Monthaversary

Not really sure that’s a word, but it is today!

I’ve only been posting this daily blog for a month, and I for one am surprised! The last time I tried to do something like this daily was probably bedhead pictures when i got my first webcam way back when. Almost got a whole month of crazy bedhead pictures but I didn’t wake up at home during the month and missed a post!

Pfft, just one month?

So far. Care to see if I can write another month’s worth of things? I have no doubt about it. With todays technology, I can write a post up own my mobile phone and post it remotely, so really the only limitation is my own brain.

Oh like that’s reliable.

Yeah, maybe not the best, but it’s not all I got. Siri has my back! It suggests WordPress at 8pm because that is when I usually log in!

Get busy writing

How awesome is that! Someday soon, I hope to have an Apple Watch that might remind me as well! I can’t really count on the iPad, it’s old and on its very last leg.

Yeah yeah, you like apple, but what else is going on?

Well, life is still crazy outside the old homestead… And even though my wife just had her birthday and I have a few months before worrying about Christmas… Do I really have that much time?! I don’t exactly go out and shop. And if her birthday gifts are any indication, months in advance is the time to order!

What!? Get shoppppping!

Soon, still trying to think of what to get next. Do they sell Baby Yoda doll accessaries? If anyone is reading this far into my posts, send me a message with ideas! I’m sure some of you visitors have a way to get in touch with me!

Please, I always need ideas!

Oof, I’m stuffed

My belly is full, no more burgers!!

So, as i have asked for pictures of your burgers, a few have complied on facebook. Hooray! So I will also share mine here, so bask in the glory that is…

A&W Teen Burgers to beat MS!

At the time of writing this, the amount raised so far was listed at $668,113.

I have no idea what or when that metric was record at or against, or from. Still cool! Now here were my meals!

Lunch

I ordered a meal via SkipTheDishes for an 11:00-11:30 delivery time slot. It arrived before that time. I enjoyed this thoroughly. Mmm, yum yum. So that was like $2 to that total.

Supper

Oh now things are getting fancy with a plate! Supper wasn’t as good as lunch because it sat in a bag a bit longer. The bun began to get a little soggy. Anyway, this was $2+ because my wife rounded up the order, so yay!

And now that I’ve done my part to support the cause for my disease… I am done with Teen burgers (for 1 approximate year)!

Seriously, couldn’t eat another. Rewind 20 years and I’d get a midnight snack meal of this!

I can taste it now…

Tomorrow is the day! Get your taste buds ready! I know my Teen Burger will be accompanied by onion rings and root beer. Sweet tasty root beer!

Also, I have been watching a show called A.P. Bio. It starts my least favourite member of It’s Always Sunny, but more importantly, one Patton Oswalt. I am a bit of a fan of his stand up. He has a good bit about birthdays and ones that are important. I’m told 40 is a big one, and there won’t be another until 50.

Wait, you don’t care about birthdays!

True, but I’ll take a few encouraging likes and other positive vibes because those are always appreciated. But as I usually ask is for people to join me on burger day, so if you’re reading this, and you want to show your support for MS research and such… Go Buy A Burger.

That seems like a fairly easy win/win.

Sure is! I’ll see you on social media.

Prescriptions!

I just renewed my cannabis prescription by phone. I am so glad we have such options in this day and age. I’m also very aware that I like to talk, especially in a one-to-one scenario. I honestly think I talked the NP’s ears off!

Don’t know how it happened but I got my prescription raised. Imagine that maybe they thought I needed to mellow out?

How has your phone game been?

I work a full time job where I talk, and talk, and talk… I hope I haven’t worn out people’s ears. I do always smile when they remember me and ask about my health or family. I feel like I’ve made impact on someone when that happens.

Happy times!

Have I made an impact on you? It’s nice to hear when someone shares an impactful event that they fondly remember from their lives that you somehow managed to brighten their lives.

What, you?

Yeah, I’ve had my struggles with depression. That’s in remission as well, I guess it always lurks? I mean, who hasn’t been depressed? Ooo the story I could tell you! It’s not that epic, but it’s a story, and one of these days I’ll tell them well. I guess this is just practice.

Comedians try out their act many times before they perform.

And I’ve been friends with toxic and negative people. I have actually had my career limited by my friendships. Who knew that could be a thing! So don’t be so negative!

Umm, you’re off topic.

Yeah, not feeling the greatest today, but I felt like I owed it to myself to blog. Ok, total side track!

So I am a frequent MS barber buyer. It’s sometimes on my birthday, which is awesome. Not this year. But sometimes! Anyway, follow this chart to burgers and sainthood? Well, no guarantees on that, but I know this is a huge fundraiser for the MS Society so take a tasty burger for your soul!

I’m team SkipTheDishes because I hate pants!

Hungover

That’s about the only way I can describe the kid today.

Yesterday, as I’m sure you are aware by now, was my wife’s birthday party. There were guests with children, and the kid was non stop all day. Can’t stop, won’t stop, all of the energy.

That was yesterday.

Today, he was impossible to get out of bed, and given that he was going to have a half day to hang out with grandparents before they headed home, we opted to let him sleep in.

Wait, but you work from home, how did you keep an eye on him and work?

It wasn’t that bad actually. He slept in until around 8:45, went to the washroom, went back to bed until he decided he was hungry.

Quick break!

Yes, there were a few of those today that weren’t of a biological nature as dictated by my body. But it only impacted my day until distractions arrived!

Yay grandparents!

So with a full house, working in the afternoon was dreary! The afternoon dragged on and on, my own body fatiguing in my work chair. I was assisting a person who offered to let me go as an installation no longer required my attention and the progress bar indicated 30 minutes remaining. I jokingly said “Can you just leave me on hold so I can have a nap?”

Sweet, did you do it?

No, but it would’ve been glorious… sleep! By the grace of Monster Ultra, I soldiered on.

K, but does this story have a point?

Why yes! During the day, the kid informed me that he wanted bedtime to be earlier, so we came to the agreement that 7pm was bedtime.

I call shenanigans on you!

Yup, I hardly believed what was negotiated. When 7pm arrived, I believe he was cursing his past self. He began renegotiations at every turn!

Classic, not surprised!

He was speaking to his grandmother on FaceTime when I informed him it was bedtime. He countered with screen time for games. I countered pjs and his screen time for quiet time. He agreed to this, but tried to have quiet time in the living room. Well I wasn’t having that. No screen time or go to his room.

Oooooooooh, someone’s in trouble!

Nah, I’m sure he was just testing the boundaries, like those clever velociraptors in the OG Jurassic Park film. This kid is clever as well!

Ok, so is he in bed?

Sure is! Quiet time may have preceded vitamins and toothbrush, but at 8pm he happily complied. He even scored dad cuddles because he was in bed so early! And with an “I love you” and a couple nonsense outbursts, he was out for the night.

And with that, I can’t remember the last time he was asleep by 8:30pm! I would cheer with elation, but I’d like for the sleep to continue, so I simply say “Good night!”

I survived

Today was quite a day. My wife turned 40. It’s that time of year when I can say I’m married to an older woman, for all of 6 days.

Today was filled with well wishers. Some stop and say hi with a card, some stay and let their kids roam. So many kids! I simply sat there and interacted with those around me. I had no COVID concerns today as the social circle I invited are all aware and wouldn’t have come if they were presenting with illness. So it was nice to feel a little normal, at least for one day.

Now even though it was my wife’s birthday, she did have to do some running around for snacks. And what a spread of snacks it was! Well, still is. The only huge dents were put in the cheese dip and cupcakes! And who’s mad about that! The dip is amazing. (And if you want some, get in touch with my wife, an Epicure rep.)

So much socializing wears me out. The fatigue is strong tonight, and the patience is worn thin. It’s one of those nights I pray the kid just passes out when he finally stops moving. Oh, and that lovely LEGO project from yesterday… Well the dragon is now missing part of his wing! I have my doubts that it’s still in the house but someone didn’t listen to his parents, and put away his special toys before guests arrived. His argument was that he wouldn’t let it go so nobody could play with it.

Oh, and Optimus Prime got his arm smashed off. Other kids were more gentle with his toys than he was today!

So much exhaustion. I can barely raise my voice anymore at him. Not hoarse or anything, just straight up tired.

As far as fatigue goes, I’m surprised I’m here typing this evening.

Oh, and I actually ordered Pizza Pizza for supper tonight. It pained me to do it, because I lived in Ontario for a good decade and change, and I did not enjoy their pies. Tonight wasn’t that bad. I honestly think they changed their dough recipe because it wasn’t straight up cardboard. If the leftovers are decent, I may just order again.

I know, right?! Who knew!

Now this is mostly because I didn’t want to go through the hassle of figuring out everyones pizza topping configurations. Once I built my wife’s order, plain pepperoni pizza for the rest! But if I wanted great pizza, the order would’ve gone to Vero.

Anyway, I am running out of steam now, so to get to the meat and potatoes, this is what I got my wife, The Child.

The Child – The Mandalorian

Heart is full

Today, I have filled my heart.

It’s the eve of my wife’s 40th birthday and it started like most other Saturdays. She woke up enough to transition from the kid’s bedroom to our bedroom. I got up as well to feed and entertain our child. Fun times!

Not really sure what else happened with my wife, but I hung out all morning with my son, playing video games, eating meals, and watching Numberblocks from my bed while my wife was out for a lunch date.

Later in the afternoon, my parents showed to hang out with the little guy while I took my wife out for supper. We had a lovely meal that I maybe ate a quarter of because it’s hot out there and MS sucks.

We had dinner and a show of the store owner trying to explain delivery protocol to a SkipTheDishes driver because the food order was just received and they hadn’t begun preparing it when the driver showed up!

Must be cutthroat to get orders to deliver?

When we returned home, my son was elated to see me! It made me feel happy because I just expected a “Mommy’s home!” to be shouted across the house. He ran to hug us, then promptly returned to playing LEGO with Boppa.

He hasn’t seen this set of grandparents in nearly a year so I’m glad they showed up with an activity to do with him. They watched Minions and Despicable Me 3 while eating some chicken nuggets happy meal supper. Yum!

We exchanged posts, Boppa and I. It’s my turn to supervise the completion of the LEGO project!

Oh, and the grandparents went to the exact same restaurant we did! It’s like we all ate out there in shifts!

The LEGO was a good hour to supervise the assembly of dragon tail, head, and wings. I did need to fix a leg but otherwise only pressed in hard to set pieces.

A lovely day has been had by all, and just maybe the kid will pass out at a reasonable hour… Maybe…

Über Taxis

Beefing gig economy jobs vs the old school taxis.

What even is the difference? This was just something I had as a passing thought. Aren’t most cab drivers basically owner/operators of a car inside an umbrella company that handles dispatch?

Am I missing something?

Are there extra perks involved with being in a cab company versus operating an Über? Do cab drivers have some kind of union that they pay dues to to get fair rates for driving or something? I know very little about taxis really.

So why are you writing about it?

Well, I like the idea of taxis for getting around when the car just won’t do, or for liability reasons, you can’t drive for work meetings, etc. And I like the idea of Über’s “decentralized” independent job idea.

What don’t you like?

Lots, but about the topic at hand, well the beef between these apparently different industries. Why can’t they both just get along!

Yeah yeah, serenity now, is it Festivus??

Not yet. But can’t we just smash these two industries together somehow? What if, instead of a giant company snagging a cut, and simply license the software platform to cities. The cities already license taxi drivers right!? I assume they pay for the license. So why not have the city license the software for a # of cars, then sell the cab licenses to local drivers who want to cab. That way the cabs are regulated as they should be, and the Über drivers have some measure of accountability.

But isn’t the idea of the whole Über thing like the ability to say “I’m going be an Über driver today!” part of the whole appeal?

I don’t know, that’d have to be someone who drives for that kind of service to answer. Either way, I feel like there is some merit to this business model I just done thunk up.

Can it work? What doesn’t fit? How will it all fall apart! Please, let me know so I can stop thinking about it!

Grateful

Today, I had a conversation with a someone with a nephew that has MS.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Most everyone in Canada knows someone with MS. Nothing unusual. As I shared my story and they shared their take on the nephew’s struggles, one thing struck out as a sad part.

It wasn’t the rapidly progressing MS.

There are varied types of MS and different rates of disease progression. Now I won’t get in to the details on their disease progression. That’s their story. But I will mention the toxic partner in their life that dissuaded them from seeking medical treatments. Their partner claimed it was pseudo-science and toxic chemicals, and all that crazy bull. After they got worse, the partner bailed.

It made me sad.

There are enough people with MS in our country, and lots of proven and effective medical treatments for halting disease progression. I have first hand knowledge of these treatments!

But haven’t you gone on 3 different medications and gotten worse??

Yes, never said they were cures, and nobody (with any common sense) would say they’ve been cured of MS. Much like cancer, it can go into remission. With proper medical treatments and a healthy daily routine, it can mostly stay in remission.

Yeah, but again, 3 different medications!

I did start with one treatment, and it worked for a period of time. I’d say 5-7 years. And then it didn’t work so well anymore. So what did I do? Spoke with my medical professional and changed treatments.

3!?!?!?

Yes, I may be on my 3rd. The first (Copaxone) was a tier 1 treatment, and it worked until it didn’t. The disease worsened. The 2nd was a temporary measure as I was high risk for a very nasty adverse effect.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).

Now that’s a nasty bit of business that I would very much not like to have! So that was a known side effect of drug #2 (Tysabri). The added bonus of that drug was it was formerly a candidate for Crohn’s disease treatment. It didn’t make the cut because of the PML risk. It found a new home as an MS treatment due to the fact that it worked, and neurologists order routine MRIs for monitoring disease progression, so it was easier to access PML risks.

Yuck, but what about the 3rd!

This one is interesting. Think of it as hedge trimmers for the unkempt hedges of my immune system. I’m happy to say that the only needles I get now are for monthly blood tests!

Is that why you’re grateful??

No. I’m grateful for my wife. She didn’t have to get onboard this MS journey with me. But she has been nothing but supportive in this whole journey. I am grateful she wasn’t a toxic influence steering me away from treatments. She didn’t fill me with confusing misinformation. She has helped me more than I ever could’ve asked for. She is a rock, and advocate, a caregiver, a partner, and most of all a friend.

I can only imagine how miserable of a person I would be if she wasn’t there to brighten my day.

That is what I’m grateful for.

Oh, so this is queueing!

Who knows if that’s even what it’s called, don’t care.

Given the recent post of nearly not making it in a daily post, I felt like it was a cheap post to fill the space. I started making a post in the AM to excuse it, and get it out of the way. And streak continues!

But what about next time?

Since I finished a post in the AM, and today was slow in the old homestead, I figured maybe I’ll write something else… Or, I could write a post for tomorrow, today! Or tomorrow? Hey, those nights when the day runs away from me, back pocket post!

But that’s not a new idea!

Sure, but it’s new to me in practice. Sure, I know that’s how YouTube and podcasts can operate. Now while I don’t fancy myself a creator, why not learn from all their efforts! Could I be a creator?

Well, I suppose I could be.

Now I’m sure I’d want to start as a copycat and doing fun things I see other people do, but is that a financially sound thing to try to start with? Let’s walk before we run.

What could I do?

Good question! This! It’s a start anyway. Not really any direction here, but there will be eventually. Let’s explore my identity together! Things always seem to improve, or maybe evolve, with feedback. I’ve started to get followers. Not sure if they’re robots or real deal people but so far, doesn’t matter to me. I will write as the open book I always claim to be!

A living, breathing AMA!

So, I invite anyone and everyone to just write something. Don’t worry, I don’t mind if it doesn’t happen. My last round of social interaction with random strangers was a Kijiji ad I posted to sell my motorcycle. I know people want to haggle, but they would comment craziness and undervalue my firm ask price. If I ever had thoughts of selling my possessions, that experience put an end to it.

I’d rather give it away!

Ok, I’m done for now. *poof*