Archive for the ‘Family & Friends’ Category

How to get tested = for Nick

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Updated May 20 8:10 pm

Letter to Mark Fredrickson from Stacy Morales (friend of Nick):

Subject: Information from hospital meeting

Hi Mark,

An update on the information I learned today at the hospital meeting with Carol Gillespie and Carol Wiegand.

*Nick will most likely start chemotherapy (a slightly different version from the first two rounds) tomorrow. His cell count is slightly better and the doctors are wanting to buy him some more time to find a donor. If not put him into remission, slow down the multiplication of cancer cells.

*Stanford should have Nick in the national database by this weekend to start running the search for a match for a bone marrow transplant

*Once a match is found for Nick, it is usually about 30 days minimum until transplant date due to additional testing and analyzing that is required.

*AADP are expediting testing for potential donors. They are the quickest way to get test results into the national database. Anyone who is going through Be A Match that is not a drive specifically for Nick will have their test results in the system in approximately 4-6 weeks from test date. This is why it is important that if someone is not going to a AADP drive or a specific drive for Nick, they order their kit through AADP. www.aadp.org

I think the most important thing that I came away from the meeting was this: Potentially a match could be someone that has heard our push and been tested. If they went the longest route for test results, that’s 6 weeks from now until they are found to be a match. Add on top of that the 30 day minimum for transplant date. We’re looking at 2 1/2 months. God willing Nick has that. The message we need to push is do not wait, get tested NOW….At a drive for Nick (being held in Bay Area, at EMC World in Orlando, and at EMC HQ in Massachusetts) or through an AADP kit.

A side hopeful tidbit I learned is that a match could potentially be found from someone of a different race. Carole Gillespie said it is rare but she spoke of two cases she’s seen where someone of a completely opposite race was a perfect 10 for 10 match. It’s a shot in the dark, but you never know!

Thanks again for all that you are doing!

Stacy

Takeaway (from Dave Farmer):

Please go to http://www.AADP.org to register online and order a free test kit to be mailed to you. Kits ordered through AADP.org (not the ones ordered through marrow.org) are being expedited specifically for Nick. Free kits are available for mixed races or minorities. At the top of the page, click “Register” and select “Request a Test Kit.”

Do it today!

Nick Glasgow = Searching for that 1 match

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock these past couple of days, you’ve seen publicity re: Nick Glasgow’s urgent need for a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. The difficulty is that Nick is part Sino-Asian (specifically 1/4 Japanese) and part Caucasian, which makes finding a match difficult. However, testing for a match is a simple cheek swab.

Mark Fredrickson’s blog has all the details.  Phillip A. Harris’s blog has up to date information on the search, including important donor links: www.marrow.org, www.aadp.org, www.asianmarrow.org, and www.aabmf.org.

Twitter has been all-a-twitter’ng about Nick, including my close personal friend (don’t sue me!) Phil Plait (hint to @donttrythis, @grantimahara, @pennjillette, @GStephanopoulos and all celebrities: we need more celeb re-tweets); and thanks to @storageanarchy there has been broad tweetsupport from IBM, SAP, HP, NTAP, HDS, … .

Facebook has at least 2 groups, the main group and one I started, for which I even paid a very modest amount of money to advertise.

Then there is the free publicity this website got when CBS-TV Channel 5 in San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose ran a story (video) on Nick, and showed this website as an example, highlighting johnkemeny.com! The great thing about that is it made my unaware cousin Peter, who lives in SF (and Paris and the World), fall off his chair when he saw it!!

Update: SF Examiner Story, Digg this, and ‘UP’ this.

Saving a Life = Please help!

Monday, May 18th, 2009

This post is way out of the ordiinary. Right now (and time is of the essence) you could help save a life. Read on …

Una Mujer con Sombrero = Audrey’s 80th

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Appropriately wearing a Sombrero (Galaxy), Audrey Hepburn would be 80 yesterday, the day before the Cinco de Mayo. Lia and Alan celebrate with her.

Death = Swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Message in Peace

We first blogged about  George Carlin, appropriately enough, in a post about language, pointing you to the seven dirty words – verbatum transcript prepared by the FCC.  Dirty words keep changing – prior to 1900 the terrible seven would have been doggone, drat, forcryingoutloud, gee or jeepers, Jiminy Crickets (safe enough for Disney now), Odsbodkins, and the ’sh’ words shoot and shucks.   Genius is a constant and lives on.

A Variety article on Carlin’s 50+ years in the business, a transcript of the Modern Man poem read on the Tonight Show, a Mother Jones article on a darker look at education from an HBO special, and finally, a deciphering of the bumper stickers on the hippie VW van, Fillmore, which Carlin voiced in the movie Cars, can all be found on the internets.

What was missing till now are Lia and Alan’s remarkable impressions of Carlin.  Below is Lia’s impression.

Here is Alan getting into makeup.

Applying the Makeup

And the splitting image.

A Splitting Image

May 31, UC Berkeley = Tribute to Jim Gray

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

Tribute to Jim Gray

 

Not a memorial, but a tribute – since he is a ‘missing person’ for 5 years – you can register for the technical session or reserve a transcript of the proceedings here.

Candid Cameras = First Light

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Birthday Pictures

For their third birthday, Lia and Alan both got real digital cameras. Alan’s first shot was of Dad crawling in front of the lens. Lia, the art’tist, preferred taking pictures of the Wiggles birthday cake – featuring the Big Red Car – her feet – I show her best shot omitting the rest of the series – and her Mom – at least a part of her – dancing.

XO Laptops = Sugar Sugar

Monday, November 5th, 2007

pumpkin carving

As Lia – playing with sharp objects – and Alan – filling up on Mom’s chocolate pretzels – can attest, pumpkin carving was a sweet success. No one can yet say if the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) will be a success, but for a limited time starting November 12 you can Give One Get One (G1G1) for $399. You can test drive it today using VMware’s free player (registration required) and the latest pre-made images.

OLPC

Full disclosure: I work for EMC, which owns 86% of VMware – but I got no VMware stock (sad face).

I also have 3-year old twins who would love an XO laptop – but they don’t live in the third world – and their daddy ain’t rich – but their mom is good looking :-) :-( :-)

 Update: Message from laptopgiving.org:

Starting Monday, November 12 at 6:00am EST, you will be able to donate one XO laptop to a child in the developing world and also receive a laptop for the child in your life, by visiting www.laptopgiving.org or calling toll-free 1-877-70-LAPTOP.

 

“Give One Get One” is the only time we are making the revolutionary XO laptop available to the public. For a donation of just $399 ($200 of which is tax-deductable), you will be giving the gift of education. Additionally, T-Mobile is offering donors one year of complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the United States, which can be used from any Wi-Fi-capable device, including the XO laptop.