I love how you’re opening up has caused everyone to tell all… aw – a bit of warmth in these sometimes distant internets…

Wishing you and your family a much better rest of the year from now onwards :)

Also it seems bad things often come in twos (or more!). But reversely, good things can often happen together.

My 2009 so far has been awful. I was ill all over Christmas and New Year with a heavy cough, heavy cold and an eye infection that appeared on Christmas Day! (I couldn’t easily open the eye for crusting and it was completely bloodshot.) The cough took weeks to clear properly (luckily the eye healed quickly but then it returned so I was back on the eye drops!)

Then I got almost better and then HEAVY SNOW HIT BRITAIN. We usually get just a few flakes where I live, or one or two days of snow. But this was heavy so I had to work from home. I then hit a bowel problem I think is related to using the computer for too long, then going back to work, then home again for a day and so on. Or it could be an old egg I had in the fridge I scrambled the day before. Either way I spent last week worried sick about the movements down below after seeing what I thought was purple coating the stools. (A sign of internal bleeding.) I’m still monitoring the situation and if it doesn’t improve will have to go for tests.

But like I say bad things happen together and so a blocked ear problem I’ve had since my heavy cold in December suddenly flared up. One ear now reacts thunderously to sharp sounds like metal, water and even plastic wrapping. It’s horrible. The doctor thinks I have ETD – Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. Well at least my heavy cold has subsided. (Note: ETD can come on after a cold).

So basically I am feeling low and not enjoying 2009 as much as I should be doing. Agh! Oh well. There are a lot worse off people than myself so I must be grateful for what health I have. I just wish I was fully healthy and this terrible cold winter was done with!

After realizing I was hopelessly behind on multiple projects, I took a day off from work to begin to catch up. Halfway through the day, I found out my grandma was dying. 8-hour overnight drive home, 4 exhausting days at home, 8-hour drive back once I couldn’t miss any more work, and she died the following morning. Then I had to make the tough call to not turn around and do it all over again for the memorial service. And was another week behind in my work.

So, this week, just slowly and steadily putting everything back in order. It looks like you’ve been in rare form for the week since posting this, so cheers on pushing forward. I hope I can match your resolve.

My best wishes to you and yours for your various levels of difficulty so far this year. I can understand completely. While I haven’t lost a relative recently, we’ve had our own share of problems.

* RSV in the 4 month old. But a few days breathing treatments (something we’re used to thanks to the three-year-old’s shaky start) and he was all better.

* Issues with daycare: an unneeded trip to the pediatrician which meant my wife and I had to take all three kids out and miss a couple hours of work due to the distance as well as general issues with the way they handle things.

* My grandmother, who has lived alone in Michigan since my grandfather died 19 years ago, broke her hip in August. In January her daughters (my mother and aunts) moved her into a nursing home in Texas, where she just celebrated her 91st birthday, with three of her four daughters.

* My wife had a heart scare in December. There’s a history of heart problems in her family (her father died at an early age, as have many others in her family). She’s fine, but has decided to try to do a 5K run in March.

* My wife and I have both had unrelated work issues that have been very trying (we work at the same company, but in different departments). But things do promise to get better, sooner (for me) or later (for her).

* We’re trying to figure out whether to send our five-year-old to public school in our school district, in the district where we work, or to the Catholic school near work (we aren’t Catholic, but our district’s school is less than stellar).

* We’ve got apparent electrical issues with the lights dimming and brightening alternately. An electrician took a look and hopefully it’s with the incoming service, probably at the pole. Should know more later this week.

On the good side, I’ve managed to more or less keep up a New Year’s resolution to work out regularly, thanks largely to Wii Fit, and to a local version of Biggest Loser. I’ve lost about 5 pounds since Christmas (yay!). We’re getting a substantial income tax refund (actually, should already have it… haven’t checked) which should help with our even more substantial debt. And, with the above exceptions, we’re doing well.

Whew… that was a lot. And I spilled into February some. But I have to thank you for opening this up… it does feel good to share :)

Again, I hope your trials and tribulations have settled down for now.

Michael

Then I finally got home to my husband and chronically ill cat, got the flu, and then came down with three infections following.

I’m quite done with 2009.

On the other hand, my two year old horse just had her first carrot today and nodded her head vigorously to let me know she liked it, so I guess it’s not all bad. :) Hang in there everyone!

Thanks for sharing your downs as well as your ups. It help me to know that the people who do what I do for work are also human.

2009 sucks so far. A good friend admitted to lying and cheating on me when we dated 3 years ago at the same time I had my trust in a co-worker challenged and now I question my ability to trust anyone. My Mum lost an election about the same time we had a fight about whether or not I like my step-Dad. An organization I volunteer with came to me with a giant last minute rush job and they had no back up plan if I turned them down. And my perfect day-job dissolved into a pit of backstabbing complaining stress with work I’m suddenly not interested in doing. And then I got sick too.

But it feels good to talk about it.

Here’s hoping we’ve all gotten the bad stuff out of the way for the rest of the year. Best wishes for health, happiness, and fun work ;)

On my side of the world it is summer, and I have been picking beans and tomatoes that I have grown myself — which is an exciting innovation for me. It is warm and mostly sunny, and warm even when not sunny, and there was body-boarding in the sea last weekend: surf, sunshine, sparkling sea, and speeding to the shore in the waves.

The inauguration of your new president was a moving and inspiring event — we have such hopes for him, and for a USA that impacts the world for better.

My work year has started with a business mentoring programme which is exciting and energising, and I am looking forward to another year of web work with a cheerful enthusiasm in spite of the economic clouds.
January was good. February is looking even better. I hope yours will be better too!

Cheers
Miriam, Otaki, New Zealand

Regards your allergy. A few weeks back I saw a documentary which had a case that certain allergies can occur when the person is under a lot of stress and these can manifest as temporary symptoms.

If I were you, I’d have a separate allergy test and see how that goes.

Hope your next few weeks are less eventful mate.

I had something like a cold, but not quite as strong as annoying. This was after not having a cold, flu, or anything like it for 2+ years.

Then I had a lien threatened on my home because a landscaper I had do work back in October/November did not pay a vendor for some of the materials used. This lien threat came from the vendor, even though I had no direct contact with them and had paid the landscaper. Numerous contacts with the landscaper went nowhere, so I filed a complaint with the contractors’ board. Thankfully it finally got resolved without it getting worse.

I’m sorry to hear of your loss. My deepest sympathies to you and yours. My year did not start off well at all. My mother passed away suddenly on Dec. 23rd 2008. Needless to say our holiday season was not to fun. It kind of set the tone for various dates through the month of January.
Jan. 5th Mom’s B-day (hmm, she’s not here to celebrate)
Jan. 8th 1-year anniversary of my fathers death
Jan. 10th Funeral for Mom, 1-year to the day since my fathers funeral
Jan. 25th My B-day, well there’s always next year ;)
Jan. 27th Brother-In-Law passes away in tragic car accident

Here’s wishing good luck to you Eric and everyone else who stumbled out of the gates. I can’t wait for 2010!

Yours,

Harald

I’ve known about you pretty much my whole adult life, you being the “Web guru” guy. But I’ve never followed your postings here nor known anything personal about you. So this is my first encounter with you, the human, the person – not the “Web guru”.

I just want to let you know that it grabbed. Very well written. We need to share our experiences with one another. Very pleased to see you used this space to open up and invite other people to do so as well. A great initiative.

I’m sorry to read all those bad things happen to you and your family. My way of seeing things is: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Hopefully all this has given you an even closer and stronger bond then before.

Personally I’ve been unemployed for the last six months. That’s not fun, of course, but I’ve spent it doing what I love: Art. With paintings, photographs, sounds, and sometimes in the company of good friends. Life is hard to understand but sweet in its own way.

I wish you and your family the very best. Thanks for everything.

Kind regards (from Sweden),
Gustaf

Well…. My wife went to hospital for the first time this year (one of many return visits). She has suffered a speaker falling on her head. She has had three sets of migraine attack. She has had two bouts of seizures.

Now some normally concerning me. I have joined YouTube. I am intently watching developments in America and around the world. It seems that change that we can believe in is not real change but more of the status quo.

I would dearly like to return to CSS and other pursuits but I must resist what is slowly coming. Peace.