Good News from Cancerland

Actually, there's small good news and big good news.

The small good news is I had my check-in with my onc today and everything looks good (i.e., still NED). I go back again January.

The big good news is actually not about me, but about one of my YSC friends, who is Stage IV, but is currently also NED. I figured I've shared the sad stuff from YSC here enough times, I should share the good news as well. Go ShawnieMac! May you and NED live happily ever after!

How Low Can I Go? (Cult Update)

At last! I have actual progress to report.

First, the prologue:
After being away for a couple of weeks, I was slightly dismayed at last week's weigh-in to find that I was up 2lbs. After all, I was SAILING. That's exercise, isn't it? (You may have noticed that I DIDN'T post about it.)

Now, the news:
However, this week I was down 4.6lbs! Which a) is a personal record for a single week's weight loss and b) gets me to a new low weight (still not my goal weight, but getting closer...).

So here's this week's loss, in Scrabble terms:

Cool Site of the Day

Actually, 2 sites.

1. TED Talks - These are short (usually 20min or less) lectures and presentations by some of the greatest thinkers alive today. And, for those of you using Google Reader, they have a blog page that you can subscribe to.

2. I've known about TED for awhile, but just recently added them to my Google Reader and am way glad I did 'cause today they posted an encore talk on Photosynth, with a link to the site. Go play!

PSA: Become a Bone Marrow Donor

I would really be remiss if I didn't post about this...

A woman I know from "the boards," Danica Martinez, developed leukemia as a result of her chemo treatment for breast cancer (crazy, but true).

She is the single mother of 3 kids and desperately needs a bone marrow transplant, but has been unable to find a match.

Now here's the cool part: ANYONE (well, anyone who hasn't had cancer) can be a bone marrow donor and the actual donation process sounds way easier than, say, giving up a kidney.

For more info on Danica and how to become a bone marrow donor, go here.

The Web is a Strange Place...

First of all, it's important for you to know that, despite being relatively technically savvy, I still prefer to keep a paper calendar/to do list. And I do all my scheduling and tasking w/a mechanical pencil.

The make/model of pencil I have been using for years is the Pentel Twist-Erase 0.5.

Who the hell cares, you ask? Why are you telling me this??

Stay with me. This is important prologue info.

As I said, I've been using the Pentel for years, but recently have had trouble with the lead breaking and so had decided that, since this is my primary writing instrument, perhaps it was time to upgrade.

So I decided to do a little internet shopping.

And came across a whole blogworld of pencil enthusiasts.

Yes, you read that previous sentence correctly. Pencil enthusiasts.

There's this guy, who writes about 4-color mechanical pencils, which are apparently called Norma pencils.

There's this site, which, according to it's self-description, has been "serving pencil collectors and enthusiasts since 1996!"

And there's this site, the "online pencil museum."

And these are just the tip of the iceberg.

For example, there are these:
Pencil Talk
Dave's Mechanical Pencils
Pencil Box

I am clearly out of my depth here...all I want is a nice looking mechanical pencil with smooth, easy lead advancement and an eraser larger than a kernel of unpopped corn.

Sweets

On my way to work today I needed to pick up something sweet to contribute to a goodbye breakfast for a colleague. I was walking to the PATH station when I passed the new coffee/dessert place in town and thought, "Yeah. Support the new local business."

So I went in. I actually wasn't sure whether they sold their treats "in bulk," or if they were strictly a-coffee-&-a-slice-of-cake kind of place, so I asked whether they had boxes. The answer was, "Yes, but we're actually not open yet." They didn't mean in general, they meant for the day. This, despite the fact that the display cases were stocked, the owner and another employee were there and the door was propped open.

Now, since I hadn't planned on going there in the first place and only stopped in as a spur-of-the-moment thing, I wasn't particularly inconvenienced. But I was a little perplexed that a new business owner would pass up the opportunity to establish a relationship with a customer. I mean, I was there, she was there, the mini cupcakes were there, the box to put them in was there--how hard would it have been for this transaction to come together? Instead, I was left with sort of a weird feeling of rejection. A minor rejection, granted, but one that, let's face it, could impact my decision to go back there.

The happy ending to this is that I continued on my way to the PATH station and stopped in Carlo's Bakery, which I've passed about a million times since moving to the 6th Borough, but had never set foot in because they looked like a fancy cake store and I am rarely in need of a fancy cake. As it turns out, they are actually an Italian bakery, so now I've found a place in town to get biscotti (my favorite), sfogliatella (the hubby's fave) and cannolis (everybody's favorite). So one local business's loss is another's gain.

I Sail!

"I sail!
I'm a sailor! I sail!
On a boat on the lake.
Very far away from the dock.
Into the wind, with the sky and everything."
-- Bob, "What About Bob?"

Well, we did it. The hubby and I survived our 5-day sailing course and are now certified to skipper or crew any vessel up to 24'.

Now we just need a boat...

I'm Sailing Away...

Literally.

Sorry for the dearth of posting but I was in DC for work this past week and next week the hubby and I are heading to Annapolis to take a 5-day SAILING COURSE.



Very excited.

And a little nervous.

But mostly excited.

I promise to report back post-trip.

Apparently, you're supposed to wish us "Fair Winds and Following Seas."