I have left UPS, whoop!, and started writing/freelancing fulltime (freak out!). Needless to say, I am very nervous about this, losing my health insurance (but getting UPS retiree insurance) and so on, but things are going well enough, so far, that the decision is justified. Mostly.

Any spare ma you can direct my way would be appreciated...

S is home from the hospital, though we'll have to go for a follow-up visit or two. We're both relieved. That will likely last only until we get the bill.

Thanks all for your thoughts and prayers.

Beverly asked me to let you know that her son's condition has deteriorated and they have, at the doctor's advice, called relatives to come to the hospital. There still is a small chance of recovery, so good thoughts for his health and for strength and peace to Beverly and her family would be appreciated. She does ask for no one to try to call her.

Thanks to Ginger for posting for me, and thanks too, to all of you guys.

He's gone. They disconnected everything and removed the vent at 4:40, and he was gone almost instantly.

He didn't suffer, and he didn't have to wake up in a body that wasn't the well-oiled precision machine it had always been. His kids will miss him, and so will we.

What sucks rocks is that his heart, lungs, and kidneys were all shutting down, and damaged such that they couldn't be donated. We gave permission for an autopsy, so maybe they can learn something to help the next person.

He hated the whole idea of funerals, so there won't be one. He'll be cremated, and his ashes strewn where his grandfather's were several years ago.

I'll be a little grey for awhile, but I'll probably lurk some, just to maintain a sense of as normal as possible.

As most of you know, I have been in various stages of adopting a child for several years. I am thrilled to announce that I have been matched with a beautiful little boy (5 years old) and will be sending in the completed and signed placement papers this week.

What this means is that barring anything happening during the 6-10 week process of going through the court system, I will be legal guardian for my adorable child (mac) by November.

So, things are not complete complete yet, but since after court approval, I will most likely only have a couple of weeks before an International trip, I decided to do as others generally do and announce at this point.

If anyone is going to be at WorldCon in Anaheim next week/weekend, and you want to hook up, email or ring me on my cell; I'll be there from Thursday night until Sunday afternoon, and would love to see some people.

Request for KC-area -ma: friends of mine's 2 1/2 month old baby boy, Max, died of SIDS yesterday. They had this baby after a dangerous ectopic miscarriage, chemo and fertility treatments.

He was a healthy baby, who stopped breathing at his infant day care. My friends are devastated.

Thanks.

After reading the last few messages, I'm almost embarassed to ask for any ~ma.

One of my nephew's is in Iraq. Until yesterday we thought he would be ok, his unit had been in northern Iraq in the Kurdish area and lately has been in Kuwait awaiting transport back to their base in Alaska. Then he was going to get out altogether.

Now, his unit has been diverted to Bagdad(!!!). So I'd ask for some saftey-keep-your-head-down ~ma for him, some strength for his mother, and some calmness for me so that I don't ram the next car I see that has a Bush/Cheney sticker on it and I don't go ballistic on the few Republican I work with.

Thanks,

Toni aka quester

The Aussie is coming! The Aussie is coming!

As you know, our beloved billytea will be visiting our fair country for several weeks. He begins his journey by arriving in LA this Thursday morning, and he heads towards the Pacific NW on Monday.

Anyone in SoCal who'd like to join a group of us as we head down to the San Diego Zoo and/or Wild Animal Park with him this Sunday, drop me a line or discuss in F2F. If you have other plans or ideas or would like to steal him away, that's fine too. I don't think he'll have a cell phone, so you can email or call me. Or just take it to F2F. Whatever works.

I sent out a quick email to localistas whose emails I had handy. If you're local and want to be involved but didn't get my email, let me know.

Will be going dark until next week as I'm off to enjoy this unbelievably nice August in Maine. Must be the puppy days right now or something, but it's the damndest weather I've seen in this part of the year (usually if it's less than 80F on a regular basis it's because we're getting rained on).