I interviewed for an internal position in 3M proper last month. I thought at the time that it went pretty well.

They offered me the job today, so I guess my new boss agreed. :)

A lot of times, when people ask about the wedding, we tell them it was wonderful, but we don't remember a lot of it.

Strictly speaking, that's true - the day blends together on a lot of levels. At the same time, though, some things stand out in my mind like they happened moments ago.

That moment where I saw Morgan in her full dress for the first time. Hearing her recite the vows she'd written, and being overwhelmed with love and so many other emotions. Being touched by Phil's speech, even if I can't remember much more right now than the "Firefly reference....check!" moment. :) Seeing the pride in our family's faces. Seeing the excitement in our friends. Walking around the barn with everyone.

Sitting by the farmhouse, just the two of us, giggling and relaxing and laughing and gloriously tired.

It was an amazing, amazing day. And when I woke up this morning, I felt very much the same.

I love you, Morgan. My beautiful, amazing, smart, funny, wonderful wife.

Happy anniversary.

I had to replace my FitBit (again), and decided to get a Zip to see if the smaller and more rugged construction will help it survive longer.

While I was setting it up, I looked at my recent history, and my goals.

I had been using a goal of four miles a day. But that was set when I had a four day work week, an office next to two major walking paths, and a lot less work travel.

It was also before I had, y'know, multiple tumors taken out of my neck.

I've been averaging about one and three quarters to two miles pretty consistently. I decided to change my goals down to two and a half (5000 steps). It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it took a LOT, mentally, to change it.

It's hard not to see it as a setback. A failure. Like I haven't been able to stick with things. But I need to get out of that mindset. Like I mentioned, I had major surgery, and to an extent my body is STILL healing. My work routines, my travel, even my living situation has changed.

I'm adjusting. I'm setting a goal that is more achievable right now, and that I can use as encouragement instead of a burden.

And in time, I can more that goal back up again.

Maybe I am falling back, but I have to keep in mind that I can still advance, too.

If I could cut my throat today and guarantee that Morgan would be taken care of, it's starting to look like an attractive option.

Apparently some bed bugs came back. The exterminator only spotted them in my mattress, which is good, but we'll need to treat the whole house regardless to be safe. So, y'know, let's find a few thousand dollars I don't have. Again.

Better yet, can I cut someone else's throat?

Sometimes there are moments where I wish I could just keep going to customer after customer and never stop. Live out of hotels the rest of my life and just never stop moving, and never let my problems catch up to me.

So, as you may or may not know, I used to have a lot of fun doing little (or not so little) photo tutorials for barbecuing. However, when we sold the house, we actually sold the BBQ smoker as part of it, and I haven’t had time or resources to spend on making a new one.

But, Morgan and I recently decided to try our hands at some other cooking techniques, and this one in particular I thought would lend itself to that “how-to” style, so I decided to pull out my phone and take some (actually a lot) of pictures to document the process.

A few weeks ago, Morgan went to a friend’s birthday party, which included a really tasty stew that he made in a tagine. The Tagine is a clay pot that’s normally associated with Moroccan cooking, but also shows up in some other North African cuisines. They’re basically shaped like a big conical flower pot, with a small hole in the side that allows steam to vent. You load it up with a little oil, veggies, meats, spices, and some cooking liquid, put it into an oven or over low heat, and let it go for hours, ending up with a big pot of deliciousness at the end.

Morgan really enjoyed it, and was interested in trying to use one herself, so after some discussion and shopping around, we picked one up last paycheck. (We found one we really liked at Sur La Table for $20. You can find smaller ones for even less. You do want to season the tagine before cooking, which we did the weekend we bought it, but I’m skipping that here. If you buy one, just set aside a day or so to get it ready before the first use.)
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And now, the epic conclusion...

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Forgot to post here: All went well, I'm doing surprisingly good, and Morgsn is amazing. Also huge props to my dad for driving us today.

I have a tube sticking out of my head, but the drain seems to be slowing down pretty quickly. Hoping that means it will be able to come out Monday or Tuesday.

Surgery tomorrow to remove the tumor "mass", and quite a bit of my parotid gland with it. I have to be at the hospital by 5:30am, so of course I can't sleep.

I really just want it over with. I'm not too worried about the worst case possibilities (Morgan is understandably freaked about the risk of partial facial paralysis, and, y'know, what if the mass isn't as benign as the needle aspiration indicated). I have a very good, very experienced doctor, I'm at one of the best hospitals in town, and everyone agrees it needs to come out, so best to get it done now.

I really just want to be able to say its over, and that I'm healing.

The samples all came back as benign. It was an amazing feeling of relief, but it took awhile to really sink in. The knots in my stomach took almost two hours to finally fade.

It's not entirely over - the masses are still there. I have a followup scheduled for two weeks from now - if they don't appear to be dissipating, they're probably going to need to be surgically removed. But compared to cancer? Yeah, no, I'll take that any day of the week.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying, hoping, and waiting. Thank you all so, so much. I am blessed with so many amazing people in my life.

(With apologies to Gryphon for stealing his turn of phrase.)

I went for my MRI results. What I found out is that I have a very large "mass" in my parotid gland, and several smaller masses around it.

He's calling them masses because he doesn't want to call it them tumors yet. The doctor took several biopsies, and I'll be seeing him in a few days to find out results.

Best case is they're benign, but my salivary glands and a lymph node will probably need to come out.

Worst case is some kind of cancer, and I have a fight on my hands.

Fortunately, I also have a lot of reasons to win that fight, and a lot of friends in my corner.