Episode 57 - Bongos and Bioswales

Honeymoon? What honeymoon?

In part deux of our three-parter, we bring the kids up and keep the tape running while mayhem ensues. Ema helps me remember our honeymoon, and we all get an unnecessary education on what a bioswale is.

Email us - theunrealoc [at] gmail.com

Episode 56 - What A Trip!

Ema and I play catch up after nearly a year, and explore a particularly stressful travel day. Part one of three.

Click HERE to listen.

Email us: theunrealoc [at] gmail.com

We're Back - Recording Today

Hi folks - Yes, alive and well thanks. . .and YOU?

Click HERE for announcement.

Recording a new episode today, posting within two weeks. LOTS to catch up on, so stay tuned!

Thanks for sticking around!

Tom and Ema

New HiFi Collector.com

www.HiFiCollector.com

Help Fight Cancer Without Lifting a Finger!

Hi Folks! Feel the urge to somehow ‘give back’ to humanity, but simply don’t have the time? Got a computer that’s powered on most of the day, but not always in use? Then let your computer(s) donate their time instead! Step on up and join The Unreal OC team on World Community Grid.

If you're already a member of WCG and want to join The Unreal OC team, then click HERE.

If you'd like to join WCG and become a team member of The Unreal OC, click HERE.

World Community Grid's mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Donate the time your computer is turned on, but is idle, to projects that benefit humanity! The WCG (World Community Grid) provides the secure software that does it all for free, and you become part of a community that is helping to change the world. Once you install the software, you will be participating in World Community Grid. No other action must be taken; it's that simple!

As of this posting, there are over 417,000 members of WCG with over 1,130,000 devices (computers) donating time on the network, worldwide.

Ema and I are donating CPU cycles during the times our three home computers are on, but not in use, to Help Conquer Cancer, which is just one of the programs offered through the WCG. But, as you’ll see from the WCG Web site, there are other humanitarian and scientific projects that you can choose from as well.

Choose your cause, download the free software, and you’ll automatically become a member of The Unreal OC team!

I’ll post periodic status reports on this blog, but you can also visit the WCG site anytime to see how our team is doing and to check your individual contribution.

And by the way – tell a friend! Anyone can join WCG, and The Unreal OC team. Once we get about a dozen members we can join in on team challenges, but more on that later.

Ema and I will be talking more about this during our next podcast, but you can also send us an email with any questions and we’ll be happy to help.

Thanks!

~Tom


How Grid Technology Works
Making a difference has never been easier! Grid technology is simple and safe to use. To start, you register, then download and install a small program or "agent" onto your computer.

When idle, your computer will request data on a specific project from World Community Grid's server. It will then perform computations on this data, send the results back to the server, and ask the server for a new piece of work. Each computation that your computer performs provides scientists with critical information that accelerates the pace of research!

World Community Grid runs on software called BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing,) developed at University of California, Berkeley, USA with funding from NSF (National Science Foundation).

Episode 55 - A Visitor in the Night

Boy, you’d think we were doing a quarterly podcast – ehe? This will teach you NOT to unsubscribe! We’re back with more tales from beyond the Orange curtain, and we start right off with a potentially stinky story. Thanks for joining us. . .again!

By the way - Thanks to listener Jamie who left a comment on Ema's Recovery Blog which encouraged us to get off our rears and record an episode.

Forgotten, but Not Gone - Hang in There

Ema and I are still here! We are planning another podcast for Halloween, so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can follow her recovery HERE.

Thanks for checking in!

- Tom

Sallys Audio

I've been working with The Salvation Army to help them sell some of their donated stereo equipment on CraigsList. I price this stuff to sell, so if you're interested, follow THIS link and check out the booty. . .or is that bounty?

Items are updated throughout the week, so subscribe to the blog to keep informed of new items.

Thanks!

New Media Expo - Worship Service with Steve Webb

Fellow Orange County Podcaster and all-around great guy, Steve Webb asked us to pass along the news that he's holding his second annual Expo Worship Service Saturday August 16th 8 o'clock in in the morning in room N243 at the convention center. Here's a link to his promo: http://lifespringmedia.com/…ervice.mp3

Spread the word!

Thanks, Tom

I Can't Believe We're Back!

Well folks Ema and Tom are back after a five month hiatus. You’ll hear about our medical journey, but don’t worry – it’s all good news. You’ll also hear some of your favorite bits like Nick’s List, Things I Hate, Things I Love, and we’ve even resurrected the Police Blotter!

Click HERE to Listen.

Click HERE to be transported to The Unreal OC Web Page.

Thanks!

No - We Haven't Abandoned The Podcast!

Hiya Folks -

Quick note here. Hang in there. . .Ema and I have not abandoned the podcast, rather we are rallying our strength to start fresh - soon!

Chemotherapy is over, but Ema is still weak and battling fatigue. We'll be back with an episode jiffy-quick. In the meantime, you can be kept up to date with these two blogs/podcasts:

Ema's Cancer Recovery Blog

Barefoot in the Garage

Or, for a trip down memory lane. . . My "Unreal OC Storytelling episodes" 1-23

Thanks!

Tom

New Blog for Ema's Recovery

I created a new blog exclusively for Ema's recovery, and copied all of the "Breathe In, Breathe out" posts to it.

I'll be updating this more often, and it will also include posts from Ema's own cancer journal which she has kept from the beginning of this whole escapade.

If you'd like to subscribe, here's a link to the RSS.

You can also subscribe to this new blog via email notifications by going to the new blog and entering your email into the field at the top of the page.


Thanks folks,

Tom

Breathe In, Breathe Out - A Cancer Recovery Journal - 18

Here's an audio Ema update I recorded last week for Utterz.

Click HERE to listen.

Thanks,

Tom

Two Pounds Per Week

Started a new diet, and this time it's personal! But I'm sharing my progress with y'all! http://www.twopoundsperweek.com Stop on by!

Am I Totally Losing it???

Lately Ema has been looking at me a bit funny. There have been a couple 'Barefoot in the Garage' episodes that have left her wondering if I've finally gone off the deep end.

Most recently, this happened today when I played her my latest episode.

About a week ago, I made an episode that just about motivated her to send me out for milk and change the locks.

Perhaps she's right. I may be too far gone to tell anymore. I'll let you decide.

Tom

Breathe In, Breathe Out - A Cancer Recovery Journal - 17

Well - It's done and we LOVE it! Ema knew she didn't want to watch her hair fall out, day-by-day and feel self-conscious about it. Plus, she said looking in the mirror was becoming depressing because she looked sicker than she really is!

She called Linda and between the three of us, we rid her of all that pesky hair. The kids were great with it - even Juliana said "Mommy, you look beautiful!"

Chemotherapy is hard. She has her good days and bad. There's one drug, in particular, that Ema gets to help her boost her immune system that makes her feel flu-ish - ironic, ehe? Besides that, and the general fatigue from the treatments, she's doing great, and her attitude is as terrific as ever.

More photos HERE.

Back soon -

Tom

First Signs of Spring - Call for Photos

Hi -

As part of an [Utterz] "Barefoot in the Garage" photo project, I'm collecting "First Signs of Spring" photos from around the world. Of course, if you live south of the equator, you can send me your "First Signs of Fall" pics.

Send them to barefootinthegarage AT gmail.com, and you'll see them posted HERE.

If you send me the city you're in, I'll add that to the map in comments section below your photo.

You can hear more about this project here.

Thanks!

Tom

Episode 53 - Harry Dogwater

Tom tells his story about siphoning dog blanket water from the broken washing machine, Tom’s implant woes, Ema gives an account of her chemotherapy experience thus far, and Nick and Juliana give a quick cameo and tell us about their weeks’ adverntures.

Download or listen here.

Thanks!

Breathe In, Breathe Out - A Cancer Recovery Journal - 16

Ema's first day of chemotherapy was this past Thursday. Note the chocolates next to her. She brought them as bribes to the nurses so they would be kind with their needles. Hey - attitude is everything, but a little kissing up doesn't hurt either!

Under her right shoulder blade there's a miraculous little, self-sealing silicone device - a medi-port (or porta-cath) that allows up to 1,000 needle punctures without the need to prod around for a good vein to use each time. We are so thankful for this type of technology. She'll be doing chemo through late June once per week - two weeks on, one week off.

Feel free to leave words of encouragement as comments on this blog, and I'll be sure she gets them.

Thanks!

Tom

Breathe In, Breathe Out - A Cancer Recovery Journal - 15

Hi folks - It's been over a month since the last Ema update, and something happened earlier this week that we wanted to share.

Ema visited her oncologist (one of her oncologists, actually - she has a team of them), and he told her he'd like for her to start chemotherapy next week.

This was unexpected since we were told back in November that we could wait to use chemo in the event of a relapse.

Well, the UCLA oncology board revisited her case and decided that, since the tumor was 5cm - the exact cutoff size for recommending chemo, and it was a very aggressive, rare type of tumor, that chemo would be a good thing at this point.

Ema's attitude is amazing. She's not looking forward to losing her hair, but beyond that, she's taking all of this really well.

In a sense, we both feel a little better about her situation because, until this news, it was up to us to make the decision regarding chemo at this time. She was borderline, and the doctors left the decision up to us. It's comforting, in a way, to have the doctors go ahead and recommend what they believe is best at this point. Chemo is pretty nasty stuff, but so is soft-tissue sarcomas. Better safe than sorry.

Ema had chemo before - some fifteen years ago when she had Hodgkin's disease. She lost her hair then, which was stick straight, and it grew back wavy. We're joking now that it will probably grow back in tight curls - ala Freida - the little curly-headed girl in Charlie Brown.

She starts chemo next week, and has to sit in the chair for about 5 hours once per week for her treatments which will last four months - maybe five.

I'm firing up this journal again to keep you folks up to date, and we'll give more details in the next podcast.

Thanks!

Tom