I am home resting on this beautiful Sunday.
Oh, wait, I should say recovering since I was jarred out of bed this morning by a Taiwanese religious parade that inexplicably stopped on our narrow street for about 20 minutes blaring about 10 different kinds of music. This was at 9:00 am.
Oh well.
In fact, this post is about another serious matter: Jo's disease. I have tried to keep it quiet since it bothers me so much to talk about it, but I feel that now that she is getting therapy, and I am home alone today, I can go into it.
You see, Jo has a disease called Healthititus. It sounds terrible but there are cures and we are looking into them. She is actually away for 3 days spurred on by her delerium that she thinks hiking for 12-14 hours a day up large mountains with almost half her weight on her back is pleasant and fun. Yes, I know, I know; it is a sad state to be in. Usually, this type of activity is saved for grunts going or returning from front lines, torturing hapless sherpas or escaping from nuclear fall out. But we are dealing with it.
I have been patiently trying to explain that 'no, I do not think I will like to strap 80 pounds on my back, hike up steep mountains for 12 hours, toss and turn while trying to rest, do that 2-4 more days, come back and then have to go back to work with a smile on my face,' but her sickness is such that she does not hear this and continually asks.
If you or a loved one has this terrible sickness, there are a few signs to watch out for: a deepening need to go to the gym for more times a week than a hand has fingers, needing a microscope to figure out which cells have increased their weight density and then complain about a perceived rise in fat (which is delusionary), and most striking - the sad pitying eyes when they look at you (a normal person) since what they are really seeing is a blob of flesh that makes grunting noises when slinking around.
And the side effects should also be pointed out: a body that looks like it was carved out of stone, a youthful smile (when the person is not looking at you), and basically a reverse aging procedure that the older this person gets, the younger they look.
If that is not downright scary, I dunno what is. I just thank god that I don't have this terrible disease and I sincerely hope that you do not either.
Keep us in your prayers' we will get through this!
Jeff & Jo
Happy 2nd Anniversary to Jo and I!
To ease any confusion, we technically have 2 dates for our anniversary(s): Oct 11th, which is the official date of our marriage ceremony, and Feb 3rd, which is when we actually celebrated it with others.
We decided that to make things easier on us (or people who already have bad memories), the Oct 11th date is to buy a mutual gift that we both can enjoy together. This will most likely be a nice wine or a mini vaycay where we both can relax. On the Feb. 3rd date, that is when we will have a traditional anniversary dinner or lunch at one of our favorite restaurants here (or where ever we are in the future).
This past anniversary was mellow and relaxed. We did in fact go out to eat, but then came home and relaxed with some more expensive wine that we bought. Then, in typical geek parlance, we spent the (beginning) of the night asking each other brain teasers from a game that I have called Mind Trap. If that is not geekhood, I do not know what is.
Ah, love....
Anyway, we are surprised that another year has snuck up on us! It seems like we just met a few months ago.....
Here's to many more,
Jeff & Jo
Oh, I might as well mention that I updated the side of our blog a bit more.
Now Blogger has a program that lets us see who is checking us out or following us. I hope those of you who are following can sign up your name. The link is on the right, under the blog archive section. Looks like this:Family, Friends, Fans and Followers - Sign up! (1)
If you don't want to, that is fine too, but I thought it might be interesting for us to know just who is following us.
Cheers,
Jeff & Jo
I have purposely stayed away from any political discussions in this blog, since this is not really about my weird opinions or thoughts, but about what is happening in our lives here. However, Jo and I have been having some interesting discussions about the upcoming presidential election in the US and how it will affect our lives, if at all.
Indeed in the long view, it will not really affect things too much (we hope), but by being out of the US, I am able to get a glimpse of many others' opinions who are not US citizens and it really has been interesting to hear a lot of the insights.
That said, I have been becoming much more interested in the election and politics; more than ever before. I am not sure if this has to do with my age or my beliefs or the state of the world / country or what, however, I have become quite excited at the prospect of a change in government (regardless of if it will really do anything practical), and have even let myself get inspired more than usual.
Thus, I have already voted. Since I am out of the country, I have to send in the ballot earlier, so I made sure to do this 2 weeks ago. Sad to say, I did not vote in the Bush/Gore debalicle, but I was determined to this time around.
Anyway, I hope you are planning to vote as well. I have noticed that voting in the US is up from 60%, so that is great. It is still a terrible number to be so low, but I guess that is what feeling inspired will do to you.
There is a video that I thought was interesting as well called: Don't Vote. You may have seen it. If not, check it out!
Also, I have to add this Tina Fey as Palin clip (what was McCain thinking?)
Anyway, here's to November 4th!
Jeff & Jo
With the cooler weather - well, semi-cooler - Mocha's genes have decided to tell his hair to come out again in the part 2 of shedding for the year. At least we were expecting it, unlike last year when we were dazzled that a 10 pound dog could shed about 500 pounds of hair - even though were were told that Huskies particularly shed a lot.
So we are trying to keep things as clean as we can and have decided that the best plan so far is to keep his hair short and to teach him basic etiquette skills like the following:
1) Don't shake til told:
2) Relax and enjoy your bi-weekly or tri-weekly bath:
3) Floss after playing with Dad:
4) Are you sure you got all around? You missed a spot......:
Don't worry Mocha, Dad does not like to floss, either!
