Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Story is on, it must be Christmas! This has become one of our favorite Christmas traditions, sleeping and waking to A Christmas Story...

We hope Santa brought you all kinds of happiness and joy this Christmas morning!

Just under the wire

Yesterday we were taking some pictures of the cats (imagine that) when I noticed a blue line showing up on the LCD screen. I checked, and it wasn't a line from light, and I didn't think it was showing up on the pictures -- until I uploaded them and all of the pictures had a line in the same spot. That was December 23. I pulled out my warranty info and saw that we bought the camera on December 29 last year, so we will just get it in under the one-year warranty.

I couldn't find my receipt, but Sam's actually was able to pull up my account and print a proof of purchase to confirm the purchase date. Here's my naive part: I didn't keep the original receipt because I registered online. Apparently registering online is solely for marketing purposes and does nothing to confirm your purchase for warranty issues. Silly me, I guess, because I've been registering everything I get religiously. I guess I'm just putting myself on mailing lists, and nothing more.

So the camera will be shipped out Friday, and hopefully be returned withing three weeks fully functional again. In the meantime, we're breaking out the old 2.0 megapixel camera for the Christmas pictures. You forget how different the old camera feels in your hand until you pick it back up -- just a little clunkier and heavier. And this used to be the sleek one.

Keep your fingers crossed that this camera thing doesn't become more of an ordeal than it is right now.

On a personal note.....

To whom it may concern:

If I wanted you to read my text messages/emails/etc, I would have sent them to you.

Thanks!
Jeni

Flash Element TD

A while back, Doug got me addicted to Flash Element TD version 1. Driving back from Atlanta, I was thinking about that game, found it again, and then found version 2. Oh yes, the addiction is back...

Our trip to Kelly's tuba recital in Cincinnati

Jeni and I went up to Cincinnati, then over the the University of Miami (Ohio), last weekend to see Kelly's senior music recital. It was a very nice weekend and Kelly did an excellent job. It was a treat to see her in her element, and around her peers.


This is Kelly with her friend Rob.


And her friend Emily, who played piano with Kelly during two pieces of the recital.


Doug and Cathy also flew up for the recital so we were able to get a rare picture of most of us (minus Doug and Cathy's kids) actually dressed up and looking presentable.


It snowed on us Saturday morning. This is Sassy out in the snow in the back yard. The news called for a "light dusting" of snow, but for us Southerners, one to two inches qualifies as more than a dusting. Jeni and I managed to slide through two intersections Saturday morning while running errands (not my fault ... I was driving very carefully, but there was black ice). We were very fortunate because a few minutes later we saw a wreck at one intersection that we slid through.


This is Jeni's favorite picture from the weekend. We were hanging some clothes in the closet and we found my old cowboy hat from when I was about seven living in New Orleans (OK, don't ask why I needed a cowboy hat ... it was 1979.) So of course I had to try it on. Fits good, huh?


(Well, it used to fit!)


Jeni's second-most favorite picture from the weekend.


Sassy has always liked Jeni, but she liked Jeni even more when Jeni was in the kitchen chopping the turkey for the reception. Sassy is 14 now and she's a little slower but still as spunky as ever.


Runway lights leaving Charlotte.


It wasn't really supposed to be dark when we flew from Charlotte to Columbia, but after a few delays and our layover turning from 90 minutes to five hours, we were able to get these cool pictures. I'm glad Jeni took these. They turned out really cool. She took a bunch of extended exposure shots, but these are two of my favorites.

Frickin' Time Warner

Last night Jeni and I were settling down, finally getting home at a reasonable hour (about 8:15) when Jeni realizes our DVR isn't recording, so we were missing Biggest Loser. After watching an entire season, it stinks to miss part of the show with two shows left. So I tried to set it to record, but it thinks it is recording, even though it isn't. So we missed the beginning, and then got a phone call, and missed the end (OK, my fault there because I had recorded what we could upstairs on the other DVR, but thought we had seen it all downstairs and deleted it, forgetting we had the homecomings still). And of course this is one show NBC only offers their 2-minute recap.

But as frustrating as it that is, Time Warner tried an even more frustrating stunt with our bill. We received a notice saying that our promotional period was ending and our bill would go up $10. Funny thing is, we didn't have a promotional deal. I see this as an attempt to raise our bill without calling it an increase. So we called to see what was up, and they claimed we actually were under a promotional from when we moved into our house two-and-a-half years ago (that would be when they took away our other "promotional" and raised our bill). Well, Jeni handled it, got us under a new "12-month promotion" that actually lowered our bill $2. But how ridiculous. Especially for the people who won't call and are suddenly paying an extra $10 a month for no reason.

OK, enough fussing ... next post will be about our weekend in Cincinnati and include a picture of me in a cowboy hat!

Nice story

I had a very touching day today. First, one of my long-standing patients came in and his wife lost her battle with cancer. She had pancreatic cancer, and had been a patient a while back. She stopped coming as her cancer worsened and it was hard for her to leave the house, and she had so many other doctor's visits. But her husband continued to come, and we were able to help him out as he dealt with all the stress he was going through. But it's such a hard way to start the day, when you ask, "How're you doing?" "Well, I lost my wife..."

But then I got this nice story from another patient that made me smile. She works with bone marrow donor drives, and there is a local church that has been working real hard to get a donor for one of their pastors. Well, a lady who has leukemia has been involved in the drives and the meetings. She's not a member of the church, but they want her to attend because she's become like a member of the family. She has lost all her hair, and wears a baseball cap, and she declined an invitation to attend church because she said she wouldn't feel right wearing her ball cap in church. So the church members are organizing a ball cap day at the church where everyone is supposed to wear a ball cap to church so she will feel comfortable and welcomed. What an amazing gesture -- it just gives me chills.