Will you still love me to-marrow - John Mycroft and Multiple Myeloma

I read an article in this morning's Asheville Citizen-Times that set me to thinking.  It was about staying healthy and, besides the usual tips about getting exercise and so on, it suggested keeping a log of things for which you are grateful. So here goes - no mushiness and no ranting allowed .... Susan and Sam - I'll never understand how they put up with me.  Nuff said for now. The Blue Ridge Parkway - my main road to everywhere in Asheville.  If you can't get there on the Parkway, it's probably not worth going to. Tinnie Salzano - a boss who recognised talent and recognised that not everyone is the same The people of Cancer Care of WNC - every one of them makes me feel like my well-being is of importance to them Ace Hardware - it's great to have a DIY store that isn't intimidating Lake Lure - not wild and dangerous but always different (and not reachable via the Parkway unless you try really hard) No - that's not a complete list

The family's all home for Christmas again, having survived the ravages of our two day snow storm last weekend.  Nowhere near as bad as the forecast, of course, but it still dumped 6 inches on us meaning we were snowed in for a day and Sam decided to spend an extra night in High Point rather than run the gauntlet of people on I-40 who think the best way to drive in snow is to go as fast as possible. It's been a year of major and minor changes - I managed to retire rather more completely than I had intended (ie nobody wants my computer experience any more which is sobering.  Buggy whips,anyone?)  I've kept busy-ish tutoring math students at Carolina Day and Asheville High and hope to do the same next year but I really need a student or two who realises they need help earlier than 3 weeks before the final exam.  The election was a great experience, too.  The pay isn't great - about $12 an hour - but that's better than working in retail or fast food in many ways....

I've spent the last week and a half working in a polling station here in Asheville on the 2018 mid-term election.  It has been tiring, involving mostly a lot of sitting around doing next to nothing with odd burst of activity.  The last couple of days changed all that with people leaving it until the last minute to vote.  Indeed, in a number of cases, they left it until after the last minute as early voting at 1 p.m. today.  It would be inappropriate for me to comment much on what we saw - we don't get to sift and analyse the voting papers but we do know the part affiliations of the voters (most people are "unaffiliated") and several people made it clear who they were voting for (or against). We shut up shop at 1 pm and dismantled our polling station to a well worked out list of what goes where - all the computers, cables, unused stationery etc have to go back to head office.  It took close to 2 hours to sort the last few votes by precinct and pack everything up...

If you read my previous post, you will know that I was whining about not being able to ref soccer this autumn.  It's a nice activity, giving you the opportunity to boss kids about, run around a bit and make a few bob.  Well the powers that be relented and let us lot who didn't cough up our 2017 exam fees to ref games for the under 8s and under 10s.  They don't pay much and, as often as not, the kids ignore what you're telling them but it beats doing nothing on Saturday mornings.  I had my first couple of games last weekend.  It was team photo day which meant that kick-off times were nothing more than a vague suggestion.    A minor accident on I-40 (not involving me) made sure that everyone was late getting there anyway. Always one who's happy to do his civic duty (especially if I get paid, albeit not much), I have spent a chunk of this month working as a polling officer.  For the precinct I work in, it has hardly been arduous as it's in a new loc...

After all the excitement of fitting out the laundry (which is now successfully in regular use), it's been time to tidy up loose ends.  I still haven't fixed the hole in the mudroom floor or sealed the wall under the kitchen.  But then again, the folks at Asurion still haven't fixed everything that is wrong with my Toshiba Satellite laptop.  But at least they haven't reformatted the hard drive again.  And the USB ports actually work (which is why I sent it to them in the first place.)  I now have enough laptop shipping boxes to last me a lifetime. On the health front I have rarely felt better though I don't think I am as fit as I had been kidding myself.  I won't be reffing soccer this autumn as, although I could have done so without taking the 2018 exam (I've already passed the 2019 exam), the NCSRA wanted the full $100 registration fee, which is about as much as I would have made over the remainder of the year, given that I have been told by the doc that ...

Blimey - a whole month since my last post.  Disgusting.  So, what's been happening?  On the health front, remarkably little.  Trump & Co are still trying to kill me off which will be a bit easier now that John McCain has died.  Although my myeloma is now in remission, the folks at Cancer Care of WNC have kept me on 15mg of Revlimid a day.  I'm going up there tomorrow to have an armful taken - maybe they'll drop the dose if the results come back looking good.  Not that the Revlimid has desperately horrible side effects - considering I am taking meds for high blood pressure and old guy's prostate, it's hard to attribute any side effect to a particular med.  If you read the warnings online, it looks like everything causes tiredness, aches and pains, diarrhea, constipation and all the other things that make dating fun. It's been horribly hot and humid here this summer, interspersed with bucketing rain.  So much of my fitness regimen has been...