Hobbies, Family, & Geekery from a Stay-at-Home Dad
Los is joined once again by Beardy McWhiskey. They give their update on the pandemic 1 year after their last update. They discuss what it’s like being vaccinated and all the superpowers that come with it, as well as whatever else has been going on.
My current addicti-I mean, hobby, has me completely hooked! If you follow me anywhere it’s easy to see that buying and collecting vinyl records basically took over my time, and most importantly, my money. This is the first time since getting into it that I sit to write about it on the blog. It probably won’t be the last either.
…No, it’s not what I want, but it had to be. I spent 6 months just rechargin’ my battery. Imagine me quittin’, what a travesty that’d be…
Hi! Boy, this is awkward. It’s like one of those “going out for milk, brb” scenarios, huh? Time flies, I guess. I’ve been out getting milk for *checks watch* for about 6 months! The last full post was in August 2020 when I discussed the cancer, but I updated that post as needed and the last time I wrote in the blog was the October update for that. I didn’t even finish it! I remember falling asleep typing and saying “I’ll come back to it tomorrow.” Nope, tomorrow turned out to be like 3 days ago haha. I have been checking in from time to time, don’t get me wrong. Not like I forgot my password or anything. I’d like to say I sign in to engage with readers who come across this digital time capsule of mine, but in reality I’m really just making sure that it’s still working and the blog still actually exists.
Check out episode 5 of my podcast, The Talking Place, where Beardy and myself talk about life in quarantine and the pandemic as of June 2020. Go listen to what was going on at the time!
Anyway, what’s been happening with me?
Not a whole lot! Everything is going great and can’t complain.
Ok, fine, that’s not entirely true. Things have been absolutely insane. Life has been relentlessly coming at us, testing our sanity every which way. The pandemic has been going on for over a year and counting and we’re still going strong with our fight against it. Seriously, yeah. It’s been over a year, can you believe it? I can’t! Over a year of this craziness. So much has happened and at the same time, a lot of nothing has happened haha. More and more strides are being made and hopefully sooner rather than later things will be better. And we’ll all look back and remember the times we treated and cleaned every single item in our groceries as if it was contaminated with the virus.
As for us, we’re still wearing our masks everywhere religiously, even though many around us are seeming to care less and less. If you’ve seen or heard anything about Florida, it’s probably true. All of it. Bunch of savages down here. We haven’t been to a theme park in a few months. We have been missing Universal, we ditched those passes at the beginning of the pandemic. Maybe we’ll get them back soon. Can’t listen to Harry Potter or Jurassic Park music without having an urge to get in a car and go get tickets again.
Disney, we’ve been holding onto and were going here and there. But the past few times, we noticed it’s getting busier and busier with more and more people disregarding any rules in place. So we decided to take a break. Hopefully when we go in a few weeks like we have planned it’ll be a good trip. Going to Hollywood Studios to visit Galaxy’s Edge for May the 4th! Shouldn’t be busy at all!
The good news? The wife and I both had our first dose of the Phizer vaccine! Bad news is, I still don’t know how to spell Phfizer. I’ll get it one day.
And for the record, we’re excited to get vaccinated. We’ve been living in this fear just like millions of others. Not just for us, but for our kids. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and we’re glad for it. We always said we’d wait. We wouldn’t be the first ones in line to get the vaccine when it was offered. But we feel like it’s been out long enough to be ok at this point, despite the recent blood clotting findings… Hopefully we get to the point where it’s 100% safe and everywhere and we hit that mark where so many are vaccinated we don’t need to worry about it anymore. That would be fantastic. And if you are of the mind where you don’t want the vaccine or you think it’s some crazy conspiracy theory, or that everything about COVID has been a hoax, there’s a new drug out there just for you.
Ugh, now I’m thinking about theme parks. See what you done did! I have a whole bunch of old theme park pics I never posted. Maybe I’ll go through them.
More bad news, the kids can’t get vaccinated yet. And they need it most of all. Not only because they’re the future and their safety is priority, and that our love for them is more than anything that can be measured, bless their hearts, those precious beings. But mostly because they really, really, truly, madly, deeply, savage gardenly, need to get TF back to school.
I guess I’ll get into that since it’s a big mental roadblock in this house right now. To be fair, we’ve had the option to send them off. School has been in session all year here. There are plenty like us who are still taking advantage of the homeschooling option, but there are also plenty who are sending their kids to school like normal. It’s been some of the most difficult decisions to not send them in. They are suffering from being homeschooled on so many levels, it’s almost unfair. And it’s not just the kids, because the wife and I are suffering right along with them. Like, oh, it’s almost lunch time, I have a few minutes to rock back and forth as I cry in the dark on the bathroom floor. It’s better there, you know. Because if you cry into the sandwiches you’re making for the kids, they’ll refuse to eat them from being too salty.
But honestly, it’s been hard. So, so hard. The house has not been picked up in a year it feels like. I used to maintain some sort of order here when they were in school. I used to “clean up” (quotes because I’m not legally allowed to say I cleaned due to the wife’s swearing that I never really clean clean). I used to make sure things were refreshed while they were gone and created a sense of order. But now? There’s nothing but a constant chaos that overflows into everything. I clean an area and before I’m even starting on the next, the first area is already getting messed up. It’s like we subconsciously raised two Tasmanian Devils. And their brother genes kicked so their fighting amongst themselves is at an all-time high too, with the action of simply grabbing a remote control laying on the couch is enough to send them into an hour long war against each other. And don’t even get me started on school.
No, I’m not even talking about how dumb I am and how much I can’t help with stuff. Seriously, have you seen what kids these days have to know?! Why? Why do they need to know all this math?? Anyway, that’s beside the point. The whole point of homeschooling is to, you know, do school at home. But no, that’s not the case here. It’s as if the distractions of home are too much and even with their possessions locked behind their doors, they still find ways to avoid doing work.
Classes are getting flunked, attitudes are high and patience is thin. We feel like in the attempt to control the situation with our kids and COVID, we completely lost control of everything else in regards to them. And us as parents are feeling like complete failures because the harder we try to make sure they’re doing what they need to do with their classes, the more we’re burning whatever bridges we’ve built with them. Getting upset at them if they’re not sitting in front of a computer isn’t the way a home should be. No, it doesn’t help that they are so disconnected from the learning process and want nothing to do with any of it. But at the same time, we can’t blame them for any of it because this just isn’t natural.
More power to those who normally homeschool their kids, but there are certain types of children who it just doesn’t work for them. Ours are those types. Heck maybe all kids are those types and the regular everyday homeschooling parents just don’t say anything in an attempt to look superior. Well not anymore! Before, I would see a homeschooling parent and think “wow, this person has all their shit together. The amount of control and patience and time to give, I’m jealous and beyond impressed.” But now? Now it’s going to be more along the lines of “you’re a GD sociopath, why would you do this?! There are other options! Do you need a hobby, I can help you find a hobby!” OK, obvi, I’m not (completely) serious. Homeschoolers have their reasons and structures. I’m not trying to offend, but this side of the fence is not green for us. This is taking something they tolerate and don’t like doing for numerous reasons, and forces them to focus on it at home. Home, which is their sanctuary and only place they are really safe from it. And if they don’t focus, then they get in trouble for it because the education system tells us “bad grades = bad kid.”
We agree and understand that they definitely got the shit end of the stick. I hate that saying, btw. What is this stick? What are you doing with it that one end is designated solely for that? My wife takes this time to ask me what I’m writing about, so I tell her “the shit end of a stick.” To which she replies, “your colonoscopy?” No, wife. But good one!
Anyway, this post can go on and on and on. I feel like pages and pages of things can be written about the pandemic, the quarantine, homeschooling, all of this mess.
And I completely feel like I dropped the ball with it all. Because we were in a lockdown/quarantine for months and months and I did nothing.
Not a single productive thing. I didn’t write any blog posts, I didn’t work on podcasts, didn’t read, didn’t play games, nothing! Well, we did have a time recently where we were hitting Pokémon Go crazy hard and it was glorious. But that’s another post. I think back to the quarantine though and it feels like it should have been prime time to just do anything. Whatever. As if the world stood still and everyone was just able to do anything they wanted/needed to do while at home. Many took the opportunity. So many dumb but hilarious videos of what was going on in their quarantined lives. So many extroverts crying and unable to grasp this new normal, meanwhile introverts like me are looking around wondering what is different about this lifestyle change.
But I look back now and I can’t even remember what we did in those days. I remember the struggles, the worries and such. I remember spending lots of time with the family as we all wondered what was going to happen. But the details were fuzzy. The wife was on maternity leave for the entire quarantine. Lucky her, right?! So much time off work and can’t do a damn thing LOL. I do remember just driving. Driving around aimlessly, just to get fresh air. Until of course, another car pulled up beside us then I would roll the windows up real quick. But we would just drive around and see everything empty. Void of the busy life everyone always lived. Void of the hustle, the fun…
Void of all the jerks on the road, OMG that was so nice though! So few people driving around, that was amazing, ngl. If I’m being completely honest, the quarantine taught me a lot about myself. I used to think I was a people person. But seeing how nice it was not dealing with anyone’s unpredictably stupid behavior and having to interact with someone only if I absolutely had to, it taught me just how over society’s BS I really was. Like I’m going to be socially distancing long after I don’t have to anymore. No, you’re not going to stand so close behind me in line. No, you’re not going to cram yourself into this elevator because “you can fit.” Back the eff up, this is MY space. But anyway, a blog was such a perfect thing to keep a record of it all and I just didn’t. I can’t help but kick myself for it now because what else am I going to do?
I guess I’ll call this one. Like I said, could go on and on. I’m going to see if I can get the best of this thing called time. Find a way to carve out some of it to dedicate to writing again. Sometimes I check out old blog posts here and I’m taken aback from all the random stupid stuff I used to post. So many memories and things to reflect on. And these days there’s so much to talk about. So much to do. The days are drained away in homeschool and I honestly feel like it’s eating away at my soul. I’m looking more forward to vacations and weekends than the kids are. My, how those tables have turned. Let’s see if we could get back on track. Do something productive and feel like I’m creating again. Speaking of which, in the meantime, be sure to check out the podcast. With it being over a year old and only having 12 episodes, you can see what I mean by not doing anything productive. It hurts something fierce. I would love to pour more love into it, especially seeing where the last three or four episodes went. Maybe one day I’ll hit it full force again.
Ahhhhh I’m still talking, ok I’m hanging up. No, you hang up.
After a short break, episode 12 of The Talking Place has Los (@the1llusiveman) joined by Elaine (@etdragon) for the second show in a row! We discuss books we’re reading, shows we’re watching, and our favorite snacks. Come check it out!
Today’s Positive: An awesome show Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! On this, the 3rd day of February. Elaine, etdragon, OG, pioneer of pioneers, originator of originators, was awakened at sunset from her trash panda haven, and spoke to me in Elainese and said: I …Read More….
Who You Gonna Call? Not the Turtles!
TEN EPISODES! Isn’t that amazing! At double digits now! It’s probably ok to retire now, right? Call it quits after hitting this milestone. Well, for this episode it’s a nostalgic trip to our childhood, as Al and myself go back to the 80’s and 90’s to talk cartoons!
So many different shows defined many a childhood growing up. It would be nearly impossible to mention them all, or even give most of them justice. Especially after talking about The Real Ghostbusters so much LOL. We could’ve gone on for 5 hours and still left out the favorites of many. So come to think of it, I hope this show doesn’t make anyone mad that we didn’t mention their favorite cartoon growing up. If you are upset, let’s do another show! If you rather just be mad and send hate mail, then Al’s contact info is just below!
Links and Info Discussed
Contact The Talking Place
If you’d like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below!
If you’re looking to join me for an episode, don’t be shy and get at me at the above links and we’ll chat!
Survey Says! Two shows in a row! One more, and it’ll probably be some sort of record for me. Also a record, is the amount of shows done by two guys who quit their last show because they could never get together to record. (That’s …Read More….
Ani-mani, and Totally Insaney Beardy and I are back and we’re tackling the heavy hitting issues of today. Like when is the best time to take down your holiday decorations. How you should decorate for Valentine’s Day. And much more! We get into the excitement …Read More….
—UPDATE BELOW POST—
This is going to be a no frills post. No pics, just rambling. Lots has happened and I just want to get it out there.
I know this is personal and not really something a lot of people can or will share. But I want to keep true to my trying to keep this blog as a diary of sorts. I mean, journal. Journals are cooler.
I like to try and keep it as fun and positive as possible around here as I can. But honestly, the past few weeks have been so ridiculously hard to stay positive. Right now is better. But still plenty of road ahead to travel before normal.
On August 6th, I had my first colonoscopy. It’s something I wanted to get because I was having some issues that I couldn’t pinpoint how long they’ve been going on. But it was to the point where I was freaking myself out that maybe I had something serious going on. Both the wife and I agreed that it’s probably not something serious. I’ve had no pain, no sudden unexplained weight loss, and my symptoms could have easily been numerous other things.
But we quickly and rather abruptly learned it’s pretty serious. Something is in me that shouldn’t be, and it’s been a fear of mine for as long as I could remember.
I was groggy from the anesthesia still. Not even able to unlock my phone properly. And I hear the doctor in the next room telling that patient he has polyps and how he needs to get them removed. I remember thinking to myself that’s what I thought I have and that he’ll probably tell me the same thing. So when he came into the room and blurted out what he did, I couldn’t gather myself to even form a sentence. “Hey, so we found some cancer, you’re going to have to meet with a surgeon soon.”
I had to tell him wait, as I motioned for him to get closer. He wouldn’t, partly because he seemed too busy to linger with one patient, but mostly because damn covid and me not having my mask on. Remember, I’m still groggy from waking up. He told me it again, and still, that time wasn’t any clearer than the first. I felt like I was in an echo chamber and all I can hear was that one word I feared for so long. I couldn’t believe it. I felt like it has to be wrong, you know, the way everyone else would react. He left and I was there alone with my thoughts. I thought there was no worse way to find out about the worst news you’ve heard your entire life.
Then my wife walked in and the million things I haven’t done with my family flashed before my eyes. She came in with the nurse and I told her to sit down. The nurse began explaining and doing everything the doctor should’ve done. He was the light in this darkness, telling me that there’s nothing known yet. To get the ball rolling on tests and meet with the surgeon, and start eating better because everything will help. My wife and I there, holding each other. Our three kids in the car with my mom, and we’re trying to collect ourselves enough to make it outside to them.
We met with the surgeon the next day after fighting for the earliest appointment. Within 2 days we had every test done that he wanted us to have. Blood work, CT scan, MRI. I didn’t want to sit around and wait. I couldn’t. There was no way I couldn’t sit at home doing nothing about this. Besides the fact that I couldn’t do anything. Like I was mentally, and emotionally exhausted. I wasn’t eating because I wasn’t hungry. I couldn’t sleep because all I could think of was how nothing will be the same for anyone in my family. It was hell waiting for the results.
But when we got all the results back, one huge weight was lifted. They found out that it’s early. That it’s still contained to the one area it was found in. There are other tests that can be done to confirm it. But with all the scans that were done, what the doc saw, he’s able to say that it’s the most favorable outcome you could ask for in this situation. It’s something that a surgery will most likely be able to remove it, and there’s a possibility of not needing to do chemo or radiation. Details are still up in the air, we find out for sure what the plan will be this coming Wednesday. But at that point, this was news that my wife and I couldn’t stop hugging over.
It’s win for sure. But the war isn’t over. There’s a long road to travel till this can be another chapter in my life. But thank God that so far, it seems like I’ll be able to look back on it at some point. For a while there, I couldn’t think past the moment I was in. I sat and thought and thought and thought the worst thoughts. I was trying to think ahead, but only what would I do if I was told the worst. And a lot of it involved this blog. I thought about writing years and years of messages and milestone thoughts to my kids and setting them to post at those times. It was definitely some of the darkest moments I’ve ever had in my mind. And I thank God that it doesn’t seem like I have to do anything that sad.
I also have to thank all my friends and family who thought about me and prayed for me. I came out with everything on my discord and wanted to be clear with it there. The response was heartwarming and really reminded me that even though you’ve never met people before, it doesn’t mean they’re not your friends that you care about. They helped me to not only believe in their friendship, but also gave me a new faith in God and prayer.
Also, since I’m thanking. My wife has been such a rock in these times. She’s doing everything everywhere it seems and trying her best to make sure I’m ok and not stressed. There’s no way I would’ve been able to physically or mentally get through anything that first week if it wasn’t for her and her strength. We helped each other get through the bombshell that went off over us and it’s something that has brought us together on so many levels compared to anything else that has happened in our lives. Hopefully she knows how much she means to me and how much what she does means to me.
Well I’ll stop here. I’ll update as updates come. I hate being cryptic and I may have been cryptic in a tweet or two. But I didn’t want to just tweet out what happened. Like I said, this blog has been a part of me for over 10 years. It’s something that I would like to think that my kids will look back on to read and remember times.
If there’s one thing this taught me, it’s that life is fragile, short, and comes at you fast with no warning. Let this be a warning for others. An advisory. If you’re feeling like something is wrong or different or not right, get to the doctor. Get checked out. Don’t be scared of looking stupid. Don’t be scared of a medical bill. Get out there and make sure what’s going on isn’t serious. I almost wrote off my issue as something not serious because like I said, I had no pain, no crazy symptoms, no family history, the signs didn’t point to where I’m at now. But I’m here. Here hoping the optimism from the doctor is well warranted and I’m able to look back at this.
It also taught me just how much my family means to me. It sounds horrible, I know. But especially now with a baby in the house, the motions are gone through every day, and it’s easy to get lost in them. It’s easy to forget how humans need much more interaction, despite how much they love to sit in front of a screen having fun. Not too long ago, I felt overwhelmed with a lot. I’m no stranger to feeling like I’m inadequate and not needed. Being a stay-at-home dad has its perks but they come with a price. It’s always, always been hard for me to sit around not doing anything to help with things financially. It’s difficult to sit and watch my wife work her job and then working on call hours so we can all have this blessed life we have. I take care of the kids, try so so so so hard to keep the house clean, try to have dinner ready at a decent time, and try to do whatever else needs to be done around here. But the motions. The motions are dangerous and you can get lost in them. You can forget about basic things like family movie time or just sitting there to listen to wacky kid explanations. Since this happened and came to light, the kids have been both camping out in our room. We all hang out in the bed after getting ready early so we can watch TV together. I’ve been holding everyone a lot closer and a lot more often. It’s something that I feel like we’ve all needed. And I hope that everything works itself out so we can continue doing it with no clouds hanging over our heads.
I feel better now. Better than what I felt the first week. I can sleep without waking up numerous times a night hoping it’s all just a nightmare. And I know there are many who never get out of that nightmare. I know how lucky I am so far and know that I should count my blessings. But there is still uneasiness. There’s still fear and worry. I feel as if I can’t trust my body anymore. But hopefully I can try to help it now. Try to get it fixed and then take care of it better so this doesn’t happen again. I definitely am taking things seriously now with eating better. Consider it the first step in trying to get through this and come out of it so I can watch my kids grow up and be there for them.
UPDATE – SEPTEMBER 1, 2020:
SO. A lot has happened these past few weeks. To pick up where I left off, we met with the doctor on Wednesday and confirmed a surgery date that following Monday. A laparoscopic lower anterior resection, to be specific, if you want to google that sort of thing. At this point it felt like I was put into one of those air chutes and just zoomed about everything. In a few days I had to mentally prepare for what would be the biggest surgery of my life. Not only that, recovery time was at minimum 4 days. So that meant on top of the huge surgery, I also had to be away from my family for most of the week.
It was definitely one of the hardest things we’ve been through as a family. My trials began the day before the surgery when I had to clear out my system and was given this 10 gallon jug of laxative that I had to mix with water and drink it completely. I was told to try it with Gatorade instead as the flavor and electrolytes would help. Turns out it also helped me to make sure I never drink Gatorade again. I tweeted it was exactly like in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where Dumbledore had to drink the poison. It was not fun.
But that, the surgery, and the recovery away from family. All the stress and the pain and the sleepless nights. It all came down to getting that evil inside me removed. The doctor was confident and I was scared for so many reasons, but knew ultimately it had to be done and was looking forward to overcoming this crazy bump in the road. Ha. Bump in the road. More like “the bridge is out ahead” of the road.
And the surgery went splendidly. Docs said everything was textbook with no issues and it all was removed. The 5 days in the hospital weren’t fun, but it came with the surgery. I hate hospitals. I can’t stand being in them even for visiting. On the last day I realized I hadn’t left the little room I was in at all the entire time. Glad that didn’t occur to me before because I probably would’ve lost it. But by the time I was being discharged I was ready to go home. Sure you have the doubts in your head like, can I really go home safely? What if..?! But my wife being the awesome wife and nurse she is, I was in good hands.
I’m feeling ok today. Still taking it easy as to not hurt the incision area. And still scared. That fear will probably never subside. We still have to meet with the surgeon on 9/9 to see what came back from pathology. So hopefully it’s not anything crazy and I’ll be clear of having to do anything else serious. I would do whatever needs to be done, don’t get me wrong. I’m beyond thankful this is the road that I was chosen to walk down. I know it could’ve been a lot darker and.. shorter. So here’s to hoping the sun stays shining on me and my journey on this road of mine.
UPDATE – SEPTEMBER 10, 2020:
Met with the surgeon and he was very happy with everything! Everything is going smooth with recovery and pathology came back clean as a whistle. They took 40 some odd lymph nodes from the areas where anything would have spread first and every one came back negative for anything. It was caught so early and I don’t think I’ll ever not be shocked by how lucky I am. I’ll be keeping up with him every few months for standard check ups but he’s not too concerned. I have an appointment with oncology in October. Again, standard protocol in this situation. So I look forward to speaking with him about everything.
UPDATE – OCTOBER 7, 2020:
Met with oncologist yesterday. It’s been well over a month since everything happened but being in the cancer center brought everything back full force. All the sadness and uncertainty despite being cleared loomed on me as I walked down the halls past others who awaited different fates. Mostly elderly people. I was easily the youngest there. I can only imagine what was being thought of me.
The first thing the doctor told me before the door even closed behind him was “you’re too young to have cancer.” I told him that’s what I hear. He congratulated me on having it removed and being cured. I explained that even though I’m told I am cured and it’s gone, there’s a huge part of me that can’t get there mentally. I can’t wrap my head around the thought of it being over. I oversaturated my brain so much with all the thoughts that came with being diagnosed, that it feels wrong to think happily again. I explained that I can’t say I’m cured. I can’t call myself a survivor. I have a guilt in me that makes it difficult to see myself in that light.
He told me it was completely normal. It’s something that everyone in the position feels. It’s from the traumatic experience of finding out and living with that. That’s when he explained to me some details regarding my cure. I’ve heard it said to me but never explained to me. And coming from him, my oncologist, it carried more weight in my head.
He said with the type of cancer I had, with it being stage I, so confined to one section, and then having it removed, it won’t come back. I wasn’t sure if I heard him right and I think he knew that. He repeated, it’s not going to come back, then continued, that if he had to put a number on it, there is barely a 1% chance that it would come back. He took blood work to verify, and has me coming back in a few months to do some more scans just to continue to monitor. But he was also certain that it was finished. Not only that, the blood work came back and whatever level markers that were up that indicated cancer were at normal levels. So many things point to the sun in the sky shining on me on these new days of mine. I’ll always feel the way I do about being called a survivor, but I decided to take the win here and finally, and most importantly, happily, move on with this all behind us.
UPDATE – APRIL 12, 2021:
Dear diar—I mean.. Sup, journal. I guess to close out the updates here with most up to date it could be. I put the blog on the back burner and realized I didn’t even finish my last update here from October. It’s ok though. It’s been 6 months and still no word, I don’t deserve it?! I know you got my last two letters, I wrote the addresses on them perfect!….. Sorry, unexpected Eminem, sometimes it just comes out, ya know? Anyway. It’s been 6 months and I’m almost certain no one has been here and seen the October update stop mid sentence. So we’ll just pretend it was there all along.
Update time. I’m doing ok. Doc’s have done a few routine check ups on me in the form of scans and such and all seems good. I did a gene test that goes into ridiculous detail about what mutations are more possible to show their ugly heads for not only me, but my kids. I have a few more weeks before I head over to the Oncologist and discuss those results. But he’s had them for a while now and hasn’t said anything is urgent so I feel ok there. I also got a colonoscopy done in December! Not many people are excited for such things but I’m telling you, I will push the importance of getting one to everyone who will hear it. I was very on edge for it because the cancer was so close to the entrance of the last colonoscopy, it wasn’t completed. So finally they were going to go the full monty. Which meant there was possibility of something else being found. But no, my luck and blessings continued because nothing was found, thank God.
So here we are. April 2021. Lots has happened since the last update. New president, numerous vaccines for COVID that is currently being administered to the masses. Wife and I have gotten our first dose as of this writing so here’s to hoping the world doesn’t turn into zombies. I say that half joking and half utterly terrified, you have no idea. I’m going to try and get this blog back up and going like an old classic car. Not a popular one. You know, that old classic car that means so much to you but no one would really consider it classic by any means. So look for more updates there. Until then. Thank you. Thank you for reading up to this point, whoever you are. Probably my wife. Maybe my kids as they get old enough to surf the web without parental controls. Thank you and I hope life is good and kind and continues to be good for everyone.