Back Pain, Planning Ahead, & Caring Friends

Awoke unusually early today (4:15 am) with extreme back pain. I did my Quasimodo slide to the pain killers, swallowed one and slid back into bed. Took an hour for the pain to subside, though it's still making its presence known with any movement, it is bearable.

Brewed a coffee and cranked up the laptop to check email.  As usual,  tossing around the idea of investing in the Mac Mini.  The confining nature of the laptop keyboard is hard on my hands and I am just tired of the smaller screen, crappy speakers and everything else.  The great advantage of the Mac Mini is that the tiny CPU is the only necessary purchase. My wireless keyboard & mouse and monitor are compatible. I will think about the purchase while on holiday, ask a few friends (Mac folks, all) their opinions and make a decision when I get back. 

While having breakfast the phone rang.  It was another call from the Oncologist's office checking on my status. She asked about my appetite and offered that the first of the biopsy results will be in when I visit the doctor next Thursday, but the bulk will be another 2 weeks.  Probably the week after I return from New Orleans; around the 26th.

Received a phone call from Sasha asking if I needed anything, saying he could drop off before going to the restaurant this afternoon.  Assured him that all was well. Then a text message arrived from Linda (our GM) in Ireland visiting family, asking how I was doing and promising to bring home some Irish Sausages and a bottle of "Paddy's" Irish Whiskey. She said, she'll be in touch in a couple of days.  Very thoughtful, indeed. I am a very popular fellow today. 

Picked up a few Cara-Cara Oranges and Fresh Bananas that were on sale, filled up the car and took a drive down Coastal Highway hoping to get some pictures of wind surfers and small sailboats on the bay.  I  was deterred by the greed of the state park service who are still charging a fee to visit the bay AFTER Labor Day.  Unheard of until this year.  No matter where I pulled in to get a nice view there was the old man in his booth counting his money and hungry for more. After driving south for about 8 miles I realized it was useless to keep going, so I turned around and came back to town.

Stopped at the Post Office to pick up Passport Renewal forms (mine expires in October) and a Hold Mail Request for while I'm in NOLA.  Not that I receive tons of important mail, but the box here is rather small - about 12" long and 7" high - and pretty useless when it rains.  But, never mind.

It is a beautiful Autumn day here. Thought about taking a walk around town this afternoon, but with the back pain I am not sure that would be a good idea. Especially since my first day back to work is tomorrow; I don't want to do anything that might screw that up. 

And so it goes.
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