Stolen from my pal Sheila.

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.


2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.


3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?

Tomorrow is your birthday as well as Dad's birthday. Too bad you held out for the 7th, because it would have been awfully cool to say you were born on 6-6-66. A day late, and a dollar short, eh?

Even worse, having to share a birthday with your dad? Wow. Well, I guess we can call you the gift that keeps on giving, right?

JP, I don't talk about you much on my blog, but it's not due to a lack of love. Like my other siblings, you are very special to me and I celebrate the day you came into this world.

I don't remember much about when you were born, because I was only six. I think my memories with you start about the time you were three or four. One memory I'd like to erase is the one where I broke your little leg playing *cannon ball shooter with you. You used to love it, but I don't remember you asking me to do it anymore after that.

*For the uninformed, cannon ball shooter was me laying on my back, propping my brother on my feet and shooting him into the air. Kids, don't try this at home.

It's so easy to make you laugh, and that's fun for me. I love to tease you just so I can hear you laugh and say, "oh Lori...". One of the things I treasure about you is your laugh. There's a guy in my department at work that has a laugh just like yours and it makes me smile and think about you every time he laughs. Lucky for me, he laughs a lot.

You've been through an awful lot in your life, yet you don't complain. I could learn a lot from you, little brother. The very tip-top place in heaven? You'll be there, and there is no doubt in my mind about that, nor anyone else's mind who knows you.

I love the rare times when you and I get to talk alone. I love it when you share things with me in confidence and I'm honored that you trust me with those things. I love it that you're willing to try new things. Remember when we had the "eat weird things" day? I do. I still have the picture of me with a mini octopus hanging out of my mouth. I'm glad someone else appreciates the weird things in this world. Too bad you live so far away, we could do that on a regular basis because there are lots of weird things to eat. Did I ever tell you that I ate donkey in Italy? I thought about you when I ate it because I knew it would make you laugh.

I have a memory that I think about from time to time. It was right after your brain surgery, which caused you to have complete amnesia. I remember the first time I saw you after the surgery and the way you looked at me. It was if you were looking through me. I was used to seeing a sparkle in your eye when I'd walk in the room and that sparkle was missing that day because you didn't know who I was. I can't even begin to describe what that felt like. It felt really empty. I can't even imagine what that was like for you.

I can't believe that my 'little' brother is 42 years old. That's just craziness.

Happy birthday Joel. I love you.

Soon after I wrote the second post yesterday, I took my 'this stuff would knock an elephant out' drugs and went to sleep. 14 hours later (with no interruptions), I woke up feeling my normal self. Normal, being relative.

Here's the thing I've figured out and I think I've mentioned it a time or two. When I'm tired, I tend to revert back to when I first bonked my head. It seems that the more tired I am, the farther back I go. What happened yesterday was similar to the stuff that happened a few days after I hit my head and finally went to the ER. I haven't felt that 'weird' in a long time and I guess it was a good reminder of how far I've come.

Today feels like any ordinary day. So, I'm just going to be grateful for that and move on.

I made it home OK. I decided to take elevators instead of stairs to the train station thinking that in my condition, stairs were NOT going to be my friend.

I wish I could figure out what brought the 'episode' on earlier- but I can't think of a darned thing I've done any differently than any other day. The only thing that pops out at me is that I'm more tired than usual. I never did feel rested after the weekend, even though I didn't do anything but sit or sleep. I even fell fast alseep on the train going into work today, which I *NEVER* do. That's the only thing that's out of the ordinary.

We'll see how I do over the next couple of days. If it gets worse, I'll call the doctor.

In the meantime, I'll wear a helmet and a mouth guard.

Yeah, right.

Geez, I'm clever with the titles- eh?

I was leading a meeting of three (including me) earlier today. Since there were only three of us, I was sitting down while going over my stuff. All of the sudden everything started going black and I felt as if I was in a weird dream. I kept trying to make it stop (yeah, like I have any control over it), but I wasn't having any luck. I was seeing double and felt like any minute I would fall off my chair and bonk my head. I couldn't make any sense of what I was doing or saying for several minutes (it seemed that way, anyway- not sure how long I was foggy).

Fortunately, the other people in the room know me very well (one is my favorite project manager "FPM") and so although it was super embarassing, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. One of them asked if I wanted to have her call 911.

Ummmm NO! Are you kidding me? This was embarassing enough. I don't even want to think about the scene that would have caused. I felt like a complete drama queen already, I didn't need cute guys in uniform tending to my needs.

Oh wait- maybe that was a mistake.

After the meeting, I had to stop and sit every so often on my way to my desk because I could feel the walls closing in on me. I'm still sitting at my desk, wondering when it'll be safe to go to the bathroom, let alone walk to the train station.

As I was writing this, I got an email from FPM:

FPM: You OK?
Me:Yep, thanks for asking. I think I'm going to stay in my seat for a while because I still feel 'funny'. This is the sort of thing that gets my head cracked open and frankly I don't think my head could take any more dents.
FPM: Let me know if you need anything. I draw the line at adult care related things but if you want coffee or something sign me up.

Funny guy....

I hope this stuff goes away before I make the trek to the train station. I really don't want to be passed out cold on the sidewalks of downtown Seattle. I prefer passing out in the comfort of my own home, TYVM.