Gonna Take a Lot to Drag Me Away From You

Blogging Tunes: ARI@PHI (ESPN); Baseball Tonight

Short outline-form update.

Health Update:

• Energy level up from last week -- I feel pretty good -- probably 70%
• Still need 9+ hours of sleep per night
• Hickman Line removed last week -- I am no longer a Borg
• Radiology appointment tomorrow (kidney stone / lythotripsy follow-up)
• Increasing conditioning very slowly: mostly daily walks
• Still taking Tac, Acyclovir, VFend, and Magnesium Oxide... oh, and flowmax
• Weight is up slightly, but not quite where it needs to be: 147lbs, need to get to 155.

Got a big-ol' steak after my Hickman Line was removed

Work Update:

• Official return-to-work date set for: Monday September 19, 2011
• Planning transition and priorities for September
• Hoping to attend a day or two of Dreamforce

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Light the Night Update:

• Light the Night fundraising has begun. The San Francisco walk is on Thursday October 20, 2011.  Note that 10/20 is Game 2 of the World Series (see mlb playoff schedule). If I can miss a game to walk, you can donate on my behalf -- and yes, I'm saying that the Phillies will be in it.
• You can sponsor me by donating on my LLS LTN fundraising page by clicking here
• Please forward the above link to anyone who you think might want to donate

Music Update:

OK, can't really do this section in outline form. The big news is that we took Floyd to his first Phish show (in Golden Gate Park) last Friday (see: setlist and reviews).  We actually saw The Original Meters and MGMT too.  We got there pretty early and set up our area well back from the second speaker stacks.  The Meters were pretty good and MGMT was interesting, but Phish stole the night with two rockin' sets.

Floyd had an amazing time, stayed up for the entire show (til 10pm) and then promptly passed out in the stroller as we were walking out.  The pics and movies tell the whole story:

Early on, the Stomp Rocket provided hours of entertainment for Floyd

Great view of Trey and boys from daddy's shoulders

Tens of thousands way up front -- we were fine back here

Floyd dances to Axilla I

Floyd dances to Mound

We got visits from Auntie Na Na and Jason, Jmomo, and Adam K. from Salesforce. Thanks for stopping by, everyone.

Spending all day in the park was another big test. I definitely needed to sleep in a bit on Saturday, but I wasn't nearly as wrecked as the previous weekend -- a great sign for handling a "full day."

This show has been playing non-stop on Floyd's iPod since Sunday -- his new favorite song is Suzy Greenberg.  Setlist wise, I think I would have rather seen the Chicago run, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

In other music news, I've played two Little Arrows gigs since the last post.  Here are the setlists:

8/9/11 - Little Arrows Piano Enrichment

Hello Song >

The Thin Ice >

Bathtub Gin >

Ship Of Fools

Scarlet Begonias >

Fire On The Mountain

Throwing Stones

Russian Lullaby

Ripple

Goodbye Song

Lots of Dead in honor of the anniversary of Jerry's passing.  RIP Jer.  

8/16/11 - Little Arrows Piano Enrichment

Hello Song >

Good Times Roll* >

Wilson*

Suzy Greenberg >

Cities

Africa* >

Mike's Song* >

A Trick of the Tail

Mississippi Half Step >

Goodbye Song

*First Time played

I'm using this weekly gig as an opportunity to learn a bunch more songs (and not just play all Grateful Dead). The Toto song kinda came out of nowhere when my pal, ejsphilly mentioned Tuesday morning that he'd been playing around with it. After looking at the (barely usable) chords on the internet, listening to the tune, and talking with Rob M, I think we have a pretty good chart now.  You can find it here if you're so inclined (use narrow margins so it will fit on one page.) Also, Rob transcribed the melody of the solo:

Hurry boy it's waiting there for you...

A couple cute pics before I sign off:

O entranced by an excavator

The boys painting in the backyard

Once again, please make sure to visit my LLS LTN fundraising page!

Its ass is beaten and bruised,

-jg