Christmas on a cruise ship...

It's New Years Eve. We've been on a cruise ship for the past 7 days, getting back to the trailer late last night after dropping Kath and Dave off at the airport. Seeing the kids after 3 months was wonderful. You really don't know how much you miss the constant nattering between them until it's not there .... after we dropped them off we missed them even more.

The cruise ship was pretty nice.
- Total number of passengers: 2786.
- Number of kids: 500.
- Number of people with more disposable income than me: 2782.
- Our "incidental" tab for the week: $1076.00.
- Fuel used on the ship: 65,000 gallons/day. 23.3 gallons/day/person.
- Guilt I felt for being on this floating example of Western excess: enormous.
- Guilt I felt for reading a book in 80 degree heat by a pool on Christmas Day: none.

It was pretty surreal to spend the holidays on a cruise ship. We visited Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, and spent 3 full days at sea (only one of which was rough - 12 foot swells). The food was good, the accommodations were great, and the weather was fantastic (except for the above mentioned 12-foot-swell-with-gale-force-winds on the last full day).

We got on the boat at 1pm on Saturday the 23rd, and got off at 8:45am on Saturday the 30th. We had seven dinners and six breakfasts with our kids. We sat by the pool with them for about 30 hours. It was worth every penny....

PS: Photos on Flickr

Merry Christmas, Los Angeles, and the Blood Diamond movie...

We headed north from San Diego on Tuesday this week, getting to Dana Point that night. We had dinner with new friends we met in Napa in October – Tom and Karen H who live in San Juan Capistrano (where the swallows return to every spring). They invited us for a home-cooked meal when we eventually got to the LA area, and we had a great time. On Wednesday, we drove through greater LA and now are camped out in Valencia. I’m very happy to have the San Diego – Los Angeles section of trailer towing done with!

Laura and I took this afternoon off to go see a movie – “Blood Diamond”. Although it’s received mixed reviews, we thought it was very well done – although quite violent. Perhaps we’re more interested in the troubles of Africa after John D’s trip there. I’d encourage you to see the picture – reinforces the unintended consequences of our (mostly Western) behavior…

We pick up Kathryn and David at LAX tomorrow morning, and then we’ll spend the afternoon at 6-Flags Magic Mountain (basically a big roller-coaster theme park) – it’s about a mile from where we are. We board the cruise ship on Saturday morning and will have Christmas at sea – our first stop will be Puerta Vallarta on December 26^th. We’ll then visit Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas before heading back to Los Angeles.

Since we’ll be out of contact while on the cruise ship, I’d like to wish everybody a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Platonic love to many of you …. “real” love to the rest – you know who you are ;-)

Peace!

PS: Flickr is now up to date with all our photos...

San Diego - the Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and SeaWorld

Laura and I have been in San Diego since Thursday (Dec 14). We bought a 3-park pass and went to the Wild Animal Park on Friday, the Zoo on Saturday, and SeaWorld yesterday. Both the Wild Animal Park (actually a part of the San Diego Zoo) and the Zoo were fantastic. Absolutely world class … probably the best two “zoos” we’ve ever been to. The San Diego Zoo is a non-profit organization, so all the money spent in the parks stays in the park.

SeaWorld, on the other hand, is owned by Annheiser-Busch. I had never been to SeaWorld before, and was (naively), expecting a wet version of the zoo. What I saw, though, was a theme park (think 6-Flags or Disneyland) that exploited animals. During the “Shamu” show, it was all I could do to not leave. Having seen Killer Whales off the coast of BC, it’s painful to see them (about 6 of them – all named “Shamu”) in a pool much, much smaller pool than Snug Cove on Bowen Island (all you Vancouverites will know where this is). You can also “feed the dolphins” or “play with the Beluga’s”. At least with Disneyland, you know what to expect – entertainment. I’m not going back to SeaWorld – ever.  

Doug's Christmas 2006 Blog

There are many people receiving this message that will be relieved that 2006 is almost over. Her Majesty (that’d be The Queen, not Oprah) said some ten years ago that this has truly been “Annis Horribilis”. I’d like to add “It’s darkest just before it goes completely black”, and “Inside every silver lining there’s a dark cloud”. There were moments when our year was looking that way as well – but things are going much better now, and 2007 will mark a new beginning for many of us. (How cliché)

Everybody that’s receiving this letter has likely been kept up to date with all that’s happened this year through my email messages. So, for a change, I’m going to let Laura, Kathryn and David fill in the blanks.

I would like to say – before I give them their turn – that I’ve come to some hard-won realizations this year. Next to your health, family and friends are the most important things you have. Stuff is just that – stuff. It’s amazing how well you can get along without very much stuff (like how little you can stuff into a 25’ trailer).

Also, Laura and I must truly be meant for each other – we’ve spent most every hour of the last six months together, and I don’t have any stitches.

Also, we miss the kids, and we believe they miss our money. Maybe us they miss us too.

Anyways, please have a wonderful Christmas – enjoy your friends and your families, ignore the stuff, and if you can breathe deep – breathe!!

Platonically (or maybe not) …. Doug

PS: Many of the photos we've taken over the last few months are here.

PPS: Although I say that Christmas is not about stuff, there is some stuff I’d like … I’d like peace in the Middle East, I’d like GM to bring back the electric car, I’d like heavy taxation of the petrochemical industry, I’d like a cure for diabetes, AIDS, heart disease, cancer and malaria, and I’d like an offshore sailboat that Laura will live on…

PPPS: Please make sure you check out the blogs from Dave, Kath, Laura and Bo

Dave's Christmas 2006 Blog

"It feels like just yesterday that the flickering lights of Jack O' Lanterns dotted my block, and now it’s Christmas". That’s how I started my section of the Christmas letter LAST time, which explains why my dad has refused to let me write one for the past 4 years, but I’m back, and more flamboyant than ever.

On the topic of flamboyancy, I decided to make the switch from the University of Victoria to a pure art school, Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design (on Granville Island in Vancouver). I figured at UVic they could teach you to drink like Jackson Pollock, but not paint like him. I’m having an alright time at Emily Carr (it's very tough), and I still keep in touch with friends from Victoria.

As you may or may not know, my parents skipped town about three months ago, and sold my childhood house away. When they come back I am going to make amends by living with them until I make it as an artist (about 55). My current accommodations are a bit shady; I live in a Polish family's basement suite in Kerrisdale with my sister. Our floor slopes into a corner, and we can hear our landlords argue over money through the heating vents – it’s juicier than Desperate Housewives – or so I’m told.

In addition to living in a dingy basement suite, having a 3 zone bus pass, and going to Art school, I also work at...Starbucks. People have told me this company is a cult and I can tell you that it’s all lies spread by Tim Horton’s and Folgers. Starbucks is seeking to become the world’s finest purveyor of coffee, while connecting with its customers in a meaningful way everyday. Come on in and try our new Holiday Favorites, the Peppermint Mocha, Gingerbread Latte, and the Eggnog Latte. Make it a Venti for under $6.00. Wow! What a deal!

On a less sarcastic note, I think this year has been a real challenge for me and my family. As the tin man said as he entered the dark forest in the Wizard of Oz, "It’s going to get a lot darker before it gets brighter again". I think it’s starting to get lighter, and I am looking forward to leaving the dark forest of 2006 - let’s just hope those evil flying monkeys don’t follow us into 2007.

Merry Christmas! … Dave

Kathryn's Christmas 2006 Blog

”Don’t try to be funny, chicks aren’t funny.” This was the answer I got when I asked “what should I write in the Christmas letter, Dave?”

2006 was quite the year...on my side of things I’m set to graduate this coming May from UBC with a BA in History and English. I’m not worried about the future; MacLean’s said that the economy is so hot that if you have a pulse and a watch you can have a job! I’ve got a pulse, a watch and a BA! I’m definitely a shoo-in for middle management!

My plan as it stands is to take a year off to travel, teach some English in Asia and figure out what to do with the next decade of my life.

The apartment is not a sketchy dump (as per Dave) although the people upstairs yell a lot and there is a family of raccoons that live outside and eat our garbage. We also had that stray cat through the kitchen window problem during the summer. Otherwise the place is great; we live close to grocery stores, school and
downtown.

Well, as I’m not supposed to even try to be funny, I’ll border on corny … Kath’s final comments for 2006; live, laugh, love, reduce, reuse, recycle and go to www.saveourclimate.ca!

Peace!
Kath

Laura's Christmas 2006 Blog

In January of 2006, I never expected that I would be rock climbing at Joshua Tree National Park in December. But it has been a year where too many unbelievable things have happened to our family.

But in the end, as this year finally comes to a close, I feel grateful. Grateful that Doug is well on the road to being back to his old competitive, hockey playing self. Grateful for my kids who were troopers through all the tough days this year and are growing into amazing young adults. Grateful for our extended family and amazing friends who cooked for us, packed up our house, gave us a place to stay, made me laugh, and most importantly, were there when I needed a shoulder to lean on.

There are some details I would like to add about our trip:

We spent the first night of our trip in beautiful Lake Tapps Washington, at the home of Don and Wendy Swanson. (Doug reported that our trip started on the Oregon Coast).

Do you know that only approximately 5% of all people go below the rim of the Grand Canyon and less than 1% hike to the bottom?

In Death Valley, the main well in the middle of the valley kept getting covered over with sand, so they used stove pipe to mark the well for travelers. Stove Pipe Wells is where I spent my 46th birthday. It was pretty cool. We had dinner at Furnace Creek Inn which was built in the ‘30’s and has been lovingly cared for ever since. It is an oasis in the desert.

I haven’t brought out the knives or scissors yet, but I have looked seriously at the cast iron fry pan a few times when I have been angry at Doug. Seriously though, for all the togetherness, there have been few angry words. I am looking forward to hanging out with all my girls when I get home- I miss you lots.

Finally, I have seen some amazing things and had some wonderful experiences over the last 4 months but in keeping with the Wizard of Oz theme, “There’s No Place like Home”.

I wish you Peace and Joy this Holiday Season.

Laura
xoxo

Bo TPD's Christmas 2006 Blog

I live in a 25’ long dog kennel. Every time I go outside I have to figure out where to pee … the trees keep changing. For two months, I had cactus burrs and sand in my fur, but now that we’re back near the ocean I feel more at home. This is a picture of me at the Grand Canyon before my hair cut. Now I look like Mr. Bigglesworth …

Merry Christmas!!

5-month update

Hi Folks:

Five months since July 6th, and I'm still writing this ridiculous update. If only I had something productive to do with my time. But your loss is my gain, so here I go …

So far on our trip, Laura and I have been to the Oregon Coast, San Francisco, Reno, Carson City, Death Valley, Pahrump, Laughlin, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Quartzsite, Yuma, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. We're getting a little "travel weary", and plan on slowing down soon. We're going to stay here in Palm Springs for two weeks, then a week in San Diego, and then the Christmas Cruise with the kids (out of LA). When we get back from the cruise, we'll decide what we're going to do in Jan-Feb-Mar 2007.

Health-wise, I've reached a plateau. I have good days (lots of energy, feeling pretty normal) and not-so-good days (low energy, sore). Mostly it's related to the previous day – did I lift something heavy, did I over-do the exercise, did I have more than two bottles of wine with dinner? In order to improve, I think we'll need to find a place where I can really get into a program of regular, aerobic exercise and some weight-training. Perhaps two months at the Westin Maui Resort & Spa? Anybody have a gift voucher?

Some additional observations from the road:

The most disturbing thing we've seen so far is being passed on the shoulder of a 2-lane highway by a pair of ATV's. Two wheels on pavement, two wheels on gravel, going about 75mph (I had no idea they could move that fast). This happened outside Las Vegas. Cool, huh? Laura's comment was "what would their mothers think?" My comment was "fortunately, they're wearing helmets so their heads will be identifiable after the crash".

I now know why cars in the southwest last so long. Car washes are cheap, and they are very good. For about $10, you can get an excellent inside-outside wash that takes about half an hour - so I can get the truck washed about 20 times/day and still have (a) time for dinner and (b) money left over because I haven't gone to Costco. There are also businesses that come to the RV parks to wash your trailer/motorhome/5th wheel. They'll also change your oil (in your truck, not you personally – although you probably can get that in Nevada), and top up your propane. The Schwan ice-cream truck drove through the park in Yuma every afternoon. These are but a few of the advantages to living in a trailer…

Laura and I were the youngest people in the state of Arizona. We left.

I bought a bike. I'm kicking myself (and that's very hard to do since the surgery) that we didn't bring the bikes on this trip. They're great for exploring in and around the places we've stayed – which are often hard to walk out of (no sidewalks). I was looking for something used, but we got sold on one of the new "cruiser" models. Mine is an Electra Towney 3. I have to say it's a whole different experience for me … I know I looked cool on a mountain bike – but you should see me now! Renaissance man???

We've decided that the desert is very interesting to spend time in. We've also decided that the desert is full of sand – most of which is now in the trailer or on the dog. We've also confirmed that the higher you are (ie: Grand Canyon at 7000ft), the colder it is at night (10F). Sea level is good. Where we are now (Palm Springs) is at 40 ft elevation, is paved, and has grass all around. We can drive into the desert for day trips, and then stop by the car wash and the take-out sushi place for dinner.

The next update I plan to send will be our Christmas Email. As you've all be kept up-to-date with what's happened the last 6 months, I'll spare a re-cap. I've asked Laura, Kathryn and David to submit their comments – and I'll then ruthlessly edit them and twist their words into my own. I know you can't wait.

Be well. Stay safe. Don't buy green bananas.

Platonically,
Doug

19 week update

Hi Everybody:

On November 6th, I passed the 4-month mark of my surgery - so in any ordinary universe, I'd absolutely be back to work. Instead, Laura and I are camped outside a casino just north of Needles, California. So far on our trip we've been to the Olympic Peninsula, Vancouver Island, the Oregon Coast, Napa CA, Reno/Carson City NV, Death Valley CA, Pahrump NV, Laughlin NV, and the Grand Canyon AZ. If you're a masochist, or if you're reading this at work and you're really bored, I've uploaded photos to Flickr.com.

Many of you know that one of the reasons (actually, the deciding factor) for Laura and I leaving Vancouver and going on this adventure was the murder of Jack Beauchamp in Calgary on January 16th. Jack was my very-close cousin Debra's husband, and father to Matt (23), Mike (21) and Jenn (19). Well - the case was solved, and the preliminary hearing starts today. Our thoughts and prayers are with Deb and "the kids" (sorry – "the young adults" sounds strange) - they've been through hell, and they're not out yet.

One of the wisest things I've heard in the last year came from Stu Diack (Stu's the patriarch of another family that's been thru a lot) - "Don't buy green bananas". My father-in-law, Walter, used to say "Life's too short to dance with ugly women". Joel Larson in Minneapolis gave me a fridge magnet that reads "Life's too short to drink cheap wine". I'm trying to remember all of these.

OK - health check. As I complained last time, I'm not getting enough exercise. The Grand Canyon helped - although it's clear that we need to go back and do a couple of big hikes below the rim. You'd need to be there for a few days, and I probably need to get into better shape. I'm looking forward to Las Vegas next week because there are treadmills & stair-climbers where we'll be staying. Also, walking the "Strip" can be exhausting. Also, I hate Las Vegas – so the mental anguish should increase my heart rate.

I still get sore, and I still get tired. I thought that everything would be near normal now, but it isn't. I've been told it will be at least a year before "normal", but it's hard to internalize. Everything else seems to working fine except every time Laura turns on the microwave, I pee.

Since some that receive this email are tech-nerds, I thought I'd add a couple of notes about what's working and what's not. Also, a special "Thanks!" to Norm Lang for helping me avoid some of the more expensive experiments as we travel … for every problem, Norm has 3 solutions. It's like he worked for NASA.

WiFi (wireless Internet): This is a bit of a holy grail. The free stuff tends to be crappy. The access you pay for also tends to be crappy. Sometimes, though, it's free and good (ie: you can use Skype and it's intelligible). One of the better sites we've seen was in Napa at the County Fairgrounds, stealing a signal from the local Montessori School. Too bad we chewed up all their bandwidth, and the children couldn't talk with the astronauts as they'd planned. I was playing online Doom at the time.

GPS: The managers at Agilent gave me a Garmin GPS receiver at my last meeting with them in May. We started using it for real in Northern California. It has been excellent … I'll forgive the time it steered us to a closed freeway onramp in Vallejo, and we ended up in a neighborhood of crack houses and gang warfare. Chalk it up to old firmware.

XM Radio: We picked up a satellite radio in the spring, and didn't really use it much in Vancouver. On the road, however, it's wonderful. The quality is superb, and I can now listen to "Hits of the Seventies" 24x7. Laura hates it.

Handheld FRS Radios: We bought these little Motorola FRS radios (like walkie-talkies) for when I'm out looking for coffee and Laura's in the trailer. They work OK, but they really are only good for line-of-sight (462MHz). They're all encrypted, though, so the conversations are mostly private. "Looks like we got us a convoy".

Starbucks: Living where we do (did?), and hearing that Starbucks had a plan to double or triple their number of stores seemed insane. Well – I've spent considerable time trying to find one in Nevada, Arizona and SE California. Buy stock – these people don't know about "oversaturated coffee houses" yet. Fortunately, I've a stock of 65 lbs of beans we brought from home …. I'm down to about 3 lbs now so am hoping the kids bring some with them when we meet in LA for Christmas. Do you think the drug sniffing dogs are trained to find people carrying coffee? Dave and Kath should go to the airport about 9 hours before flight time.

Wal*Mart: I've talked about this before, and how I really don't want to shop at Wal*Mart if at all possible. The problem where we are now (and have been for the last few weeks) is that it's often the only game in town. There are no other stores around (that are obvious to a visitor) that would likely sell the things you need – like FRS radios, sewage lines, garden hoses, rust paint, bananas, toilet paper, one-of-those-things-you-hang-from-the-ceiling-to-catch-flies, dog shampoo, and personal lubricant. I did notice that condoms were locked up beside the tills at an Albertson's we were at … cigarettes and porn were available for browsing (Jenn: you need to "survey" these people).

Living-in-a-Trailer: When we bought this Airstream (25'), we thought it was big. Now we're likely the smallest unit in the places we stay. Regardless, it's still really comfortable, and we don't think it's "too small" at all. We've been in here about 90 nights now – and so far we're still getting along; I sleep during the day, and Laura sleeps during the night. The dog sleeps all the time. We're practicing our watch system for when we buy a boat (don't tell Laura).

That's all I can think of for this update. I've got to trudge over to the office, take my thumb-drive with me, and upload this email onto their computer because the WiFi access sucks here. Wish me luck.

Hope you are all well, and for our US friends: "Happy Thanksgiving" (even though you celebrate it a month too late).

Platonically,

Doug

16 week update

Hi Everybody:

It's been sixteen weeks since my surgery. I look fantastic.

The last message I sent to you wasn't well received. I had comments that I had lost my sense of humor, had very little sarcasm, and was generally "nice". Some of you thought Laura wrote the email. Truth be told, I had mixed up my Lipitor with Laura's HRT, so I was feeling very "Is it time for 'Regis & Kelly' yet"? It's me this time.

Laura and I are currently camped out in Carson City, Nevada – about 30 miles south of Reno. We started the "official" trip on October 10, and made our way down thru Seattle, the Oregon Coast, and last week we were in Napa (the city and the valley) California. We visited with Laura's family in Orinda and Castro Valley, as well as with many excellent vintners in the Sonoma/Napa appellations. Apologies to any Bay Area folks we didn't call … I got scared enough driving into the city without the trailer. Those same vintners also recommended I avoid driving a 6300 lb trailer when I'm smashed. We will be in SF again on our way home in the spring. I should be out of wine by then. Expect a call.

Our plan this week is to work our way down thru Nevada, our target is Death Valley. Something about "Furnace Creek", "Hell's Gate", and "Lost Burrow Gap" calls out to me. After Death Valley we'll likely stay close to Las Vegas (Grand Canyon, Red Rocks) until the end of November. We found out that Al, Lynn and friends will be in Vegas for Thanksgiving, so we've decided to surprise them and stay in their rooms. I haven't had a bath in 2 months.

A couple of comments on our new "traveling" lifestyle:

- It's cold at night at 5000 ft, even if you're in the desert. Tonight it's supposed to get to 29F. Luckily, we brought our "Deception Pass in May" sleeping bags. If only we could have our "Deception Pass in May" friends with us too. Then I could drink their wine. Or their Scotch. But not Bruce's.

- Gas has been a pleasant surprise. It's about $2.40 a gallon (about $0.70/litre). Based on the way things were going in the spring, I had planned on $7.80/gallon for this trip. We're spending all our extra money on propane for the heater. And for the 45" plasma screen I had installed on Laura's side of the bed last week.

- Whenever we get cable TV at a campground, all we ever seem to see are: (a) political attack ads or (b) ads for insomnia, flatulence, incontinence, high cholesterol or erectile dysfunction. How many problems can one person have? I only have three of the five...

- We get stopped constantly (at least once/day) asking about our trailer and our truck. Is having a Toyota tow an Airstream down here "un-American". What happens if we go to Texas? They also want to know where we keep the guns. I told them we're from Canada, and our natural defense is to talk to you until you slide into a coma. I also correct them on their pronunciation of the words "roof" and "about". Overall, people have been very nice to us – the further south we go, the friendlier they get. I expect I would be elected President in Guatemala if we chose to travel that far.

- My health appears to be on a plateau right now. I'm not getting enough exercise, but look forward to spending extended periods of time in one spot so I can get out and run/bike/hike. When we move around too much (every couple of days), I'm pretty sore, and get tired easily. I feel my best when I've been really active, and have been looking for someone to play Jai Alai with…

Food: Eating too much. Must exercise soon.
Exercise. See Food.
Pain: Numbed by polyphenols in red wine.
Attitude: Bad. Back to normal.
Sleep: Shiver all night long. Using the dog for warmth. Laura wants me to have a bath.

- I've uploaded a bunch of photos to our Flickr site. Have a look if you're interested. I've removed all the scar pictures.

Will write again once we're back in "civilization" (out of Death Valley).

Platonically,
Doug

13 week update - Doug & Laura's Adventure Begins

Hi Everybody:

Four months have passed since Laura and I were supposed to start our "Big Adventure" - travelling through Western Canada and the Southwest USA and Mexico for 6-8 months. Our first day on the trip was to be June 9th.

On May 30th I was admitted to the hospital and subsequently diagnosed with two major (70-80%) blockages in my heart (LAD). They couldn't be fixed with angioplasty, so I was scheduled for bypass surgery on July 6th. My recovery has been remarkably quick, and I'm feeling very good.

After taking short trips in and around Vancouver over the past several weeks, it's time to actually "leave". We just spent the weekend up at Whistler with my brother Rob and his family. Last week we were on Vancouver Island visiting with friends and Laura's family.

Today, we head south. First stop is the Oregon Coast (as long as the weather holds out). Then a family reunion of sorts (Laura's family) in San Francisco. Then meeting friends in Las Vegas in November. Then ..... who knows. Kath and Dave will be flying down to meet us for Christmas - we're taking a 1-week cruise out of Los Angeles on Dec 23rd. After Christmas, we might try Baja Mexico. We need to be home by late March, as Kath will graduate from UBC in the Spring.

SCORECARD
Pain: None.
Food: Everything tastes too good. We need to stop inviting ourselves to dinner with friends.
Exercise: For the first time, ran twice on the weekend - about 7km each time. Hills are hard, but I'm sure I could do a 10km on the flats (not very fast, mind you). Feeling pretty good about that!
Attitude: It's hard to say "goodbye" to our friends, our family, and especially our kids. But it's only for a few months. Everybody seems to be happy that we're leaving ?!?!

I'll be sending updates every now and again while we're gone. Platonic love to you all!

Cheers,
Doug

11 week update

Hi Everybody:

It's been three weeks since my last update and much has happened. Most of it involves personal hygiene, but some of it involves travel and "living small". I'll spend most of this email explaining the hygiene part....

Here's the personal update:

Food: Everything tastes great. I was beginning to crave kerosene-soaked-cardboard, but seem to be over it. I do have a craving for chipmunk teriyaki, though...
Pain: Other than the ongoing chest "discomfort", especially after exercise, I feel really good. I'm planning on having a kidney removed to see if I can recover from that without any pain medication at all. I hear I can get upwards of $50 for a good kidney in Mexico.
Alcohol: A glass (or two) of red wine every day is good for you. So I'm going on the assumption that four or five must be REALLY good for you. Unfortunately, $4 wine now tastes like $4 wine. I'm now forced to drink $6 wine.
Exercise: Haven't tried to run since my last update ... it hurt too much. I think I'll stick to synchronized swimming for now.
Scars: The "Dermatix" has worked wonders on my chest scars. I don't scare small animals or children anymore. When I had my stress test (see below), the nurse thought the scar would be a thin, almost invisible line in a couple of years.
Attitude: I've always had a bad attitude. It's back.
Concentration: I forget what I was going to say about concentratkdfdkjfweru.

And here's the other news:

Laura and I have been living full-time in the Airstream since August 20th (so a full month now). It's really going well; neither of us has visible knife or bullet wounds, and the cast iron frying pan only hurt while I was conscious. Really - it's remarkable how well we've gotten on in such a small space. The trailer is really comfortable for the two of us, but it's a bit crowded when one (or both) of the kids come for a visit.

We spent two weeks in an urban RV park in Vancouver, which was really convenient but quite sterile and unfriendly (mostly German tourists). We then travelled down the Olympic Peninsula and stayed in Port Townsend, WA for about a week before returning to Vancouver. Port Townsend afforded the opportunity to look at lots of sailboats, so I'm hoping Laura's experience living in a 25'x8' trailer will be good training for living on a 30'x9' sailboat. Wish me luck.

We're now camped out in a rural suburb of Vancouver (Anmore), in a mostly-empty campground that's very quiet. On Saturday, we'll head over to Vancouver Island for 10 days to visit with family and friends. After that, it's back to Whistler for Canadian Thanksgiving with the kids and my brother (Rob) and his family. Then, finally, four months later, we head south.

Kath and Dave are both now back in school and living together in a basement suite in Kerisdale - very handy for both of them. Kath is in her final undergrad year at UBC and Dave is doing his second year of university at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Kathryn will get her History/English Bachelor's Degree from UBC in April, so that's our new "must get home by" date. They're both going to meet us in Los Angeles on December 22, and we're going on a 7-day cruise to Mexico for Christmas. Dave is working at Starbucks, and Kath is working as a nanny for a few hours a week as well as writing for the UBC paper. They've done really well during all this stress ("my parents are unemployed and live in a trailer"), and really stepped up when it counted. I hope they know we're coming to live with them when we get back.

On Monday of this week (Sept 18) I met with both Dr. Bonet (cardiologist) and Dr. Karim (surgeon). I had a stress test, passed it, and left with no restrictions about returning to work (or in our case, play). We were at the bank today setting up automatic payments for everything, and with a couple more things to handle (like North America roaming on Laura's cell) we're good to go.

Agilent has been great during all this upheaval. Not only has everyone I worked with kept in touch, but the administrative side of things has been handled with real compassion. My leave was put on hold, and I've been on short/long term disability since May 30th. Laura and I were in Seattle on Tuesday and Wednesday this week as guests at a district meeting for my old territory ... it gave us both a chance to say "hello", "goodbye", and "thank you" to many of the best HP/Agilent people we've met in my 22 years there. On Monday (Sept 25), I officially "go back to work". What this really means is I "start my accrued vacation". Once that's all chewed up, I'll start the 6 month leave-of-absence. The net-net is that I'll be off work until the end of May 2007. That will be a full year away from work. A lot longer than I first thought, but we didn't plan on the curve ball.

So ... we're finally on our way. In 20 days we'll be heading south. I'll keep these updates coming from time to time, and might even attach a picture now and again.

Platonically,
Doug

8 week update (with cholesterol numbers)

Hi Everybody:

This time, I put your email address in AFTER I creating the message. Here's my second attempt...

It's been three weeks since my last update, and I'll be 8 weeks post-op on Thursday. I've been asked a few questions several times, so I thought I'd answer them for you here:

Q: Did you have a single, double, triple, or quad bypass?
A: Stop asking. I had a double. One was called a LIMA (Left Interior Mammary Artery), and the other a traditional saphenous vein from my leg. I would have got a quadruple, but we have socialized medicine here in Canada so they used the extra veins in my leg for another guy.

Q: How's the scar(s)?
A: The chest scar is actually not too scary. The Dermatix (silicone) I've been using on it has really made a difference. I have two scars on my left leg, though, that are still pretty ugly. Haven't been using Dermatix on these (it's $50 for a 15g tube), but if things don't improve over the next month or two 'll go to Home Depot and buy some bathroom caulking.

Q: So - you did all this lifestyle stuff (vegetarian, runner, wonderful personality, deeply religious) but still got nailed with this. Why not just kick back and eat deep fried Snickers bars?
A: I'm obviously predisposed to building plaque in my arteries. If I didn't do the lifestyle stuff, I might be dead. I'm walking 10-15km at a shot and the only pain I have is when I get hit by a jogger or a baby carriage; I'd hate to think what the recovery would be like if I looked like _____________ and was in the same shape as ____________.

Q: What about pain?
A: OK - so there still is some pain. All in my chest, and mostly when I get up in the morning. When I talked to my doctor about the discomfort he said "get used to it". I tried to go for a run last Friday and it was like I'd never done it before in my life. I could go about 200m before I had to stop - too hard to breathe and too much chest pain (not heart attack pain - broken rib pain). I guess I'll have to wait some more.

Q: What are your cholesterol numbers? What should I be asking my doctor about?
A: I've been monitoring these numbers since 1997 (my dad had bypass surgery in 1996 when he was 60 - so I changed my lifestyle in a big way at that time). I've got all the numbers in a google spreadsheet here. The comments below won't make much sense without seeing the numbers:

The May'06 numbers where pulled when I went into the hospital. The Aug'06 numbers are after 2.5 months on some heavy-duty cholesterol drugs. The Sept-97 numbers were when I was a ridiculously strict vegan, and ran about 40km/week (hard to keep up with the sales manager job I got in 1999). The Apr'04 numbers were when I tried to "experiment" with some cholesterol drugs; I should have kept it up - but I thought I could manage it with lifestyle. Wrong.

Note that my "unique" problem is very low HDL. My liver just doesn't manufacture the stuff. HDL is the "good" cholesterol, and removes the "bad" cholesterol (LDL) from the artery walls. Most people won't have numbers as low as mine (BIG HDL numbers are good, BIG LDL numbers are bad).

As for asking your doctor. Read up on this stuff. Ask your doctor to be aggressive. A small-dose statin and some easy lifestyle modifications (like deep fried Snickers bars only twice/week) could prevent what happened to me.

Q: How do you remain so good looking?
A: Apricot facial scrubs. Twice a day.

Q: When do you and Laura re-start your "adventure"
A: Hopefully, in mid-October. I still have a few more medical hurdles to jump through (stress test, visit with the surgeon), but am hopeful that there are no more surprises ... we've had plenty so far this year, thanks.

Q: What about the food. What about the booze?
A: Everything tastes normal now. One of the great side-effects is that $4 wine now tastes like $95 wine. We're saving thousands. I might take up smoking.

Q: Where are you living?
A: After pissing off every close friend we've got, we moved into the trailer on August 16th. We're at an RV park in Vancouver (it's full of Germans - but nobody wants to talk about the war???), with close access to the SkyTrain. We'll stay in the Vancouver area until we leave in October (with a couple of side-trips to Victoria, Nanaimo, Port Townsend).

Q: When will you stop sending out these updates?
A: Never. I'm a narcisist.

I hope this message finds you well, and that you're having a great summer. Thanks again for all your messages - please keep sending them (especially the chain letters!).

Platonically,
Doug

PS:
Q: What does a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac do?
A: Lies awake at night wondering if there really is a Dog.

5 week update

Hi Everybody:

Getting tired of this yet? Don't really care about me anymore? Would prefer to hear more about Kim Jong-Il? Tough.

Laura and I have moved again - spending the week at John & Maureen's place while they're on vacation; looking after their lawn/garden as well as Bo-the-Pee-Dog. We now have our stuff scattered in 5 different places (3 homes, 1 trailer, and 1 storage locker), but we're hoping to resolve some of that in the next few days.

Here's the update:

Pain: Visited my GP today, and talked a bit about the ongoing chest pain. He's not surprised, and suggested I get used to it for a few more months. Gulp. Haven't resorted to Tylenol for several days now, so I guess it can't be that bad. Either that, or I'm exceptionally tough...

Concentration: I think it's back to "normal". Laura claims I still suffer from "man-hearing" and "man-vision" (also, "man-empathy"). I find I can concentrate on traffic really well when Laura's driving; providing many valuable tips and keeping an eye open for danger. Laura would prefer I stay at home and watch TV.

Food: The red wine taste is about 75% back. This is a very good thing. Most other foods are now near normal, although anything sweet still tastes off; not quite "diesel-platypus", more like "teriyaki-aardvark".

Strength: I'm walking around 10km a day now, and think that's where I'll leave it for a while. There are lots of hills around Port Coquitlam, so my challenge will be to get better at climbing them. Right now, I'm just fine on the flats but get a bit winded on the hills. I won't be able to run until my chest heals some more (somewhere around 8 weeks). I will be unable to make the Vancouver Canucks training camp this year ;-(

Bloodwork: Been reading a lot about heart disease, blood profiles, reversal of plaque build-up, etc. I'm getting a complete cholesterol/liver work up tomorrow which should tell me where I am, and where I need to get to. I'm serious about trying to manage my problem (low HDL, bad HDL/Cholesterol ratio) with diet and exercise, and try to reduce the meds as much as possible. My GP seems game to follow along on this experiment, so I'm pleased about that. If there's one thing each of you can/should do (if you haven't already), it's go and get your cholesterol levels checked out. Be aggressive with this stuff - I guess I'm especially "tuned" to this right now, but I'm hearing stories every day about people (mostly men) in their late 40's and early 50's dropping dead from massive heart attacks. Could have happened to me, but I got lucky and had some warning... Wow. This entire section was serious.

Living: We've spent the last 2.5 months living with other people (THANK YOU!), but we're both getting tired of not having a place of our own. We're looking for somewhere to park the trailer (with full hookups) starting next week, and sleeping in our own bed, cooking in our own kitchen, and leaving underwear on our own floor.

Travel: Laura and I travelled to a family reunion in Ponoka, Alberta last weekend. It was wonderful to spend a few days around close friends and relatives, and I think it was good for them to see for themselves how stunningly attractive I remain ... other than the Frankenstein Scar(s).

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks everybody for your cards, letters, email and for forwarding me all those chain letters! I just know that 25,000 people will be sending me $1 each anytime soon!

Platonically,
Doug

28 day update

Hi Everybody:

I received a few emails last time with the same theme:

"Doug, please tell me who can help set up a spam filter" or
"Doug, I receive messages from somebody I don't like - can you help?" or
"How can I move messages directly from my Inbox to my Trash automatically?"
or

The short answer to all these questions is .... you can't. You must read all
your email. Especially email from me. Anyone who says otherwise just wants
to access your bank accounts, and is likely a convicted felon.

This sounds trite, but I can't believe it's been four weeks. Four weeks of
living in somebody else's house, eating somebody else's food, and enjoying
somebody else's air conditioning. Again, BIG thanks to Mike and Brenda for
letting us stay with them, and to John and Mo for letting "Bo the Pee Dog"
live with them. Another big thanks to everyone else who's been so kind, so
generous, and so damned polite to me. I wonder when I stop getting treated
special? I'm holding out for March 2010.

OK - enough of the grovelling. Here's the update:

Food - getting better week-by-week. Red wine still tastes off ... not awful,
but $40 wine tastes like $4 wine. I hope this is a sign that things are
improving. I'm not a big fan of $4 wine. Strangely, coffee has always tasted
like it's supposed to....

Exercise - I'm up to about 10km (6 miles) a day. Tried to do a steep hill
yesterday, and found that it was really hard - had a tough time catching my
breath. I'm hopeful that when my chest fully heals I'll be able to run and
bike again. This should be after 8 weeks (another month). A whole "herd" of
friends have decided that doing the Vancouver Half-Marathon in May'07 is a
great idea, so I guess I'm in. I wonder who will carry me?

Frankenstein Scars - The chest scar is healing nicely, with some help from
the Dermatix that Kelly recommended. I (foolishly) went for a long walk with
Dave K on Tuesday wearing jeans, and it irritated one of my leg scars - I'm
hoping that it isn't infected. Photos of the scars are available for $14.95
each - no refunds.

Sleep - I've been sleeping on a futon at the Diack's - it's soft and I've
been sleeping well. Tried to sleep back on a regular bed the other night and
it was a disaster - too painful to move/roll/sleep. Back to the futon!

Pain - I take a couple of Tylenol at bedtime if I've had a really active
day, and feeling quite sore. The chest is still really "tight", but it is
getting better with the exercise. Brenda offered me the use of their rowing
machine. I declined. Wouldn't want to break their equipment.

Concentration - I read "East of Eden" (600 pages) in 5 days. I think my
comprehension is really improving. "East of Eden" is the story of young Luke
Skywalker and his friend Obe-Wan Kenobi, who live in New York City and write
a newspaper column about Sex.

Driving - I can drive today!! Laura couldn't be more pleased......

Plans - We'll continue to hang around Vancouver until October .... likely
with short visits to Vancouver Island and the Okanagan Valley. We hope to
start the trip south after Canadian Thanksgiving. We're going to try and get
the Airstream parked someplace where we can live in it and start making
preparations for the big trip. If anybody has a large backyard with 30 Amp
service, water and sewer, let me know. Mike and Brenda said they'd pay
"anything" to have us live in the trailer.

That's all I can think of for now. Hope you're all having a great summer.
Stay cool!!!

Platonically,
Doug

21 day update

Hi Everybody:

Many of you have asked "so ... how DO I set up a spam filter in my email program?". For those that haven't figured that out, here's my update...

It's been three weeks since the surgery, and 17 days out of the hospital. The day-to-day progress is getting harder to notice, but week-to-week there's still significant improvement.

Taste: Most things are starting to taste near-normal. There's a couple of exceptions, though, that are still frustrating:
- Bananas. I love bananas. Imagine platypus grilled on the exhaust manifold of a diesel engine. That's what I'm tasting.
- Red Wine. I love red wine. Imagine Gatorade, Diet Pepsi and Buckley's Mixture in a blender. Yum.
- Vegetables. Fortunately, most veggies taste OK. Is ketchup a vegetable?

Pain: I'm back to taking some pain medication at night. A bottle of tylenol and a fifth of rum before bed helps me sleep thru the night ... and the next day ... and the following night. Overall, I'm feeling a little bit better and have a little more mobility every day. Pain isn't a big deal anymore.

Scars: Our good friend Kelly D told me about Dermatix. It's a silicone scar-removing gel that I'll use every day for the next two months. I doubt the scars will completely disappear, but I may frighten fewer children (or Laura). They're healing nicely, by the way.

Exercise: I've been walking a lot. Up to about 6km/day now, and I think I could do more but it's been SO hot here lately. Once it cools down I'll ratchet it up a bit more. Laura would like me to walk to Regina (she doesn't appreciate my "driving tips").

Driving: I get to drive at 4 weeks post-op. That's 6 days, 9 hours and 20 minutes from now. But who's counting?

Attitude: Things are really going well. This has been a real test of our marriage ... I don't know that Laura and I have ever spent this much time together. We seem to keep busy with the online gambling and the grow-op, so the days aren't too long. Laura is going to go back to work half-days for the next two weeks to cover for vacations. That will give me a chance to paint a self-portrait on the Diack's living room wall.

Sleep: Sleeping well through the night now. See "Pain".

Concentration: I'm able to read more than a couple of pages at a time now. Those Archie comics are still pretty challenging, but The Enquirer keeps me up-to-date with world events (so - what's with Brittany and Bigfoot?).

You: Again, I've been wonderfully surprised by the visits and the cards and the phonecalls and the identity theft. Thank you all for being so concerned and so supportive. I'm up for visitors (PLEASE!!) so give us a call on Laura's cell 604-505-1963.

Love ya*,
Doug

*platonically

14 day update

Hi Everybody:

By now you've probably added me to your spam filter, so I won't be offended if this doesn't get read. As many of you have shown an interest in what's happening, I'll keep sending these updates until you stop acknowledging them .... probably another week or two ;-)

So - it's been two weeks since my surgery. The doctors/nurses/janitors/homeless all said I'd be surprised by my recovery, and I truly am amazed.

Pain: Didn't take any painkillers at all yesterday. Previous to that, I was down to a couple of Tylenol before bedtime. It's still uncomfortable to get in and out of a car, sleep on my side, and do one-handed-pushups, but every day my mobility gets better and the pain is less of a factor.

Sleep: I've been getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night for the last week. It's not continuous - more like 5 hours, then 1, then another 1, but I can manage just fine on it.

Appetite: The metalic taste I talked about last week is still there with sweet foods, including fruit. Vegetables, fish, grain are all tasting close to normal. I'm hungry all the time.

Frankenstein Scars: I think they're going to heal just fine. The staples and stitches were removed before I was discharged from the hospital 11 days ago, and the teflon tape they applied to hold me together when I left Royal Columbian was gone this Monday. I've been taking photos of the scar every week ... I plan on creating a scrapbook for our grandchildren ;-)

Energy: Laura and I walked to Starbucks a couple of days ago. This would be about 1km each way, and was probably more than the "book" said I should do. Regardless, I managed it OK. Trying to get out and do something "ambitious" every day.

Attention: Still have a hard time concentrating for very long ... watching a movie is frustrating, and reading more than a few pages in a book is hard. I understand this is pretty normal, and will improve quickly over time as well. I find I'm thinking about 50 things at one time (not much different than from before surgery!). It was pointed out that I misspelled platonic in my last message - and I'm going to use my mental state as the excuse.

Health: Saw the doctor again today. Everything is exactly where it's supposed to be; BP is low (110/60), HR is good (50), lungs are clear. No pain other than from the large axe wounds I have in my chest and my left leg (they took a vein from there too).

Attitude: I haven't suffered any of the depression they talked about in the hospital. I'm feeling very "up", and am anxious to get on with life!

Plans: I have to see the cardiologist mid-August, and the surgeon mid-September. Once I'm cleared by both, Laura and I will "re-start" the plans we had for early June. We'll likely spend some time on Vancouver Island in September (Laura's mom lives there), and then head south to California in October. We plan on spending a few months in CA, AZ, NV, NM ... maybe get as far as Houston.

You: Again, thank you for all the words of encouragement, the email conversations, the phonecalls, the visits, the cards, and the psychic apparitions. I look forward to checking my email in the morning to see what's what, and to screening all our calls on Laura's phone (604-505-1963).

Platonic love to you all,

Doug

Doug 2.0 update...

Hi Everybody:

It's 4:30pm on Thursday, July 13, 2006.

A week ago, I was in Cardiac Intensive Care still unconscious and intubated from my open heart surgery (CABG: Coronary Artery Bypass Graft – times two).

Right now I am sitting in the loft of our friend's home, typing this message to you all. Even though it's happening to me, I'm pretty amazed how far I've come in a scant 168 hours.

Here's a brief update:

- I'm really glad I'm out of the hospital. Even though they'll ply you with whatever drugs you'd like (morphine, T3's, Ativan), it was beginning to drive me nuts. There were no private/semi-private rooms available, so I was in a room with 3 other heart patients (I especially liked the guy with fluid in his lungs that woke up in a panic attack every 7 minutes). The food sucks.

- The nurses are always asking about pain. Always on a scale of 1-10, 1 being a mild headache and 10 being just before you pass out or die.

- I'm very sore. When I cough, it feels as though I'm being hit with a sledgehammer in the chest (7). Laughing is also pretty painful (6). You never realize how much you laugh during the day until it stops being funny. I really don't want to sneeze (apparently, about 11).

- I can get the pain down to about a 2 with a couple of Tylenol, lying down, not moving, and very tired.

- I'm not sleeping. The hospital, the anesthesia, the food, the schedule and the inactivity have all added up. My body has no idea what's going on, and so I've only slept about 10 hours total in the last 3 days. My GP doesn't want me to take anything for it, but simply increase my activity and avoid any naps during the day; this should pass in a couple of weeks.

- Food tastes horrible. I don't know why they didn't put this little gem in the "Going Home After Your Surgery" book. Everything tastes like kerosene-soaked-cardboard. Yum. Apparently this is a very common affect of being on anesthetic for a long period of time.

- I look like Frankenstein. Pretty hard to look in the mirror with the fresh incisions. Now I know why they invented clothes.

- I'm restless. Not tired, just restless. I find I can't concentrate on a single task very long. Reading is very hard, listing to audiobooks is difficult, and even watching TV is frustrating.

Mostly though, I'm thankful. Thankful for all of you who were thinking of me (and Laura, and Kath, and Dave). Your phone calls and emails to Laura were a reminder to both of us just how wonderful our life really is …. I think Laura said she had over 100 people on the distribution list – many of those were requests to be added. She also got to "meet" pieces of my world she'd never met (mostly Agilent or HP folks).

Our friends have really stood out. You expect families to come together, as ours did, but our "family" appears to be much larger than we may have thought. The Diack's, in particular, have shown us incredible support – we're living at Mike & Brenda's, John and Mo are looking after the dog, and I'm embezzling money from Janice, Ed and Stu.

I have to say I was a little embarrassed at the number of people who visited me at both hospitals (June in Eagleridge, July at Royal Columbian). I often had nurses "reminding" me that they limit visitors for a reason – and 6 or 7 at a time was a little much. Regardless, I appreciated it.

So … I'm going try to be online for a bit every day from here on in. I'd like to keep the conversation going with any or all of you. You'll have to be patient if I'm having a bad/slow day … it may take me a while to reply.

Again, from the bottom of my Revision 2.0 heart, I love you all (platonic love, not romantic love – pervert).

Love,

Doug

Doug & Laura's Little Adventure....

Hi Folks:

A few of you know all of this story, some of you know pieces of it, and many of you have no idea what I'm talking about. I'll start a couple of months ago.....

After some significant life events with friends and family, Laura and I decided that we should take some extended time off.

I spoke with my boss in mid-April and asked for a 6-month leave-of-absence, my last day of work being June 9th. He agreed, and when this was added to the vacation I had accrued, it would be a total of about 8 months off. Because this was an extended period of time, Agilent hired another manager to do my job, and when I come back I'll have to apply for a new position somewhere. Laura resigned from her job at Valley West Transport effective June 9th as well.

We also decided to sell the house. It was big and lonely for Laura, especially considering the amount of business travel I was doing. Real estate prices in Vancouver are crazy, and we figured we could rent for a while until we determined exactly where and what we'd like to live in (another townhouse, apartment, cardboard box under a bridge, etc). We've had a lady interested in our place for about 6 years, and she's been very diligent in making sure that if we ever sold she'd get first crack. We negotiated a private deal, and the house closes on June 13.

Both David and Kathryn will be going to school in Vancouver this fall (Kath is in 4th year at UBC and Dave is in 2nd year at Emily Carr - transferred from UVic). They've rented a basement suite together in a heritage home in Vancouver-Kerrisdale (41st and Granville). Kath is working downtown this summer at Harbour Center, and Dave is employed with every other Arts student in N.America - at Starbucks.

Laura and I had also bought a new trailer (25' Airstream) last fall, and planned to live in this for the 8-month vacation. Our plan was to attend an Airstream Rally in Salem Oregon from June 15 thru July 5 (with 1500 other Airstreamers), and then spend the rest of the summer bouncing back and forth between BC and Alberta. In the fall we were going to head south ... Oregon Coast, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico. I had been invited to an Agilent Management Meeting in Phoenix on November 8th, so that was really the only fixed date we had (with the exception of the Victoria Marathon in October - Dave plans on running in it!!).

So ... the plan was fully in motion, and we were both wrapping up our jobs. Good so far?

I was on a hike with a close friend, John Diack, in mid-May when I felt "strange" in my chest and arms going up a steep hill. Same thing a couple of days later when I did the identical hike with Kathryn and some of her friends. I was playing ball hockey on Sunday May 28, and complained that I had no wind/stamina. The guys at hockey said they noticed too, but since they're always ragging me about never playing defense I didn't think it was that noticeable.

On Tuesday May 30th I was at the dentist in the late afternoon. When I was done with the appointment, I decided to take a drive over to Eagle Ridge Hospital to see how busy emergency was - thinking that if it wasn't all stacked up, I'd get myself checked out with an ECG and a blood test. I really wanted to have them tell me "go home, you've got the flu". Turns out when you talk to the Emergency Triage Nurse, and you're a guy who mentions anything about "chest discomfort", they take it seriously.

My ECG was normal, but I had slightly elevated heart enzyme levels that had the ER folks a bit puzzled. I spent overnight in ER, and the moved me up to the cardiac ward on Wednesday morning (May 31). While I was there getting settled, I had a shot of morphine followed by a drop in blood pressure/pulse/etc. The cardiologist was called and she put me on the list for an angiogram ASAP. I had the angiogram on Friday morning, June 2. Everybody suspected that I had a small blockage somewhere that I only noticed under intense exercise. I've been pretty focused on a diet/exercise regime for the last ten years (I'm vegetarian) as my dad and grandfather both had heart attacks in their 60's and I wanted to avoid that fate. Turns out that I have a couple of blockages, one of which would be impossible for angioplasty ... it's in a particularly nasty location at the intersection of two major arteries. So much for all my lifestyle efforts....

Dr. Bonet (my cardiologist - I never thought I'd have one) talked with Dr. Karim (the heart surgeon at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster - suburb of Vancouver) and they were trying to fit me in sometime this week for heart bypass surgery (another term I never thought I'd say/have). Unfortunately, Karim got backed up with emergency cases (mine is short-term-stable), and he couldn't get to me this week. The option I had was to stay in hospital and wait for an opening with one of the other two cardiac surgeons (there are three working out of RCH) or to wait for a few weeks and get a scheduled surgery date. When Laura and I talked with Dr. Bonet , his preference was for me to wait ... I understood that he really liked Karim. If the heart surgery business is anything like the technology business, much is based on relationships. I trust Bonet, so I'll trust his relationship with Karim. I'm scheduled for bypass surgery on July 6th .... which also happens to be Kathryn's 21st birthday. July 6th was very lucky for Laura and me in 1985, so I know it will be lucky for me in 2006!

Funny thing as I was discharged from the hospital on June 6. Laura and I walked thru Emergency on the way out ... it was crazy busy. I commented to Laura that if it was that busy when I came by on May 30th, I probably wouldn't have gone in. Stupid.

I visited with my GP this morning, and got the disability insurance paperwork all done. I'm now officially in a holding pattern until July 5th, under orders to do nothing but read books, watch TV, and get a little bit of light exercise. No caffeine, no hot fudge sundaes, and no ball hockey.

As you can imagine, our vacation plans are now on hold. The recovery time from surgery will be a couple of months, at which time we'll try to pick up where we left off. For now, we're surrounded by great friends and family. They've all offered to help (especially with the move - all our stuff is going into storage this weekend), and we've accepted! We're going to park the trailer at a quiet campground in Anmore - near two beaches and about 10 minutes from Port Coquitlam. We've also got offers from many of our friends to stay at their place. I think a mix of the two will be reality for the next 60-90 days.

So ... there you have it. Some fun, huh?

Drop me a line sometime ... I've got a lot of time to kill over the next few months!!

Cheers!
Doug