DSC_2751.jpg

Originally uploaded by Tommy Ryan

This is a picture of Alex after the 50K. Considering his Achilles pain going into the race, we were thrilled that he could finish.

Also in the photo left to right are:

• Mark Schaffer – His senior project facilitator (this 50K was his senior project)
• Alex Ryan – My son (of course )
• Ty Brown – Alex’s Cross Country Coach
• Sargent Eric White – In charge of Junior Army ROTC at Alex’s High School

179Originally uploaded by Tommy Ryan

The family had relaxing time at Edisto Island last week. I decided to sport a new look, that is bald (this time not due to a chemo treatment). The weather was very warm for June and the water was at bath temperature. The theme for the week was 3rd and 4th desserts and successfully put 10 pounds on me by the end of the week.

This year we missed having Alex with us. He is at Governor’s Honors Program all summer down at Valdolsta State University. I know it was tough for him last week knowing that we were at the beach. He is enjoying his time studying advance Math through programming in Eiffel and Delphi and learning more about Environmental Science through field trips to an Organic Farm and an Organic Salsa Factory. We look forward to seeing him this weekend at the Peachtree Road Race.

The gardener and geek in me is loving the site myfolia.com.  I just finished journaling 5 entries into myfolia (see http://myfolia.com/gardener/tommyryan/journals/search).  I know it is way too nice outside to be on the computer.  Well, Linda is out with the twins and Alex left for a school assignment at another kids house.  I have taken this time to document the progress of the garden. 

This spring has been a warm one and things are happening in the garden.  Last weekend, I built a new terraced garden below the driveway.  The interesting part of constructing this garden is that it is bordered by 100+ year old brick from my parent’s old fireplace that was taken down recently.  Madeline is going to paint one of the bricks with the year that the house was built (1903).

The above picture the garden boarder was taken the day that I constructed the garden.  It is now completely filled with transplants and seeds.  I am excited about all the fresh vegetables that the garden will yield this year!

CAT Scans came back last week and they are negative…. and yes that is a GOOD thing. So my 1.5 year checkup was a success!

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers. And sorry for taking so long to update my blog .

I am hooked on a new site for tracking my gardening progress.  Folia is a garderning geek paradise.  Check it out…

This is the second year for ThreeWill to field a Relay for Life Team.  We returned to Alpharetta High School and had a great start to the evening.  Linda and I walked the Survivor’s Walk together, which is what kicks off the event.  I had the honor of carrying the “Celebrate” flag (see  http://www.flickr.com/photos/8849782@N07/3506701787/in/set-72157617776857542/ for a video of Linda and I… youtube version below).

The kids enjoy playing ball on the field.  I had a soccer buddy named Bella (Sean Hester’s daughter) – I had a “ball” kicking with her.   On the day of the event (Friday, May 1) we had a heavy rainstorm during the day and it cleared up just in time for the event.  Everyone had a great time in the daylight and as the sun set that evening you could see thunder in the distance.  This eventually hit the event and at about 11pm we pack up a soaking wet camp. 

The organizers of the event push up the luminary ceremony (lighting lights in Memory or Honor of people effected by Cancer) and we were able to get a lap in before the downpour of rain.  I dedicated my walk (lighted luminary bags) to:

• In Memory of Jim Marks (a friend that I made during my stem cell transplant in Houston).  He passed away the weekend I came back to Houston for a Survivor’s Celebration in Houston (about 6 months post treatment)
• In Honor of Bob Buhay (a friend that had a stem cell transplant after me and is a 2 time Hodkin’s survivor like me)

The rain cut short the event, but we had lots of fun and were able to raise our goal of $3,000 (we always like to do things in 3′s at ThreeWill… including having campsite #3).  The overall event raised over $150,000 that night for the fight against cancer.  Thanks for everyone’s support!

This event (as it did last year) gave me time to reflect on my cancer experience.  My treatment seems so distant, but this walk reminds me of the struggle and pain others have and are going through.  It is too easy to take life for granted.  This event helps ground me in the reality of how fragile life is and celebrate the blessing of life.  Thank God for Life!

You can find pictures of the event on flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/8849782@N07/sets/72157617776857542/

Here is our team page for Relay for Life - http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=13043&team_id=380700

Trip to High Museum in December

Originally uploaded by Tommy Ryan

This picture is during a family field trip to the High Museum on 12/28/08. We saw the “First Emperor” Exhibit. This is the best exhibit that I have seen at the High.

BTW, this blog post is creating through sending an email. Awesome integration… Outlook email -> Flickr email address -> Post to WordPress based on a predefined template. It is sad that these things are exciting to me .

Linda and I are in the middle of a remodel of our basement.  I started this with my Dad on 2/14 and have been chipping away at it each weekend since then.

Here is a short journal.  I have shared more pictures up on flickr.

Weekend 1 (2/14-15)

• Put up walls (Thanks Ray Whitaker!)
• Run wiring (did everything but connecting to the box)
• First coat of ceiling paint (a spray gun is the only way to go with this)

Weekend 2 (2/21-22)

• Hang Drywall (Almost broke my dad’s back with this task… he was a trooper!)
• Put up blocking above the walls between the rafters
• Wiring ceiling light cans
• Final coat of paint on ceiling

Drywall is up!

Weekend 3 (2/28-3/1)

• Finishing drywall (oh boy… this task is not hard, but VERY messy… dust everywhere)
• Finishing wiring

Man this creates a mess!

Weekend 4 (3/7-8)

• 1 coat of prime
• 2 coats of Irish Tea paint
• Preparing trim (painted the trim)
• 3/4 of crown molding done
• 2 coats of trim paint on window and door

Walls painted and trim around the pipes. Lots-O miter joints.

We are getting close, but probably have 3 more weekends of work.  We need to get up all the trim, install door and ventless heater, and lay carpet.  I will probably post after it is all done… maybe even do a video (we’ll see)…

Pandora is an awesome internet radio site.  I constantly see the “Pandora for iPhone” ad and the ad for the “Pandora for Windows Mobile” lead me to believe that it was not yet available for the Samsung Epix (see – http://www.pandora.com/on-windowsmobile)… until I found this archive post on Pandora (http://blog.pandora.com/pandora/archives/2008/12/index.html - see the December 17, 2008 post).

I just downloaded the app on my Epix (see Dec 17 post for the details on how to do that) and noticed a “Free Trial” and then a “Full Version”.  This made me suspect that AT&T charges for this service… which confused me since I know that my bro, Danny, has this on his iPhone (AT&T service) and does not get charged.  Doing a quick search, I found that AT&T does charge (http://forums.wireless.att.com/cng/board/message?board.id=samsung&message.id=64669).  That is too bad… because that will keep me from using that app (and gives me another reason to buy an iPhone).  I am trying to be loyal to my Microsoft buddies, but things like this really put the WinMo devices at a disadvantage.

Austin had decided to go with a more generic running blog name and url.  I updated my earlier blogpost to have the new url (probably violated 101 of blogging, but did not want people to go to the wrong place).  The new url is http://trail-clocks.blogspot.com and the name is “The Deeper Side”. This fits Austin well. He is our deep thinker.

Here is the image he has for his blog -

Austin's blog image

BTW, he got is first comment and he was estatic. I thought it was a very thoughtful comment… see – http://trail-clocks.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-am-able-to-hear-my-distance-pace-and.html#comments.