All in all, a good day's work.

I've spent most of the last 12 hours working towards having my computer put back together, in one way or another.

So far, so good. My new USB hub is not only working, it is attached to my cart with Velcro. It has enough ports for all of my toys, which I've never had before. I can easily reach the ports for my mp3 player and headset.

My laser printer and scanner are working. That's necessary for me to complete the mystery shop that I rescheduled from today to tomorrow. (At that point I couldn't print the questionnaire.) My Palm cradle, photo card reader and cable modem are working.

My headset is only half-working. It records ok, but the sound is coming through the laptop speakers instead of the headset. That's workable, but some voice-overs that I'm recording would be a lot easier if it worked correctly.

I haven't installed my external hard drive or inkjet printer. I don't expect any problems with the hard drive. The inkjet wasn't working anyway; I discovered a conflict on the port last week.

I did not expect to spend three days on this, but I'm happy with the result.

Update, 5/7: My headset now works. Oddly, but it works. I can connect this headset using either the audio ports on my laptop or via a USB adapter. For some reason I need to run the input through the adapter but the output directly.

Back online!

I'm back online, after being incommunicado for 48+ hours.

On Saturday friends moved some furniture for me within and between two rooms. My PC cart was one of the pieces that got moved; I needed to re-cable it and make some adjustments for the new layout. Right now I've connected just the laptop and the modem; I'll have to take it down again to connect the printers, external hard drive, card reader, audio, etc.

I was immediately very happy with the results. I'm grateful and glad that I went ahead with the changes. Right up until they arrived I was considering chickening out. It seemed like so much work, and for a short benefit, if I move in July.

Then I turned my stereo on. Ahhh! When I moved into this apartment I put the home theater in the living room. Sounds reasonable, but...my living room was designed as the master bedroom, and is directly below the master bedroom of my upstairs neighbors. I've ended up listening to my CDs on a boom box in the office while my lovely home theater sat neglected in the corner. It now sits in a corner that lets the sound fill the apartment without annoying the neighbors. Well, they haven't complained yet, anyway. I hadn't realized just how much I missed my music. Saturday afternoon I was dancing in my office. Literally.

My friends recabled the computer after they moved it, but today I tore it all apart. Completely. Right down to removing the shelves from the cart so that I could thoroughly clean it. (Yes, Connie, I wore a dust mask!) As I'm putting it back together I'm labeling the cables and transformers, as well as the outlets. No more lying on the floor asking, "Is this the cord? This one?"

Because I moved some of the peripherals in relation to the docking station I need to make some additional changes. I may end up putting the hutch on the computer cart, which I've resisted.

But yesterday I was able to rearrange the art on the walls, as a result of the furniture changes. I've very happy with the way that turned out.

I'd better end this here. I've read my email, and checked my blogs, and checked in on SparkPeople. I need to connect the rest of my equipment in order to complete and report a mystery shop tomorrow. Gasoline, not fast food.

On the bright side, I'm not anemic.

I saw my oncologist today and, as usual, I already had a pretty good sense of my condition. I expected my numbers to be worse, I just didn't anticipate how much worse they would be. On the other hand, my platelets improved and I'm not anemic. Those are two of the measures used to stage CLL, so they do matter.

I'm still on a three month follow-up, to see whether I can reverse the trend through lifestyle management. If the numbers are still this bad in July then she would "want to look at other options." I.e., chemo.

The decision to continue watchful waiting, instead of starting more aggressive treatment, is due, in part, to the fact that I don't feel that bad. I'm tired, and I'm experiencing more swelling in my lymph nodes, but I'm not overtly sick. If that changes I need to see her right away.

She did, however, encourage me to go ahead with my trip to New York next month, even knowing the purpose of the visit. She thinks it will be good for me.

This morning, before my visit, I worked in my 2008 Leukemia album, which I just started yesterday, after completely changing my intended design. I also spent some time in my 2007 Annual album. I was reminded of how much I benefit when I work on my albums, especially journaling. I realized that I've been neglecting my gratitude album. That's an activity that costs nothing and really feeds my spirit.