Today is my last (active) day at Adobe: as of next week I will be out on short-term disability and thinking through my new life.
Dealing with cancer has been a very hard experience, both for Linda and I. I pray no one reading this will ever have to deal with it. If you haven’t been there, there’s almost no way to describe what it’s like.
The last year has been hard, both for us and for those around us. Since going back to work in January it’s been challenging as chemo, steroid side effects et al. have become harder. So, short term anyway, we will be trying a new path.
I will miss the routine of the daily CalTrain commute and interaction with Adobe colleagues, but I’ll definitely be staying in touch. I’m looking into learning more about ‘green energy’ and open souce software: we also have a couple other projects under consideration… as always, stay tuned to www.gulker.com for news…
Warm day here on the Peninsula… weather service predicted a high of 86, but Dotcom Garden, unshaded and in a confined reflecting space, was showing 100 degrees on its thermometer when I went out to water mid-afternoon. It’s a spare-the-air day: I was good, and worked from home…
Last night we opened a package at dinner: it contained a votive candle, and Remy, the protagonist of Pixar’s delightful movie ‘Ratatouille.’Â Only one person in the universe could have sent such a missive: my friend, retired priest David Perry.
David’s ministry to me has been one of the things that continue to convince me that Grace exists. David’s ‘rubber-stamp ministry‘ helped me (and Linda, too, I think) through some of the darkest hours of my confrontation with cancer. David, who spent much of his career with the national office of the Episcopal Church as an ecumenical ambassador, is, nevertheless, a bit of a character.
When walking with David, I’ve never known him to be able to pass a toy store. His office in New York once contained so large a collection of Jesus kitsch, that the presiding bishop had to ask him to remove it after a visit from a very serious Greek Orthodox prelate drew a comment. That he would send me Remy, with a Taizé votive candle, is no surprise at all. I can only be grateful that a wonderful spirit like David has graced my life…
My taxi this morning at San Jose station was a Prius. The back seat was roomier, and a lot easier to get into, than the big Ford Victoria sedans that make up most oif the rest of San Jose’s fleet. Both San Francisco and New York have Ford Escape Hybrids in their respective fleets…
So far this morning we have: done our 30-minute workout, showered, dressed, fed the dog, made the coffee, taken our ‘integrative‘ medicines (’Dragon’s Dust‘ and mushroom extracts), taken our anti-convulsants, steroids and side-effect controlling pills (13 of ‘em), opened the UPS boxes from the porch (a ‘phantom power supply’ for the new podcasting setup), emptied the dishwasher, talked to Jane, one of the Neuro-oncology nurses at UCSF and sat down to blog – and we’ve only been up since 6. Next up, catch a ride with Linda to CalTrain and then off to work…
CNET blogger Matt Assay and Linux Today point to this list of 40 great apps, (including some open source). Interesting list… software is definitely headed to ‘free’…
So, I suggested in the last post that Linda and I find a (dog-friendly) condo in San Francisco where we’d spend our summers. What if, thinks dreamer Chris we found an apartment in Paris, or a house in the South of France in which to spend spring and fall?
I’m actually trying to figure out if there’s a way to do this on our current resources: both of our jobs allow telecommuting. Picured above is Maison de Verre, a 1932 Modernist home on the Left Bank that looks perfectly lovely to me. Renting it might be a bit problematic, the American owner is restoring it and will offer tours….
Barry Bonds casts a long shadow as he takes his position in left field at the start of last night’s Giants-Brewers game at AT&T Park. A few moments later, Barry fielded a line drive, contributing to a scoreless top of the first for the Giants, who went on to win 6-4.
Mr. Bonds knocked in 2 of those runs with base hits, and, of course, we, like everybody else in the park, were on the edge of our seats every time Barry was at bat, hoping to see his latest record-extending home run. Barry’s swing is just magic at the moment: any given pitch could be out of the park, it would seem.
This was the first time I’ve sat on the Club Level on the left-field side (though I think Linda has sat there before): as it happened, it was a good place to be, as we bumped into Kruk, Kuip and Vida Blue as we made our way to our seats, as mentioned in the post below. It was a really fun night… I keep thinking we should lease or buy a condo near the park and spend our summers where Linda can walk to the game…
Linda and I went to the Giants game (vs. the Brewers) tonight arriving at our seats a bit early. As we walked into AT&T Park, at one end of the Club Level, fav announcers Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper were holding court with Giants pitcher Noah Lowry and former great Vida Blue.
Linda was beyond excited, of course and propelled me, camera in hand, to a position where I could get some pix. Fans asked pitchers Lowry, Krukow and Blue who their toughest hitter was: Blue amused everyone by saying ‘No one.’
Dinner came in the form of sandwiches from the Carvery and Sierra Nevada beer. Fortunately, the Giants went on to win 6 to 4 – we even saw Barry knock in 2 runs: pretty successful outing. Poor Linda hasn’t made it to many Giants games this year. But now we have it figured out where to drop me by the disabled elevator while Linda finds parking… I hope we can do this again…
