Hannah’s First Day of School

Yesterday was Hannah’s first day of “real” school!
~ August 24, 2010 ~
She entered kindergarten at Adams Elementary School.

Hannah rode her bike back and forth and did great.
She is in the morning group and just loved it all so much!
Hannah is such a friendly and cheerful little girl, she’ll do so well.

Hannah sure likes her new teacher, but had a bit
of a hard time remembering Mrs. Garrido’s name at first.
She met some new friends and saw old friends too!

I’m the lucky Grandma who got a first hand account last night on
the telephone, with all the details . . . including the snacks!

Hannah even got homework the first day.
Gotta have something to put in her new backpack!

Happy 40th Birthday DaveO

~ Photo Artistry by Robert Scales

Happy Birthday Dave
With Much Love & Best Wishes
From Your Lucky Mother
August 16th, 2010

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS ON THIS DATE!
1397 ~ Albrecht II von Habsburg, King of Bohemia/Hungary/Germany
1645 ~ Jean de La Bruyere, French Author
1776 ~ Philipp Jakob Riotte, Composer
1828 ~ Joseph Bradford Carr, Major General Union Volunteers
1837 ~ Emile A H Seipgens, Dutch Priest/Beer Brewer
1846 ~ Justus van Maurik, Dutch Cigar Manufacturer/Writer/Editor
1897 ~ Robert Ringling, Circus Master
1906 ~ Franz Josef II, Prince of Liechtenstein
1925 ~ Fess Parker, Fort Worth Texas, Actor, Davy Crockett
1934 ~ Ed van Thijn, Jewish, Dutch Foreign Minister/Mayor, Amsterdam, 1983-94
1945 ~ Gordon “Snowy” Fleet, Merseyside, Rock Drummer, Easybeats
1954 ~ James Cameron, Born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Writer and Director, Titanic
1958 ~ Madonna, Ciccone, Bay City, Michigan, Singer and Actress, Like a Virgin
1963 ~ Steve Carell, born in Concord, Massachusetts, Actor, Comedian, Producer
1966 ~ Ed Olczyk, Chicago, NHL Center, Winnipeg Jets

1970 ~ David Aaron Thorvald Olson, Beloved Son, Multi-Media Legend,
Evergreen State University Graduate, Entrepreneur, Author, Film Maker,
Publisher, Public Speaker, Environmental & Internet Lobbyist,
TV & Radio Personality, Community Director for HootSuite,
Bon Vivant and All-Around Great Brother & Uncle!

! ! ! A SUPERB TIME WAS HAD BY ALL ! ! !

Happy 37th Birthday Funboy!

Happy Birthday Dan
With Much Love & Best Wishes
From Your Lucky Mother
August 1st, 2010

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS ON THIS DATE!
10 BC ~ Claudius, Roman Emperor
1313 ~ Emperor Kogan, Japanese Emperor
1520 ~ Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland
1770 ~ William Clark, Explorer, Lewis & Clark Expedition
1779 ~ Francis Scott Key, Composer
1890 ~ Herman Melville, Author
1933 ~ Dom DeLuise, Comedian
1936 ~ Yves Saint Laurent, Fashion Designer
1942 ~ Jerry Garcia, Musical God
1956 ~ Tom Leykis, Talk Show Host
1963 ~ Coolio, Rapper
1964 ~ Adam Duritz, Lead Singer, Counting Crows

1973 ~ Daniel Mark Mathias Olson, Beloved Son, Baseball Legend,
UBC Student, Vice-President of External, FunBoy,
Chemical Engineer & All-Around Great Brother & Uncle!

Many Happy Returns Dear Son!

WordCampYVR & More . . .

Word Camp YVR
June 12, 2010

Confirmed speakers to date:
John Biehler
Dave Olson*

*All supposing Dave has recovered sufficiently from his surgery and is strong enough to attend. He has had a few set-backs from his ordeal which included a return to the hospital. Sufficeth to say Dave has been through the mill and back again. (I’ll spare you the gory details.)

And then there was Northern Voice . . .

Unfortunately Dave was unable to fulfill his speaking gig at Northern Voice 2010 held on May 7th and 8th, so with help from friends, he made a video presentation to be played in his absence. Dave has not missed presenting for NV in five years so has become an institution who attendees look forward to hearing.

Dave puts it this way: “Missing making arts and crafts, going to work and chillaxing. I’m up and about today trying to reinvent myself a wee bit. Thanks to Trevor for loading me up with Chinese herbs (effective despite the horrendous taste) and to all the Northern Voice attendees who chimed in with kind words and beloved friends and family for healing encouragement.” And to all the NV viewers: “Thanks for all the kind feedback – it was a fine tonic to my ailing guts.”

You can read more about Northern Voice and see the video production (in two parts) here: Northern Voice 2010 There’s even a dedication to his Mom – that’s me! How great is that?

SON, GET WELL SOON.
There are a lot of people missing your fun!

Clap Your Hands

Here’s a super play-a-long cartoon for:
Hannah and Emily and Baby Lee

Are you happy that Grandma is coming to visit?
Then clap your hands, stamp your feet and shout hurray!

Oodles of love from your
Grandma in Olympia
xo xo xo

P. S. Only 9 more days until my airplane arrives!

Under the Knife

UPDATE: May 5, 2010 ~ 3:30pm
Dave is progressing as well as can be expected for anyone recovering from major surgery. His surgery was for removal of a Spigelian hernia. The genius who detected the hernia is Dr. Alex Nagy who “got it” in two weeks. Dave tells me he is an “Hungarian man who is an expert on hernias and pioneer of laparoscopic surgery.” He did an amazing job! I am in total awe of what Dr. Nagy was able to discover inside my son, especially after 15+ years of Dave searching for answers.

ORIGINAL POST: May 5, 2010 ~ 12:05am
Yesterday my son, Dave, underwent surgery to remove a growth that has caused him immense pain for years. The pain went undiagnosed for over 15 years, even with a myriad of tests, scans, x-rays, MRIs, and every other test you can imagine. No one could ever find out the cause of his terrible pain!

Over the years Dave has been to so many doctors for this condition, exploring every corner of the medical field, all without success. Finally he found the smartest doctor! “The Man” who understood what was going on inside Dave’s abdominal wall, and best of all this doctor knew how to fix it. Hidden from normal view was an abdominal herniated tumor.

Now exorcised forever!

Incarcerated Abdominal Herniated Tumor

Notes: Axial CT scan shows defect in lower abdominal wall (arrow) that has incarcerated lower abdominal hernia within it (arrowhead). The scanned picture was taken from the internet. It is not Dave’s actual tumor, but it will give you an idea of approximately where the action took place.

Too much information?
You only want the bottom line?
It comes direct from the doctor’s mouth.

“No more pain Dave!”

P. S. Happy 9th Anniversary today to Lisa and Dave!
Congratulations, you couldn’t ask for a better gift!

Baby Billy Goat

Here’s a super cute cartoon for:
Hannah and Emily and Baby Lee

Do you think little Billy Boy is hungry?
He wants to eat everything!

Oodles of love from your
Grandma in Olympia
xo xo xo

P. S. Only 19 more days until I come to your house!

Trickle Down Effect

My ex-husband and his wife have now arrived back home from their LDS mission. Before they went away, they rented out their house in Canada and also farmed out several items for other family members to use during their absence.

For example, among other things:
D&L in No Van got to use their enhanced cable box.
Dan at UBC in Vancouver got to use their big screen TV.
And so on.

Since Dan was using his Dad’s TV for the time, he lent me his 37″ flat screen TV to use.
Are you following me here?

Fast forward 18 months.

The missionaries are home regathering their lives.
The loaned out items are finding their way back.
That means Dan’s TV is going back to Canada from Olympia on my next trip north.

Time for me to get a new TV.
Enter Costco’s great sale.
Sharp HD TV ~ 1080p ~ 42″ ~ $599.00.
Sold!

I like the way this story ended!

Free Calls from the War Zone

Yesterday morning I got an 8:00am phone call from LT Bob in Afghanistan. We talked for about an hour before he rang off because another call was coming in from his brother in Canada. And all these calls were FREE for both sides.

You see, before Bob left for Afghanistan, he secured a USA MagicJack telephone number in California. Now he is able to place a call from Afghanistan and receive telephone calls from anywhere in the USA and Canada at no charge for the whole time he is serving in Afghanistan. Even if he wants to call another country outside of North America, he can do that too for two cents a minute. It’s absolutely true!

MagicJack is a little USB device, which you can hook it up to your computer’s USB port to make calls to any home or cellular telephones. To use it, just connect MagicJack to your computer’s USB port, plug any purchased home phone handset to the other end of MagicJack, initialize the service and the software will load automatically to let you dial your numbers and make calls. To put it simple, MagicJack uses VOIP to route your calls to the MagicJack routing center and then subsequently routes your calls to other home phones in the US and Canada from anywhere in the world through your computer.

Initially MagicJack costs only $39.95 for the first year and then $19.95 for subsequent years. (You can even find the device on eBay for less.) And no long term contracts! It’s a complete phone service that comes with a real phone number, that you can use to make and receive local and long distance calls.

Besides that, it includes free voicemail service for receiving messages whether you’re offline or online. Some other common phone services such as caller ID, call waiting, free directory assistance, call forwarding, free three way calling, and 911 are also included with MagicJack. In this case, your computer will need an internet access such as DSL, cable modem, other broadbands and WiFi etc.

Skeptical? Don’t be.
Learn more about MagicJack and sign up for a FREE TRIAL HERE!

The Gingerbread Man

Here’s a great story and video for:
Hannah and Emily and Baby Lee

Would you eat the Gingerbread Man?
Do you like gingerbread cookies and cakes?

Lotza love from your
Grandma in Olympia
(Only 33 more days until I see you!)
xo xo xo