MONDAY 16 DEC 2024 -- DAY 140
Twenty weeks of this recovery.
Had lunch and got to the office, finished the R6 sheet and sent it to staff for checking.

TUESDAY 17 DEC 2024 -- DAY 141
Had lunch and got to office, received R6 report, finished the sheet. Did half of the art for STARMADA: RUMORS OF WARS and sent it to Daniel Kast.

WEDNESDAY 18 DEC 2024 -- DAY 142
Stayed home, had lunch, had brutal physical therapy, rested, went to office. Reformatted the Starmada art send to Daniel and resent. Went to Church for the holiday season pancake dinner. Passed out small gifts to a couple of dozen friends. Got home exhausted, slept through NCIS.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, December 19, 2024 - 09:25 pm: Edit

THURSDAY 19 DEC -- DAY 143
I never made it to the office, having spent the entire day waiting in the office of my cardiologist. He had changed me from seeing his assistant to seeing him (on a day when he was already overbooked) because my BP was steady at 160/105 and would not respond to medication. I finally got to see him hours later than my unofficial appointment, but was glad I waited. He was very impressed with my notes and my medical log book, saying he wished every patient kept a notebook like I do and walked into the office with a typed out set of notes on what's going on. He said he had absolute confidence in changing medication for a fourth time because of the records I had kept. So, new meds tomorrow and maybe my blood pressure will start to drop.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 02:51 pm: Edit

FRIDAY 20 DEC -- DAY 144 OF RECOVERY
I didn't get to spend as much time at the office as I wanted as there were errands to do; I did get the Squadron card done for the Christmas ship for this year.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 02:54 pm: Edit

SATURDAY 21 DEC -- DAY 145 OF RECOVERY
A very rare Saturday at the office. Not that many years ago I was younger and spent 12 hours at the office almost every Saturday. Anyway...

I did the new A+ counters and posted them for comment.

I did the fleet side of the Christmas ship for this year and sent both sides to a staffer to check.

I did a favor for a customer; just took a minute to update her file and send it.

I worked up the newsletter stuff and sent it to Simone.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - 09:17 pm: Edit

SUNDAY 22 DEC -- DAY 146 OF RECOVERY
I did exercises and rested.
Leanna and I made progress picking up the house.
We gave the boys a romp in the back yard. Odin tried to escape but I caught him during his climb and pulled him down, getting a set of four puncture marks in my finger. Thor was a good boy and didn't try to escape.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - 09:18 pm: Edit

MONDAY 23 DEC -- DAY 147 OF THE RECOVERY
21 weeks and I am still struggling to walk on a cane.
I went to the office and did some work, finishing the newsletter ship and making fixes to the countersheets.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - 09:19 pm: Edit

TUESDAY 24 DEC -- DAY 148 OF RECOVERY
CHRISTMAS EVE
Leanna and I spent the day on errands, but I went by the office to finish up the newsletter and had Jean contact Simone to expedite the situation.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - 09:21 pm: Edit

WEDNESDAY 25 DEC -- DAY 149 OF RECOVERY
THE DAY OF THE MASS OF CHRIST OUR LORD
Leanna and I went to Jean's place early. Leanna helped Jean make dinner while Albert and I visited Steve Petrick who was not well enough to come to dinner.
I was weak from a sleepless night and used all my energy getting down the hallway to Steve's place, leaving me an exhausted wreck for the rest of the day.

Sigh, another Christmas that I did not receive that which I want most: a title of nobility, a castle, fifty square miles of productive land, a couple of hundred peasants, a squadron of light cavalry, and an income of five million pounds sterling per year. Sigh.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, December 26, 2024 - 03:21 pm: Edit

THURSDAY 26 DEC -- DAY 150 OF RECOVERY
BOXING DAY
Got to the office. Had a quick staff meeting to tell the gang what information I wanted from them for a real staff meeting to be held later. The basic question was: "What problems have arisen while I was gone that are now waiting for me to deal with?"

Jean noted that the Megamillions lottery was very high and that it would sure be nice if I went and picked up a winning ticket. I think she was thinking about expanding the company but I was thinking about my unrequited Christmas wish.

Daniel Kast asked me to do the art I had sent him for RUMORS OF WARS over again in a different size and format and I took half an hour spinning up the revised versions of the first 25 ships. I will do more ships later.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, December 27, 2024 - 09:28 pm: Edit

FRIDAY 27 DEC -- DAY 151 OF RECOVERY
The physical therapist came by the house and was brutal. I did walk 100 feet without a cane and then jogged(!) 50 feet without a cane. After she was done I had to rest for an hour before I could take Leanna to lunch.

At the office, I sent 11 more pictures of ships to STARMADA for use in RUMORS OF WARS and asked him some questions about when the product would be ready to ship.

I had an interesting conversation with a staffer.

I sent an email to Simone to release the newsletter.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 02, 2025 - 01:25 am: Edit

SATURDAY 28 DEC — DAY 152 OF RECOVERY
Rest and exercise.

SUNDAY 29 DEC — DAY 153 OF RECOVERY
Rest and exercise

MONDAY 30 DEC — DAY 154 OF RECOVERY
Exercise. Went to office, finished sending art to Starmada

TUESDAY 31 DEC — DAY 155 OF RECOVERY Rest
Felt very bad, weak, sleepy, started to office but gave up and went home.

WEDNESDAY 1 JAN 2025 — DAY 156 OF RECOVERY
Could not get to sleep, ate breakfast at 6am, fell asleep, woke up at 1pm, ate lunch, very tired, napped until 5pm, did some work around the house, ate dinner, watched tv and cleaned up the house.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 02, 2025 - 08:28 pm: Edit

THURSDAY 2 JAN 2025 -- DAY 157
I began moving around the house and office without a cane, figuring I'd get better at walking if I just did a lot of it.
We had family lunch.
I went to the office, had a detailed staff meeting with Jean, and sent a bunch of art to Starmada for them to finish RUMORS OF WARS.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, January 04, 2025 - 04:33 pm: Edit

FRIDAY 3 JAN 2025 -- DAY 158
Leanna and I took a marriage health day to do things together.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, January 05, 2025 - 11:46 pm: Edit

SATURDAY 4 JAN 2025/SUNDAY 5 JAN 2025
Leanna and I stayed home and made a lot of progress cleaning up the house, putting away clutter, throwing away junk, and reorganizing stuff to take less space. I utilized the compartments in the arms of my recliner as cat-proof locations for my medication, phone, hearing aides, and other things.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, January 07, 2025 - 11:47 pm: Edit

MONDAY 6 JAN 2025 -- DAY 161
Twenty-three weeks of recovery. I am able to walk around the house and office without a cane but with a severe limp.
Family dinner to welcome the visit of Jean's brother Warren.
I worked in the office several hours, talked to the die cutter, answered some email, cleaned up my desk.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, January 07, 2025 - 11:48 pm: Edit

TUESDAY 7 JAN 2025 -- DAY 162
I had physical therapy evaluation in the morning and it was so brutal that I fell asleep and didn't make it to the office at all. The evaluator said that I was making much better progress than other patients. Those other patients must be really upset with how long they are taking.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, January 08, 2025 - 11:37 pm: Edit

WEDNESDAY 8 JAN 2025 -- DAY 163
Leanna and I had lunch with Jean, Albert, Steve P, and Warren.
I went to the office and answered my email, then got very sick and had to go home.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 09, 2025 - 09:19 pm: Edit

THURSDAY 9 JAN 2025 -- DAY 164
I was going to have lunch with Petrick and then go to the office, but it was snowing. On every previous day with six inches of snow (as measured on my patio furniture) I just shrugged and went to work anyway. Today, being on a cane, I decided that I didn't have another six months to spend recovering from a broken hip and called Petrick. We decided to stay home and watch YouTube.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, January 12, 2025 - 07:42 pm: Edit

FRIDAY 10 JAN 2025 -- DAY 165
We looked at the snow situation and took a "safety day" and used it to rest and clean up the house.

SATURDAY 11 JAN 2025 -- DAY 166
We managed to make the grocery run but I had to stay in the car. I felt tired and weak and might have had the edge of the dizzy spell that quickly went away.

SUNDAY 12 JAN 2026 -- DAY 167
A day of rest, I was asleep most of it. When I was awake I felt too weak to do anything. I feel like I'm going backwards in my recovery.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 16, 2025 - 02:16 am: Edit

MONDAY 13 JANUARY 2025 -- DAY 168 OF RECOVERY
This marks 24 weeks of rehab, learning to walk again, and dealing with underlying medical issues. The new meds finally have my blood pressure stable which is a good thing.
I picked up Steve Petrick after his VA appointment. We had lunch and discussed the Sapphire thing. I took him back to the office and we each worked on our various projects.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 16, 2025 - 02:18 am: Edit

TUESDAY 14 JANUARY 2025 -- DAY 169 OF RECOVERY
Leanna and I had lunch and got gas. (She gets some kind of dollar a gallon discount code at the grocery store but we have to fill up both cars at the same pump one after the other.) I went to the office, got the Sapphire thing posted, answered some email, and went home to rest. Apparently the new medication that keeps my blood pressure steady also makes me weak and tired.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 16, 2025 - 02:22 am: Edit

WEDNESDAY 15 JAN 2025 -- DAY 170 OF RECOVERY
I had physical therapy in the morning and it was brutal as always. I got very tired and had to lay down for three hours before I could drive to an afternoon doctor appointment where the doctor and nurse got all over me about drinking too many carbonated beverages and causing damage to my kidneys. I never made it to the office.
My therapist suggested something that I will discuss with my cardiologist to see if we can shift the exhaustion period I undergo every day to the hours from midnight to breakfast. She also got all over my case about drinking too much caffeine and I promised to switch half of my fluid intake to non-caffeine/non-carbonated beverages.
Leanna drove me to dinner and I had a nice meal which cheered me up.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, January 17, 2025 - 12:38 am: Edit

THURSDAY 16 JAN 2025 -- DAY 171 OF RECOVERY
Family lunch day at Pizza Planet. Steve Petrick was able to make it when he finished a doctor appointment early. My niece Angela was able to drop by.
Staff meeting. We worked out the "six product plan" including Orion MSSB (Jean is proofreading), F&E Civil Wars (Chuck Strong's staff), Starmada Rumors of Wars (Kast), A Call To Arms Book III (Albert), Captain's Log #55 (mostly SVC), Fed Commander Booster 40 (SVC and Mike West). ISC MSSB is still waiting for Jean Time. SPP is working on an SFB Module but I forgot which one.
We got and approved the quote to reprint 11 countersheets (Sierra, Kilo, Indigo, Vulkan, R6, K, Y1, SFB Basic Set, Fed Commander, SFB A+, Planetary Ops). These were sent to the die cutter by email.
I sent a memo on ship selections for FCB40 to Mike West, Jean, and Steve Petrick.
Jean got the W2 stuff to Leanna for the accountant to process.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, January 20, 2025 - 10:48 pm: Edit

FRIDAY 17 JAN 2025 -- DAY 172 OF RECOVERY
Leanna and I took a marriage health day. Steve Petrick worked on reorganizing his files. Jean and Albert took the day to deal with some housekeeping issues.

SATURDAY 18 JAN 2025 -- DAY 173 OF RECOVERY
SUNDAY 19 JAN 2025 -- DAY 174 OF RECOVERY
Rest and exercise.

MONDAY 20 JAN 2025 -- DAY 175 OF RECOVERY
This ended 25 weeks. I get around fine on a cane but without it is still a struggle that isn't getting better.
I had dental work and took the day off. Steve Petrick attended the inauguration.

Jean and Albert announced that they had sold their pilot script for a new crime solving TV series of Paramount. To be called THE CRIME GAME, this tell the story of a police detective played by Carrie Underwood who is assigned to work with a famous RPG designer (played by Joe Machi) who created a hit crime-solving game that the governor's nephew thought was cool. Since the governor (a recurring role by Chris Noth) only won re-election because of his nephew's campaign on Tiktok (played in rare appearances by Barron Trump), he owed the kid.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 - 04:29 pm: Edit

TUESDAY 21 JAN 2025 -- DAY 176 OF RECOVERY
I made it to the office to work on Booster 40.
Steve Petrick was en route home from the inauguration.
Jean and Albert were working on scripts for their TV show.