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In: Other writing, Widget D Left, Words
With: 3 Comments

(25 May 2020) Oh, Export A. You took my breath away. I smoked like a chimney for forty years or more. Probably more. Looking back, it wasn’t the brightest thing I could have done. It didn’t seem harmful when the deep wisdom and maturity of a typical 14-year old guided my decisions. I had my last cigarette in 2006 while waiting to go to the hospital to have a heart attack checked out. I mention this by way of pointing out that I never came down with lung cancer. It is the most common long term misery waiting for heavy smokers, but not everyone getsRead More →

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In: Other writing, Widget D Left, Words
With: 9 Comments

I live 1.6 kilometres from the corner of Metcalfe Street and Speedvale Avenue. Pretty close to three and a quarter kilometres there and back. About fifty minutes walking, as long as it isn’t raining. Cool and windy is fine. Wet and miserable isn’t. Some days, I go a bit longer. If I turn left at Speedvale and go down to Delhi and then home, it’s about 3.8 km round trip. If I turn right and go up to Stevenson, over to Palmer Street, down to Metcalfe and home, it’s about four and a half. About 65 minutes if I don’t have to wait too longRead More →

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In: Other writing, Widget D Left, Words

I share one big difference, and one identical thing, with Steve Jobs. The difference is he’s dead and I’m not. The identical thing is a neuroendocrine tumour on the pancreas. He lived with his for eight years. I’ve known mine for about three months. I have more money available to fight the tumour than Jobs had. When he died, Jobs was worth about US$10 billion. The Canadian health care budget for 2019 was CAD$264 billion. At current exchange rates, that clocks in at about US$190 billion. I can dip into this bucket of cash whenever I need to buy a bag of carboplatin and thereRead More →

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In: Book Reviews, Other writing, Widget D Left, Words

If I ever have to make a choice between reading a book or getting chemotherapy, I know what I’ll do. Unfortunately, life seldom gives us clear choices like that. Lynne, and a bunch of doctors, made the decision for me. It was unanimous. We don’t care, they said, if you ever read another book in your life. You’re getting chemo, and that’s all there is to it. I can still read books on chemo. I got the thumb’s up on this. Not books on the topic of chemo. Books to read while I’m on chemo. Traditional books at home, e-books while I’m in the chair.Read More →