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A great use of math illustrations (click me).

1. Enjoy me. I do.

2. I am not completely useless. I am a great bad example.

3. I’m probably lying.

A series of misfortunes hit the Greer family recently: my dad’s cousin died a couple of months ago, his sister died two Sundays ago, and his mother fell into a diabetic coma that same weekend.

Since my dad (who lives in L.A.) was in Texas last weekend to spread his sister’s ashes in the ocean, he decided to continue across the country to Florida to visit his mom as she weighs only 91 lbs. and had just returned home from her coma incident. As I hadn’t seen Gram for quite some time and her situation seemed pretty bleak, I tagged along for a sum total of 24 hours in Florida.

Despite her weight, Gram is doing pretty well. Her mind is sharp and she’s ornery as ever. She was able to go to dinner, talk, go to breakfast, get in/out of our car, look at pictures on dad’s computer, and “walk” – she lost her right leg to diabetes 7 years ago so she’s in a wheelchair – along the boardwalk with us. Unfortunately, she still smokes even though she’s on oxygen 8 hours per day, but she seems to get around her home pretty well. Its good that she uses her left leg to pull herself around as it looks to be the most muscular part of her body – the rest is just skin and bones. She talks about regaining her strength so as to go outside, and to remain as independent as possible – she DESPISES the thought of a nursing home.

Gram was very happy to see us, even though we didn’t stay very long. At 86, many of her friends, neighbors, and family have passed away while she persists and therefore company is welcome. The only blood Greers left are her, my dad, and me. Her sister-in-law plans to visit in November, and dad plans to revisit her in January, so she has things to look forward to, which is good.

Although the trip was very short, I’m very glad I went even though I didn’t see any panthers or alligators (not that I expected to). It had been over 9 years since we’d seen each other. I must make a concerted effort to keep in better touch with her.

UPDATE: Our team wound up 3rd – and I hear I was missed.

Not much motivates me to get out of bed at 7:30am on a Saturday; softball is one of those raritites that do. This weekend is the Breast Cancer “Play for the Cure” Benefit Softball Tournament – a survivor throws the first pitch of each game, and game balls are sponsored in honor/memory of breast cancer victims.

Our team consists of a couple of teams melded together and we rock (of course, we always do). Our first two pool play games (8am and 9:15am) we won by 30 and 11 – this is co-ed slow-pitch, folks. Our last pool play is at 2:15, and if we win, we play at 6pm to start the bracketed games.

Unfortunately, I won’t be hoisting the trophy with the rest of the team tomorrow as I will be flying to Florida at 6am to visit my very very ill grandma (more on this when I return). I’m really disappointed to be missing the second day, and I’ve realized how much I’ve missed playing softball since our Friday nights season is over, but things happen. In September I will be playing on a Monday night team and I can’t wait.

Thanks to those who donated for the cause!

The saying goes, “There’s no rest for the wicked.” Clearly. Last Wednesday through Saturday morning, Eric’s mom (Debbie) and her husband (Marty) visited us. Saturday afternoon my godmother, Becky, called to say she’d be around Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning with her giant white german shepherd, Shilo.

Although I worked most of the time Debbie and Marty were here, we did get to watch some movies together and adventure to Silver Falls. George had a great time at Silver Falls; he was so excited the entire time. And he made a little girl’s day by letting her pet him. We also enjoyed ourselves…walking around in nature and forgetting civilization is always nice.

With Becky and Shilo, I was a little bit worried that George would try to establish dominance over Shilo and that Shilo in turn would shred him to bits. It turns out, though, that Shilo is a big wuss, and George had no problem asserting himself as the master of the house. After the pecking order was determined, it was fun to chat with Becky, catch up, and share ideas. We also went to the beach with the dogs, which was fun although chilly. The water was freezing and while Shilo wanted nothing more than to play in the water, George wanted nothing more than to stay the hell out of the water. Her visit was good fun.

The peace and quiet after the rush is also very nice, though. I need some sleep!

Tonight I went to my very first lawnmower race. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking; everyone does when they first hear ‘lawnmower race.’ Really, though, I had a great time – think Mario Kart live without the bombs or invincibility stars.

A friend of mine introduced me to the concept a few months ago and, since he was racing in Rickreall – about 15 minutes west of Salem – my curiosity piqued and I went to check it out. Knowing someone who was racing helped, but even so, it was fun. Lots of dirt, a couple of tangles, and homemade machines reminded me of home (Montana), where they would just eat this sport up. I don’t know how well Jeff did overall, but in his first heat, he won; the second, he lost; and the mains he took 4th. And to be honest, I don’t know that the results mattered to him so much as just racing. The only bummer was that it took a long time sometimes between races because they watered, grated, and rolled the track to keep it smooth.

The technical aspects of lawnmower racing: rolling starts, heats of 4-8 mowers, 5 laps in heats, 8-12 laps in mains, dirt oval track, speeds of up to 40mph, time trials for heat placement.

Today was my friend and coworker’s last day at Highland; he’s joining the state workforce as a corrections officer at the prison in Salem. Its great for him – room for advancement, pay raises, awesome benefits, sick days, lots of holidays, retirement, job security, and all the other sweet deals you get working for the government – and I couldn’t be happier he’s gotten this opportunity. Good Luck, Jeff – don’t forget to set your feet when you shoot.

However, for me it means not seeing him (week)daily, not playing basketball at lunch with him, not talking football, not sharing our weekend news, not hearing about his family, not making him laugh, not having rubber band wars, not sharing orange juice and popsicles, not making funny faces at each other, but mostly just not having the pleasure of his company, no matter what we were up to. All of these “nots” are hard to swallow at once, even though I’ve had a week for it to set in.

Luckily, I have fond memories of the last half year involving the aforementioned activities and more – I’m trying to smile because it happened, not cry because its over, but it is hard.

I guess I just miss my friend.