My gradual shrinking is apparently due to my spinal column compressing and I am almost two inches shorter than I was in my prime... and I am learning techniques to stretch that spine so I can get some relief from the peripheral neuropathy... of course mine is minimal compared to yours, but I do have some comprehension of the pain. Not intending to really even make comparisons, but constant pain is terribly wearing and trying to walk with feet that cannot always feel where they are is anxiety producing. Anyhow, I walk more in S.A., and that seems to help, but so does the mega dose of B vitamins... have you tried that?

I´ve ben without any internet at all while here, so apologies for not checking in sooner... you are in my thoughts every day nevertheless and not just cuz we share a symptom... hugs from the jungle again, yer pal.

Sigh.... this sounds like a modern day Thurber-esk event... one thing I've come to realize with my Apple is that it's a case of WUSIWUG... What U See Is What U Got... no way to optimize it except to trade up to one with more memory. I made the mistake of thinking I would not possibly use up 8Gigs of memory on my iPod... Mistake. And now I cannot 'improve' it... I have to get another one with 16 or 32 Gigs... gasp. But gee, Mr. Jobs, why did you do it that way? Same with the MacBook... and at least now with the cloud I can minimize some of the storage issues, but I get lost in the clouds... and can't find my way home without calling someone. Sigh. Ur pal.

And well you should - wear your geekdom with pride... I rather suspect you of being too modest about your accomplishments, and had I known of you sooner, I would doubtless have been able to write some journalistic bits about "the designer, the inventor," and gotten it published in a few places. Is it too late? You have, at least, tootled your own little horn a little with Deludia, and for that there must be more than a few who are grateful besides lil' ole me.

Your mind, in your opinion, may have suffered some diminishment from the chemo, but as long as I have known you, it appears to me that it is very like a large steel trap hidden under snow with some branches waiting for some unsuspecting dufas bear to come wandering along. SNAP! And it's caught... and you waste no time, no tolerance for fools, but deftly come to the point, laying out your position in essay format and then succinctly finalizing, as if you had skinned the bear totally with a few good swipes.

This Deludia is a legacy of your Selfness... as authors write books, you have written down the journey, leaving a few bread crumbs in the snow for others to follow. Yes, the snow does eventually melt, and all the things any of us have ever done may be washed out with the spring rain - or burned up in a fire like the Alexandria Library in Egypt - but that doesn't diffuse the impact of NOW... and every little crumb feeds someone, gives them something.

It is not your ego I want to nurture with my praise... but your heart. I want you to know that giving your heart in this endeavor is not wasted, that you have fed this little bird who trills a little louder because of you. Yer pal

I don't know if you ever stop in at my blog, but I'm running a special on memories over there, too... isn't it delightful to recall the hilarity of rolling a younger sibling down an incline in a baby carriage headed for the bramble bushes? Or being chased by chickens? As long as the memories don't go down the path of tragedy and the loss of classmates in a wasteful car accident before graduation... visiting with a dear old, long time friend took us up and down the memory hills including our early days of crime (but sitting in the town jail at age 9 puts an end to that spree in a hurry!) and punishment - imagine getting grounded for learning how to shave your legs today?

Just wanted you to know I am still capable of putting fingers on the keyboard and that I'm still.... yer pal

I hope you are feeling much better by now... I have been struggling with a cold for two weeks and finally am getting over it, but it's been really disagreeable - won't go into the details. I know with MM a cold like the one I've just had could be scary, to say the least. I leave Colorado tomorrow, and all the snow, to head back to ground-brown Florida for awhile. Intending that your fever is under control and you are not feeling required to say "drat" from any brain damage.... yer pal

Hey hey Merry Merry and all that jazz... liked the story about the Good Deeds but for some reason i couldn't post my appreciation there... and this one has more of your wry sense of humor - you could be selling these to some more-widely read outlet, I feel certain! I have, after 36 hours of bussing, flying and driving, returned to Florida only to add on another 11 hours of driving, flying and driving, to get to Colorado for a family Christmas. Joyful when you watch your 12-year old grandson have a temper tantrum because he didn't get exactly what he asked for... Oh well, that's what Christmas is all about - spoil the kids so rotten that a pair of mariachis from South America seem like junk while a $1000 techy toy is barely acceptable. Hope your day is lovely. Hugs from yer pal XO

What I do not get is that I have clicked on either Twitter or FB several times and I never get anywhere with it on here. So perhaps there is some glitch, or maybe just for me being in the jungle n' all.... at any rate, we do have to stay in contact, touch, whatever because there is clearly an effort on the part of the powers that be to keep us separated and stupid... in some cases, that will not require much effort, it seems.

You are my all-time favorite Trooth-Teller and I'm interested in making sure I can support you in that effort... yer pal

What I do not get is that I have clicked on either Twitter or FB several times and I never get anywhere with it on here. So perhaps there is some glitch, or maybe just for me being in the jungle n' all.... at any rate, we do have to stay in contact, touch, whatever because there is clearly an effort on the part of the powers that be to keep us separated and stupid... in some cases, that will not require much effort, it seems.

You are my all-time favorite Trooth-Teller and I'm interested in making sure I can support you in that effort... yer pal

I remember such a winter, though I think because we were higher up on a hill we didn't get the same kind of effect... but we still had huge piles of snow to tunnel through and I thank you for the memories...very nicely crafted images... yer pal

Sad to think that my children and theirs have no idea about Pearl Harbor or today's date... I enjoy (i guess I can use that word) Tora Tora Tora and have the special Edition of "Pearl Harbor" but didn't feel like watching it tonight. We celebrate here the Day of the Virgin tomorrow, and tonight the skies were filled with fireworks, in spite of the drenching rains, and people singing off key as nuns cautioned us about the forthcoming 'Navidad' season which is NOT about presents but about the birth of our savior.

Unhuh... OK, if you say so. I'm thinking about having to travel 3,000 plus miles to another warm and humid place and pretend this is Christmas when it resembles nothing like the snowy, cold days of my past. But my past is no concern of my children and my grandchildren. They are too preoccupied with material things - and don't want silly hats from a foreign country or anything else that might force them to think there is another world besides theirs to consider... pretty much the same bias about Pearl Harbor, if they thought about it at all. yer pal