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Brain cancer is... ...a provider. Tomorrow Andi leads a workshop for candidates preparing for a state-required teacher assessment, the CalTPA.  Such serious work deserves serious work food:  Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. While Andi spent the day prepping, Darrell spent the day providing. Above you see his bounty for the teacher candidates.  The bounty includes napkins, which are necessary with flamin’ hot Cheetos. Happy Friday everyone! May your Cheetos forever stay flamin’ hot.

Brain cancer is...  ...using outdated slang acronyms to describe current, ongoing successes. Optune Amy braved the rain for a face-to-face data download today.  We celebrated our third Christmas together today.  Oh, and Darrell's Optune usage rate was 98% again this month.  No Big Deal (NBD). While she was here, Amy ordered a new shaver for us.  Forget that braid!  Tomorrow we meet...The Pitbull Platinum.  ( Sneak preview?  Click here .)  It's a shaver made especially to keep skulls bald.  NBD. Bonus Content At the Optune Summit, we learned from the Chief Operating Officer (Mike to us, NBD) that Darrell's version of Optune is tested for water resistance. We've always protected it viciously from any rain. (You need proof?  Sure. Check out the post with water shield improv, 10/23/16.  Click here and scroll down. ) Tonight, out for Thai on our rainy evening, Darrell tested the Optune water resistance testing. His swagger, above, c...

Brain cancer is...  ...done with the dentist until 2019. Darrell doesn't like going to the dentist.  I speak of a man who has had more than 20 MRIs of his head. Comparing a dentist visit to an MRI (and you know how he feels about MRIs), he really doesn't like going to the dentist. He sailed through today's visit, though, and he has these shiny white chompers to show for it.  He's ready for his close-ups!

Brain cancer is...  ...bald. The day Darrell started Optune 2 1/2 years ago, Optune Amy and Andi tried in vain to convince Darrell to grow a little ponytail that would become a braid, down low, on the back of his skull.  He declined, somewhat predictably. ( Click here for the post of that first Optune day.) During today's array change (above), Darrell and I conjectured about the braid that could have been.  Let's see:  30 months on Optune, and hair grows about 1/2 inch per month...that braid would have been about 15 inches long.  It might have looked something like this, perhaps: It's never too late, Darrell! 

(Darrell was in charge of the blog today.  Here's his message, which struck him as very powerful during the Ambassador Summit and beyond.) Brain Cancer is... ...pressing play.  The power to pause GBM and put life on play? That is the Optune message (click here) .  Not cure but a delay.   Very cool!

Brain cancer is... ...seeing our familiar home as strange. We used our “stranger” lenses to view our surroundings upon arrival in Fullerton. Darrell picked the shot for his verdant backyard. Big grass!  Tiny bed. Why is our bed so tiny?  Exactly zero of the beds at our homes away from homes (aka hotel room beds) are as small as our Fullerton bed. Food for thought.

Brain cancer is...  ...appreciating our last night away. Today was a work day. The view from Andi's computer was hard to beat.  We had dinner at South of Nick's and enjoyed our last San Clemente sunset, for 2018 anyway. Happy Saturday!

Brain cancer is...  ..enjoying blue Friday. Yay for family and friends.  Still grateful.

Brain cancer is...  ...carnivorous. Today we spent lots of time contemplating the durability of thankfulness . And then Darrell ate my face.  There went the blog post for the day. Okay, just one thing we concluded:  Gratitude is indeed durable.  No matter where one is, what one wears, or that one eats, gratitude endures. Thanks for being part of our enduring gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving, Family and Friends.

Brain cancer is... ...a vacation genius. Post diagnosis, we are forever trying new things.  Darrell booked us for a few days at the beach to appreciate Thanksgiving through a new set of lenses (just as a couple, no turkey on the menu).  We are in San Clemente for a few days, thankful. Above you see today's sky drama begin.  Below we show it unfolding.  It was an important lesson for us to relearn today:  If we want to be thankful, hold still.  Look up.  Let's end the sky drama with... ...a bent, as in the UCLA bent, click  here ). Look back, Team D, and look up. Much love.

Brain cancer is... ...at Islands. Finally. Today we had our third straight day in a row of super productivity.  Then we checked the clock:  6:23 p.m.  Wait!  What? The sun set? We didn't walk? We didn't take a single picture of the day? Our panic led us straight to yesterday's post, which showed the back of Islands, from a distance.  We followed the road to the front of Islands.  All's well that ends well. Happy Tuesday, Friends and Family!

Brain cancer is... ...back at the park. Today we knocked off work early enough to make it back to Craig Park for the first time in a couple weeks.  Not much had changed since we were there last.  Rats.  Thus, we made it our goal to find some newish views in our familiar park. No bird pics. You're welcome. Darrell's choice:  Check out the background.  All roads lead to... ...Islands.  But we turned left and kept on walking. We hope your Monday presented some newish views too, Team D.

Brain cancer is... ...home.  Definitely. Here are three pieces of evidence to convince us that we are home for certain. 1.  If we are eating fewer than 300 calories and making to-do lists at the breakfast table (above), we're home. 2.  If the sun sets while Andi is working at the computer, preventing a park walk, we're home. 3.  If, during our nighttime neighborhood walk, we spot the advance party dingle balls... ...we are home.  Definitely.

Brain cancer is...  ...home? We are certainly back to our Fullerton house, after a smooth day of travel.  We're just not sure that we're "home."  Here's why: We seem to be spending lots of time in black Suburbans lately. The one above picked us up at the French Quarter Sheraton this morning.  Black Suburbans certainly feel like home. New Orleans felt enough like home that I wanted to turn right and check out the Causeway   instead of continuing west to the airport this morning (screenshot of my Maps app, above).  As we locals all know, the Lake Ponchatrain Causeway is--at almost 24 miles--the world's longest bridge over water. One final reason that we put a question mark after "home" in today's post is that Darrell was playing it a little loose with his job as navigation engineer on the flight west tonight, as shown in this video: YouTube link   Fingers crossed that all y'all are home safe tonight!