9-15-06

Felt pretty good during the day. Again, I was a little light at 159lbs. I think that at this point I am probably losing weight due to lack of activity. I need to slowly start using my muscles again and that will probably give the biggest weight gains. Oh-well, I guess I will try to pack away the calories today as well. Breathing is still just about 80% and I did notice during the day that I would get winded pretty quick. Not as quick as last week but still. Anyways, I mostly just took care of stuff around the apartment during the day. Eva came home for lunch and we enjoyed watching "The Price is Right" together. The show has become one of my indulgences during the day and I think I have gotten Eva really excited about going to a taping sometime soon. She really wants to go but for some reason does not want to get picked. So, what is going to happen? She obviously is going to get picked. Right now we are sort of going through a "Price is Right" training program and making sure she is familiar with all the games and hones her sense of bidding. She is coming along quite nicely.

My cousin, Jeff, and his wife, Michelle, came down in the afternoon and we went out to dinner with them in the evening. My father chose the "Chowder Barge" for dinner so that he had an excuse to take the boat out (you can boat right up to the restaurant and dock. In fact we have only ever gotten there by boat - something that will become obvious very soon). Eva and I were coming down from the apartment in LA and I thought that I had timed it so that we would be able to go to the boat launch, hop on, and be off to dinner. Due to a little miscommunication, my father took off about a half hour before we were due to arrive and thought that we could just drive to the restaurant and meet them there. This seemed to be a good plan. How hard could it be to find this place? Eva and I spent over a half hour "exploring" the various marinas of Wilmington as well as the oil refineries, train yards, boat yards, and other interesting spots in the industrial heart of the port of Los Angeles. I was pretty sure I saw at least 2 mob bosses, probably doing unsavory deeds. Twice we ended up almost directly across the channel from the restaurant (mind you in two different locations and we had gotten to those spots in completely different ways). Eventually, by the grace of God, we somehow managed to find the tiny driveway that lead to the tiny marina that contains the "Chowder Barge." I vented a bit at my father and then Eva and I sat down and enjoyed a very nice meal with Jeff, Michelle, and my parents. Jeff and Michelle seem to be doing very well. They are taking care of their backyard, being subjected to tree inspectors and sprinkler inspectors and sort of just taking care of normal domestic stuff. Jeff seems to be enjoying working from home and they just look very happy together. The barge is actually a pretty cool place. A lot of salty characters at the bar. I always get the impression that they look at us and wonder why we would bring a family there. It has been improved but the barge does have a slight list which just adds to the character. The food is OK and I was pretty pleased with my deep fried scallops and chips.

Eva and I drove home without incident and the remainder of the party boated home. Every time I go home the mail seems to pile up so we tried to go through it. There were some interesting ones this time. A number of the medical bills are coming in and they are a bit of a bear to go through. Some are just explanations of benefits which say I owe 40 or 500 dollars. Others are actual bills with completely different amounts on them. We got the first bill from Dr. Isacoff's office, which we were expecting to be a pretty big one. It turns out that the patient only owes $8. The amount pending for insurance is roughly equivalent to the price of a new Mustang (with some options). We will see what happens. I think I will hold off on buying that new car until the dust clears.

The final highlight of the day was a glorious victory over my parents and Jeff and Michelle at Phase 10. My father and I traded skips and the lead the whole game. A lucky deal and draw at the end of the game had me go out before anyone else had laid down to clinch the win. Don't worry, I do not base my self worth on trivial little cards games, though I did enjoy winning (especially after the barge by land fiasco).

Take care and live strong.
TN