The Overdue Blogger had 2 Doctor visits today

I feel great.

I have my annual visit with my allergist this morning. 7:45 am apt. It is 8:24 and no doctor yet. Pushing an hour late at the earliest appointments of the day is why many overscheduled doctors never see you on time. Basically just here to have my prescriptions renewed for the year

This afternoon I had my port flush (every 4 weeks). My bloodwork from a month ago was good. Tried a few times before now to get it faxed to me, but not successful

All my vitals are good. I’ve gained some lbs. Around 12 lbs since before Christmas. Karin on the other hand has lost around 75 pounds with her weightwatchers and training for a marathon. She looks fantastic.

Karin has a 5K run tomorrow night, the 3.1 miles is a silly short distance for a woman that runs 10 miles regularly now. Check out her training link.

http://www.active.com/donate/tntga/tntgaKBest

Bennett had a brief but bad bacterial infection of his left eye last week. It was also in his sinus and ears, but antibiotics did the trick in a hurry.

I have weekend call at work this weekend – lousy. Lots of fun things to do this weekend, but can’t plan for any due to the on call.

On vacation next week. I will get to see Bennett’s Easter egg hunt and St. Patrick’s parade with his class. Friday the 14th is the Savannah St. Patrick’s day parade. Hope the weather is good. Hope to post some pics.

Did some good sightseeing with our free time in Stockholm. Saw the Vasa Ship Museum. The museums in the Royal Palace. Too many others to list. We went to the Nobel Museum. I shed a few tears there…I saw the award for the men that discovered monoclonal antibodies – the Rituxin that has kept me alive is a monoclonal antibody.


Looking back:
Mark’s work travel in January-February – way too much:
1. drove to Charleston, picked up associate at airport
2. drove to IP Eastover Mill, near Columbia, SC
3. drove to IP Georgetown Mill, outside of Myrtle Beach, SC
4. Flew to IP Pensacola, FLMill, 14 hours in Atlanta airport due to snow, arrive at 3:00 am, 3 hrs in a Hampton Inn, full day at mill. Better than one of my associates that spent the night in the Atlanta airport with thousands of others
5. Flew to IP Pineville, LA, near Alexandria
6. Flew to Stockholm, Sweden
7. Flew to Karlstad, Sweden
8. drove to Kalmar, Sweden
9. Flew to Stockholm, Sweden10. Flew to Oslo, Norway prior to the return home
11. [here is where the fun began – not] Flew to (towards) the US, winds and weather made the return trip a disaster
- High winds required the 757 to stop in Goose Bay Canada for refueling – lots of snow in N/E Canada
- Landed at Newark, NJ in a snow storm (1000’s of flights cancelled in the NY area)
Continental gave us meal vouchers (2), motel voucher, and tickets for 6:35 in the am on NorthWest airlines. At first they said that there were no flights to Savannah for 2 days due to all of the cancellations/re-bookings. Eventually got a room at a Marriot at the airport (I had to call my travel service) after 3 busses and hours of waiting for rooms with an airline provided voucher (lottery ticket) for sold out rooms. It was an ugly scene. After we arrived at the sold out motel, busses continued to drop more and more loads of stranded travelers off. There were folks with kids, lots of elderly, and many foreigners. I assume that they eventually got rooms somewhere. I hope so.
- 1st thing am on NorthWest due to the weather mess the day before. 2+hour delay for de-icing leaving Newark, so we miss the only direct from Memphis to Savannah
- Northwest put us on US air with a connection in Charlotte, NC due to missing the direct to Savannah. Have to recheck our bags. Redo security. 2 of the 3 of us get flagged for the full search – thankfully not in a rush. Late arrival from Charlotte. They tell us that there are enough folks on the Charlotte to Savannah, that they will hold the connection for us. Land in CLT, electronic board indicated “boarding” so we run through 3 terminals. Arrive at the gate 5 min prior to scheduled takeoff. Door is closed. Plane sits there for 20 minutes. Lovely people won’t let us board.
- US Air to Savannah 2 hours later. I miss my neighborhood low-country boil.

Biggest learning from all of the travel…the airline folks tell you what you want to hear, just enough to move you away from them. When you think back at what they said with their carefully chosen words, it is not what you think you heard.

Take care,
Mark