Photos

So I have some wonderful photos of my new car to put on my blog and some great shots of jewelry to put on our eBay store all taken on our nifty little digital camera. I went to download everything and low and behold, I can't find the cable to plug the camera into my computer. It turns out that while I have the camera and case, Tara has the cord in her computer bag. On her truck. In Texas this week....
She'll be back Friday or Saturday and I'll load everything then.
In the mean time, I'll be ghosting around this week but not very involved in the blogging world. Dad is getting better and should be able to go home at the end of the week and I'm playing catch up on the rest of my life.
Have a good week all.

General this and that

I will post photos of the new car later today, I promise! I've been working like mad to make up for being at the hospital on Monday and Tuesday and it's been dark by the time I get home and can take some photos. The Escape's color is officially Black Pearl Slate so in honor of the Pirates of the Carribean movies she has now been named The Black Pearl or Pearl for short. I still don't know how to use all the options on the stereo but I did figure out the bass. I've also become a fan of the sensor in my rear view mirror. The mirror dims automatically so now I'm not blinded when the idiot behind me doesn't shut off his brights.
It amazes me how many new toys they've come up with for a vehicle in the past 11 years.

Work has been interesting. There's nothing like opening your e-mail after missing two days and finding 136 e-mails to deal with. I've been creating like a crazy woman and still have a ton of work to get done but that's ok, it makes the time go by quickly.

The jewelry making is going well. I've found I'm good a stringing beads. Who would have figured. We have our eBay store but, with everything, I haven't loaded the inventory yet. If you are a jewelry type person there will be earrings, necklaces and bracelets of various styles. Tara is also very good and custom jewelry to fit an individuals personality. I'll post our link as soon as the inventory is even partially loaded. Probably by Monday.

The cats, specifically the boys Curious George and Charles Baron, have been unusually attentive to me the past few days. They've been very cuddly and have been generally glued to me since I got home Tuesday night.

George took his addiction to leather cord to new heights yesterday. I didn't properly place the lid on the storage container that has our cords, string, wire, etc. for Jewelry. He apparently went onto the kitchen table (big no, no) repeatedly and pulled one pre-cut leather cord at a time out and then carried them to the bed where he proudly showed them off to me yesterday morning. I got my revenge and tied one loosely to his collar. He chased himself around for 10 minutes before he got it loose.

On a final note, my Dad continues to improve. He is now driving the staff in CCU crazy since he wants to get up and go and he still has 3 chest tubes...He refused his pain medication last night saying he'd be fine without it. That lasted until he had a coughing fit and became distinctly aware of those tubes again. He humbly asked for his drugs at midnight. His nurse just smiled and gave him his medication. I give her credit for not saying, "I told you so." I'm going back home tomorrow to visit him again. Hopefully his last air leak will close today and he'll get to go to a private room.

Good News Good News

It has been one hell of a ride the past 5 days. There is the whole sick Dad thing (BTW, off the respirator and doing really well!) and then there was the my car died thing. Two big negatives. The positives:
1. My Dad will be fine and is now a non-smoker
2. dead car meant I had to get new car and boy did I ever get a new one (pictures to follow in next post). My other half, Tara, and I got a 2008 Ford Escape XLT with lots of shiny buttons and toys!!!!! It is an amazing, wonderful, stupendous vehicle.
3. I've had 2 sets of job interviews, both for positions in North Carolina - one with my current company and one with a new one. All interviews have gone well.
4. I may have a chance to be promoted to a coordinator if all else fails and stay here in Erie
Like I said, up and down but a lot more positive than negative.

Dad Update Part II

The surgery took over 4 hours today. My Dad had a really bad infection in the space between his right lung and his chest wall. The bacteria/infectious material was dead thanks to the antibiotics but it all needed removed. They drained the fluid and scrapped the gunk out and placed 3 chest tubes in to keep the negative pressure in his chest and drain the last bit of fluid.
That was one of the hardest moments of my life-to walk in to the CCU and see three chest tubes, a ventilator, 3 IV lines, 1 arterial line, pressure cuffs, etc. all hooked up to my Dad. I hope I never have to see him like this again.
The ventilator is so his lung gets a chance to heal. As of this evening they were already begining to adust the respirator down very slowly so he can be weened off of it no later than Thursday, sooner if he is up to it. He has two leaks in his lung right now from the scraping, apparently this is common. The chest tubes have to stay in until these heal.
He was sedated and on some really heavy pain medication but he still managed to nod a few times and smile a bit before he passed back out.
The plus to all of this: 3-4 days in CCU, 4-7 days in a private room, then home. In 4-8 weeks he will be completely back to his old self, puttering around the house, working a few hours at the gas station to keep from driving my Mom nuts, mowing the lawn and eating his favorite, T-bone steaks.
The scary stuff: if he smokes again, he dies. He has the beginning stages of emphyzema and this infection weakened his lungs as well. Scary stuff part II: If he hadn't gone to the hospital on Sunday, he would have been dead before Monday dawned. Scary stuff part III: he has to be very careful of colds and flu now.
Thank you sooooooo much for your thoughts and prayers. My Dad is an amazing guy, quiet, dry sense of humor, strong sense of ethics and morals, very big on the Do Unto Others rule, smart, strong and confident and I am so grateful I'm going to have all of that around for a lot longer. I may be creeping up fast on 31, but I'm still Daddy's little girl (I'm the youngest and the only girl in the family) and I still need him around.

Dad Update

Well, the down side is my Dad is still in critical care, the upside is they figured out what is wrong with him. My father is a stubborn, stubborn man. 2 months ago he had a chest cold that he refused to go to the doctor for. My Mom managed to get him to at least call the doctor who prescribed an antibiotic. Ever since then he has not been right. He has lost weight, been lethargic and generally unhealthy. Apparently, 2 months ago my Dad had pnemonia, not a chest cold. The anitbiotics took care of the infection but not the fluid. The fluid in his right lung effused to his chest cavity and has sat there for 2 months putting pressure on his lung and causing all other issues. If you can't get enough oxygen, you dont' have any energy, can't eat cause as you are chewing you loose even more oxygen 'cause you aren't breathing.
Last Thursday my Father was hit with a stealth, strong sneeze that doubled him up and put enough added pressure on his right lung to collapse it. Despite the sharp pain he still refused to go to the doctor. He finally went on Sunday to the ER where they discovered a blood saturation of 74%, hense the critical care. The doctors drained 1/2 gallon of fluid out and got his lung to reinflate. The doctor's tested the hell out of that fluid and discovered: A: it was not congestive heart failure - his heart looks fantastic and B: it was not cancer. It is left over icky fluid that is no longer infectious.
He has surgery at 8 am on Tuesday to remove the scar tissue and fluid so his lung can finish inflating and he can return to normal life. The surgery will be painful but necessary so I'll be at the Hospital with Dad for Tuesday and Wednesday. All should go well and he should be on the mend soon.
He just needs to be less stubborn in the future or my Mom, brothers or I might kill him.
The positive thoughts are so greatly appreciated. Keep them up. Despite the painful surgery, this was the best outcome possible. NO cancer, infection or mystery diseases.
Exhaused and need to be up in 4 hours. I'm off.

Thoughts and Prayers

My father, Paul, is in critical care this morning in Beaver, PA and the doctor's don't know what is wrong with him. It started Thursday with sharp pains on his right side and now his lung is showing up white on the x-ray. They didn't know yet whether it was fluid or air. Everyone, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I want my next post to say he is getting better and will be fine. I'll be off line for a few days.

*****Update, the doctor drained 1/2 a gallon of fluid out of my Dad's chest. He said after initial testing it is definitely NOT congestive heart failure but the fluid is an inflammatory response. They are doing further testing to see if it is an infection or something else. In the mean time, with the help of draining the fluid and a CPAP machine (used for people with sleep apnea) his oxygen levels are good, he's feeling better and starting to joke around. He is, however, still in critical care. More in a day or so as I get info. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Keep them up, they are helping.******

Geek and Proud of It

I've come to accept and love all my personality quarks, the biggest of which, I think, is my basic status as a Geek. I was a smart kid. My parents have a photo of me trying to read when I was two. Never mind that the book was upside down, I wanted to read. I went to school a year early, I was only 4 when I started Kindergarten, and drove the teacher nuts because she would hand out an activity and I would read the directions and start. She would say, "Heather, don't start yet, you don't know what to do." and I would reply, "It says right here, 'Color #1 blue and #2 red."
I was a smart kid with a nice personality but I never quite fit in at school. My style never quite matched, I was never the cool one, never with the "in" crowd. Don't get me wrong, I had friends, but I was never in that really popular click. Come to think of it, that popular click really irritated me in high school.
I read and still read voraciously, finishing the Chronicles of Narnia very young and Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time series right after. Reading was a great escape where I could be anyone and go anywhere.
In middle school I cemented the Geek status by joining the band and playing a decent flute, even making it to honors band 2 years in a row for the Catholic Diocese (did I mention 5 years of Catholic school?).
High school brought an academic track of study, volleyball, newspaper, yearbook, health careers club, VIP peer group, oh and a little dabble in chorus and a musical.
It wasn't until college that I truly fit in or rather became comfortable with who I was and found others of a similar mind set. I was still a geek there getting a BS in Science while running the college newspaper, joining the AIDS action team as a certified HIV/AIDS educator and being a very happy member of Alpha Phi Omega coed international service fraternity where I learned to play pinochle and learned the call backs to Rocky Horror Picture show and all the lines to Monty Python's Holy Grail.
Now I revel in my geekdom. I love computers, writing, bad scifi movies, good scifi books and I'm even an admitted Trekker.
I'm the person full of useless bits of knowledge who likes to consume books and play on the Internet. I love to tell a good story and make people laugh. I've learned that I am way too geeky to ever properly speak some of the slang I hear in my training classes and unless I've got a significant amount of alcohol in me, dancing is not an option.
I am who I am and happy about it. I mentioned in the last post that I'm a proud Pittsburgh native. Believe me I am (Go Steelers!) but I'm also just a proud to be a geek.

Pittsburgh at Heart

I grew up 26 miles outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in Raccoon Township, Beaver County (yes it's alright to snicker). Both of my grandfathers worked the steel mills and my father worked for the airlines for 40 years before retiring.

Though I don't live in the area anymore, Pittsburgh is still a big part of me. I caught an article about TV shows being filmed or based in Pittsburgh yesterday. That turned out to be an interesting read. When I was a child the Steel Mill industry was still very active and Pittsburgh was not an attractive looking city. Over the past 30 years the city has been transformed and has, in my humble opinion, one of the best skylines ever.

What I found interesting is the quote about Pittsburghers in the article, "A Pittsburgher is "somebody who is more down to earth, somebody who is a little more tougher,"

We Pittsburghers have, at heart, no matter what our professions and where we go, a blue collar outlook on life, you work hard, you play hard, you take care of each other.

If you don't believe me on the play hard thing, watch the fans when a Pittsburgh Steelers or Penguins game is on tv.

We also have our own version of English that is quite a bit different that anywhere else. First off, when a group of Pittsburgh natives get together enunciation goes out the window. Words are slid together and often not pronounced correctly: East Liberty is Ee sliberty, a sandwich is a sammich. We also have a lot of our own words: yinz - you guys, read up -- clean up or ready up, jagger bush -- a bush with thorns, jag someone -- poke fun at someone, gum band -- rubber band, crick -- creek, nebby/neb nose -- a nosey or overly curious person. If you want to learn more check out Pittsburghese. We also know how to poke fun at ourselves. Check out Chipped Ham Sam a Yappin Yinzer doll

My English is quite clear now thank-you-very-much however, the roommate had knee surgery in Pittsburgh (150 miles from home) two weeks ago and I went with her for her follow up appointment on Monday. Both her and my other half looked at me toward the end of the day and said, "Boy, it doesn't take much, does it?" I asked what they meant and they pointed out that 5 minutes of talking to a Pittsburgher and my Pittsburghese came back loud and clear. I can't help it though (nor would I) because I am and will always be a Proud Pittsburgh native.

End of an Era

When I was a sophomore in college I went to buy my first car with the assistance of a stack of savings bond and a boost from my parents. The initial plan was to buy a used car but the universe, and my Mom's outgoing personality, conspired and I bought a brand new 1997 Ford Escort sedan in silver. She had 12 miles on her when I drove her off the lot. I put 6 of those miles on her myself test driving. I named my car Stardust (Dusty for short) after my CB handle (yes I grew up in the country and my friends and I all had CBs).
Dusty has gone everywhere with me, surviving winters in Erie, PA and 2 years in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, FL. She's been in New York City and Washington, D.C. rush hour traffic and up and down the East Coast. She's survived someone putting bathroom cleaner in her gas tank and a Coke being spilled into the gear shift. Dusty has gone through mountains, countryside, cities, interstates and dirt roads and has for the past 10 years been a faithful and steady part of my life.
On Saturday night during a return trip from my parents (a trip we have done 100's of times), Dusty drove her last mile. The lifters went in the car 50 miles from home. I cried while waiting for the tow truck because I knew this was the end of the line.
I will say, she went out in style. We ended up on the side of I79 in a very dark area. Since there were three of us in the car, one of which was on crutches, the tow truck driver did not want to endanger our lives by having us get out of the car to get into our friend's car at that location. All three of us remained in Dusty while she was pulled up onto the flat bed and road a few miles up the road to a gas stations where our friends were waiting and cheering at us like we were in a parade.
Dusty is currently sitting silent in the driveway. I have her listed on Craig's list as a parts car or challenge. She is fixable, only has 130,000 miles, 2 new tires and a new radiator. I just don't have the means to do it myself. If you know anyone who would like to buy her, send them my way. I'll even tow her up to 100 miles for them. In the mean time I have to figure out how to get my next car, a Ford Escape. We've been talking about getting an Escape for 3 months now and there is a part of me that thinks my car died in such a spectacular manner just to push me along on that purchase. I realize now that if she hadn't chosen to bow out, I would never have willingly given her up.
Here's to all the great travels with Dusty. Looking forward to 10 years with another great vehicle.

Driving Mystery

I drive 25 miles in one direction to get to work every morning. Almost the entire drive is on I90. Last winter the 10 miles of I 90 near my house went from smooth interstate to a lovely game of Dodge the Crater. Potholes big enough to seriously damage a car. The road shouldn't have fallen apart like that for a few more years if ever so PennDOT had to scramble to get funds to repair it. The repairs began on Monday this week and are currently on the Eastbound side only so I drive I90 to work and take local roads home. When they switch sides, I'll switch my pattern as well. So far this week the construction has caused a 10 mile back up a few times and I'd rather not be a part of it.
So, I was on the way home on Tuesday following 38th St to the Winter Green Gorge, a fun section of road with steep hills and sharp bends. From there to Station Rd to one other side street to get to Rte 20 that will take me home. Somewhere between 38th and Station I found myself behind a male drive that obviously had some issues. Ask my friends and they'll tell you I don't tailgate and am a far from aggressive driver. I've been known to get stuck in one lane on a multi-lane highway because I don't want to cut someone off to move over.
I had my blue tooth headset on and was discussing my day in general with Tara who was stuck in Baltimore, MD waiting to be loaded. I followed this gentleman down Station onto the other side street and was about 2 car lengths behind him when he suddenly slammed on his breaks and came to a complete stop. I stopped behind him in plenty of time and the person behind me got a little close to my fender for comfort. The man in front then stuck his left hand out the window and flipped the middle finger all the while staring out into his side mirror at me. I commented to Tara that this guy was acting strange and stated what he just did. I actually thought he was flipping off a house across the street!
He then punched the gas and tore off down the hill. I started up much more slowly however, the light was red at the bottom of the hill. A few hundred yards short of the light he slowed way down, I caught up and he proceeded to repeatedly slam on his breaks until he reached the light. He was then able to turn right on the red. I waited for the green light.
Now we are on a 4 lane road and sure enough he is moving very slowly up the road in the right lane. I stayed back for about a half mile and then decided to pass him. As soon as I sped up a bit and moved to the left, he swerved to the left. When I moved back to the right, he whipped in front of me again; each time slamming on the breaks.
At this point I was very concerned and just wanted to get away from this man so I pulled into a parking lot for a construction machinery company and counted to 100.
When I pulled out he was now 8 cars in front of me and after the next light, turned into a dirt driveway on the right. He had a companion in the passenger seat, arm hanging out of the car and seat tilted way back.
I honestly don't know what caused the burr under his saddle. Maybe he saw my lips moving and thought I was making nasty comments (those didn't start until after I got away from him). Maybe he was paranoid, maybe he thought I was someone else or that I was following him. Maybe 2 car lengths was too close for him. Then again, maybe he was drunk or just an asshole.
The unfortunate part of this is it keeps running through my head that he pulled into a driveway, which means he might live there, which means there is a good chance I'll see him again on the road. There is no other decent, timely way for me to get home so on the same route I will go but now I'm wary of the crazy aggressive driver that somehow picked me as a target for his anger.