If you liked Office Space, get this.

Personally, I’d rather buy locally that get stuff from all over.

It looks like I’ve got chronic GVHD. This sucks. I’m going to be on some IV meds later. I’m in a lot of pain from massive swelling. I’m not exactly a happy camper.

But what’s worse is how limited my life suddenly feels. Where can I go? What can I do? I already have enough issues with my body. I was looking at this opportunity with the Army War College, but they changed the requirements and lifting 45 pounds of weight is not something my back can easily tolerate.

I’ve got so much to do, but how much of what I want to do is being ripped out of my life?

Aside from his role as a commentator, debate moderator, and so on, his role in Meet the Press was phenomenal. His keenness and his great questions made watching the show on Sunday morning an institution. It was one of the shows I missed while living in Europe.

As such an instituation of what I grew up with, Sunday mornings with coffee and donuts watching Tim Russert do his thing was a ritual of being at home for me. Renée has had to endure all too often my complaints on Sunday morning of not having donuts.

Tim Russert made politicians work hard with their answers. He made politics real enough for the average person to grasp. Within the fantasyland of the D.C. Beltway, Tim Russert was a grounded, real person. The hole left behind will take a lot of time and a lot of talent to fill.

Right now, I’m fighting through quite a bit of pain. Over the past few weeks my joints have swelled up and now I’m dealing with pain in my hands, wrists, forearms, calves, and ankles. It hurts a lot. We’re not entirely sure what the problem is, though I felt better while in Charleston, SC, so we’re figuring it may well be environmental.

For my mother, well, she had similar symptoms, and they went away upon moving to South Dakota. The suspect culprit was emissions from a paper plant. Unfortunately for me, I’m surrounded by paper plants.

So, why is this showing up now? I’m off the prednisone, that happy corticosteroid that basically made any allergic-type symptoms not show up. So now, with a new immune system, I get all kinds of fun. We’ll see over the next few weeks as I go to various locations on vacations if I feel better away or not. If so, the problem is definitely environmental. Then it will be a matter of making sure I can cope with all of the pain or not. There are some possibilities. I would like to stay put until May next year, but if I can’t, well, so be it.