Feeling Reconnected: Been a good day here. There was an IndyCar race followed by an afternoon of errands that left me with something I needed at a nice price and provided a good walk to boot. And I had a nice evening on the phone for quite a while (you know how little I talk on the phone, right? Maybe  10 minutes a month!)  reconnecting with someone I hit a bumpy patch with last year. Feels good to be back in touch. Feeling contented today. 

Busy Day Yesterday: Rested most of the morning before running errands to the vet and grocery. Sebastian has had problems with a tooth so we went to get him checked out and get some meds. I dragged his carrier uphill to my ZIPcar, to the vet and the grocery store – a bit of a workout with a squirming 12-pound cat inside.  I still felt pretty well afterward – very little lower back ache and my energy level was good all day.  Feeling a bit tired this morning, so I’ll need to have a slower day, but it’s all slowly improving. I’m on target for being able to go a full day several days in a row by the time I go back to work June 22.

Shrinking – YAY!: Laparoscopic abdominal surgery has many upsides – less pain, faster full recovery, etc. One of the few downsides is something I call the “bloaties,” caused by the CO2 gas used to distend the abdominal wall (this gives the surgeon more room to work). Imagine that “ate too much Thanksgiving dinner” feeling, 24/7. The bloaties can take several weeks to dissipate and I’ve been feeling pretty icky due to them. But it’s getting better! A few days ago I put on my “big pants” and couldn’t get them zipped. I went to Old Navy and got some clearance rack pants in the next size up so I had something other than the one skirt that would fit. Not even a week later, my new pants are already loose and my old “big pants” are now zipping up. Hoping to be down yet another size in the next few days so I can start trying my usual wardrobe.

Traveling!: Next weekend. I’ve always wanted to see the IndyCars race at night at Texas Motor Speedway and I’ve found a way to make it happen. I used a one-way flight credit I had and found a decent price on a return flight. Found a four-star hotel way cheap on Hotwire that is 20 minutes from the track. This is also a perfect test for my recovery from surgery – the IndyCars share the weekend with the NASCAR truck series, which I am not particularly that into. So, I can plan to be at the track for IndyCar stuff and nap at the hotel during the Trucks stuff and see how I feel at the end of that.

Thinking…: If I can find a decent air fare to Dallas (hotels are already decent), I might just do the IndyCar race at Texas. Indy was too soon after my surgery for all that walking. Texas may be just far enough out that I could get around better, and I know I’ll be less likely to hike the whole place. It’s usually in the 90s there and I’d be looking for shade most of the time. Peeking at current fares, I don’t have my hopes up too high, though.

Quote from Facebook friend Andrew Loviscek:

Watching the 500 Banquet is kinda like taking down the Christmas tree. Its time to put the Decorations away, take a deep breath and look forward to next year.

H3lio!: Helio Castroneves won his tax evasion case in mid-April (remaining charge dropped Friday) , came back strong to the IndyCar series and swept the Month of May: Pole, Pitstop competition, and his third Indy 500. It was practically preordained that he’d win the race and that he did adds beautiful punctuation to what has gone from a nightmare to a charmed life in a matter of 6 weeks.  I love a good story and Helio is definitely that. A second place from Dan Wheldon, career-best third from Danica Patrick and an amazing fourth for bay area boy Townsend Bell added a little extra flavor to an already sweet tale. Now, we wait…another 364 days….to do this amazing thing again. And next time, I’m there. 

500 Picks: Here’s how it looks from San Francisco:

Shoe-in – Helio Castroneves. Since his acquittal on tax evasion charges last month, Helio has been on a roll. Everything seems to be falling his way – strong finishes in his races so far, the pole, the pit stop competition…it’s really hard to go against him.

Co-star – Teamie Ryan Briscoe is fast, smart and a bit overshadowed by Helio. He could sneak into Victory Lane if his day goes right.

But Wait, There’s More – Dan Wheldon seems to have found what he was looking for. He wrestled his car all month and today it just came to him. He should be watched. Closely.

Long Shot(s) – Graham Rahal and Mario Moraes. Each solid and quite quick, Moraes surprisingly so. There should be some excitement from these two.

Loooooong Shot – Davey Hamilton. He’s found the speed he wanted after spending the month selflessly putting his preparation time aside to help his teamies get qualified. Davey’s a smart driver and Master of Strategy and Setup, Larry Curry, is calling his race so you just never know…

Cheers!: Tomorrow is Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is now a misnomer, since today’s cars have no carburetors. Instead, we can think of it as carbohydrate intake day. Race fans gobble up Brickyard  Burgers, pork tenderloin sandwiches and Track Fries and wash it all down with plenty of beer.  And with Camp and Brew in the Coke Lot and the Carb Night Burger Bash (see my pics from last year) that evening, Carb Day = Carb Overload for many folks in attendance. Since I’ll not be in attendance, I’ll load up on pasta or some such and follow all the coverage on indy500.com and VERSUS.

Wanderin’: So I pulled on the one skirt that fits (long skirt, fortunately – breezy and cool here today), and I walked for walking’s sake. 1 mile downhill to the cable car terminus, where I caught a ride back up. I’m a little sore from it, but I have to keep at it to recover more quickly. That was my great big adventure for the day. 

Sweeeet Tweeeet!: A few of the IndyCar drivers are on Twitter, and they’re sharing their Media Day in New York with us. There have been a few comments about their horrible bus driver and a few photos have been shared. The one that made my day was this one from Sarah Fisher:

Davey Hamilton and Sarah Fisher

Follow Sarah at:  http://twitter.com/SarahFisher67

Follow Davey Hamilton at:  http://twitter.com/DaveyHamilton

Wild One: I was holding my breath for the last 10 minutes of Bump Day at the IMS today – John Andretti just HAD to get in, and we couldn’t run our biggest race without the Ryan Hunter-Reay’s IZOD car…they’re the league’s new high-profile sponsor. They both snuck in at the last moment, and broke the heart of Alex Tagliani. Seeing Tags sitting in his car – visor slightly open, wiping tears from his eyes – was tough. And now we’ve gotten word that Tags will replace Bruno Junqueira, his last-minute team mate, in the 36 car. This also breaks my heart – Bruno had a brilliant one-day run here – a few laps (10 or 15) in practice, and then he put it solidly in the show. He was a top story of the month so far, and now he’s lost his ride. Indy’s thrilling – and sometimes cruel.

Health Check: Feeling a little better and a little more mobile every day. Kinda limited in my excursions by wardrobe considerations, of all things. I have one skirt that will fit over my blown-up tummy.  (With laparoscopic surgery, they inflate your abdomen with CO2 so they have more room to work. It takes several weeks to dissapate and I look quite pregnant!) I guess I can always opt to wander out in my favorite PJ bottoms – I do have a few pairs of those that I can get on – but that’s kinda like going out of the house with rollers in your hair…  LOL!

What a thrilling day! I cooked. I ate. I even changed the bed sheets! (Took forever, but got it done.) Seriously, took it slow and followed events at Indy most of the day. Caught up on Talk of Gasoline Alley episodes, and am listening to Giants/Mets on the radio right now. All while decked out in hot pink night shirt/leggings in support of Pink Lloyd. And such is the story of the patient’s recovery…  

Doctor’s Orders: I’m resting and relaxing, listening to baseball, following Indy online and reading some. It’s been fun following so many racers and teams on Twitter – folks like Alex “Pink” Lloyd, Tony Kanaan, Mario Moraes, Marco Andretti, and Tomas Scheckter are handling their own tweets, so you get a personal look at their days. And in TK’s case, usually a laugh. Lots of teams and media folks are using Twitter these days as well, so up-to-the-minute observations and even some breaking news gets shared. Got Twitter dialed up on my desktop, laptop and iPhone at all times.    Otherwise, not much news here. Just making like a cat and napping…

Just got these from the UX Department at work:

Sebastian likes them too!

Here are the balloons from my family:

Here’s a kitty my mom and sis sent:

Hi, all – thanks for the emails, comments and tweets while I was in the hospital. I’m finally awake enough to write a little about what happened/will happen next, so here goes…

Three years ago I had surgery to correct a situation in my abdomen, and the condition returned. This surgery was to stop the situation once and for all. It turned out to be  a little more involved than we thought – when my doc got a look in my abdomen, she found a lot of scar tissue (adhesions) from the last time. Before she could take out what she went in for, she had to spend quite a bit of time separating organs from my intestines and my intestines from each other. But it all went without complications so I’ll be recovering pretty much as planned.

The worst part of the whole thing is the post-anesthesia nausea. I didn’t experience it last time, but this time I’ve been awfully queasy and the anti-nausea meds make me disoriented and cause headaches. Better not to throw up after abdominal surgery, so I can’t skip it.

I’ll be off work for six weeks to recover from surgery and recover my overall health. Looking forward to getting out and about for short walks (maybe next week) and then really revamping my overall fitness. But I have to take it easy for a little while and I’m not known for my ability to relax.

Prepping: A few more chores around the house and I’ll be ready for a good long sleep and surgery tomorrow. (UCSF Mt Zion at 11 am PT, if you wanna send positive vibes my way.) I may be home tomorrow night, or Friday or Saturday – it just depends on how things go. I’ve got folks lined up to stay with my Sebastian cat and others to bring me home and bring me home cooked meals. Time to pamper the princess!

I’m looking forward to ending the losses (2 cats and now a body part in 5 months) and to gaining my health back. I haven’t felt well in well over a year. That’s about to change. And I have so much lined up for my convalescence at home – Giants baseball on the radio, all the Indy festivities for May, a stack of recently-purchased CDs and concert DVDs (mostly U2), some movies and a bunch of books to read. Can’t wait until I can resume power walking and regain my health.

E.J. Viso (driver) Status Update: thinking of a haircut

Jeff Olson (most awesome writer) Comment on Viso Status: Take Franchitti with you.

hee hee!

um, no. Leave Hottio his gorgeous hair!

Scramblin’: The rudiments of spring cleaning must take place this weekend. I’m finally feeling halfway decently – slept fairly well without Nyquil – but I need to avoid wearing myself out. Today is unclutter day, tomorrow is clean, clean, clean day. Then I can spend Monday through Wednesday evenings taking care of the straggling chores and errands to prep my place for after-surgery inactivity. Tuesday I’m off for pre-op tests and that’s when I’ll find out what time my Thursday surgery is.

Ramblin’: I’m on Networked Blogs – see the module lower on the right side of the page and follow me if you dare… 

Amblin’ (barely): My health condition has me moving so slowly I really don’t know how I get through a day. Cannot WAIT to feel better – possibly as soon as next weekend!

Gamblin’: Well, not really – no cash at stake. Made my Indy 500 picks on the Downforce site. The usual suspects: Dixie, Hottio Franchitti, Hello-io Castroneves, TK and Briscoe/Disco Infrerno.  Nice that I can change them up until race weekend if a dark horse shows a strong hand…cannot WAIT for engines to fire on Tuesday!