Earth Abides

This is my first post deviating from the previous four years ... this will be entirely random, and my random thought today is that my daughter, Kathryn, just finished reading "Earth Abides", by George R. Stewart (no relation, I don't think?). This is a book I've had for a couple of years, and I've got an audio version of it (bought it first) and then a hard-copy, paperback version. I used to say that "East of Eden", by Steinbeck, was my favorite book. Now I'm not so sure. I've read and listened to "Earth Abides" three or four times now, and it never seems to get stale. Every time I listen/read this book I discover something new. It's a post-apocalyptic novel, but not in a zombie, burnt out future (Mad Max) kind of way.

A young grad student, Isherwood Williams, is up in the woods near San Francisco. He gets bitten by a rattlesnake, and cannot get off the mountain he's on and suffers through days of sickness. When he finally gets off the mountain, he discovers that he's all alone - everyone has died from some kind of pandemic while he's been in the back country. This is the story of his life after the event. Who he meets, how they form families and neighborhoods, how their offspring thrive (or not), and how he manages the slow disintegration of technology (while this novel was written in the 50's - it's amazing the amount of technology already around that people depend on - think power grid, flushing toilets, bullets, canned food). The book is epic in it's sweep of the new history, and chronicles Ish's entire life.

I don't know that I'm quite ready to replace "East of Eden" for this book, but I'm tempted.

Sleep - Part II

This has been extraordinarily frustrating. Just when I think I've got this issue resolved, I have another sleepless night. These aren't the odd night where you only manage 4-5 hours, but are the physically draining 0-2 hour marathon in bed. I'm trying to train myself to get up when I find myself awake for a half hour or more, but even that doesn't seem to help. As with the drug problem before, I can find no "common denominator" with what works and what doesn't. Seems that maybe if I'm not tired enough when I go to bed, I'm likely to have a sleepless night.

Regardless, this is now day 29 of this new "regimen" I'm on (SleepTracks, light in the morning, more activity during the day, getting up at the same time, going to bed later) and I would have hoped I'd retrained my brain by now ... apparently not. I'll keep on going for as long as it takes, since this appears to be the only successful way of tackling this problem. If I've suffered through this for the past year, what's a few more months?

Christmas 2010 Letter

The full Christmas 2010 Letter is available at Google Docs.

Merry Christmas!!
Doug

First Sleep

Today was the first morning in over a year where I felt well rested and not too drugged up. I finally gave in to the thought that my sleep would never improve with pharmaceuticals (Ativan) and, although I've tried to wean myself off it twice before (Ativan is a drug you have to very slowly (months) wean off of because of the physical dependency it builds and the severe side effects it can have). I will just have to admit that it will take some time - but my quality of sleep cannot suffer any longer. I started to do some research about sleep (I have no idea why it's taken me this long), and found out that there are millions of people out there just like me. The only cure is a purely holistic one, involving re-training your brain to associate day with wakefulness, and the bed with sleep. It's difficult to get the initial part (wakefulness) going in these northern climes, because there just isn't enough sunlight to trigger that effect in your brain (ie: sunlight = shut off melatonin production). I didn't know that your average living room would have maybe 75 or 100 lux of light hitting your eyes, while noon on a sunny day can be as much as 20,000 lux. No wonder the incidences of SAD in Canada are high (especially here in Vancouver, where you get months and months of grey). Regardless, I built myself a crude light box with 6 x 1300 lux flourescent bulbs, and am trying to eat breakfast with this horrendously bright light beside me. It should trigger my brain to recognize morning. In the night-time, I've learned about something called "prior wakefulness" - it's basically that "sleep pressure" builds up during the day, so that the longer you're awake, the more "pressure" there is to sleep. This means going to bed later - for me it's now between 12:00am and 12:30am. It's hard to get your mind around the fact that going to bed earlier has no direct correlation to how well or how much you sleep - only that you'll have more time staring at the ceiling.
This whole experiment in sleep has cost me about $200 (including the light box), so really, if it works, it will have the best ROI I could have imagined. The things that really helped me out were a program called SleepTracks and a book from the library called "Say Good Night to Insomnia" by Dr. Gregg D. Jacobs and Harvard University. They were both invaluable.

PS: I think I've got an explanation to why I got this "sudden bout" of insomnia: Three months in the hospital with little or no physical exercise, low - indoor light all the time, and wintertime in Vancouver.

Wine ... finally

I happened to notice this last Saturday night, while Laura and I were at the Chambers' for dinner. We brought a (new to me) South African wine called "The Wolftrap". It was a blend of 68% Syrah, 30% Mourvedre and 2% Viognie. This red wine was delightful to drink. Mostly because I've been unable to properly drink wine for over a year. Red wines burned my throat and caused me to cough - white wine was better, but still not back to what it was pre-stroke. I could drink this red more or less the way I used to. Bruce had another bottle of red at dinner, and this one was hard for me. Then, as an experiment to myself, I had some other Shiraz blend last night - it was fine too. This is terribly exciting for me as wine, chocolate, and cheese are what life's all about. I had two out of three before (no problem with chocolate or cheese), but now I'm three for three. Exciting (for me at least).

Financially OK it seems

I had a good visit with the bank Tuesday this week. For the last couple of months, Laura and I have been "concerned" about how quickly she'll need to go back to work, and when I'll be ready and able to do something productive (and maybe earn some money too). We have "enough" to last for a couple more years, and we'll probably be OK once my LIRA kicks in at age 55, but we'd like to travel while we're still able and travel insurance isn't a big obstacle.

Well, I kinda expected that we were OK, but my meeting with the bank confirmed it. Barring another economic meltdown, and the federal government becoming insolvent, we should be just fine for the rest of our days (their projections only go out to age 90 - so I think we're OK with that). Anything we can earn between now and then is a bonus. As long as we keep spending at a reasonable level, we won't run out.

It's amazing how the third-party analysis gives you some confidence in what you have and what you've done to get it.

Big day for me on the bike!

I made a couple of milestones today on my bike. First, I was able to get all the way up a steep, rocky (slippery) slope by standing on the pedals (I haven't been able to stand on the pedals and actually pedal before). Second, I was able to negotiate some pedestrian "gates" both going uphill and downhill without stopping or falling. These are things, of course, that your average ten year old does without thinking ... but for me, it's been a challenge.  Beautiful day, today and yesterday are exactly like a year ago - maybe a tiny bit cooler. What a difference a year makes!
PS: This ain't me in the photo.

One Year...

At about noon today, it all began ... my year of living differently. It seems to me that there are two things that the stroke has left me with, more or less permanently (although, who knows - I may see some change in the months to come) - my voice has changed (soft pallet still "frozen", so I sound like I've got a bad cold), and my ability to walk more than about 3km (can't really run at all). What I can do, however, is bike for a relatively long while (30km or so), and my attention span (ie: reading a book) is probably better than it was. Overall, the year has gone by quickly it seems. Much has happened - to me and to close friends and family. I can only hope and wish that 2011 turns out to be a good year, and that Laura and I get to enjoy some of the fruits that we worked for over the last thirty years

Reunion at EagleRidge and the Terry Fox Run

Yesterday, we had a reunion at EagleRidge Hospital for the patients in E1B - my home for the better part of three months. Not only was it a chance for the nursing, physio, speech-language, and occupational therapy people to see how everyone was making out, but for the patients themselves to get some sense of progress. After seeing many of the patients I was in the "big house" with, I have to admit that my progress is extraordinary. I really have no obvious deficits (until I talk or walk a long ways).

We did the Terry Fox Run yesterday (I walked) for about 5km. We had about 15 of our friend over for coffee, donuts and muffins before the run (our place is within 500m of the start). I still hit that wall at about 3km, and the last 2km home were awful for our friends to watch. But - I did make it on my own two feet, and within a couple of hours of finishing, the walking was more-or-less back to normal.

One year ago...

It was one year ago today that I put in my last day at Agilent Technologies Canada Inc. I thought I'd take a minute to recap what's happened this past twelve months...

- Bought a truck to tow the trailer.
- Went to Whistler with the Diack's.
- Sold the boat. Serendipitous?
- Had a stroke on October 5th.
- Jen and Mike were married in Calgary. I was supposed to MC the wedding, but I was in a hospital bed. I hear the wedding was great fun! Sorry I missed it.
- Ended up spending 93 days as patient at Eagle Ridge Hospital. Was discharged on January 5th.
- Spent a few days with Dave and Sherri up at Sun Peaks (Kamloops). Laura skied, I convalesced.
- Flew to Calgary in February to visit with Mike and Kelly. Mike was still walking, although started to get weak on his left side.
- Laura drove all the way to Palm Springs with me, Dave and Bo.
- Laura drove into LA to visit Disneyland with me and Dave in tow.
- I drove the truck and trailer from Palm Springs to Calgary in April - to visit Mike one last time. He was in a wheelchair, and his left side was paralyzed.
- We left the trailer in Hal's field while Laura and I drove back to Vancouver .

- I turned 50.

- Mike died May 22 from a Glioblastoma Multiforme brain tumor.

- Laura and I drove back from Vancouver to Calgary for Mike's funeral on May 28th.
- Laura, Bo and me took the long way home and towed the trailer to South Dakota to visit Little Big Horn, Pompey's Pillar, Devil's Tower, Deadwood, Sturgis, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and the Lewis and Clark Caverns.

- Kathryn returned home from Turkey, and is now living in Kitsalano.

- I bought a new touring bike - kind of a belated 50th Birthday present to myself.
- We travelled to Port Townsend, with Kelly, for the Pacific Seacraft rendezvous. I stayed in Bellingham for a couple of days while the girls went to Nevada.
- Laura and Kelly went to Las Vegas for five days.
- Went to Whistler for three nights with Laura, Kath and Dave. Bo looked after by John and Mo.
- Laura went back to school Monday, Aug 30th.
 - Kathryn started UBC on Tuesday this week. Getting her B.Ed.
- I started an Internet Marketing course (www.challenge.co) last Friday - doing a few hours every day.

Overall, the year seems to have gone by quite quickly - I guess when I recap, much has happened.

11 Months and counting...

It's now 11 months yesterday (October 5/09) since I suffered the stroke. In retrospect, there's been tremendous improvement - from not being able to walk, brush my teeth, or say more than one word without breathing hard. I think things are continuing to improve, and likely will for another year or so. I can now walk about 3km without too much problem (even further, but I have a noticeable limp), I can bike at least 30km in one stretch (as I did last week), and can talk, even though it's still nasally - I sound like english is my second language and I have some kind of strange accent. I think that maybe the lasting effect of the stroke(s) will be my voice - I'm not so sure that it will ever come back to be what it was. I'm OK with that, considering the alternatives.
What all this has done, however, is put a real "best before" date on my life. If there is a purpose (even if it's self-imposed) for a life, it seems to me you have an obligation to see as much as your able during our brief visit here. To that end, I'm hoping that Laura and I will do something truly bold and non-traditional in the coming months. She's at school (taking ECE - Early Childhood Education) until the end of June next year - so I have until then to get as healthy as I can. After that, who knows?

Port Townsend

We're here in  the Airstream with Kelly (Devall) for a Pacific Seacraft Rendezvous. The weather today (Friday) was cloudy until about 2pm, when the fog finally burnt off ... then it was spectacular! We're here for three or four days, then Laura and Kelly head off to Las Vegas for five days. I'll stay in the trailer, in the US, if the weather looks promising.

Driving

An interesting phenomenon I've noticed in the last year or so ... most kids don't want to drive. Neither do I. If given a choice (and distance isn't an issue), these people (myself included) would rather walk or ride a bike versus drive. This may purely be a Vancouver thing, but I'm pretty sure anywhere where you have a thriving center (meaning all the things you need are there ... banks, pubs, restaurants,etc) people would prefer NOT to get into their cars.

A blessing and a curse

I read an article yesterday about brain injury. It got me to thinking ... this has turned out to be the longest, most frustrating, depressing thing that has ever happened to me. It's really easy to wallow in "why me"?
On the other hand, I would be the first to say, "why not me", and expect somebody else to get on with life. After all, I've now known two people who've died around my age, and neither of them was "asking for it" either.
That's the perspective I really need to have, in that as a whole, I got off light. Most of my function is back, and I'm only slightly limited in what I can do. Overall, the world is my oyster, and I've been given an extraordinary chance to both (a) see it for what it is (a second, more aware, chance), and (b) the freedom to go and do something with (a). There's a line that  Stephen Covey has in "Seven Habits ..." about how you should strive to "live, love, laugh, and leave a legacy". I have the first and third covered, the second is always a work-in-process, and the last is why we have religion. Being an arrogant atheist, the "leave a legacy" part is the hardest. What I can only hope is that my grandchildren one day will say "my grandpa was crazy, and did a lot of strange, interesting things".

Brodie bike decision

I finally "bit the bullet" and got a bike that I hadn't even considered until a few days ago ... a Brodie Elan. Supposed to be strong enough to take whatever damage I can dish out, and the price was considerably lower than what I expected to pay. I ordered it loaded up with x-county tires, rear rack, kickstand, fenders, an adjustable head-stay (to fine tune the fit without cutting lots of metal), and water bottle cages (3). I hope I'm happy about the decision a month from now.... I go on Thursday to have the bike fitted to me.

Life, the universe, and everything

Have been on the bike for many days in a row, and I think that having a day off (today) is probably a smart thing to do. Sleep has reared it's ugly head again - no sleep in the past two nights ... so I hope tonight is different (will change up the meds a bit). I feel so much better after I've had some good, quality sleep - without it the day just drags. Either way, I both anticipate and dread going to bed at night. If I fall asleep it's great, if I don't it's awful.

Have pretty much decided on a new touring bike for yours truly. I was ready to travel all the way to Seattle to get a semi-custom bike made, but have read enough reviews to be OK with this one (plus its cheaper). I hope that this bike will last me the rest of my life - I do have to say that I tend to wear out this stuff, rather than have it gather dust in the corner. Laura is looking at either a new bike (cruiser) or I'll see what we can do with my (worn out but with $100 put into it just fine) mountain bike.

I feel torn between not being able to fully enjoy the summer (sleep, walking, hiking) and being grateful for the mobility that I DO have. Regardless of how far I can walk or hike, I seem to be able to bike just fine. Still some problems with balance on the bike. I get nervous around small gaps, like a gate, and tend to "overthink" the thing and have to stand (ie: not ride) the bike to get through. I haven't really fallen off in several weeks, so I guess that's improvement.

I told you about going to the speech pathologist a couple of weeks ago, and she mailed me some exercises to try and reduce the "nasality" of my voice. I have to admit I probably haven't done the exercises as much as I should - mostly because I can do them all (no challenge at all), and she wasn't sure that they'd help regardless. This, like everything else, seems to be a matter of time. Anyways, I do them whenever I think of them (which is a couple of times a day).

Bikes and boats...

OK, I'm pretty sure that Laura won't let me have another boat. So here's the latest plan. How about a new bike (at about 1/50th the cost of a boat). I'd be looking at a touring bike, useful if I wanted to load it up and travel some distance (let's say ... Prince Rupert, or Alaska, or Cross-Canada). Anybody interested in biking for a long while?

I have to admit, this long term biking idea came to me when I watched "Long Way Down". Motorcycles are not very environmentally friendly, and do nothing for your fitness. I figure if you start out out-of-shape, you would finish a long ride in incredible-good-shape. Plus you'd see stuff you've never seen before.

Bikes...

Today I threatened to take the 22km bike ride that I did the day before my stroke (PoCo Trail). Laura convinced me otherwise, because I'd be gone too long, and we were invited out to the Plymouth Crescent Annual July 1st BBQ in the Rain. I'll try for tomorrow, and maybe convince someone tonight to come with me.

Funny thing, I still cannot go over a sidewalk curb (up, not down ... down a curb is no problem because gravity takes over). When I try to go up a curb, my brain says "lift the front fork of the bike and stand up", but my body just sits there, waiting to fall of the bike. So I fall of the bike (it's no big deal, since I'm going 1/8 mile/hr). Sometimes, I feel just like a kid who's five, learning to ride a two-wheeler for the first time. Hmmm.

Doctors, sleep, and boredom...

Went to the doctor again today ... have probably seen him more in the last 6 moths, than in the preceding 15 years. He gave me a renewal on my sleep meds (which are finally working) and tended to think that my speech progress is more me, than it is the drugs. I do notice that I seem to talk better in the evening time, and I know that the half-life of Ativan is somewhere around 20 hours - so I put two and two together and declare that they must be related. My speech has, however, progressed to the point where people think I have some strange foreign accent ... I can live with that. The bike riding has progressed to the point where an 11km route I've worked out is now pretty easy for me to do. Time to ramp it up a notch.
"Semi-retired" life takes some getting used to. I get really down when the "todo" list is "sit on couch". Need to find something to occupy my day while this recuperation project continues. I'm not yet strong enough to manage a full (or even part-time) job.

It's Hard To Sit Still

I rode my bike again this morning, and walked with Laura again this
afternoon. I have a "todo" list I'd like to get to, but the pragmatic
side of me says "the only important thing right now is exercise, and
trying my hardest to increase my strength and endurance". Easy to say,
but not so easy to do. When you've spent your whole life checking
things off lists, the sitting around "getting better" is harder than
it sounds (I can only bike/walk so far before I "shut down").

BTW - Dave sent us this postcard from Rome ... kind of an inside joke.

Sleep. Drugs or Bike - pick two...

Seems I have a bit of a dilemma - if I take lots of drugs at night, I sleep well, but my bike-riding abilities are diminished. If I ease off on the drugs, I don't sleep as well but I can ride the bike better (ie: single track poses less of a problem). I use my bike riding ability as a good gauge of progress ... the better I manage on single-track, and the more comfortable I am in riding with one hand, the better I'm doing. I'm surprised at the improvements I've made despite lack of good quality sleep ... I can only imagine that it could be even better with sufficient rest. I also noticed that, when I do get a good nights sleep (like last night), my attitude about life is improved as well (I find that if I'm tired, I'm also depressed). This stroke thing has definitely been the biggest struggle I've ever faced. I can only hope that I continue to improve...

Better bike ride...

First full day at home in a long while, and the first bike ride in a month or so. My brain must be healing, because I no longer find the long, flat dike overwhelming. I can even ride with one hand to scratch my face, and singe-track is almost doable. My right side is still affected, though, because after the ride I can barely walk (all I can manage is about 12km on the bike before my energy is gone). Overall, not too bad. Another few months of this (thinking all summer), and my energy should be up, as well as stamina. I'm still envious of the people who go on long hikes though. I hope I get back to "almost infinite" hiking/walking (note that I'm now biking what I used to walk).

Home again...

We arrived home again about 3pm this afternoon. We stored the trailer in Lynden, Wa - they were the only people who got back to me when I inquired about storage via email (here's a hint - 90% of success is just showing up). In all, a long trip, and we're both happy to be sleeping in a real bed tonight...

Bozeman, Montana

OK - we really like this town. Unfortunately, tomorrow, we're out of here.Got the oil changed in the truck this morning, and Laura got a couple of Verizon phone cards. We were going to go down to Virginia City today, but storm clouds are brewing, it's raining now, and the forecast is for hail. So, we've hooked up the trailer so all we have to do tomorrow is pull out the wheel chocks and disconnect the power and we're gone.

Something we've been noticing, and it continues, is that all the campgrounds/attractions we've been to are empty. This photo is of the main level at the parking lot at Mount Rushmore. It should be full this time of year (all the US kids are out of school). It isn't. Nothing is.

Lewis and Clark Caverns

There seems to some inverse law of quality at work here in America ... it seems the less we have to pay, the better the tour/exhibit is. The Lewis and Clark Caverns, just outside of Bozeman, are the most recent example. $10 each got us a two hour, two mile guided tour of the caverns. The views (inside and outside) are incredible. Photos on Picasa.

Three Forks, Montana

So we didn't get to Missoula today ... Three Rivers will have to do. We're at a lovely campground, and it's been sunny (no rain) all day. Tomorrow morning, we'll go by and see about the "Lewis and Clark Caverns" and if they look promising, we'll go inside. Then we'll try to make it to Missoula.

PS: Dave left some Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in the trailer ... I had one tonight and it tastes exactly like the stuff I drank in 1978 at the BCIT SUB and the Sheraton Villa (and every other place that served draft beer). Funny how we remember tastes and smells?

Hardin, Montana - The Road Home

The weather is miserable all throughout the mid-west. We woke up this morning to steady rain - forecasted to last at least four more days. So we've decided to head home. Today, we drove from Deadwood to Hardin, Montana - some 290 miles. Tomorrow, we hope to get to Missoula, and somewhere in Washington state on Monday. If we get home on Wednesday, it would mean we've spent 55 nights in the trailer so far this year. But we might stop at Lake Chelan, WA for a few days if the weather's nice....

Deadwood - Saloon #10

Go figure .... probably the best meal we've had in the USA in the last couple of years we had tonight. In a saloon. Actually, it was the "Deadwood Social Club", part of the #10 Saloon. We both had fresh walleye ... and walked away completely satisfied for $50 (that included a drink each before dinner). The only other meal that compared was at the dining room at the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley.

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Mount Rushmore must be a magnet for fat, camera-toting, obnoxious, proud-just-because Americans. Crazy Horse is much the same, but a little more rough around the edges (probably because it doesn't want and doesn't get federal funding). Mount Rushmore is, still, pretty awesome. Until you see Crazy Horse, and know that it was started in 1948, and Mount Rushmore would fit inside Crazy Horses head. The scale is huge! Probably turns out that staying in Deadwood and commuting was a good idea. Even though the drive down through the Black Hills was an hour each way, just to be out of the crowds, the kitschy, and the traffic was worth it.

Deadwood - Wild Bill Hickok

Yes, that's right, Hickok is spelled without a second "c". Wild Bill is buried famously here in Deadwood, South Dakota, murdered while he played cards. Laura and I mistakenly parked at a park at the bottom of the hill marked "cemetery". Turns out, the cemetery itself had plenty of parking, and was about 4 blocks (straight up) away. Wild Bill and Calamity Jane's headstones are easy to find, and quite close to the actual entrance. Sheriff Seth Bulock is a Grouse Grind worthy climb up above the cemetery (OK - only 750' above the cemetery - but it is at about a 30 degree climb).

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

OK, this really is impressive. Laura and I are camped at the foot of Devil's Tower National Monument (the first National Monument in the US). Now, this isn't quite impressive for Doug 2.0, but for Doug 3.1 it really is - Laura and I hiked up from the parking lot to the Visitors Center. Not quite the Grouse Grind, but certainly more than anything I've done since last October. Kind of "fell apart" at the end - but I'm convinced that if I continue to do small hikes like this, I'll only get better.

Little Big Horn - Custer's Last Stand

We drove today from Billings, Montana to Buffalo, Wyoming. Enroute, we spent a few hours at the Little Big Horn National Memorial. It's a beautiful park, and one of the only battles the USA has been in where they marked exactly where people fell/died. Everyone is buried either in a mass grave, taken "home" by the natives (for warriors), or in the case of Custer himself, buried at West Point - where he graduated. The battle grounds are littered with tiny white (for US Calvary and civilians) or red (for Native American) "grave" markers. I noticed that, over time, the story is becoming less US Calvary - centric and more balanced. The Native Americans give a pretty good tour which describes the avalanching mistakes made by the US Calvary, resulting is this bloody slaughter. Everyone under Custer's command died.

Pompey's Pillar....

The pastor at Mike's funeral said something quite profound; "we live this one life like we have two". We only have one life, so when you get near someplace you might want to see, go see it! We are only about 30 minutes away from Pompey's Pillar - where William Clark carved his signature into the sandstone - the only physical evidence that the Lewis and Clark Expedition ever took place (who knew?). So we went. We also took a look at some petroglyphs left by early American natives, before the time of the horse, near here....

Gulf Oil Spill

Although this isn't  really a "spill" - more like a "fountain" - the devastation is the same.
This photo from the Boston Globe: http://tinyurl.com/2465cbg

Welcome to Billings

We're now camped out at a KOA on the Yellowstone River, in Billings, Montana. Last night, we were beside the Boulder River near Big Timber, Montana (the film "A River Runs Through It", was filmed there). The temperature is starting to warm up - not quite shorts weather, but nearly. En route to Deadwood, Sturgis, Mount Rushmore, The Crazy Horse Monument, Devils Tower, Sundance, Little Big Horn - there's a lot to see in this part of the USA!

Cancer research for Mike...

Everyone that knows me, knows of Mike Devall. Mike died on May 22nd of his cancer, but had a special relationship with Dr. Gerry Minuk, from the John Buhler Research Centre. The JBRC is part of the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Although Dr. Minuk's research is primarily hepatology, he is a friend of Mike's sister (Shaunna) and took special interest in Mike's case, researching it (specifically) and has recently launched new cancer research, inspired by Mike.

Initially, we thought that we should direct some funding his way, but have since learned that he, himself, has donated to the charity Kelly and Mike chose. Please donate anything you can to:

Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada

620 Colborne Street, Suite 301

London, Ontario  N6B 9Z9

Canada

How to Return Facebook's Privacy Settings to What You Signed Up For

Everybody who uses Facebook should have a look:

How to Return Facebook's Privacy Settings to What You Signed Up For

Mike's Funeral

Too many funerals for young people (first Jack, now Mike, almost me). Mike's service was beautiful, and one of Mike's friends (Cliff) read my eulogy. Several people from the old HP days came, which was really nice - we promised to stay in touch (even Pius Ching, who left for HP-China some twenty years ago, was there).

Henry Irving, a long-time HP friend and one of Mike's business partners was there, along with his wife. Henry and I were on HP neophyte training together some 26 years ago. Bohdan, my too-tall friend was there as well, along with Hal, MaryLynn, Balvinder, Mark Mesunes, and Dave Vincent - all from HP/Agilent.

Farewell, my friend......

For posterity purposes (and especially since I want to keep a copy), here's my eulogy...

Hi ... my name is Cliff, and I'm reading this for Doug - who's been a friend of Mike's for over 25 years. As fate would have it, he survived a stroke in October of 2009, and lost his voice. His voice is slowly coming back, but he's asked me to read this for him, as he can't at this point. 

Laura and I first met Mike and Kelly when I started with HP in Edmonton in 1984. Actually, that's not quite true - I had met Mike several times when I was a customer of his at Northern Telecom in Saskatoon. I remember thinking at that time that it would be cool to become his friend, because the guy was smart, funny, and not too tall. Fate struck later that year, when I was offered a job at HP in Edmonton where Mike and I would work together. Mike helped us move into our little apartment in West Edmonton Village. He and Kelly had recently bought a small house in Mill Woods. I remember leaving work with Mike one Friday, and he reminded me the we had to come up with ten ideas to make a million dollars before the weekend was out. Laura and I owned a very large aquarium at the time, so one of our ideas was breeding piranha.

A short time later, Mike and I went downtown to look at this new computer "the Mac". Mike was so impressed that we gave up on the piranha idea, and decided to start writing software. Our first and only attempt was with a thing called "Turbo Pascal" and we never got past creating a logo. There seemed to be a new "get rick quick" scheme hatched in Mike's brain every day. We were transferred back to Saskatoon in '85, and Mike left HP to go to Northwest Digital soon after. The Friday afternoon schemes had to happen over the phone, or on shared weekends - of which there seemed to be many.

In the fall of 1984, Mike told us that Kelly was pregnant. Not to be outdone, we got pregnant too. Caitlin was born in the April of 1985, and our daughter followed that same summer. Then Brennan was born in June 1987, followed closely by, you guessed it, our son later that same summer. Nothing like keeping up with the Jones'. Over those early years, although we never seemed to live in the same city, we saw lots of each other. Camping trips to the Okanagan, road trips to Oregon and California, family holidays in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, or Vancouver. Our kids grew up together, and the four of us new parents were looking forward to growing old together. 

Our first time staying with Mike and Kelly was shortly after the girls were born. We were now living in Saskatoon. At the time, they had two dogs. We slept in the living room while the dogs destroyed the kitchen. Actually, one of the most embarrassing moments in Kelly's life, I'm sure, was having to clean up after a dog with diarrhea while people she barely knew slept in the living room beside her. There's no stronger way to start a friendship than with a little embarrassment. 

I also remember one summer, shortly after we'd moved back to Vancouver, that Kelly and I went out for a run ... bottom line, Kelly and I got separated, she went right and I went left, and the police eventually brought her back to our place. During all of this, while everybody was freaking out and I was convinced she was in a ditch someplace, Mike said to me "don't worry - she'll show up - she get's lost all the time". If he was worried, he didn't show it, and his calm was reflected in the kids - it was no big deal.

In 1996, Mike and I had some training in San Jose, California. Good excuse for a road trip - with the company paying for hotel rooms! Anyways, Mike told us all about driving through a giant redwood tree somewhere in Northern California when he was on training a few months previous, so we were forced to go along with Mike on his grand adventure to find the tree and drive through it. Needless to say, there turns out to be several trees you can drive through in California, and after the third one, I made Mike pay for my car too. The kids thought it was hilarious, as I got more and more frustrated about this stupid tree...

As recently as two years ago, Mike and Kelly joined us in Palm Springs for a week, and Mike and I started to talk about what the next 50 years would look like. This was before any of this had happened to him or to me, and I tried to convince him that buying an RV was a good idea and that eventually Kelly would agree - he just had to sell it hard. We looked at some RV's down in Palm Desert, and Mike even helped me convince Laura that I had bought a big truck from the local Toyota dealer in Indio. He let her stew about that overnight before letting her know it wasn't true. Mike called later that same summer to explain that the 2-Buck-Chuck we were drinking, was actually $3.15 buck chuck by the time he got it home to Calgary. This was as complicated as life got - how to import cheap wine through the border at Sweetgrass.

When Mike was diagnosed last year, I asked him if he was ready for this .. if he'd made his peace. He said he had, and in my opinion he did way better than me in handling his fate. He had last summer on the boat in Sicamous, perhaps his favorite place, and he looked happy. We saw them again as soon as I could travel after the stroke in February, and he looked content. We saw him yet again a couple of weeks ago, and he looked content ... now he was spitting food and laughing just like me, trying to talk and swallow without choking! As a matter of fact, the only time we've seen Mike truly unhappy was when the Oilers traded Gretzky.

One of my favorite pieces of advice about living comes from an unusual source, Ricky Gervais, creator of the TV series "The Office". Ricky said this in an interview once, and Mike and I talked about this as being pretty true: "Live your life, have a laugh, and try not to hurt anybody". From my perspective, Mike succeeded in all of these.

Mike was a great friend, the smartest guy I ever met, and his best friend just happened to be his wife. He will be missed. We love you Mike.

Snow...

It's officially winter here in Okotoks. Laura and I went to get groceries (at the WalMart Superstore - someplace I never thought I'd go - and still feel guilty about), and while we were inside, the temperature dropped to ZERO and it started to snow. Welcome to Calgary in the winter (that'd be all-year-round except for 3 days in early August)

Okotoks RV - Mike's Memorial

This is a second attempt at actually USING this Blog. It's been a couple of years, so please bear with me....

Laura and I travelled here to Calgary to attend Mike Devall's funeral tomorrow on Friday, May 28. Mike suffered through a year of brain cancer, and sadly passed away last Saturday. We're here for a week, and then will travel back to Vancouver through Deadwood/Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Craters-of-the-Moon Park, etc... We'll spend most of the summer back in Vancouver.

We came here initially from Palm Springs in late April to see Mike one last time. We left our trailer here in Calgary (at Hal's place) knowing that we'd be back soon. Yesterday, we moved the trailer from Hal's place to the Lions RV Park in Okotoks.

Dave (our son) is now travelling through Italy, and Kathryn (our daughter) is still teaching in Ankara, Turkey. She'll be home, for at least a year, in July.