March is here

It was a nice weekend for the end of February. I'm no longer using my crutches, which is a good thing. It is wonderful to be able to walk, using both hands to carry things.

Yesterday, there was a gorgeous sunrise here at work (picture) and this morning, the almost full moon was shining brightly as I was leaving home to come to work (picture).

Today, they are having snow in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where my brothers live. What weird weather! At least for this "winter", I am glad to live in Oregon! :-)

Joy and I are trying to plan some vacation time for the summer. With her back in school, the available times are limited. I'm sure that we'll come up with somewhere fun to visit.

February is almost over

It is Wednesday, February 24. Our spell of unusual, sunny weather came to an end. Yesterday, it was cloudy and rainy, and today is more of the same. I guess that I can't complain too much--we had a week of awesome weather for this time of year in Portland.

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. I'm now allowed to put full weight on my ankle and am down to only using one crutch. Hopefully, within a month I should be able to get rid of the boot and the crutch and just walk normally.

Wonderful Weather for February

The weather this week has been very nice; it is sunny outside and is supposed to get up to around 60 degrees. Some of the trees are starting to blossom--and it is still over a month until Spring officially arrives. Some of my Facebook friends live back in the middle Atlantic states and are still digging out from last week's blizzards; it has been fun to tease them about our nice weather.

I'm getting an itchy camera trigger finger; I want to get out and take some pictures of the gorgeous Oregon scenery; of course, I need my ankle to be fully healed, so that I can walk easily! We're thinking of buying a DSLR camera to go with our Canon point and shoot cameras. The one we're leaning towards is the Canon T2i, with 18 megapixels, but may consider other Canon models, or possibly a Nikon.

A Great Valentine's Weekend

Joy and I had a great weekend over in Long Beach, Washington. Our motel was about a block from the beach--but too far to hobble on my crutches. For lunch Saturday, we had some great calzone at Bluto's Pizza--I think it's the best that I've had on the west coast! Saturday evening, we ate some ice cream, then drove to the beach and walked on the boardwalk. We followed up with our Valentine's dinner at the Hungry Harbor Grill, right by our motel.

On Sunday, after our return to Portland, we went to see Valentine's Day with our friends Les & Keri. It was a fun and funny movie to watch on Valentine's Day.

Yesterday was Presidents Day. It was nice to be able to relax at home one more day--although Joy didn't have it off, unfortunately.

The Saints Won!

I went to my friend Les' house to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. We were both cheering for New Orleans, since they'd never been to the game before, so were were happy with the outcome. It was a good game, not really decided until late in the fourth quarter. We were both browsing the web during the game on our netbooks. According to yesterday's Nearly Impossible Question on K103, 15% of Americans were doing that during the game, so we weren't alone.

Next weekend is Valentine's Weekend. Joy and I are going to get away to the coast for a couple of days. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate; the weekend forecast is for showers and temps in the 50s. It would be better if it was sunny, but for February on the coast, we can't complain.

I can now put some weight on my ankle.

I went to the doctor yesterday. They did an x-ray of my ankle and it is healing well, but not fully, yet. So, now, I can put some weight on it, but I still have to use my crutches to help support. That is still an improvement over no weight!

It has been rather warm for February in Portland. Today is supposed to get up to around 55. They are already talking of a drought this summer. The snow pack on the mountains is a third less than normal. Although Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter, I wouldn't complain if spring came early to Oregon.

This weekend, Super Bowl XLIV will be played. We're having a smaller party this year at a friend's house. I'm not a big fan--or foe--of either the Colts or the Saints, but since the Saints haven't ever been to the game, I'll be cheering for them. Go New Orleans!

February is here.

We had a pretty nice weekend, even though it was pretty rainy. On Saturday, Joy and I took a drive down the Washington side of Columbia River, crossing back into Oregon via the Astoria-Megler Bridge. We then went down through Seaside and back across the coast range, eating a nice meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Back at home we laughed together as we watched The Proposal with Sandra Bullock.

Yesterday morning, I watched Inglourious Basterds--very violent, but an interesting perspective on WW II. Last evening, I went to eat with my oldest daughter V and we had a good father daughter visit.

Now, it's back to work Monday.

January is almost over

It's the last Friday in January, 2010. The weather has been pretty nice--for Portland.

My ankle is doing good; very little pain. I'm looking forward to being able to walk on it. Hopefully, that'll start next week, although I imagine that I'll still need to use a crutch or cane for a while.

I'm experimenting with the next version of Ubuntu, Lucid Lynx, in a vmware image. I won't install it on my linux machines at home, yet. I've been using Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my netbook most of the time, only occasionally rebooting into Windows XP. If my network printer, a Panasonic KX-MB781, supported Linux, I'd be very tempted to just wipe out the Windows partition and just run it as a linux only machine.

I got my staples out.

I went to the orthopedic office yesterday and they removed the staples from my ankle. The length of my incision is longer than I expected--around 2 inches. It stung when the staples were coming out and I had some pain later in the evening. Instead of a plaster cast, they gave me a boot to wear. It is nice--I can now remove the boot to take showers, etc. Also, they said that I should be able to put some weight on the ankle in a couple of weeks--which is a good thing.

Three Day Weekend

It's the Friday before a 3 day weekend. I think that my ankle is draining me--even though my activity level has dropped significantly, I'm more tired. During the night, it was aching in spasms, so my sleep wasn't as sound as it'd normally be. I'll be glad for when I can just walk to the break room/bath room/etc., without having to worry about crutches, or falling.

With my ankle injury, my goal of taking a picture a day hasn't worked out. It is just too hard to get out to take a picture--and would have ended up as just the same scenes from inside the house. When I can maneuver myself safely and easily, I'll start it back up again.

We're talking of going to the theater to see Sherlock Holmes this weekend. Hopefully, the crowds have died down enough that my foot won't be trampled getting in and out.

Surgery went fine

My ankle surgery went fine. I was in quite a bit of pain Sunday through Tuesday, but didn't have any other side effects. I spent a lot of time watching Netflix videos.

I'll be very glad to get rid of the cast and crutches and just be able to walk normally again. I'm getting a little more competent at maneuvering using the crutches, but they are still a pain.

I'm working from home today; if my ankle doesn't get any worse, I plan to drive to the office for work tomorrow.

Ankle Surgery

I went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday to get a cast put on. They did an x-ray before hand, and even though I haven't injured the ankle further, the chip of my tibia has moved away from the main bone. If they were to just put a cast on, they estimated that it would take over 4 months before the ankle would heal. So they, are going to put a screw in, attaching the chip. With the surgery, it should only be 4-6 weeks before I am out of the cast.

The surgery will be under general anesthesia, and I'm not looking forward to it--or the recuperation afterward. I'm glad that I have my netbook computer and Roku box (for streaming Netflix videos) to keep me entertained.

1st Work Day of 2010

Because of my broken ankle, I'm having to work from home for the first few days this week, at least until I get my cast put on. I'm getting tired of being a couch potato! The pain isn't too bad, but I still have to be careful and make sure that I don't put any weight on the ankle; if I injure it further, I'd need to have surgery--which is something that I don't want.

I am glad that I have my netbook and Roku box to help give me some distractions. I've been able to watch some old episodes of Columbo, one of my favorite TV detectives, using Netflix streaming.

Ups and Downs

We had a good Christmas. On Thursday, Christmas Eve, we had family over and James got engaged to Micah. We celebrated Christmas the next day; all of us were pretty happy with our presents. I got a netbook computer--that's what I'm using, in bed, to write this!

On Saturday, we had our Christmas dinner, good fettuccine and noodles. We watched a lot of Christmas movies that we had recorded on our DVR.

Yesterday, because the weather was dry, we took down our outside Christmas decorations. In the process of doing this, the ladder that I was standing on fell over--and I broke my ankle--the first broken bone that I've had in 52 years! I'll be in a cast for 6 to 8 weeks. I'm struggling to get around on the crutches, especially, going up and down the stairs.

Vainiaku's 20th Birthday

Today was my daughter Vainiaku's 20th birthday. It's hard to believe! The years have gone fast.

I took her and Selita out for breakfast and some shopping at Pioneer Place. I'm looking forward to seeing them more over the holidays.

I have my Christmas shopping and wrapping finished. Tomorrow evening, we're celebrating Christmas Eve with our family.

Avatar was Great!

Les & I went to see Avatar in 3-D yesterday afternoon. The alien planet was rendered very well, the creatures and vegetation realistically shown.

Joy and her mother, sister, and niece baked cookies. The house smelled yummy when I got home last night.

I'm off work for the rest of the year, so I get to relax some in addition to doing items from my 'honey do' list.

The Last Work Day of 2009.

I'm working from home today--to avoid the holiday traffic this afternoon. It has been kind of strange starting to right down 2010 on appointments, etc.. It has been almost 10 years since the the first 3 digits of the year have been 200!

We are going out to eat at Claim Jumper this evening, then driving down I-5 to Keizer to see the Miracle of Christmas Lighting Display.

On Sunday, Les and I are talking about going to see Avatar in 3D while the ladies do their cookie baking.

I've started my Project365. My 2009 pictures are at Project 365-2009. I'm mostly a scenery and nature photographer, so it will be a challenge taking daily photos until better weather arrives.

Rainy Weather

It's been raining pretty much constantly for the last couple of days. Yesterday, I dropped my car off for an oil change and walked home in the rain. Fortunately, I was wearing my felt hat so my head stayed dry.

Last evening, we attended a Christmas pageant held by the children where Joy works. The kids were cute.

During the night, I woke up thinking about making a New Year's Resolution to start a project to take a picture every day and post it on my Picasa site. This morning, my daily email from Digital Photography School contained an item about Photography Project365--interesting timing.

Our house decorations are almost finished. Hopefully, it will be all ready by Friday evening before we take our trip to Keizer to look at Christmas lights.

The snow and freezing rain missed Portland.

The bad weather that was forecast for us went south of us, so we had relatively good weather. There was a little frost on the cars and road yesterday morning when we went out for breakfast, but it just required a little more care in driving, especially in shady areas.

After breakfast, we worked on getting the house into shape for Christmas. We put up additional shelves for nicknacks, and organized our stairwell landing and spare bedroom.

We also watched some TV Christmas movies on our DVR--recorded from Hallmark and Lifetime channels.

I'm now at work for the last Monday that I work until next year.

2 weeks until Christmas

It's Friday, December 11. Two weeks from today is Christmas Day.

On Sunday, assuming we don't get snowed in [which is a possibility!], we're planning to attend Posada Milagro so that John can get some extra Spanish practice. It is a Christmas pageant, all in Spanish.

We'll probably spend some time catching up on some of the holiday movies that we've been recording from Hallmark and Lifetime.