A Slow Return To Normalcy

Another day – another large amount of fun with my abscessed tooth! OK – I am probably starting to play this story for all that it is worth and I need to move on to another subject! I am beginning to feel a little better. I haven’t had to take a vicodin pill today which is huge. I did take 4 Advil when I got up as the pain was pretty bad and I still had a temperature of 99.6. The pain has died down for now and I think I am fever free. I still have this area of swelling right under my chin which makes me feel like I have a huge goiter - so I look down right nasty! Though some of the swelling has already gone down hopefully the rest will diminish in the coming days. One of the things that has been really difficult with this situation is my inability to do all things that I needed to do to take care of Zack. That has been really hard. Thankfully I was able to get Tim and Celinde to help out a bit. They took Zack to and from his Sylvan session yesterday afternoon for which I am really thankful. Nancy stepped up to the plate on Sunday and Monday evenings and made dinner for Zack. It is just a difficult situation to be in where you are the one and only parent. But I am thankful that I have the support of my extended family to help take care of Z when push comes to shove. I hate to make use of that support too often but sometimes you just have to do it. I know that I will have to ask Nancy, Tim, and Celinde to help me out in early April – as I found out yesterday I need to go to Philadelphia for a couple of days. It’s kind of amazing in these difficult, cost-cutting times but my organization within IBM is actually sponsoring a group-wide meeting. I find that really amazing because all non-client travel has been stopped. The meeting is before Q1 numbers are announced so, we won’t find the event cancelled if we have Q1 numbers!! But I can see the pace of travel in my life picking up. I am just going to need to figure it out for Zack and me. Zack MUST come first. My tooth issue has cost me an opportunity to go and play poker this evening. And no - it wasn’t with those thieves my brother calls his friends. There are a number of people in Boulder for meetings this week for the client for whom I am working. The overall Project Executive for the client invited them and everyone in the “Boulder area” over to play poker at his hotel tonight. Well – needless to say I really would love to be there as I love to have any opportunity to have some grown-up fun, but I am still feeling a little bit too sick. So this evening will find me sitting on couch watching TV, doing some writing and playing with the Z-man. Zack is winding up his CSAPs. I think there are only 3 more days remaining – but it might be four. I have lost track since the weekend. He is at a make-up session at Sylvan today and then he will go back tomorrow. He is not happy about going 3 times in one week, but Sylvan has a policy if you miss a session you have to re-schedule it within a short amount of time. We have been watching a lot of science shows on TV while I have been laid up these last several days. I am continually amazed by the things that come out of that boy’s head. Last night we were sitting here at the table – with me writhing in agony of course - and he just blurts out – “Dad – I have an idea as to what could cause dark matter”. He then proceeded to go into this line of reasoning that all the dark mark in the universe could be a very large mass of unattached sub-atomic particles called gravitons. (Gravitons are assumed to really exist. They are the particle within every atom that gives mass to the atom. The Large Haldron Collider is supposed to prove their existence.) Where the hell does this kid get this stuff? What is so amazing is that he can think all this “big idea” stuff but he has a hard time doing the day-to-day stuff that matters. Oh well – we all march to the beat of a different drummer. I just wish he could also march to the beat of the practical drummer. I am going to post the first of my Caringbridge entries that I talked about the other day this evening. I am feeling well enough that I will get that written. As I start feeling better I am also going to start writing about our Spring Break plans – which I have yet to finalize!! I got to get that done by Thursday! One other note – I would love to know where all the people who read this blog are from. If you’re reading this drop us a comment just telling us where you are from. I had an e-mail about the blog this morning from some one in Indonesia. That was cool. Anyway – please write a comment and let us know where you are writing from and how you found out about the blog. As always – thanks and peace to all.