Month: January 2012

Flightless…

I was really hoping to hit the skies this weekend but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.  It’s very windy, low ceilings and snowing/raining on and off.  Oh well, maybe later in the week. 

 Did three nights of overtime at work this past week.  It’s been nice to try and get caught up a little bit, as I’ve fallen behind after all the training I prepared and dished out the last couple of months.  Actually, I hope we have it available for a couple more months.  The extra money is a nice bonus.

I spent the day organizing, cleaning and working on the digital photo albums I’m making for my Recreational Aircraft Association folks.  I finally got all of the photos scanned and arranged into folders.  Now I’m just copying them to twenty-five 8GB memory sticks.  Each one is taking about 40 minutes, but at least I can just have them running in the background.  I can run around and do other things while the files are copying, such as combing my kitties:

Someone mentioned that I parted her “fur” on the wrong side.  I think it looks ok though.

As usual, I’ll be visiting my little mother tomorrow.  Hopefully it doesn’t snow too much overnight.  Too many maniacs on the road, even when the conditions are yuck-o-la.

I hope to have more exciting news to share within the next day or so.  Not too much has happened over the last week.

Today’s symptoms: Feeling quite good!  Lots o’energy, and only a few aches and pains in my hands and arms. 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/28/2012 9:57 PM

Blog Issues Part Deux

I still seem to be having technical difficulties with my blogs showing up in subscriber’s email. Ugh! I didn’t receive any pictures from the last one I sent. My friend here in St. Catharines said the same thing. My tiny mother said it has to do with us being from the same city, like we’re all corrupt or jinxed or something. Speaking of such friend, she called me over to her desk today. Had a hard time finding a command in Excel 2010. I just bought a funky little stand for my iPhone for at work. Sometimes it’s a little tricky to remove the phone. So, when she called me over, I just brought the phone still on the stand. I tried to come up with other ways that it was useful, and developed the iButt. Not too practical but makes a nice accessory to my outfit:

 
 

Today’s symptoms; feeling pretty good. My energy is decent but am experiencing more aches and pains than normal.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/23/2012 8:10 PM

Technical Difficulties

For some reason, my last two posts have not been sent in their entirety via email to my subscribers.  Sorry if you’re one of those folks!  I’ll contact Go Daddy tomorrow and see if they can resolve the issue.  If you only received a small post for either of the last two blogs, please read the full version on my website.  Thanks!

 
Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/21/2012 9:52 PM

Weather Forecast???

I thought with all of our wonderful technology, weather forecasting would be a little more accurate.  It was supposed to be clear by just after 10:00 this morning, according to multiple sources (weather channel, weather apps, internet sites, etc.) but it didn’t clear until almost 2:00!  Geesh!  I was looking forward to going to Brantford (kinda like last weekend!) to purchase a new headset.  My friend was looking forward to the flight too, as his plane is in the process of being reassembled and currently unflyable.  Chuck bought me a cool airplane light for Christmas, and I was going to attempt to put it up myself.  I’m glad I didn’t because it was a little more complex than a normal ceiling light.  My potential co-pilot for the day dropped by the apartment and together (mostly him though!) we managed to put the beast up.  Looks great!!!

 

Fortunately, the weather did clear later and we were able to head out to the airport.  There was still a fairly low ceiling over Niagara (over 2000 feet) but it was clear skies before hitting Grimsby.  We landed in Brantford in less than 40 minutes, purchased my headset and headed back to St. Catharines.  Here’s a goofy shot of me turning on my little video camera:

And some of the snow-covered scenery:

I had to leave work a little early yesterday to head to Burlington for my mothly Tysabri infusion.  As usual, the nurse did a great job with the blood work and IV.  Jan and I waited patiently for my infusion to be done, while watching TV and cracking jokes.  I also taught Jan to take a picture with my iPhone:

Back home, I got a few pictures of the four-legged goobers.  Boo is looking cute, as usual in this shot:

We’ve all sorta noticed that her fellow-speckled sister is starting to get a tad chubby.  Poor Abby:

Check out those kitty love handles!

Today’s symptoms:  Felt GREAT!  Lots of energy, although a fair bit of pain from the Tysabri.  There will be less achyness tomorrow though.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/21/2012 9:47 PM

It’s Snowing – Finally.

Not that I’m excited about the snow, but geesh – it’s almost the end of January and we finally got our first small storm.  You would think that no one knew how to drive, as there were tons of accidents on the major highways.  My mother drove down Highway 406 into St. Catharines, but the Northbound lanes were closed due to multiple accidents.  She said she saw quite a few cars in the ditch along the way too.   At least I didn’t have to walk home in it.  Actually, it was my compressed day off today, but I went in and worked overtime.  Jan picked me up just before 2:00 as we both had an appointment with our chiropractor.  We had a great crack-a-lackin!

 I’m sure the kids were thrilled to be inside the nice warm apartment today.  Abby was her normal googly self:

Pinky was almost googly too, but not quite:

I sent a picture of my computer to my friend the other day.  As a fellow pilot, he knew exactly what the gauge was under my monitor.  I don’t think that I was able to convince him that we work so fast that our computers require a tachometer:

I also don’t think he was too fond of my peeing cat pictures:

Fortunately, he knows how weird I am so he wasn’t surprised.

Hoping the weather clears up by Saturday so I can fly to Brantford, as it was too cloudy last weekend.

Today’s symptoms:  Feeling pretty good!  Two days ago was not good at all.  I was so fatigued and weak.  I had to leave forty-five minutes early and my friend drove me home.  I was hoping to stay a few extra hours overtime.  At least I got it in today.  Still feeling the positive effects of the second CCSVI surgery!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/19/2012 9:08 PM

Heap of Cuteness

I was hoping to fly to Brantford yesterday, but the weather pooped out big time.  It was supposed to stop snowing in the morning, but it didn’t until almost 3:00.  At least it was the complete opposite today.  Totally calm, very few clouds, albeit a little nippy.  A co-worker had arranged a flight for her husband, as he really wanted to do aerobatics.  I went to the Flying Club a little early as there were a few things I wanted to do on the plane.  I vacuumed him out, installed a new mount for the video camera, and fixed a little piece of plastic I accidentally kicked off the instrument panel during my last flight.  My co-pilot and his family arrived and off we went.  We first did some aerobatics over the airport while his wife and kids watched from the observation deck outside of the Flying Club.  Then we headed over Niagara Falls.  He took this shot before pulling out his own video camera to get some groovy footage:

We did a low and over at my mechanic’s snow-covered grass strip.  It’s quite a challenge to find when there’s snow on the ground.  After flying around the area for a bit, we headed back over the airport for a few more maneuvers, then down for the landing.  We were up for an hour – it went by so quick though.  He loved it and I was quite happy with the flight too.

I had a nice visit with Lil’ Jan today.  We wandered around the Seaway Mall, then over to Zehrs for noms.

Back at home, I walked into the bedroom and called Mya’s name and she staggered into the middle of the floor and collapsed in a heap of cuteness, as seen here:

Mya is usually much more photogenic than Abby.  Abby just gets ticked off when I pull out the camera.  Take this shot where I politely asked her to happily pose next to my root beer:

So snarly!  Someone else who is more like Mya in the photogenic department is Vyctor.  Check out this cute shot I took today:

Even feeling exposed without his wheel pants, he still has that charming glow about him.

I think the winning photo for this week has to be this precious little number.  I’m not sure if Boo was knighting Mya, or trying to heal her with the laying on of a paw…cute nonetheless!

Today’s symptoms:  I felt much better today than I did yesterday.  I was quite tired and weak yesterday, for some reason.  I guess I just needed to rest a bit after my exciting week.

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/15/2012 9:57 PM

Great Game!

As I mentioned in my last, very brief blog, Jan and I went to a Leafs game in Toronto Tuesday night.  I was hoping to post the blog from the game and include pictures, but apparently pics can’t be posted over the phone.  So, here are some of the pics from our night.  First of all, we were thrilled to see the big, stretched limo waiting for us outside of the apartment:
 

There was a fairly large bottle of wine waiting for us in the back.  Not surprising, it was sorta empty by the time we made it to Toronto *burp*.

Our seats for the game were great:

After the first period, they played bowling with people in an inner-tube.  It was quite amusing!  You certainly don’t get to see this stuff on TV during the game:

Jan and I were photo bombed by the girls behind us.  They were really starting to get annoying.  They were from Buffalo and cheering for the Sabres.  However, as the game went on and the score was 2-0 Toronto, they became increasingly more hostile toward the Leafs.  They kept chanting “Blow Leafs Blow.”  Hello!  Feel free to say that when your team is winning, but they got shut out!  Duh!  Oh well, it was rather entertaining.

The ride home in the limo was great.  Too bad there wasn’t any wine left.  We’ll have to ration it next time.

The weather was amazing on Wednesday so I took a little leave from work and went for a flight.  I’m still trying to figure out the best position for my GoPro video camera.  If the prop is straight ahead, then all you see in the video is the prop going down the screen in big horizontal lines.  It was much better when I angled it to the side.  Here’s a shot of the camera and view:

It’s weird that the prop is in vertical lines in my iPhone pic, but horizontal in the video.  Hmmm…  Regardless, it was a great flight.  Despite all of the excitement from the night before, I was still feeling well enough after my flight to stay until 8:00 for over time!

I had another long day on Thursday.  It was my day off but I went in for 7:45am for over time.  Jan came to St. Catharines around noon to go with me to my Tysabri infusion.  We drove to Burlington, picked up some coffees from Timmy’s for ourselves and the nurse, and headed to the clinic.  I was a little shocked when the nurse looked at me and said “You shouldn’t be here.”  Huh?  Apparently, the MS clinic didn’t fax the Tysabri folks paperwork stating it was OK to go back on the medication, since having a sinus infection in November.  Ugh!  So, we had to re-book the appointment for next week.  We drove over to the mall nearby and wandered around for a bit, then back home to St. Catharines.  I ended up going back into work for another couple of hours to complete my over time hours.

Last night I looked over and noticed this cute scene:

Pinky loves being in bags.  It didn’t last too long though as Boo decided to pounce on her.  I asked Mya if she could believe what her silly sisters were doing, but she didn’t answer as she was too busy checking her emails:

We finally got snow today but I’m hoping it stops by tomorrow morning.  I plan to fly to Brantford again this weekend to check out a new headset.  Fingers and paws crossed!

Today’s symptoms:  Felt pretty good, despite the long and exciting week!  I can’t believe how much energy I have since the CCSVI surgery.  Yea!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/13/2012 8:32 PM

New Business Venture!

I sprang awake in the middle of the night earlier this week, with a wonderful idea.  I’m going to open a restaurant!  The word “nom” seems to have become quite popular lately:  The sound made when eating something. Can be referred to as “nomming” as a verb.  I’m going to call the restaurant Elizanoms Nommery.  I’m probably just going to start off with breakfast and lunch.  Breakfast will focus on a specialty Nomlettes and the main feature for lunch will be Nomburgers and comfort foods like Nomghetti and Nom Balls and Nomzza.  I think the Niagara Region could really use such a unique and hip place for noms!

The weather was finally decent today so I decided to go for a flight.  I was supposed to do the Polar Bear Dip in Chippawa today, but since I’ve had a cold for the last week, it was suggested by my neurologist, family and friends that I skip it this year.  Therefore, I took the friend I was going to do the dip with up for a flight instead.  We decided to head out to Brantford for noms.  Here are a couple shots of Hamilton International Airport as we flew over:

Approaching Brantford, I couldn’t believe how busy it was.  There were three planes behind us from St. Catharines and Welland, all going there.  Also, one plane just landed, there were two on the downwind and two on final.  Needless to say, the restaurant was packed when we arrived.  We had a share a six-seater table with four other folks.  After a nice breakkie, we walked over to Aircraft Spruce to check out what they had in stock.

I snapped a couple of pictures of the nicest looking plane at the Brantford Airport, before departing:

He looks so naked without his wheel pants on.  I had my mechanic take them off for the winter.  Snow can become compacted up in the pants and cause issues with the brakes, so it’s best they’re removed.

Here’s a pic of Brantford Airport as we headed back to St. Catharines:

It was a very quick flight back – we arrived at CYSN in less than forty minutes.  A nice tail wind helped us along.

I was able to try out my new GoPro Hero Camera today – it works great!  I’m going to stick a few more mounts on my dash to figure out the best angle.  I might go up for a brief aerobatic flight tomorrow morning, before heading out to Jan’s.  I’ll work on the angles then.  Jan will probably like leaving the house tomorrow.  She drove to St. Catharines yesterday to go with me to my neurologist appointment in Hamilton.  She said there was a puddle on her garage floor when she left and the car was making a loud noise.  I suggested she call her mechanic.  She was advised to have the car towed out to their shop.  We’re pretty sure the power steering fluid is what leaked out.  She cried a little while I was taking this picture:

I’ll take her over to Timmy’s and the mall tomorrow.  She said she spent a couple hours sitting in the garage today, staring at the puddle on the floor.  She really misses her car.  Hopefully getting out tomorrow will get her mind off of this tragic event.

Today’s symptoms:  Felt great!  Started to get a little tired around 5:00, and decided I wouldn’t work out long today.  Regardless, I got on my stationary bike and did fifty-eight minutes!  I play games on my iPhone while on the bike, and it allows me to focus all of my attention off of the pain in my legs and feeling tired.  My neurologist asked me yesterday if I used a gym, stating I was very strong.  He said it was great that I work out for about an hour every day. 

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/7/2012 8:59 PM

Wow – A Week Went By!

Geesh, I’ve really been slack-a-lackin!  Back to the bloggage.  Now I’m sitting here scratching my head, trying to think about what happened over the last week.  I know there were a few cute photos taken of the kids:

Pinky decided to make sure Boo kept her head down:

Speaking of “pink:,” I had a big disappointment at Tim Hortons the other day.  I normally don’t eat lunch but decided to grab a strawberry yogurt on my lunch break.  Gee, could they put any less in the cup?

Still very yummy, but not too filling!  Fortunately, we went out for dinner a few nights later and the noms made up for my lacking-lunch.  Chuck and his friend ordered breaded shrimp.  I’m not a shrimp fan at all, but did try one.  Not too bad, but I think the piece I had was mostly batter.  I had a bad experience with my first two shrimp experiences.  My first one was at a picnic at the nursing home I used to volunteer at.  I thought the shrimp was warm and it was ice cold.  Not good.  The second one was in Mexico.  Everyone at our table and in the line to the buffet next to us, looked over at me when they heard the huge crunch.  How was I supposed to know you aren’t supposed to eat the tail?!?!  Yuck!  Glad my third experience was much more tolerable.  Still, I don’t think I would order it again:

The spinach dip was amazing, so I focused my attention there.

I think I mentioned that my mother had a picture of Vyctor blown up to hang on my wall.  Man, I love it!

Goes quite nicely with the propeller clock, doncha think?

I think I’m coming down with a cold or something.  I started to get a sore throat the night we went out to dinner (must have been the shrimp!)  It was worse the next night, then better the next day.  Now it seems to have started again today, but on the other side.  Weird.  I don’t think this dry air is helping.  I guess I shouldn’t complain since the winter so far has been so mild.  Today was the first really cold day with temps around -12 degrees.  A bit of snow too.  Tomorrow is supposed to go back up above freezing.  Of course, the air is still really dry so to help out at work, I was allowed to get a small humidifier for my desk:

I’m still having bladder issues from the MS, which is causing me to be chronically dehydrated.  I always have a humidifier on next to my bed at night, and it makes a fairly big difference.  I’m starting to notice it’s a little more tolerable at work with my little blue buddy blowing mist in my face.

So there’s my news over the last week.  Nothing too exciting.  Chuck is gone to Florida for a few days, so I’m just chillin’ by myself tonight.  I couldn’t go with him as I had to bring a home-worker their upgraded computer and train them on Windows 7 and Office 2010.  I think I’ll finally watch the Pink Floyd – Dark Side of The Moon DVD my mother bought me for my birthday.

Today’s symptoms:  My energy was decent except I started to get rather tired from being dehydrated.  I didn’t want to have to run to the washroom every 20 minutes while I was at my coworker’s house, so I kept my fluid intake to a minimum.  Still, feeling quite good since my second CCSVI procedure!

Posted by Lizzy McFly at 1/3/2012 8:32 PM