Recovering

In the days since my last post, our little family has faced some major challenges and savoured a few minor victories. V. is once again in action, having gone back to work last week. She still feels the back pain, but has learned some good exercises from her physiotherapist that have strengthened her back already. Will was pretty much back to normal last week, except for a lingering cough. Even I enjoyed 2-3 normal days of work until I fell to some horrible influenza virus. I haven't been that sick since I was a kid. I spent over three days in bed, and I'm just beginning to feel normal again this afternoon. Now we worry that Will's coughs and fever are once again on the rise...

We also had some action on our house. We had two "legitimate" offers that we counter-offered on, and we're still waiting for all that to conclude, so stay tuned. All I can say right now is that we won't have a penny (well, a 5 cent piece here in Oz) to buy a piece of cheese if the buyers accept our latest offer.

Oh, and I also stood in line for five hours last Friday (July 11) to get a 3G iPhone. Yes, I got it...eventually. It couldn't be activated by Telstra until Sunday, but now I am the proud owner of the latest from Apple. Someone called me a "Fanboy" for my actions. Hmmm, what other first Apple products have I bought over the years? Here's a few that I can remember:

• the first Mac (see my earlier post)
• the first laptop Mac, the Macintosh Portable (1989)
  
• the first "Bondi Blue" iMac (G3)
  
• the first iPod (in 2001)
  
• the first iMac G4
  
• the first Macbook Air

I think I like "FanMan" instead.

One Man Shopping

Today I spent nearly six hours shopping along Chicago’s N. Michigan Ave. I didn’t realize how shopping-deprived I had become after living in Australia for only three months. But, the choices and the prices found in American stores just can’t be beat. My first stop was at the Apple Store. I got to handle an iPhone for 10 minutes, including sending myself an email using its beautiful touchscreen (the iPhone won’t be available in Oz until 2008 at the earliest). I also played with the new iPod Touch and the cool video Nano. It was like spending time in a geek porn shop. I then had lunch at the original Uno’s, where I had a marvelous deep-dish pizza. I had forgotten how tasty a real Chicago-style pizza is. After stops at The Gap, Niketown, Borders, Radio Shack, and Filene’s Basement, I paused my spending spree to save room in my suitcase for other things on our shopping list. Our son is getting plenty of new summer clothes, which are now heavily discounted here because winter is just two months away.

I did remember to attend the opening night reception for the conference I’m attending. And then it was back to my room to watch the end of “Survivor: China” and the latest episode of “The Office” while I munched from a bag of Cheetos Puffs. Don’t worry. I still want to go back to Australia after all this!