Well, its been a busy week.
It started off last Saturday with the 31st running of the Get In Gear 10K race.
Nimol (Co-worker and Fast Runner - We call her the Gazelle) picked me up shortly before 8 AM to do the running race. We met up with some other friends and headed to Minneapolis. The weather was cold, windy and had periods of sleet and snow. I captained the Seagate Technology running team. We had 21 participants running in both the 10K and 5K races. Last year, the temps were in the 60's, this year is was in the 30's. We all dressed for the occassion. I ran in three shirts and pants. Scott Heiserman (see Chequemegon blog from Sept '07) and myself jumped the fence to get a spot in the front of the 4000 runner pack. We were positioned so that we would not have to run through a pack of runners. The gun went off and the race started. I paced myself to beat my 44 minute goal for the 10K. At the 5K mark, I was at 21:50. Then as usual, I started to fade around the 4-5 mile mark. The wind was nasty and the sleet started to come down. I made it to the Ford bridge and found a runner to block the wind for me. The race finally ended for me with a time of 44:30. That makes the last 4 races as 44:20, 44:21. 44:29. 44:30. I think I am stuck in this range until I can find a way to pick up my pace.
(Scott, Nimol, Marie and Eric freezing after the 10K race!)
The Grandparents (Milt and Peggy) arrived from Florida on Sunday. Peggy went to Joe and Mary's wedding shower on Sunday with Vicki and Brooke. Ali and Angie were also there. Milty, Riley and I went to the shower to see Aunt Rosie, Aunt Florence and the other relatives. This past week, Grandma and Grandpa watched Brooke and Riley many times and even took them Garage Saling on Friday. The highlight was the Minnie Mouse Costume that Grandma found for Brooke. We'll post pictures later.
On Thursday morning, Vicki brought me to see Dr. Chu for my Eye Laser Surgery. The process took about 2 hours from walking on the office to walking out. The procedure involved multiple eye drops, numbing solutions for the eye and then brought me into the operating room. They had me lay down on the table and gave me a stuffed alligator to hold on to. Dr. Chu came in and then reviewed the charts. The nurses spun my body around so my head was under the laser. The nurses taped back my eyelashes/lids, then Dr. Chu used a tool to open my eyelids. That was the most painful aspect of the surgery. (By the way, I had some valium before the surgery). Dr. Chu then told me to look at the blinking orange light. The laser then cut the flap on the left eye and then he moved to the right eye. Dr. Chu went back to the left eye and lasered the lens and then put the flap down. Then he went back to the right eye and repeated it. The actual procedure took 5 minutes. After the procedure, Dr Chu checked out my eyes and put on protective lenses on me (right after he took a pix of the two of us). I slept yesterday afternoon and my vision improved throughout the day.
I started taking my eye drops yesterday (applying 3 drops per eye every 4 hours or more often). On Friday morning, I noticed that my left eye was weaker than my right eye and my right eye was sore while my left eye felt good. At my appointment, the doctor said that my eyesight is 20 over 30 in the left eye and there was some irritation and he needed to see me again on Saturday morning and perhaps Monday morning. I also have to take special drops in my left eye every hour to help elimination irritation in the left eye. My guess is that they will have to redo my eye flap on Monday. Needless to say, so far I am impressed with the surgery.
Following the Friday morning doctor's appointment, Vicki and I drove the Isuzu Trooper to Brooklyn Center to the one (of only 2) Isuzu dealerships in Minnesota. The 2 Burnsville Isuzu dealerships closed over the past 7 years. Vicki's Trooper has an issue in which the air intake gasket fails every two years. We had the dealership drive us to Brookdale mall to walk around while they worked on the vehicle. We didn't realize Brookdale Center was so run down. Many of the stores were closed and the rest were on the verge of being closed. In the long run, it was nice to have lunch with Vicki and without the kids.
Well that enough of the blog for tonight....
Stay tuned!
By the way, here's pix from Japan that I promised you all before.
Note: all restaurants have plastic food in the front windows so you can see what they serve. Also the exchange rate is 98 Yen = $1 US dollar. For example, the meal below goes for almost $40.
It was cherry blossom season in Japan. Very beautiful.
Dinner the Japense way. Lots of Shabu Shabu and Beer!
