Pi Girl

It’s always good to declare you’re making a triumphant return to blogging and then not blog anything. Maybe next time I’ll make sure I have a list of blogging topics nearby so I don’t make the effort all for nothing.

In my defense, I wrote my last post while bored out of my mind watchng Mumsy get her chemo. And since I normally don’t get the thrilling job of sitting in a metal folding chair for 8 hours watching medicine drip, it might be a while before I have so much free time and inspiration.

This might be a good time to discuss how awesome my brother is for taking on the role of medicine-watcher and caregiver since this whole thing started. I just show up for weekend relief when I can. I’m not there every day and every night. I’m not going to endless amounts of doctors’ appointments and keeping track of which medications need to be taken when and then also making sure all the normal day-to-day stuff like cleaning and laundry are getting done.

Jim doesn’t like getting the kudos because he feels like people are surprised that he would help at all and does not like those “low expectations” placed on him. But the thing is that anyone taking care of a loved one who has just been through surgery and is fighting cancer seriously deserves a medal. And I guess when I see it all first hand, I feel guilty I’m not there more often and I am soooo grateful I have him to count on.

I’m back …. maybe!

I keep putting off updating this blog because I haven’t really decided what to do with just yet. I know I should just leave it with, sorry, I’m closed, here are some old entries, find me on Facebook and be done with it. But every once in a great while, I miss the blogging. There are some fun stories out there that are way too long for 140 characters.

And I know I have family members who haven’t entered the fun world of social networking so this was how they caught up with my life. Before I would have chastised them to get with the times. But I have since learned that not everyone can handle how to communicate via social media and maybe they should just stay away. Far, far away. So if they don’t join, that is really very ok with me.

Anyway, I’ve attempted a few “Closing up shop” blog posts and every time, I find myself missing the blogging and change my mind. Then I realize I should post a “Hi, I’m back” post and then actually post on a regular basis. Apparently, that was too much of a commitment for me to make. So, here we are.

There are a lot of reasons I stopped blogging. Mostly, my life got a little too hard and filled with things I was not comfortable posting here and it was difficult to discuss anything without referencing those events.

In an effort to out-whine Job, my family and I have been through everything in a 14-month period: a fire, moving (twice), separation, unemployment, surgery, death, cancer, more surgery, more death and chemo. But in my ever-so-optimistic way, we’ve also seen growth (as in learning, not a tumor), reunions, recovery, healing, better job opportunities, and determination to keep fighting no matter what. I can also say my family is a lot stronger and closer now than it was before and for that, I am extremely grateful.

I’m not 100% sure how regular I’ll be back here but here’s what you need to know about me that I may or may not be discussing:

- I had weight loss surgery last summer, the RNY gastric bypass to be exact. I’ve lost over 100 lb. and I have a long way to go but I’m very proud of what I have accomplished. I won’t discuss my entire journey here but I will discuss it and am more comfortable telling people I’ve had it. In other words, if you want advice, email me.

- I have a fantastic, new job that I started last year. I will probably plug our new projects here from time to time because I believe in what we’re doing. I like having a job with a cause. Go tourism. Oh, and take your next vacation in Corning and the Finger Lakes.

- My mom is fighting breast cancer. She is currently undergoing chemo and is a total trooper in this fight. Her new online moniker is Dr. Evil Frankenbarbie. Her name changes often depending on which symptoms are hitting her when so good luck keeping up with that.

Let’s see where this thing takes us …

Why I will never be bored with my darling hubby:

Erin: I’m going to Wegmans later. Do you need anything?
Jason: Yes. I’m out of shampoo.
Erin: Do you like what you were using or do you want to try something different?
Jason: I didn’t really like it. Get me some dandruff shampoo. But make sure it’s the manly kind.
Erin: Well, that kind was for men. I can try another brand.
Jason: Yeah, get me something that smells good and fruity. Maybe mango or coconut. As long as it’s the dandruff kind.
Erin: Uh…the fruity kind is “manly”?
Jason: Ok, so I changed my mind.

Wow, it’s been a while. Sorry about that. It’s not that I’ve been all that busy, I guess it was more that I didn’t have much to say. I’m looking for work. I’m enjoying a long vacation.

While I don’t entirely mind being home all day, I feel a little lost. I can’t exactly make permanent plans like volunteering or joining some group because I will get a job at some point. And it will make me busy again. And I’m fairly certain I will be moving which will take me away from whatever it is.

So, I watch a lot of tv, catch up on chores and doctor’s appointments and make a ton of plans to keep me out of the house.

The fun part is I’ve been able to play with alot of friends on their vacations: I’ve been to the lake with Jen and Amber, to see the Northern Blend rehearsal in Watertown with Sandy, to the Bay with Jason and the in-laws, to Maryland to see Janice’s new digs, anywhere and everywhere around town with Michelle.

I do have some interviews lined up. I hope they’re the right opportunities and pray I’ll find something before my severance runs out. And while I’m excited about those opportunities, I feel bad whenever one of my local friends asks how the job hunt is doing, and I have to report that no local companies are calling me back, just the ones too far away for me to stay here. And I have to lump Jason into that local friends category because I know he really likes his job here. But unless I win the lottery, we can’t really sustain ourselves on a newspaper photographer’s salary alone.

So, I guess to sum up my life in a nutshell at the moment, I’m relaxing and de-stressing, but my life’s in limbo while I try to impress potential employers which is kind of stressing me out, especially since it might mean that I have to disappoint some friends when I do find something (and I WILL find something), which has me bummed. But hey, I’m getting a lot of sleep now.

So if you only get your Erin info from this blog or Facebook or Twitter, you may have noticed I’ve been hinting at some news. I was hoping I could tell you a good story with a happy ending but I learned yesterday it was not to be. Not that it won’t eventually have a happy ending but this story will just go on a little longer than I thought.

Three weeks ago, I lost my job. My department’s services were consolidated which means my position and my staff’s positions were eliminated. They asked me to consider a position in Rochester, which I did and interviewed there. It sounded too good to be true and it was; it didn’t work out.

It sucks. And that’s all I’m going to say about it here on the blog. Jason still has a job there and I don’t believe he will also be laid off anytime soon. So, I’m going to ask that if any of you were thinking about bashing the company in my comments, please don’t. I may not be employed there anymore but they were good to me and I gained a ton of experience with them that I will take with me.

In the meantime, I have to find a job. On the one hand, I like that I get a chance to start over somewhere and not have to do things I didn’t like about my old job. But on the other hand, it’s almost too much because I could go in so many directions. And moving is definitely on the table so there are more options and expenses and what ifs to think about.

So, if you happen to hear about any job openings in a town near you for a computer whiz who loves to play with reports and numbers, knows some web development stuff and has managerial experience, hook me up. And if they also have openings for a photographer/videographer/journalist/substitute teacher/brilliant idea guy, that would be a plus.

The photo gallery from the trip is now up. We’re still captioning them so depending on when you read this, there may or may not be details on them. So, uh, good luck.

In the meantime, I think these photos sum up our trip beautifully.

Here we have the most of what we saw of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It’s a giant floating hot dog and Phish cups! It made me want to go in the museum, but the price and lack of photography privileges won out.

Welcome to the love nest, or Champagne Lodge. Try not to trip over the jacuzzi that fits 4 people or be confused by the zillions of mirrors.

A view of Chicago from the Sears Tower. I don’t know what any of these buildings are, but they’re really there and not a scale model as this photo might suggest.

Meet my cousin’s daughter, Maya, and his son, Ramsey, with their grandma, my Aunt Joanne. Maya is too cute for words so you know Jason was all over showing her new stuff, like letting her take photos with his camera that’s not even his. Also, it’s a little hard to tell from the angle but Ramsey has the Cassidy eyes and he is known to his mother’s family (they’re Palestinian) as “the blue-eyed baby,” which is a very good thing, I’m told.

I’m back, my vacation was awesome and if you followed my twittering journey, you read all about it. Jason is still toning the photos so those will be coming soon. To sum up the week, without getting too long and boring …

Sunday - we took off on our adventure. We got as far as Cleveland, which was a good half way point. On any given day, we never drove more than 6 hours, which was easy to handle. Jason picked a posh hotel in the theater district to stay at and the area seemed nice, but it was dead on a Sunday night. So, we went to dinner at Bricco and had fun gourmet pizzas that were awesome.

Monday - we toured Cleveland a bit. It’s a nice city but the most exciting thing (for me anyway) was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s a cool building on the lake, and we looked around a bit. But, since we weren’t staying long and they wouldn’t allow photography, we opted not to spend the $22 per person fee to get in and just took photos in the lobby and spent money in the gift shop. We walked around the pier for a bit, then in a desperate search for lunch landed at White Castle before hitting the road again for Chicago. We stayed at our awesome love nest, the Champagne Lodge. Wait til you see the pictures. This place was a total love nest. And there all these little cabins that look like quaint little houses from the outside. Almost like a Donna Reed show or something. Except the windows are not windows, but mirrors. And when you open the door, the black and white world gets a whole lot more colorful (think Pleasantville).

Tuesday - we actually explored Chicago. We went to the Sears Tower, Millennium Park where we saw the Bean and a cool water fountain and a funky snake-like pedestrian bridge. There was a symphony giving an open door rehearsal in the stadium which was pretty cool. We took the free trolley around to some sites and ended up on the other end of the park to see the Buckingham Fountain. We ate some deep dish and also met a friend of Jason’s and chatted with her for a while back at the Bean.

Wednesday - we went back to Chicago, where we saw the Water Tower, took a horse and carriage ride, strolled the Magnificent Mile (hello, Apple store) and took in the Navy Pier. We did ride the ferris wheel and Jason learned I don’t like heights when I’m in a small contraption swinging at 150 feet with nothing between me and the ground. We then met up with some old college friends at an Argentinian steakhouse restaurant. Dinner was good but service was slow so we managed to catch the last train back to Willowbrook where the hotel was.

Thursday - we said goodbye to the love nest and hit the road for Bloomington, Indiana. Many people know it as the home of Indiana University but I know it as the home of my Aunt Joanne and Uncle Walt, who I do not see nearly enough and wish I could spend time with more often than once every 4 or 5 years.

Friday - My aunt and uncle gave a tour of Bloomington and we stopped for breakfast with my cousin’s wife, Rana and their beautiful kids, Maya and Ramsey. Seeing how I’ve never met my cousins, we also went out to my cousin Barbara’s house, which is out in the country where she and her husband teach tennis lessons on their courts. After a wonderful visit, it was time to hit the road again. I was a little tired of endless corn fields, so we took the suggested scenic route along southern Indiana, where there are hills and headed toward Cincinnati before heading north. We stopped in Mansfield, Ohio for the night where we couldn’t find any hotel rooms because apparently, it was motorcycle race weekend. We finally found a place called Spruce Hill Inn and Cottages which is a ski resort. More cabins in the middle of nowhere, except it’s so in the middle of nowhere, there’s no cell service. And the cabins, while they tried to be love nesty, were more like a grandmother’s guest room. At least they had a jacuzzi in the room, which was good enough for us.

Saturday - we headed back home to Elmira. But along the way, we stopped in Salamanca, NY for the Seneca-Iroquios National Museum. I was hoping maybe a casino stop would happen too but the museum turned out to be way more interesting than I thought it would be, so we got right back on the road for home afterwards. Finally, after driving 1700 miles, we were home.

I’ll let you know when the photos are up.

It was looking a little scary for a few days but as of right now, I can say that my vacation next week is back on! Jason and I have a whole week off - together, even - and have very few plans on the table.

We had originally planned to use the week to visit Korea, but that idea fell apart on us so we decided to the keep the week anyway and do something fun. We asked ourselves if there was any city or region within reasonable driving distance that we had never seen or haven’t seen in a long time that we wanted to revisit. And we chose Chicago.

I think Jason has only been there once or twice. I went there once with Jason for a wedding. We tried to plan a few extra days for sight-seeing but it didn’t quite work out for us. I got as far as a day at the Navy Pier and most of the wedding before getting really sick with a not so fun case of ketoacidosis. I spent most of the rest of the weekend in the hotel room either sleeping or throwing up while Jason watched pay-per-view movies and called my mother in a panic over what to do about me. So I don’t really have fond memories of Chicago and I think the city needs a chance to redeem itself.

So, I found a fun hotel to stay at. It’s a little out of the way, but the reviews were great and the rooms were the right price. I’m calling it the “Love Nest” but it’s actually called the Champagne Lodge. We’re going to stay there Monday-Thursday and then swing through Bloomington, Indiana to see my aunt and uncle before heading back to Elmira.

This is the part where you come in. We intentionally have no plans outside of this basic outline and purposely plan to take 2 days to drive out and 2 days (3, if needed) to drive back just so we can stop at fun or interesting places along the way. My question to you, my knowledgeable readers, is what should we do or see or visit? Is there a food I simply MUST try or an experience I’ve been missing out on? I want to know. Anything is up for consideration, as long as it’s sort of on the path from Elmira to Chicago to Bloomington to Elmira (so, Ohio, Indiana, western Pennsylvania).

I’ll have the laptop so I can blog, but it might be more fun to just follow me on Twitter.

random conversation at home
Jason: I thought you said you bought milk.
Erin: I did.
Jason: Where is it?
Erin: It’s where it always is; bottom shelf of the fridge.
Jason: Really? (goes to kitchen and comes back) Ok, I found it. It was on the stove.
Erin: What do you mean, it was on the stove? Holy crap, did I leave it there this morning?
Jason: It’s good. Don’t worry I sniffed it.
Erin: Are you sure? Milk shouldn’t be out more than 3 hours and I used it over 3 hours ago.
Jason: Or maybe it’s only been 5 minutes. I think I left it there.
Erin: What? You didn’t even know I bought it 2 minutes ago when you asked about it.
Jason: Yeah, I think I really did know and I put it there.
Erin: *sigh*

I find it funny that I can go for weeks with nothing going on to blog about and then in one night, my husband gives me enough stories to tell for months. If you follow me on Twitter you got to read most of it.

It all started Wednesday night. I was visiting the hospital to meet Desra’s new baby boy and as I left, he called me to come get him as his car had stalled out and died only a few blocks away. Yes, this is the same car that tried to kill me six months ago. So we got it towed to the mechanic and on Thursday, they determined it was the alternator. They got it all fixed up and off Jason went.

He called me a few hours later to come and get him again. This time the battery had died in the parking lot at work. So, I went to get him again. But he wanted to try jumping his own car instead of paying for a tow truck. Which we did, except the battery needed a lot more juice than we had to give. Jason needed to sit in his car and rev the engine to charge the battery, which meant me taking off the cables and such.

Well, here’s the thing. When Jason called, I had just woken up from a nap. Thinking I wouldn’t have to leave the car, I left the house so not dressed to impress; like hide your children from the white trashiness that was my shorts and tshirt. I about had a heart attack upon hearing the suggestion I even open the car door wearing those clothes. AT THE OFFICE. Which, I might remind you, is a newspaper, WHERE PEOPLE WORK LATE. As Jason got that “oh you have GOT to be kidding me” look on his face, my point was proved when my colleague and his boss’s boss, the Managing Editor, just happened to stroll by on her way out.

At that point, Jason decided his car was good to go, so he took off the cables and shut the hoods and off we went. Well, Jason’s car didn’t even get 2 blocks before dying on the street. So, we had to do the jumpstart all over again. Except, now we’re on a busy street so I have to maneuver around traffic to get to his car. Fun times. We jumped once. I left. His car died. Back I went. We jumped twice. The car died as soon as the cables came off. He put the cables back on jumped again. Then called my phone to tell me to take them off. By then, it was getting dark and I was not in front of my office so I obliged. It died again. At that point, I lost it and announced we were calling the tow truck.

So, the tow truck came and I thought it odd that he already had a car on his bed. How on earth could he pick up 2 cars?? Well, he put the car on a chain and towed the car behind him, that’s how. But he did have to use a temporary battery to put Jason’s car flashers on. So, finally, the car got to the mechanics. Again. I hear the battery is fixed but now it has a gas leak.

I really hate Jason’s car.