underdogishere

At this time of year it's dark when I drive to work in the morning. But yesterday I took the day off to take Sunni to her CT scan appointment in Maitland, about an hour and forty-five minutes away (see previous post for the backstory). The appointment was for 9:00 am, so I got to leave the house at 7:00, a little later than usual, and so was treated with a beautiful sunrise.

Since we learned about Sunni's tumor last Friday, Judi has been doing amazingly well. I think that if she had decided against the radiation treatments, she'd be a basket case right now, spending all her time wondering how long Sunni might have left. But since she's going ahead with the radiation, her mood has been one of delight in everything Sunni does, and in every moment they have together, and I think she's looking forward to the moments they'll have in the next year or so. Though she's had a few moments of tears, too.

Even though Sunni had an MRI last Friday, she needed a CT scan yesterday, because the CT scanner "talks" to the radiation machine, and actually programs it with the exact coordinates, angles, intensities, etc. for this delicate therapy. Despite the gravity of the situation, the geek in me couldn't help but be fascinated by the sheer geekiness of these machines.

Speaking of geekiness (and veering a little off topic), you may already know that I design and develop software for a living. As a result, I tend to view with a professional eye computer systems that I come into contact with in the "real world." This week, I had a need to buy something at the office supply store Office Depot. I was putting the purchase on my charge card. I swiped my card through the reader-gadget, and a number pad came up on the screen, asking me for my PIN.

"It's a charge card," I told the cashier.

"Then press under the '7'," she said.

"What?"

"Push the empty space under the '7' on the pad. That's the button for charge card."

"The empty space is a button?" I said. I pushed the empty space -- there wasn't even a box around it, it was truly an empty space -- and sure enough it asked for my signature. "That doesn't seem very intuitive," I said.

"It's an invisible button," said the cashier with nonchalance.

An invisible button....

Somewhere, Office Depot has a software designer or developer who should rightfully be operating a cash register.

Sunni's CT scan went without incident. The radiation treatments will start in the next week or two. I feel a little stressed at the moment, because, besides what's going on with Sunni, I have a lot of deadlines at work, and Sunni's treatment will require a lot of my time, and also I happen to be very short on available vacation. But I am pleased-pleased-pleased that Judi isn't in distress. It really was a beautiful sunrise, yesterday morning:

Labels: Inner Geek, Princess Sunni