Eating my bowl of cereal alone today

Sadie, our 18 year old cat, passed away yesterday. She had been suffering from kidney failure for a while. We had her on a special diet and we also gave her subcutaneous fluids every 2 days. She had lymphoma cancer 5+ years ago we thought she would not survive, but she was a fighter and did.

She has been slowing down but was still Sadie, until a few days ago. She stopped eating, she stopped begging for food and all she wanted to do was curl up on her bed and sleep. Yesterday morning it was worse. I could tell she was in pain. She was having episodes, probably mini stroke, every 1-2 hours, where her whole body would tense up and she would try to vomit but nothing came up. She would try to stand up but she would fall over. When sitting she was hanging her head down, something we had never seen before.

We struggled with whether or not to see if she could make it through the night so we could take her to her regular vet or take her to the emergency vet. Our hearts told us it was time to say goodbye but we were fighting our logic and not wanting to let go yet.

She had one more bad attack around 3pm and I knew it was time so we took her to the emergency vet. They took her right away and started fluids and did blood work. They called us back a few minutes later to tell us she had stopped breathing and her heart had stopped. We told them we did not want them to continue to care for her, that it was her time and we did not want her to be in anymore pain. On top of that, we just knew...her stare was blank, her body was limp.

They brought her in for us to say goodbye. Amazing, she started breathing again so we called the vet in. The took her away and got her started on fluids again. All the while we still knew in our hearts it was time. The vet returned to tell us Sadie was in and out, and in fact she had stopped breathing again. Her hear beat was faint. We decided it was best to put her down so we did.

The vet things, per the blood work results, she probably had cancer and kidney failure. She had blood work a couple of months ago and our regular vet did not mention the possibility of cancer. She was 18, we were not going to prolong her life, so we made the right decision to say goodbye.

Sadie loved her food. She begged every chance she got. She would lick our cereal bowls in the morning. I like to walk around and look out the windows as I eat, or sit on the porch if it's warm enough. She would follow me and sit when I sat. it was cute and it was her.

I miss her but know she is in kitty heaven and no longer in pain.

My boys versus her boys

So it seems my boys are playing the Mrs's boys this weekend. Should be an interesting Sunday afternoon for us. Hopefully she will still fix me dinner after my boys put a hurting on her boys!

Sell yourself and love what you do

I am doing a lot of interviewing searching for my next opportunity. I do not like to sound like a salesman when I interview. I want to be honest and let the person know who I am. I strongly believe both sides needs to know if it's a good fit. I believe the one being interviewed should listen, ask questions and make sure it's the right role and culture for them. Do not accept a job just because it's a job and it pays money.

i changed careers 11+ years ago because I did not love what I was doing. I left a nice job that paid well. i was criticised by most, admired by some. it worked out well for me even though I am currently not working.

That said, I am starting to realize the interview is an opportunity to sell yourself, but not in a "salesy" way.

This article makes a lot of sense to me and is a good read for those looking for their next job.

Work on the new boat

Though the new to us boat was in good shape we do not have a history on her so we are doing a lot of maintenance work.

To date we have replaced (both engines):

All exhaust manifolds, risers and elbows
Spark plugs, wires, distributor caps and rotors
IAC valves
fuel/water separtors
serpentine belts
raw water impellers
oil/oil filters
changed transmission fluid

Starboard engine only:
alternator
fuel pump
fuel sensor

Genny:
Fuel Pump
Spark Plugs

Hull compounded and waxed.

Electronics software updated.

We have an odor problem that we are having a challenge getting rid of. We had the sanitation hoses from the head to the vacuum pump to the holding tank replaced last week. The smell is better but still present. Yesterday I removed the holding tank sending unit, cleaned it and then flush out the holding tank until clear water was coming out...not a fun job. We will see soon if this helped...at least the holding tank sending unit is working now.

I cleaned all the cabin carpets and installed a new stereo in the bridge yesterday too. The old one did not work at all. The new one hooked up easily and has an IPod connection, which is very nice.

All of the zippers on the bridge need to be replaced but that can wait as she is in a covered slip.

There is plenty more to do but these were the biggies.

2 weekends on the boat and our first boat guests

Well, the new to us boat is officially in the water and all repairs have been completed. We spent the weekend on her last week and this past weekend. We love this boat! It fits the Mrs and I perfectly.

The Mrs's father and step mother were on their way back to DC from SC Saturday and stopped by to spend the night with us. Finally, we have room for overnight guests on our boat! It was great seeing them. We took a sunset cruise up to Urbanna and back. Man it's good to be back on the water...we have missed it.

We did a de-naming ceremony, speech, champagne and all on Sunday. We will do a naming ceremony when we rename her this coming weekend.

Now we get to pay for the big service bill...it will be a big one for sure with all the work they did for us. But we have the peace of mind knowing she is great shape now and everything was done correctly and to specs. I actually did some work on her myself too. I changed the oil and the serpentine belts. Compared to our last boat this was a breeze. Less than 1 hour of work, no cuts, no bruises, no aches and pains from trying to get to things.

I promise to get some pictures of her up soon.

3 days off = I am tired

No boat to play on so we played on the house this weekend.

I scraped, caulked and primed 3 exterior window sills. I rebuilt the huge old wooden/metal door to the shed, with the Mrs.’s help. I cut down 3 large ugly bushes and dug up the roots from one. I planted 3 Heavenly Bamboo Nandinas on the side of our screened porch. Hopefully they will grow fast to give us some privacy. I potted a grass plant. I dug up about 100 feet of lariope and moved them to the front year to use as a border around one of our large trees. I cut the grass. I moved a Charlie Brown Christmas tree seedling to the front yard…lets see if this one can get as big as its big brother.

We biked for 2 hours, stopped to eat, got stuck in a rain storm, which I thought was actually fun. We also watched a lot of US Open tennis.

Now, back to work.

It's been a while

So it’s been a while since I have blogged. A lot has happened.

Let’s see, we moved, twice. Our house sold before we could find a house in the neighborhood we wanted to live in so we had to put all of our stuff in storage and move into a temporary house that was furnished. The temp house was actually in the same neighborhood as our first home as a married couple. Kind of strange driving by our first house 2-3 times a day, but we got over it quick.

We must have looked at 20+ houses and made offers on 3-4 before we found the one for us. It’s a charming brick cape with a slate roof and basement built in 1936. Our plan was to downsize yet again and we did. Our first house was 2700+ sq feet with a huge yard, our 2^nd house was 2000 sq feet and maintenance free and this one is 1300 sq feet with a small yard. We went from 2.5 baths to 1 and from 4 bedrooms to 3 and now to 2 bedrooms. And….we love it. A ½ bath would be nice and we may add one but we are very happy with our new home. It’s in the city in a very charming neighborhood. We can walk to restaurants, the drug store, cleaners, parks and so much more. We like our neighbors, the yard is small (and the grass does not seem to grow!) My commute to work is about 5 minutes and the Mrs.’s commute went from 30 minutes to 15. NO MORE DUMB TOLLS to pay!

I am getting a kick out of doing yard work and house work again. Since the house is 70+ years old she needs a few fixes here and there. Overall though the house is in great shape and has been renovated and painted by the previous owner(s) to our tastes. Oh and the dogs love running around in the back yard. We love spending time on the side screened porch too.

It’s quite refreshing to downsize and “reduce our footprint” if you will. We sold a lot of furniture, got rid of the fancy home entertainment system and gave a lot of stuff away. I do not miss any of it. It was just stuff that filled spaces and rooms we did not need.

We sold our boat about 4 months ago and have been looking for the next once since. And, we finally found her. It’s a 2001 Regal 3780 Sedan Bridge. She is perfect for us and we are looking forward to spending many hours on her. We closed on her last week. She is on land now getting some engine service and a compound and waxing. She was a bank repo and we think we beat the bank up pretty good on the price…at least we have been told we did by many boat brokers. She surveyed well. We are getting all of the regular maintenance and service done before we use her so we have a base and know what we have moving forward. Her new home will be a covered slip in Deltaville, VA.

The Mrs. had foot surgery a few weeks ago. She was on crutches, non-weight bearing, for 4 weeks. She is better now and is actually wearing a shoe again and walking. We hope she is back to full speed in a few more weeks.

The dogs are good. Sadie the cat is getting old and showing signs of slowing down. We have to give her fluids 2-3 times a week with a needle. It’s a team effort for the Mrs. and I and it seems to help her. We call it her kitty juice.

I sold a car, bought a sports car, decided it was too small and bought a small pickup. So far I love it and it’s come in handy already with a house project or two. Not sure what my thing is with buying and selling cars every 1-2 years, but oh well.

So, in a nutshell, I think that’s it. I am sure I missed some things, but this should bring you up to speed.

To the ER for me

About 2:30 yesterday I got a sharp pain on the right side of my right eye/head. I also started seeing white flashes out of my right eye. That quickly turned to feeling nauseous, shaking and sweating. My hands and arms were tingling too. The Mrs picked me up from work as we had left her car at the service shop for the day.

About 5 minutes into the ride I knew something was not right so I asked her to take me to the doctor. We found a Patient First. They said I needed to get to an ER for scans/tests so they called an ambulance to pick me up as I could not walk. I was shaking and trembling like never before...so much so the bed I was on was rattling.

To the ER, lots of test, more shaking and sweating, cat scan, needles, stuff stuck on me, lots of beeps and noises, oxygen mask, shots, pills, etc. More folks worked on me than I could count. I think I gave my name and date of birth 20+ times!

Well, my vitals were good. The diagnosed me with Cluster Headaches. The good news is I will live and I feel better...the bed news is I will more than likely get them again. Wow are they painful and scary!