The little Inn by the wayside

[Pager]

YEA!! Happy BIRTHDAY MAZ!!

Hope you have a good one!

[eMTe]

And we all hope you'll return some day.

[Chroelle]

Joining in a little late.
Mazzie.

[Scythe]

Happy belated Mazday.

[Tormuse]

Happy Birthday, Maz! Hope you had a good time!

[Railwaymodeler]

Been so busy, I didn't notice! Happy birthday, Maz!

[eMTe]

I expected a continuation of the smiley-fest from you, guys...

I set the start of the running season for this Sunday, so if you wont read on Sunday or Monday that I started the season please kick me virtually in my fat [CENSORSHIP].

On another note, here's something from the golden thoughts department. "If you find a spiderweb in your brogue shoes you know that winter was far too long".

Permission granted for adding the sentence to your forum signatures.

[Railwaymodeler]

Some bad news lately. I went to a bone and joint specialist doctor Thursday. For over two weeks now my left knee has been in horrible pain. Feels like bone on bone grinding, and it is getting increasingly difficult to walk without pain.

The doctor is 90% sure I will require knee surgery soon. Next week I go in for an MRI scan on the knee; If it shows what the doctor thinks it will show, then yes, I will need surgery.

It will probably mean at least two weeks of not being able to run my shop, and being laid up at home. In this case, I will use the time away from my shop, to allow someone else to run it. One of my good friends that just finished up college (Went back to college, he's in his 40s), learning the IT field, he learned the hands on stuff at my shop. He and I are thinking he could run my shop here when Maria, Skoda, and I move to Northern Wisconsin (BTW, Chroelle, my current town is already Northern Illinois - I'm roughly half way between Chicago and Milwaukee).

If he runs the shop well, then I'll know he is capable of taking over.


Knee hurting too bad to sleep tonight. Despite cuddling up to Maria, I can't get comfortable. So, I am at my desk working on building a model house for my railroad, with my laptop on a small table next to me. Maria is maybe four feet to my left sleeping in bed. To my right a few feet is Skoda's crib. The cat is sleeping next to Skoda's crib again. Loki has figured this out, that a peaceful night can be had if she sleeps by the crib until sure that Skoda is sleeping. She is then free to sleep with Maria and I.

Took two sets of pain meds, and still can't sleep. Maybe surgery is for the best!

[Chroelle]

Sorry to hear about your knee. I feel with you. I had a bad knee two years ago myself, and I can vividly remember the pain, and how it felt never to get any rest from the pains.

I just looked over your website again after not having looked at it for a couple of years - alot happened in there. I like the new look and when I read in there I cannot help but feel that you a somewhat of a social pillar in the community. Is that a goal?
What kind of trades do you teach kids/young people?

I kept thinking how your shop could be so succesful as you mentioned, as I still kept thinking of it as a computer-repairshop that sold of old computers - but old computers got newer and your sales items grew wider... I now understand a lot better.

If your friend is taking over, will you be running it as a "chain" (lacking a better word)? So there will be two computer system rebuild shops? Or is he taking over and making it his own?

Oh and BTW: I kept getting 404 errors while browsing your site, but when I went back to the root there was no problem... So i I browsed the menu then it would suddenly start showing 404's, and then everything except the root would be a 404, but as soon as I visited the root again the other sites would work again...

[eMTe]

I also know what a knee (or in general - bone pane - is). I had a knee pain 10 years ago and I required an assistance in walking. In the end it occured that it is "only" periosteum inflammation and an oinment treatment is enough, but the pain was enormous.

I hate to refer to the "fight fire with fire" methods, Raillo, but when your knee really hurts...well, try to think about Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man and come to think that there's no greater pain and no greater fear of pain. And your knee trouble are almost nothing in comparison. Well, I know it probably doesnt help, but at least I tried. There are no sensible solutions for coping with somebody's pain.

[Zyx]

Ah, it's the best time of the year again. I'm doing my step-grandfather's Canadian taxes. Fun times.

The strangest part is that I still sometimes, even after doing these for the past ten years, make some mistakes and the revenue agency correct them. If they know the correct numbers, why can't they do the tax thingie automatically in the first place?

edit: also, guess which country is missing from this list.

[Chroelle]

I cannot seem to find Uganda... But I am guessing that you mean Finland.

[eMTe]

I started my running season... The evenings are still very cold, so it pains, but I follow the rule - once you begin you shall not give up. So here comes my first running season beginning in the middle of the March.

[Railwaymodeler]

So far as my shop, I am still working on details right now, but legally it would be owned by me still, and Bryan would manage it.

Funny, that 404 issue. I've been looking at it and been so far unable to replicate it. I remember a while back I restructured navigation, which would be a likely cause.

I do quite a bit of educational work with a couple of youth organizations around here, and also donate old systems (Pentium 2 CPU computers, mostly), to charities, mostly shelters for abuse victims. Most of the people (Nearly all women and children), are out of their homes, and getting on their feet again. Donating a very basic computer, capable of browsing the internet and typing resumes and other documents, is a big help.

Many people have said lately, that I will be missed around here, that there will be a big hole left, as it were.

Knee problem is still bad. Went for the MRI scan today, and will know the results soon-ish. Maria has promised to take good care of me if I have surgery.

I'm nervous about the surgery to be honest. The only surgery I have ever had in my life so far is having my wisdom teeth pulled when I was a teenager. This is weighing heavy on my mind. Maria seems not as concerned, and has promised me everything will be OK.

Today we took Skoda for her first ride on a train. Went to Chicago and back, and went from the train station in Chicago to the Planetarium. I used to work there years ago, and still keep in contact with some of my old coworkers. My old boss was happy to see our newborn, and that I was doing so well with Maria.

On the train trip back home, I ran into an old friend of mine, who was a crew member on the train. He had never met Maria yet, though he knew bits and pieces about her from the times I'd seen her. Also, as the Metra commuter rail service is under the same agency blanket as Pace, he knew that she and I successfully sued Pace. Of course he had to offer us his congratulations, and meet Skoda. I was angling for Skoda's first engine cab ride, but wasn't successful in doing so.

The weather has been beautiful for the first day of spring - about 80 degrees Fahrenheit out today! Took a summer hat with and am very glad I did.

[Pater Alf]

I just wondered why we haven't heard anything from jayenkai for weeks. So I visited Socoder.net and found this:

http://socoder.net/?topic=2796&seenpost=30115#30115

Get well soon, jayenkai!!!

[Zyx]

I think he went insane.

[Tormuse]

I think he went insane.

Considering how crazy some of his games are, I think he went insane a while ago. (Who knows? Maybe that tumour was the source of a lot of his inspiration!)

Still... it's a pretty scary situation to have to go through. Get well soon, Jayenkai!

EDIT: I just put a post in the thread on our behalf. He says "hi" and apologizes for his "extreme lack of bothering to find his [CWF] password."

[Railwaymodeler]

Wow, that doesn't sound good. My best wished to you, Jayenkai!

I was at the doctor's again today with Maria. Had an MRI done on my knee about a week ago. Finally go the results today. Was supposed to know Monday, Tuesday at the latest this week, but they wanted to be very sure what they were looking at:

I do not need surgery, but need more rest and physical therapy.

Doctor explained that there is some muscles and tissues in the knee, that, if damaged, can heal itself, but if damaged too much, cannot heal itself, and then has to be operated on. Doctor said that if waited even a month more beyond what I did, to get it looked at, then I would have needed surgery. She did point out, that I'll need it anyway IF I do not allow it to heal by working so much.

Maria and I are happy for this.

Can't sleep right now, but Maria's sound asleep, and Skoda is too. Just me and my cat here, and my laptop.

[eMTe]

What is sanity in a world gone mad?

I wrote Jay on Facebook three weeks ago, but he didnt reply, so I thought that he maybe receives so many messages that he doesnt remember to reply to all of them (or doesnt bother ). I didnt know he's in a serious state. Hope they wont remove from him too much of the gaming creativity fluid.

Yay for Jay!

[Chroelle]

Wow - I noticed his absense but never thought about a braintumor as the reason - of course I didn't.

I hope you feel better Jay, and if you need your password reset then let me know. I should be reachable in som many different ways.