Merry Christmas all you Charlie Browns

Too lazy to do my own work.... it's the chemo .....

what a difference a year makes

Last year, when Lucy was attending a pre-school at a Methodist Church, we asked her to tell us about Christmas and this is what we got:



This year she attends public school for kindergarten and this was her response when we asked her to tell us about Christmas:



I don't think the school has anything to do with it. I think it is more of a reflection of us -- or that damn TV!

What part of Thanksgiving am I?

You Are The Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

More Lunch Notes

sorta recent photos

Here is Lucy and our backdooyard neighbor Logan enjoying some carrots while watching TV. Logan is a good kid.


That's Lucy in the white hat about to put her boot to the ball. It must have been early in the game.


This is Lucy playing goal. Notice her outstretched hands. Nothing is getting by her.


Here is Lucy making a play while playing goal. Nice job!


This is Chris and his son Peter. Peter is just one-year-old!

This was living

latest lunch note poem

What I am worth

Just totalled up my medical claims for the year, so far. I think I have a few thousand more befoe the end of the year because of the ongoing chemo.
the grand total processed by the insurance company as of today:

$122,590.55


I think I am worth it. Don't you?

Purely biological fixed so you can see it

I fixed the YouTube settings so you can see this without some ridiculous registrations crap.

A couple of days ago, when it came time to change my ostomy equipment, I decided to film a little one-man how to.
It came out OK and I offer it here for those of you that are curious.
It is really more interesting than anything else.
Going into my operation I knew that there was a chance that I would end up with a stoma. Unlike the rest of the operation I did very little research and had only the vaquest notion how the whole thing would work.
I am sure that most of you are a little unclear.
So, in the spirit on my openess about the consequences of cancer you can click here and see how it works for yourself.
It is not as horrible as you might imganine, but if you are squeamish about things like this, you might want to skip it.

Mom's Away

Lucy and I are bakers

mmmm supplies.

new video

It has been a while since we have seen Lucy on video.... I know you have all been dying for this. Most of these did not work out quite right.

Restaurant Eating

Day two of exclusively eating in restaurants and everything has gone OK.
Note to self: sit on outside of booth if you are going to get gassy.
I had to get up a lot and that meant displacing the fellow next to me.
I will leave Kent State around noon today. The drive home should be interesting. Something has to happen with all this food and it hasn't happened yet! eep!

By the way

My photo a day video on YouTube is up to 1,070 views. It has seven ratings - it is not rated very well. And there are only two comments. One is gobbledygook, which I am afraid is some sort of Web geek speak for, "it sucks" and the other is in French and actually means "it sucks."
C'est la vie.

From Kent, Ohio

In Kent State doing some recruiting work. It is very early in the morning and I am at loose ends. Maybe if I don't start working at 4 a.m. I won't get so tired in the afternoon.
Nah... it's the chemo.

Lucy celebrities

http://www.myheritage.com

Thursday already

Elections tend to send you into a time vortex... where am I? When am I? Somebody throw me a time preserver!!
Tried to make a DVD of Lucy movies to send with Lucy to school for show and tell.
Is that a little over-the-top.
WTF are we going to do for science fairs? Full length cgi movie?
Create a spell check just for daddy?

Lucy photos, soccer, school

More lunch notes

Click on the notes to see them real big


I had to spend a few hours sitting around a doctor's office getting juiced up on cancer drugs. So, I had some time to doodle. People say Lucy is lucky. I am not so sure.




I guess I could have used my time better, but I can't see how.

Vote early, then lay back in a comfy chair and get stuffed full of drugs

MMMm....second day of chemo....
Shouldn't be too bad, the needle is already in and that is the only painful part. I have had some side effects. When I touch something cold with my hands itmakes them feel like they are falling asleep and when I drink something just the slightest bit cold it feels like there is a fishbone stuck in my throat. I did get really tired yesterday afternoon but that might be because I have not been sleeping much.

Let's make it a thousand

This is the most viewed of my 60 or so videos on YouTube at 964. It would make me complete to see it hit 1,000

chemo underway

My first session of chemo has been completed and I am hooked up with my old pal the Curlin Medical 4000 CMS. I have to wear this for 22 hours then get another 2 hour batch at the doctor's office and then 22 more hours on the pump. Then I take a week off from medicine before I do it all again. I have to complete the 3 day course 4 times before I have any hope of not seeing a doctor for a while.
I like doctors alright, I got nothing against them, but this is getting a little silly.

Pictures from our trip to Cincinnati

Guess who is older!



Posing with the brew crew.. Hey it was after 10 a.m.!



Dad giving Syracuse Athletic Director Dr. Daryl Gross some sage advice. "Get a player like Dave Bing."


Mike with a statue of Cincinnati great Oscar Robertson.


Dad with Syracuse Athletic Director Dr. Daryl Gross.

Weekend movies

We wrapped up the soccer season with a trip to Tim Hortons for some hot chocolate and some Timbits (donut holes. I played a little disc golf and Lucy and I made some movies for our friends in Germany.
We are going to try to learn some German phrases. It's part of our heritage so it might come easy.

The first one is a video about Lucy's Halloween Candy. She got more candy than any little girl should eat in a lifetime, but I am betting it will last a week (with mommy and daddy's help).


And here is Lucy's new version on an old favorite. She really does think that she is funny. Maybe she is. You be the judge.

Celebrity Look alikes

Check out Warren G.!

late halloween costume idea

I could have gone as a kangaroo!!! I already have my pouch!

Parent Teacher Conference Results

Turns out Lucy is doing well in kindergarten.
In all the categories they have tested so far, she scored above where she is supposed to be at the end of the year.
We still have concerns about her ability to keep her hands to herself but the teacher says it is getting better.
The big deal about her behaviour is that,the teacher thinks, Lucy is developing a sense of humor and is exploring the boundaries of that humor.
In most families each generation gets smarter.
I believe in the Graser family we have evidence that while each generation is showing incremental increases in intelligence, the humor factor is off the charts.
Graser's aren't getting smarter, they're getting funnier.
Not sure if that's a good thing.

Parent Teacher Conference Tonight

Should be interesting. Lucy was shown a yellow card today for "beating up" a class mate.
Lucy used the term "beat up" but I am not sure if it means what we think it means. Sounds like there was a lot of playing involved. At least that's my story.
Soccer game tonight got called because of cold conditions.. babies.

Expensive bones

Lucy and I made the headstone and we bought the bag o' bones at Wal Mart.
The dirt pile was courtesy of our sewer repairmen who left us a great big bill too.

This is the only fun we got out of the great wads of money we spent.

My toilet time has dropped by about 95 percent, for chissakes!