I am so confused and upset. Some of you already know that mother was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer in 2007. The doctors never did any surgery, chemo or radiation but instead treated her with a hormone blocker and said that it had not mestastasized. She had been coughing quite a bit and short of breath the last two years, but she also suffers from asthma (not severe) and allergies, so we thought that was her problem.

On my insistance, she went to see another doctor, and requested a lung specialist. They did all the X-rays and scans and said there was nothing to be concerned about. She continued to having difficulty breathing and coughing all the time. I told her to go back and insist on a biopsy, and this was done last Thursday. She got the results today, on my Father's birthday (he died in 2005), and both her lungs have been affected. The cancer has spread and the doctor told her that it looks quite advanced.:confused: All of this time they could never find this until the biopsy! I am so angry:mad:

Next month will be 1 year since my sister died from advanced colon cancer. This poor woman has had to bear too much these last few years. Thanks for letting me vent!

Seriously, I was just researching iPhone accessories and I got this page Amazon.com: Apple iPhone - USB Data Transfer Sync Cable / Charger for New Apple iPhone (i Phone): Electronics.

It's got:
This item: Apple iPhone - USB Data Transfer Sync Cable / Charger for New Apple iPhone (i Phone)
Apple iPhone Travel Charger/ Wall Charger/ AC Adaptor by MyGift
PCMicrostore Apple iPhone Black Leather Texture Horizontal Holster Carrying Case With Belt Loop And Clip by PCMS

all listed for $.62 all together plus shipping!

We're only considering buying an iphone but I figured I might as well order them... Can always resell 'em on ebay:P.

James

From the Independent.co.uk:
Merciless Ikea memoir flat-packs a punch

"The wholesome Scandinavian image of furniture and lifestyle giant IKEA has been rudely shaken by a new book which claims the company is hostile to foreign employees and uses Stasi-style secret police methods to spy on its thousands of staff worldwide.

The explosive charges are made by a former senior Ikea executive Johan Stenebo, a Swede who started working for the company at one of its German outlets outside Hamburg over 20 years ago and rose to a senior management position. He resigned last year.
His book, entitled Sanningen om Ikea (The Truth about Ikea), contains wide-ranging allegations about a company which has become a global household name. "

Read the whole article at the Independent

[Edited by admin to remove extraneous html and code from original page, and to quote rather than copy the entire article.]

Well, truth be told, the kids have an iMac that Grandma bought for them a year and a half ago, but other than helping them make videos for Father's Day, and Grandma's birthday, I haven't really used it.

Today, we bid on and won a Mac Pro on eBay: Mac Pro Quad 3Ghz (2 x 3ghz dual core Xeon) w/ 14GB - eBay (item 280420889097 end time Nov-15-09 09:22:11 PST)

Looks like it's going to be an awesome machine - one which I could never possibly run out of memory on (like I'm doing all the time on this 4 year old laptop).

I'm excited, but I'm going to need some hand-holding while changing from Windows to Mac. Any old hands here can help a person out? =:-o

Susan

Welp, it's that time of year again. The time that I get to craving all day long type recipes and simultaneously lack the energy to go to all the effort. I'm looking for good crockpot recipes that don't involve canned soups. :D

Whatcha got?

Susan

OK! Some of you may know that McGuyver and I never met a thing that couldn't be improved with a sledgehammer, a crow bar, and oftentimes, a dead blow mallet.

So, in Phase 2 of our quest to change everything, McGuyver recently completed the re-landscaping of the backyard which involved moving 200 cubic yards of dirt with a bobcat. What? It's not THAT much dirt... (for those of you who saw the mountain from this summer, its about 5x that much MORE dirt).

And now, it's cement mixer time! That's right, it's time to get the hydronic heat into the addition. We have to get the pex tubing down, get the mini boiler wired and pour, baby, pour!

It's really an adventure with big boy and girl toys!

I know there are differences between IKEA' s structure in Sweden and USA but I can't find their exact names? CAn you help me?
Task culture or role culture or something like that?

I'm writing an article for the blog on safety, and the necessity of securing tall furniture, dressers, chests of drawers, etc. to the wall to prevent toppling.

Iif anyone has any stories of good safety practices that prevented near accidents or tales of accidents that have happened, I'd like to include some first person stories. I'd also love to hear tips on securing furniture, ways to do it without damaging walls or furniture, etc.

@Chuck, at one point, I remember you linked to an article about the tragedy that motivates you to be such a strong proponent of safety. Can you provide that link again?

Thanks in advance!

Fellow IKEA Fans: We need your help in taking a Short Survey for Educational Purposes.

Hello, I am part of a team of graduate students from Mississippi State University working on a research paper on social media marketing and how it can possibly benefit IKEA.

Please follow the link below to take a brief survey, and enter for a chance to win an $80 U.S. denomination IKEA Giftcard.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=EsPbDHDEDJJRk_2bszYrkZ4Q_3d_3d

Thank You in advance for your time and participation!

Best Regards,

Abraham Hessabi

I know I've seen incredibly cute and creative costumes from my fellow IKEAFANS in the past. What do you have this year? I have a pirate and a black cat! All the stuff was either owned, or purchased from the thrift store for 99cents or less.

Share pics when you have them!

Susan

Pins OUT! The pins have been removed from my right ring and middle finger, WHOO HOO! Got quite a bit of healing still to do as well as physical therapy, but it's MUCH better now. YAY!

::snoopy dance::

Still not a total fix, but I'm able to use at least the index finger on my right hand again, so typing is now a LOT faster ;). And I can sorta kinda use a mouse again now that the fingers are individually splinted (the splints the Physical Therapist created are awesome compared to what we were using from the ortho/hand clinic).

YAY!

Sorry... Just had to share :).

James

Today's the last day to vote for your favorite entry in the IKEA Billy Bookcase contest - if you haven't voted yet please check out the entries and vote for your favorite entry ... :IKEA::IKEA::IKEA:

you can see the entries here
IKEA BILLY Bookcase Contest - IKEA FANS

Doreen

Just a small vent to people that understand. We were hoping to take advantage of the IKEA cabinet sale and buy cabinets to put in my new sewing room. We finished part of the attic since the nursery is in my old sewing room/extra bedroom. But for a variety of reasons (we screwed around too long for the 24months financing; I changed my mind about the doors and now it will only cost $1500 so we don't meet the minimum, but spending less money is a good thing; the budget doesn't allow for us to pay in full right now; etc; etc) we've got to wait a while longer to finish the room. We've been working on this on and off for over a year and have ran into so many delays. Some of the delays we had no control over, like people not showing up to do work and then having to find someone else. I'm just ready to have it finished and have all my sewing stuff in one room instead of scattered around the house. I'm kind of sad too because I had hoped to sew some things for my son for Christmas. I can sew on the kitchen table but keeping a toddler out of things he shouldn't touch is hard to do while sewing. Oh well, I've waited this long what's a few more months. Thanks for letting me vent. Maybe Santa will bring me some Billy bookcases for another project we hope to do.

Ginger

Hey all... As my first major project back at the computer, I've been working on rolling out support for mobile browsers (iphone, blackberry and other smart phones etc.). I've got the initial framework up and running (ain't pretty atm as I'm working on function first ;)), and I'd love to get some feedback from you all?

Does it work on your mobile? What would you like to see changed/improved?

If it doesn't work, what mobile device are you using and what do you see?

Thanks in advance for you help, it'd be really useful for folks to be able to look things up and/post questions *while* they are in the store... At least that's the goal!

James