Yes, it was fun meeting Brian last night. I must admit, he is way ahead of me, technology wise. Just FYI, though, the machine he mentioned that I was using while he was playing with DNS redirection was actually his machine; he brought along his two laptops, I left mine at home.

Looking forward to Notacon, but there is a major problem, I won't be able to do all I wanted to do. I'm going to go Saturday afternoon, for sure, as long as I can stand it. I've got a blood clot in my leg somehow, last week. Had CAT scan last Tuesday, moved up from may 24. I was hoping it would be better by the time of Notacon, but that's not likely.

See, I got hit by colon cancer back in 05. Finished chemo back in Juily 06. Had to have surgery Nov 15, 2005, they gave me a permanent colostomy, (which I've named "Junior"), which I hate, but I guess I've gotten used to. It's been over a year.

So my right leg is blown up to twice it size, itches, and is sore all over. Uncomfortable to walk. Uncomfortable to bend the knee. I've given up looking for a job. 

I went to the hospital this monring, intending to go to the ER, but the parkiing there is silly; 3 spaces available, they're blocked off by cones, and "valet parking" for $5.00, why I don't know. I had intended this as an "emergency" visit.

 So I parked where I usually do, in the underground lot across the street. I figured on my hike across the street to the ER, i would stop off over at the Oncology dept, where my Dr. is and they all know me there. I didn't have an appointment today, but they were able to get me in.

They took my blood, told me to delay taking the Coumadin again until tomorrow. Dr. had advised me in the past that anybody that has had what I have is at risk for it coming back again. Well, it looks as if it has come back. According to the results of the ["radiological"] CAT scan, there is a "mass" there, the word my Dr. used. He didn't say, "cancer", I did. He told me they are having a seminar or meeting this coming Thursday of all the gastroenterologists in the hosptal, and my surgeon will be there, too. Dr. told me they will discuss my case then, and decide how to proceed. my Doc told me there are different types of chemo we can try, and different types of radiation. I asked him if it was needle-less chemo, he said "no". I reeeaalllyy hate needles. NOTHING has been said yet about another surgery. The only person that was asking about surgery was me.
They gave me 3 prescriptions, Oxycodone (a narcotic), Percoset, (another narcotic), and Amoxicillin (variant of penicillin). All for pain. I'm hoping they will kill the pain enough so I can do the con tomorrow. I printed off a tentative schedule, so I have an idea what to expect.

Oh, and I have a job interview scheduled now for May 8th. I'm not even worried about it.

Sorry to bring down the thread. A little bit of good news, got some money back in taxes, so I've been able to pay off my car. 2005 Corolla LE. 17000 miles. YAY, no more payments!! Also paid off some old credit cards. No more Credit card collection calls! Discover card has a really obnoxious computer that called me 7 times a day. They told me if they had a work number for me, that they would have it call me at work. 

Thanks again for the Port80 software Don. I don't run IIS, I just have my little home network, but it looks very exciting. Brian speaks very highly of you, I do too. Best admin I know of.

I still love computers, and hacking, and all this stuff. Guess this is just a distraction, and of course, at a bad time. Could be worse, I suppose. What if all this would have happened to me after I got hired somewhere? What would a new employer think?

Thanks agiain, everyone. 

Pssst, everyone: Spread the word: www.unemployedmcse.com

agreed.

i'm sure everyone here hopes you feel better

Yep I am just chilling here with Oyle writing reviews of the different talks I have sat in on. I decided to have my writing edited first before posting them to help remove some of the "red neck" dialect so everyone can understand them. Don is awesome at making my writing make sense. Anyway I will post my reviews under my column section so keep an eye out. Also I have meet up with Iorngeek and alot of other security guys I have chatted with over the years and it's a blast to hangout with like minded people. I wish all of you guys/gals where here! BTW I am spreading the word about ChicagoCon and I hope to make it!

Brian

OK, Back home. I was helping Brian pass out the pizza. Never seen so much pizza. Brian said there was enough pizza for over 200 people, that sounded about right. Brian said Don spent about $500 just on pizza. Rascal House pizza, they have a place on Euclid ave, near Cleveland State Univ., but I think that's a little far from where the con was, at Holiday Inn lakeside. I THINK there's a Rascal House pizza on 9th st., near Lakeside. That's a lot closer. I didn't even KNOW Mountain Dew, Diet Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper came in a 36-can pack! We ran out of paper plates and napkins. Like true hackers, we improvised, and tore the lids off the cardboard boxes the pizza came in, and used those for plates. W00t! 

I kinda thought NotaCon would be a little more techie that what I saw, but to be fair, I didn't reallly see a lot of it. The last time I was there [at the hotel] was for a job fair, about a year and a half ago. The job fair was in Ontario (the name for a ballroom inside the hotel), and the line was waaaaay outside the door.

Lots of stuff in the goodie bag they give you, including a SDN (Sybase Development Network) T-shirt, and trial CDs to try out. I will look at them, but I am the World's worst programmer.

Finally had to leave around 4pm or so, my foot had turned to a block of ice; Guess I have circulation problems, now. Was getting a little worried about it. Got home, back into bed, and under the covers. It's better, now, warm again.  Was talking to someone in line there for the pizza, he told me he had a spinal problem. I guess having medical problems goes hand-in-hand with being a hacker.....??

Lots of stuff for sale. T-shirts out the wazoo, all on sale at www.irongeek.com

Thanks, Don! Wish I couldv'e been more helpful than I was. I probably won't go tomorrow, on Sunday. Closing ceremonies are at 1:00pm, and the con is over at 2pm tomorrow, according to the schedule.