Year End Wrap Up

It's been a bit hectic this December - in a great way though! Here's the run down...


The second weekend in December was an annual Christmas party that Bill and I have attended for many years. It has never been my favorite because most of the people I only see that one time a year - sometimes once or twice in between - so I am not that familar with their voices and it is very difficult to carry on a conversation in a crowded house anyway. This year was very, very different! Being bilateral helps tremendously in large groups of people. My Harmony is awesome! I had several conversations and even 'lost' Bill a couple of times (instead of sticking to him like glue and making him be my ear). When it was time to go, he said "You act like you are enjoying yourself and don't want to leave." Gosh, I realized it was true, I did enjoy it!




I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Los Angeles the weekend before Christmas for C1 Harmony trials and to tour the Advanced Bionics plant while I was there. It was a super informative tour and was wonderful to meet the people who work on our implants. Here I am with the 'famous' giant hands.


Some things I noticed on the trip were... I could hear the pilot make announcements and understand most of what he was saying. I confirmed with my son, Brandon, who went with me, to be sure I understood. Brandon filled in a few blanks but I was thrilled to be able to get most of it myself. That was a first in years and years!! It was also neat to be able to go through the machine at the airport without a lot of explaining of my implant and without taking it off. I did take the PSP off but left the Harmony on.


While we were in L.A. area, we went to a comedy club. My last experience with live comedy was not good. This time I heard most of what the first comedian said, the next couple, I heard bits but I think my mind was wandering and getting tired so it was more difficult (plus, what I did hear wasn't all that funny). The poor middle fellow was way too old to be up there trying to make people laugh and failing miserably. He did a lot of jumping around making faces and did this routine that we thought was supposed to be him playing a guitar but looked strangely like he was scratching his crotch with the strumming hand. Was that part of the joke? Don't know but no one found it amusing at all. I felt rather embarrased for the comedian.


We came home to piles and piles of snow! Our flight from Detroit to Flint was delayed more than an hour (we could have driven it quicker) so it was 2:30 am when I pulled into our driveway and buried my car in a snow drift. Ooops. Bill was a champ and came out to help dig us out. With less than a week left before Christmas, we were just in time to finish shopping and wrapping the gifts that would be given and delivered on Christmas Day. The wrapping was completely finished yesterday morning (yes, Jan 3) and all gifts have been delivered as of yesterday noon. One more family get together tomorrow and then I can start thinking about getting the tree put away.


Bill got me a pink iPod Nano. The ear buds that came with the iPod would not stay in my ears, so we found some headphones that look like ear buds and just sit in the ear, right in front of the T-mic. They work perfectly and even fold up to tuck away. I loaded all my CD's on the iPod Christmas day and just yesterday discovered quilting podcasts! Even better, they are free and I can hear them!! I feel like there is this whole world out there that I have been missing. Many of the quilting podcasts go back to 2006 so I literally have years of listening to catch up on! It's great listening practice and I'm learning some things too!


It's late so I'm going to wind this up. Stay tuned for updates on my recent experiences at the movies and I promise not to make you wait too long...