Just watched the Nintendo E3 press conference. Animal Crossing City Folk for the Wii will be released by the end of the year! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I don’t yet have a Wii, but will certainly be getting one over the next few months. I don’t want to wait until fall and not be able to find one.

The game looks really fun with lots of the things from the previous versions but with lots of new stuff as well. The big new thing is the microphone/speaker system where you can talk in real time with the people who visit your town via wifi. How cool is that?!

Hopefully Amazon will have a preorder system so that I don’t wind up waiting in line outside BestBuy!

…and I’m exhausted tonight!

Started off the day taking Veronica and Patrick out to breakfast for Veronica’s b-day which was Friday. Had a nice relaxing breakfast where we ate more than we should have–or at least I did! Good thing I guess since I needed lots of energy for the remainder of the day.

While Patrick and Veronica took a swim, I started in on the garage once again. Patrick came out to help me after cooling off in the pool and we made a huge dent, clearing out a big chunk of floor space. We still have lots remaining to sort through, but we have most of the old kitchen cupboards emptied out so that we can remove them next week. And we’ve thrown out a mountain of stuff. Both the regular trash can and the recycling can are filled to the top and we have gigantic pile of stuff for the unlimited pickup next week. Additionally, there’s another huge pile for the garage sale. Thanks, Patrick, for all your help!

It will be extremely nice to be at this point next weekend with a huge pile of stuff out at the curb ready for pickup. Boy will that feel good!

Strange weather. It’s raining and I’ve heard thunder and seen lightning up above the mountains. Of course I should have known it would rain tonight since I sat a bunch of stuff from the garage outside the kitchen door, but not underneath the breezeway area. It’s now covered over with plastic with the hope that we don’t get too much rain. While we could certainly use the rain, I wasn’t prepared for this.

I worked heavy duty on garage cleaning today. I sorted through boxes of stuff containing things that I couldn’t believe I kept for all these years. I never threw away greeting cards received for any and all holidays, brochures from every place we visited, and every piece of artwork/schoolwork that the boys did since the beginning of time!

Most of it hit the trash can/recycling bin today other than a few things that I felt needed to be kept. I also found newspapers for every important event that occurred since the mid-60’s. I guess they were important at the time but they, too, are now gone. My recycling bin is almost filled so I’ll just have to box up any other paper items and hold them over till next week.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to get rid of trash type items…or at least box stuff up for the big garage sale. I’ve scheduled an unlimited trash pickup for Monday, the 21st, so have to get a lot of stuff removed from the garage so that we can pull out the old kitchen cabinetry that has been there since we bought the house. There’s just no point in keeping stuff like that out there taking up valuable space. The storage capabilities of these old cabinets are just not worth it.

I’m making good progress, but there’s just so much out there. *Sigh* I keep wondering how I ever let this happen.

Today I made my final visit to my current doctor. As mentioned in an earlier post, he has switched to a new medical group and is no longer accepting “new” HMO patients through that group. I had this appointment scheduled prior to knowing about this change that is effective 9/1. I was glad I already had the appointment since I wanted to be sure to get new Rx’s for the meds I take. He gave me new Rx’s with refills for 6 months so I’ll have enough time to find a new doctor and get my records transferred.

The visit today proved that it is a good thing I am being forced to find a new doctor. He asked me how I was doing and then asked whether I was still taking my medications. What did he think I was doing with all those pills? I’ve been going to him for over 10 years and have been on some of the meds for longer than I’ve been seeing him. And the bp meds should be pretty obvious since my bp continues to be low and it was extremely high when he prescribed the meds.

When I told him this would be my last visit, he said “What are you doing, moving on?” What’s that supposed to mean? I said that I was *sort of* moving on but not by choice and mentioned that his office would no longer be accepting HMO patients. He said something like “Oh, yeah” and that was it. He never said anything else like how he was sorry to see me go or how he liked having me as a patient or anything.

I never really liked this guy. He has the personality of a wet noodle. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a new doctor who gives a shit.

Seems that every time I decide to take a day (or a week) off, it turns unbearably hot. Many times I take the time off to do some type of work around the house. This time I had planned to work on cleaning out the garage. Ha! It is so damn hot out there that the best I can do is to bring boxes into the house and sort and toss in the family room with a fan blowing directly on me. I have sorted through about 10-11 boxes over the past week, whittling it down to about 1-1/2 boxes with the remainder going into the trash. I am still amazed at how much stuff I’ve kept over the years…

While I’d like to be able to stay home another day or two, I’m kind of looking forward to going back to work to be in the a/c all day. The weather report says it’s *only* going to get up to 90 degrees tomorrow, but then will hit the high 90’s the rest of the week. This is just too damn early for weather this hot.

Hope you had a wonderful day! Patrick and Veronica came over and we had a great cookout–steak, barbecued chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and macaroni salad. Way too much food, but it was all great. And I just now remembered the peach pie that I forgot to serve! Oh well, they’ll be over again this weekend at some point, so we’ll have it then.

Patrick has to be at work tonight at midnight so they left around four so that he could get a bit of sleep. And I sat and watched “The Music Man” and relaxed for a few hours. Now I’m watching “A Capitol Fourth” on PBS and will probably stay up to watch “Yankee Doodle Dandy” later tonight. I have lots I could be doing but, after all, it *is* a holiday!

The weather here is extremely hot (high 90’s) and the house just won’t cool down. I had planned to do some more cleanout work tonight, but it’s just too hot. The fireworks at the Rosebowl will be starting around 9 pm, so I have to make sure all the animals are in the house so they don’t get spooked by all the noise. Doubt that I’ll be able to see much from here, but that’s OK. It’s hard to deal with fireworks when you have pets. I don’t really mind staying home in that I don’t have to fight the traffic later, and I can be comfortable listening to lots of patriotic music on TV.

Can’t believe it’s already July, but I’m real glad to have a long holiday weekend. And I’m taking Monday off to make it a *really* long weekend. So have a good long weekend and let’s see if we can slow down summer a bit so that it doesn’t pass by too quickly.

That’s right, I’ll be volunteering for the Obama campaign this year! Some guy from the DNC was canvassing our neighborhood tonight and stopped at my house. He started his speech and I stopped him and asked if he noticed the Obama magnet on my car. He said he had and that he also noticed the Lakers license plate frame, so he knew he wanted to talk with me! While I couldn’t give him a big contribution, I did volunteer to help with the campaign. I’ll be starting off making phone calls to registered Democrats to encourage them to vote. Then we’ll see what else there is to do. I haven’t done this sort of thing for a presidential campaign since back in the 60’s. Should be fun!

Patrick came over yesterday and we started in on the cleanout–of the garage and areas surrounding the house. We started in on the breezeway between the kitchen door and the garage door. It was loaded with stuff that had been accumulating forever. We filled the trashcan (thankfully trash pickup was today) and sorted all the rest of the stuff. We have 3 piles–keep, unlimited trash pickup, and garage sale. That whole area is now cleaned and you can actually see the bricks on the ground!

Then Patrick hauled about 15 boxes into the house and I’ve started sorting through what’s in them and tossing out about 3/4 of the stuff. My biggest problem is hanging onto papers, cards, brochures, etc. Found greeting cards from my 50th birthday, so those who know me know how long those have been around! And the sad part is that those were not the oldest items I found. I really don’t know why I have felt compelled to hang onto all this stuff, but no more. It’s hitting the trash (or recycling bin) and it will be great once it’s all gone.

It’s still difficult to throw out all those memories, but I know it has to happen. I’m keeping photos and a few items like letters and programs from events the boys were in, but that’s about it. I’m hopeful that I’ll finally have room for tools, gardening equipment/supplies, and seasonal items.

I’m taking off work next Monday so I’ll have a 4 day weekend where I hope I’ll get lots accomplished. We’re not doing much for the 4th other than possibly a cookout with Patrick and Veronica. However, Patrick has decided to work the holiday (lots of $$$ for working) so even if we have a cookout, it won’t be a really big deal. And having 4 full days to work on the garage will be great.

Kevin’s and Soula’s dog, Hannah, is now paralyzed from about the middle of her body to her tail. The tests revealed a bruised spinal cord due a degenerative disc disease causing her disc to rupture. At least that’s what I think they’ve determined. She’s unable to move her back legs at all. Possibly that will change over time, but right now they have to keep her still until the swelling goes down. After that time will tell if she is able to get any feeling back in her legs.

It is really sad that one day your dog is happy and normal, running around like all dogs do, and then the next day she can’t even walk. And all this happened for no reason really. It seems it could have happened at any time.

It’s very difficult for Soula and Kevin trying to deal with an invalid dog in addition to a little boy that is just becoming mobile. I wish I could be there now to help them out. Unfortunately I won’t be heading north until August. Hopefully the next few weeks will result in lots of improvement for dear Hannah.

I got a new insurance card in the mail about a week ago showing a different doctor’s name as my primary care provider. I didn’t switch to a new doctor and didn’t even know this person. I called Blue Shield today to find out why this had happened and they said my doctor had switched to a different medical group–not a different insurance company, but a different group under that insurance company. Okay, so I asked them to switch me to that group which they assured me they could do. The person from the insurance company came back on the line telling me she could make the switch, but my doctor is not accepting new patients. I explained that I am not a new patient and had been going to him for over 10 years. The insurance person said she would call my doctor’s office and they most likely would approve me for the switch. The answer was no.

I called the doctor’s office after hanging up with Blue Shield and they told me the same thing, that they were no longer accepting new patients under this new group. When I mentioned the fact that I had been seeing them for over 10 years, she said I could continue with them but only if I agreed to switch from an HMO to a PPO plan. Are you kidding me?! They’ll let me continue to come to them provided I pay more to do so.

No thanks. I’ll be finding a new doctor.

Or at least close. Started off early this morning with Patrick calling to say he got a $47 parking ticket at the Metro lot because the lot is only for Metro riders. Except that he IS a Metro rider. He has no idea why they would have given him a ticket other than the fact that he parks in the lot overnight. But he works downtown overnight. Apparently the Metro cops don’t take into consideration that some people take the train to night shift jobs. He wrote a great letter to appeal the ticket, so we’ll see how they respond.

I knew I needed to get gas on the way to work as my gauge was on empty, but I was sure I could get to my regular 76 gas station…and I did. Unfortunately, it was closed! They were repaving the lot. Oh shit. I had to think fast as to where there was another station nearby and I didn’t have time to even consider price. I remembered a station just off the 210 fwy about 3 blocks up the street from where I was. The price was higher by 2 cents a gallon, but at least it wasn’t more than that. I filled my tank and it cost me $70.80 (price per gallon was $4.61)!!! Thank God I don’t have to go anywhere but back and forth to work for a long while.

Got to work (late) only to discover that Amanda (one of my coworkers and Patrick’s friend) had sliced open her right hand last night while washing a knife. She had to have stitches and a tetanus shot and has her hand all bandaged up. She’s having a rough time trying to work and do day-to-day things without using her right hand. I remember having to deal with a similar situation when I (I mean Mickey) broke my right elbow back in the sixth grade. Luckily she only has to have it immobilized for a week.

Shortly thereafter I got a call from Kevin. He was at the vet’s office with their dog Hannah. Seems Hannah and their other dog, Dante, were racing up and down the stairs this morning when Hannah fell. After x-rays and an MRI, the preliminary diagnosis is a ruptured disc in her back. The vet feels it should heal and she should be able to walk again after some physical therapy. Initially they thought she had broken her back and that she might have to be euthanized, so the news was much better than they expected. They’ll still have to wait a day or two to be certain there are no other problems.

What a day! Talk about stress! The weekend can’t come soon enough.

We (Patrick, Veronica and myself) left early Friday morning for our trip up north to the Napa Valley area for Michael’s wedding. The drive up went well until we hit the Oakland area around 2 pm and ran into a ton of traffic. We arrived at our motel with just enough time for Patrick and Veronica to shower and head off to the rehearsal dinner. I spent the evening napping in front of the TV, having had only 3 hours of sleep the night before!

After going out for breakfast/lunch the next morning, Veronica and I hung out at the motel while Patrick went for a quick run-through of the wedding. We headed off to the wedding mid-afternoon. It was held at the home of the bride, Chante, in her parents’ backyard. Everything was beautiful and all would have been great except for the 100+ temperatures…and not enough shade in the backyard! I was so overdressed, wearing a long, dark red sleeveless dress that proved to be exceptionally hot. I really felt sorry for Michael, Patrick and all the other guys in those dark tuxes. But there was nothing we could do to alleviate the heat until the sun went down.

No one expected this unbelievable heat. In fact, I heard that the bride’s family had actually arranged for patio heaters since they expected it to be very cool in the evening. Who would have thought we would have been roasting up in Napa Valley! Everything else seemed to go well with great food and wine and I’m glad Patrick was able to be there for Michael.

We left for home this morning and arrived home around 3 pm in the afternoon. The temps in So.Cal. were just as hot as they were up north the previous day, so we all wound up in the pool for a few hours. It felt great to be in the pool and to be home. We had a good time but it’s always good to be home. I’m grateful to be able to stay home until August when I head back up to Seattle.

That’s right, the TV is off and the NBA Finals are over as far as I’m concerned. Oh, the game is still on, but it’s not pleasurable to see the Lakers give it away to the Celtics. I watched up until the middle of the fourth quarter and just couldn’t take any more. The Lakers played perhaps their worst game ever. While I expected the Celtics would win (after the Lakers awful performance last week), I had hoped for a close game tonight. Not even. So the TV is off and we’ll wait until next year.

I’m kind of glad to have basketball done with for the year. I can now relax and catch up on all the yard work I’ve had to put off because of all the basketball games this spring. And my blood pressure can once again return to normal and not have to endure those game day spikes.

Summer may not officially arrive until Saturday, but it certainly feels like it’s already here. The temps are in the 90’s during the day and will probably reach the 100’s later in the week. It’s ok with me, except that it got a bit humid today. I’m able to tolerate the heat a lot more than I used to be able to do. In fact, I like the heat sooo much more than the cold. The only bad part is the a/c system at work where people think it’s necessary to turn it down so the temperature in my office is freezing! I’ve started opening my office windows to let the warmth in.

The 2007 audit is going on at work. Other than constant interruptions, everything is going really well. I had things in good order, so I wasn’t too worried. And, since the auditors were here less than a year ago, it was a lot easier than the first time last year. They’ll probably be finished at the end of the week, so I should have a somewhat relaxing remainder of the year…unlike last year when it seemed they were here all summer and then kept coming back every other week in the fall.

Patrick was here this past weekend and we have decided to have a huge garage sale the first Saturday in August. We are going to do a massive clean out of the house and garage, getting rid of lots and lots of stuff that has accumulated over the years. I’m at the point of having no room for anything. All the closets, cupboards and drawers are filled to the max and I can’t stand it any longer. Going to start the clean out next week, scheduling an unlimited trash pickup for 7/7 for stuff that just isn’t worth selling. I’m so excited to get rid of stuff!

And once that’s all done, I’ll be heading up to Seattle to celebrate Robin’s 1st birthday! And then I’ll have a week at home to recuperate before heading back to work. And then it’s off to Ohio and North Carolina the first week in September for my brother’s wedding. Thankfully I bought my tickets back when they weren’t extraordinarily expensive.

So it’s going to be a busy summer, but I’m excited for all of it. I feel like my life will be a lot more orderly by the time fall arrives.

This weekend I’m heading up to the Napa Valley area with Patrick and Veronica to attend the wedding of our neighbor’s son, Michael. He and Patrick have been friends since we moved to our house over 20 years ago, and Patrick will be one of the groomsmen in the wedding party. It should be a lovely wedding…and a fun road trip with Patrick and Veronica. The only bad part will be the cost of the gas to get there. I expect it will cost between $250-$300 for the gas. Unbelievable. With three of us going, it’s the least expensive way to get there. Of course, with airfares escalating so much, it might be cheaper to drive than to fly even for one person. Ah for the good old days of $3.00/gallon gas.

The Lakers actually won a game tonight. It looked like dejavu all over again as they started out up 19 points in the first quarter and then the Celtics started whittling it down. They went ahead in the second half, but the Lakers finally came back and pulled it out to win the game. I had a lot of trouble getting excited during this game. Even when they won, it just didn’t feel all that great. It’s still hard to forget Thursday night. We’ll see what happens on Tuesday.

In fact, far from it. The Lakers were up by as much as 24 points in the first half and then totally blew it and wound up losing. The game was so good in the first half and then it seemed the Lakers came out in the 2nd half and felt they were so far ahead they couldn’t lose. How they could let this happen is beyond me. They knew that they themselves were able to come back from huge deficits. They should have known that the Celtics weren’t just going to lay down and play dead.

I don’t know who to blame. It seems that everyone from Phil Jackson, to Kobe Bryant, to most of the rest of the team are to blame. I’m just about ready for this debacle to end. It’s just too stressful to go through all these emotions every night and to have this terrible letdown feeling in all but one of the past four games. And especially tonight when they should have won. They just gave it away and disappointed all their fans. Makes me wonder if there is any hope that they can pull this out. In fact, makes me wonder if they can possibly even win the next game.

It’s very exciting being a sports fan when your team wins. There are few words to describe the feelings when your team loses.

Finally a win for the Lakers! I was beginning to worry at the beginning of the 4th quarter, but they pulled it out and won 87-81. Paul Pierce played miserably for the Celtics. Hopefully his ‘sore’ knee is finally beginning to give him trouble. Kobe was great, scoring 36 points! So now it’s on to Game 4 on Thursday night.

At work we had our all staff meeting today. At the end of these meetings we ask for prayers from the staff members for anyone or anything we’d like. I asked for prayers for the Lakers. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Oh yeah! I really think it can happen…and I’m so excited!!! There’s lots of talk today about Hillary as v.p., but I don’t expect that to be the case. The veep is not a strong governing position–more of an honorary post. At least that’s how it’s been over the years. How many vice-presidents stand out in your memory? Basically only the ones that totally fucked up or who later ran for president. Most did not make a big impact on the government in the v.p. capacity. Somehow I don’t see Hillary sitting in the background or being the one to do the speeches for the groups that Barack can’t be bothered with. Meanwhile, we celebrate this unbelievable nomination and look forward to an exciting campaign for president…for the first time in years!

In other news, tomorrow night is the start of the NBA Finals. Don’t yet know what to expect. I think the Lakers will win, but not sure how many games it will take. I’m anxious for everything to get started so that we see how the Lakers and Celtics will match up.

Went to the doctor today regarding the pain in my left hand. He diagnosed it as tendinitis. I questioned him as to why all these problems have erupted over the past 6 months. He says it’s primarily related to age. My response to that is “bullshit!” I just don’t believe it. Every problem has just started for no reason. I haven’t done anything where I could say that a certain activity caused the problem. But these things don’t just happen for no reason. As soon as I have the time to deal with it, I’m going to find a new doctor. I suppose I should be grateful that none of these problems have turned out to be life-threatening. However, there could be something that I don’t know about that is serious that’s causing these problems and I don’t feel he is even considering any underlying possibilities. I just don’t want any big surprises down the road.

How about carpal tunnel syndrome? Got to work today and began experiencing unbelievable pain in my left hand. Mostly it is in my thumb joint. And then there’s the tingling/numbness in my fingers. Took lots of ibuprofin with no result. Took a vicodin when I got home. It eased the pain but, when I move my thumb, the searing pain returns. I’m using an ace bandage to keep the thumb from moving which helps keep the pain down. So did I do something to cause this, or is it arthritis, or is it carpal tunnel? I’ll give it a few days before I make the doctor’s appointment. I just can’t believe another part of my body is going to hell.

A big chunk of the backlot at Universal Studios burned today including the Courthouse Square area where lots and lots of movies have been filmed. The one that most everyone remembers is Back to the Future. Fortunately the Clocktower from that movie was not totally destroyed. Universal Studios is one of my favorite spots and I remember most every inch of the backlot, having done the tour too many times to count. Mike and I started going to Universal before there were any rides, when it was really just a studio tour. A sad day indeed to see those memories go up in flames…