2011...yikes!!!

So, since the last post:
1) got a job as IT support for an aerospace company near NASA/Wallops
2) got promoted to Purchasing Manager/IT Support
3) got additional duties as Travel Agent & Facilities Manager
4) lost job when office closed (!!!)
5) still playing music with the Mood Swingers
6) closing in on degree at Wor-Wic
7) still cancer-free

I have had a hard time trying to find a new full-time job...there just aren't any around here (Delmarva)...I've even applied for jobs in California, with Matt Lose's company CB Richard Ellis...still no joy. I have a shot at doing IT Support for Town of Snow Hill, we'll see...

Mike

A new President...a new chance to heal the country!!!

11/8/08 today, and it's been a few months since I posted on this blog...

Well, the Dems wiped the NeoCons out in the election, thank God, so hopefully we'll see the economy, the job market, and things in general improve. I've been trying to build up a few more music venues for us to play this winter, since any other kind of work seems non-existent right now.
It's been a tough go this year, financially, but I remain cancer-free, and hopeful for the future...still taking computer classes at the local community college, and trying to get some kind of job in the IT business around here (no luck so far)...

Looks like another NOLA trip might be in the offing in Jan. '09...stat tuned for more details!!!

Peace!!!

Mike

Wow. it's been a good long while since I posted here...

I've been absent from this blog, which was started to chronicle my renal-cell carcinoma experience, for better or worse. I'm happy to say it's been for the better...almost three years of disease-free life, after my surgery in Nov. 2005. A lot of water has gone over the dam, so to speak, so here's how things stand today, 7/6/08:

1) I'm still cancer-free, although my blood pressure (from only one kidney) has gone up, to the point where I have to take medicine twice a day...no big deal!

2) The construction business around here is basically kaput...as far as I'm concerned, we're in a depression, never mind recession...thank you Mr. Bush et al.

3) I've been back in college since fall 2007, working towards a degree in computer science, at Wor-Wic Community College in Salisbury, MD.

4) I'm working as a paid summer intern at NASA / Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, doing software management...a total jump-in-the-deep-end experience for me, but fun!!!

5) We're still playing music in the Moodswingers Band, mostly in Ocean City this summer.

Hope everyone has a good summer!!!

Mike :)

New year, new (old!) house, new town!!!

Pictured at left is our new home, located in Snow Hill, MD, about a half-hour south from Ocean City, MD. We got the opportunity to buy it directly from the daughter of the former occupant, Mrs. Francis Sturgis...Mrs. Sturgis lived in this house for 65 years, and her husband, the former Mayor of our little town, grew up in it, and lived in it his entire life! The house was built as one of three identical "townhomes", of a style common during the Civil War-era, and in fact was constructed circa 1865. It's on the Register of Historic Homes, and still has the original hardwood floors & stairs, along with the original working chimney. According to the many locals who knew the Sturgis family, the home was a happy place, full of love & laughter, so we plan on keeping it that way!

Snow Hill is a classic small town, Maryland-style, on the Pocomoke River, and is the county seat, so it has the courthouse, old churches, the "Main Street" area of small stores & shops, and dozens of Victorian mansions, many of which have been restored to magnificent splendor. Also, this little town is becoming a magnet for artists, musicians, and creative folks from all over the area, so I'm hopeful for a thriving "scene" developing in the near future.

My health continues to hold out...clear scans in Decenber, and keeping a positive attitude for the future...

Love to all!!! :)

Mike

Go west, young man....

...and you'll probably see some of the stuff we saw during our week in Arizona, 9/10-9/18. Living in a flat coastal plain, one gets excited to see even the suggestion of a hill...in Arizona, the terrain varies from flat desert to 13,000 ft. peaks within a couple hours' drive north from Phoenix. Our destination was Sedona, probably in the Top 5 locations for natural splendor in the USA, and it lived up to its' billing...the drive into Sedona just takes your breath away, utterly inspirational. We stayed in a time-share resort about 5 miles west of the center of town, hard by one of the famous "vortex" spots, among the rugged & beautiful red-rock formations that give Sedona its' claim to fame. As if that wasn't enough beauty, a two-hour drive took our group through some of the most alien-looking high desert we've ever seen, the Navaho reservation lands...hard to see how anyone could eke out a living in such a place...the end of the road north was the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. What can I say? Freakin' incredible, on all levels...spiritual, endless, beyond human scale, breathtaking, humbling...something to be witnessed, if at all possible, in one's lifetime. Thank you, God, for letting me live to see such splendor!!!

Mike

It's been a busy summer around here!!!

After our NOLA adventure, we returned to the OC, and resumed "normal" life, whatever that is...I've been working full-time on my day gig, and the band has been playing 3-5 jobs per week, since mid June. I'm whipped...but enjoying all the music-playing...making hay while the sun shines, dontcha know!!!

In about three weeks, I get to drop my baby daughter off at college, in the bowels of NYC...she's got more balls than I did at 18 years old, so more power to her...we'll be "empty-nesters"...hmmm, wonder what that will lead to? Stay tuned for more news...

Mike

P.S. Oh, yeah, last NIH scans were clean & green in June...I get six months between visits now!!!

NOLA trip notes....

Well, it's still there, mostly, but the areas that were flooded are still basically lying in ruins. Our first day, we took the "Katrina Disaster Tour", an unofficial trip through miles of devastation, rack & ruin, care of our friend & NOLA resident, Jeff Sutton. What strikes me as unbelievable is the seeming abandonment of an entire urban area the size of the small town in which I live...literally mile after mile of ruined & decaying houses, cars, boats, businesses of every kind, churches, schools, shopping centers, hospitals, and any other modern convienience we take for granted, like traffic lights & gas stations, etc. You wonder where these people have gone, tens of thousands of them at least, and what goes though their minds when they think about their lost homes, cars, jobs, etc. I don't know how I would react to a disaster like these folks have had to endure...the government & insurance companies aren't helping things much, according to comments from some of the folks we spoke to...shameful, if you ask me. :(

The famous French Quarter was spared most of the damage, and we had some fun at the French Quarter Festival...lots of good music & food, and we got to hang out with our Whammy Bar internet pals, as well as see some of the more famous landmarks.

Here's a pic of me playing some gut-bucket blues up at King Lloyd's blues joint in Mississippi, and the other is the typical scene in the Lower 9th Ward of NOLA, where some of the worst flooding occurred.