.m.
Bonnie was the first Hurricane I ever covered. The eye hit us in Wilmington, South Carolina. It pushed over deeply-rooted trees and did a good job of flooding the coastline, the city, and all of the roads.
The satellite truck I was operating was the oldest one on the road. She leaked like a coulander and was filled with throw away equipment from our parent company.
Working out of our truck was a hardened reporter from one of the local affiliates. He was constantly screaming at his photographer, Beau. And he treated Beau like a son.
Beau and I were most concerned with keeping our live shots on the air, and knowing we still had to crank out tons of tape, and one of my video cameras died, he had the only one that would shoot tape.
The other camera I had was a really old piece of junk, but it could take a fall from a tripod and keep sending a picture. Despite my pleas to the producer, she didn't keep an eye on the camera so I was constantly putting the lens back on, or trying to super-glue the camera back together.
I found a great place to put the satellite truck. The truck sat mostly underneath a parking garage, and the dish cam up just enough to come into a wind break where it wasn't getting rocked by the 90 mph winds.
As Beau and I were relaxing for a few minutes during the heavier part of the storm, a stop sign came cruising down the street, fast enough to either imbed itself in someone, or at least take off a limb.
Bonnie was a unique hurricane. Her winds attacked the city for about 15 hours. There was about a 15 minute break, and then there was almost 15 more hours of rain. There was no break in the action.
Monday, April 15, 2002
03:13 a.m.
After several hours I finally got my imagemap working right on our company web site. If I was working at normal hours maybe I could think a little better, but it still feels good to get it working properly. I'll go back and clean it up later, but until then everyone should be able to use it.
Last night I went partying with some friends who own a limo business. We partied all over K.C. and had one of the best drivers in the business. We didn't have to pay for the limo, but we all chipped in to pay the driver a nice tip for driving us last night. And to get a few hundred, tax-free, must have been nice for him.
We hit XO, a danceclub in K.C.'s westport district, went to a mexican restaurant on Southwest Boulevard, but not before we traded limos with a prom party whose brand-new rented limo broke down. Apparently there was a bolt that sat less than an inch from the serpentine belt. The bolt completely sheared the serpentine, and the driver was probably lucky to get the limo off the road.
Of course, when we came across them, the kids were standing out in back of the limo on an exit ramp and we almost hit them. They should have never gotten out of the limo, but even worse, there were no triangles out and the kids were practically on the road where cars were doing 60 mph or better.
After that escapade, we waited for another limo and a tow-truck to get the broken limo. Then we went bar-hopping. Our original plan of going to "shooters21" was sunk, I guess because they would stop serving by the time we got there. Although from what I hear the place is open until four in the morning.
I have no idea what I'll be doing this week. That's not really any different than any other week. It's shooting craps and I can't see the dice.
Friday, April 12, 2002
12:34 p.m.
I got my motorcycle out yesterday. And it's a good thing I had bought two batteries last year. The one I installed last season is almost dried out. There's a lot of work that needs to be done on the bike, but none of it is that immediate. Most of the things will only need to be fixed or upgraded if I am to take a long ride somewhere.
Tonight looks like a movie night. It doesn't look like there are any promising movies out there right now, so maybe I'll go to see an independent film. First, I need to see if my pickup is fixed yet. It turns out there were rear brake problems, not a rotor problem like i first thought. And they also replaced the oxygen sensor that was burned out.
The cloud covering the state of Kansas has finally dissipated, so I guess it's time to go play outside!
Monday, April 8, 2002
11:32 p.m.
just got home from a trip to Oklahoma where we were doing some semi-secret stuff for the defense department. It was the first time our company had done an uplink in OK, so that was cool. I also had the luck of getting to park the wrong way on the side of the freeway, and that was quite nerve-racking.
When I got back I said hello to my neighbors and came into the house to check my messages and settle down from the long drive.
This week I will need to pick up my pickup at the shop. I was having some kind of problem with an oxygen sensor or something in the truck's computer. I also needed to have them replace the rotor and most likely the brake in the front right wheel. That got melted some time before I bought the truck from my cousin.
I just got done talking to my boss. He's at N.A.B., the National Association of Broadcasters annual meeting in Las Vegas. He goes there each year as part of his vacation, to look at new toys and meet clients or potential clients.
To help him prepare for his trip, I made up a bunch of pictures that we had taken this year and put on the webpage. It sounds like the pictures have been a little bit of a hit. He needed something to show off the trucks, and then added to it he was able to show off all of the crews and different clients we work with on a daily basis.
The things I have on my calendar includes my mom's surgery in a couple weeks, and after that my brother will graduate from college. I would like to set up a vacation after that. I'm hoping it would include something in Northern California, or Seattle, or Great Falls.
If those locale are unavailable, I may consider a trip to the boundary waters in northern Minnesota.
Thursday, April 4, 2002
05:51 p.m.
Tonight I will be dining at the fine establishment known here as "Bickelmeyer's." My neighbor suggested we go eat out, and since It's been days since I tried relaxing and hanging out with friends this is a perfect time to let someone else do the cooking.
I've been working on a Linux box to replace my mom's old computer. She wanted to know what could be done with her old 133 Mhz- virus ridden computer, and I thought "make it into a doorstop?" In the meantime, I'll put together a little linux-based pc for her emailing and web browsing, and she'll be happy. Then I can turn her old one into something of the same.
At the same time, I'm multi-tasking and trying to update our company web page. That's a never-ending battle, but at least I'm still having fun with it.
I wish the temperature would rise about ten more degrees, because I'd like to get the waxer out and finish all my vehicles. If it was warmer, I could get my bike out, too. But right now riding would be similar to snowmobiling.
Thursday, April 4, 2002
12:57 a.m.
My life has always been packed with interesting hobbies. When I was learning to walk, I was learning to climb (up to the roof, over fences, on top of the monkey bars). A broken arm slowed down my dirt bike days in High School. In college in Duluth Minnesota, we would jump from ice-berg to ice-berg on Lake Superior.
And he only thing that was more dangerous than my hobbies was my dating life. Ouch!
This year marks about a decade of working in the television business. And while that usually brings about bitterness and resentment, I got lucky and landed a job as a satellite truck operator.
As I took on the job, I also took on the web pages, which were untouched for five years. Forgive me for the simplicity, for the website is made in my spare time. When you see something current, it probably means I have made it home, or I am sitting in a hotel somewhere updating the site.
The reason I mentioned hobbies right away is that they also encompass my life. I play several instruments, and recently bought myself a drumset (which pleases the neighbors so much). I'm slowly getting into fly fishing, in part because there is a new Cabella's opening near my house and I will need a reason to visit often.
I make my own beer and wine. When the ingredients are available from friends or farmers markets, I also make jams and jellies. I spent part of a year with a catering company, and a gourmet chef who taught me how to cook for large crowds. So I love to cook, but I always cook too much.
Since I moved to Kansas I spend the rest of my time (which isn't much) by riding motorcycle and partying with friends and neighbors.
Now that I've started blogging, I guess I'll have to give up sleeping!
SamSinke@hotmail.com
