Hello to all of my friends out there! Once again, I've managed to disappear for a long time (though the FA outage made it longer than it otherwise would have been - but still...).

Things have been very much insane on my end. It all started with my kitten... Last year she chomped my hand really good and gave me an infection that took months to fight off. Well, I recovered from that, but apparently the antibiotics left my immune system a bit weak. The flu bug I managed to catch developed into a mild case of pneumonia. More antibiotics later and I'm on the mend again. Hopefully this time it'll stick.

On a sadder note, my grandmother has been in the hospital for over almost two months now, on a ventilator and feeding tube. She was admitted with a variety of problems, mostly trouble breathing. It was found that her kidneys had failed and the toxins were causing her body to shut down. The docs managed to get them working again, but she is only slightly responsive. Grandpa is going to have her moved to a rehab center (nursing home) with the hope that they can at least get her off the vent and tube.

In the midst of this, my brother and sister-in-law are getting ready to move to Alaska in a week and a half. It was decided that they would leave their household packed into the house here and they would rent a furnished apartment, taking only their dogs, clothes and one car. It has been a madhouse here for months, with ALL of our possessions spread out on the lawn at one time or another, trying to make enough room for all of their stuff.

Work has been grinding along in the midst of this controlled chaos. Things picked up for me there - the work is pretty much non-stop.

All told, I'm VERY glad that FA is up and running again, and I'm VERY glad to be back! Kudos to Yak, Dragoneer and ALL of the FA staff for a job well done!

- Mech