Medical update...

Apparently the bump in my neck that started it all has nothing to do with the thyroid, at least according to the surgeon.

Have to go in on Friday for another ultrasound and a chest x-ray.

Don't know what we're ruling out or looking for, but it's another bump in the road.

FW: The Jewish Peddler

Yankel Goldstein, in his late 80s and still gainfully employed as a ribbon
salesman, has been trying, unsuccessfully, to sell ribbon to Macy's for many
years.  Last week, he made another attempt to speak with the anti-Semitic
buyer. "Goldstein," the buyer says, "you've been trying to sell me ribbon
for at least 25 years. Now is your chance. Send me enough yellow ribbon to
reach from the tip of your nose to the tip of your penis."

Three days later, four tractor trailers full of yellow ribbon drive up to
Macy's receiving dock. The ribbon buyer goes ballistic. He calls Goldstein
and yells, "What's going on??? I only ordered enough yellow ribbon to reach
from the tip of your nose to the tip of your penis, and you send me four
truck loads full of it!"

Goldstein replies calmly: "The tip of my penis is in Poland."

Natural defense....

In response to my fatigue post my brother in law quipped, "Children are so cute so that you hold yourself back when you feel like you want to kill them." :-)

Pushed to the limits...

When I think of human experiences that push people to the limits, I think of scaling Everest and the Ironman Triathlon. I don't think of child-rearing.

At least I didn't until Friday night.

Admittedly it was a very difficult week with the flood and all. We went up to Baltimore to spend the Sabbath with Tamar's sister and her family. Erez had started to have a runny nose during the day on Friday and on Friday night (I guess Saturday morning) around 1.30am, he got up.

We tried everything we could to calm him down and remain sensitive to the fact that there were 11 other people sleeping in the house.

After a while and nothing was working, we were both at wits end. Fatigued beyond any previously known exhaustion.

I just started crying from fatigue, almost begging Erez to go to sleep, pushed to my limits for that day.

When do you help?

Tamar and I know someone who suffers from high anxiety. Whether it is an anxiety disorder or not, I don't know, but we (and she) all know that there's something going on there....

Over the weekend, I saw an ad in a magazine looking for participants in a study of anxiety who would get a bunch of free benefits (treatment, etc.) if they signed up.

It was clear that the person we know would benefit from at least calling.

The question: is it our place to suggest or even call attention to the ad?

Trade-off's

One of the reasons I like studying and thinking about economics is because it is the study of trade-off's. Present vs. future consumption. Item 1 vs. Item 2.

Life is learning how to make trade-offs. No matter how much money or time you have, you need to think about how to make the trade that is right for you. Every moment of every day, you are making these decisions (consciously or unconsciously or subconsciously, I suppose).

I had planned to take the kids over to see my grandparents today. It had been too long since we saw them and I was looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, both Tonka and Paco have come down with runny nose colds and had a bit of croup over night. What that means....no visit to Nana and Poppy. I's tough, but the trade-off I have made is my kids take priority.

That's not always easy to recognize or accept, but that's the choice I have made.

A disturbing trend?

I live in a heavily Jewish area...

There have been a few incidents lately that could mean nothing...or something.

1. One house on my block is basically abandon. The elderly woman who lived there died and her daugher-who has mental issues-hasn't done anything with it. It's in the same situation as it was the day her mother died-over two years ago. About 1-2 months ago, it was vandalized.

2. Three weeks ago, some of the cars that were parked on the street (as opposed to driveways) had their tires slashed.

3. On Friday, I believe as of this writing, that my cleats were stolen from my front porch.

4. Saturday night, when we returned from Baltimore, I found a discarded bag of Pork Rinds on my lawn. If it had been Doritos, I would have thought nothing of it.

So, is my mind playing tricks on me? Are these just a series of random events without any connecton?

Or is there a larger anti-Semitic (or even just creeping negative elements) in my neighborhood about which I should be genuinely concerned?

Flexibility, Internet, and Free Will

One of the things I love about my job--one that is paid on performance as opposed to time-is flexibility.

As long as I deliver quality to the organization (in terms of revenue), no one cares when or where I do my job. I can work from home, at night, in the early morning, etc.

To me, that's the benefit of the Internet revolution, we are freeing up the working man from having to do a certain task at a certain time. This reminds me of Spiderman "with great power comes great responsibility." For many people and employers, there is a hesitation to break the chains of a desk and an office. You don't see people, you don't see them working. People have to take responsibility for doing their work on their own time.

This is scary to some because it raises the bar for individual accountability, but at the same time, it's liberating.It empowers you to optimize your work effort and time.

This morning, I got to walk Calanit to school. Then, since it was such a nice day, I went for a run before going into the office at 11am.

I noticed that Montgomery County, MD (where I live) is now offering a tax incentive to companies that encourage telecommuters as a way to alleviate traffic congestion. I've long thought that this is a natural outgrowth of excessive congestion as well as a boon to personal productivity and flexibility.

Feeling whole...

The basement is about 80% of the way back, I am proud to say.

There's something in my character that prevents my mental comfort when my physical surroundings are disorderly. I have a compulsive need to put things away "where they belong," to organize them, and to tidy them up.

When I do that, my mind is at ease and I can attack the larger issues, but until that happens, I have an extra layer of tension.

Now that the basement is on the path to recovery and most importantly, the Man Cave is fully operational, I am turning my attention to the big tasks I enjoy.

OCD? Maybe. Type A? Definitely.

Why you should fill out Plaxo updates when I send them.

I got a request today from a friend as follows:

 

I know someone who is currently the Founder and CEO of a relatively new biotech company that is negotiating substantial funding with venture capitalists and he needs someone to look over an employment contract that the new controlling investors would be offering him.  The company is a Delaware Corp. so I would need someone familiar with Delaware law as well as NY.  We would prefer someone specializing in these kinds of agreements since as you can imagine, the situation is extremely delicate considering the blue chip VCs usually hold all the cards…

 

I know I know someone, I just can’t remember who it is…oh wait, I think I just did.

 

The value of the network and keeping your data clean and up to date.

Surgery date set...

Met with the head/neck surgeon today. Nice guy. Dr. Bruce Davidson, Chairman of the Dept. @ Georgetown University Hospital.

I'm going in on Thursday, July 27th.

The Man Cave is Operational...

We're back online, blogging from the dried out and somewhat newly refurbished Man Cave.

So far, we've triaged out 3 rugs and one mat. One rug seems to be saved. One is a maybe and one we're hopeful. They are dried out and next steps are to:
1. mop the floors (water brings in a lot of dirt)
2. carpet fresh/vacuum the rugs.

We'll see...

Japanese influenced art

Check out the site of a friend of mine from Tokyo

http://www.dianeabt.com/

the 300 year rainfall...

During a relative lull in the rainfall today, I went outside to adjust the tarp in preparation for tonight's (hopefully last) storm.

As I sloshed around, I thought of myself as a sailor on the open sea trying to fix a sailing vessel during a storm. I'm a fan of the Discovery Channel and a few weeks ago, I saw a program on Super Vessels that are massive and are built for once in a thousand year storms or something like that.

Anyway, tonight on the news I heard that we are going through a once in 300 years quantity of rainfall.

The Man Cave is Dead....Long Live the Man Cave!!

My little corner office in the basement of the house (right next to the door to the outs
ide w/the storm drain) is known as "the Man Cave."

There were two, old, but nice Persian rugs in there. Now there is one...maybe none. I've had to deep six one of them and it's not clear if the other one is going to make it.

The main room mat under the rug is a goner and the rug is in jeopardy. It's up on chairs to increase circulation and both fans are concentrated on it. We'll see if it can be salvaged.

I guess the bright side in the destruction and decamation (and compared to some folks I've seen on the news, we got off easy) is that I now have a chance to rebuild.

Once we mop up the floor (at least if it floods again tonight we won't lose anymore rugs, of course, they won't be there to hold the water back either) and get the flood defense system in place, we'll have a chance to make it better than ever before.

FEMA Director

That's what I've felt like in my basement for the past 48 hours (feels like a week).

I've got limited resources in terms of :
Manpower-Tamar (limited due to childcare) and me
Machines -a wetvac, two dehumidifers, 1 bathroom fan, two mobile fans (1 large, 1 small)
Accessories-mops, folding chairs, various other things you might find in a basement, etc.

Problems:
-clean up all water
-prevent any possible mold/mildew issues
-attempt to save all rugs from total destruction


The area of the disaster is quite vast, probably 40% of the total basement had water penetration and 70% of the area was affected in some way.

Solution:
Run the dehumidifers and fans constantly while moving them around to optimize distribution of impact.

I also raised almost all of the rugs off the floor to increase the circulation under the rugs and likelihood of drying.

Current status:
I've decided to triage two rugs out. One (which had received the most limited attention) is still wet and I don't think it's going to make it. Plus, its utility to the household was most limited.

Instead, I am focusing all resources on the two most important areas and rugs (my office) and the main room, where we have a large area rug that is perfect for the kids.

I've concentrated one fan and one dehumidifier in each of the high value areas and am running them 24 hours a day. That, comibned with the heat generated causing the A/C to run more often is going to cause for a more expensive electrical bill this month.

In addition, I called in my general contractor and am dropping the nuclear bomb on the outside storm drain problem. We're going to build a structure that entirely closes it off preventing water and debris from entering and draining the excess water away from the house.

This is what happens in emergencies. You've got limited resources and you've got to make decisions about what (who) will be saved. It stinks, but if you try and save everything, you will probably save nothing.

Bush, Iraq, and the Search for WMD's

I probably could have helped Bush out a lot in terms of Iraq.

There's a WMD in the crib in the nursery upstairs. He's 10 months old and is known as 'Paco'.

Bedside manner...

I know full well that my type of cancer is, in the grand scheme of things, not that big a deal. Doctors who know this, and there are a bunch on my list (though not all), tend to say "you'll be ok."

Now, I may not need or want sympathy, but that doesn't mean I don't like it.

I've noticed that the doctors responses, directly and indirectly, have lacked a bit of the bedside manner, a skill they supposedly foster in med school.

Ranging from, "you'll be fine" to outright dismissive, it's been a bit shocking to see.

Now, maybe it's because when a layperson hears 'cancer' s/he thinks grave no matter what and doctors know that thyroid, compared to other, more serious cancers, just isn't a big deal.

Still, it'd be nice to hear a "it must be tough as a young father to confront the concept of cancer. Fortunately, thyroid is highly curable," or something like that.

A few did say that, but it's been remarkable that not all of them have.

Flood of '06

I have never been more scared for the safety of my family than I was tonight.

Tamar had the kids in her car and we all were driving home in a torrential downpour. It was incredible. Streets were flooded, you could see about 30 feet in front of you, and most everyone was drivign w/hazard lights on.

I was so nervous about their safety and so relieved to find them at home when I arrived.

Once the most important issue was addressed, I went downstairs to the basement. I had an inkling of what might happen.

Twice last summer, the drain at the basement door was so covered w/leaves and debris that it flooded my basement.

I've tried a number of tactics to prevent this from happening, but with the Armaggedon rainfaill we were experiencing, I was expecting some flooding. I had raised all of my computer equipment off the floor so it wouldn't be destroyed (the man cave is right near the basement door), but I didn't expect to see the extent of flooding. It was immense.

It's been 4 hours and thanks to David Price who has an industrial strength WetVac (otherwise I'd be here through Thursday), we're getting close to cleaning this mess up.

I've got more ideas on how to defeat Mother Nature (or at least contain her) on this particular challenge and it's obvious I'm going to have to try some of them out.

The basement is so humid and I'm walking around in only shorts, sweating profusely. I feel like I'm in the Bayou. It'll be a long time before I forget this one.

World Cup Discipline

Normally, when I have to discipline Calanit (rare as that is), I use a hockey analogies…”Two minutes for whining. Time of the Penalty 5:06PM” and put her in the “Penalty Box.”

This month, in honor of the World Cup, I’ve started handing out Yellow Cards for infractions.