Year of Tragedy and Sorrow

The year 2005 has been an extremely tough year, full of sorrow and disappointment. My dear wife and best friend Claudia Maria Arevalo-Lowe passed away on February 1st, 2005 at 10:37 AM due to sepsis (a blood disease), directly caused by an infection which entered her body through her feet, which were swollen and blistered due to edema (water filled tissues), which was caused by steroids required for her to breath. She had trouble breathing because she had asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD). Her immune system was severely suppressed due to a combination of severe diabetes and the use of steroids and other medications to fight her illnesses. She had been very sick for over 10 years, having previously survived 9 trips to the hospital and two comas, the second of which lasted almost a month. My son, a friend and I scattered her ashes offshore of Catalina Island a couple of weeks later.

Three weeks later my beloved cat Buttercup passed way, due to a huge tumor in her intestines. Buttercup was my favorite kitty, and next to Claudia was probably by best friend (at least as much as an animal can be such a thing). Buttercup started showing signs of illness shortly before Claudia passed way, and after February first became very ill. I rushed her to the vet in late February, knowing it was the end. According to the vet, Buttercup died so fast out of grief for the loss of Claudia.

Later in the year, hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, and for a period of two weeks I went through terror, trying to find Claudia's sister Veronica. We found her eventually, staying in a disaster center some miles from New Orleans, more-or-less fine and very shook up.

So I found myself without my soul mate, minus my favorite cat, deeply in debt due to medical and other bills, and a bit, how shall I say it, dazed and confused.

I recovered slowly, mostly by focusing on my work and traveling. I spent a lot of time visiting the outdoors, museums, zoos and, of course, Renaissance Faires. I made a lot of new friends and made contact with some old ones, and worked on my websites, hobbies, writing and graphics art.

New Years Resolutions

I have spent much of my life concerned with other people and their welfare. I've worked 80 hour weeks for previous employers, taken care of a critically ill wife for 11 years and supported a son for those same years. I am done helping anyone for a while.

It's time to work on helping myself.

Resolutions

  • I will never again accept a condition for which I am not in agreement
  • I will remain healthy
  • I will lose weight
  • I will firmly control my diabetes
  • I will continue my spiritual growth.
  • I will meet lots of new friends, especially women
  • I will contribute more to my religion
  • I will create, especially writing, graphics and web design

Things to accomplish

  1. Friends
    • Send regular notes and photos to friends via email
    • Meet lots of women and make new lady friends
  2. Travel and recreation
    • Continue at least weekly trips
    • Attend every single renaissance faire within one day's driving distance
    • Attend several conventions, including science fiction, fantasy, gaming and computer related.
    • Go up in a hot air balloon in Palm Springs and Temecula
    • Revisit all California channel islands
    • Visit Catalina with Dianna
    • Go whale watching frequently
    • Completely experience this years flower bloom
    • Take a cruise on the freewinds in December 2006
  3. Work
    • Write excellent review for 2005
    • Set reachable goals and objectives for 2006
    • Have a successful Gold and SeeBeyond implementation
  4. Health
    • Loose 20 pounds
    • Keep my sugar tightly controlled. Take sugar measurements 6 times per day, and keep within range.
    • Start small frequent meals type diet
    • Keep blood pressure within normal bounds
    • Maintain health diary of blood sugar, weight and blood pressure on weekly basis
  5. Finances
    • Purchase Quicken 2006 and start new checkbook from that date.
    • Purchase TurboTax deluxe, complete current years taxes and plan next years deductions
    • Pay off all remaining debts, excluding car, that are in my name
    • Plan on contributing $60-$80k to charitable donations
  6. Web sites
    • Purchase maximum period for all domain names I own
    • Replace 3rd-party graphics with my own (or Claudia's)
    • Write five articles for web sites each week
    • Finish autobiography updates
    • Finish family history updates
    • Finish scanning photos
  7. Personal Computing
    • Create and maintain normal, daily backup disk-to-disk plan
    • Create and maintain weekly off-site disk-to-disk backup plan
    • Maintain antivirus definitions and keep all computers within a few days of patch levels
    • Review all personal computer security on quarterly basis
  8. Writing
    • Finish Fantasy novel "The 8th jewel"
    • Finish Science Fiction Novel
    • Finish Historical romance novel "A Love for the Ages"
    • Start historical novel "Roman Betrayal"
    • Finish 1 publishable fiction story each month
    • Finish 1 publishable article each month
  9. Art
    • Learn and become proficient at Poser 6
    • Learn and become proficient at Paint Shop Pro
    • Learn and become proficient at Animation Shop
    • Learn and become proficient at Bryce 5.5
  10. Scientology
    • Write up plan for next five years, including auditing, training and contributions. Follow the plan.
  11. Computer
    • Update MCSE
    • Update A+
    • Update Network+
    • Finish CIW
  12. Hobbies
    • Finish and update stamp collection
    • Build small rock and mineral collection of places I've been
    • Paint a miniature per week
    • Organize personal collection
    • Grow a series of plants from seed/bulb to death
    • Photograph a lightening storm
    • Completely run through Super Metroids and Zelda (Nintendo 64) and Medievil.
    • Plant a seed, a bulb and other things and watch them from "birth" to death.
    • Get a chemistry set and use it to the fullest.