The "O" Word
Conservative by Nature, Christian by Choice
Wait!  Where's the pictures?  They're supposed to be right here!  I swear, you can't find decent help these days...

Wednesday Bonus

June 18th, 2008 . by Cary

Well, since it’s rare that I get to post on Wednesday, I’m going to take advantage of the access to the computer.

I wanted to let you know that I’ve made another excellent addition to my blogroll: EvolutionRight, written by SoCalOilMan. The funny thing is, he sounds like I do. He also like Bill Whittle over at Eject! Eject! Eject!, so he’s all right in my book. SoCalOilMan showed up over on Texas Fred’s in one of the comment forums.

I won’t be on the computer tomorrow, since TMBWitW will be working from home tomorrow instead of today.

Whoops – scratch that. TMBWitW just called with the news that due to the ineffective use of time demonstrated by the corporate auditors, she gets to stay in the office instead.

Looks like I may have the computer tomorrow after all …

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Yes, I Went to the Doctor

June 12th, 2008 . by Cary

But first, let me catch you up, since I know you all are dying to know what I’ve been up to since I last posted.

Actually, I need to start back a bit, like Monday night. I was supposed to put the small box dolly in the trunk of the car for TMBWitW. In between Rodolfo and other projects on line and off, making sure TMBWitW’s ice pack didn’t freeze her or stay on her too long as she slept, and Logan not quite sure whether he wanted in, out, or to just move from room to room, I managed to forget. I lost big time husband points there. (TMBWitW uses an ice pack on her back since the accident; it keep some of the inflammation to a minimum).

So – this deficiency was not discovered until Tuesday morning, when she got to work and expected to grab the dolly out of the trunk to take up to her desk, so she could load files at the end of the day for working at home on Wednesday.

Phone call – my phone rings:
“This is Cary.”

TMBWitW: “Hi honey. Guess what wasn’t in the trunk today?”

“That leaves it pretty wide open, but I imagine you were looking for the dolly that’s in the garage.”

“Uh-huh. So, guess what you get to do?”

I got to drive downtown and pick up her and the box of files, leaving the SUV in the parking garage. No problem, since I don’t do a lot of driving anyway.

Wednesday passed, with her working from home; I did manage to check my e-mail after she went to bed.

Today I went to the doctor. Helpful hint – if you don’t like long waits in the doctor’s office, see about getting one of the earliest appointments possible. There hasn’t been any delays yet, and you’ll be in and out in a timely manner. My appointment was at 0800. I saw the doctor at 0805, we had a nice chat, yadda yadda yadda, I was out the door by 0830.

I know what you’re thinking – “Cary, don’t yadda yadda yadda the visit – we want DETAILS!”

OK. We discussed the migraines that hit me two Mondays ago, and the one from Sunday. We reviewed my meals prior to the attacks, and sleep patterns; he asked about work-related stress, I asked him “What stress? I haven’t had a wood order in months!” and we both chuckled, then he asked “Isn’t that kind of stressful, not having orders?” Well, yes, but I have a 17 month old to keep me happy and well adjusted. He couldn’t tell if there was a pattern, or any specific triggers, I couldn’t help him with that either, since I know what to look out for and I have been eating less, but not not eating, which could be a trigger; I’ve been getting my usual four and a half to six hours of sleep every night (not straight through – dogs, especially Logan, make that hard to happen), and I’ve been engaging in moderate levels of exercise. In the end, he gave me some samples for migraine meds (one, Frova (frovatriptan succinate), I’ve had before, and it works OK if you take it early enough in the process; the other is new to me, Axert (almotriptan malate), and I’ll be carrying two tabs in my pocket just in case).

To seal the deal (and this is the best part) he prayed for my healing. Yes, my doctor is a Christian. He had prayed for TMBWitW to have a healthy pregnancy before she was pregnant, and she conceived shortly after; with a track record like that you don’t turn down this man’s offer for a healing prayer. So – after all is said and done, with the grace of God I will not have any more migraines, there is medicine in my pocket if one does break through; my faith will be the barrier to any more incidents. After a month, if there are no more frequent attacks, then fine; otherwise more stringent tracking and recording will be needed. If, in fact, there is a physical reason for the migraines, it will be outed over the next few months. No neurologist yet, but if it’s necessary, then one will be consulted.

TMBWitW thinks I should have gone to one now. She also mumbled something about “stubborn”, “old”, and “Marine” but that could have been my imagination.

Thank you to everyone who has been worrying about me since I mentioned the first migraine, and thank you for the prayers and support leading up to the appointment. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer, and with your prayers backing me up I have faith that I’ve seen the last of the migraines.

I know what you’re thinking now – “Cary, how do you find time to squeeze all this in?”

I don’t know. I just do. I also try to keep up with the growing piles of fur in every corner (five dogs and five cats generate a lot of loose fur), keep a seventeen month old entertained, stay on top of the laundry (most days), post here, have a talk show on Friday mornings, play TradeWars to keep my mind sharp (oo – that reminds me. i found another trader last night, he was almost as good-aligned as i was – took him out, stole his planet from him, and in the process became one bad dude – i am now an evil trader, and i had to park my imperial starship – only goody-two-shoes traders can fly those. on the upside, i can now trade at a port, and turn around and steal everything back. i’m so evil.)

How is your Thursday going?

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Monday Update

June 9th, 2008 . by Cary

So, how was your weekend?

My Saturday post (just below this one) was written Friday afternoon, and set up for publication by way of the delayed posting ability in WordPress. Pretty cool feature. Almost worth paying hosting fees right there…

Speaking of hosting fees, don’t send any to StartLogic. They don’t seem to think that their users can and would be an accurate early warning system for impending failures. I can’t be nearly as eloquent as Texas Fred on this subject, so I will direct you to a post of his that really covers it.

I am really, really regretting going with them – even though it was on the word of a trusted adviser – since not just this site is on StartLogic, but also the site for the non-profit Black Canyon Railroad Corporation, of which I am a member and the webmaster. Down time can only hurt exposure, not help it.

Saturday the seventh was my Mother’s 80th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom.

Yesterday (Sunday the eighth), I had another migraine. This one hit hard and fast – right when I sat down after praise and worship, communion, and the offering (being in leadership, I was involved in all three). I tried to hide it, and just Marine my way through the service – but TMBWitW figured out real quick that I wasn’t praying silently but nearly writhing in pain with my eyes closed. She insisted we go home immediately. I took a migraine pill and went into hibernation mode – door closed, pillow over the head blocking sound and light – and slept for about six and a half hours. Woke up a bit groggy, but able to function.

For some reason, TMBWitW thinks that two migraines inside a week is cause for alarm, and that I should see the doctor about it. With a persuasive argument like that, I couldn’t help but be on the phone with the doctor’s office as soon as they were supposed to open. (0900) At 0915, they still hadn’t taken the answering machine off of weekend mode, so I left a message on the appointment line. Oh well. We’ll see where this goes.

OK – if you are eating anything while surfing this entry, you may want to either check out some blogroll activity, or go over to comics.com for a minute.

If you are still reading, then I am going to assume that you have a stomach that can handle what I’m about to write.

As my four or five regular readers know, I have five dogs. Lately, the weather has been warming up to the point where being outside after, say, 0730 is just uncomfortable. Not unbearably hot, but enough to make yard work unappealing. I haven’t been getting up and going outside early enough to get any yard work done before 0730 for about a month.

So – doing the math, my normal 1/2 – 3/4 bucket’s worth of yard apples has been building up a bit. Today I picked up four buckets, some of it still fresh, and I have more to go – but the rest will have to wait until tomorrow morning. I’m not going to deal with that stuff in the heat and direct sunlight if I can help it. The pick-up pattern is to stay just inside the shadow of the house as the sun rises, so you gotta move fast if you want to be efficient and stay out of the sun.

I’ve been hoping that the constantly rising price of gasoline would finally silence the liberals who say that we are in the middle east to steal the oil over there – but it doesn’t seem to be so. They are still claiming we are trading blood for oil – are they not seeing the prices going up, or are they still the clueless individuals they always were?

Never mind, rhetorical question.

Well, MEG is awake. The first thing she wanted to do was watch the “wawas”. Now she is watching Lilo and Stitch, and eating her morning waffle. I’m going to wrap this up now and start going about my business.

Ya’ll have a good Monday (if that is possible) and I will keep you posted on the migraine thing, OK?

Update:

I have an appointment for 0800 Thursday morning. Yes, Loon, I will be a good Marine and actually go to the appointment. 🙂

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Thursday MishMash

June 5th, 2008 . by Cary

I don’t know where to start.

Yesterday afternoon (as TMBWitW was working from home, right before a Very Important Conference Call/Online Meeting) the connection was lost to the Internet. Where’s Al Gore when you need him? Several hours and many, many reboots and conversations with Cox later, and we are back online.

What a time frame to not have access – Shrillary basically hands the DemocRAT nomination to the Obamanation and then begs for the Veep slot. (I don’t know about BHO, but I would be remembering Vincent Foster when considering any dealings with Her Royal Pantsuit)

Ann Coulter has a lovely little piece on the whole affair, with some commentary about hypocrisy, in her weekly article.

I’ve added a link to my blogroll – her name is Samantha West, and she stores her thoughts here. She is very pro-military. I like her already.

I have three cats that need to find a new home – they are picking on the older two, and TMBWitW is not going to put up with that for much longer. Adopting them out is going to be much more humane than putting them on the street.

Speaking of pets – Logan is not doing real well. I introduced you to him here and for comparison purposes, here’s a recent photo:

Logan under the tree

Well, his polyneuropathy is starting to affect his bladder control. He has left a couple of puddles this week, and last week there was a bit of a BM issue by the back door. (when I went to help him stand up, it happened. I think he already needed to go, and my lifting him kind of added to the pressure.) We were told he would live between three and five years, and he just turned three. We might be losing him sooner than later. I am not looking forward to this stage of his life with us.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Weird Monday

June 3rd, 2008 . by Cary

I know, it’s Tuesday. I had a weird Monday, is all.

And, being the lucky person you are, I’ve selected YOU to be the one who gets to hear about it!

It all started about the normal time – no, wait. Monday started Sunday afternoon, when, for no apparent reason, the left front tooth in TMBWitW‘s mouth chipped. Not a big chip, but enough that there was a rough little line at the bottom of the tooth. TMBWitW, being the tooth-conscious gal that she is, was very concerned.

Bright and early Monday morning, the dentist was called. Actually, the receptionist was called. She could be worked in at 1015, and it would be the other dentist, not her regular one. Meanwhile, a certain blogger husband of hers woke up with a dull pounding in the back of his head. TMBWitW started working on the computer, getting done what she could without going into the office. For whatever reason, MEG slept until 0900. Blogging husband, not sure what was going on with his head, decided to take two Tylenol and sit quietly so as not to bother his head. He thought to himself, “This is why I quit drinking; why go through all that expense and sloppiness when I can get the hangover headache without even trying?” He took two Tylenol and sat at the breakfast table, reading the morning paper.

Once MEG woke up and had breakfast, she was quickly dressed and the entire crew was off. Not sure if numbing methods were going to be used, TMBWitW requested a back-up driver, just in case. Not sure if he would live until the end of the driveway, the husband took two Tylenol and said “Sure!” with a cheery grin. Relieved that TMBWitW wanted to drive, the husband sat in the back seat and gave the appearance of entertaining MEG while secretly wishing he had taken the entire bottle of Tylenol with him, as a snack for the road.

At the dentist’s office, it was determined that it would not take very long at all; in fact, by the time MEG had walked her father from one end of the compound to the other, climbed and descended two sets of stairs, discovered a pigeon nesting on a landing, played in three of the eight fountains in the courtyard and determined that there was a fountain under repair, TMBWitW was finished and waiting for the return of her support crew.

No numbing methods were used, as it was only an edge fill.

It was decided that lunch was in order, so TMBWitW headed home. (quick side note here – TMBWitW, pre-baby, had an unerring sense of direction. now that she is a mommy, she needs maps and directions to anywhere that is not work or a mall. the trips to and from the dentist office were amusing – or at least, I would assume they were amusing – due to the fact that the person giving directions had a forty five piece drum corps playing in his head during the entire ride and directions were monosyllabic at best.) Once there, a quick lunch was generated, TMBWitW went back in the office, and once MEG had finished her repast she was laid down for a nap. At that time the husband decided it would be a good time for a nap, also, so he took two Tylenol and laid, gently, on his side with a pillow covering one ear and blocking most of the light.

There was a huge ruckus, and the husband was jolted awake almost as soon as he had laid his head down, or about two hours later. TMBWitW needed to go to her chiropractor visit, and would be taking MEG with her, would the husband like to take a migraine pill? No, no – too late for that. He’ll settle for a couple of Tylenol and maybe a bit more of a nap before the HOA board meeting that evening.

Pizza was ordered for dinner, and consumed. The husband operated in a slight fog, and decided to forego the meeting; what use would he be if all he could say was “Turn off the light, it’s too bright”?

Husband decided that in order to sleep off the nagging wisps of migraine still clinging to his skull fragments, he would need to take a small sleeping pill. Sleeping aid acquired, he promptly lay down at 2030 and discovered that his mind was now wide awake and not nearly as pained as it was earlier in the day. Instead of tossing and turning fitfully, he decided to do something constructive that would make his mind shut down so he could sleep.

Ninety three expert games of Minesweeper later, he decided that wasn’t going to work, and maybe laying down would be OK after all. Going back to bed at 0245, he promptly fell asleep. At 0635, he awoke with a start, thinking that TMBWitW had left without a word, taking the baby and the dogs, leaving him to fend for himself with the cats.

I hate migraines that sneak up on you. I hate drugs that affect you in ways they aren’t designed to. I love Tylenol because my body know what to do with it. I need someone to research me and figure out why my threshold for pain and drugs is so weird.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

« Previous Entries Next Entries »