Yesterday, as the title for today's entry implies, I was at the Microsoft launch for Vista, Office System 2007, and Exchange Server 2007 at the Toronto Congress Centre. It was a great event, very informative, well managed, well attended (over 3,000 of us geeks) and lengthy. But I managed the trip there in the car, the six sessions I attended, lunch, and even a few minutes of the social event following the launch.Today, was another matter entirely. It started with fasting before the CT scan and then waiting from 8:30 until 11:00 am for the actual procedure. The afternoon was then one of the very worst I've experienced this entire calendar year, possibly because of the barium solution I had to drink before the CT scan.
As a young boy, Santa always put an orange in the bottom of our Christmas stockings. Because oranges were hard to get this time of year, the taste of orange was always associated for me with Christmas. But the barium solution today, even though it was definitely flavoured with orange, did nothing to bring pleasant associations with Christmas. The only association was, as might be expected, with a very specific Christmas - last year's Christmas with cancer.
But I'm ready, ready for a new day, ready for a new year, ready for a new life cancer-free. Tomorrow, I'll find out whether that is a realistic hope. My surgeon should have the pathology report and perhaps even the results of today's CT scan to review with me and my wife.
But even while I wish for better times, better health, and maybe a better attitude, I have to remember that others are engaged in even worse memories of the season. One friend, for example, is recalling the death of her father a year ago today. Cousins are recalling the death of their father. And another friend is remembering the death of his father from colon cancer. Father Christmas has an entirely different meeting for them than it does for the majority of those celebrating this time of year. Those folks are also ready for a new day.
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