Christmas 2012

As usual, December is a very busy month.  Besides Evan's birthday, we have other parties and holiday activities to keep us super busy.  I took Evan down the street to our town Christmas tree lighting, complete with Santa arriving in a fire engine.  This year, we opted to decorate a gingerbread train instead of decorating cookies.  Oh, there were cookies, though.  Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip cookies for his class birthday treat; Bourbon Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies for a cookie swap.  Mommy was also asked to make cookies for Santa...mmm, chocolate chip!  Much as she tried to convince him, Evan insisted that Santa did NOT want carrots for a snack.



Evan opens some presents:

Evan displays his juggling skills:

Evan's 3rd Birthday

For Evan's third birthday, we (apparently) set the tone for the next year with a bounce house kids party.  I say, "set the tone," because Evan attended no fewer than 8 birthday parties at local bounce houses for kids in his class after this one.  He had attended this same bounce house a year earlier when he was two, and he while we got him in one bounce chamber, he was too young and intimidated by the larger apparatus.  Much changes in a year's time.

Halloween 2012

Under the threat of days without power and a delayed Halloween for the second consecutive year, we survived Hurricane Sandy with no interruptions, thankfully (much of the state did not). Halloween happened as planned on 10/31, and I was busy carving my final pumpkin well into the trick-or-treating period. Fortunately, I had several days at home babysitting my son which afforded the numerous hours (20+) needed to create this year's pumpkins.  This year, I invested in more advanced carving tools, which helped, but I will need years of additional practice to be able to use them efficiently.  This was Evan's third Halloween, and his first where he began to recognize the attraction of Halloween to children: free candy for wearing a costume and saying "trick-or-treat, " and "thank you."  He's still not a fan of dressing up, but he gets over it after a few pieces of candy :-)  

The Big E

September means fall harvest fairs in Connecticut.  Every weekend, there is two or three that we could attend.  This year, the Hebron Harvest Fair was a bust, when a looming storm forced organizers to shut down early.  Some people were sent home after only an hour, with no refund.  The storm was big and the closure wise, but people will consider boycotting next year after getting cheated out of their money.

Our town holds a more modest event, the Cornfest, which we attended.  Normally uneventful, this year we won a raffle for airline tickets.

This year, we planned a trip to The Big E in Springfield, MA.  The Big E is an all-New England fair...think the MD State Fair in Timonium, but ~4x larger.  We met friends there, and even crossed paths with Evan's first daycare teacher, who had made her own maternity leave permanent.  Tripping over fried dough and sausage booths, we had searched 90% of the vendors before we finally found a soft pretzel (and naturally, came across another booth shortly thereafter).  And this year was the year of kettle corn for us.

Evan over came his fear of amusement rides, but my aversion to micro-fiber mops still holds.  Weather was fantastic, and it was insanely crowded by mid-afternoon.  We escaped before getting rained on that evening, having had our fill of fair food for another year.

Maine Vacation 2012

Everyone deserts the Maine beach towns on Labor Day, so what better time to visit than the days immediately thereafter?  Before making the trek to Wells, we spent a few days in NH and Boston.  Evan spent some time with his 5-yr old Uncle Danny and 2-yr Aunt Julia.  Saw plenty of Boston as we walked more than half the city after dim-sum one day.  Then laughed at the miles of backed-up traffic heading south and we entered Maine.  Our one good day of weather was when we arrived in ME, and we made a breakthrough with Evan walking on the sand.  Too bad a tropical storm limited our days at the beach (thank you, Roku).  Had my fill of lobster and ice cream...maybe again next year?

Memorial Week 2012

As has become custom, the CT Quinns traveled south for Memorial Day; first the beach, and then to see how Baltimore is holding up.  Unlike last year, Evan had developed an aversion to walking or sitting in the sand, which kept him well clear of any riptides, but also relegated him to a shaded blanket for several days.  He was content to play with the sand, so long as he didn't have to be on it.  He also visited with his cousins while up in town.

Weather was more cooperative this year than others, and we had great weather to visit the Baltimo...ahem, the Maryland Zoo.  While the National Zoo was free, has a panda and more golden lion tamarins than China has people, the Maryland Zoo was much closer and had plenty of animals to keep Evan happy, including several (zebras...plenty of them, a polar bear, prairie dogs, to name a few).  Evan and cousin Jonathan had some quality time to discuss the how the zoo has evolved over the last 30+ years (or maybe that was their dads).

Day Out with Thomas!

Evan loves Thomas the Tank Engine, and as luck would have it, the real Thomas was visiting the Essex Steam Train in southeast CT on April 29th.  Evan would get to ride Thomas, participate in a Thomas adventure, and we parents would get exposed to 4 million pieces of Thomas merchandise.  Evan's classmate Shawn and his dad came, too.
       

We are now caught up on the blog.  Let the next adventure begin!

Maker's Mark Distillery

      After finishing up at the Corvette museum around lunch time, we had about 5 hours to kill before dinner.  Bowling Green wasn't exactly a hotbed of activity, so we decided to visit one of Kentucky's famous bourbon distilleries.  The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is comprised of six distilleries, forming a "L" shape from Louisville to Lexington: Woodford Reserve, Four Roses, Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Heaven Hill, and Maker's Mark.  I have tried 3 of the 6, and Maker's Mark is by far the best tasting one I've had.  Naturally, the Maker's Mark Distillery is the only one that is nowhere near a highway, but most of them didn't offer tours on Sunday anyway.  The GPS estimated a 90-minute drive and 3:00 pm arrival time, a half-hour before the last tour of the day.  We decided to skip lunch and hit the road towards Loretto, Ky, home of Maker's Mark.
      It didn't take 90 minutes to get there, it took 110, and that was despite my complete ignorance of speed limits.  The back roads to the distillery were long and windy, and I navigated them to my own limits of safe driving.  We had actually passed the Heaven Hill distillery about 30 minutes earlier on these back roads.  We arrived with only 15 minutes before the last tour started.  Visitor's parking was easy to find, but I saw no signage directing us to the tour starting location.  Knowing time was running out, I did come across a sign for the gift shop, and quickly headed there to get information about the tour.
      The gift shop was nicely decorated with wood paneling and a bar.  I saw what appeared to be a tour group gathered in the bar area.  I figured this was the 2:30 tour wrapping up.  I asked the girl at the register about where the last tour starts.  She told me that the last tour of the day was finishing up right behind us.  My mind raced, but I quickly put two and two together and understood what had happened.  On the way from Bowling Green to Loretto, we had passed from the Central Time Zone back into the Eastern Time Zone, losing an entire hour.  That explained why the GPS changed the estimated arrival time to 4:15 at some point during our trip.
      Utterly disappointed, I couldn't be upset with either the distillery or myself.  I spent enough time researching the distilleries online, yet I did not come across any indications that the time zone was Eastern.  I would hope that such a message would have caught my attention.  Unable to turn back time, we decided to look around the gift shop and see what was there.
      My dad bought a bottle of whisky and hand-dipped it in the trademarked red sealing wax himself.  While his bottle cooled, he went over to the bartender and shared our sob story regarding coming from Baltimore yet missing the tour.  The bartender was sympathetic and offered us the samples the free tour would have entitled us to.  That was a nice thing to do, and did ease the pain of having missed the tour a little, although if I could have seen the tour and skipped the samples, I wouldn't be disappointed in the least.  We got our tokens commemorating the trip, and samples, too.  It's unlikely I'll ever get back there, so I'll see what's available online to learn more.  After 30 minutes, we headed back out to drive down to Bowling Green.  I watched my cell phone throughout the trip.  We entered the Central time zone ~10 miles from the Corvette museum.

Corvette Museum

Two days of Corvette enthusiasm were planned.  First, the National Corvette Museum, and the following day, the GM Corvette Assembly Plant.  No cameras were allowed in the plant, so I'll cover the first day only.

After waking up and heading to Waffle House for breakfast, we headed to the museum.  One of the first ones there, we elected to take the audio tour, too, to get the full experience.  iPod-like devices were given to us, and by the end, we were both masters at navigating them to find the right tracks for each display.

The museum lived up to expectations, and was certainly worth visiting.  We even signed up for the monthly raffle, but neither of us won the 2012 red convertible they were giving away the next week.

Trip to Nashville

We're almost caught up now, this is a mid-April 2012 excursion.  My dad has had an affection for Corvettes for most of his life.  What gift can a son give to a dad who has everything he needs?  Accompanying him to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Our first stop was Nashville, TN, the self-proclaimed "Music City."  I probably would have had a better appreciation for music in Chicago or even New Orleans...Nashville had music, but most of it appealed to neither of us.  So, I had to search hard to find something interesting to do in Nashville.  It had to be more interesting than what Bowling Green, Ky had to offer.

The flight to Nashville was uneventful, and we found a spot for lunch, McNamara's, a place we later heard was a funeral home that became an Irish restaurant a few years ago.  They had Shepherd's Pie, but we had dinner in a few hours, so we ate lean.

Not far from the restaurant was Cooter's Garage, a Dukes of Hazzard "museum" owned by Ben Jones (Cooter) himself ("Hazzard County" was supposed to be in Georgia, so I'm not sure why this museum was in Nashville).  It was a small storefront which held hundreds of photos and nostalgic pieces of Dukes of Hazzard merchandise.  Entry was free, so I'm not sure how they made money.  No one was ponying up $5 for a photo sitting in the General Lee, and coffee mugs and license plate holders can't bring in big bucks, either.  For no admission fee, though, it was worth a few minutes to walk through and see what they had.  The photos:


Our visit to explore what Nashville had to offer was far from over.  The Lane Motor Museum was a privately-owned collection of restored European cars, the largest in the U.S.   However, this wasn't a collection of rare Ferraris, Rolls Royces, or Porches.  Most of these cars were unique or unheard of: Peugeot, Citroen, Volkswagen, Mercedes, yes.  But Tatra? Simca? Crosley?  I saw some cars I had never seen and will never see again.


After driving around downtown and the frustrating road closures, we ate dinner on the outskirts of the city before driving to Bowling Green.

Easter 2012

Easter was in March this year, but it was 30 degrees warmer than last year.  Evan participated in the town Easter Egg Hunt again, which was held indoors due to rain.  That actually worked better than hunting for tiny pieces of candy buried in uncut grass.
The new event this year was Evan searching for dyed Easter eggs in the house.  They were hidden in plain sight and he did better than the adults (Jenn and Kim).  Our neighbor Nancy had brunch, so we stuffed our faces with some good food over there, and Evan received several more gifts.  If only Christmas was as easy to prepare for...

Recovery Summary

It has been almost two years since my mystery illness, and I wanted to take some time to reflect on a year-plus of recovery and return to health. Although I will always remember (or try to) my illness of 2010, it is part of my past, not present, so this will be my final post about it for the foreseeable future.

It is difficult to believe, but despite the extraordinary costs, I am in most respects better than I was in July 2010, the month prior to getting sick. The most significant differences from the summer 2010:

I am ~5 lbs heavier. Despite working out regularly with more cardio than before, my metabolism is a tiny bit slower than it once was (or, I'm not disciplined enough to suffer through a real diet). When I finally returned home from the hospital that last time, I was actually much lighter than I had been, but three months of living at home with a regained appetite and no exercise packed the pounds back on.

Family and health have become my top priorities. Work is now much lower on the list. I still work hard, but I do not work long days, nights, or weekends like I used to. If something can't get done because I need to eat, sleep, or take a mental break, then it can wait. I was out for 5 months in 2010, and although work did get done without me, all of the near-term “panics” that kept me working late and losing sleep ended up happening months later than planned (not because of me, mind you). My company did not go bankrupt, lose a major customer, or cut its workforce in half to compensate. That was the biggest work-related lesson from this ordeal: Life goes on regardless, and the sky will not fall.

Similarly, the biggest non-work-related lesson was that life will not wait for work to get finished, so I take advantage of opportunities as they arise. I do not put off leisure or family “until next year” or wait for things to get less busy...I will always be busy at work, at least enough to keep me employed, I hope. Hence, I go on school field trips with Evan, take days off to spend time with him, and although he may never remember these times himself, I will, and I chronicle the events as best as technology allows me via this blog and my digital photos/videos.

My illness did not come for free, however. There are some residual effects that will probably never go away, but they are minor and manageable. I have lost some of my patience. I was never a patient person to begin with, but things get under my skin a little more easily than before. Projects around the house, which inevitably present some obstacles, are less tolerable than before, and now I'm more inclined to pay for someone else to deal with it than work through it myself. Over the past year, I have learned to deal with this lack of patience much better than my first months back home, and this may be the one aspect that can return to “normal.”

I have bouts of nervousness and can get stressed out more easily. This happened as recently as early December, when the combined pressures of preparing for Evan's birthday, Christmas, and accumulating work pressures demanding immediate results became too much for me. I made it through the day, barely, but my stress level was noticeable to my colleagues. This is also something that I can learn to manage better by applying my newfound perspective and not caring as much (about work).

I drink half as much coffee as I used to, but a surgeon, I'll never be. My hands are not nearly as steady as they once were, and my handwriting, which was never exemplary, is sometimes illegible. I've noticed some improvement and it may return through months of practice.

My golf game has regressed several years. I had become accustomed to lowering my score progressively through the summer by playing weekly with co-workers, but 2011 only saw consistency in my random errors...too random to pinpoint specific areas to practice. I am not completely lost, but have added 5-10 strokes to my game. In the big picture, this is nothing to lose sleep over, and again, perhaps there is hope that this coming year will result in improvement.

It is most unfortunate that this happened to my family and friends. It was far worse for them to experience than for me. I do have some memories of my times in the hospital and rehab, but much of it I will never remember, for my brain was just not working properly back then. What's more puzzling is the vivid memories I do have of that time that make no sense at all. Mostly, I had thought I was sleeping in places other than a hospital. They seemed so real, yet couldn't have happened.

That is all that comes to mind regarding my “illness,” which, by the way, was never positively identified by any doctors after months of testing. I am supremely confident it will never happen again, and that will be enough to put it behind me.