The World of Scott Mindeaux

December 25, 2002

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope all of you had a wonder Christmas. Its just a bit past midnight here in Washington DC. It started snowing earlier today. Made for a White Christmas here in DC. I had to work on Christmas Eve and it was interesting seeing everyone rushing thru Sur La Table making their last minute purchases for Christmas. There were a lot of things going thru my mind today as I was waiting to get off work today. I hadn’t gotten anything fro my co-workers at work. Money has been a little tight since I moved back. On top of that I just incurred hospital bills (the heart incident, see below) and my car coolant system decided to break down. I had to rent a car this past Sunday. Both Karen and Mike were there today. I wish I could have given them more than just a “Merry Christmas”. They have been so supportive since I moved to DC and started working with them. The three of us have become quite the team at Sur La Table. Although my primary responsibilities lie in running the school, they treat me as an equal when it comes to store management. Even the staff sees me as the same as Karen, assistant manager.

I just got off the phone with my parents and it was just now that I realize that I miss them very much. Talking to my dad and mom, alone here in DC made me yearn for home. These last four months has been quite the trial for me. But, I like being here and hope to be here for many years to come. Both my parents were quite inquisitive about my health. I told them I was fine and haven’t felt this good since I moved to DC the first time back in the early 90s. My sisters were spending Christmas Eve with their In-law families. Mom and dad were pretty bummed that they decided not to bring the kids to the house for Christmas Eve.

Tonight I also thought about all the friends I left back in LA. I talked to Joe Reyes yesterday and he told me of the massive changes that have been happening at Mattel the last week or two. Seems someone in HR finally listened to us and some changes were instituted as a result. I wonder what would have happened if I had stayed. Who knows. I hope the “gang” is doing well and that the new org chart will benefit them. I wanted to send some small gifts to the “gang” this year, but budgetary reasons forced me to hold back. I want to wish John Green, Josie Alvarez, Chris Siwirski, Dan Ortiz, Ken Merriman, Dave Harper, Mike Messina, John Murphy, Joe Reyes and Robert Peck a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Holiday cheers for Kristie, Mario, Kitaya, Brian, Angie, Ivana, Jonathan, Aster, Beverly, and the rest of the Mattel games and Puzzles department.

To Carol Cotner Thompson, Anne Smith, May parish, Jet Tila and the rest of the gang at The New School of Cooking: Have a Happy Holiday and a prosperous New Year! I miss working with all of you. I am reminded of you all everyday here at SLT. Anne I know you’re in town so I hope to see you while you are here. Carol, are you visiting anytime soon?

I also thought about my friends here in DC. TO Chris Carlisle, wherever you are: Merry Christmas my friend. I’m sorry that we haven’t been able to resolve our communication issues. I know I fucked up and I’m sorry. I’m more sorry that we haven’t been able to be friends since I moved back to DC. I hope to hear from you soon.

Reese Jimenez, you have been nothing but patient with me. I know that since moving back we have both been busy. But I make this promise to you: we are going to be more in touch with each other. During my years at NGLTF, you have been a friend, confidant, and more to me – not to mention a great dance partner. We have both been through a lot in our lives. I have missed your counsel and look forward to having it again. I’m glad I found you again.

Scott Shumaker. What can I say. You have been a cornerstone of my life. Ever since we met each other on eWorld all those decades ago we have kept our friendship alive. We have had our moments, but through it all, our friendship prevailed. Since returning to DC, you have been busy not only with a change in your life, but an addition. Kris and you are so right for each other. When I see the two of you, I only see happiness. Kris, it has been a pleasure to meet you this year and hope to see you many more times in the near future. I’m glad to call you a friend and more importantly, family. Scott, I know you have some decisions to make in the future and all I can say is that I’ll be here for you no matter what. That has been our motto from the beginning and I’m sticking to it. Merry Christmas my friend, I love you.

Marc Legaspi and Lee Pitts. I don’t even know where to start. The both of you have been so supportive. Making the transition back to DC wasn’t going to be easy and you have made every effort to help me in this transition. You have put up with me in your home for the last four months and I have to say that without your hospitality, I probably would have moved back to LA. I see in both of you the best. The two of you compliment each other so well. I handed out some real bad advice a few years back when I told you guys it wasn’t going to work out between the two of you. Long gone are the days at Velvet. I’m glad to see that I was wrong and that the two of you have prospered. You have been more than old friends, you are family. Thank you Lee and Marc. Mmmmm….Pare!

I have met many new people since I started my job at Sur La Table. Susan, Tom, and Nora…thank you for all that you do. Your help this year has been so tremendous. Monica, Liz and Ed: you’re the best. We couldn’t have asked for better volunteers that the three of you. You have set the standard. To all my co-workers at SLT, thank you for welcoming me into your family there at SLT.

December 17, 2002

Wow…its been over 3 months since my return to Washington DC. I can hardly believe it. I’m loving the new job. Running a cooking school has been a new dream for me, but it is a dream that is happening – and I’m grateful to everyone who has supported me in this dream.

Much has happened since I left the West Coast. A recent event in my life was undergoing a heart procedure. I know, I know…you’re all saying Oh My God. Its OK, really. I had been suffering chest pains for about 3 to 4 weeks. I had totally convinced myself that they weren’t heart related and blamed it on my asthma. As the weeks went on, it became more and more difficult to even walk across the parking lot without me having to stop and grab my chest. Turns out the doctor diagnosed Exertion Angina. basically, anytime I got my heart going, I went into pain. My doctor told me to report to the ER. Weird part was, all my EKGs and blood test came back clean. The symptoms never existed while I was standing or sitting still. The doctors wanted to do a stress test. Put me on a treadmill and, unfortunately, get me to have chest pains. Well I was on the treadmill for about 4.5 minutes when I could feel the start of my chest pains. Within 45 seconds it became full blown. The docts pulled me off the treadmill and did an ultrasound on my heart. After a few minutes, I could hear them whispering in that collective way doctors do. They told me they fond an abnormality in my left heart wall. There wasn’t any detection of it until I did the test. The doctor then recommended a cardio catheter to do some exploring. If when they were in me they found something, they would make the decision to do a procedure.

They couldn’t do the procedure until the next day. I remember sitting in my hospital room, alone, scared as shit. The doctors and nurses all told me that they perform thousands of these procures and it is now considered an out-patient thing. This still didn’t help. The thought of a thin wire traveling up from my groin up to my heart via a main artery made me scared. Would I feel it traveling up the artery? What would they find?

During all of this, I haven’t even contacted my family to tell them what was going to happen. Only Marc, Lee and Scott Shumaker knew I was in the hospital. Of course, the gang back at Sur La Table was also with me. Karen took the time to call me a few times and I’m glad they did. I remember sitting there the night before and just crying for about 20 minutes. No one was around and I was alone. I called my sister Beth to tell her where I was. I told her not to tell mom. I didn’t want to worry my mom. I know how she gets. So what did my sister do? She told my other sister, whom she knew would tell my mom. Within hours, my mom was trying to reach me at the hospital. She called me the morning of the procedure and she was bawling on the phone. I tried to be rave for both of us so she could hear my confidence in the procedure. But the truth be told, I wish my mom was here.

It was close to noon and I heard hear from anyone. I haven’t been able to eat since midnight before and I was starving. The only thing I could have was medication and some water to wash it down. Then they came. Two orderlies came and put me on a gurney and rolled me down to the cardio center. This place was hi-tech!. Monitors, screens, x-ray machines and computers all over the place. this made me feel good. I was moved to the operating table and given some stuff thru my IV tube to help me relax. It was a mild sedative, but only enough to make me lucid. I was told I could watch the entire thing on the monitors as they progressed with the procedure. They had to “shave” my groin area. That was uncomfortable. Once done, they wiped me down with an iodine solution and prepped me. They then laid down blue sheets on me and rolled in the lead/glass walls to protect the doctors who are exposed to the x-rays on a daily basis. They gave me a local anesthetic in my groin and minutes later they started with the insertion of the catheter. I didn’t feel a thing. Next thing, the x-ray machine started moving around me. They would move it around me in an arc to get the best “angle”. In a matter of one or two minutes. the catheter was near my artery. They started to inject a dye into my arteries to view the blood flow. Again, there was that collective whispers amongst the doctors. Then they summoned another doctor. Doctor Blunda, my cardiologist, said they detected a blocked artery in my left ventricle. The only way to open up the blocked artery was to perform an angioplasty. That’s where they inflate a balloon to open up the artery. To keep the artery from re-collapsing on itself, they put in a stent. The stent is a hollow mesh that keeps the artery open. The artery walls grow around the mesh. I will live with this in my heart.

They were done within 20 minutes. I remember Dr. Wagman coming up to me with copies of the blocked artery and copies of the after. It as wide open. Still groggy, I was brought back to my room. I would have to lay there for 8 hours, not being able to move my right leg. Moving it could risk opening the entry point to the artery. They also put me on an IV drip of nitroglycerin. This stuff give me a headache. I would be on it for hours and no end in sight for relief from the headaches. The next eight hours was one of the most enduring things I have had to under go. They surgery was easier than this. The nurses came in every 30 minutes to check on my and monitor my blood pressure. I couldn’t get any sleep.

6am the next morning came after an evening of pain and discomfort. A technician came to remove the catheter from my groin. I thought they did that already, but it was only now that they would remove it. There was a slight stinging sensation as they pulled the wire out. I just gripped the sheets and bewared down. The nurse said I could sit up and sleep on my side now. Just moving was relief. I could finally move. AN hour or so later I even sat up and pulled my legs over the side of the bed. Then my first steps were taken. My groin was a bit sore, but it was worth being able to get out of bed. I walked around the room, looked outside as we had our first snowstorm the day before. There was a clean blanket of snow on everything. I smiled.

Several hours later, I got the go ahead to be released. Dr. Blunda came in and sat down for a few minutes to tell me what changes would need to happen in my life. Diet, exercise and mental well being is what will make me survive the next 35-50 years of my life. I knew this was inevitable and with a history of heart disease in my family, I new I would be next. This was an eye opener, but not new news.

The hours after I got home I felt SO GOOD! The doctor said I probably will feel better than I have in a couple of years. I’m happy to report that I have not had to use my inhaler for over a week now and what normally would set off an attack, like exercise, doesn’t anymore. The decreased blood flow from the blocked artery is what made me have asthma attacks. The capillaries in my lungs would constrict due to blood pressure and set off an attack. No I can climb several flights of stairs without losing my breath. Its quite liberating!

Well its been a long entry. My computer is still back at home in California. I will try my best to at least put a journal entry back up once a week until I get my computer. I hope you are all doing well.

Oh…a postscript, the nurses in the ER are damned cute. Male nurses aren’t what they used to be. Chris and Fred…glad to have made your acquaintance!! thanks for making me feel safe and comfortable.

December 16, 2002

Lazy Monday. I didn’t have to go to work today so I slept in. Slept in till about 10am. Marc called on the cell to tell me that the washing machine problem should be fixed now. It appears that a pipe burst on our side of the building and that’s why we didn’t’ have cold water in the washing machine. For some reason, the machine would not go into rinse mode. Not sure how a pipe breaking made this happen. The unit would work at the beginning of the cycle, filling up with only hot water. When it got to rinse it wouldn’t work. Anyways…the unit works fine now. I did two loads of laundry.

I watched ER at 10am and had some left over PF Changs for breakfast. Mmmm…nutritious for breakfast eh? I had so many things I wanted to do today, but I decided that a lazy Monday was just fine. I called Ray later in the day and asked if we could postpone Nemesis. I told him I wanted to be alone. He understood.

I then did some house cleaning in my room and kitchen. Then I started going thru some old mail that Mario sent to me the other day. Most of it was junk mail. I then started to sort all my receipts. I’m probably going to item this years taxes.

Around 3pm I decided to take a nap. Lee called and then and said he was on his way home. I was already asleep when he came home. I guess I was more tired that I thought. I had a full week of activity and I guess it was just catching up with me. All this energy is something new for me.

Lee had to go and pick up Marc from work. He asked if I wanted to come along and then get dinner. I told him I’d stay home and continue napping. I got up about 45 minutes later and got some dinner. They came home deciding not to get dinner out. They ordered take out instead and got Chinese food.

Then I decided I wanted to update my web page. As difficult as it would be from this computer, I did it. Hopefully someone out there will see that I changed it a bit. I put in a long journal entry updating everyone on the heart procedure. Lee is working late on some stuff for work. He set up a desk in the living room. Its right in front of the red curtain separating the living room from my room (the dining room). He’s busy working on some kind of gene sequencing stuff for work. Looks like he’s going to be up for awhile.

He asked if the light was a problem and I said no. Earlier while he was setting up his desk my room glowed like it was on fire from the lamp and the red curtain. Looks kewl.

Well…off to bed I guess. Night.

December 15, 2002

Well I got up pretty early today. We had a class starting up at 12 noon and I had to stop by and pick up the ingredients for class. It would be an easy class. All I had to pickup was candy. It was Carl’s gingerbread decorating workshop. I picked up jelly beans, Necco wafers, chocolate wafers, shredded wheat cereal, gum drops, red licorice and of course, candy canes. We also picked up some Teddy Grahams cereal. I got to work around 10:30 and Karen was already there starting store opening procedures. I loaded a cart with the pre-fab gingerbread houses and the candy and headed in. Nora and Susan showed up about 15 minutes late. Ann Marlow showed up before they did!

The phones were already ringing off the hook. A woman showed up at the door wanting to get in. It was about 10:35 and she said she needed something for church. Unfortunately we couldn’t let her in. The registers weren’t open yet and we had no cashiers. We had to say no. She was grateful that I tried to see what I could do. Although our Holiday hours had kicked in, we didn’t open till 11am and would close at 7pm. Normally we are open 12-6 on Sundays.

One by one the staff showed up. We opened at 10:50am. Michael Tiller, Diana, Jason, and both Susan’s were there. Michele and Marquita showed up to do their employee shopping. It was busy but not as busy as yesterday.

I was surprised today by someone I had been talking to online. Ray is a guy I met online via a personal ad. We have been trying to find time to meet each other, but I think I was mostly just to shy to meet him in person. He decided to take the bull by the horns and come down to the store to meet me in person. I was putting away stock in the baking section when he suddenly appeared! It kind of caught me off guard. Surprised, I said hello. He asked if I knew who he was and I did know he was Ray. He was very true to his picture on the web. He smiled and I smiled back. I told him I wasn’t getting off work until about 6pm and he said he would wait around. I was a bit worries since it was only about 4:15. He went to Pentagon city mall and then watched some of the skaters in the center court of Pentagon Row.

Class went very well. Everyone made their houses. I think everyone was happy with their houses. A family didn’t show up until 2pm, but we were able to get them in and both kids got their houses built..

6pm came and I left work. I was taking Monday off. I hadn’t really had a day off since my hospital stay and needed one. After work I drove Ray back to Dupont and we had dinner at Kramerbooks. It was a bit awkward. We hardly said anything to each other. We sat and had dinner and basically just talked about small stuff. Filler talk is what I call it. What did you do today, how is your food, what kind of food do you like…stuff like that. After dinner we went back to his place to watch some TV. We watched Alias and then the Practice. It was getting late so I headed back home. He walked me to the car and we gave each other a hug. We’re going to see Nemesis tomorrow night.