Saturday, January 28, 2006

'arold!

No coughing today - which is miraculous.

Managed to get out and about quite a bit and to move with phlegmatic impunity until the early afternoon when my back started to ache like a rotten tooth in a Robin Williams movie. It's agony and my immediately turning into Albert Steptoe has done nothing to help matters.

Other stuff.

Bought a vacuum cleaner with a 7 year warranty - there's optimism! - it's Italian - there's more
Started to resent unfit looking smokers - bastards, who gave you the good genes?
My brother announced / admitted that he's about to become a dad - in 7 weeks. It's a girl
Walked through the Polish part of town - marvelling at how only in NYC can you go from hip to hip replacement in 3 blocks
Fell in love with Newborns at Ralph Lauren - making me the gayest straight man in the world (but c'mon cashmeer kimonos)
Took a pic in which I looked terrible - then posted it anyway in a 'see I AM sick' statement

Friday, January 27, 2006

Geo-targeted

If you talk to Matthew George - a very nice, bright man who I maintain is proof that John Denver and Kermit got very friendly during the making of the Muppet's Xmas album - he'll tell you all about Geo-targeting.

The idea is that media is getting smarter... that when people know what you're watching, or reading they'll now what ads to show you. In a geo-targeted world you'd get an ad for Kleenex just as they were telling you that you're favorite aunt had swallowed that ring you'd always wanted just before she died.

It's a simple idea. You get targeted with ads just at the right moment. The Internet should be great at this, but isn't. It will be.

Of course there are better ways to Geo-target. I've never understood why Kleenex for example haven't published the 100 greatest tear-jerkers as a range, inserting a tissue during every 'weepy' passage. The 'jerkers' idea could be extended too - I'd love to see the '100 sexiest' with tissues inserted for entirely different fluids too.

But I digress.

The people at the hospital told me that my biggest enemy would be constipation. Really? thought I before being regaled with stories of liver toxicity and all manner of things what could block me up bad. I was handed revolting drugs. Generic stool softeners, spasm inducing laxatives - and like a fool I took them.

Yesterday therefore was a just stomach spasm after stomach spasm. It was nasty, lots of bending double and cursing of the people who make 'senna X' or whatever.

And of course every spasm triggered the same ad' - a librarian suddenly doubles over with pain, her book trolley shoots off at comedic speed, it hits a bookcase, a domino effect is seen, library crashes down, 'bad day' is had, 'none spasm inducing laxatives' are recommended as a solution to both spasms and the decaying library system.

Damn if I'd only taken 'Senna XY'

If this is the future you can keep it - Tom Cruise's Minority Report future seemed sexier than this, but it's all the same.

Really, I don't want to be targeted, I want to watch Grey's Anatomy.

Is that too much to ask?

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

First day wothout drugs

Day whatever past first treatment and no drugs at all. Wah-hey.

Mind yesterday may have been a drug infused hallucination... a dog with its head stuck at the dog run, men with crow-bars, Japanese women buying jeans from what looked like someone's living room, a small dog that appeared in ours and 'the hulk's sister' on American Idol.. all just a little stranger than usual.

That said I'm drug free and ready for work - let's see how this day plays out

Steve

Monday, January 23, 2006

A tale of three coughs

Chemo +3 today and I'm up early and ready to head in and get my white blood cell boosting shot of 'as seen on TV' Neurestra (?)

Last three days have been the tale of three coughs. Saturday my tight cough of 4 months became a deep, chesty. booming thing that had me coughing up old wounds, bits of body and (for an hour over brunch) rather a lot of blood.

Day two was less bellowing - but no return to the love lorn seal bark of yore. Lots of nasty thick phlegm yesterday.

And today, much better. What a restaurant might describe as a 'stunningly light cappucino foam' - certainly the lighest cough (and the lightest 'product' of that cough) in months and months.

Of course by way of recompense (the universe demands payment after all) I woke up singing the Boyzone version of the Cat Stevens song 'Father and Son' - at 7am!

Not the most pleasant of posts I admit - but feeling sparkly good here today, let's see how long I can keep this going