Futher Adventures of the Laptop in Auburn....

Mar 10, 2010 5:33 AM In transit to KENT, WA

Mar 10, 2010 5:33 AM Arrived at FedEx location KENT, WA

Mar 10, 2010 4:02 AM At local FedEx facility KENT, WA

Mar 10, 2010 12:55 AM Departed FedEx location AUBURN, WA

Mar 9, 2010 5:17 PM Arrived at FedEx location AUBURN, WA

So last night I checked and the item in question was "in transit to Auburn" I was hopeful that it would leave Auburn and be sent out to Seattle.

This morning I visited the "tracking web site" again and realized the computer was never going to be delivered with out something to move it out of the loop.

Little did I realize that once it arrived in Auburn, they would re-load it and send it BACK TO KENT.

My discovery resulted in a very long, very calm, seething phone call to Steve-- he had the audacity to tell me that I should have called earlier. Only if you call do they double check on issues. Tracking is automatic and really just to keep those like me entertained. After he "yes Mamm-ed me a couple of times I suggest in no uncertain terms that he better find that package and make sure it arrived in the office before noon. He said he would get it on a truck out for delivery and I suggested he do better than that.

FedX and the traveling Dell

So, first they build them, then they send them. FEDX is the preferred method. To keep you from bothering them endlessly they send you a tracking number.

On February 28Th FEDX was notified with shipping information.
March 2nd it arrived at the FedX facility
March 3rd it left California
March 4th if arrived in Portland. Spent 12 hours
March 5th at 1:04 am it left Portland
March 5th it arrived in Kent at 5:34 a.m. It was supposed to be delivered that day.
March 6th in transit. Okay, that might be hopeful.
March 6th it was having spa day in Kent
March 7th it was shopping at the Mall in Kent
March 8th it went to see all the academy award movies in 3D
March 9th at the crack of dawn, it was still hanging out in Kent

I TRACKED down a phone number (no easy task) called, questioned the fact it had been in Kent longer than at the factory and was told there had been:
A HUB MISDIRECTION....... Oh, I hope it's okay. It just sounds so so bad. Hate when our hubs are misdirected.

I just checked the progress:

March 9th arrived 5:45 p.m. AUBURN (South of Kent) maybe 15 miles...... it must have been going by giant land turtle

Check in for an update tomorrow.

I LOVE TRACKING NUMBERS. There will be screaming in the A.M. if it is not OUT FOR DELIVERY

Belle is out of the Hospital......

No answers, time is to tell us what is going on. So we have to assume that no news is good news.....

Oh this is a strawberry basket . I never knew I needed one. But obviously I do!!!!!

Belle Seems to have somethings going on.....

Worried father relayed that "it is not a brain tumor". A favorite expression in our family...... Two seizures, no apparent cause. As we all know, these sort of mysteries make us all very cranky.....
More will be reported when more is known.....

Miracles

Come in lots of ways and lots of sizes. In our world it is making it to graduation in good health and with hope for a great future. In Canada it is the Americans winning the hockey game against the Canadians.

I think we all need to be on the look out for some miracles because they can slip by without us noticing.

Mom sent bird feed. The birds will have their morning miracle.

Dartmouth, Who would have even imagined it might have been an option?

She had an interview for Dartmouth...... It am still amazed at that but then I have been amazed since she was born. She has 4 possible colleges and is waiting for the rest of the 7 to reply. Lots of girls are hearing and the rejections are starting to come. I am sure a few will be headed this way but then life is about acceptance and rejection.

Now to important stuff. Norway has made curling fashion the hit of the Winter Olympics. Mom wants a curling stone. As one of my friends said, when you are 78 years old, you get what ever you want. I am sure she already has the pants.

This snow picture is to remind us that there should be snow in Canada.

Chinese New Year and the Pomello

Pomellos are yellow, They are giant and I mean giant, did I mention giant to the max sort of like grapefruit. They start to appear in the Asian Markets in January. I am no sure if anyone eats them but they are spectacular. They look like grapefruit but are as sweet as an orange. They are fragrant and beautiful. They have very very thick skin and lots of that white soft padding stuff that comes in some citrus. They are worth the effort at least one time a year. I regret not taking a picture before I ripped it all apart.

It is the year of the tiger. I am not sure if that is good or bad but it just is. I wonder of tigers eat pomellos or just bat them around.

Some of Mary-Elizabeth Sierra Lanham's art....

She seems to be a very special person.

Poem to be Publish

AWARE

Absolute knowledge we declare,
but we are blindly unaware,
not that we do not care,
we are just deaf to despair.

Ears hear what they want to hear.
Hunger still brings tides of tears,
little ones cry and disappear.
Isn't that our fear?

Eyes see what they want to see.
Passing over those that plea.
We have a will that is free,
to which humanity is the key.

D0 we act how we want to act?
Do we stop a fear that's fact?
Only we can make an impact
if we are willing to interact.

Mary-Elizabeth Sierra Lanham, Grade 12
Holy Names Academy
Seattle, Washington.

No News is Good News

Amy Humphrey met with the Doctors yesterday. There was lots of cancer. They took out what they planned and have no evidence it has gone beyond the nodes. There is a chance there is more in the other nodes in her neck but the doctor is not too worried. Re-check in three months.

So... back to breathing.

Waiting for Results, but Surgery went well for Amy Humphrey ( I am using her name a lot so she can be "googled"

Surgery on Amy Humphrey was long but without incident. No loss of heart rate, blood pressure, slips of the knife that cut the nerves to things like the face, arm, vocal cords. All seems to be good. She came out of surgery looking a bit like Frankenstein but given the 8 + hours, she was great. Bit of pain on day 2 or 3 but she soon bonded with the "special" medicine and is well on the way to recovery.



New words in Alex and Amy's vocabulary: Pathology Report. On Thursday they meet with the Doctor and take a look. The Thyroid and half of the lymph nodes were taken out. We know there was cancer in all of those, I don't know what the report might say.



So now to the important stuff. Alex and I found a sort of Jewish deli. (I have driven all over Portland looking.) I went to Fabric Depot.



Update on the Pathology Report when available for Amy Humphrey, Oregon Resident.

Amy Humphrey Lanham

We were all sitting around and she mentioned that she was not on the Google search engine. She had "googled" herself and did not find a mention. I am wondering how long it will take for this entry to show up. This is sort of a test.

We are all worried about her. She has medullary carcinoma and is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday. It is the only treatment for this form of thyroid cancer. It involves a 6 hour surgery. The entire thyroid and one set of lymph nodes have to come out. There are lots of very important nerves that run through that area. There is a good chance that a nerve will be damaged and because there are so many of them, she has an entire laundry list of things that can go wrong.

Loss of voice, use of right arm, stopping of heart, breathing function. Need I say more. There is a 30 percent chance she will not survive surgery.

Time to light some candles, bargain with Buddha, do a sacrifice or three and then just whine to what ever supreme power you deal with in the day to day thing that is your life.

Now the Really Hard Stuff

So we have arrived the New Year. 2010.

Life has shifted to the future.

Graduation. May 30th.

College Choices: Carroll College, College of Idaho.

Both have offered money but 9 more to go.

2009 CHRISTMAS LETTER.

Make Believe
JANUARY: Mary-Elizabeth and I were invited by the Obama’s to Washington D.C. We stayed at the White House. We had the Lincoln Bedroom of course.

FEBRUARY: I was picked to be the first hip replacement/old lady to travel to the Space Station for a couple of weeks.

MARCH: Mary-Elizabeth was doing some research and located an entire cavern of Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso’s paintings and the famed Amber Room stolen by the Germans. The French were so happy that they gave us the Mona Lisa.

APRIL: Mary-Elizabeth was picked to travel for a month with Madonna on a tour of Europe, Mideast and Africa. She met with the Queen and many other heads of state. The Queen was so impressed with Mary-Elizabeth’s collection of Queen Elizabeth flatware that she was gifted a palace and promised she could have a choice of any of the Queen’s subjects as a Senior Prom date.

MAY: Mary-Elizabeth and her friends were escorted to the prom with the real Harry Potter and his peeps. (Of course we know the books are real stories and not make-believe.) The girls were picked up by a Broom Limousine, had dinner on a platform in the sky overlooking Seattle put there by Dumbledore. Mario Batalli was the chef. Of course they stopped by Dicks after the Prom creating quite a stir as the Broom is 40 feet long and has a hot tub.

JUNE: Mary-Elizabeth was invited to attend Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Brown. They all gave her a full ride scholarship even though she never applied.

JULY: 17th birthday came and went without much hoopla. Her red Ferrari was a welcomed gift delivered by Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. (Twilight Reference)
AUGUST : We both competed in the New York Marathon. I was 3rd but Mary-Elizabeth took 1st. She beat the men a true first. We were both dressed by Mode Magazine and featured in the opening episode of Ugly Betty.

SEPTEMBER: Mary-Elizabeth settled into school for her last year at Holy Names. She is so loved by her teachers that she has no homework and only must appear each day in class. Her lessons are downloaded onto her IPod and she just has to listen. No tests, mid terms or projects are required. Only A’s will be given

OCTOBER: Martha Stewart finally confessed to the world that I gave her all of her ideas. She will be providing me with gardening, organizing and weird eggs for life. I may have the floor of my choice stenciled.

NOVEMBER: Mary-Elizabeth arranged for all of my friends to fly on the 787 Dreamliner to Vegas. I know everyone thinks there has not been a flight of the new Boeing plane but then it was a secret. She rented out the Venetian for the week-end. Everyone won at each game. The private Elvis show was pretty amazing….

DECEMBER: Central Props from Universal Studios came to our house and we are decorated to the max. 50, 0000.00 lights are on the outside and snow falls only on our house. The interior is completely done, tastefully of course. Each room is a different theme. A tree from each continent. The best part is that someone will be there on January 7th to take it all down.

REALITY; nothing happened in 2009. No big trips, other than a couple of fun weddings. A couple of college visits, some great time with family and friends. A few trips to Whidbey Island where the dogs made dog friends.

We are so so grateful and thank God and Mary and the Saint’s every day for our return to NORMAL.

Merry Christmas 2009!!!!! Sally, Mary-E, Tucker and Sadie

Thoughts about Christmas and other matters

There are things about Christmas I just love. The smells, the out door lights. That small feelling your gut that tells the tension is building.



There are things about Christmas I don't love. I hate the endless advertisements, busy stores and poor selections of Christmas cards.

This year we are going to do some things differently. We are not doing much shopping. Even when money is tight, I find that there is a lot of ways to fill the "needs on the list". We are headed to Eugene and gathering to do puzzels and eat big meat with the family.



Then we will be do lots of family bonding which result in lots of loud screaming and the we will return with stories and deep desires to not go home for Christmas. I think there will be blood when we get out the monopoly set or Mia (the dog) eats a puzzle piece. Lots of cooking, and cleaning up and dishes and valium for everyone.

And then we do it all over again.... That is how this all works.

Cancer World and Christmas

ME is fine.

Others are darting back and forth into the must loathed world. Let's see. Amy, Alex's wife, my former college roommate, has been searching for the cause of the metastasis in her lymph nodes. Lots of drama and worry and well placed concern. Yesterday they determined, as much as they ever can, that she has a form of thyroid cancer. Not the one easily treated but she will be having surgery next week. The next round of candles to be lit need to be for "containment". They seem to think things are fine.

A very good friend's mother with a rare form of breast cancer may not be celebrating Christmas this year. Lots of family is gathering. No one will be surprised but as we all know, even when expected, there is no way to prepare for the loss and hole that used to be that person in our lives.

One of Mary-Elizabeth's kids she was in charge of this summer, Maddie died last week. While Maddie could not beat leukemia, she never lost faith in the existence of Real Mermaids...

All of this has made me edgy and Mary-Elizabeth sad.

We are looking for some good news. We will take it anywhere we can find it. Maybe we have to be happy that when the Christmas Tree tumbled, nothing was lost.

All Most Turkey Day!!!!!

Well we are in the count down. Lots to do but then that is life. I continue to work on organization and other such nonsense. I don't have too much to do. People are coming and it is a potluck. I am doing the Turkey, Stuffing, Gravy potatoes, oops, better go do the cranberries.....

BIG WINDS AND OTHER DOINGS

BIG WIND. LOTS OF BIG WATER. OH YEAH..... WINTER IS ALMOST HERE.

Update: Children's still drawing blood and poking my daughter. In search of the answers about the endrocin system. Oh, is that a mushy science. Sort of like cooking. A little of this, a little of that. See how that works, and then ask you a whole bunch of really vague questions:

Are you tired? Well I am a teenager and am up lots and lots of hours each night studying AP Calculus and Physics, Yes I am tired.

More so then before? Well, I had cancer before that and had taken hundred's of doses of chemical specifically designed to rob my body of all energy making matter.

Do you hop out of bed in the morning? NO, but then I have never been a morning person.

Do you seem cold? Well my mom loves to sleep with her bedroom windows open and Tucker pushes the back door open all the time. So our house is the same temperature as the out of doors on a good day.

Does your hair fall out? Compared to what? I have totally lost all of my hair twice and then just for fun, at the end of treatment most of it went.... But then I guess the last few months has not been good.

Good news, no real issues that can not be address. Thyroid seems to be toast. It can hop out of bed if it is so inclined. The pituitary gland needs to be evaluated. Evidently it has lots to do with some of this. Human Growth Hormone is still needed and it gets to decide what to produce and all of that.

So we sit in the warm house and watch the howling wind and are very glad not to be in the storm.

November has Arrived!

Some how it snuck up on me. Here it is. Halloween came and left lots of candy this year. The full moon was here and we are heading to the last Friday the 13th. Lots of weird days and projects and rain and hail and thunder and lighting. College Applications, planning for the end of year. Making of Fruitcake, a birthday for me and then Christmas. How can I complain?

College Searches and Visits

So welcome to our world. Since I applied to college it has become oh so much more interesting and expensive. You no longer fill out an application, send it in and pray. You have "To show a real interest" . I am not sure what that means but evidently, I should have sent letters of inquiry when ME was born, if not before. One is supposed to research, contact admission counselors, the campus and then go visit and have an inteview and then visit again. It is always good to build a library also.

I can not abide college visits. They are BORING. This is how it goes:

The college was founded ____________. We have great social activities. We have a great cafeteria. We have a strong alumni association that will get you a job after you finish school. A new one. We have our own postal zip code.....

I have a whole different set of criteria. Do they take the Common Application? ( you fill that puppy out and the computer sends it to all your colleges) Is there an on campus coffee stand and can I obtain a decent triple short latte? Is the parking easy? Is it a place I will want to visit again? What is the book store like. So far the bookstores are ranked as follows:
1. U of Washington
2 U of San Diego
3 U of Portland
4. Seattle U.
5. Gonzaga.

How many boys are on campus and how many smile at ME as we walk around.

I refuse to do more than a brief visit and am not packing in 10 colleges in the upcoming "Senior College Visit" time allowed in ME's Senior schedule. I don't have time for a fall vacation. This is a racket...... Maybe after the "we want you to come" letters arrive then we might take a second look.

ME has a bit of her mom in her. She was drilled this last weekend about college and what she wanted to do when she grew up. She said the on Monday Gonzaga was having it's first audition. She would then determine whether or not there would be a call back.

Gonzaga has been placed on the list. Okay, the pizza smelled good. Lousy book store but I was able to see Bing Crosby's Oscar and all his gold and platinum records. What could be better.