Due to my limited energy, I’ve been unable to go anywhere else other than to class then back to the hotel.  This has seriously limited my picture options for my blog.  Let’s see, today I took a picture of my coffee at break and the amazingly yum-o chocolate my friend brought me:

And here is a pic of Donkey sneaking a sip of her Godiva milkshake:

And here’s a Donkey-free pic of the view from my room:

Our train is leaving around 12:30 tomorrow and we’ll roll into St. Catharines at 7:15pm.  I’m really hopeful that there will be enough cake tomorrow.

Today’s symptoms:  After having to leave the course a little early yesterday due to feeling very fatigued with tons o’ bone crushing pain all over my celery stick body, I’m still weak and achy today.  However, I expect to feel much better tomorrow after a good sleep.  Hopefully I won’t receive another phone call at 2:07 in the morning (wrong number), waking me up from a dead sleep.

I guess I got on everyone’s nerves, bringing up the cake (or lack thereof) incident on the train.  Seriously, that was so thoughtful of her and I’m very appreciative!  I decided to bring it back to the room after class, which I’m really glad I did.  Upon my first bite, I instantly crumpled into a blonde heap on the floor – it was that good!

It was another great day of training.  I am getting so much out of this course and am finding it very enjoyable.  I’m not even minding the video recorded interviews we have to do at the end of each day!

At lunch, my friend and I walked across the busy street and into the food court at the mall.  The Department of National Defence Headquarters is just down the road, so there are tons o’ military folks scampering about.  It really makes me miss the Army, which I don’t think I’ve stopped doing since being medically released in 2006.  Bummer.  Anyway, after having some noms, we went into a couple shops.  I was a little disheartened to see this number:

I know it’s true, but very hard for us die-hard Leaf fans to see!  (sniff, whimper).

Another bummer is the fact that I was too pooped to join some of the folks after class who went out to dinner.  I walked down to the local Metro to buy some dinner and the ingredients to make fudge for everyone tomorrow.  It was a little tricky to make, considering I had to make it on the stove-top in a brownie pan.  Still, I hope it’s at least somewhat edible:

I was able to make an improvised container to transport it to the poor suckers I’m going to give it to tomorrow.  Actually, I tried a little piece and it’s not too bad.  Of course, I also used to enjoy eating Army rations….

Today’s symptoms:  I crashed a little bit harder today, and a little earlier.  Not too bad on the pain front though – just a fairly bad headache in the morning.  Life is good!

I’ll have to let Rich from work know that I kidnapped his donkey again.  Actually, I’ve had it for awhile.  What kind of parent is he?  Didn’t even notice!  I’m so tempted to report him to FADS (Family and Donkey Services).  We’ll see.

At the end of the training, we had to partner up with someone, go into a small room, and role play in front of a camera:

My partner and I felt we did quite well and were somewhat relieved when it was over.  However, we were told that there was a technical glitch and the camera did not record.  We had to redo the exercise.  It’s funny that I’m usually nervous before doing interviews on TV and the radio, but never nervous DURING.  It was the same case here today.  No biggie that we had to do take two – it’s all a good learning experience.

I didn’t want anyone to think I was weird (stop laughing), but considering everyone who knows me realizes that I’m quite off-the-wall, I didn’t post the pics of Donkey touring with me yesterday.  So, without further ado, I present to you Donkey in the Capital City:

I would also like to point out that it wasn’t me who drank all the wine on the train:

Looking forward to the second day of training.  I just plan on resting for the rest of the evening.  My energy starting to take a dive just around noon today.

Today’s symptoms:  Typical decline in energy starting early in the afternoon.  Fortunately, it wasn’t a full out crash.  Also experienced quite a few very sharp pains in my right foot.  For the last month, most of the pain has been in my forearms and hands.  Maybe this is a sign that the pain is making its way down my body and will leave out my feet, never to return.  Yea!

I hope they’re humane to catch and take him back outside.

I didn’t eat too much during the day because I had read the menu for business class on the way to Ottawa, and was really looking forward to the meal.  The appetizer consisted of cheese, crackers and grapes.  There were three choices for the main course – I was going for the trout.  And the best part was to be the chocolate cake for dessert.  Well, they wheeled the carts down from each end to pass out the appetizers and desserts.  When they got to me, he said they were all out of trays.  He would go hunt one down.  Alrighty.  I was sitting watching the woman next to me eat her noms and eyeballing her yummy chocolate cake.  The guy came back about ten minutes later and brought me a tiny little dish which contained half a strawberry, a slice of orange and a slice of grapefruit.  Nothing else!  I swear I could feel a little tear trickle down my cheek.

I don’t even like grapefruit and what was I supposed to do with that stinkin’ piece of lettuce?  Use it to wipe away my tears?  I snapped a pic of the cake that I was deprived of:

At least my meal was really good.  Mind you, not only was I the only one who didn’t get the appetizer, I wasn’t offered a roll either!  What the heck?

Fortunately, they only thing they didn’t run out of when they got to me was the wine.  That certainly made the long ride more tolerable.  I didn’t roll into Ottawa until 10:30.  I scurried outside and got the last cab.  He didn’t have any cake for me though.

I slept well in my massive suite last night.  This place is as big as my apartment!  The kitchen is bigger!  Around 10:30 this morning, I decided to wander down to the parliament buildings:

I guess this is technically where my boss works:

Look, I got the Liberty Bell and Big Ben in the same picture!  (tee hee!)

Too bad I didn’t get a picture of the Santa Maria drifting down the canal….

A woman asked me to take her picture and also offered to take mine:

After checking out the sites, I went into the nearby Rideau Mall.  I’ve been doing so well, not feeding into my hoodie addiction.  Unfortunately, I bought one today.  Foxy:

I know, I’m weird.

I start my training tomorrow.  The other girl from my office will be coming in tonight and got a suite down the hall.  It’s nice to have someone to go down to the Conference Centre with.

Today’s symptoms: I felt good this morning but the fatigue hit really hard after I got back to the hotel.  I spent about four hours in bed, dozing on and off.  Travelling really does a number on me, which is why I couldn’t have arrived today with the training the next day.

It’s been a great week!  On Wednesday, I saw a friend from work who retired in 2008.  We met at a nearby restuarant for a great chat and noms.  She is absolutely loving retired life…although she fills her time through part time work at a local winery.  After dinner, we decided to split an amazing dessert – some banana, chocolate, carmael, mass of yumminess thing:

It was a great visit and we both agreed that we needed to get together more than once a year!

Last night we had our annual Marcel Dionne and Lizzy McFly MS Fundraiser at his store in Niagara Falls.  Check out the great spread of food:

There was a great pair of singers, which I unfortunately missed out on until almost the end of the night, as I was up front of the store taking donations.  I’m just waiting for an email from them to get a link to their website so I can post it on my blog:

They were really good!  I wish we had them out performing in the restaurant part of the store, as that is where most of the visitors were during the night.  However, while in the back area of the store, I snapped this  lovely picture of my mother and the guy she beat up:

I never thought I would say to my little mother “Pick on someone your own size!” but I was able to last night.

Here’s a nice shot of some of the visitors to the event:

Great night!  Marcel said to me that he would like to do it a little later in the summer next year as he can make it a much larger event.  People just aren’t available during April and May.

For the rest of the evening today, I’ll be packing my bags for my trip to Ottawa.  I’ll be taking the train tomorrow as the weather does not look decent enough to fly.  Total bummer!  Oh well, I’ll bring books and my iPad on the train and will certainly be entertained for the almost nine hour ride.

Today’s symptoms:  A little tired today due to the excitement of the fundraiser last night.  Well worth it though!  I’ll be bringing my laptop to Ottawa so I’ll certainly continue with my blogs next week.

Today’s symptoms: Very fatigued today with sharp pains in my right hand.  Tomorrow will be better and Thursday even more so – I plan on feeling great for the MS fundraiser!

The weather was perfect – not a cloud in the sky, so the pics turned out pretty decent.  After a few circuits around the town, I headed back to St. Catharines.  It only took about 30 minutes to get back.  Most of the time heading back, I was thinking “Should I go back to work?  It will only be for two hours, but I really should go back.”  I finally told myself to get a life and enjoy the couple measly hours off.  Geesh!  Every year I tell myself that I’m going to stop hoarding vacation leave, and I’m typically not successful.  We’ll see how this year turns out.

Almost back in town, I flew over the new St. Catharines hospital.  I think this is the fifth aerial pic I posted on my blog of the hospital since construction started a couple years ago.  It looks great:

We’ll just assume that my picture is crooked, not the hospital itself.  If it is the hospital, hopefully they have a vertigo ward….

I plan on staying home today, just working on things around the apartment and making some flight plans for my flight (hopefully, depending on the weather!) out to Ottawa next week.  This will be the furthest I’ve flown by myself, but I’m quite sure I can handle it.  Sure beats the nine hour train ride!

Today’s symptoms:  A little more fatigued than usual, due to my busy days on Thursday and Friday.  They were worth every symptom I feel today though!  Apart from that, there really aren’t too many MS symptoms going on with me!

Here’s our pic:

I have the very nice looking award displayed at work.  Love it!

It was my day off today.  My mother met me at the apartment just before 9:00 so she could keep me company at my Tysabri infusion in Burlington.  I had the time in my calendar as 10:30, but it was actually at 10:00.  I felt so bad!  The nurse said she was starting to get worried because we’re always there about 20 – 30 minutes early!  Oops.  Anyway, got infused and within an hour we were back on the road.  I had made arrangements with the President of the local Air Force Association to meet him at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum and take a tour of the Lancaster.  It’s been a dream of mine for quite a few years to take a step inside this amazing plane:

I caught a couple pics of it doing a low and over at the St. Catharines Airport a year or so ago:

I think I had prolonged goosebumps for about an hour.  The Lancaster is as amazing on the inside as it is on the outside:

Jan and I were both shocked over how high up we were.

Here is moi in the left seat:

And from the outside, looking like a little speck:

The amazing tour didn’t end with the Lancaster.  I’m probably grossly mistaken, but I think I sat in the Avro CF-100:

And a couple shots of other aircraft:

I wish we could have stayed longer (although we were there for almost three hours!), but the Tysabri started to kick in, causing me to feel flu-ish.  That was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time!

Today’s symptoms:  I basically had no MS symptoms this morning!  I started feeling yucky about four hours after the Tysabri infusion, but that’s to be expected.  Everything will be better after a good nights sleep!

Actually, our food came out within minutes.  We both had a coffee and split an order of pancakes and an order of toast:

Fortunately, it was a relatively smooth flight there and back, so did not have to deal with any snarly looks from the right seat or any “You hit that bump on purpose!” lines.  Thanks, mother!

I had yesterday off.  My interview with Inside Niagara through Niagara College was scheduled for 1:30.  It was nice that they came to my apartment and did the majority of the interview from the comfort of my couch.  All three of the students were really nice and professional.  They loved my little hairless freak cats too.  Close to the end of the interview, I had to try really hard to not laugh, since little Abby jumped up on the arm of the chair next to me, and stared at the camera.

After the interview, they asked me if they could go down to the airport and get some footage of the plane.  It was quite windy, so I wasn’t sure if I would be flying or not.  Anyway, about an hour and a half later, I met them at the St. Catharines Flying Club.  Not surprisingly, most of the flights with the Club planes were cancelled that day, due to the wind.  They were using runway 29 (as per the wind direction) but if I was to fly and they wanted video, I would need to take off from 24.  Nice, big ol’ cross wind!  I decided the weather was flyable, however, the interviewer wanted to go up with me.  I said that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea, but I would go up and do a circuit, check out the conditions, land and possibly pick her up.  I took off, did a low and over, then back around for a white-knuckled landing.  I love doing cross-wind landings, but not too sure a passenger would enjoy the experience as much as I did.  I let her know that it was not a good day for her to go up, but I would certainly take her up on a calmer day.  So, I climbed back in the plane and headed up to 3500 feet to do some aerobatics.  Came down and landed in 24 knot winds, gusting 30.  Love it!  We pulled the plane into the hangar where they did some more footage:

What a great experience.  I think the interview will air on Cogeco cable 10 this Thursday.  I’ll let you know when I receive confirmation.  Not sure if the video will be available online.

After the interview, I headed over to the CARES building at the airport for our monthly Recreational Aircraft Association meeting.  I was there about an hour and a half early, so I just set up the room and then relaxed with my book.  I had a couple people start to come in just before 7:00 (the meeting starts at 7:30).  One of the people who came was my little mother.  My friend Laura also arrived.  I was being given an award of merit through COPA (Canadian Owners and Pilots Association), so they were there to watch.  Also, Laura was kind enough to audit our books for the year, and presented the results to the group.  It was so nice to have them there.  We had an amazing turn out that night.  We also had a great guest speaker!  Silly me forgot to ask him permission to post his name on my blog, so I’ll have to ask him and post about the chat in my next bloggage.  We also had a really nice picture of being presented with the award.  Again, I’ll ask him if he would mind if I post the pic.  Stay tuned….

Today’s symptoms:  Felt a little more tired than usual today, but that’s to be expected with my long but great day yesterday.  Had quite a few throbbing pains in my forearms, but that was about it with regards to MS symptoms.

We decided to have a little party and Pinky really got into it:

Good times!

After the party, I called the radio station 610 CKTB to do an interview for the upcoming MS Walk.  It’s only a couple weeks away on Sunday the 22nd.  For the last four years, I have flown my plane over all three walk sites in Niagara.  I may not be able to do the flight the day of the Walk this year as I have to go to Ottawa for training at work.  I will still be there in spirit though!  I will also be drawing names for all those who pledge me, for a flight around Niagara.  If you want to pledge me for this worthy cause, feel free to check out my pledge page!  The interview with 610 CKTB will either be next week or the week before the Walk.  I will also be doing an interview with Inside Niagara through Niagara College on Monday.  I’m not sure when the interview will air on cable – I’ll keep you posted!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Easter weekend!

Today’s symptoms: After my rather busy and exciting day yesterday, my fatigue level was a little higher today.  No flights for me, although I did have a nice visit with my mother!

Next I took up his brother.  He’s kinda like me and gets very car sick.  I mentioned how during the first five months of my flight training, I was really nauseous for every flight.  When I flew as a passenger in someone else’s plane, it was even worse.  Regardless, I was hoping three herbal Gravol and my anti-nausea bracelet would do the trick, but he still started to feel a little sick soon after take-off.  I was bummed that he missed out on going over the Falls.  Still, I think he at least somewhat enjoyed our brief flight.  After we landed, I shut my plane down and thought that was it for the day.  However, I was quite happy to have my friend walk over and say that the girlfriend wanted to go up too.  Once I started up, I told the control tower that I was back and ready to head out again.  We flew over the Falls and I snapped a couple of pics with my iPhone:

Not the greatest pics but I left my camera with my friend.  Anyway, everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves that day.  I love being able to give other people the experience of their first flight!

Before heading to the airport, I met my friend at her house for a visit.  She took me upstairs and showed me her son’s adorable little Gecko.  Her name is Peanut.  So cute:

She had quite the attraction to the Cessna logo.  Pilot lizard, perhaps?

My friend finally got some well deserved and long over-due revenge on me.  While at my apartment, twice she had one of my kitties some how manage to get poopies on her.  Come to think of it, may have been three time.  It’s amazing it has happened to her this many times because to be totally honest with you, it’s only happened to me once!  And I live with the goobers!  Well, Laura had the gecko trained to pee on me.  I know she gave little Peanut some sort of signal to do her business while up on my arm.  She “claimed” that Peanut had never done that to her.  Hmmmm….  Well, I guess when you compare it the situations I mentioned about my poopy kitties, I really should believe her!

After looking at the pics of the gecko, I see the resemblance to my googliest kitty, Abby.  Speaking of googly Abby, my mother sent me an email Easter card, which had a cat in it that meowed.  Abby went into full-out google mode while the cat was meowing away:

What a googly goober.

When I arrived home after the airport, I opened my door to the smell of fresh baking.  I figured that my wonderful little mother had gone into my apartment while I was out flying, and baked up some goodies as a surprise.  This must have been what it was because I couldn’t smell the yumminess until I actually walked inside – not out in the hall at all.  I set down my bags and opened the oven – nothing.  I checked the fridge – nothing.  All of the cupboards – nary a nom!  I had been duped!  I still don’t know how that wonderful aroma managed to get into my apartment and not waft outside, but it did.  Thanks for nothing, mother.  Still love you though!

Today’s symptoms:  Felt great!  Energy level was amazing and my pulled muscle issue seems to be getting better. 

Instead of buying artwork for the wall, I think I’m just going to buy a large frame, mount a projector on the ceiling and constantly play a slideshow of my favourite pics into the frame!  How funky would that be?

There was a nice turn out at the church.  They were celebrating their 60 year anniversary, so had a professional picture taken.  I snapped this shot, but since I didn’t ask anyone permission to post their pic on my blog, I shrunk down the pixels so they’re not recognizable:

They did their administration portion of the meeting first, while I sat and played on my iPhone.  I think there may be spooks in that church since my bag which was firmly sitting on the chair next to me, suddenly decided to fall on the floor:

My talk was about my eleven years with the Army Reserve, university for Criminology and Psychology, College for Funeral Service, my job with the government and of course, flying.  It was a lot of fun and I kept everyone awake by playing a slideshow of about 60 pictures while I was talking.  Had a couple flight videos too.  And of course, I showed them my wonderful children!

I had quite the array of reactions from this photo!

The rest of my week wasn’t quite as exciting as Monday night.  Actually, I’ve had another little health issue since Sunday.  I think I mentioned in a previous blog the first time this happened about three weeks ago.  Sunday, while visiting Lil’ Jan, I started to get severe pains in my chest and back during every single breath.  It just kept getting worse as the day went on and by the evening, the pain was unreal and I had to constantly take very shallow breaths.  I was able to see my doctor for a quick appointment on Tuesday.  She thinks I have pulled or slightly torn muscles between or beneath my ribs.  I just can’t figure out what I did to cause this.  She gave me an x-ray requisition and anti-inflammatories for the next time it happens (although hopefully it doesn’t reoccur).  It has been getting a bit better each day, fortunately.

I’m looking forward to going out to dinner with a bunch of gals from work tomorrow night.  It will be a nice kick-off to the long Easter weekend!  Hopefully the weather is going to be as nice as they’re predicting so I can get a few flights in.

Today’s symptoms:  Not too much to report on the MS front.  Fatigue level was very tolerable today.  Actually, one of the better days I’ve had in a while.  I think the second CCSVI surgery is still working well!

I had some sheets up on the stove to bring to my mother’s tomorrow.  I turned my back for an instant and when I turned around again, I noticed this:

Boo is such a goober.  A Boober, in fact!

At work Thursday, they handed out the bunny grams we bought for each other.  I had about five, each with five chocolate eggs.  My entire day of noms on Friday consisted of the chocolate.  By the end of the day, I thought I was going to hurl.  I was so relieved that I finished them off.  What a relief to know when I go into work on Monday, that there will be no more eggs to tempt me.  However, just as I was getting to leave for the day, I noticed that the bunny plane my mother bought me had a trail of eggs behind it:

Stinkin’ bunnies – always poopin’!  Mind you, as long as their poopin’ chocolate, I’m not going to complain!

Today’s symptoms:  Didn’t really have too many!  Just still some sharp pains in my forearms, plus a dull headache for most of the day, but that’s about it.  My energy was decent, so life it good!

Jan took a picture so I could show my friend the massive gotchies the next day at work.  This morning, I ran over to her desk, pulled up this picture on my iPhone and said “I saw these yesterday and thought of you!”  She kinda gave the picture a weird look and said “OK” with a very confused tone.  I said “Aren’t they perfect?!”  And she just kept staring at the picture.  I mentioned how she said to me last week that she wanted to buy a huge pair of gotchies for her relative.  She then replied “No I didn’t….”  I tried to convince her that she did, but to no avail.  I thought of the situation once back at my desk and figured out where I went wrong.  It wasn’t her that mentioned the underwear, it was my other friend!  I just showed her the biggest pair of underwear I’ve ever seen and said that I thought of her when I saw them!  Tee Hee!  I confirmed with my other friend in the afternoon that it was actually her who wanted the underwear.  We all had a good laugh.

After getting home from the mall yesterday, I went over my presentation I’m giving to a Church group on Monday, while Abby sat lovingly on my lap:

Could she be any more cute?  Seriously!

We’ve all been playing Roll Up The Rim at Tim Hortons over the last month.  The cups say that 1 in 6 will win!  “Yea, right!” says my mother!  She’s had about three coffees a week there and hasn’t won yet!  I’ve had probably 15 or so and won twice.  Unfortunately, not the Camry:

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.  I guess it will be going on for another week or so.

Tomorrow I’ll be in Fort Erie for a good chunk of the day.  I have to train a teleworker on Windows 7 and Office 2010.  I’m really looking forward to it as the co-worker and I get along quite well.  I was hoping for some decent weather after so I could take a couple hours of vacation and go for a flight.  I wasn’t able to fly last weekend due to the weather and this weekend doesn’t look like it’s going to be much better.

Today’s symptoms:  Felt pretty darn good.  I’ve been having really sharp pains on the inside of my elbows, lasting about a minute or so.  It’s kinda weird to have MS pains on both sides, since they’re usually just on one.  They’ve been happening for a few days now.  Other than that, my symptoms have been more than tolerable.

It was a decent appointment – thirty-four years with no cavities.  I guess Jan owes me a quarter.  I really think the amount should have gone up over the years, you know, with the cost of living and all.  Cheap mother….

Wednesday I did an hour of overtime then went to Johnny Rocco’s for our Recreational Aircraft Association directors meeting.  It’s a really nice restaurant.  They even put us in a room all to ourselves so it was a little quieter.  I decided to try a brown olive for the first time.  I hate olives.  Now I REALLY hate olives.  Tasted like feet.  The guy sitting next to me offered me his green one, which was still yucky but much better than the vile brown one.  I could taste feet for the rest of the night.  Other than that, the food was great.  Everyone got something different and all seemed to enjoy their meals.

One more thing about Wednesday.  Since I had to go straight to the restaurant from work, I drove that day.  It was a little disturbing to see a bra outside my car when I pulled into the parking spot:

Creepy….

It was my short day (sometimes referred to as a Jan day) on Thursday.  My hours were 8:15 – 2:45.  I went in for my normal 7:15 to do an hour overtime, and was hoping to do another three hours after 2:45.  However, I had to go home at 1:30 as I was so tired and weak.  I went straight to bed, slept for four hours and woke up feeling just as bad as before I went to sleep.  Fortunately, I felt a bit better on Friday, and even better today.

Speaking of Friday, I came home to this little scene:

Someone opened the cabinet where I keep my scarves and other items.  Gee Mya, you don’t look too guilty laying on the pile!

Today was our last Saturday for overtime.  I worked from 8:00 – 2:00.  I finally got all of my accounts organized and much more manageable.  Quite a few people came in today.  There were many comments about this tree almost in full bloom outside of city hall:

I was supposed to take someone up for a flight after work, but we were rained out.  Despite having a pretty bad headache from yet another sinus infection, I decided to get everything done that I wanted to do this weekend.  I ran out and did an errand at the mall, then back to the apartment.  I did a work out on my stationary bike for 94 minutes.  Then I took the recycling and garbage down and scrubbed all the bins.  Back upstairs, I vacuumed, including the balcony.  In the bedroom, I accidentally sucked up my bookmark and the tassel ripped off.  I figured I might as well thoroughly clean the vacuum while I had it apart to retrieve the tassel.  Then I noticed the new tiles I put down under the litter boxes were all askew, I pulled them all up and neatly taped them together to keep them neat.  Did some filing, cleaned the counters in the kitchen then filled my pill containers for the month.  Ok, I’m finally done….I think….

Today’s symptoms: Just a bad headache from the sinus infection and still a little tired.  Other than that, feeling pretty good!

Gave her a little laugh, at least.

The weather was a little better that day than I thought it would be, so after work, I grabbed my camera and gear and headed out to the airport.  I did a little air show for my friend and her three kids (plus another young relative).  They said they loved it!  I just responded to her message on Facebook and said that my favourite part of being a pilot (especially being able to do aerobatics) is to give people joy from flying with me or just watching.  It really is the best feeling!

It appears that little Boo was doing some reading while I was out on my flight, as she was sifting through some books when I walked in the door:

Such a naughty kitty.

I had another great day today.  My friend rented a Piper Warrior from the Welland Flying Club and took me for a flight along the Lake Erie shoreline.  We had to wait prior to taking off, as there was a large flock of wild turkeys (gobble gobble) walking toward the runway, then taking flight to cross:

We thought they all made it to the other side of the runway:

However, just as we started to roll, one straggler started heading over to the group.  Fortunately, we were able to lift off and clear him below us.  Little dork!

Here are some of the sights heading West along Lake Erie:

Here’s Port Dover, which will be totally packed with thousands of bikers in less than a month, for the Friday the 13th gathering:

I’m hoping to fly over the event in April, as I have the last two years.

This house out in the middle of the water was rather odd:

Needless to say, there was no car outside of the garage.

Heading back to land at Welland, the pilot ahead of us warned of two cute coyotes frolicking across the runway:

Great flight!  Afterwards, I went for my weekly visit with Lil Jan.  We headed to the mall then to Zehrs for groceries.  After, we went to Pleasantview Memorial Gardens to tour the new visitation centre they just built.  It was gorgeous!  Jan is quite happy with going there (which probably won’t be for another 40 years or so).

We noticed this perfect picture outside of the women’s washroom:

We were VERY impressed with everything there, from their amazing chapel, the reception areas and the lounge which was basically like a really nice restaurant – full kitchen and everything!  After our tour, we drove over to the plot where my grandparents are and the plot marker for my mother and I:

Great, great weekend!

Today’s symptoms: Just a few aches still in my right foot – feels like a hot poker going through my heel.  Other than that, my fatigue has been minimal all weekend!

I chaired our annual general meeting for our Recreational Aircraft Association group last night.  My term as a director was up, but I was re-elected.  We’ll decide on positions at our exec meeting next week, but they already said they want me to stay on as President.  Works for me!  I think getting home late from the meeting may have made me a little more pooped than “normal” too.

Jan and I were going to fly to Tillsonburg on Sunday, but it was too windy for her liking.  We’ll wait for a nice, calm and clear day.  I’m hoping I feel well enough to take a couple hours vacation over the next week to go up for a flight.  I won’t be able to go on my day off on Thursday because Jan and I are going to Burlington in the morning for my Tysabri infusion, then I’m going into work for some more overtime.

Nothing exciting has been happening over the last few days.  I don’t even have any pics to share.  How pathetic!  Wait, I’ll go hunt down some kitties and get a few shots.  Stand by…

Ok, here we go:

Today’s symptoms: Felt really weak and tired with some really bad and rather intense MS pains in my right foot and hand.  At least they woke me up!

My mother and aunt stopped off at my office and we headed over to my apartment to pick up my camera.  I guess I wasn’t thinking that morning – had to go to an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor regarding my chronic sinus issues.  Let’s just say I’m booked for surgery this summer, but I’ll talk about that in another blog.  So, I ran upstairs and grabbed my camera, and off we drove to Hamilton.  We met up with my cousin outside of Hamilton Place.  We were scheduled to “meet and greet” Jann around 6:00pm.  There were about two dozen of us lucky folks.  We waited in a small, unfurnished room until Jann arrived.  It was rather amusing that her dog walked into the room before her and all of us immediately started ahhh’ing over him rather than focus on Jann!  We’re so rude but look how cute her dog is, so do you blame us?

After ralphing on the floor (due to all of the excitement from his fans), he chilled out on the table for the rest of the time:

We eventually turned our attention to the star of the show:

Jan and I went up together to meet her.  I gave her one of my “Vyctor” cards and said that if she ever wanted to go for a nice scenic flight around Niagara, to give me a call:

I can’t remember if her response was “Oh, that’s so cool!” or “Jan, I’m so sorry that your daughter is a complete nutbag.”  Regardless, I was happy to put the offer for a flight out there.

Jann provided us with a copy of her new book and CD.  My copy was of course made out to Lizzy McFly:

A pose with her cute dog before bidding us adieu:

After the meet and greet, we had over an hour before the concert started.  The four of us crossed the street to the Honest Lawyer restaurant for a couple drinks.  We split an order of sweet potato fries, then noticed that mass quantities of noms on the table next to ours.

My cousin and I were still a little hungry, so I decided to discretely sneak over to the food and grab a small handful before running back to my seat.  Not sure if anyone noticed me – that time.  Here I am nomming a stolen fry:

Unfortunately, I decided to go back for a couple of spring rolls.  It was at that point one of the dudes at the other table noticed me.  I protested “I’m hungry and gaunt!”  Fortunately, I wasn’t arrested and got a free spring roll out of the deal.

The opening act for Jann was great!  Check out Wil’s website.  I emailed him as soon as he walked off the stage, thanking them for the great performance!

We had a twenty minute break before Jann came out.  That’s when I did the previous blog.  Not surprising at all, Jann rocked it.  She’s awesome:

She did some songs from her new album – awesome.  She did songs from older albums – awesome.  Made some jokes between songs – did I mention she’s awesome?  So is her band.  Wow:

Toward the end of the show, she did a Lawrence Welk theme, complete with bubblage!

And a final shot of the whole band – wish the picture was a little better:

What an amazing night!  We saw her a couple years ago and will go back ever time she comes to Hamilton.  Did I mention she’s awesome?

Today’s symptoms: Despite a rather late night, I had a fair bit of energy today.  Lots of crushing pains in my right hand and arm through.  Also, my right leg was a little weak when I first got up.  This is the one that went very weak over a year ago, and I had to have IV steroids for four days to treat the new lesion on my brain, which caused the issue.