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Yesterday I was off to Pittsburgh, then Blairsville, Pennsylvania for a doctor’s appointment and to pick up some 8′ (2.44 m) high deer fencing, respectively. More about the fencing tomorrow.

The liver examine was routine. The doctor did schedule me for a routine liver biopsy and ultrasound for January, 2009.  A liver biopsy is currently the best way to see the progression of fibrosis, which is basically scarring of the liver, which leads to cirrhosis and eventual liver failure.

In an email based discussion I am involved in we have been discussing how common Prabhupada disciples leaving their bodies has become. We have been discussing death bed protocols, including having devotees chanting. I expressed that I am not eager to have my death become a tourist attraction and if you haven’t had much to do with me while I am living, I would prefer to not have you come around when I am on my death bed.

Others are much more broadminded and hope that as many devotees as possible are with them when they leave.

I got a fig!

I realize I am going on and on about these Games but they were a big deal for me, both as a goal to strive for and use as motivation to rehab, and also as an experience. Over 6,000 people attended including athletes, living donors, donor families, and volunteers so it was pretty exciting.

This road’s been long
Now I must go
If I could I would stay
But what is true
In your heart you must know
I’ll see you again someday
I’ll see you again someday

I held on
As long as I was meant to
I held on longer still
I’m safe in this place
Where I’ll be forever
And I will wait for you
Yes, I’ll be waiting for you

The 5 K race had over a thousand people it seemed to me and I may have even heard that figure at some point. It was a big mass of humanity at the beginning and took me a while after the starting horn blew to even get to the starting line. It was pretty crowded at first but started to thin out as those who were actually running or jogging the race moved ahead of the bulk of the people who were walking it.

Saturday I leave for Pittsburgh for the 2008 Transplant Games. I am not ready. The months have slipped by and all the conditioning I had wanted to do has mostly remained undone and I am weak with little stamina. Between bad weather and fatigue, my efforts have been way off the ideal.

First, a note from our sponsor: There will be a birthday party for Vidya at (new) Vidya and Shyam’s house Thursday June 12th at 5 pm. This is a changed to date due to a scheduling conflict.

Regular readers will remember my previous record setting long bike ride of the millennium , an inglorious 6 miles with multiple breaks, one spanning more than an hour.

From: Boomerang returns, even in space

“In an unprecedented experiment, a Japanese astronaut has thrown a boomerang in space and confirmed it flies back, much like on Earth.

I have officially signed up as an athlete for the 2008 Transplant Games. I, in theory, am competing in the 800 meter (1/2 mile) run, the 5K (3 mile) run and a 20 K (12.5 mile) bike race.

As part of my get in shape for The Transplant Games, I have been walking to the temple. I walked all the way there on Sunday without taking a rest.

When I was first walking to the temple 6 months after the transplant, I could make it but had to stop three times to rest on the way. Then I got knocked in the ditch with the interferon treatment and then the recovery period so I had stopped altogether, but now I am doing it again.

I am jacked up.

I got a letter today, albeit a mass mailing to all organ transplant recipients, inviting me to join the 2008 US Transplant Games. It is in Pittsburgh, right next door. That means transportation cost is minimal and no lodging expense, ergo, doable. If it was somewhere else, I wouldn’t consider it but if Krishna is plunking it right into my lap, it has to be a sign I am supposed to compete.

I recently completed a 5 day water fast. I had been feeling like I wasn’t making any progress in my recovery and was getting dismayed that perhaps where I am is all I will ever get. Through everything else, I could endure because there was that hope that eventually it would clear up and I would get more physically able to be productive, but I was starting to think that that wasn’t going to happen.

Can’t write much today — it is warm, sunny and the yard is dry. These are perfect conditions for restocking the inside the house and the porch firewood caches.

That means splitting wood to chunk and cooking wood size then wheelbarrowing it to the forward operating positions. When we get everything filled up, we have close to a month’s worth of dry wood in close proximity to the two wood burners we use — the cookstove in the kitchen and the space heater in the basement.