It’s snowing, it’s snowing, it’s snowing!

Child 2:

I wish there was more snow.

Unfortunately the book is rather violent and filled with expletives.

As some of you got wind of from Camille’s facebook post, yes I did go to the hospital on Friday night and stayed there about 20hr. Xray, CT scans, blood work, and a stress test later and they say I (internally) look much better than the average for my age. Despite my best attempts to consume large quantities of Five Guys burgers (there is one open in Ithaca too!), even my cholesterol levels are good.

My stay at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital was a pleasant one. The nursing staff and doctors were all pleasant to talk to. The place was clean and fairly quiet. I have only very tiny dots on both arms from the needles, so they do a very good job drawing blood. Alas, I did not have the ability to experience the hospital food as I needed to fast the whole time due to the constant blood samples that were being drawn. I must say though, it smelled really good.

I am doing better. Doctors couldn’t find anything wrong so either the timing of the tests was too late or they are unable to pick up what my body is trying to say. I can’t complain about that even though I still have an occasional chest pain. I don’t think this was stress related (though I am under a very large amount of stress) because the symptoms don’t match my previous experiences with stress and panic. It isn’t heartburn either. I know what that feels like too. Neither of those would also explain why my lips would turn blue.

So, this is one of life’s mysteries, and my family is very glad to have me back in the house. Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Before the conference started, Jeff and I went for a hike to Pier 14 where I made the above panoramic. It was the only nice day there with clear skies and a high of 54F. The rest of the time was cold and wet. Unfortunately my tendonitis flared up in both knees and my right hip, reducing our ability to explore SF.

It was a good time to hang out with my brother and continue our plans of world domination. Gravett Island was solidy under our control by the end. Unfortunately, we had less time than I had hoped. He had to man the Shedworx booth a good portion of the time, and I went to some of the seminars. The other developers at his company were fun to get to know. There was one Greg and two Craigs, all from Australia, making conversations confusing at times.

All in all I felt that MacWorldExpo was not worthwhile for a web application developer like myself. Most events focused on audio & video. One of the key conference talks I went for was cancelled. I counted 13 expo booths selling iPhone cases. There was very little free stuff, unlike OSCON, ZendCon, and phpTek. On the bright side, CultofMac featured my brother and I at the top of their MacWorld Day 3 post. Their managing editor, Traci, was very nice to talk to, albeit briefly. Next year Shedworx should pay us to come out and be Booth Studs.

As a note: I do not work for Shedworx, I just happened to be hanging out at their booth because I had already wandered the expo hall five times.

And yes, I am going to MacWorld.

This year I was in charge of dessert. Mmmm… Pumpkin cake. Anne was a very good helper mixing the batter.

I had a fun time trying to explain the concept of Pi to my daughter. Not sure it took. If she remembers 3.14 tomorrow I will consider it a success.

edit: here is another good read on resolutions.

The kids got an extra birthday surprise when the #snowpocalypse began. We got a total of about 22 inches of snow, for which they were very grateful. We stayed inside on Saturday to just enjoy some time playing games and resting.

With everything being closed and canceled, including church, we decided to go outside and have some fun. Sledding was a bit rough to start with in all the powder, but it got better quickly. Then I began the process of digging out the cars, and digging in one snow car. We shall see how long the plows leave it alone. The kids don’t know it yet, but I started carving out the inside of the snow car to make them a fort. School is canceled tomorrow so I need to do something with them.