 Doomed Pinata |
 Wyatt |
 Taking a swing |
 Elizabeth |
 Elizabeth |
 Lauren taking a swing |
Two weekends and two swim day birthday parties. Wyatt’s 16th birthday was on the 19th and he had some friends over last weekend for a great birthday party. They mostly swam in the backyard, but it’s 2009 and almost all boys his age have laptops now, so there was a lot of networked online gaming between all these boys too. They really enjoy World of Warcraft. We got a nice pinata for Wyatt and everyone did very well smashing it to pieces and raining down the candy.
And then this weekend, we had Lauren’s 11th birthday party. Even though Lauren’s 11th birthday is on the 1st of Sept, Saturday was a great Summer for a party and swimming. It was quite warm (102 actually), so we set up the shade room in the back yard for the kids to find a place out of the sun. Lots of Lauren’s school friends came and the whole rest of the day was filled with swimming, eating, birthday cake, presents and lots of fun for kids and adults alike.
I’ve got two appointments with my doctors today. One with Dr. Woolf in the morning which will be a general check up of my mouth and throat and later this afternoon I’ll meet with Dr. Vikstrom and get my blood checked. I’ll post a follow up later today.
Well I had those two appointments and they both went very well. Dr. Woolf poked, prodded and stretched my jaw and said everything looks great. I still have some scarring on my jaw muscles, which explains why I can’t open my mouth as wide as I used to, but he told me some ways I could slowly regain my ability to open my mouth wide again. This is a drag still, because I can’t eat things like hamburgers, sandwiches and other large things, without having to smash them down to size.
I also met with Dr. Vikstrom and he also said things seem to be going well with the healing. My face is clearing up slowly, and I’m getting a little weight back. My lowest was 188, but I’m now weighing in at about 194. So there’s some progress I feel good about. I also had my blood taken for several tests, including making sure my thyroid is functioning properly and didn’t get fried by the radiation (which is pretty common I guess).
So the new was good and I’m doing well each and every day. Still can’t eat anything even remotely spicy but most things are back to normal, except I still can’t drink wine. Whaaaa!
Gran Torino
Wow. We saw a really good movie last night. I’ve been wanting to see Gran Torino for quite a while, but it’s been difficult because I know it’s not suitable for kids, which means Denise and I can only watch it when the kids are not with us. Well, last night we were kidless again, so we set aside some time and decided to finally watch it. We both really enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s portrayal of a crusty, racist Korean War veteran living in a working class neighborhood that had long since evolved into a multicultural melting pot. You really want to hate him for his outdated and close-minded ways of looking at other people and life, but by the middle of the movie you begin to root for his eventual transformation.
The movie is quite heavy and has some very course language and violence, but the overall message is what’s important. And that message is that we all have to live together, protect each other, help others even when it feels wrong and just get along. The ending of the movie was quite unexpected for both Denise and I, but it totally made sense and worked perfectly. It had us both in tears. Awesome!
McNear's Beach
This was a really nice weekend overall. It started in a relaxing sort of way with my company picnic on Friday. The picnic was held at McNear’s Beach Park near San Rafael, CA. What a beautiful location for a company picnic. The weather was spectacular and since we were on the beach (on the SF Bay), the panoramic views were amazing. Other than a moderate sun burn on my noggin, the picnic was a great way to start the weekend.
Saturday afternoon, Denise and I became kidless (girls with their dad, and the boys with their mom), so we decided to have a date night out. We enjoyed a great dinner at Los Reyes in VV and then saw the new movie called Funny People. Needless to say it was pretty darn funny. On Sunday, I decided to finally build the raised garden for Denise I had always been promising. I found a great building plan on the Sunset.com website and we went out and purchased the lumber and other materials. For the rest of the day, I was cutting, drilling, driving screws and applying redwood waterproofing oil. The wooden box for the garden turned out amazingly well and looks fantastic. Now I have to sink it into place in the back yard and get some good soil to fill it up. After that, it’s all Denise’s!
Brief Encounter
And to finish off a great weekend, Denise and I had a wonderful dinner at my sister’s house. Our tradition of watching old time movies led to us enjoying an oldie from 1945 called “Brief Encounter“. The premise centers on a man and a woman who meet at a train station in England, fall in love and have to ultimately decide what to do with their improper relationship. They are both married to other people and have families. Sprinkled throughout the movie were musical moments from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. One of my favorites! The movie was filmed in England at the tail end of WWII, which meant the film crews had to find locations (like train stations) far enough away from London to avoid by the nightly blackouts because of the threat of bombing attacks by Germany. Interesting stuff.
