Back at work

Today was my first day back to work after playing hookey last week. I had a very short day and made it fine.

No shortage of breath and had plenty of energy. I'm off tomorrow and then have a long day Wednesday. I'm well rested and we will see how I handle four long days in a row. I really feel great and think I was more nervous about my health than any major problem I was having.

May book review

"The Summons",
by John Grisham






Judge Atlee, a powerful and beloved judge from Clanton, Mississippi was on his death bed when he sent a typed "summons" to his two sons to appear before him to work out the details of his estate. The summons gave the date and time just as the judge has always tried to rule their lives.

Ray Atlee, the eldest son is a professor of law at the University of Virginia and Forrest was a drug addict. The judge appears to have died just before Jay arrives and Forrest shows up an hour later. In the mean time Ray has found 13 boxes of $100 bills (over 3 million dollars) and don't know how the "honest old judge" could have saved that that much money.

It was a quick read at under 400 pages and can't say it was up the "Grisham Standard" one has come to except but it was still worth reading.

All is well (almost anyway)

My angiogram showed I have one small vein with 90% blockage but they can't put a stint in it as it might compromise the two veins beside it that are free flowing.

One other is 30% to 40% blocked (they only stint if 70% or higher), so I will be on medicine to try to rectify the situation. All in all a very good report.

I will take the rest of the week off work as I am not suppose to lift anything over 10 lbs. for five days.

We have had a phone line based DLS for some time and for some reason our phone line stopped accepting phone calls over a year ago. No big deal as we always give our cell phone numbers for contact information. The problem was we were paying a phone line bill and a DSL bill.

This weekend we switched to an "air card" for our internet. We bought the USB port "air card" because it will work on our desk top computer and lap top. The "air card" will work anywhere we have AT&T cell phone coverage. The higher the number of "bars", the faster the internet connection.

The "air card" is a separate phone number and in no way has any bearing on our cell phone service. They just use the same cell towers. We are pleased with the speed of the internet connection and look forward to having internet with our laptop when we are traveling.

One added benefit is the $30 monthly savings. Mobile coverage and a small monthly saving, works for me.

$30, heck that will buy nearly 8 gallons of gas (if it didn't go up overnight).

Still Kicking!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted but I have been under the weather and have been resting on the couch instead of sitting at the computer.

I thought I had pneumonia because I was so short of breath, but after going to the doctor ( that shows how sick I have felt), my lungs were clear and I finally saw a cardiologist yesterday.

My family has a history of heart disease and I was a little apprehensive but my heart and valves checked out very strong. With my family history the doctor decided to forgo the stress test and is scheduling an angiogram.

As long as my engine is strong they can replace some hoses if need be. The angiogram is an outpatient procedure but if they find anything they want to correct it right then. That means when they put me under I will not know the outcome until I wake up.

On a lighter note, I sold Flintstone (my Fiero) this week. I had not driven it but once in over a year and decided it was time to get it out of my driveway. I enjoyed working on it more than driving it and don't regret the purchase or the sale.

April book review

"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck.

It has been decades since the last time I saw the movie "The Grapes of Wrath". A 1940 black and white movie starring Henry Honda. I had never read the book but as always the book is the better of the two (that is saying something since the movie was so great).

This is the most POWERFUL book I have ever read, period! Yes, sometimes the Pulitzer Prize committee gets it right. Partly because my family were the "Joads" only a few years later with only slightly improved conditions and partly by the magnificent way it is written.

Steinbeck's novel is based on articles he had written in San Francisco. The book is about "the Joad" family, one of many thousand (or hundreds of thousands) of Oklahoma "Okies" that were driven from their sharecropper homes because of the great depression and the dust bowl.

Just hard working "salt of the earth" people that just wanted to be able to feed their family at the end of the day.

If you think "money hunger companies" are some thing new, then you need to read this book. How about the whole family picking oranges all day and just making enough money to feed the family one meal.

Not only is it a novel but a great history lesson as well. While fictionalized, it is based on the facts of the era.

If you only read one book this year, PLEASE read this one.

Doing what has to be done

Yesterday I spotted this rig.












This rig is an accident waiting to happen. Besides having a trailer to heavy for the mini-van, the mini-van is front wheel drive, and this rig was being pulled by an old lady (looked to be 80) that could barely walk. She was trying to keep the safety chains from dragging when I first spotted her.

I didn't get to see plates on the mini-van, so I have no idea how far she had already traveled but she entered I-30 heading west. The hitch was near the ground just sitting still. It has to hit the ground when bouncing down the interstate.

We all "do what we have to do", but I hope the u-haul people at least informed her that this would be very unsafe.

Hopefully she makes it without incident.

Reluctant Patriarch

I am the youngest of my family of 7 siblings. I had three brothers and three sisters (one died before I was born).

Today I sadly became the patriarch of my family as I lost my last remaining sibling yesterday. Vivian was 17 years old when I was born and had the same number of children as my mom (7 with one passing ).

Viv was a lot of help to mom and I after dad passed away and even though she lived 90 miles away, she came to see us on a regular basis and would often take us to her house for a week at a time. She would come pick us up and would pay for our bus trip home if she could not take us back.

Her children are just a little younger than I and we were more like brothers and sisters than uncle and nieces and nephew.

After my mom died and we didn't spend Christmas together, we drifted apart raising our own families but were always there for each other when needed .













This picture of her and family was taken after the funeral (in 1994) of her husband.

R.I.P., I love you sis.