Suckerpunch

Suckerpunch Number One
Way back in the Spring, or sometime in the past, honestly, my memory for non-numerical items has never been anything more than decent, I was made aware of the Randy Pausch Last Lecture.  Since our internet is satellite, we cannot download anything, even a 2-minute YouTube video, without getting our bandwidth spanked and put in timeout (this is called FAP).  So I ordered the DVD and it has been sitting in South Dakota waiting for us.  When our neighbors from Canada came back to PaaMul they brought not only the video, but all our mail since November 2007 and all the books I have ordered.  They also brought a sewer valve gate I had shipped directly to them.  It was like Christmas all over again.  The boys and I watched the DVD of The Last Lecture and discussed brick walls, idols and dreams.  Jesse downloaded Alice and has run the tutorial and we’ll see where he goes with that.  The sucker punch?  His last line.  The lecture got a bit dry at times when he wandered all over his experience and people in his field but it definitely held the interest of a 12yo and 14yo and made this 47 year old cry.  Highly recommended.  If you can’t get the DVD free anymore, leave me a comment and I’ll mail it to you when we get back to the US.

Suckerpunch Two
I think my dysequilibrium is getting better but I’m not sure.  I’ve been taking the medicine prescribed and tomorrow will be my last day.  It has taken until yesterday (8 days of meds) to make me begin to think the meds are working.  But the suckerpunch is that the awful, horrible, no good, very bad cawfee that Jamie has been buying resulted in such awful heart palpitations that I ended up GIVING UP CAWFEE for a number of days until I realized I could do espresso, one shot, and be ok with that.  But I HATED that cawfee.  But I hated the heart palpitations more.  I missed my good Cubano roast so much, and jamie had nothing left to chop but the toes, that I finally headed into town MYSELF and picked up 2 kilos.  And today, I have had TWO CUPS of cawfee and life is good.  And I think the meds might be working.  I’ll go to the doc on Tuesday or Wednesday and see what is what as the dysequilibrium is definitely worse in the afternoon and really really bad during and after exercise.  But I’m hoping that is just low blood pressure.

Suckerpunch Three
Hurricane Gustavo wasn’t enough for the Haitians and apparently the gods have decided to send them Hurricane Ike to complete the one-two suckerpunch.  We’ll get skirted again, just like Gustavo and I am a firm believer in the tortugas.  The kids and I wanted to do something to help and found The Lambi Fund of Haiti.  Not only are they offereing aid, but they promote self-sustainability and don’t look tied to any religious requirements on those receiving services.  It always seems to unfair and wrong to tie aid to those desperately in need to belief or conversion.  So two thumbs up here.

Suckerpunch Four
Along with many books I’d forgotten I’d even ordered (and some were free and some I don’t even remember) we got books that USPS showed had not even arrived in South Dakota.  When USPS says the materials are still en route I tend to believe their tracking and figure I have time to figure out how to incorporate the books, especially if they are part of a curriculum.  Fortunately or unfortunately, the Story of the World I and II books arrived and while I’m aware of the claims of inaccuracy and editing issues, I figured they were good storybooks for the girls and they’ll get a second go-around at Ancient Cultures in 4 years anyway so they are “good enough”.  And then Jamie started reading Volume I and I’ve been scrambling ever since trying to tie in other books we have and internet resources to flesh out the book until I get the rest of the books I’d planned on using.  Hard to believe this unschooler is scheduling anything but I’ve decided we’ll try Classical Relaxed Eclectic Sometimes Homeschooling for a year (enough qualifiers there?) and see what the kids think.  I am thinking it will just not work with Jesse but it really seems to speak to Pike.  I have pretty much decided to keep a homeschooling blog to keep all this stuff there and dump it out of my head (since right now everything is on scraps of paper and links) but haven’t started yet.  Promises.

Suckerpunch Five
Pike damaged his foot on the trampoline and after a day of awful pain and bruising I decided to take him to the doctor. Same one who is working on my dysequilibrium. It was after 3pm so the receptionist called in the radiographer who took x-ray and declared the foot without break. Doc didn’t even check the x-ray but gave us lots of advice and caution and was a calm, soothing presence (aren’t they ALL here?). I could have done without the $250MN consult and next time I”ll probably decline it after hearing from a radiologist, but the bill was $825MN (about $82.50USD). I almost died from shock – that is high for Mexico but apparently, might be low for this touristy area. Next time he’ll have to tough it out with ice and ibuprofen.

Suckerpunch Six
I gained 2 kilo with Sissy’s amazing Apple Pie birthday “cake” and overate the next day (because one day of gorging myself was apparently not enough) but then kicked those kilos to the kerb and I’m back to 80 kilos this morning. Very happy I suckerpunched those kilos.

Cliff Notes version:
Jamie gets to keep his toes.
I’m in cawfee nirvana.
Kids doing the great year-long experiment unless they don’t.
Randy Pauch will make you cry.
Medical care is either expensive or cheap.
80 kilos.

Today it was Jamie’s turn to pick our destination but he decided he’d rather do it tomorrow and is still deciding the where. I think I’ll drag the boys out to the reef in kayaks as there is little sun for snorkeling.