Thursday, 22 March 10
We have now all returned from our trip to Italy and
Spain. We marvelled at Rome's Coliseum, and explored the Vatican. The Sistine Chapel was remarkable, as were the intricate tapestries, statues and cathedrals. The
traffic in Rome cannot be described in words. Many small cars, innumerable motorcycles and everyone driving everywhere at once, yet without accidents. The lasagna was the
best I had ever tasted. We also attempted to visit Mt. Vesuvius, an excursion that was compromised by a thief who stole my wallet and passport just as the train left the station in Naples. The financial impact was quickly contained with a call to the credit card company. A police report was filed. One charge had been made by the bad guys prior to the card being disabled, but this damage was mitigated by insurance we had on the credit card. I am attempting to contact the children's clothing store to encourage them to properly check a patron's ID in the future. I will certainly be more cautious when wandering about Europe or anywhere else.
The US Consul at Naples and Rome were fantastic, providing an emergency US passport that permitted me to accompany my family to Spain. We found Italians to be exceptionally friendly and helpful in getting us around Rome and the airport and train stations. It is just this one misfit who put a slight damper on things. In reality, however, the whole affair turned out to almost be a non-event; all that remains is an Ode to a Bandit.
We found Barcelona to be a clean and orderly city. We did sea food and all things Spanish around Barcelona, such as a Castle, a Cathedral, the aquarium, the Picasso Museum and other attractions. As in Rome, we walked many, many miles around the city. The trip home was accomplished without incident. It always good to be back in the USA following a long trip, even when the trip was very nice itself.
Thursday, 11 March 10
Another major step has been taken in the completion of the Unremarkable Man project. The low resolution images that I had on hand were not suitable for publication, so select images from hard copies of my MRI film were taken to a shop called BWC in Richardson, Texas. BWC produced jpg files with resolution ranging from 300 dpi to an astonishing 1200dpi! Hats off to my mom for running the film across town and then back to my home! Her charity got the job done while permitting me to focus on my day job.
Wednesday, 10 March 10
A small red spot began to appear on my face about one year ago. It hasn't changed much, but I knew it must be removed, based upon my experiences from November 2007. A visit to the dermatologist today resulted in the spot being sprayed with liquid nitrogen. The stinging did not last long and now a blister has appeared in place of the spot. A nearby mole was also frozen. Its blister is much larger than the pre-cancerous spot which had brought me to the dermatologist's office in the first place.
Friday, 05 March 10
I had planned to include several pictures shown on the home page of this site in my book, but I have not been successful in finding high-resolution versions of most of these photos. I was able to locate two images in the 250 to 300 dpi range, and maybe I can find a high resolution scanner to capture the pre-operative and post-operative MRI shots.
Thursday, 04 March 10
The back cover picture for my book was finally undertaken and accomplished today on this, my 73rd monthly surgical anniversary. My attempts to produce a professional-looking photo here at home were as futile as they were humorous. I also received word today that the manuscript has been typeset and is ready for review.
