First off- this is funny:

http://www.jobkite.com/catsinacdstore.htm

Now on to our life…

The photo exhibit opening up in Casper was a great success. And the credit goes to Betsy who put it all together. (My only contribution was taking some of the pictures and helping her narrow down the final selections.) Our good friend Tony deserves some kudos as well, he was a great help to Betsy. We had about 35 pictures up when all was said and done. Everyone who came to the opening was blown away by the quality and style of the stuff that was up. According to Betsy the biggest hits were a picture I took of a door in an old madrasa in Islamic Cairo and another shot I took at the Giza pyramids of a mass of people in front of the sphinx. But everything up was raved about. It was also nice that the photos showed the good and positive side of “our Egypt.” We avoided any mention or reference to the bombing. The idea behind the show was to let people see the fun and beauty of Egypt.

You’ll notice I did not mention myself being at the opening. Because I wasn’t there. The night of the opening I was supposed to be preparing for wrist surgery the next day. It’s a long story, but I’ll try to make it short.

About two weeks before the opening I decided I should get my wrist fused. It’s the last procedure on the list of things I have needed to get done to my body. (After the leg surgery I’d decided against getting the wrist fused. It’s something that can wait. Not required, but would be nice. I was just sick and tired of seeing the inside of a hospital and constantly recovering from one thing or another. So the leg surgery was going to be it. The wrist could wait a few years. ) But as I thought about it I decided that the smart move would be to get the wrist fixed now while I have the time to recover and I know it will be paid for by Medicaid. So I got a hold of my doctor. The only date he could do it was the day after the opening. We could not wait any longer as it would take me about 3 months to fully recover, which would put me into my arrival in Uruguay. So the day after the opening was the date picked. Which means I could not go to the opening. A bummer. But I had to make the right move and surgery was the right move. On Monday, the day of the opening, I went into pre-op to get checked up on before surgery. I wheeled into the clinic and thought to myself that I just could not do it. I just could not go through another surgery and another 3 months of pain and misery. It was something that had been in the back of my head for a few days. Just thinking about how much it was going to hurt. Thinking about at least 6 weeks without being able to use my right hand at all. Thinking about rehab and therapy and … you know. The thought of them sticking me over and over again with a needle trying to find a working vein for the IV almost put me over the edge. The last straw was when I wheeled into the pre-op waiting room and saw at the end of the hallway a waiting room with a bed, blood pressure machine, medical equipment and so on. I just could not go through with it. I think I’ve got some sort of post traumatic syndrome that is not due to the bombing, but due to my 13 operations and extended hospital stays. I just can’t handle it. I’m not sure I can even go into the hospital for check-ups anymore.

Yeah. Wild eh?

So Betsy, with the help of Tony, did all the work for the opening, and deservedly received all the glory. She had Egyptian snacks, juices, tea, incense and music. She thinks about 100 people came. The staff at the café that hosted the show said it was the best photo exhibit they’d ever had. We had some great press on the show. Both local papers did stories and Betsy was interviewed for a radio program that played this last Sunday.

I hope South America has the same level of photo ops. That’s the thing about a place like Egypt. It’s pretty hard to not take good pictures. Everything is photogenic. The only bummer about the show is that we did not sell anywhere near enough pictures to cover the cost of putting it on. But a lot of people said they’d be back to buy. It’s good timing for us what with Christmas coming up. Hopefully some of the pictures will be under Xmas trees on the 25th. (As soon as I can figure out how to copyright the pictures I’ll put them up for all to see, and take orders from anyone who’d like to buy copies. [I know some of our pictures on the blog have been “borrowed,” which is fine, but it would be nice to get credit.] I don’t want to just put all of them up and let anyone copy them. In fact as I look back I probably should have put some sort of copyright type thing on quite a few of the really good pix that have gone up on the blog.) The show ends at the end of November, hopefully I’ll be able to go up then and see them all up and framed. Betsy took pictures of the show and it looked cool. I’ll post some of those pictures and others soon.

What else is up? Not much I guess. I’m beginning to walk a bit with one crutch. It’s been going slow. My leg hurts after a while. My right calf also gets really sore after not too long due to the fact that I’ve not been walking much for 3 months. I have been going to the gym quite a bit. Lifting light weights, but lifting. So my leg is coming along nicely.

Betsy is keeping pretty busy babysitting and picking up a friend’s boy from school every day. She also just got a very part-time job at a swank second hand clothing store. It’s the kind of place that only sells Prada and such. You know, high end clothing. She had her first day there on Sunday and hopes to work maybe one or two days a week. She was told that working there will get her networked to the Denver upper-class gals. Everyone who is anyone sells and shops there. That should make for some interesting stories. Betsy is also preparing to take her GMAT exam to get into grad school. She’s looking into going into the international MBA program at the University of Denver. Yikes. It’s like thirty grand a year. I certainly hope she does well on the exam and gets more than a few scholarships.

We’ll be spending Thanksgiving apart this year. Both our families are having mini family reunions. Hers up in Casper, mine here in Denver. I’d love to hang out with the Lamberson clan in Wyoming, but I’m looking forward to seeing my aunts, uncles and especially my nephews Liam and Noah. We’re all staying at a hotel in downtown Denver, which will be fun as we’ll all be together. I’m going to look at it like a little vacation for myself away from this apartment I’ve been in for so long.

I think that’s it for now. Look for some pictures soon.