Well, it's been a topsy-turvy couple of months.
Firstly, where for the last two and a half years I've worked for
AdECN, I now work for AdECN, a Microsoft™ company. That process
started out with the employees being told that negotiations to sell
the company were under way, but not with whom (though there had been
a few contenders). Then, when things had progressed to the point where
there was intent on both sides and i's and t's were being dredged up
from the muck for dotting and crossing, it was stated that the company
would stay in the Santa Barbara area, likely even in the same quarters,
should the deal go through. Weeks later, that was changed to the company
would be moved to Washington. With the parties converging on total
agreement, some of us were even taken to the Seattle
area to check it out, see where we might want to live, meet with folks,
etc. Then shortly after that, it changed back to staying here and the deal
was swiftly closed. One thing I've learned is that you don't take anything
for granted in a complicated business arrangement until the deal is done,
done, done.
During that time, about two months ago now, I also went to a doctor for
a physical. Since I'm 46+ years old and haven't really seen a doctor for
about thirty years, I figured I oughtta. I made the appointment and made
clear my age and what I was asking for, which was "the kind of physical
you're supposed to get when you're fifty". You know, in addition to the
turning and coughing, maybe an
EKG on a treadmill, the whole bit. In fact, I got very
little (not even reflexes, but maybe that's old school now) in the way of
being physically examined, though the "doctor" did order
a battery of blood tests. (She also brushed a hand across my forehead and
muttered "some pre-cancerous growth there", whereupon I mentioned that I'd
been sunburned the week before and she said "Oh." That's one of the reasons
I'm getting a new doctor. Which I would have had to do anyway, thinking I'd
be moving away from the area.)
There were two major conclusions from the blood tests, the surprising one
being that my thyroid gland had become quite lazy some time ago. I was
immediately prescribed levothyroxine, which is thyroid hormone, to be
administered orally once per day probably for the rest of my life. She
told me that, if the low dosage she was starting me on was sufficient, I'd
feel like a new man. I would realize that I hadn't even realized I wasn't
working up to par. Well, it was true, in a way. I've seen no particular
change generally, but almost immediately after beginning the regimen, I
found myself playing volleyball for two or three hours straight, where just
a week or two before I'd have to sit out quite a bit. That was a nice change.
A third thing that's happened during this time is that two young women
moved in next door to me. Very friendly, very outgoing, but not in an
obnoxious way. We talk regularly and one of them has joined my Pub Quiz
team. This (befriending neighbors) is almost a first for me. Quite nice.
Neither of them has quite made it out to Saturday volleyball yet, but they
assure me they will.
Acting as a constant backdrop to the excitement since July 4
has been the Zaca Fire, a forest fire that has now burnt a fifty mile
swath just the other side of the mountains from here. Every so often it
reminds us that it's still there, either with the sudden cloudal eruptions
that can resemble mushroom clouds, or the more prosaic
showers of ash. When people say they've seen it snow in
Santa Barbara, you'll know what they mean.