Tag: family

A New Home

It’s been a while since I last posted something. The main reason has been lack of time and Internet connection. The only thing I have done was to keep close friends informed through Twitter using my phone.

I like to blog a bit more elaborate on my blog than the micro-messages and using my phone for those is a day chore. However, seeing I don’t have much time these days anyway, I’ll stick to smaller messages, which might exceed the 140 character mark, but not by much.

One attempt I will make to be a bit more elaborate, since I’ve not taken the time to keep the blog updated.

Thing are going well with the new house. As I write this, I am sitting in my living room, which is done save for the lamps and some small things. At this very moment the workers are putting down carpet on the stairs and halls.

Half the house is still covered in unpacked boxes, waiting for us to finish the most important rooms. As it is right now there will be 3 rooms we will work on at a later date.

I think we (Megan and I) agree we need a break from home improvement. We’ve been at it for over 6 weeks, part of which I still worked and studied. We are mentally and physically exhausted, despite all the help we received from family and friends. My parents also could use a break as well; they’ve worked just as hard and both seem to be equally tired. I am however thankful for all the energy they’ve put into it and will treat them to a special thanks once I am able to do so.

Where most people look forward to a nice Christmas with family we are looking forward to a nice and peaceful few days. Of course we will celebrate with family (and looking forward to it) but there will also be some time for rest and recuperation.

On a final note: the best way to follow me at the moment is through Twitter. You can simply follow greftek.

This week: jetlag, broke pipes and sunk dreams

It’s been quite an interesting week, although I probably would not categorize it as a good one.

It practically started of with me going back to work with one heck of a jetlag. I thought just sunday as a rest day was enough. Guess I got that wrong. Monday felt like I was dragging my heels everywhere. Frankly I remember very little of how I got by that day. I was just glad it was over.

The following days were better, or at least I was not as fatigued as I was. My wife is still in the States taking care of things for her father, who suffered a stroke. This week has been one of loneliness. I am glad I can stay over at my parents for the time being and was happy to get out on wednesday and have some food and laughs with friends.

Thursday things took yet another turn for the ‘interesting’. My father, who tried to unblock my drain in the kitchen managed to punch a hole out of the wrong side of the drain. This is not as much the doing of my poor father, who -after all- just wanted to help, but the death throes of a drain that had apparently been abused by unblocking chemicals too much and decided to give in. Next thursday the plumber will come to fix the problem.

That evening it was also decided that my hosting company, which I co-own with a friend, is going to close its doors. The reason being the ever increasing costs of co-location and fees for registering domains versus the relatively small volume of customers. Frankly, the fun had already been taken out of  the job for some time now as the NOC decided to raise prices by more than 50% twice a year.

Can’t wait to see what next week will look like.

Back to Base… But not to normal

I’m back in Holland but live is not quite back to normal.

I landed this morning at 7.00am at Schiphol airport after a 17 hour trip. Alone, I might add. Megan, my sweet wife, has stayed behind to take care of the affairs surrounding the transition of David from the hospital to the rehab facility. There is also the matter of making the house accessible for him.

All of this results in us being apart for little over three weeks, which is a novum in our relationship. I have no illusion on the fact it’s going to be hard; how hard exactly is something time will teach me.

I guess I will be charging up my Skype credits for a great host of future calls.

Personal Log February 11th

Yesterday I was doing a lot better mentally than the day before. That is, until we got the message that the hospital were planning on releasing him in a couple of days.

This message led to several reactions.

One was pure anger. The hospital ensured us that they would keep him until there was no more improvement. We were seeing a lot of improvement just visiting him every other day. So why release him.

Secondly, a discussion on how to act further. For one, the way things are now, he cannot return home without modifications. We spoke to contracters and the fire department to see what can be modified so he can get into the house with a wheelchair or walker.

Today we spend a lot of time hauling all the old stuff to Salvation Army and the recycling center.

Around two o’clock we had a phone conference with the hospital discussing David’s situation. The hospital seems to prognose his release in 1,5 to 2 weeks. Big sigh relief there.

It turns out David is progressing fairly fast and needs to move on to the next stage. The problem is the only rehabilitation center in Pendleton is the place his mother died after several incidents of neglect.

So now we are looking at options for home improvement and temporary solutions. The last 36 hours have felt like a week. Stress has been sky high and is now back to acceptable levels.

I just hope for a swift recovery of David, so that he (and all of us) can get back in calmer waters.