GRE ***(updated and edited)

Dave took the GRE test today. (Its like the SAT but its for grad school). It is done directly onto a computer now. You get "un-official" results right away for 2 of the 3 sections. For Math, he got an 800 out of a possible 800. And for Verbal (reading) he got a 730 out of a possible 800. It will be 3 weeks or so before he gets the scores to the essay part and the official Math and Verbal scores. He has applied again to the Coast Guard's vacancy for the MIT grad school position. It is a project management Masters. But even if he does not get it he will probably go for some grad school on his own in the next few years.. probably not till summer of 2008 anyways! **** After I first posted this -Dave told me that he is worried he wrote the scores down wrong. He says, "I couldn't have gotten an 800. I don't know if I remembered the numbers correctly". Dave does not know how smart he is sometimes. Its part of his charm. Who could live with someone that smart that KNEW they were that smart!? If he had scored a 600 he would have remembered it clearly and without question. Because he would have been mad at himself. But he has asked me no less than 20 times if I think he scored an 800.

Position Available:

I am reading a book entitled "Raising an emotionally healthy child while a parent is sick." I love the tone, it is a well written easy to read book that has some wonderful suggestions and insights. So, one idea they have is to have one person be your "Captain of Kindness." This is the person that communicates with everyone that says "let me know what I can do to help." If someone says this to us, we can ask them to call/email our "Captain of Kindness." This person can set up play dates to give us a break, schedule when folks bring over a meal when times are tough, set up rides to and from pre-school for Liam if need be. Perhaps people further away would want to contribute in other ways and this person could pool all of those people together to one idea (gift cards to pea-pod.com grocery delivery?). But it would take the burned off of us to set it all up and be the orchestrator of it all. I have a hard time asking for help sometimes. Even when feeling motivated, by the time I call 10 people to find someone that is available to do something, I might as well do it myself with that time and energy. So, if you would like to be our "Captain of Kindness" please email me. dkgodfrey@gmail.com

not much new

Not too much going on. We are still staying in Niantic (near Flanders Four Corners) house sitting for some friends that are currently in France. We agreed on a start date of Aug 1 for (as Liam calls it) "The New Blue House". We have the keys but are not even moving any small stuff in as of yet. (Although I did drop off an broom and toilet paper). The movers have the paperwork they need and we are all set for an Aug 7th delivery date. We purchased a new washer and dryer. I am excited. Its a front load set by Bosch. It was one of the top rated by Consumer Reports and Bosch are known for their quiet running appliances. They are being delivered on August 6th. (I need to remember to make sure the doorway is wide enough for them to get in. ) I spoke to the phone company, we are having our old home phone number restored to us. The house we are moving to does not have a drive way out to the road. The only way to access it at this point is to pull into a church parking lot and park there. It is less than 15 feet off the church lot. There is a right of way that is intended for a drive way. But it may not happen. Lawyers, Zoning, Neighbors, blah blah blah,... . Which is fine. Whatever. Just another quirky old New England Home. The story on this place is that about 150 years ago they converted an old barn into this house. The upstairs floors have been re-sanded this week. Not sure if the downstairs ones will get done or not. Although I would be thrilled if they did, since they would be georgous, I think that the floors that are there look suitable for our needs and we will be using area rugs anyways. We are only going to be there until the end of May 2008 then who knows where?!? So at this point, I have enough on my plate, if the floors are done or not done is not going to break me.

Surgeon Consult

We drove to Boston today. Dave had a meeting with the Surgeon. There were not too many revelations. He did an exam and the tumor has shrunk some. Most of my questions were answered with statements like "The Stoma Nurse will go over that" or "The anesthesiologist will deal with that" or " the nurses on duty will decide that." Well.... at least there is a team we didn't know about and they all have their specific jobs. On August 7th the movers are due to deliver our things to "The New Blue House" as Liam calls it. And on August 9th Dave has a CT scan. Then on August 15th he has his pre-op appointment as well as an appointment to see the Oncologist. After his surgery we will need major amounts of support. In every way imaginable. He will have two incisions... one will be huge from his sternum to his pelvic bone. He will have a colostomy bag that we will be learning how to deal with. Folks say to me a lot "let me know if you need anything",... well,... the time is coming were all of those will be called in! We will be in some serious need of help AFTER September 5th. He has his surgery Sept 5th, then 4 days in the hospital, then probably a week at the Godfrey house in Haverhill, then we go back to Quaker Hill where we will have a visiting nurse once a week or so for awhile. We were excited that phase 1 is over. But phase 2 now looms ahead...........

One of those days

So, for the most part, if you saw Dave you would never know he has cancer or has been through 6 weeks of Radiation. Also for the most part, life just seems to go along. Sometimes I even forget about it all. But today is just one of those days where I feel like I have steel bands around my ribs and can't catch my breath. Tammy Fay-Baker died this past week. Heard about it on the radio this morning while alone in the car. She died of Colon Cancer. Dave told me today that he picked up Lance Armstrong's book that we had been encouraged to read, and has decided there is no way to read it because its too emotional. Some days are fine. Some days its like drowning in a pool of mud.

Vacation Plans

Dave is still feeling some affects from the Radiation. If he is in a warm setting he gets queasier. He sometimes gets smacked with exhaustion. But overall doing much better. The bouts are shorter and less frequent. He has been putting in partial to almost full days at work. He would probably work more but we only have one car in CT right now, so he has to wait until Liam and I are ready to go. Wed night we want to a CT Suns' basketball game, Friday we went to a CT Defenders Baseball game. These are things we could not have attempted because Dave was not doing well in the evenings. As the affects continue to decrease their hold, we had planned on going on Vacation from August 18th. This is probably the best opportunity we will have for the next 13 months because of the surgery, then the chemo, just everything will be kind of tough ahead. We were thinking of going to the Godfrey Salisbury Beach House for 2 weeks. We have been given the opportunity to seek out an alternate destination - for at least the first week. Humm... maybe a trip to VT, or maybe take Liam to Sesame Street in Penn. Who knows?! One of Dave's ideas is to just hang out around Waterford... which sounds more like reality than vacation to me!

From Himself

This is a large excerpt from an email Dave sent to someone else in the CG. Its a bit jargon, but .. for those non-coasties, you can get the idea. Just thought I send you a note to let you know how things are going. I finished the 6 weeks of radiation/chemo on 6 July & the doctors are very pleased w/ the progress of the treatment & how well I had been tolerating everything. Unfortunately the past two weeks (especially last week) have been the worst for side-effects since the treatment started. The radiation-oncologist said to expect it - but it hasn't been too fun. I'm using lots of drugs (anti-diarrhea) to try & regulate everything - which have, been more or less, successful. As my mom's dr put it - he's suffering the after-effects of radiation poisoning. I should progressively get better & should be back to "normal" in about a week or two. Kerri & I have been down in the New London area for about 1 week now & I've been able to make it to work most days. (Although last week I was showing up late & leaving early, when I did show up). I have an appointment w/ the surgeon next Wednesday (25 July) and the surgery is scheduled for 5 Sept. I'm also scheduled for a CAT scan during the beginning of Aug to see how the treatment is going so far. Other than that the next couple of weeks are free from the doctors. K & I are planning on taking some vacation towards the end of Aug - one last rest period before the surgery - up at my folk's beach house in Salisbury again. This time I should be able to actually enjoy the beach/water. Since we sold our house last spring we had to find a rental for the upcoming year. We were able to find a place about 1 block from our old house at a very reasonable rate. We'll be near the friends/neighbors we like & the commute is only 5 minutes. K is happy moving back to that area & Liam has friends & baby sitters already. We even let him pick which bedroom would be his. Can't move in until Aug, so are house sitting for a friend who is in France for the summer.>There has been a slight mix-up w/ my orders. Although the detailer told me he was keeping me at the Academy & the solicitation msg for my job in NY has gone out - they haven't issued orders keeping me here. The medical board has been submitted & I received an email 2 days ago telling me I'm in the "Med Board Database". CAPT Hartnett wrote a positive endorsement to keep me here & listed out what my job would be. The SUPT (ADM Burhoe) came over to talk to me before he signed it & sent it up to HQ to see how I was doing.The O-5 board meets the end of the month & I'm in zone. Cautiously optimistic about that as my OERs here at the Academy have been really good. Also trying to knock out all the required training (have ISC-300 training scheduled at beginning of Aug), just to make sure everything is in order. I'm also applying for the MIT System Design & Management program again (msg dtg - 202015Z JUN 07). I applied last year but didn't even make the alternate list - so I'm going to try again. I meet all the criteria except I haven't taken the GRE w/in 5 years - I've signed up to take it, but not until after the submission deadline. Thanks for all your support & concern."

The House.. THE HOME

Our orders have been changed because of everything that has been going on in our lives. We will be staying in the New London area for an additional year. Dave has been given a "temporary support billet" for the year. He will be in the office occasionally. Since we sold our home in Quaker Hill and moved out of it, we needed to find a rental house for the year. We looked at big homes. We saw some furnished and unfurnished options. We looked at new homes. We looked at homes with ok commutes, and some with not so great commutes. What we settled on is .. well... sort of what we left. It is a blue house in Quaker Hill. It is about the distance of 7 homes from the house we sold. Its a bit smaller. A bit older. In better shape than what we moved into last time. And very charming. When we lived in Quaker Hill we loved that the local church (Quaker Hill Baptist Church) played bells at noon, 3, and 6. The church owns this house. It is just off their parking lot. The yard is big with plenty of space. There is a garage below. The kitchen has new counter-tops and flooring. The bathrooms have new sinks and fixtures. The rest of the house has hard wood floors throughout. They don't mind that we will be there for 10 months instead of 12. We decided to try and move in (and try to get settled) prior to the big day of Sept 5th, instead of after, so the lease will start Aug 1. It is cozy, warm, safe, inviting, relaxing, and makes my heart go "pitter-patter"... Its home. The search is over.

a mixed day

On the up side we saw 4 homes today. Only one was not acceptable. Also the personel office at the Academy is on board with helping us. Evidentally they posted Dave's job on Staten Island as open, but never actually cancelled the orders. So the paperwork is still catching up to the reality. And we have some Captains in Personel making sure that LOTS of things are getting done to smooth the road for us and make up for the fact they are behind the ball on all of this. They have a bulliten board where folks can come in and post houses for rent or sale to be viewed by the folks that have a clue that the board exists. We have been here for 4 years, and just now found out about it. Go figure. BUT, there is a blue house (we just moved out of a blue house) located in Quaker Hill (we just moved out of Quaker Hill) for rent. Kerri and Liam looked at it while Dave rested (more on that later). It is about 6 houses away from where we were living. So we will keep you posted on that one. I can say it "felt like home" but Dave will be seeing it very soon. Kerri and Liam also saw two houses owned by the same family in Norwich. A very nice residential section off of New London Turnpike. (For my Norwich friends on the west coast, Take the NLT, to Asylum Ave, then Left onto Dudley St). They have an old (40 year old raised ranch) home they are working extensively on. The garage is locked and would not be part of the rental.... which seemed a bit odd. He would not even allow me to look in. (which makes me wonder what the heck is in there that he does not want me to see) Then the other home is brand new (4 years old) raised ranch, and ... has a nice porch and yard. And a garage where he has no hang ups about us seeing or using. So, there has been some progress. On the downside, Dave has had his butt kicked with symptoms this week. At one point today he just groaned if I touched him. Within 6 hours he was almost back to normal. The first 2 weeks of treatments he felt zero side affects. The side affects will last for 2 weeks after treatment then start to subside. So it was a rough afternoon, and I felt helpless. The best thing I could do was get Liam out after putting water and crackers next to Dave. More soon.

The house search

We have seen 4 places. The first was a very nice little old fully furnished beach home. The funny part is that it switches over to a cistern for the winter months. The city water gets shut off and you live on the rain water that came off the roof! No tub. Only 2 VERY small showers. The second place looked like a grandmothers house. It needed all new windows (still had the old rope and weights kind), new exterior doors, floors refinished, and the kitchen just needed a stick of dianamite. But other than that, it was wonderful. The third place we looked at was the color of rotten peas. The tubs had not been sealed and the walls behind the tile were clearly rotting. It had a carport that they had attempted to close off to make into a porch. But they only closed off the front side. So its not really a porch, and can't be used as a car port. Then this morning we looked at a place that had 7 bedrooms. And an acre of grass that needs mowing. And the kitchen was old. Lets just say,.. that one didn't feel "right"! He wanted 1900 for it. But I would rather have something smaller but in better condition for that price. The only advantage to that place was that it was only 5 miles from the Academy. I got an email for a place in New London, a short walk from the train station. We drove by it. I think we saw a drug deal on the corner. Tomorrow we go to another place in New London but it is down off of Ocean Drive past the hospital. Much better hood. And we are meeting a landlord at 6:30 to view two places he has in Norwich.. its a funny little town. It has its shady areas.. and some ah... not as shady areas. So the search continues.

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Dave has had a really bad week. He hit the proverbially wall. Just weak. Sunday, yesterday, seemed really bad. Dave was all wrapped up on the couch with blankets even though it was very warm in the house. I ended up paging the provider on call. They said to monitor his temp. It was normal and stayed normal. And he had no shaking chills. So we stayed home and he rested. By 6pm he was outside playing baseball with Liam. Last night he got 6 solid hours of sleep- the best sleep in a long time. At the Dr apt they decided to give him an IV bag and redo his lab work.. All just as a precaution since yesterday was so funky. So Liam will get to see what the hospital cafeteria food is like!

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Sat night i got up out of bed so i could in downstairs to close a window. I tripped down the last 3, landing with a loud splat at the bottom. My right pinkie toe appears broken. I have an apt on wednesday to have it looked at. I am concerned that i may have injured one of those bones that connects the toe bones to the foot bones. Of course packing the car probaly didnt help! (packing car for that relocation back to the new london area.)

Blips

Today it came to my attention that there have been a few blips in information. I get daffy sometimes and forget that I TOLD someone something, not emailed or blogged it. So here are the details that I thought ya all already knew,.... Dave is seeing Dr. Ryan on Monday at 9:20 in Boston. After that appointment we are going to Conn. . Ya see, we have sort of been given the opportunity to... (????) ... house sit for one of Dave's co-workers. They are in France for the summer and we can stay in their place! They don't need house sitters. But it is the best way to describe it. They are kind people, and friends. They come back August 18th. That will give us some time to do some rental house shopping. When they get back on August 18th, that happens to also be the day that the beach house in Salisbury (on the Mass/NH line) is available again. So we will see what happens with the rental homes search, not sure where we shall be around the 19th of August... maybe moving into a rental place or hanging out at the beach again. The other blip is my employment status. Kind of a funny story but I handed in my badges, cleaned out my locker, and um... they won't let me quit. They are looking out for me. I am still working 1 shift a month for as long as I can swing it. If I have a shift I gives me a chance to de-compress. It keeps my badges all up to date and current and what-not. In the long term it really is the best thing for me.... but have you ever heard of not being able to quit a job? Its funny.

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Graduation day! Today Dave has his final radiation treatment! We are very happy to say good bye to phase one of his treatment. Side affects wise... He slammed into a huge wall this week. Very low energy... Like over boiled celery. Those feelings will be with him for 2 more weeks then gradually he will return to what is normal for him.

The Plan Progresses

I have 8 leads to look at when we get to CT next week. Some of them are furnished and some are not. And the 9th option is to move into sub base housing. At this point Kerri thinks it would be REALLY nice to be surrounded by our own things again. But before we get too set on that idea, we need to look at the places that are available. The catch about Sub-base housing is that they have some really large, nice, new homes. And then there are a number of homes that are just waiting to be distroyed. The "rent" is the same no matter what you get. (100% surrender of the BAH housing allowance.. which at this point is a lot of money) So we might be able to do better by being elsewhere. But it is an option. We won't be homeless. I would like to be settled in by the end of Labor Day weekend OR wait until a few weeks after surgery. I think, maybe, it would be better to be settled in prior to the surgery. But whatever! It will work itself out.

Our 4th of July

On the 3rd Dave did not feel well at all. We stuck close to home. On the 4th, we looked up events in the area, and decided to just head down to Newburyport to take a walk at the shopping section. We finally loaded into the car, got around the block, and .... came back. So Kerri and Liam made a run to Walmart. In the area of fishing supplies, there was no shortage of young guys to acquire advice from. We left the store well equipped. Say... did you know they even sell LIVE worms at WalMart?!?! Amazing! Dave was feeling just a bit better by the time we got home. With net, pole, tackle supplies, and bucket, David, Kerri, and Liam walked down to the local pond. I am proud to report that 2 fish were caught! They were "this big!" We had a tape measure with us. The first fish seemed to be a Sunfish with red spots on the fins. It was 4.5 inches long. The second Sunfish was 5 inches without the red spots. Maybe that means one was male and one was female. So we had some fun together. And I give you 3 guesses as to who was put in charge of all of the following: Grabbing the worm from the bait container, cutting the worm to an appropriate size, putting it on a hook, handling the fish, and removing the hook from fish. : )

Our Craigslist Ad

So here is the Ad I put on craigslist (www.craigslist.com)... both in CT and RI. Feel free to email it out ... someone you know might have a neighbor that needs a renter. Word of mouth is powerful. You can give out our email address. And we will also be dealing with a Realtor too so don't worry that we are leaving ALL of this up to word of mouth. Respectable family. Pet free. Smoke free. Would pass background and credit checks. Could take a furnished place. Or unfurnished. How about an after season beach house?! [winterized! :) ] Two adults and one well mannered 3.5 year old child. Need to move in sometime around September 1st 2007. (or maybe even Oct 1??) But here are the catches: We are not looking for a 7 bedroom place with a huge yard to maintain. We don't want too much to manage. Looking for something between Lyme/Old Lyme to Alton/Wood River Junction/ Westerly/ Norwich.need to MOVE OUT by the end of May 2008. Cannot in good conscience sign a one year lease... Would prefer a place in good shape. No pealing lead paint and such. Windows not needing plastic in winter. Also, one of the family members has a HIGHLY sensitive and highly DEADLY pet allergy. So it would be preferred (required?) if the place (and furniture if there is any) had not previously had pets near them. I am open to hearing from agents / Managers / owners.Will be in the area available to see property after July 8th. There just has to be something out there that suits our needs.