PNG/Fulbright Update

Today I received a reply to my inquiries at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology. They are considering my proposal (only briefly sketched out at this point) for an "affiliation" for the purpose of my pursuing a Fulbright Fellowship. Although I don't feel particularly confident in my ability to obtain this prestigious grant, I have to admit that I felt the same way when applying to the University of Texas, and again when applying to Texas Tech. In other words, history has taught me not to discount my chances when pursuing things that I am passionate about and that really make sense to me. What am I trying to do here? Well, it's a bit complicated but I shall try to explain.

Some of you may know that I've been pursuing a business opportunity in Papua New Guinea for some 8 months or so now (Herries-ETS). It's been slow going and although I remain confident in our chances, we have not received any indication that we are going to be successful. Nope, I'm not giving up...nothing like that. However, at the same time I am also pursuing my education with a vengeance. Classes at Texas Tech start in just a couple of weeks, I have already read 2 textbooks in preparation for class, and I stumbled across something that sounds incredibly like an opportunity I could take advantage of. It is called a Fulbright Scholarship. Basically, it works like this...

Someone who is pursuing a PhD and would like to include research and/or teaching opportunities in a foreign country picks a country, makes contact with a university there, prepares a proposal for work to be done, and submits it all to the US government. Oh yes, this entire process has to be complete by October 1. The government takes a few months to review all the applications then selects those that will move forward in the process by January 2010. After that, some final work, fine-tuning, clarification and I believe interviews may be involved, then the final Fellowship recipients are announced. The winners pack their bags in August 2010, board a plane, and on the US government's dime, head to the country of their choice for a year of research, teaching, involvement in local activities and more.

Why PNG? Well, the truth is that I have actually come to love what I've found out about the country. I have made acquaintances there, have read everything I can find about it, and am deeply intrigued by what is happening in that country. But more than that, I worry about the potential negative impacts of the recent "boom" in oil and gas prospects occurring in that country. I mean, what wonderful opportunity for the country to grow, develop, and enhance the opportunities of the local workforce. But like my other favorite foreign study, Nigeria, what an opportunity for things to go wrong.

Anyway, for my crazy mixed-up life, for my sense of adventure, for my desire to make a difference in a small way somewhere in the world, and for my new-found love of PNG, I am going to give this my best effort. I REALLY would love to move there for a year, teach at the local college, learn from the experience, and enhance my PhD studies with what I learn. I really want to do this. It's a long road with lots of room for mistep, but I'm going to go for it. I hope you'll follow along and see what happens!

Amazing Grace

Grace Amaya Baldock. July 13, 1934 - July 29, 2009.

Grace was my sister-in-law, Leo's only sister. Her life was divided into two large chunks when she suffered an aneurysm in 1984 that the doctors expected would kill her. Well, in the typical Grace fashion that was no real surprise to family and friends, Grace proved that she was just not ready to go yet. Still, the aneurysm did leave her changed forever.

I met Grace for the first time in 1987, so the Grace before is someone I only knew from stories and photos. But boy are there some stories! Grace Amaya who in 1962 became Grace Baldock, was always a force to be reckoned with. The Grace of before was willful, formidable, driven, and lived a life that experienced a wide range of emotions from one end of the spectrum to the other. She was, in a word, simply "amazing".

Her little brother Leo, on the other hand, in spite of his deep love for his beautiful sister, particularly in his younger years might have chosen a word more like "frightening".

I remember the first time I met Grace. In all fairness, it was with nothing but good intentions that Leo did his best to prepare me for the encounter. If you don't know me well, you may not know that I take pride in thinking that I can handle anything that life throws my way. But I have to admit that Leo's prep talk before meeting his sister actually scared the bejesus out of me!

It took me only a short while to figure out that Grace was actually okay. It's not that Leo exaggerated; it's just that he had a view of his sister that spanned his lifetime and was filled with that same broad range of emotions. To me, Grace was something else entirely.

Grace and I never had the chance to become enemies, to fight, argue, or disagree over something more than the trivial. Although we sometimes tired of each other in long encounters, I could always look forward, especially in these last few years, to a very welcoming greeting from her, a genuine smile, an inquiry about family goings-on, and most often good-natured banter.

My favorite memories of the last couple of years, however, have to do with watching Leo and Grace together. On mornings when Leo is home, he makes a habit of walking across the yard to share a cup of coffee with Jess and Grace. I sometimes go with him, but don't really have to be there to know what is going on. At some point in the conversation the language switches from English to Spanish. (Truthfully, some things are just funnier in Spanish!) At some point in the conversation Leo is wiping his eyes and Grace is giggling loudly. When Jess and I are there, although we are not generally part of this conversation, we would have to work really hard not to be amused by it. These morning coffee encounters where I am very much an "outsider" are some of my favorite memories. These are the times I will revisit in my mind, the times when I can smile or even laugh out loud and know about how wonderful, intricate, and intimate sibling relationships can be.

Anyone who knows us, or knows Grace's husband "Uncle Jess", knows that he is the main man in our lives, the one we look up to, enjoy being around, and the one we adore. I think that in our lives Jess is the "bread". To carry that culinary anology forward then, Grace was the "spice". Even in her condition, where she needed to be cared for and provided for, Grace was really something. Although she often repeated herself or retold some of the same old stories to me, she just as often amazed me with a vocabulary word, a story, a recollection, or an insight. I just recently realized that our "Aunt Grace" stories were often as entertaining to friends and family, some of whom have never even met her, as they are to us.

And sitting here now thinking through all these thoughts and emotions, I just realized that I am really going to miss my sister-in-law Grace! What a character! What a woman!

There will not be any services for Grace, but we appreciate you keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. We are grieving, of course, but are also relieved that this last and most difficult part of the battle is over and she is at rest. Our lives were greatly impacted by Grace's part in them and will forever change by her departure from them. She in all her quirky, interesting, and even annoying presence, will be greatly missed by us all. Dear, sweet Grace...we miss you already!

P.S. Our youngest daughter Rachael has a new daughter arriving on the scene sometime in the next couple of weeks. Last week she called me to share the name they have settled on. In honor of Leo's mother and sister (and no less because the names are quite beautiful together) our newest granddaughter will be named Victoria Grace Rives. Way to go Grace!

Another Month of Quiet

Life is throwing a lot of stuff our way right now. I'm guessing that we aren't the only ones in this predicament. I'm guessing some of you are snowed under as well.

I do have a plan for getting out from under it, however. First and foremost involves finishing my current BIG ExxonMobil project. The trouble with this one is that I did not have access to the existing data when I put in a bid on the work required to create a new database home for it and pull it in. It turns out that it was not laid out in an organized manner and it is taking more effort than I expected to "save" it. Another way to state the problem is this: I am not making any money at all on this project. Yuk!

In other news, my planned trip to PNG has been postponed indefinitely. I was really hoping to be there by the time school starts (August twenty-something) but it appears that is just not going to happen. What a disappointment. Still, I continue to work on the project quite a few hours each week. The good of that is that when we get the signal to "go" we will be ready for it. The bad of it is that I am not getting paid for my work; more freebies.

Then there is the situation with Leo's sister Grace. I know some of you have come here looking for more details about that, but it is really a private matter at the moment. Leo and Jess are suffering, are dealing with it realistically, and are working through a lot of emotions daily. Thanks for keeping them in your thoughts and prayers. When the situation has resolved itself I will post an update here.

Now for a quick smattering of other topics of interest:

• Rachael's 5th child is due to arrive any day now. She will be named Victoria Grace and we are expecting to call her "Tori".
• Rebecca is learning how to create detailed technical drawings for me, and is doing quite a good job at it. I am VERY impressed.
• Leo is suffering with the after-effects of his dental work as well as the summer cold that I passed on to him. This is NOT one of his best trips home.
• Although we haven't done any work on the house for a few months now, as soon as the EM project is finished I am planning on taking some time off to plan for the last big push--kitchen and master bath.

One final note (in reference to the article title)...things are still crazy here and will be for another month or so. That means you probably won't hear from me again during that period, at least in any depth. After that, I expect to be back here again writing regularly so friends and family can keep up with our little adventures. It's not that I don't love you guys, it's just that I've let some "things" in my life take over. It is going to take me a bit of time an effort to get all the animals back in the zoo. When that happens, you'll hear from me.

Summer Cold Recovery

What a terrible week. I began feeling poorly on Tuesday. Just irritating stuff, nothing drastic. But it kept me from putting in some much-needed work and has gotten me way behind. I thought I would be over it by the time Leo got home on Thursday, but it only got worse. I was finally able to go to bed Friday morning at 4am. Yesterday was bad as well, but things started loosening up which was my first indication that it might be coming to an end. Today, I feel as good as I did on Tuesday, which is a definite improvement.

Some of you know there is something else going on at our place...Leo's sister, Grace, is in the hospital. I'm sorry, but we're just not ready to share more about that yet. The time will come, but not now. We do appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Thanks so much.

Home, home on the range

Yesterday was an all day affair at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, but definitely not a wasted day even for me. As soon as Jess got settled in for his procedure I was able to set up my laptop in a nice, quiet, and hidden area of the waiting room and get to work. I focused on some literature reviews for class and occasionally switched to work for my joint venture pursuits. All in all, it was a productive day for me.

We got home about 10:30 last night. Jess was really worn out and obviously sore from the procedure, but otherwise seems to be doing well. The doctor talked me through what they found earlier in the day, but that was all of about a 5 minute conversation. He is just the guy taking the pictures, he said, and offered no information about what those pictures actually mean. Jess will get a follow-up call later this week from the guy who makes the decisions. That's when we'll know more. Rebecca suggested we work from Port Lavaca today instead of trying to make a quick turnaround and head back to Houston. Great idea. So today, we're all here at home, piddling away at our various tasks.

P.S. Big thanks to neighbors David and Judy Bush for keeping an eye on things while we were gone. Having good neighbors is just the biggest blessing!

Jess in Recovery

Just got finished with a visit with the Doctor that worked on Jess. Other than the fact that we are running WAY behind schedule, everything went fine. The doctor took a look at the year-old scan and found that the aneurism WAS there then as well. This is good news as it means that this is not a fast-growing item, but something that's been hanging around for a bit.

The Dr. said Jess did well, that he was sedated but awake during the procedure, and that they did not find anything unexpected during the look-see. Jess is in recovery now, and they will let me in to see him in an hour. After that, we just have to hang around a while and make sure he's fine before they will let us go home at about 8pm.

That is going to put us home late tonight, but that's no problem from our end. I did email Rebecca and ask her to contact our neighbor Judy Bush to go and check on Grace. We definitely did not expect to be getting home so late tonight. Anyway, as far as I can tell all of the news is good news!

I'll post another update when I have one to share.

Another Global Holiday

I get a bit "tickled" at holidays like Cinco de Mayo and the Fourth of July. You see, almost everywhere in the world tomorrow it will be "the Fourth of July". Tomorrow is the fourth of July in Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Japan, and even England. While only a few of us will recognize that it's Independence Day, all of us will recognize that it's the fourth of July.

I know...silly, but it still makes me smile.

I made it home [to Port Lavaca] today after putting in a regular work day. The trip took longer than usual and the police were out in force, but I didn't have any problems. It's so nice to be home. Tomorrow I will be working all day on prep work for my trip to PNG so it will be busy, but I have such a good view when working from home it really doesn't seem much like work. I'm missing my sweetie, but we are on the back side of that even. He'll be home in less than two weeks and I can't wait.

Hope you all enjoy your Fourth of July tomorrow! I know I will!

Good News on Jess

The Doctor's visit this morning went well, and most of the news is good. I'm going to post it the way I heard it here, but will probably have to make corrections (using Jess' input) on the weekend. Here goes...

Dr. Rose was really a nice guy. He asked Jess all kinds of questions before sharing his thoughts, something I think is good. Lots of doctors are not as good as listening as they need to be in my opinion. He allowed us to look over his shoulder at the scans while he discussed them. The aneurysm is clear and obvious if you know what to look for. It is located on the right front side of his brain. (On the scan it looked like it was right behind his eyeball. That was quite cool to look at! :-) Anyway, here are the bullet points from what I understood of the conversation.

• Dr. Rose liked the fact that the aneurysm was discovered inadvertently. This is good news as it means it is not causing any problems yet.
• In his opinion, although surgery might be necessary, it is certainly not the place to start. He wants to "go on a fact-finding mission" first.
• Jess went to get some lab work done as soon as we left the office. He is also scheduled for a small procedure, an angiogram, on Monday. I'll drive him to town and back for this. Again, this is all about taking a better look at the problem.
• When I mentioned the fact that Jess was hoping to go the reunion on the weekend of the 25th, the doctor had no objections. He put the chances of a rupture based on what he was seeing now at less than 1%.Yippee! The reunion trip is back on!

There was only one item that could change the story a bit. Jess had the same scan done (sorry...I'm not "up" on medical jargon; physicians are something I avoid like the plague) that caught this problem a year or so ago. The question is, why didn't this show up then? Jess' homework assignment is to get a copy of that earlier scan for the doc to look at. His guess is that it was there then, but missed, since it was not what they were looking for. There is a possibility, however, that this aneurysm was not there a year ago. If this is the case, then the story is changed drastically and the need to address it more aggressively becomes the focus. We are definitely hoping for the best on this one.

So there it is folks. Jess has something going on inside his brain that needs to be watched, might need to be addressed, but probably will be handled without any surgery or other invasive action.

So far, in other words, the news is all good!