Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.

Well, maybe not that greatly exaggerated.

In fact, not really that far off.

It started with death, actually.  A week ago Monday, Daryl wrote to tell me Jim had died the night before.  I was grateful it happened fast because I believe that's how Jim would want it to be.  Still, even after he spent a week in the hospital, it was a shock to hear that he was gone.  For all of his heart problems of the past year, it was lung cancer that ultimately took him.  Based on our conversations, I have the idea that lung cancer and heart problems were only symptoms of the real disease, which was that he desperately missed his time of working at Aerojet.  When you take a great mind like he had that is used to successfully running 9 cylinder problems on a 6 cylinder brain for decades and abruptly send it into retirement, it just doesn't know what to do any more. 

I think Jim just got too bored to stay and I don't think any of us were smart enough to keep him going.

I posted his memorial and then found I just didn't have anything else to say, so I "closed the door," so to speak.

I came to the site a couple of times through the week after the 27th to write this column or update a few things here and there and it just didn't feel right doing it without a Jim column to post.

Yes, I will miss him.

At the end of that week, the GFORCE ladies:  Andrea, Marcia, Jodi, Terrey and I, had a date to kick off Spring Break with a Ladies Night Out.  Since I'm not good at drinking, I was the designate driver, so we all activated the babysitter chip in the husbands, piled into my Jeep and took off. 

Our destination was the new Olive Garden in Folsom on Iron Point, but when I called to verify its location, I got a recording saying they would not be open until April 23rd.  What??  I'd phoned the previous week and a real person told me they'd been open for 4 weeks and I could bring myself down right then and there for some chicken alfredo!  After I had everyone in the car, I made my grim announcement and we headed out for the Olive Garden on Sunrise in Citrus Heights.

As we were coming up on the Bidwell exit from 50, Marcia said she figured we ought to take ourselves right on down to the new Olive Garden, make sure they aren't open and raise some ruckus, so off the freeway we went.  Tra la.

We found it easy enough (left on Iron Point from Bidwell, left into the Olive Garden parking lot) and sure enough, it was all kinds of closed up, but there were people coming out of it at the time and one of them was dolled up in a nice shirt and tie.  I eased up and rolled down my window and hollered at him, asking him if he was Sami (the guy from the recording, also the general manager). He got all excited and said that yes, he was Sami and I started in telling him our tale of woe about how we drove all the way down off the mountain for over an hour to get some alfredo off of him and that we were simply devastated that they were not yet open.  Didn't he have some chef trainees in that bunch of people who needed some practice?

He didn't reckon he did, but he was sure glad to see us. I was moments away from making "the promise" on behalf of the 5 of us that we'd, all 5 of us, [do something nice for him to be inserted here] if he'd just get in there and make us some food, but having not yet acted as a fivesome in social settings in a purely unofficial capacity, I did not yet feel comfortable extending such offers in the name of the others. 

Even without The Promise, Sami gave us all $5 gift certificates to come back again another night, so we waved him goodbye and continued on to Sunrise.  When we got there, we found there was only a 35 minute wait to be seated, which was not going to give us nearly enough time at the bar, so we resolved that we would have to continue drinking (not me, but my drunken wards) at the table, which was fine. 

In short order, we were seated in the back of the restaurant (I think they sensed our rowdy potential, even though it was quite in check upon our arrival) with the families.    I mean really, we were coming there to be away from our families for a while and we got to be with everyone ELSE'S family.

The food was great.  The company was great.  Just an all around awesome night.  Terrey and I ate everyone else under the table, not wanting to be bothered with hauling home leftovers.  (Now I wish I had some leftovers)  We rolled out of there a little after 9 and had a grand ol' time. 

By the time I dropped everyone off, I was dead on my feet because I'm not much of a night owl, so I just sort of fell into bed and lost consciousness.  I woke up around 2-3am, feverish and weak.  It was the beginning of my own personal descent into the ick.  Delena was out of school on Thursday and Friday with a high fever and feeling yuck, so I guess it was just my turn. 

I was dying in bed all day Saturday (except when I got up to do the mail) and dying in bed all day Sunday (except for the 4 hours when I went to Placerville to buy groceries for the starving masses) and then only marginally better on Monday when I got up to do the mail again.

Eric did my mail route yesterday (Tuesday) and today.  The fever stopped by Monday morning, but I have horrible chest and sinus congestion.  The dizziness has been pretty bad as well.  On Sunday, Dylan came down with it and yesterday, Nathan got it.  Everyone is better today, which is to say we still feel pretty rough but can tell that we're on the mend.

No, I have no been exercising through this one.  My lung capacity is next to nothing and the coughing is excruciating.  My energy level is nothing.  The good news is that I'm not very hungry at all, so although I will have to start off slow and get back into shape when I begin exercising again on Monday, I will not likely have lost any groundwork in terms of weight loss.  In fact, I've lost a pound or so.

This will be good in that it will help me hit a reset button on portion control (which I was already hawking), so being sick has its blessings as well.

Such being the case, I am about to take myself back to bed for a rest and try to work on healing out of this.

I hope all of you are doing well and suggest you don't breathe my air for a while.

Be particular,