Jeff’s back.

Update your RSS Readers accordingly.

In October, my Mom had nearly inoperable Liver Cancer throughout her torso–liver, right lung, and diaphragm.

As of Friday, March 7th, after radical resection surgery and 2 months of treatment, her PET scan showed she was fine.

To the prayer warriors from Ashland to Louisville, for the thousands who heard mom’s story on WLJC TV from Beattyville, and to those who sent encouragement through this blog, email, and in person, my thanks.

That is great news I am happy for you all.

Susan - Mar 2, 2008

That is great news I am happy for you all.

Absolutely fantastic. A brave, tough lady for sure.

Easter Pageant?!

What is this, amateur hour? Who cares about some piddly church passion play? What’s next, “Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever”?

How’s this for Piddly: Two professional composers, a 9000 seat auditorium, 75,000 tickets over a month-long run, a 300 person chorous, two IMAX-size video screens.

Traditionally, Southeast’s Easter Pageant has been the biggest theatrical production in Louisville. They took a year off to retool and rework it, comissioning a rework from the ground up. Whereas the previous iteration had been a “cast of thousands” broadway-style production, they wanted something…different.

I second the review completely. This all punctuat…

Whitney - Mar 1, 2008

I second the review completely. This all punctuated by a preacher who spent tens of thouseands of dollars to change the carpeting throughout the massive facility because he thought it’s mauve overcast was too feminine, eradicated the library completely to put in a starbucks, and banned the sunday school class communal coffee machines and bringing of donuts bc it would detract from the profits reaped by the coffee shop. Can we say Jesus angrily turning over tables and whipping the baristas for defiling his house? I get more angry every time I enter that building. We will not be returning, EVER probably.

So, Chinatown.

“Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

Iconic stuff. Nicholson back when was an awesome actor, not just paid to play himself (see “Witches of Eastwick”, et al.). Faye Dunnaway’s cheekbones. John Huston as the creepy dad.

Umm…I hated it.

Lined-up against L.A. Confidential, Chinatown is darker, more mysterious, but at the same time, distant. We learn about the characters bit-by-bit, but once we learn everything, we just want to forget them.

No, not that awful sitcom, I mean I’m carpooling.

Apparently, a 4-cylinder Camry has more uses than sucking the joy out of the driving experience. It’s also an efficient appliance for transporting up to 4 adults on the twice-daily jaunt to and from work.

Currently, we’re leaving ~6:45am and heading home around 4:30ish; Whitney’s now taken over drill sargeant duties for getting Joey to school.

The Fence fairy showed up at my house this weekend:

New Fence

We’re pretty pumped about it, because it’ll let us send the inmates…er…children to the back yard. :-)

That’s really nice!

Jeff Roberts - Mar 6, 2008

That’s really nice!

So, I pretty much spent this afternoon watching all 33 extant webisodes of Quarterlife, a melodrama about 5-7 late-20somethings who aren’t really going anywhere with their lives, but who have plenty of spiffy dialog.

The central plot vehicle is Dylan, aspiring writer who’s turned to blogging (really video-blogging, but who’s counting) to express herself and her opinions, particularly on her friends’ lives.

(Aside: This is the central tension in blogging–how honest do you want to be? What if someone reads what you wrote about them. That lead to the downfall–and deletion–of my “private” blog. Anyway, Dylan doesn’t pull any punches good for her.)

Whitney’s surgery went just fine…she was in and out into recover in ~20 minutes. She’s resting comfortably at home now.

Fantastic!

Jeff Roberts - Feb 4, 2008

Fantastic!

I am glad that Whitney is feeling better. One of my co-workers had the same surgery and it was rough on her. I will pray for a speedy recovery.

“Nipples” – Maria Combs, age 1 yr.

(Yep, Whitney proclaimed that baby girl said that the other day.)

* * *

Whitney’s getting her tonsils out today at 11:30am. It’s an outpatient procedure, but she’s scared to death nonetheless.

Anyway, I’m off work taking care of her today & tomorrow, and the kids are going to Louisville with Stu & Cathy.

For those so inclined, prayers are appreciated. I’m sure everything will go well, but you know our luck…

We’ll pray all goes well and it helps her health l…

Jeff Roberts - Feb 4, 2008

We’ll pray all goes well and it helps her health long term.

We’ll pray for maria’s mouth, tho with her father’s mouth (and aforementioned lullabies including “B double-E double-R U N beer run), there’s probably no hope. Thanks to Harold Joey thinks burping is hilarious. :-) Men. Watcha gonna do?

More info on that cool, euro Elantra Touring from the auto show:

Touring Mini-site

Just checking out the specs:

- 24mm front & 21 mm rear swaybars
- Factory B&M Short throw shifter
- 140hp (yeah, it’s a Hyundai Beta engine…)
- Stiffer springs & dampers (EURO, BABY!!)

Might have to go drive these when they hit the dealers…sounds like a redux of the Protege5 (or the Plymouth Colt Vista for the 21st century)

link

After the committee meeting broke up, several expressed doubt that a compromise could be reached this session. Stumbo, for instance, said the horse industry may have asked for too much and doomed any casino proposal.

“What you saw today was an industry that cut off its nose to spite its face,” Stumbo said. “I think the bill’s probably dead.”

w0000000000000000000t!

Maybe this isn’t a fait accompli, afterall!

Made a pilgrimage to the Cincy Auto Show on Saturday:

Cincinnati Auto Show 2008

Impressions, briefly:

• VERY impressed with the offerings from Hyundai. They seem to fill every niche (aside from Hybrid), and the interior materials and fit/finish are great, for a good price. Particularly loving the Elantra Touring, which is a proper hatchback version of the elantra. Eminently practical, getting 30mpg.

• The rebirth of the car. Interest in Trucks & SUVs was nil…the crowds were all around the cars and some crossovers. “What’s the MPG?” seemed to be the question of the afternoon

Ah, when nerds make viral videos (SFW): Link

Cute. Lags a bit near the end but worth hanging ou…

Jeff Roberts - Feb 2, 2008

Cute. Lags a bit near the end but worth hanging out to see the last bit.

Maria’s First Birthday

Check it out!! My gal’s One!