Very busy day today – I’m going to my first networking luncheon with BNI today as a guest of my friend (and bad ass guitar student), Jan.
OK, I’m not sure how many folks that read this blog have every experienced this, but I’m sharing this in hopes it will help someone out. Once in a while, my iPhone will barf all over my IMAP email account for furiousBall.com. Barf? Yes, barf. When checking email, you will see a messaging saying Load X more messages (where X is a number of messages in your inbox). You hit refresh and it appears to start downloading, only to give you that same Load X more messages (X is a number if you forgot from the previous sentence). I tried resetting the iPhone, removing and re-adding the mail account to no avail. The cause I believe are read but undeleted messages in my inbox. By logging into my webmail client, I deleted the read and undeleted messages (also, there seem to be these empty messages as well, delete those too). And violá, you can receive emails from your IMAP account again. Bladow.
Yesterday, my son left his bike in the driveway, leaning against the wood pile near the fence to my backyard. The same location I had left one of my own bicycles overnight once, only to wake and find it stolen the next morning. Bubs went to go for a bike ride and came in with tears running down his cheeks. He knew it was gone. We looked around the backyard and his buddies houses just in case he had forgotten and left the bike. But nope, it was gone. I told him to hop on his other bike and ride around the block and he lucked out. Someone had apparently stolen the bike to ride about half a block away and then deposited the bike on the side of the road.
I reminded him that Daddy lost his bike and learned his lesson, and that he should be thankful he didn’t have to lose his bike to learn as well. I’m extremely tempted to put a decoy bike and wait for whomever thought it would be funny to steal a child’s bike. If I find you, I’m going to put extra teeth into your mouth (maybe I can find some shark jaws) , just so I can be satisfied with the number of teeth I knock out of your fucking head.
Viv is very excited to be signed up for ballet. My mother was nice enough to spring for the lessons (man, my money situation sucks). She got to check out the studio today and I can’t wait to see her pirouetting all over the place.
I had two really good meetings yesterday. First I met with Bill from Dixon Hill, I went over a lot of my past and current projects. This was cool for a couple of reasons, #1 it’s always fun to talk code with a fellow PHP/MySQL programmer (I know ladies, calm down… down girl, down) and #2 there was some affirmation as I showed Bill my furiousCMS app I’ve been writing and he dug it. Bill walked me through some of the Dixon Hill projects and I was duly impressed with what they’ve been up to. Can’t wait to work with them.
Next I met up with Rob from CaddisArt (check out their site, MyManZone – probably some good Father’s Day gift ideas)down at the Woodbriar Inn in West Berlin for a beer or nine and to talk shop a bit. Rob is looking for a go-to guy for site maintenance for his 1000 or so existing sites. I explained to him my situation and it was really cool to hear that he chose me because of my experience, but moreso, he liked what he had read about my hunger and attitude towards work. Work hard, play hard.
Beyond that, I had a good day working on chopping up the Wheelies redesign into CSS layers and plugging in the furiousCMS in the backend, fixed a logout issue with VidiScript on Nude Celebrity Sex Videos (again, that’s a Christian flea market, mostly selling hand sewn wallets and keychain thingies with bible verses on them), did some research into affiliate networks for upcoming projects with Brian from ZeroPercentCards.com, and fixed an issue with the RSS feed for Sageth.com.
I love direct mail… the irony of getting my unemployment check AND an ad from a Porsche dealer… oh man…
Movie review…
S. Darko – Ok, if you plan on watching this sequel to the cult classic Donnie Darko, here’s what I will do for you…
I will come to the theater (or your couch if you are watching on DVD),
drop my pants,
take a huge shit right next to you,
leave*
Me taking a dump right next to you will make this movie more enjoyable. It’s that bad. Seriously.
*Note – I put the leave step in there because I just figure if you are enjoying someone’s poop, it’s probably weird to make eye contact with said pooper.
On Sunday, I watched her shake. The day after the wedding last weekend, both Abbe and I were groggy from having such a great time at Jackie and Eric’s wedding. Abbe was feeling one coming on. “One” in this case refers to an epileptic seizure.
Abbe has suffered from the disease since she was a young teen, she has been on medications that were prescribed to her when she was 16, the seizures don’t happen as often, but they still come. Several months ago, my mother (a retired RN) researched and found an excellent neurologist for Abbe to go see. Mom took her to the appointment and they came home with amazing news. The doctor knew Abbe was not on the correct meds for her condition, in fact, her form of epilepsy is the most treatable type. He was writing her a new script. Then while talking to the pharmacist, she discovered the cost (with her health insurance) $225 a month. Completely impossible for her to afford. So, she did what many Americans find themselves doing, shrugged it off and tried to tough it out.
Back to last Sunday, after having a slice of toast and relaxing on her parents’ couch, she decided she’s OK for the ride from Longswamp, PA back to my place in Jersey. I was driving, no questions asked, the risk of a seizure while driving is insane. We got into her car and as she reached for her seat belt, it hit her. First a shock and spasm, another, another and then her head cocked to the side in a horrible contortion, mouth slammed shut, one side of her face went into a palsy-like calm, while the other half was pure tension. I sat in the car with her and kept her safe. I didn’t want to honk the horn and alert her parents, just because, I have no idea what the noise might do to her. Leaving her to get Jane and Bruce was out of the question as well. She finally collapsed into my chest, seemingly asleep but breathing with a pattern that didn’t sound 100% normal. She sprung up blathering something incomprehensible, riffled the floorboard for her flip-flops, then went back into her familiar nuzzle into my chest. She was out of it, still. I got her to layback into her seat and relax for a moment, so I could race around the car to hopefully begin to carry her into the house. Bruce came rushing out, he had noticed the car was still in the driveway. Jane came out right behind him. They soothed their daughter who was a mess of tears and fright – she had no idea where she was, she might not have even known who we were at that point.
We brought her inside and laid her down.
If you have never witnessed an epileptic seizure, you have no idea how frightening this truly is. It ranks up very close to childbirth with the “holy shit, a human being can do this?” factor.
We drove home after making sure Ab was OK, I promised Jane we would call as soon as we got home. Her sisters texted us as we were riding home to check on her. I got home and felt the frustration of that golden prescription that we can’t afford returning. Would this have happened to her if she was on those meds? Maybe. But I know Abbe, she works her ass off and she can’t afford something she needs. This isn’t a second home on a beach, this isn’t a luxury sedan (believe me, you should see what she drives!), this isn’t a $200 pair of sunglasses, this is the ability to live a more “normal” life.
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
As we crossed over the Ben Franklin Bridge (and did my customary point to the Battleship New Jersey – “I do their website, you know?” “Yes, honey, you say that every time”), I realized I’m sick of the way things are. Abbe and I are going to change both of our lives. I’m going to take this web design/development momentum I’m building and she is going to go for it as a knitting/sewing sexy freak of nature. It will take time and we’re both going to need to find day jobs for sure, but something that still sticks with me from Gary Varneychuk’s speech at FOWA Miami – “if you do what you love, it is impossible to fail”.
Abbe and I both will not be hamstrung by the “best” care our employers can provide anymore, it’s on us. And that is freeing – you have no idea. And that’s not meant as a shot at current/former employers at all, they are the ones really hamstrung, but it rolls down hill as you would guess.
The by-products of “success” in this light, are immense and speak right to this father’s heart. Think of the value that I can instill in my son and daughter, by providing for my family by doing what I love, on my terms. Of course there will be bullshit, but one of the creeds I’ve been living by since my father’s passing was, if you’re an asshole, I’m not working with you. I fired a client for that exact reason about six months ago – best thing I ever did, left a $2000 check for my work on the table and never looked back. Does that mean I’m going to miss out on opportunities? Of course. But there’s a bigger premise than just chasing dollars that I’m after. I want to teach my children to not fear chasing their happiness. When you do something for love, you will NEVER fail. NEVER.
I am running the 2012 Philly Marathon in honor of my fiancee, Abbe and everyone that has had seizure disorders affect their lives. Please donate if you can
