Where I have been

Howdy all.

Know I have been more away than not on DC, and figured I would post a quick note. Beyond the insanity of this summer, work has been really busy, with me being the main person responsible for a super-computing cluster at work. With 64 compute nodes, we have a total of 192 cores (Intel Xeon E5440s @ 2.83GHz), 1TB of RAM, and 256TB of disk, **PLUS** we have 13 more machines for storage which I think will soon bring the total cluster storage to 0.5PB. Add in a 10Gbps fiber link to a national backbone, and we are cooking... which means I am a very busy boy as we shake out the configuration.

Add in things on the family side of a new niece, my sister-in-law moving into my place in SE Ohio (and all the stuff there), and it was a bit crazy. Then the past week of dealing with the teen and I having H1N1, and my father-in-law being found to be in much worse condition... we knew he had a bad aortic heart valve, but he would be looking at a heart+liver+kidney transplant (thanks to a doctor who the current doctors have all but said should have referred him long ago for the liver, but did not), if not for his current condition... we don't know how long he will last, etc. (Prayers there would be appreciated).

And this just in... as many of you may know, I am a long-time member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. My kingdom, AEthelmearc, just held its Crown Tournament today, and I just got word that the new Prince and Princess are folks to whom we have very VERY close ties... we are all but household... and the next year, especially the latter half, will have my wife Cat/Linda, the teen and I Very VERY BUSY!!! (Runs around shouting "AAAGGGGHHHH!!!!") I have no clue whether I will just end up being some small member of the guard or what (at least I am not going to be a major retainer)... but...

talk about a roller coaster... awesome, sorry and grats - sheesh!

I have heard about most of this through FB but again im sorry. but i am very happy for you about the whole Crown Tournament thing! very awesome!

So does this mean we'll have to call you Sir now ?

Congrats

hope all is well at home for you now

Nope... No "Sir" for me... not unless the members of the Chivalry surprise me, and given how little I have been fighting...not likely. Maybe a Court Baron, depending on the role I can play and such (typical for core retainers), but even that, I am not expecting.

As for the rest of the update, nope, things are not "all well". My wife got home thanks to a friend going to pick her up on Friday, and we basically were trying to catch up on rest, chores, etc. Then we got a phone call Sunday, where the doctor told us that he was in critical condition, and might not make it through the night. Grabbed a few things and did a 3h30m drive in what would have been record time for us, if not for the construction taking I-70 across WV. We have been camped out at the hospital most of the time since, though we slept the first night at my brother's place, then have spent the other two nights at the home of a old SCA friend. That friend spent most of Monday during the day here with us, and his father, a Presbyterian minister, has been stopping by. As I said on one FB update (last night, IIRC), it is amazing how little we know about dying, and how some people hang on far longer than we think is even possible. But there is no chance of recovery, and outside of the fact that my own father was on a respirator, there is little difference in how it is dragging out.

Regardless of what happens, we are headed home to Pittsburgh tomorrow.

im sorry hun...

My prayers to you and your loved ones ..sorry to hear that life has dealt this hand to you ..hang tuff my friend

sorry Spacey - hang in there bud

He finally passed yesterday AM, and it was from what we can tell peaceful and painless. I would have loved to go into work today to try for some normalicy before going back for the service on Monday, but apparently I have to do something at HR, and so I sat at home most of today, while trying to reach my daughter's guidance councilor to get her homework from the last two weeks (out with the flu last week, and at the hospital this week, and not feeling well today... grrr)

So sorry for your family's loss. Last month my grandmother passed away and that was pretty tough. Similar to your father-in-law, my grandmother went quite peacefully. It is never easy, but always comforting to know that they are in a much better place.

*hugs!* and lots of prayers and good thought to all family and friends....and i really hope Av feels better soon...

My condolences to you and your family

RoadKill v3.4 wrote:

My condolences to you and your family

Ditto