Becca's 4th Bithday parties

It's been a little while since I've posted.  Kind of a lot going on.
Back in November was Becca's 4th birthday party!

 

There are a ton of pictures.  I think Becca had a great time!  So now we have the 5th Birthday to look forward to.  I remember my 5th birthday,I got my first goat.  I don't see Becca getting a goat, but we'll see what happens.

Mickey's First Bithday Party pictures

Finally pictures from Mickey's First Birthday party!

Mary in 2006

Here is Mary back in 2006...

Mary Frances Young… Rest In Peace

In my continued effort to keep the blog up to date it’s time for a tough post about my little sister, Mary Frances Young.

In early August my sister Mary was pulled over for a DWI.  She tested so high that the police took her to the hospital.  She spent a week or so in the hospital going through a detox treatment.  The doctors told her if she drank again, it would kill her.  As oppose to some other members of my family, she listened to them.  She attended Alcoholics Anonyms meets and really was trying to turn her life around. 

Unfortunately at the end of August she had more health problems.  She was admitted to the hospital and they found that Mary had liver failure.  But it seemed that she was on the mends.  Below is an update from my sister Cindy who visited her. 

9/8/2011
For quite some time, Mary has been suffering from severe hemmoriods accompanied with bleeding. After several trips to Onslo hospital in Jacksonville, NC, she called to was admitted to the hospital in Wilmington, NC., late August. Last Tuesday (8/30/11) my mother was called by Mary to tell her that she is extremely sick. That she has stage-4 cirrhosis of the liver. My mother flew in the next morning. In the meantime, beside worrying, I started my search for info of this disease.

I spoke with Mary last Tues through Thurs, she was in a lot of pain, but otherwise, her cheery self. When I called on Friday (9/2/11), she was crying, as she was so confused and couldn't remember things. That night, actually early Sat. morning, she stopped breathing. She was worked on by the medical staff and taken to ICU. She had began with a mask taped to her which she received oxygen. Sat night-Sun morning she deteriorated to having to be sedated and put on a ventilator. Most of Sunday night I spent researching, as at that time I was under the impression that she had beginning stage-4 cirrhosis.

However, at that time, I knew that she was severely jaundiced, her ammonia levels in her body were extremely high, she was having bleeding from her rectum, and was on total life support. I was shocked by what I had discovered by 3 am Monday morning. She is in end-stage cirrhosis.

I spoke with both Bill and my Mother that morning. From the answers to several questions, I knew that neither knew of the gravity of her condition. Neither had been able to speak with a doctor since Friday. I called and talked with the ICU nurse. She said that she had very little, if any, liver function. I got a plane ticket for the next morning.

When I got here on Tues (9/6/11), I went straight to the hospital. I spoke with the ICU nurse and she informed me that Mary had been deteriorating rapidly. There was very little, but some, liver cells alive. She has extreme fluid build-up in both her lungs and stomach. She is unable to breathe on her own. After my visit with Mary, I met with the hospital's equivalency of a hospice nurse. She was very polite, but every time I asked specific questions, I was met with "That's something you'll have to ask the doctor." Our meeting concluded, and as I waited for Mom and Bill to arrive, I was approached by a lady from St. Mary's Parrish. She had been seeing Mary everyday. She came to see if the family was in need of a priest. This is the very thing that was in my notes to have done. We agreed that Father Kuz would come at 6 pm to perform the "Sacrament of the Sick". I found out later that Mary had, the last day that she were conscious, received "Viaticum" (Last Holy Communion).

Mom & Bill arrived and I talked to Bill of the information that I had discovered. Neither he nor Mom knew her condition status. All three of us spoke with the hospice nurse for a while. We felt as if we were in a fog. No specifics, again the "You'll have to speak with the doctor", so I said, "Well where the hell is the doctor and why isn't he here explaining, because quite frankly, as friendly as you are, I'm not here to make friends, I need some answers." We were assured that the doctor would call in the morning to arrange a meeting. Up most of the night reviewing my research and writing more questions to prepare for the meeting.

Tues. morning, after a few calls, I was told that Dr. Neal was not in today. I said I had been waiting, but have to take Mom to store, but then I'll be right over, and I am going to speak with a doctor TODAY!

While at the store with Mom, her cell rings. I hear " But we're just across the street and we will be right there ...."  I took the phone from her, and its Dr. Neal. He's leaving the hospital and busy for the rest of the day, but might be able to see us sometime tomorrow. In a not very quiet voice I say, " I don't give a shit how busy you are, my baby sister is dying ad we are going to be seen Today!" He politely asked if we could meet him in the ICU at 5pm.

We met and had a very informative meeting. We know that she is in end-stage cirrhosis.

Here are the conditions that Mary is suffering from:

• Liver-failure
• Ascites (abdominal swelling, fluids)
• Haptic Encephalopathy (confused mental state due to high ammonia levels)
• Jaundice (yellow skin & eyes)
• Variceal Bleeding (rectal bleeding)
• Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis (high white blood cell counts)
• Hypernatremia (low electrolytes)
• Esophageal Varices (enlarged veins lower esophagus)
• Portal Hypertension (hypertension of hepatic portal vein)
• Septic shock, bacteria in bloodstream
• ARDS (acute lung injury)
  Edema (swelling in most of her body)
• Pneumonia

What she does NOT have:

• Brain damage
• Hepatorenal Syndrome (kidney failure)

She is not in a coma, but sedated to keep her on the ventilator.

Each day she is being assessed by a team of ICU doctors.

Right now there are no plans to remove her from the ventilator.

Dr. Neal went through a list of conditions that may (must) improve before that is an option.

He was encouraging that she may be able to get a little stronger, that should they be able to take the ventilator out, she could still have a chance for some visiting.

She's going to always need medical attention, constantly. We will have to take it day-by-day for right now. Since Mary is going to be in ICU for quite sometime, I'm bringing Mom home later today. She's exhausted in many ways. I convinced her that while Mary is in ICU, to come home for a bit and get some rest. We'll come back later.

I will be calling the ICU at least everyday. They said call anytime, and you can bet I will.

She did seem to improve over the next week or so.

9/12/2011

Good news!

The ventilator was removed about 8:30 this morning. Mary is still in alot of pain, among other things, but she is awake and responding.

In fact, Bill had gone to visit about an hour ago and she told him to shut up and get out of here!

Gotta love her!

9/20/2011

I went to Wilmington on Friday 9/16/11 to see Mary. Mom & I got there pretty late, so we stopped the hospital for a quick "Hi" and to tell her we'd be back Saturday in the morning.

We went on Saturday and had a real good visit. She was alert and had no evidence of brain fog. We had a great day. We came back again on Sunday. Another great day, but she had some swelling of her leg and abdomen. Mom & I stayed for a long while. I even gave her a pedicure before we left. She was supposed to have some of the fluid removed from her stomach on Monday morning, around 7ish. I was going to go to the hospital early and let Mom sleep in a bit.

   Bill called me about 7:45 am and said Mary was in pain and crying (He was not nearby, but I was). I left right away. I got to her room and she was cold, so I got a warm blanket and laid in her bed and snuggled her to warm her up. The medical personnel came and got her to go to the room to do the fluid removal.

   Things went south from there. I don't want to go into the details, but she was taken to ICU, as she had severe internal bleeding and could not be repaired.

Mary died at 11:03 pm Monday, September 19, 2011.

The funeral was September 26.  It was a very nice funeral as funerals go, but it was a funeral.  I’ll try to put together a summary of our life together in the future.

New Job at Ft. Meade

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted an update so I’ll start with my new job.

I’ve been looking for a job close to home for years.  I’ve been applying for jobs as a Federal employee through www.USAJobs.com without any luck for a few years too.  In March/April I applied for a job and waited.  In June I heard back from the government and they asked if I was still interested.  Of course I was and we proceeded with the hiring process.  I started working for the US Army as a civilian on August 15.  I’ve been there about  weeks now and really like it! 

I work with a lot of enlisted soldiers and because me military rank would essentially be a Major, they all call me Mr. Young.  It just seems odd, I am use to referring to people that I work with by their first name and a lot of times when they come into my office, they stand at attention. I am the civilian IT supervisor for a new brigade.  This is where I want to be in my career.  Who knows where is will go, but I am happy in my career for the first time in a long time!

Happy 1st Birthday Mickey!

Today (7/22) is Michael Richard Young Jr.'s 1st Birthday!  We are having his party Saturday, I'll post some pictures after the party.

I'm published!

It's been a little while since I last posted.  Nothing major has taken place.  I'll make a few posts to make it seem like a lot.
  I have a reason to play poker.  I am now a monthly contributer to Ante Up magazine, and the Mid-Atlantic Ambassador.  A link to the magazine is below, my column is on page 12 and I have another article on page 46.  Here is a link to the magazine:
http://www.anteupmagazine.com/magazine/ante-up-magazine-july-2011.htm

 As for my other poker activities, while Teri and the kids were out of town, I had chance to get a lot of play in.  The evening they left I played in a tournament in Southern Maryland, I lost early-ish.  The next day (Sunday June 12) my Mother and I went up to Delaware Park for the day.  I played a long time, but didn't cash.  I played my usual Monday night tournament at Ft. Meade on 6/13.  I did bring a local author of a poker book with me.  As it turned out, he won the tournament that night!
So Friday night, 6/17 I went down to the VFW in California, MD. Again, lost early.  This was really a waste of my time for this tourney.
Saturday June 18, my Mom and sister went to Delaware Park and played all day.  I started with the 9:00am tourney, then the noon tourney, finally the 4pm tourney.  I didn't cash in either of the first two, but I WON the final tourney!  Not a bad way to wrap up the weekend.  Teri and the kids came home the next day, so my poker has been shut down since then (except my Monday night tourney).
  I do plan to hit Dover on Sunday July 10.  They have a summer poker series and I want to play the 6 handed tournament.  I will probably take my sister and mother again, and maybe my friend Ray also.

Camping…

Next week our daycare provider is taking one of her weeks off (a week each month in the summer months).  So we need to find something to do with the kids during this time.  Teri is taking them with her parents to a campground near Virginia Beach.  Being a campground, they will be camping.  Teri owns a pop-up camper, that hardly gets used.  Thus there is some rotting over the years.  The past couple of weeks, Teri’s parents have been working on it to get it into camping shape.

Yesterday I looked into having the electrical connection for a trailer repaired on my van.  The place I took it to, couldn’t do the work this week.  So I got a brochure to rent a motor home.  For a couple reasons really; a)This is the first camping trip with Becca and easing into this might be better. b)It will be a lot easier to sleep. c)I’m not sure that the pop-up won’t leak.

This is what the motor home will look like.  Its a pretty nice one, it should be an interesting trip.

Mechanic update

After I sent the e-mail to Walt Eger yesterday, he called me in the afternoon apologizing and saying that it was a specific tech that he let go and hoped to have me back as a customer.  I’m not sure if I’m going back.  It won’t be for a little while if I do.

Now the ironic part.  I have my van in the shop at the place I took my van to have the water pump checked (Dorsey Transmissions, but they do everything).  Just an oil change and routine maintenance. They found the water pump was now leaking and needs to be replaced.  I had them do it.

Dishonest Mechanic

Back in December, I took my van in for service at my usual mechanic.  Just routine service and oil change.  I waited to have the work done.

  While waiting there a customer came in to pay for his work and check out. The customer was told that he needed a water pump. I continued to wait when another customer came in to pick up her vehicle. She was told that she needs a new water pump on her vehicle. Finally when my vehicle was completed and I was called to the counter I too was told I need a water pump. Warning bells went off and I said no. I was warned to watch the cooling gauges and I could have major damage if it went up. I know a water pump would effect the engine cooling and I saw no changes in the temperature gauge.

  I took the vehicle to another shop about 2 months after this incident. They visually inspected and saw no leakage and injected a dye into the cooling for a UV inspection. After driving a couple of days I returned and they saw no coolant leaking and all was working as it was suppose to be. The mechanic said a water pump is very obvious when they stop working and usually very easy to diagnose.
 
I bring this up now, because I received an e-mail from Walt Eger's and it got me riled up again.  Over the years I have given them literally $1000's in work and now I question if I got screwed over about other things too.  I don't know if my e-mail will make an difference, or if it will go to the owner.  But to do nothing would not have done me any good.

Birthday Party Day...and other stuff

Reunion...
My sister Cindy and I haven't spoken since she left Florida last month.  Teri convinced me to call her and I did Friday evening.  She wasn't home, but Teri go in touch with her and talked briefly Friday.
Saturday morning she stopped by and we had breakfast together.  We got caught up and I think things are good now. 
Birthdays...
It was a Perfect Storm of birthday parties on Saturday.
After my sister left, Teri and Becca went to Wal-Mart for birthday present shopping.  They came home and made a cake for him.  I put Mickey down for his nap, and took a nap myself.

It was my father-in-law's actual 71st birthday.  The in-laws came over to try to fix Teri's pop-up camper.  I woke from my nap and found that Teri went to the doctor, the presents wrapped, and cake made for my father-in-law.  Teri has had a sinus problem for a couple weeks and her ears were stopped up.  She got sick of it and went to Right Time.
After Teri got home, we sang happy birthday to Dad and opened gifts.  Then it was off to the next party.

The boy next door Bradley, had his 6th birthday party.  Becca seemed to have a really good time, as she was there 3 hours.

Finally, it was off to Pump It Up for Becca's daycare friend, Samantha's 5th birthday.  We all climbed all over the gigantic inflatable slides, bounce houses, obstacle courses and more. All had a good time!  We got home around 10:00pm and were done for the day.  All in all, a great day!

Another job update...

I had my interview at TWM, Tuesday morning.  This is the job that seemed really good.
I got there about 20 minutes early, but you never know how public transportation is running, so it's better to be early then late. 
I meet with the CEO if the company and a couple of things jumped out at me right away.
"...I need an Architect, not a Scanner..."  I don't thing I have Architect anywhere in my resume.
"...we have about 25 employees, and I don't want to see it get much more then that..."  It doesn't sound like there is a lot of growth potential at this company.
I then went on to meet with 3 other people.  None could really tell me what my specific job would be, nor could they tell me what their job was.  They seemed friendly, but it seemed like they were just going though the motions.  They really didn't want to be there to interview me.  It was rather disappointing.  I had such high-hopes for this interview also.
They didn't say straight out that I wasn't going to be hired, but I could feel it.

I'll probably hold tight on the job I have for the summer.  Unless a REAL offer of something a lot better comes along.  I'm stuck here.

Memorial Day Delaware Poker tour

As part of my duties as the Mid-Atlantic Ambassador to Ante Up magazine, I set out Monday morning with my Mother to visit (and play in) a couple of the poker rooms in Dealaware.  Frist up was Delaware Park.

At first my mom and I were put off a little.  It seemed small.  This was our mistake.  We went in the wrong entrance.  It's a very nice casino and while the layout snakes around, it's all there!  Getting to the poker room was a little strange at first but I found it and all was good.  The website satated that the $10k tournament started at 11am.  This was a mistake and it started at noon.
The floor manager recognized this pretty quickly and noticed a lot of people milling around and asking about cash games.  He was quick on his feet and immediately opened 2-3 cash tables.  This was smart.  If people had to wait too long, they migh just leave the room and come back when the tournament started.
I did speak to the asistant room manager and he was very friendly and helpful.  He took my card and told me he would send me information on upcoming tournaments and specials.  He asked when my deadline was and will be sending me information about poker room happenings.  This seemed to go pretty good.

So about the tournament.  There were 155 entrants, which was a nice size toruney.
I started off with a string of hands that were just second best and fell behind.  I was down to my last 1500 (with 400-200 blinds) in chips and got king-nine of clubs.  Good as time as any to move in.  One caller and he had king-queen (yikes).  I ended up hitting a 9 and stayed alive.  A couple hands later I am UTG and get ace of spades, ace of clubs.  I push all in with 3300.  I got two callers.  On the flop one of them hit his set of 8's and I was done.  Time to collect my mother, have lunch, and head down to Dover.

We got to Dover a little early, but I thought it would give me time to play cash game, and talk to the room manager.  Well the room manager really wasn't ver forthcoming with information about upcoming tournaments.  He was just the assistant manager and he asked me to call the regular room manager.  I spoke to the regular room manager last week and he wasn't very helpful.  I was hoping a face-face meeting would break the ice a little, but no doing.
I did play in the 7pm tournament in Dover.  There ended up being only 8 entries.  This was bad.  They blamed it on being a monday, but it was Memorial Day!  Anyway, I did end up winning the tournament (technically splitting) for $252.  Beats loosing, but it would been nice to have had more people in the game.

Now I'm off to write my column!

Job update

I decided that I it won't work out with L3.  While i like the benefits, it comes down to the pay being too little.  Sorry to be such a prima donna, but I gotta eat!

I got word today that they want to keep me on here at CACI.  It's a weird contact that I need to stay here another 450 hours before I can move on to the full-time CACI contract.  I'm not resting on my laurels, I have an interview on Tuesday that I am looking forward to.

Job hunting...again...

I haven't lost this job yet, but it ends Friday.  My manager submitted my resume for another position within CACI but there seems to be a lot up in the air.  My manager said it was all set, but until I have an offer letter, I don't trust anything. 

  So I am keeping my options open.  I had an interview with L3 corp and the job is located near the New Carrolton Metro station.  I think I won the interview, but....(there is always a but) let me do a pros can cons

Pro - It's a job.       Con - The pay is a bit of a cut.
Pro - The travel to New Carollton isn't too bad.    
Con - I have to walk about 1/2 mile to the office from the train station and I didn't notice anywhere to eat lunch.
Pro - It gets me back into working with systems.    Con - They are old systems and Sun Solaris systems.

That's about it.  The woman I interviewed with seemed to love me.  Let me get the offer first and I'll weigh what happens after that.

Next Tuesday I have an interview with a company that really looks good.  They have GREAT benifits and the job is located at Ft. Meade.  But it always seems that whenever there is a job that I really WANT I don't get it and end up settleing for some half-assed organization that is doesn't know what they are doing and has a shitty work environment, but think you should be happy to have a job. 

I also have a few other feelers out there, but most people won't make a deceision in the near term as they try to find a way to make it on the cheap.

PPA rally in DC

Today at lunch time, I attended the rally at The Capital for the Poker Players Alliance.  This group's goal is to make online poker legal and regulated.  This rally was trying to do just that.  Below are a couple of pictures from the rally.

This is me and Greg Raymer, professional poker player.

This is Sen. Alfonse D’Amato and Greg Raymer

Not so lucky tonight...

I played poker in the weekly game at Ft. Meade and finished in 8th place.

What sucked is that I came to the final table as the chip leader, I was down to 3 big blinds and worked my way back up to the chip lead.  But at the final table I had a lot of second best hands, I even had pocket Ace's cracked.  It was a rough way to go out, but I have the points to play in the Championship game (top 24 people in the past 10 weeks). 
Tomorrow at lunch time I am going to Capital Hill for the Poker Players Alliance 'Fly-In'.  This is a rally and press conference to try to have on-line poker legalized and regulated.  I will report what happens from there.

Recent media that I have ingested

Since it's been a while for posting my ramblings, I have continued to read, watch TV and movies.  So without further adu, let's start with books.

First up I recently finished They Call Me Baba Booey by Gary Dell'Abate.  Baba Booey is the nickname that the author was given on the Howard Stern show over 20 years ago.  The book is an autobiography.  As with most people, there are triumphs and tragedies, people who anchor you, and people who drive you crazy.  This book is no different.  While a lot of people know Gary from the Stern show, his personal life is a lot different (as most people in the media usually are) and this is no different.  It's interesting how his family his relationship with his crazy Mother helped to actually strengthen his personality on when dealing with the public.  Overall the book is good, not great.  I would give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

Next up on the hit parade, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris.  In this explosive new book, Sam Harris tears down the wall between scientific facts and human values, arguing that most people are simply mistaken about the relationship between morality and the rest of human knowledge. Harris urges us to think about morality in terms of human and animal well-being, viewing the experiences of conscious creatures as peaks and valleys on a "moral landscape". Because there are definite facts to be known about where we fall on this landscape, Harris foresees a time when science will no longer limit itself to merely describing what people do in the name of "morality"; in principle, science should be able to tell us what we ought to do to live the best lives possible. 

It was difficult to listen to at times as Harris described the atrocities that religion forces on various societies.  But he has to point of the atrocities to make his case of how terrible organized religion treats everyday people.  I agree with the premise of the book, and after reading this book, it only reaffirmed what I had felt before.  I would give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

A break from the books.  I saw Thor a last week, and I was impressed!  I was never a comicbook kid.  The only way I knew of the various superheros was from Saturday morning cartoons.  So when these vaious comicbook movies come out, I like the background story that a lot of them provide.  What I don't like is when they are a 'hit' and then go back and make  pre-quil.  Start at the begining and take it from there.  I think Marvel is kind of doing that with these movies that are leading up to The Avengers movie in 2012, essentially building a grand story from all of these individuals.
Anyway, the story is really good and I give it 4 our of 5 stars.



I'll add updates as I read and watch more.

Mid-Atlantic Ambassador to Ante Up Magazine...

It's official, I am now the Mid-Atlantic Ambassador for Ante Up Magazine! This gives me an excuse to visit poker rooms in the region and write about my observations.

Most of the time I will visit the local charity games and the rooms in Delaware.  I'll visit with the poker room managers and write a monthly column for the magazine.  While it doesn't pay anything, I hope it will give me a higher profile in the poker community.

13 years of eBay...

Wow! Time flies.  I know I was one of the first people I know to get on ebay, but 13 years is a long time.  I wish I could remember why I originally logged in.  For that matter, what was the first item that I won.  Here's to another 13 years with ya ebay!  It's been an interesting road together!

Lucky Day...

This past Monday, was my lucky day.
I was coming through the DC Metro.  I was at L'Efant Plaza metro station going to my next train, when I look down and see some money on the ground.  I reached down and grabed it and went on to my next train.  On the train I counted it, $84!  I thought it was just a couple of dollars.

Later that night, I played poker in my weekly game at Ft. Meade and won!  This time $100!  Not bad for a day.

Update...It's been almost a yeat!

So it's been a while since I've posted anything here.  Most of my posts have been on Facebook, but I shouldn't abandon my good ole Blog.  I'll give you the highlights since my last post, which was around the time of Mickey's birth.

Things sure are a lot busier with two kids.  It's not just twice the work, it's expodential or more.  But we are surviving... Teri was out of work from July 22 until right after Columbus day. 

I was working on a contract for a company called IAI until the first week in August, 2010.  That was the end of the contract.  I wouldn't have taken this contract if I knew it was so short.  That happens, I joined a company at the end of August called SMS Data Products I thought I was going to be at this company for the long term.  But the contract was cut and we all lost our jobs.  This was really bad.  Something good did come out of it, I meet a great friend Toni.  I hope we are friends for a long time.

 Presently I am working a contract for a small company by the name of Alta IT Solutions.  I think the contract is going to end in a couple of weeks, so I have a lot of feelers out to find something else.  I really would like to find a job where I could stay a LONG time.

With the two kids, I have cut back on the concert goings.  But also, not many bands have come around that I am interested in seeing.  I did see Tom Petty last August and Rush in September.  Some pictures are below.

I thought I had pictures of Rush, but I guess I misplaced them.  Both shows were very good. 

We didn't have alot of snow over the winter, which I'm not complaining about.  This spring was pretty typical and I am working on the latest planting of the garden. 

It's nice to have help with the endeavor.

Other then that, I continue to play poker, exclusively at casinos since Full Tilt poker was shut down.  But I do hope to have more involvement with Ante Up magazine as I now thier Delaware/Maryland Ambassador.  It probably means more work for me, but it's something to do.  I'll be publishing 500 words each month in the magazine.

Now that we are up to date, I'll try to post regularly.