The Chalkboard -- Post your status updates here.

[FluffyMcDeath]

Hmm. Over a year since the last chalk board post. Think I'll make one.

So my situation has drastically changed in the last year. When I broke my car I was still working at Sierra Wireless as a software developer. In September/October my occupation drastically changed as a store I used to frequent was closing its doors as the old couple that ran it were retiring. This had been coming for a while and I had mused about taking it over as a business but since Sierra Wireless were paying me handsomely it just seemed like a lot of work for not the most secure income. However, and at about the perfect time, Sierra Wireless stopped paying me - so I bought the shop, and after a few days, many layers hours and quite a bit of rigmarole I acquired the strata unit the shop was in as well, so now I'm a shop owner.

I'm in my 8th month now and, while it's not as lucrative as software was, it's a very different world and rewarding in other ways. now, if the other large ongoing issue in my life, a law suit with my landlord, hadn't gone the right way I'd have needed significantly greater income to maintain my home - but that's settled in a favourable way now and the deadline for appeals has passed.

June 18 to July 3rd I took a little trip to the UK. Visited Bristol and got to see Stone Henge from afar. Arrived at the gate on June 22nd at 1:05 pm and they weren't letting anyone in because - Solstice!! - and they shut the gate promptly at 1:00pm. Instead we got a peek at it from the road as we drove away. Hey ho. The best laid plans, etc. but there were bigger fish to fry. Onward to Manchester!

Just realised I have to order some pies before noon and I can't start writing an adventure novel so I'll have to cut this off until later ... maybe next year

 

[Robert]

now, if the other large ongoing issue in my life, a law suit with my landlord, hadn't gone the right way I'd have needed significantly greater income to maintain my home - but that's settled in a favourable way now and the deadline for appeals has passed.

Nice one. That must be a weight off the shoulders.

June 18 to July 3rd I took a little trip to the UK. Visited Bristol and got to see Stone Henge from afar. Arrived at the gate on June 22nd at 1:05 pm and they weren't letting anyone in because - Solstice!! ...

It's been like that for a few years now as apparently the crowds were getting too big. I've only ever been past it once and saw it from the road as well. Like you, we had bigger fish to fry - reaching Glastonbury for the festival. Speaking of which...

Onward to Manchester!

I was at another festival just south of Manchester last weekend, Bluedot, named after the famous Sagan quote.
It's at Jodrell Bank observatory (near Macclesfield) and is a three-day mixture of science (lectures, panel discussions, demonstrations, mini experiments for kids, etc.) and music (also an excellent mixture). This is the second year it's been going and both years have been excellent.
If you happen to find yourself home again at that time of year, they also do day tickets. Well worth a look.

 

[metalman]

July is the two year anniversary of my 4 week holiday in ICU

Lost 60lbs, ( dropped down to 140lbs ) was revived 4x, ( I quizzed the defibrillator tech if he used all 3.6 Joules every time, would hate to be short changed )
all the ICU nurses would wave when I left ICU, greeted me when I was sent back
2 nurses told me I was a perfect patient
When discharged, I was told I had about 6 months to live, unless I had a heart transplant, could barely walk 100 ft without a 15 min rest

went back to work 2 weeks after discharge ( self employed ) for a few hrs a day, mainly walking , pointing, and doing the calculations, slowly doing a few minutes more physical work every week

Cardiologist put me on treadmill 8 months after discharge, tech kept telling me I didn't need to push against treadmill, I told her to speed it up then, I didn't walk that slow, did all 15 min, at the end asked if I could do another 15 min
( took me 12 hrs of sleep to recover from that, lol )

Yesterday just went to doctor for checkup,
I take 7 medications, all different types of poisons to control symptoms, so they monitor me.
hey! do I have a deal for you on rat poison, snake venom, ...
And the things you get used to, blood coming from lots of places its not supposed to
and Xarelto was NOT right for me!

I'm now back to my normal weight, and people cant even tell I'm permanently disabled
Doctor told me that I was his only patient with that level of heart function who could even walk normally, his other patients could barely walk or were in wheel chairs
I can now do physical labor 3-4 hours a day, can only walk and point after that though

 

[Robert]

July is the two year anniversary of my 4 week holiday in ICU...

Yikes! Sounds like you've had a real rough time of it. Glad to hear you're a bit better now. Hearing that six month warning must've been a tough one to take.

 

[Kesa]

Well, I hope to get mine back from the shop in a few weeks - it needs a bit of work after I drove it under an SUV. Only drove it a couple of days after the engine rebuild - I had a video about it on my youtube.

Yeah, tell me about it. And after everything I got up to in my parents car after I got my license - sheesh - it's kind of hard to let them borrow the car.[/QUOTE

It could have been worse. You could have been on a motorbike