MWNews 250

It's 250. Who knew it would take this long. The several years I took off might have been an indication. Not that I don't have a lot to say, I just haven't ever found a way to do it consistently. Especially, not at home. In the beginning, that was how I did it, but over the years, that kind of changed. I'd like to do it at home, but there is so much else to do, and I don't like sitting at the computer anymore, it is just not something I try to do. You would think I wound not have an issue working on a computer, it is my job, but I have basically burned out on it. Hate looking at them, hate typing on them, don't even really like looking things up on them. Maybe if I got back into programming, I would enjoy it once again, but I am too old to learn a new language and I do not have the motivation to do it anymore.

Once again, I had to step away and I have no idea what I was going to write. I guess you might wonder why my picture is on this one. It's because I am thinking of ending this again. And to show I am even more serious about it this time; I thought the last picture should be of me. Just to remember me by. 

Even as I type, I am having trouble saying that. Not sure why. The last entry and I am serious about it. Almost to the point where I might change my mind. It would just be too sad. Kind of like I just gave up and no one would ever know this existed. I think I have to get something out there where this has more views, specifically, or at least, by my own family. No one reads it and I am not sure they remember it is here. Almost certainly, they do not. Maybe I'll pass it on in my obituary. Then again, I don't get to write that, so it might be a bit hard to do.

In the end, I will almost certainly keep on writing. I should change the picture, but maybe I will leave it just to celebrate the 250th entry. This was me at age 63. It is a year old, but other than the beard being a bit shorter, it is me. Sorry to disappoint.

I am going to take my time doing this one. One, I get interrupted and forget what I was going to write. Two, in case it is the end, I want to get a lot in here to say goodbye. Three, I am not feeling well again, and it scares me. Been alright since the operation, but I can sense? feel? it is coming back. A little pain here, a bit of uncomfortableness there. Nothing big, but it scares me, and I am starting to worry about it. I am afraid this time, I may not recover. Damn, that took a bad turn, but just in case, if anyone ever goes back and reads this, you will know I knew the end was coming. I have always thought I had till I was 70, can't say why I knew or know that. Read my other blog if you want to know. So, I still think I will make 70, but maybe it won't be a fun ride. That's a long time to go with pain and seeing everyone worry all the time. I hate that. Always being asked if I am alright. No, I am not alright. Stop asking, just assume I am not and let's move on. But if it does get worse, I will have to submit to it all the time, every day, every hour. I do not look forward to that. I will hate it and I will not be happy. Let's move on. I will probably come back to it, but let's move on.

Four, I wanted to maybe put some highlights from the years into this entry. I still recall some of the things I wrote back in the beginning and some of it needs to be repeated. It was funny and I still laugh. Problem with that is, I would have to go back and read it all to find interesting passages and things I should include in this epitaph. And it would make this way too long. One story, really quick, that has been on my mind a lot lately and I still laugh.

Maeghan was little. It was one morning, somewhere we have lived. Juanita was in the kitchen, can't explain that one, and she asked Maeghan what she wanted for breakfast. Maeghan said noodles. Maeghan always says noodles, especially when she was little. Juanita told her noodles were for lunch so what did she want for breakfast. Maeghan sat there for a minute, thinking about, then announced she didn't want breakfast, she wanted lunch.

Not the exact story, but as I wrote, I still started laughing and the people at work looked at me kind of funny. I just miss that. Maeghan and I still say lots of funny things to each other, but I miss the old times when it was all new and we were all just delighted with everything. But, since I did draw attention to myself, I am going to have to stop typing again and do some work. Back when I can.

I am back the next day. Got to work a bit early, so I have some extra time. If I could remember what I was talking about, this would go a bit better. Re-reading it is never a good option. But I say that a lot. I find I am repeating myself more and more. Another reason I think I should take a break. 

Maeghan is going to her ComiCon this weekend. She leaves on Friday and will stay over the weekend. I am not sure what the total plans are but she has gotten tickets to meet Dr. Who, so that might be good. I won't mention the price of those tickets. More money than I would ever consider paying. 

Maeghan is going somewhere tomorrow, and she wants us to meet her there. I think we are meeting at the shopping center, or that is where I will meet them. I think she is going somewhere else before then. Some cooking shop I think. It might be to get me something for my birthday. I hope not. I appreciate it but I don't want her spending her money on things I want. I have no idea what it is she might be getting, but I hope it's not for me. I will meet them at the shops when I get off work. 

I would consider taking the day off but I have to save all my days off. I have the next operation in a couple of months and I have used all my vacation time and my sick leave, so I have to save it up so I have enough to use during that. Not sure if I will need more than a couple of days, but just in case, I will save all I can until then. Might be able to get a couple of weeks worth by then. I get four weeks a year but it is accrued as you work, so it is about a week every three months. I have a few days now, so maybe I will make it. Have to consider the August operation also, if that is going to take place. Won't know that until July, probably. 

William is applying for jobs, or I think he is. He wants to print out his resume, he already has, and give it to different places. I think he doesn't understand that it is all done electronically now, they don't take printouts, but he insists that is what he needs so that is what he is doing. He says he cannot figure out how to submit it online. Probably needs to figure that out if he is going to claim he knows computers. His other job ended, or the contract ended, it was only for six days and he hasn't been asked about anything else yet. Hard for him to do that work since it has to be easily available for him to get to. We can't drive him to different places with both Juanita and I working. More and more reason I need to get another car, teach him to drive and let him drive himself.

Now that is a scary thought. Letting William drive my new car. Almost makes me want to just get an older car so he can drive that. First task is to get to the point where I have to make that decision. With all the things that keep coming up, I keep have to dip into my car fund. I almost get there, and then something comes up and I have to spend it. I am afraid I will have to fix the old car soon and that will wipe out my savings again. The van has a few bumps and issues that need to be addressed sometime soon. Nothing that prevents it being driven but it is using a lot of oil lately and I am worried about that. Don't have the time to put it in to have it checked and even if I did, that would wipe out the fund again. I want to make it last until I can get the new car, then we can think about fixing the old one. Never works that way, but it is the goal. It was a lot better when I owned three cars. Those days are long gone.

Guess I need to start into my wrapping this up. And by wrapping this up, I mean what do I want to put into my supposedly last entry. We all know that it will not be the last, but I really think I should take a break, so it is one less thing I have to think about. I know 250 is not really the number, or it is as there have been 250 entries, but the beginning ones were me just testing this and not really entries of any importance. But it says 250 at the top, so it means something.

I took a couple of years off. I don't know why, or I kind of do but I don't want to think about it. Went through some rough times back then. Not sure if it all came out better. Looking back, I would have done some things differently, but who would not do some things differently if they had the chance. I have always known I should have put more William in this. In the beginning, it was all Maeghan and I kind of just stuck with that theme. I didn't really want to leave William out, it just kind of happened that way sometimes. I make an effort to say something about both of them each time but maybe I could have tried harder.

Regrets, regrets, we all have a lot of them. Me no more than any others but we all think we are special, and our circumstances are different. They aren't. I'll mention my other blog again, but it is not really a blog and I have not done anything with it in a very, very long time. It is a different side of me. Something that will not intrude here, no more than it already has. Maybe I will spend some time cleaning that up and improving it. I might even start the blog that I have always wanted to do, but I don't know when I would do either, so it's just a dream.

I wrote a whole bunch of stuff about putting some specific messages to specific people in here, but then I erased it. Decided it wasn't worth it, or I just didn't like the way it read, so I stopped. Just some notes to the people I want to read this, letting them know I appreciate them and hope they get some enjoyment out of this blog. But it's gone now, so you will just have to imagine what it was.

Another day and I am tired of this entry. Amazingly, I can see that I got a bunch of views yesterday. I have no idea from where or why. I will have to investigate. 

As far as writing more in this entry, I think I will give it up. Too much to say and not a lot of time to do it. Students will be returning next week so my time doing this at work will be cut short. Plus the whole tired of doing this thing. Let's just say, I have loved doing this. It has been good for me and possibly good for the kids to look back upon. I will be back. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a few weeks, months or years. I don't really know.

I love you Maeghan and William. You have gotten me this far and I hope to keep depending on you for a long time to come. I hope you eventually read all this and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I hope it gives you an idea for the future. Maybe start one for your own life or family. Not something that everyone would like to do, but I can recommend it. But remember, do it for yourself and not for recognition or appreciation. Do it because you want to pass something along. It is worth it. As my father once told me when I first started this. He said to keep at it. The stories are great and will be appreciated as priceless in the future. I think he was right. They are priceless and even if I never write anything again, I will enjoy going back and reading them. Probably take a couple of weeks to read through it each time and since my memory is gone, it will be fresh each time. I am looking forward to it.

For maybe the last time,

Until next time, 

Later

MWNews 249

More time to run.

Yesterday was a bad day. I can't really say bad, but I got fed up with things and almost broke.

I left work early, around 2:00 instead of 2:30. No big deal and there is nothing going on at work. It was raining but it stopped just before I left so getting to the train was not an issue. I stopped at Central and had a snack, so I was actually only one train early getting back to home.

I had been told that Shayla was going to be there at the shops, but Juanita was not getting off until 5:30, so I had a couple of hours to kill. My plan had been to just go home on the bus and leave the car for Juanita, but I knew that was probably not going to happen. Plus, I still needed to get Juanita a present.

Maeghan was supposed to be there also, getting her hair cut. This is when all the issues started.

I decided what I was going to get Juanita, but I had walked past the place where it was. I went back and got it. Then I started walking down the mall again and suddenly had to go to the toilet, so I had to walk back to get to it. After that, I sent Maeghan a message asking where she was. I was getting some groceries, so I told her where I was. She said she was on her way. 

By the way, this is way too specific and detailed and there really is no reason for that. I am thinking of just erasing it and starting over, but if you are reading this, then I didn't. If you are not reading this, then I did. Of course, I might decide just to leave this part in and erase all the rest. That might be confusing.

So, let's skip ahead. Maeghan was not happy with her haircut, still isn't. She said it was too short. It is short and I prefer long hair, but she can do whatever she wants, and I will like it. I think it looks good, but she hates it. She was crying about it, not to me, to her mother, but I heard about it. It sounds like the hairdresser did not listen to her or look at the picture she brought in that showed what she wanted. She paid extra to go to a real hairdresser, so she wasn't happy about that either. I think it is fine and she will get used to it. It looks good, even though I prefer long hair, but that is just me.

I had to stop for a while, and I was in the middle of a sentence. I have no idea what I was going to write but I had to stop because the big boss came in. Since there is no one else here, he had to talk to me. His morning routine, talk to the little people. I had to stop and pretend I was actually working, so if I have lost my train of thought, it's not my fault.

I am back for a bit. Not sure how long. 

Maeghan was upset, Juanita was working, so I asked about Shayla. I was told she was waiting on a train while there was a holdup on the tracks. Now during the evening, I was told at least four different stories as to why she was stuck on a train. I will try to list them as I heard them.

1.  Someone had jumped in front of the train, so they were waiting for them to move.

2.  It was going to take two hours for her to get here because they had cancelled all the trains.

3.  She was in Strathpine, waiting for a train.

4.  She was on a bus.

5.  She was waiting on a bus.

6.  There were no buses running.

7.  She was in Petrie and there were no trains to Morayfield.

8.  She wanted Juanita to come pick her up somewhere, but she wasn't sure where she was.

9.  She needed money because she had not eaten all day.

10. She was at the train station in Morayfield.

I think there might have been a couple of more explanations, but you get the idea. She was supposed to be at the shops with Juanita at 11:00. I was told she overslept. We picked her up at Morayfield at 7:00.

Now I could go through all these excuses and explain why none of them could have been true, or some might have been partially true, but that would just piss me off again. I was at the point where I would have told her to go home. Can't do that because she is actually the only one who will, on very rare occasions, come visit us, so I don't want to upset her too much, although if I was deciding these things, I wouldn't care if she did not come over anymore. I might have given her more indication that I was upset than I should have, but this is not the only time these types of things happen. It is the same excuses each time she comes over. She says one thing, or makes plans to do something, and then never shows up or is delayed so it no longer makes sense for her to do it. The only reason she is coming over now is to get William's old phone. It's not to visit or anything, just a free phone. But I won't waste time explaining all that anymore. She is at the house now. Probably leaving as soon as possible. It's no longer of interest to me. Plus, I as interrupted again, and I forgot what I was saying.

Maeghan has done all her ComiCon planning. It is next weekend. She and her roommate are staying on the Gold Coast for three days. She couldn't find a cheap hotel, so they are staying in a hostel, or something like a hostel. It is a pod motel. Basically, they get a bed, with four walls around it but it is only size of a bed. Nothing else there. I have no idea how that is going to work for them. Plus, she has to take her small wheelchair and the battery on that does not last long. I have no idea how she is going to recharge it or if it will last the whole day. I won't, but she has two. Even then, it will not last a day. I am sure she has thought about that, but I will need to ask her anyway to make sure.

When we took her home yesterday, the garage door was open and the door to the house. I went in to make sure it was ok, but there was no one home and I was really worried about it. I checked all the rooms and didn't find anything. Maeghan called her roommate and she said she was out with her mother and would be back soon. I didn't want to leave her there alone, but I thought that would be insulting to her as she is a grown woman, so we left. I asked her later if everyone had come back and she said they were all home now. The door being opened is still a problem, but I am sure if anyone had come in, the bird would have gotten them.

Shayla and William were arguing when I went to bed last night. I have no idea about what, but William is starting to have a problem with Shayla as well as me and Maeghan. I have no idea for how long they are going to stay. Juanita told her that we were not allowing people to move in with us anymore, so I hope that is not Shayla's plan. I don't want it and I certainly do not want her and her friend to move in. If Juanita wants to blame me for not allowing it, that is fine with me.

I am going to have to end this entry. I keep getting interrupted. Guess I will try again next week, or if we are lucky, over the weekend at home. I know this one is not very good, but it is the best I have at the moment, given the circumstances.

Until next time, 

Later
 

MWNews 248

 

I have been wanting to change my email address for Google for a long time. It was my nickname a very long time ago, long before any of this existed and long before the bad connotations for catfish existed. No one actually ever called me catfish, but my boss gave me that name back in 1988? or so. He said I reminded him of a baseball pitcher called Catfish Hunter. I sort of adopted it and used it when I set up my Google account. Now, I have lived with it for a hundred years. I don't use that account for anything anymore, except this blog and maybe a couple of other things. My thought was, I could move it to a new account, but then again, why bother. 

I think people might be turned off by seeing the name catfish in the blog and, because of the bad connotations, they stay away from it. I can understand that. I have always thought I should change it. I never have but it might happen soon. It's not like a lot of people know that address, so moving it to something else would have zero effect on the popularity of this blog. But I should really do it at some point. Maybe my other nickname no one ever actually used, Calculus. I was called that as a joke for a while when I played ice hockey. Too much of a story to go into, but I always like that one so maybe that would be good. Then again, something simple like DEJ would work, but I am sure that is a name that cannot be used. I'll keep thinking about it and thinking about it, have been doing that for 20 years and eventually, nothing will happen. But you know a little bit of the story of why the account is catfish.

We know of course that this blog was always about the kids and me writing something that will allow them to go back and read some memories. Not that they will remember any of this, but it is a good idea, even if I have fallen down in keeping it about them and making it interesting. I have tried and I always say I don't care if anyone or even if they never read it. It is helpful for me to write it and it gives me a lot of entertainment when I reread some of the old entries. As I keep saying, I used to be funny, or the kids used to do funny things. It was one or the other. I really hope this can be saved at some time in the future, so they do not lose it. I have looked into trying to print it, there are companies that do that, but to print the entire thing is well into thousands of dollars and that is an expense that cannot be justified. Besides, it would need to be done after I finish writing it. And, who reads printed books. It would all have to be online, and it is already online, so why print. Because I am old, I guess, and I think a big book of all my writings would be good. I suppose I am the only one who believes that.

That is the biggest, or maybe not the biggest, but one of the big issues I have. No parents to write to, no family that cares to read about it, and no friends that might enjoy it. It's just for me. Someday, someday.

William is acting all exhausted and unwell. He only worked two days but apparently it was too much for him and he is going to stay in bed all day. Not sure how that is any different than any other day, but he says he is too tired and sick to go out.

I have just been told some of the grandkids will be staying with me tonight. Not sure who. I think it is Shayla and her friend, but I never know about these things. I just have to cook for them when I get home. Yippee!

Someone just came into work. Someone I need to talk to but they are busy so it will have to wait until all the other problems they are supposed to be solving are done. So, I keep typing.

Maeghan is supposed to come to the shops for a haircut today. No idea what time but I am sure she will be gone before I get there. I am anting to leave early today, but I think I might have already said that. No bosses today and it seems a couple of other people are not coming in. So as long as someone is here until 4, I should be able to leave at 2. I normally leave at 2:30, I start at 6:30, but I thought taking off 30 minutes early would be to my advantage. Probably not, but we will see.

Maeghan has made plans to go to a ComiCon, or something like that. I don't know when it is. It is on the gold coast, naturally, which is an hour and a half drive and much longer on the train. She and her roommate are staying in a room up there for two nights. Maeghan will go to the ComiCon on both days, but the roommate will only go one of the days. Maeghan is going to a session that one of the Doctor Who actors will be at. I think it is the girl Doctor Who. It costs a lot of money, and I told her it was not worth it, but she wants to go anyway, and she has the money. I think it is coming up soon, but I don't know when.

Maeghan is also planning on visiting her friend in Melbourne but that has been planned for a while and they still have not decided on a date or how it will actually work. I don't think she will be able to stay with her friend and her friend works, so I am not sure what the actual plans are for what they are going to do. It sounds like it will be a while. It was planned for this month, but that does not appear to be happening. Maybe someday.

I suppose I have to actually do some work now. This is two entries in a short amount of time. I should leave this one open and add to it, but it is already of an appropriate length, so I will go ahead and publish as is. Not much change of it, but the possibility exists for me to do three entries in one day. Depends on how busy I am and if I have the whole room to myself for most of the day. I have no idea what I am going to say, but I never do. I just start writing and let it go where it goes. I'd say it works for me, but it doesn't really. I don't do the re-writes I used to do and do not do all the checking and corrections I did in the beginning. It is what I write and not supposed to be more than that. But it keeps me busy, that's a good thing.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 247

I am really thinking I should read these, as sort of a recording of me reading them for the kids when they are old and I am forgotten, or at least gone. I think it might be a good idea but I'll think about it for a while and then decide. Probably never happen. There are some things that are funny in my head but maybe not when you read them. Hearing them might be better. We will see.

Back at work the next day. Maeghan went home yesterday. She is coming back on Thursday but I probably won't see her as she is not staying. Just coming in for a hair appointment. She has to be back on Friday because that is when her maid comes over. 

A maid? you say. Well, not really a maid. It is her new support worker. She is there to help Maeghan with things she cannot do easily. Part of that includes cleaning the house. Since Maeghan lives with two other girls, the cleaning is restricted to Maeghan's room, the kitchen and the bathroom. Maybe not so much the kitchen, but definitely the bathroom. She does other things, like take Maeghan to the shops and other stuff. I am not sure what she is supposed to do, but she comes on Fridays and Maeghan is supposed to be there.

William is working again today. It is his last day of the current job. The one where he was building desks and putting computers on them. The last two days have been going around and making sure the people are happy with the setup and fixing any problems they might have. I don't think he actually does anything on the computers, just plugs them in and makes sure they work. It has been four or five days work so not bad. And it gets him back in the door, so maybe he can get more.

Once again, I can see where I have failed him as a father. Not really failed, but I don't think I got across the need to work and the responsibility that brings. He was trying to say he wasn't feeling well yesterday so he could leave work early. He kept calling his mother. I don't know if he actually did or not. This morning, he was telling me he doesn't feel well. I ignored him as much as I could and finally told him we were leaving so he had to get out of bed and get in the car. He has to understand that this is not school, this is having a job and if you are physically capable of working, then you work. He may not have it now, but he will have responsibilities and working is part of that responsibility. But that gets into some complications and philosophies that are not appropriate for this blog.

So, he went to work. Don't know if he will stay.

I am not sure what the plans are for the weekend. It is out anniversary. 23 I think. I have not made any plans or bought a gift yet. I might go out today and do that. Depends on what time I get home. Originally, she wanted some ring that was on sale. It was half price. It was $1200 on sale. I didn't get it. I am thinking of getting her wedding rings fixed. They have been broken for a while and she went to see about getting them fixed. Cost more to fix them than to buy new ones. So, I am not sure that is an option. Plus, they will not be back in time for Sunday, but knowing that they are being fixed would be something.

It is a couple of days later. I never got back to this. Actually, I think it is the next day as I remember writing this yesterday. Must be a time warp or something. 

I went back and read what I had already written. Not very good. It is ok, but not the standard I want to maintain, and I have not been at that level for a long time. Not sure why, but I put it down to my mind losing its grip. Talked about that a lot, but I should probably just point it out occasionally to make sure it is understood that I am not well or in my right mind. Just going to keep getting worse. Eventually, I will just press random keys on the keyboard and write the great American novel.

I think I will just end this entry now. I will try to think of some other things to say and start a new entry that I will finish tomorrow. If, for some reason, I finish the new entry today, think of it as a bonus.

Until next time,

Later

 

MWNews 246

It's after Easter now. Back at work. No students, so maybe I can do this instead. There is a list of tasks that need to be done but I am not sure if we can get to all of them. I am not sure when the students return. I should probably look that up.

As with every morning, I keep hearing the door open. I never go out and look but at some point, I need to find out what causes that. Sometimes, it is a student coming in to sit in the office before school. We have chargers and desks out there and they can come in and do things before school. I am having a lot of trouble typing. Very frustrating.

Easter went ok. Didn't really do anything. We went over to Angie's so give her chocolates, her and the grandkids. Spent an hour driving there, stayed for 30 minutes, then left. Not a good visit, or not a long visit, but I was all for it. Gave us time to have lunch on the way back. Everything was open. We went to the rest stop and had McDonalds. Plus, Krispy Cream donuts. I would say it wasn't bad, but they forgot one of my burgers, I get several small burgers and they forgot the chicken one. So, by the time they had made me a new one, the rest of mine food was cold. But it's McDonalds, so who can tell. 

Maeghan and Juanita had wraps. Or what were supposed to be wraps. They were not really wrapped, just kind of ingredients thrown together and held in place by the paper they were wrapped in. When I went up to get my missing burger, I found out why. The guy making the sandwiches, or it might have been a girl I couldn't really tell, was upset about something. When they told him to make my other sandwich, he informed them that he had already made it and I could see it sitting in the sandwich tray. Whatever he was upset about, he was making sandwiches and throwing them down the shelf into the waiting station. All of them were coming unwrapped and unboxed and the servers were having to re-package them before they threw them into the sacks. I think they were all upset. Maybe it was because they were having to work on Easter Sunday. I don't know. I know a lot of customers were waiting in line complaining about how long they were having to wait. It was a bad situation all around.

But as a last note about it, William had a quarter pounder meal that I bought for him. He finished that and then went and bought himself a double quarter pounder meal and ate that one too. And before you compare that to my multiple burgers, I had the special which was a small cheeseburger and a small chicken sandwich, and I added a small burger to it that I really didn't need but it's only $2 and who can pass that up.

Yesterday, Easter Monday, we didn't do anything. Or I had not planned on doing anything, but Juanita got called into work because apparently, they were swamped at the shopping center. Not sure how they had not anticipated that, but they were short-handed, so Juanita went into work. She said it was flat out the whole time, but I didn't pick her up until after the crowds had left so I didn't notice. I had to get some potatoes for dinner because I had forgot to get them at Costco earlier in the week, so I did go inside, but everything was closed when I went in, so there was no crowd.

Saturday was our big day, or the biggest day. Didn't do a lot but we went to pick up Maeghan and then went to lunch. I have decided I like going to a cafe near the beach and I want to do it every week if we can. They didn't really get the idea. Juanita suggested going to the shopping center or going to an expensive restaurant or several other things. Then she got mad at me because I wasn't taking any or her ideas. I didn't try to explain that I wanted the experience and not necessarily the food and looking at the inside of a shopping mall or spending a couple of hundred dollars at an expensive restaurant was not really the plan.

The biggest issue is there aren't really any cafe's near where we live. One or two near Maeghan and since we had already gone to one of them, we can save the other for some other time. There are several down in Redcliffe and that would have been nice, but it is an hour away and by the time we pick up Maeghan and drive there, it is a lot of time spent in the car. Plus, we have to drive by a couple of shopping centers and I am sure that means we will have to stop and to me, that kind of ruins the experience. But probably be doing that the next time. Redcliffe is just so far, though. And the actual cafe's I want to go to are not in Redcliffe but near there. I like Redcliffe, but we have been there a lot of times and something new would be better.

I am thinking of driving up the coast, but then it becomes a drive and not really going to have lunch. There are a lot of small towns I would like to visit and go to the cafe's there but there is not a lot else in these towns, so you end up going all the way up the coast and that is an all-day affair. Misses the point again. 

This time, we ended up on Bribie Island. Now there are several places that meet the criteria I have set for these visits, and it is not so far away that it becomes a drive. Only about 10 minutes from Maeghan, so it is close. But the problem with the Bribie Island places is there is really no view. The main one we go to has three or four cafes, but they are behind the see wall. Meaning, you cannot see the water from there and during the summer, they get very hot with no breeze. Plus, they are very crowded. All in all, not a good experience but we have done it several times and I don't really mind doing it again, but I want to sit and relax and have some good food and those places do not really meet those criteria. They are ok, but too crowded and not very comfortable.

That is on the ocean side, and I think there should be more places along there we can try, but I don't remember seeing any when we have been. On the other side, the side where you cross the bridge to get onto the island, there are two places I know of. There are probably more, but one ok and the other is an RSL type place. The ok one does not have seating facing the water and it is all take away, so you do not get a good view and it is not a sit down and eat place. There are tables and benches, and you can walk around the building and watch the water but not really a cafe. More of a fish and chip shop, which is fine, but it has a lot of people who are just loud and noisy and are there to swim or get ice cream and not a place to relax.

The other is not an RSL but think of that type of place and you get the idea. A little bistro, or actually a huge bistro, and some slot machines in one room with a TAB in another and a bar in back but the main bistro area is facing the water and has all glass walls and windows so you can sit and look out at the water. Not really close to the water, but you have a decent view from there and there is an outdoor area if you want to sit outside.

That is where we ended up. Once again, I have to say it turned out to be expensive, but the food was good. I would have liked to stay and have coffee and dessert but with the price of the meal, that would have added another $100 dollars to the meal. We will not be going back to that place anytime soon, but I do not rule it out. Maybe after we have been a few other places. It was just too expensive. And it being Easter, a lot of kids and families having meals and making a lot of noise. All in all, a pleasant experience, but not one we will repeat anytime soon.

Other than that, we did not do anything special for Easter. Easter is a big deal here, or bigger than I am used to. Maybe it is just Juanita and her family, but it is still bigger than what I have experienced. Juanita and her family celebrated about as much as they do for Christmas. I have never done any celebrating other than on occasion, that is when the big family reunion on my mother's side used to take place. That was a big affair and usually had over a hundred people there but that only happened a few times in my life, so it was not common and really had nothing to do with Easter and more about just the family reunion.

I suppose I should be doing some work now. Everyone is starting to show up so I cannot continue to type. I will have to create entries as I go. Maybe I will have time every day during the holidays but that doesn't seem likely. I suppose I can try.

 Until next time,

Later

MWNews 245

Probably take all week, but let's get started.

We planned on going to get Maeghan yesterday and take her for fish and chips. Maeghan and William do not like fish and chips but I had been craving them for a long time and this was a chance to go. They could have just chips or chicken nuggets or whatever else they might have for them. I wanted fish and chips.

We were going to have it on the beach or near the beach but things didn't work out. It was raining. So, no sitting on the beach or at a picnic table near the beach unless we wanted to get wet and sit in a puddle. Since Maeghan lives near the beach, and it was cool instead of really hot, I thought it was a good idea. But rain. So we tried to do it anyway.

My plan was to just pick her up, take her to lunch, and then take her back home. Juanita had other ideas and talked her into going home with us. She didn't bring her wheelchair, so they are not going to go anyplace else, but she has started trying to walk with her walking stick a lot lately and maybe that would be good enough. Juanita said she had to go to her swimming therapy today, so going home and staying with us so Juanita could take her was probably a good idea. Normally, or lately, Maeghan's helper comes over and takes her, but the helper has been sick, so she wasn't coming. Juanita was the only way for her to get there.

Going to have to step away, it is opening time.

Ok, I am back, sitting in the middle of a bunch of classes, trying to give IT support and none of them are using computers. Maybe I have a few minutes.

We decided to go to one of the cafes on the beach anyway. It was not facing the beach, so you could not see anything, but it looked like a nice cafe. No fish and chips. Breakfast items only, and kids meals. And very, very expensive. It was nice food, but at $36 for a place of bacon and eggs, it was kind of on the high side. I had avocado toast. Twenty dollars for one piece of toast. It did have a whole avocado on it that had been rolled in dukkha. Thats a spice mix native to Australia. It had a couple of pieces of rocket and spinach and some whipped, beaten thing that was white and fluffy. Kind of like whipped cream but it wasn't, or it could have been but it had almost zero taste. I was afraid it was mayonnaise, but turns out it wasn't, or maybe my powers of persuasion are good enough to convince myself it wasn't. Might have thrown up if it had been as I was determined to eat it at $20.

Maeghan had the kid's meal of bacon and eggs on toast. William had a bowl of fries but he said they were cold, so he didn't eat them. Maeghan and I ate most of them. Juanita had the big breakfast, something they called the carnivore meal. Lots of bacon, sausage, eggs and toast. But still, it was just breakfast. It had a big round ball on it that turned out to be a big round fried potato. Sort of like a hashbrown but it was big and round like a ball. She ate that first and then was almost sick. Never found out why, but once she was over it, she ate the rest. Gave some bacon to William and some sausage to William and Maeghan, there was that much of it. It came with fried tomatoes and mushrooms. I got the mushrooms. They were actually pretty good and went well with my avocado. 

In all, it was good, expensive, but good. I would have liked to sit there for a while longer, but the place was trying to close, so we finished and left. Not fish and chips, but it was good and probably, with the price of fish and chips these days, probably the same price. We had coffee also. I asked for a medium but it came in two large cups that can only be described as massive. I would have hated to see what the large was like. I can usually only finish about half of mine before it gets cold on a normal cup, but this was so big and hot, I drank most of it. Not a bad coffee. I have not been having coffee lately. Drinking mostly tea. Iced tea, green tea, some lemongrass tea here at work when I can get it. Just haven't been in the mood for coffee. But anyway.

I have been typing on this thing off and on all day. Started at 6:45, it is now 12:00. Not much progress. But I have found that I can type easier on the laptop as opposed to the keyboard I am using now. No idea why.

We had lunch/breakfast. It was raining or lightly raining. I decided to walk around the building to the park that was in front of the water. It might have been a nice park, but it was raining. Only one BBQ, but how busy could a place like that get. The water was way out. Only mud and rocks for about 200 metres. Not sure what it looks like when the tide is in but seeing it like that was kind of disappointing. Since it was raining, we didn't stay long. They had a nice wooden walkway, but I am not sure why. It was off to the side and did not really go anyplace except around the BBQ. I am not sure what purpose it served. The car was parked right in front of the park, so we walked the path, maybe 100 metres, and then got back in the car. 

I wanted to find a shopping center I knew was near there and we had been to sometime way in the past. I didn't remember a lot about it and was not really sure where it was, but I thought if we could find it, Maeghan might be able to go there instead of all the way back to Morayfield. I went the way I thought it was and went through a lot of neighborhoods and farms. Everyone kept telling me there wasn't one, but I kept going as some of the stuff looked familiar. I knew if we didn't find it, eventually we would end up back at the water. Even if we did find it, it would be too far for Maeghan to go.

I am not sure we actually found it. We came to a little shopping center with an IGA in it, but it was smaller than the one near Maeghan's house. Not many shops at all. I am not sure it was the right one, but we assumed it was and I went past it just in case. Ended up near the bridge to Bribie Island but no one else seemed to realize that. I turned and headed for home. There was a good farmers market along the way, but I did not stop. We were headed home, or actually, we were headed to go shopping for groceries. I did not want to go to the shops, so I went to the standalone store, meaning the one not in the shopping center.

It is now the next day and I have been tasked with a lot of work. I will not get a chance to type anymore in this entry, so we will leave it for another time. This one was ok but I have to get better, or back to the old ways, soon. Looking at the statistics, no one is actually reading this. Not that they ever did, but I would occasionally get some visits and there have been none in a while. Maybe I should actually advertise or put it out there that this exists. I did that way back when but never followed up with it and I am not sure I know how anymore. Guess it's just for me these days. That's ok. I like writing. Guess that wraps it up.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 244

I don't have my pictures available so am not sure what this will look like when I go back and add it. I am not sure I have ever done that before; I usually start with the picture and then with the stories, but since I am taking the Naplan test, I have a little bit of time in between letting people go to the toilet.

Naplan is an Australian thing where they periodically test the students to see how they are doing. Not sure what the American equivalent would be. It's been 50 years for me. Tests take three days to complete and the school where I work has been number one for five or six years in a row, so they take it very seriously.

Right now, they just broke for lunch. Thirly minutes, which I would not consider lunch, but that's what they do here. Hardly a reason to leave as far as I am concerned.

A little catchup on where the operation is going. I am scheduled to go back in July. I have to call them in June to remind them I am scheduled for July. It seems there is some specialist from Germany that will be in Australia in August. He is doing something in Perth for three weeks and then he is coming here to Brisbane. I am told he is one of the top three in the world at this type of operation, but I was told my doctor was one of the top three in the world, so I am not sure who to believe or how they measure that type of thing. My doctor is from Russia, by the way. Or I have heard him say this is how they did it in Russia while he was operating on me.

Anyway, the operation in July is to put the other stint in and to check on how the other thing he was doing is going. Apparently, he put three stints in but could not completely clear the blockage. It allowed the blood to flow further into my heart, but not all the way. I am guessing this new doctor from Germany is going to try to completely clear it. I am told he is only going to do three operations while he is here, and my doctor is going to recommend that I am one of them. So, it is still up in the air, but if it happens, it will be in August. That operation will take the five hours the first one was supposed to take, but since it ended up taking 6 and 1/2 hours, I am not sure how long this one might take. We will have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I am feeling pretty good. I did have what I can only describe as a three-day heart attack right after the operation. I was fine when I went home and fine for about a day after that. They I got a chest pain that would not go away. I was afraid. Very afraid. But I did not go to the doctor or even tell anyone for the first day. I had to go back to work on Monday. Long story, but I had to go back to work on Monday. We cannot afford for me to retire and taking the time off for them to put me back in the hospital was not an option. So, I suffered and lived with it. I am just hoping it didn't do too much damage.

I know, I am stupid and should never allowed it to happen. But I had my reasons, and it is too late now. We will see what they find in July. For now, I am fine. Haven't had any chest pain or anything other than general fatigue since the operation.

Now we can get back to your regularly scheduled program.

I think William is working again. My old job, the contractor, has contacted him on a couple of occasions for work. I am not sure for what and he has not been yet, but I think he is working tomorrow and over the weekend. The weekend should be good money. He is Level one support, which means doing all the grunt work like carrying boxes and stuff, but he does get to occasionally watch what others are doing and hopefully, he will ask questions. That will get him more experience so he can start doing other things. Not being able to travel on his own is a problem but if he sticks to jobs, he can actually get to, it shouldn't take long before he can start to do other things. 

Maeghan has a babysitting job. Not sure if it is one or two days a week but it is for several hours, so it is some money. I think she has applied for a couple of retail jobs in the mall, but I haven't heard how that is going. Maeghan still has only the one roommate. I think a few people have asked to come see the extra room, but they never show up, so they don't have any prospects at the moment. Don't know yet how that is going to affect her rent.

She only comes over for a day or two a week now. She tells us she is having a good time. I hope she is. I hope she is starting to get her own life and not be forever tied to us. I hate it, but as I have said many times, it has to happen. I just hope she stays happy with the people she is with, and she gets some good roommates soon. And since no one ever reads this, I miss you, Maeghan.

I still don't have a picture to use. I am ready to close this entry and post it, but without a picture, it looks bare. Since I am already supposed to be home and am working late. I am just going to leave it for now and not post. Next time you read this, it will be posted.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.