Usticke Family Blog

Star Wars Celebration III (C3) starts Thursday, but I arrived in Indianapolis Wednesday afternoon. After getting settled at the hotel, I headed over to the convention center to pick up the schedule. A few fans were already in costume.

I had dinner with some old AOL Star Wars Fan Club (AOLSWFC) friends.

Stormtroopers on patrol	Jango Fett
Droid	Dirty Stormtrooper
Off duty	Crowd control
Finally a good guy	Um, which movie was he in again?

Charyl (Hooks) and Mark (A BoyScout) met online at my AOLSWFC trivia game 11 years ago. They married in 2001 and had their son Alexander 16 months ago. They claim he wasn’t named after me.

Alec is in Indianpolis attending Star Wars Celebration III, a convention celebrating the release of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. I attended the first Celebration in Denver in 1999 and the second in Indianapolis in 2002.

BioWare, the creator of NeverWinter Nights, profiled Alec’s game server Bastions of War in their BioWare Wednesday feature.

Wednesday, Apr 06 2005 Neverwinter Profile: Bastions of War Bastions of War is a team-based, player versus player, arena module where NWN fans can flex their powergaming muscles, work out their daily stress, and beat the crap out of gnomes, bards, elves, and other deserving folk. 😛 We spoke with Alec Usticke, BoW’s chief admin and scripter, to find out more about this entertaining mod.

Today is three years since Saffy’s liver transplant on January 21, 2002.

Jan 21 2003	Jan 21 2004	Jan 21 2005

Saffy attended her first day of the full nursery school year last month. She started with plenty of separation anxiety but now she pushes mommy out the classroom door.

A little nervous	Liam says goodbye
Off to school…	A masterpiece!
Making a snack placemat	An exhausting day

I attended the FARGO poker event at Foxwoods Casino this past weekend. FARGO is the Foxwoods Annual Recreational Gambling Outing. I last attended in 2000, and it was a ball to play again.

Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker Champion, also attended. ESPN.com reviewed the event in the article From FARGO with love.

Presto!

Alec has launched a web site for his Bastions of War Neverwinter Nights team PvP arena server.

It is located at www.bastionsofwar.com.

Carol Carlson shared the following message with our Infintile Hemangioendothelioma (IHE) Support Group.

To: hemangioendothelioma@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [ihe] Hello from a long-term survivor

From: caroljcarlson@Juno.com

Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 07:44:34 -0500

I am Carol Carlson. I am a 48 year survivor of infantile hemangioendothelioma. I was diagnosed at 6 months of age through exploratory abdominal surgery in 1956 (no fancy biopsy methods then!). My parents were told that there was no cure for my disease and that I would die within a matter of months. My mother (the woman who NEVER takes “no” for an answer) kept searching for options. She heard about Cobalt Radiation as a possible treatment for some types of cancer and searched until she found a doctor who was willing to try it on my multiple liver tumors. I was treated at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital by Dr. Tague Chisholm. Obviously it worked on me. I have lived a normal life (if there is such a thing). I have two beautiful adult children of my own. I guess I am a medical curiosity because I get treated with the 101 questions routine every time I visit a new doctor… Just thought I would share my story. My father has passed on but my mother is still with us. I believe she would be happy to share her thoughts and memories with anyone as would I.

My heart goes out to all the families with children being treated for this disease. Never give up hope. I’m certainly glad my parents never did.

What an uplifting story from someone who overcame this rare condition 45 years before Saffy!

We bought a new digital camera last week: the Casio Exilim EX-Z40. It’s tiny — the height and width of a credit card — yet has a 2 inch screen and is 4 megapixels.

I found the perfect case for it: a mini Crown Royal whisky bag. It’s the perfect size, light weight, and nice and soft. They’re fairly cheap to pick up on eBay.