StumpTown Blog

Those words (the title) are tough to write whenever you get really, really bad news. But I know I am going to have to lean extra hard on my faith in the coming days and so I made myself write those words to remind myself that I believe it. My Dad got the results of a recent CT scan today and the doctors told him that his cancer has returned. He has a spot on his colon and on his liver. If you are new to this blog, my Dad recently had surgery to remove a large malignant tumor. We knew the cancer was likely to return someday, but this was a pretty terrible shock to our family as it came much sooner than any of us expected and of course, we all secretly allowed ourselves to hope that it would never come back at all. But it is back and this time they can't operate. Surgery doesn't work on this cancer once it returns. Fortunately, there is a drug that has a fairly good track record as cancer fighting drugs go, against this type of tumor and another drug to try if that first o

I’m feeling somewhat uncharacteristically upbeat so I thought I would pass that along. I know that I, like just about everyone other than Russian authors and maybe Eyore, am more fun to be around when I’m feeling good about the world, so what better time to blog I thought. Today, just a short (I hope) list of some of the things I’m thankful for. Not a complete list by any means. Not a weighted list since these are not the most important things necessarily, just a few things. Ok, so my reason for this is not just to be positive, but to encourage everyone who reads this to stop what they are doing right now and list 5 things that are good in their life. Everyone can name 5, even if you have to go with “democracy” or something broad like that. Just list 5. No negatives. No “I have X, but I really wish I had Y”, just 5 good things. And if you get rolling, do more. But write them down and take 10 seconds just to read them back to yourself. This exercise should take no more than a minute, bu

This could be a whole series of posts and maybe it will be one day or a book or 25 volume set or something that would allow me all the room I need to rant, but for now I have a full time job that must at times take precedent over my desire to rant and rave. So, I’m going to keep this short. Really. I mean it. Several people recently directed me to a youtube clip that I have to comment on. I’m not going to direct you to the clip, because I found it offensive, but I’m sure you can find it easily enough if so inclined. It is a clip that describes the recent evil in America as “The day they kicked God out of Schools. First, a disclaimer. The friends who sent me this clip, did not find it offensive and in fact they found it informative, inspirational and just generally true. They are good well meaning people all and no less qualified to form reasonable opinions that I am to be sure. We just happen to disagree. This doesn’t mean I think they are fools or that they or anyone else shoul

Suddenly, once Blogger moved over to be run by Google, now I can post pictures consistently. Not sure why that is and really, I don’t care. I’m just glad I can do it now. So I think, as a way to post more regularly when I don’t have the time to write something interesting, I’ll just post more pictures of my kids. That way, at least I’ll stay in the good graces of good friend and loyal reader Peggy….and my Mom. Today's photo offering is my improbably rosy cheeked youngest son Griffin at a sleep over at the grandparents. Today, a picture and a note….quite a serendipity. I have been vexed for sometime by a worrisome dilemma. I guess it is two dilemnas if you count the one where I wonder why I don’t use the word “vexed” more often, but that’s for another day. First the set up, then the question. It’s so much more confusing the other way around. Tell me if you’ve ever found yourself here. You’re walking down the street or grocery store aisle or some other public spot. Maybe you’re excit

Just time for a quick post today. Gibson is officially a little leaguer now and we have the pictures to prove it. He's a Cedar Mill "Pirate" which is funny given some of our Pirate discussion on this blog and is having a great time. More blogging to come...I hope.