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H I G H L I G H T S - 1 9 9 7 |
[ Rockerfeller Center in New York may have a really great tree,
BUT this one is the best I have ever seen!
My sincerest thanks to Deb for allowing me to plant it on my site. ]
* Pre-January
fell at school and was taken to the emergency room -- contusions on my already bad hip.
went for my first general physical in 2 years.
* January
Shiva has 5 Seal-Point Siamese kittens
Thom & Mike visit; went to see EVITA, starring Madonna. The soundtrack is way kewler (= cooler = better) than the Broadway version!
diagnosed with cancer of my lower colon on the 13th! Had colon, heart and liver ultrasounds, Catscan, chest and other X-Rays, all kinds of blood tests and such.
applied for a disability pension from the Teachers Pension Fund
* February
B went to New Orleans for the MardiGras; took him to the airport
finally got the Festiva inspected -- was due last July!!
into hospital for radiation (daily on weekdays) and chemo therapy (1 week)
started my journal of cancer related activities, feelings, treatment, etc. : ACCBAR PITA = Anal Cancer Can Be A Real Pain In The Ass ! Sent it via email to friends, family, and people I met in the cancer chat rooms on aol
MF, my niece, got married -- unfortunately I was in no condition to attend the festivities
Sprout, the male Brussels Griffon dies after he tangled in some rug threads and strangled himself! Mieke, his mother, was totally distraught.
* March
Thom, Mike, George & David visit to try to cheer me up
back to the flea market on Sundays -- desperately needed whatever $$ might come in, even though it was not much, it kept me eating for the following week! Absolutely no energy to do it, BUT I had to do something! And the radiation burns were something else! I even gained another 10 pounds, often hitting 216! And most people can't even eat with the treatments I was having!
Willem de Kooning, the master of "Action Painting" within Abstract Expressionism died [born in Rotterdam on 24 April 1904 // died in East Hampton, New York on 19 March at the age of 92]. I had 27 of his early drawings (c. 1940s) -- only 10 left now, including a self-portrait dedicated "To Harold".
two good snow storms this month! But otherwise the weather was somewhat warmer than last winter.
radiation continued weekdays. Back in the hospital for another week of round- the-clock chemo therapy.
while in the hospital, B was taking care of the cats and dogs. He found Mieke croaked on the kitchen floor-- guess she couldn't take being without her companion and son!
BIG sewer problem!! Had to call in Mr.Rooter. The outside line was clogged up with an unbelievable quantity of tree roots!
got loads of self-made get-well cards from my students at school, thanks to Deacon George Dews, a fellow teacher, as well as a couple signed by the other staff members.Curiously, that fat pig of a principal, Michael M. Rothstein, did not sign any of them!
Al and Ami DeGrazia, and the neighbors in back, John & Lucy Ryan, visited me on Easter. Lucy would bring me dinner every so often to help out with my inability to do very much
* April
Last radiation treatment! By now I had no hair in my lower regions, and had extensive radiation burns which made it difficult to do absolutely anything in a normal manner!
the two pond filters went back in operation. No fish lost over the winter!
the ACCBAR PITA awards were distributed to those who played a prominent role during my bout with cancer
* May
Mark, a friend who sells fossils and minerals began renting a room on the second floor -- it sort of helped with expenses, since I had not had a paycheck from school since Christmas!!
B moves into the second floor from the apartment above the shop in the center of Trenton. Moves all my stuff downstairs-- what a clutter!!
another Catscan, colonoscopy and blood tests to see what happened after the killer radiation and toxic chemo therapy. It was sort of like trying to kill a gnat with a sledgehammer!!
short trip to New York to get a haircut at my usual place (Jean Louis David Salon - 303 Park Avenue at 23rd) by the same Russian dude, Boris, who has been cutting it (a buzz / flat-top) for about 4 years already! I have an aversion to changing familiar things!
painted the 3 bird feeder poles, the front iron railing, and scraped, primed and painted 3 side windows on the first floor
started cataloging my extensive research library, using FileMakerPro
* June
painted the trim around the new door separating the first from the second floor here at the house; also scraped, primed and painted another 3 first-floor windows
another sigmoidoscopy -- to 30 cm! They are great fun! Even watched the video travelogue!
took the Festiva for breaks -- they had been squeaking for weeks already!
on the 11th, Dr.Sharnet Williamson told me that the cancer had disappeared! I do not usually get excited or smile, but I was elated!
went to a mineral & fossil show in Hellertown with Mark -- was the same guy's show I went to 7 years ago with Evelio.
Mistanguette a.k.a. Fabiola had 3 Sphynx kittens. They remained in bed with me so I could keep an eye on them
started collecting Beanie Babies! People commented that is seemed "out of character" with my art and fossils -- BUT, a lot of my art and all of the fossils are animal related! I think the Beanies are the absolutely cutest things! Did my usual organization of the beasties using FileMakerPro to keep track of inventory, average cost, etc.
* July
traded my first Beanies online
my usual 4th cookout attended this year by Bernar, Bernie, Thom and Mike from Philadelphia, Patti, Marty, and Anna Marie and her son, Jarod. Was fun! My camera wasn't working so I couldn't take any photos!
* August
went to my first Beanie show in West Haven, Connecticut. I never saw so many of the critters all lounging in one place!! Traded 129 Beanies and sold only one! Met a fellow Beanie handler / trainer, Jim Barbaria and his wife, Joy, from Staten Island -- he also studied geology!! B U T he had the sense to go into financial planning on Wall Street!
B went to California -- he always manages to get out and around on R&R! I should learn from him!
Jim and Joy visited me and invited me to pizza after the flea market
Shiva had 3 Seal-Point Siamese kittens
* registered Pimpernelle Bean Tuska of Guanche, my new female Sphynx kitten-- Tuska, for short
scrape, glaze, prime and paint several second-floor windows
* October
new computer stuff arrives : UMAX S910 (Macintosh System OS8) with internal ZIP Drive, US ROBOTICS Sportster 56k (x2) modem, 15" NOKIA 449Xa monitor, EPSON Stylus Color 800 printer, KENSINGTON Orbit trackball (in place of the standard non-ergonomic "mouse"), KODAK DC50 (digital camera), and a new surge protector module that sits under the monitor. Will be paying for it all for 6 whole years!!
Called UMAX every day for 4 days until they arranged to send a technician over because I had been having technical difficulties with the new setup! He had to replace the logic board and the CPU !! Took him over 3 hours!!
registered my first Domain name : Kardas.net (check it out!)
finally got the Festiva inspected -- it was due in July!
to New York to get my haircut -- first time since May! Same place, same stylist = guy who cuts my hair!
Naoharu Yamashina, toymaker and founder of the Bandai Company died [born in Kanazawa, Japan - died on 28 October 1997 in Japan at the age of 79] It was he who brought the Power Ranger toys to U.S. markets, and made that infamous Tamagotchi, those extremely popular electronic "virtual pets" one of the hotest selling toys over the last year.
put heat on for first time this season -- I was wearing a coat and hat inside the house for about a week already!
got some books on how to be a webmaster and how to make a web server out of my computer
began planning for my new web site
Kardas.net is up and running -- only has an "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" note on it at present
began moving files from the old computer to the new one, one floppy disk at a time! Technical difficulty-- the word processing program I was using for years (installed on 29 August 1994 -- according to my computers fabulous memory!), Great Works, V.1.0, would not load on my new computer because I kept getting a "Files Corrupted" message. GAWD, all of my old text files were in GW!! I could not even read them after I made the transfer! I was devastated!!
So I called Symantech to see if they had a new copy available. "Sorry, it was discontinued in 1992!" How about an upgrade? "No, that too was discontinued". Then she looked deeply into her cavernous files and said, "YES, we do have 12 copies of Great Works, V.2.0 in stock". I almost croaked! How much?-- thinking it would be a fortune. "Ten dollars, no manual available, though". Who the hell cares about the manual-- I already knew how to use the older version!
It arrived in 3 days and I my heart began to skip beats! Immediately I dropped everything I was doing-- really nothing at the time !-- and loaded the 4 new floppys in the UMAX, praying all the time that I would not get an error message! It worked, and now I have spent the better part of the day preparing text for my web site. So I called Symantech again asking for another 2 sets of installation disks (for MAC) that I could use as backup or even sell as "antiques" some day. As an interesting tidbit, in the 3 days since my first order number, my new number was slightly more than 10,000 greater than the first, which prompted me to ask the dude if their orders are given consecutive numbers. "Yes, they are. We do get a lot of orders!" GAWD, not a lot-- a deluge! If my art or Beanie Babies sold that well, I would already be on the Fortune 500 list along with Bill Gates!!!
25 October was the launch date for Kardas.net [ http.//www.Kardas.net ] -- it is unbelievable the time I spent on it! Have been up for an entire week until past daybreak getting things organized, copied stuff from the old computer and Great Works to Adobe Page Mill, typed in pages of older text I did not yet have on the computer, gathering all the graphics, photos, page backgrounds, etc., etc. together in one place. Since the launch I have added to / corrected / changed many pages at least 12 times in 2 days! It is a sort of boring site, in terms of some I have seen -- no frills, leopards running around across the top, action GIFS or anything-- BUT I think it is kewl as hell! And I am the venerable WEBMASTER !!
wrote my first HTML code to place a visitor counter at the bottom / center of the main page of my web site! It actually worked after about 5 trial runs!! Now I can keep track of how many people visit the site. HTML seems, from the little I have studied it, somewhat easier than the FORTRAN I had used in some of my research.
totally blew one of the back tires on the Festiva. Luckily it was not too far from home, but it was dark and I did not want to change the tire along the road, so I drove home on it. Do not know how I made it -- tire completely demolished!
* November
added several animated GIFS / JPEGS to my domain-- now the site looks a bit more exciting! Still add / change things a couple times a day!
sold my first Beanie Babies online. Added sections to the site on Meteorites and Fossils
the only high school friend with whom I continued in contact died of complications from open heart surgery. Joseph Valeski [born in Philadelphia on 3 December 1939 - died in Virginia on 2 November 1997]. He visited me several times at the old house here in Trenton when Evelio was alive.
went to the 47th Semi-Annual Wholesale Gem, Jewelry & Mineral Show in Hellertown, Pennsylvania -- same event I went to with Mark in June. Very ably run by Ronny, who is very knowledgeable in the myriad things he has to offer. I asked about an easier way to get back to Trenton and was told to simply follow Route 202 direct to the Capitol of New Jersey. So I did, like until about midnight when I was half asleep already and began noting signs like Newcastle and Dover. I stopped to ask where I was of a highway patrol officer along the road and was politely told that I was in Deleware <snicker>!! GAWD, guess I went a tad too far! So I reversed direction and got home after 1 am!!
finally got 2 new tires for the Festiva to prepare me for the following:
went to my brother's, Billy, place in Glassboro, New Jersey for Thanksgiving dinner. Had not been there for the feast in about 16 years!! His entire family of five was there, including the two oldest daughters and their respective husbands. Met their new dog, a cute critter named Lady.Turkey and trimmings were great!! Just like the ole days! And I did not get lost! Even brought back leftover scraps for my beasties! "You feed them the bones? They die from that!!", I was alarmingly told. "GAWD no", I replied, "of course not. We all know that dogs and cats in the wild only hunt and devour boneless prey !!" I even know a Southern Baptist minister, now living in sunny California, who devours the chicken bones along with the boneless parts!!
Visitor Counter on my site registered 7124 hits!! WOW, not bad for about 5 weeks! I do put Beanie ads on 6 different posting boards like 8 times each day = some 48 ads per day. It has become like a routine. At least it gets me visitors, for whatever that is worth -- hope a couple of them check out some of the non-Beanie sections!
* December
am theoretically (have not yet received the first $$) retired as of 1 December with a disability pension. Was an 8th Grade inner city Science teacher (at least I tried to teach it!) with the Trenton Board of Education since 1982! Do not yet know how I will be able to survive with the greatly reduced income!
decided to keep one of the female Seal Point Siamese kittens from Shiva's last litter. The new addition is called Chiquiguiqui. She is always on my lap when I am at the computer-- which is like 23.9 hours/day!
added an ART section to my site. Have updated it at least 3x / day!
in following that great American and Spanish (the famous Rebajas / Cuesta de Enero!) tradition, I always got cartloads of half-off Holiday cards the day after Christmas. I probably have enough to last me and my heirs until the year 2345! GAWD, when I went to do my Christmas List I discovered that all the envelopes were stuck shut!! So if the card you get looks like it was clandestinely opened by some Men in Black from the X-Files, you will know the true story! Unless in fact, they did open them!! One never knows, even in this land of theoretical unhampered freedom and all that politically correct BS!
I just carted 2 van fulls of paintings, other art stuff, my blanket chests of Attic Collectibles and some linens to the South Clinton house and can not even move. My hip is killing me! Now at least I can see the fireplace here and can find fossil books on the shelves in my bedroom. Might even use the hearth a couple times IF I do not move to the other place before Christmas. It would mean cleaning it up a bit, getting the things I absolutely need to live to the place and such. Devi, the Siamese cat is the only one who might remember the place. The other critters would have loads of fun exploring the three floors and basement!! Have another van full ready to go in the morning, early I hope. Also have another set of Beanies to pack and send out to Tacoma, Washington. It is sort of strange, I almost hate to see the critters leave!
There is just so much more room there to display and organize my "junk" (my word for anything I like!). Paintings on the walls ( where they should be!) and not piled up in the walkways, closets, etc. And loads of mantels for sculptures and other goodies.
a couple weeks ago I got one of those gas powered leaf blower/vacuum things and it has been woefully sitting in the basement since then. UNTIL NOW! Went out in the really big yard and sucked up over ten bags of nicely mulched leaves around one side of the front of the place. Now I have to wait to do the rest of the front and maybe even <chuckle> the sides and back! It was enjoyable-- I rarely get out -- to many "chores" inside to keep me occupied.
since I had nothing else to do <hehe> I went to my ole hand-written Christmas Card and Gift List files (like in the Prehistoric / Precyber Age 5 drawer file cabinets!) and checked my send/receive holiday greeting records. Was sort of surprised to find that I have them from 1956!! GAWD, I have been a nerd that long?? Now added a Grinch List. Maybe I could do a study of the relationship of Holiday cards out/in with solar activity cycles?? What I have to do is not send cards to people I do not get one from! BUT I have been saying that for years already.
I always do the flea market until the last Sunday before Christmas. Luckily the weather has not been too nasty -- simply VERY cold. I remember two years ago when the snow was piled up above my van in the market parking space and I still went! Apparently the cold affects my hip more than it used to and I am actually dragging when I get there. Never hobbled so much! And I really do not have the energy I used to, unfortunately. A lot of "senior citizens" do the markets as an only source of surviving income. A couple days ago I finally ate one of the fabulous steaks I had in the freezer, gift of an 81+ year old flea market buddy. His hands always trembled, but he was there every Sunday, and sort of inspired me to get there while I was undergoing cancer treatment. Apparently he had an auto accident and I have not seen him in many months. The steak was one of the best I ever ate!!
December is when I have my famous "Half-Off Sale", everything is 25% below what I paid for the stuff. And I always have done well during these sales which usually bring in more than any other 3 weeks during the rest of the year. Although the last 4-5 years has been extremely slow overall, I sort of depended on these 3 weeks to tide me over to pay the stack of bills on my desk. I noted two things : 1) sales for these 3 December weeks were about one tenth of my usual, and 2) instead of the wad of hundred dollar bills I might usually bring home, all I wound up with was a handfull of twenties-- nothing higher!! Our economy is supposed to be in such great shape, BUT I have personlyy not seen the marvel for a few years. What is happening?? Is somebody fudging the economic reports? Did they change the statistical criteria or what?? Is it true that personal bankruptcies <had to get the dictionary out for that one!> have soared? WHY?? HELP, I am sinking!! Maybe if I held out a cyber tin cup, I might get a couple donations!! I am kidding, of course.
my Christmas card to Mrs. Neil, who visited me while I was in the hospital enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous chemo and radiation, was returned yesterday. She was my favorite secretary at school. In today's paper I find that she died [Anna Shirley Neal , born in Trenton - died in Hamilton , New Jersey on 20 December 1997 at the age of 54]. She also had cancer, a rare form affecting her leg.
started my semi-annual cleaning binge. Started at the sunroom, spending more than three hours and it still has to be finished! And this is now "Twas the Night Before Christmas"!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! WOW, it is Christmas and it somehow does not seen the same. I spent the day finishing cleaning the sunroom, like in the detail that is my trademark: Did the windows inside and out (after I scraped the excess paint from the oustide-- painted them earlier this year), used the Green Machine on the rugs-- they do look 300% better!, rearranged some plants and stuff, moved my CD rack to the dining room, put the cat stuff in a different corner, etc. Cleaned the porch, taking old empty plant pots to the basement, swept the floor and rearranged stuff. Dusted in the livingroom/computer room and GMed the rug in front of the fireplace that Santa did not use this year! Rearranged my numerous blacket chests of Beanies, put a load of paintings in the van for a proximal move to the other place, and just went to my favorite Greek diner for Xmas dinner -- they said they would be open today, but I guess business was slow and their lights were out-- so I wound up getting Chinese takeout, which the cats, dog and I thoroughly enjoyed. [Fortune Cookie reads : "You will become a great philantropist in your later years. Lucky Numbers 1, 12, 16, 28, 44, 47"]
Have not even put on any of my holiday CDs yet -- they are usually heard from the early morning hours, all day long.
In a spare thinking moment, while doing the rugs, it dawned on me that I am 57 years old, going on 58!! -- I had to redo the calculations a couple times and it always came out the same! GAWD, I outlived my parents!
Just made some coffee and I will open the Baccardi Rum Cake I got at Sam's Club. CHEERS! If anyone hits the lottery with my lucky numbers, please remember me!
Pat, a flea market friend, gave me a nice home baked rye bread and some German cookies. Carolee, the neighbor, brought me some very artistically made Christmas trees made of green popcorn, and wreath shaped goodies made from what look like sunflower seeds, both with little red thingies that mimic holly berries. I do not know whether to eat them or hang them with my Christmas cards. It just ocurred to me that I do not have a tree this year!! <sniff> Add to this list more of her home baked specialties, some holiday cookies, and GAWD, am I going to pig out! The Gocke family, the new neighbors in back, brought me a nice Rosemary plant and a tin of cookies. I remember the rosemary BUSHES I have in La Atlántida-- they run over 20 feet and are more than 5 feet high! Santa <smile> brought their daughter a Peace Bear for Christmas.
Bill, my brother visited with his three kids. Chris, my sister-in law, brought me loads of scrumptious goodies, including a Jewish apple cake and more from her fabulous kitchen. Her birthday cakes are great and she is an artist when it comes to decorating them! All I had to offer was soda and popcorn-- until he discovered a box of Honey Mustard & Onion Sourdough Hard Pretzel Pieces way on top of the fridge!
It started snowing so they did not stay for more than 2 hours. The kids all shared in one of my remaining "complete" sets of Beanies, each receiving 25 which I selected at random.
They also gave me a t-shirt with beer stuff on it-- and I am not even a big beer drinker. Anyway, on the front it says, "Big Johnson EXTRA STOUT LAGER - Whenever you whip it out you're gonna' get some GREAT HEAD!" Cute, but I get great head with any beer I whip out! It all depends on how high you hold it when you pour! The back is filled with beer labels misquoting what they really say-- guess the typesetters were too busy with their heads?? "XX Dos Cojones Imported Beer", "MOREHEAD EXPORT Lay Back and Enjoy", with a cute pic of a Moose under the covers smoking a cigarette-- what a sneaky ad for smoking! Almost looks like Joe Camel with a couple days beard growth and big horns! And an awfully done Löwenbräu label with the lion wearing red shades and the brand name printed as "Undöherbrä"-- guess they do not know a lot of German! It is cryptically cute-- BUT I need a code breaker to translate it all for me! <snicker>
Amaury and Cathy came all the way from New York City and visited for a while, bringing me a tin of French biscuits (traditional European English = cookies on this side of the pond -- Cathy is French). The first thing he did was select a CD of Mozart's Flute Concertos K313 & 314 / Jean-Pierre Rampal and Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philarmonic Orchestra to listen to-- WOW, was the first time in months that I had a CD playing!
Since I was online
(what else is new! Maybe at midnight on New Years Eve I change back into me?) he showed me a site he found-- he is a great source for unusual web sites! This one is DEATHCLOCK!! GAWD, great graphics, but weird as heck! So I checked it out. My "personal date of death" is scheduled for 25 October 2012!! Using the pessimist button it is reduced to 27 May 2005, and then the sadistic button only gives me until 22 June 1999!! WOW, I certainly shall not last until the year 2012. And they even give you a countdown in seconds!! Kewl, I guess. <shudder>
After coffee and some cake, they were on their merry way for some more holiday visits in scenic Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
OK, so only a couple hours separate us all from some new year numbers and I still do not have the house clean. If only I could tear myself away from this stupid machine! Have changed a bunch of pages for the New Year -- took out Christmas decorations and such. Hope the server will not be overloaded tonight when I try to delete the old and put the new!
Added a new AskREX page so that kids can get some help with science and Beanie questions -- and get a chance to win a Beanie every month. Already had a couple questions! And now he even has his own homepage made with his own big paws!
Visitor count just before I crawl in2 bed on this first day of the new year
17,913
Not exactly an exponential increment, BUT....I am very surprised!
WOW, I actually predicted correctly seven out of the nine new retired Beanies!!
OK, Gracie, say "goodnight and Happy New YEAR"!
PREDICTIONS
FOR 1998 and BEYOND
May you experience
the
most joyous of
Holidays
and a
splendid
1998
fulfilling your
dreams,
following your
Road Not Taken
in good
health and fortune
Thanks for visiting with me
and
allowing me to share with you
Sonny a.k.a Sigmund
&
Devi, Shiva, Chucky, Tracey, BeanTuska & Chiquiguiqui
and the numerous Koi, Golden Orfies & Comets
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