Weblog
Aug 12, 03:13 pm: Now, she's walking for the cure
Three years ago, my partner, Ramsey, was in the worst of chemo. It was the worst for two reasons: It was just after her third treatment and side-effects kept her in bed — sick and exhausted. And it was the worst because we didn’t know if it was working yet. All we knew then was that she had invasive ductal breast cancer — and that the lump, part cancer part punishment from the biopsies, was larger than we could think about.
Now, though, she’s walking for a cure. It’s amazing to me, the steps she’s taking. And I mean that literally. Walking ten and twelve miles a day as she trains. So different from the person who could barely walk from bedroom to living room in our small, single story house.
Read Ramsey’s words about why she’s walking and then, please support her.
She is trying to reach $3,000 and still has almost half of that to go. Any amount will help her. And so will spreading the word.
The donation isn’t just so that she can walk, proving that she is putting the fear and exhaustion of the disease behind her, one step at a time, it’s tosupport research so other people don’t have to go through that dark time themselves.
As Ramsey writes:
I walk to heal myself. I walk because one day the money I raise will help keep more people from going through what I went through. I walk to put cancer behind me, to regain my power, to move on. One foot in front of the other. I walk.
Please support her by donating to this effort and spreading the word
Jul 26, 02:08 pm: Have you watched The Last Lecture?
You probably have seen at least snippets of it. But if you haven’t watched the whole thing, take the time to do so.
And after do, go to a health cause that you care about and donate. And then find a parents group and donate.
Oct 22, 10:05 pm: Thoughts with those in Southern California
If you get a chance today – make the chance if you don’t get it – donate to the Red Cross. The Southern California wildfires are raging. I lived in San Diego County for over 30 years and this strikes close. My family is evacuating and right now, along with so many others, they do not know the state of their homes.
The San Diego Union-Tribune has good detailed information on the evacuation areas.
Jul 13, 02:48 pm: On vacation
You can see the thrilling pictures in the 2007 Summer Tour collection.
And, if you really want the narrative, check out the poorly maintained personal blog over at crankreport.org.
Mar 14, 06:51 pm: Wilmer Moore, RIP
For a variety of reasons, I did not know my grandfather well. I met him as an adult and then only briefly. I do know that he was man who loved his son, his duaghter-in-law, his granddaughters (even me, the one he did not really know), and horse racing. I know that he loved my grandmother and she loved him.
The most vivid memory I have of him is when I first met him. I was 24 and sitting in his living room when he walked in. He pulled me up from the couch and swept me across the living room—dancing with me—telling me how happy was to meet me.
Mar 13, 04:04 pm: I consume media
Britt Bravo tagged me with the media consumption meme. So here goes:
Books: Top on my reading list right now is Leonardo the Terrible Monster and Wiggle. Every night, at 8 Pacific time, you’ll find me sitting in a rocking chair reading them to a 2-year-old who has memorized all the words and knows if I try to skip. Other than that, I’ve been re-reading The Watchment (comics are my not-so-secret vice), carrying around a copy of The Starfish and the Spider and re-reading a bunch of Joan Didion via the new Everyman’s Library collection, We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live.
Magazines: We get Cook’s Illustrated and I pick up copies of the Rolling Stone but the web has changed my magazine reading habits tremendously and now I mainly can be found with a copy of the New York Times Magazine. I still read newspapers though. We get the SF Chronicle, the New York Times and the Vallejo Times-Herald. I’d get the LA Times too but they don’t put the local stuff in the papers delivered out of the area and that, with the writing, is what I jones for.
Movies: I’m not in charge of movies in my house. Ramsey manages the “Netflix” queue and it’s just my job to drop the disc into the player and hit the appropriate buttons on the TV. Recently, we’ve watched An Inconvenient Truth, Shut Up and Sing, and Little Miss Sunshine. It usually takes us a while to get to movies.
Music: In heavy rotation right now is Two Shoes by Cat Empire, The Band, and anything from Aimee Mann. I periodically can’t get over high school and listen to punk and new wave compilation CDs. I don’t know if I should be frightened or pleased that it often prompts Lucy to say “I love this music!” As a side note, I still have a turntable and the first album I ever bought (Foreigner’s 4) and big classical music collection.
Radio: It’s all KFOG all the time. Except on the ride in to work. Then I play my stereotype and listen to KQED public radio.
TV: I’ve admitted it before: I love TV. We watch Rome, The Sopranos, 30 Rock, Grey’s Anatomy. But I miss, oh how I miss, Love Monkey.
Web: I’m all about Firefox, Blog Bridge, and ma.gnolia. I’m happy to share my opml.
Communication: This picture says it all. i spend a LOT of time on the phone. An obnoxious amount of time on the phone. When I’m at my desk, I use Outlook for work and gmail for everything else with a smattering of SquirrelMail in there to manage some domain related emails. I txt a fair amount and I’m trying to like twitter. Instant messaging is spread over skype and GTalk.
Whew! I’d like to hear from Sonny Cloward, Peter Campbell, and Billy Bicket.
Oct 9, 07:29 pm: You know what stops me from using Second Life?
Have to choose male or female. I don’t see myself fitting in neatly to either category. And, you know, in one degree or another, I bet that’s true of approximately everybody.
It’s a virtual world. It would be nice if the question really did reflect gender and not sex.
tagged: secondlife, gender, choice
Oct 2, 03:14 pm: Some good personal news
Many of you know that my partner has been undergoing treatment for breast cancer since early this year. After 6 rounds of chemotherapy and a surgery, we’ve heard the good news: there is no evidence of cancer in her breast or lymph nodes.
This treatment plan, which involves neoadjuvant chemotherapy, sometimes results in a complete response to the chemotherapy which means, basically, when they go in to look there is, quite literally, nothing there. This is, for short-term and long-term outcomes, the best possible news.
Needless to say, last night we had a very nice bottle of champagne.
Aug 28, 04:07 pm: Another Emmy moment
Now that I’ve come out of the closet about TV, I feel so much freer. TV is a sport, for the love of god, and I enjoy it like crazy.
Watched the Emmy’s last night, even though it hurt me because there weren’t enough nominations for Six Feet Under and the ones that were nominated didn’t win.
The real pay off, though, came in this morning’s column by Tim Goodman:
Lead actress in a drama series: Mariska Hargitay. It was better to just plug your ears, close your eyes and say, ‘Edie Falco.’
