JOHNSON GARDNER SERVER DOWN
My company's server crashed yesterday, Tuesday. Why is that notable? Well, all of our personal photos that are posted on this website are hosted on the company server. As you can see, the photos are temporarily gone. Things will hopefully be back to normal soon.
ME-MA UPDATE 2/16
Me-Ma was moved out of the intensive care wing of the Spring Valley Hospital yesterday and is now in the normal care wing of the hospital. She's still recovering slowly, but making progress and the doctors are satisfied with her condition that she doesn't need constant monitoring. Any progress, even slow, is greeted happily. The doctors continue to discuss her ability to go back to Pahrump after she's stabilized a bit more and her heart treatment details are worked out.
Everyone will be happy about that, but certainly no one more than her.
JOHN KORYNASZ'S EYE SURGERY TODAY
John, or Koke to many of you, will be having eye surgery today to continue to improve his eyesight. His vision hasn't quite been the same after his cancer treatment, but good doctors in Medford, and seemingly here in the Portland area, seem to have helped his vision with various surgeries over the past few years.
Prayers for success and a quick recovery are with him.
BIG SEATTLE PRESENTATION: ECONOMICS & HOUSING BUBBLES
I'm headed to Seattle to co-host a major presentation tomorrow morning at 7:30am. I'm starting off, to be followed by my employer Jerry Johnson and then Seattle partner Matthew Gardner will finish up. I'm to talk about the national and Seattle regional economies, current and outlook.
One of the points I will be making tomorrow has to do with whether or not we have a housing bubble. By housing bubble, I mean whether or not housing prices nationwide have escalated due to normal market forces or by a bubble - "irrational exhuberance" by homebuyers and speculators - sort of like the internet firm stock market bubble that "burst" in 2000.
The issue has been of much interest in the press off and on, really for no better reason than a irrational prices driven by irrational buyers, seems to be one of the few concepts journalists seem to think they understand.. they don't. The following link is to a .pdf copy of an economic research paper out of Harvard University's Institute of Economic Research, which basically finds that when you control for land values, one of the major recent drivers of higher home prices is actually regulation, zoning and other government hurdles to development and construction - only making housing affordability for first-timers and lower income people all the worse.
In other words, planning, smart growth and growth management polices have become a larger and larger tax on actual construction costs, thus making home prices escalate nationwide, substantially in some areas known for aggressive land use policies.
Oddly enough, Seattle is one of the worst according to some of the statistics they employ, and I plan to make the point tomorrow!
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Monday, February 14, 2005
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
Don't forget to give your sweety a big smooch!
ME-MA UPDATE
Me-Ma has had a series of good days lately and has made progress, though quite gradually. The doctors are now talking of her being able to leave the hospital fairly soon as her systems are stabilizing to their satisfaction.
On the fun side, she's had her sodium-restricted diet ended so that she can raise her sodium levels. She now gets to salt all her food, so the enhanced flavor has definitely helped increase her appetite.
All in all, she's progressing and gaining strength, so that's great news.
GRAMMA REID UPDATE
I spoke to Gramma and she's feeling better and, in her words, "behaving herself." She's taking it easy, putting her feet up and feeling alright. Betty went to Farmington for a week to help out - I got to speak with her for a while. It was good to catch up.
Steve and Jim are expected to visit soon, as are Kathleen and my father. That should be a shindig if they all visit at the same time.
SOLID FOOD
Well, after a 6-month Well Baby checkup at his pediatrician's office, Gabriel was given the green light to try solid foods. Here are a couple of the photos of his first non-milk meal: rice cereal.
He started off a little awkwardly thinking the spoon was something to just chew on for relief of his gums; he has two little bumps from growing front teeth on his bottom jaw.
But once he tasted the rice cereal, he quickly got the idea and ended up eating quite a lot of his food. Some dribbled onto his bib, but surprisingly little actually. As you can see in the second picture, he got a bit impatient with his mom, grabbed the spoon and sucked the food off all by himself.
He's now eating two to three tablespoons of cereal at a time. He's tried little bits of banana mashed up, so we'll do that soon in larger quantities with the spoon. He's sure to love it.
So begins the gradual snowball effect on our grocery bill. It's a good thing Costco is building their largest store ever about three minutes from our house!
Don't forget to give your sweety a big smooch!
ME-MA UPDATE
Me-Ma has had a series of good days lately and has made progress, though quite gradually. The doctors are now talking of her being able to leave the hospital fairly soon as her systems are stabilizing to their satisfaction.
On the fun side, she's had her sodium-restricted diet ended so that she can raise her sodium levels. She now gets to salt all her food, so the enhanced flavor has definitely helped increase her appetite.
All in all, she's progressing and gaining strength, so that's great news.
GRAMMA REID UPDATE
I spoke to Gramma and she's feeling better and, in her words, "behaving herself." She's taking it easy, putting her feet up and feeling alright. Betty went to Farmington for a week to help out - I got to speak with her for a while. It was good to catch up.
Steve and Jim are expected to visit soon, as are Kathleen and my father. That should be a shindig if they all visit at the same time.
SOLID FOOD
Well, after a 6-month Well Baby checkup at his pediatrician's office, Gabriel was given the green light to try solid foods. Here are a couple of the photos of his first non-milk meal: rice cereal.
He started off a little awkwardly thinking the spoon was something to just chew on for relief of his gums; he has two little bumps from growing front teeth on his bottom jaw.
But once he tasted the rice cereal, he quickly got the idea and ended up eating quite a lot of his food. Some dribbled onto his bib, but surprisingly little actually. As you can see in the second picture, he got a bit impatient with his mom, grabbed the spoon and sucked the food off all by himself.
He's now eating two to three tablespoons of cereal at a time. He's tried little bits of banana mashed up, so we'll do that soon in larger quantities with the spoon. He's sure to love it.
So begins the gradual snowball effect on our grocery bill. It's a good thing Costco is building their largest store ever about three minutes from our house!
Thursday, February 03, 2005
ME-MA UPDATE 2/3
Dad called today and reported that the doctors are getting a better idea of the various issues keeping Me-ma's recovery on the slow side. Apparently, she is having complications with low blood pressure, weak heart rate, and low sodium levels.
Different combinations of treatment are being used, though she's been taken off of the heart medication because it was having advere effects on her blood pressure.
Meanwhile, she's visiting with family that have made it to Las Vegas as she rests when not prodded by the doctors.
GRAMMA REID UPDATE 2/3
Gramma Reid is home from the hospital, since Monday as I am aware, and seems to be doing alright. She's more comfortable at home, but is still being monitored carefully by her nurse for any sudden changes in her heart rate or other systems.
We keep both of them and their recovery in our prayers.
GABRIEL AN INTERNET PHENOMENON
It seems Les Hardison has posted a photo of Gabriel and his great-grandmother Charlotte on his estimable website. Scroll halfway down for the entry if you click the link.
It seems Gabriel's penchant for singing has raised Les's eyebrow - and while Gabriel's not yet following in the footsteps of his grandmother Judy in ably singing Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod, not Schubert), he certainly impresses us with his jazzy riffs on melodies whose identity only he knows. Here's a copy of the photo on Les's site.
Dad called today and reported that the doctors are getting a better idea of the various issues keeping Me-ma's recovery on the slow side. Apparently, she is having complications with low blood pressure, weak heart rate, and low sodium levels.
Different combinations of treatment are being used, though she's been taken off of the heart medication because it was having advere effects on her blood pressure.
Meanwhile, she's visiting with family that have made it to Las Vegas as she rests when not prodded by the doctors.
GRAMMA REID UPDATE 2/3
Gramma Reid is home from the hospital, since Monday as I am aware, and seems to be doing alright. She's more comfortable at home, but is still being monitored carefully by her nurse for any sudden changes in her heart rate or other systems.
We keep both of them and their recovery in our prayers.
GABRIEL AN INTERNET PHENOMENON
It seems Les Hardison has posted a photo of Gabriel and his great-grandmother Charlotte on his estimable website. Scroll halfway down for the entry if you click the link.
It seems Gabriel's penchant for singing has raised Les's eyebrow - and while Gabriel's not yet following in the footsteps of his grandmother Judy in ably singing Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod, not Schubert), he certainly impresses us with his jazzy riffs on melodies whose identity only he knows. Here's a copy of the photo on Les's site.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
ME-MA UPDATE
Leigh (Marquez) emailed with an update about Me Ma:
Rick and Libby called me last night after getting an update from Sue on how Me-ma is doing. As of 10pm last night when Sue was leaving the hospital she said that Me-ma was feeling better, the nausia is easing up a little as well. She found out that the reason Me-ma's cardiologist hasn't made an appearance is because he doesn't have a contract to practice at that hospital, but has been contacted by the cardiologist that is currently treating Me-ma and the two of them are working together to care for her. They feel that her heart rate is a little slow so they have given her a medication that will increase her heart rate to help the blood flow a little faster to carry the much needed fluids and help bring her sodium level up. They are going to monitor this closely as they don't want to over work her heart or cause any other problems.
Sounds like things are slowly improving - good news - despite hospital red tape.
Leigh (Marquez) emailed with an update about Me Ma:
Rick and Libby called me last night after getting an update from Sue on how Me-ma is doing. As of 10pm last night when Sue was leaving the hospital she said that Me-ma was feeling better, the nausia is easing up a little as well. She found out that the reason Me-ma's cardiologist hasn't made an appearance is because he doesn't have a contract to practice at that hospital, but has been contacted by the cardiologist that is currently treating Me-ma and the two of them are working together to care for her. They feel that her heart rate is a little slow so they have given her a medication that will increase her heart rate to help the blood flow a little faster to carry the much needed fluids and help bring her sodium level up. They are going to monitor this closely as they don't want to over work her heart or cause any other problems.
Sounds like things are slowly improving - good news - despite hospital red tape.
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