Life Experiences & Observations

April 24, 2014

Medical Roller Coaster

I wish I could say I was a new rider on the medical roller coaster but I am a seasoned veteran. It’s kind of par for the course when you have a special needs child, two parents growing older in which one has heart disease and diabetes, a father-in-law with Parkinson’s, a dead friend from HIV, various co-workers get thrown out of the seats of life, and myself in multiple car accidents. Of course there is always too many funerals to count due to close relatives passing away. Their amusement tickets have clearly expired. When you think through medical incidents in your life you may start to get depressed. But there are two things that I have begun to realize:

These unfortunate incidents happen to everyone and are just twists and turns in the coaster ride.
You can’t truly appreciate the good without some of the bad.

Sure there are always going to be people that have it better than me but there will also always be people that have it worse. With just over 7 Billion people on earth you have a much better chance of winning the lottery twice than being the person that has it the absolute best or the absolute worst.

What has me thinking about this today is two events. My youngest daughter having an MRI today to finalize whether or not she will need growth hormone injections due to a deficiency and my Dad having colon surgery tomorrow. Both instances would probably freak most out big time but my oldest daughter has already been taking growth hormone for years and my Dad already survived triple bi-pass surgery years since past. Welcome to the silver lining that turns to gold.

You have to appreciate what you have. Being 42, my life could very well be close to half over. You have to appreciate the upswings of the ride or the downswings will dribble your life away with you not even noticing. Welcome to my pick you up post. What do you mean it’s not working? Thanks for being my unknown therapist and reading through my blog today. You will probably be the one view in my blog stats that I check later this week. One is better than none. Yes, I still stick to optimism like duck tape sticks to scorpions. Never mind, that analogy is just for us desert dwellers.

2 Comments

April 23, 2014

Burnt Beets

I bought beets over the weekend in hopes of using them in my Nutribullet to makes Smoothies. They ended up overpowering whatever additional ingredients I decided to put in. Because of this, I ended up not utilizing them in smoothies going forward. I did, however, still have a large number of unused beets. In previous conversations with some friends of mine, I had been told that roasting is the best way to cook and eat beets. So off I went to the internet to pull up a beet roasting recipe.

Most of the recipes were similar so I just dove right in and started preparing my beets for roasting. Preheat the oven to 425, dribble olive oil on the beets, add salt and pepper for seasoning, and walla. After 40 minutes of cooking they should be done. The fork test is the key. If the fork softly goes into the cooked beats then they are done. Well after just short of 40 minutes I checked them and they fork still had difficulty penetrating the cooked beets. So I decided they need longer to roast. Back into the oven the beets go and I do a quick check on Facebook to see what the social world and my friends that are in it are up to. 20 minutes later my daughter says to me, “Dad, you should check on the beets.” Damn, that’s right I have beets in the oven. Or I should say I had beets in the oven. Nice beautiful purple beets has turned into shriveled up lumps of coal. Regardless, I decided to try them since I has already put in all this effort. So what did they taste like you ask? Burnt beets and pretty much inedible. And the moral of the story is, don’t check Facebook when you have something cooking in the oven.

2 Comments

April 22, 2014

Freaky Coincidence Time

As I have blogged about before, I have been reading the dictionary two pages a day for just over two years. I have definitely not been doing it consistently since I would have been done long ago if I had. Well I happen to be on page 443 this evening and what word do I come upon at the conclusion of Passover? Matzo. If you are good at math then please comment as I am interested to know the chance of this occurring mathematically. The mathematical details are as follows:

1. Passover occurs once a year for 8 days.
2. The dictionary I am reading happens to be 852 pages long
3. There is 1 page with the word Matzo.

This is your chance to wow me with your math skills. Calculate away and leave your answer even if you only have an inkling of what it is. And don’t ask me for the answer or to validate your answer since I have no idea. I leave it to my readers to do the truly difficult tasks. Have Fun!

Leave a comment

April 21, 2014

All News is Bad News

Despite the title of this blog post I don’t really believe it. Unfortunately mainstream media does. They get paid to sensationalize our world. Shock value sells. I wish I could say it is all the media’s fault but watching the rubber necking that occurs while driving past an accident scene I know we as a society are being delivered the evil stew we want. Also not all news is bad, you just have to dig deep into that newspaper haystack to find the shinning jewel of a needle. If you want to find only the good stories in your local newspaper, I suggest reading it backwards. That is correct as all the warm fuzzy stories are in the back. If you are saying what is a newspaper, you are letting the digital age blind you to some of the great physicality of life. Call me old fashioned but I love the smell of a fresh newspaper that gets black ink on your hands, and takes a PhD in origami to put it back together.

Enough with the sidetracking, now back to the point. The point is, we need more positive news in our society. The outlets are there but they are just not getting the recognition they deserve. I am encouraging everyone to spread the word. Two of my favorite good news sources are the Good News Network and Daily Good. Both serve up a hefty and filling warm fuzzy dinner. So share my blog or better yet, share the sites. They need the press more than I do.

Leave a comment

April 20, 2014

The Sunday Night Grasp for Time

Almost all Sunday nights I try to grasp onto that little last bit of time. The time before I have to go to bed so I can get up Monday morning for another week of work. I imagine that most folks who don’t have their dream job go through similar rituals. It’s not like I am just staring at the clock watching the minutes wind down before bed time. I do, however, regularly check the time to see how much longer my weekend will be stretched.

Do you realize there are some individuals that love their jobs so much they look forward to Mondays? Warren Buffett is a great example. There is a reason a book about him was written titled “Tap Dancing to Work.” I long for the day in which I can feel the same way. Most people would say, “of course he loves his job, he has full control and is one of the richest men on earth.” Just think about it though; how many of you would still be going to your job if you had a few billion in the bank. And if you know much about Warren Buffett you will know that he made plenty of millions very early on in his career and easily could have retired at the age of 30. He didn’t though. He loved his job that much already.

So here I am, typing away and trying my best to slam on the clock breaks. Time, as always, is the most precious commodity each and every one of us has. Every day that commodity gets drained a smidgen more. The worst part about our time is, we truly don’t understand how much we have left before the time well runs dry. It’s unknown exactly like our death is unknown. If I am trying to depress myself it is definitely working. It’s time to be done so I can savor the last sweet morsels of this Sunday night’s time.

Leave a comment

April 19, 2014

Just Bieber Lives to See Another Day in the US

I have to admit that one of the funniest stories I have heard all year is the petition put together to get Justin Bieber deported from the United States. While it made me laugh out loud, what surprised me the most is that over 100,000 people signed the petition. I don’t like Justin by any stretch of the imagination but a petition to deport him is ludicrous. And think about the wasted hours that can’t be recovered for everyone filling out the petition. Sure I know that online petitions are easy to fill out but if each of the 100,000 people spent just 3 minutes filing out the petition, than 300,000 minutes were spent on something that they new would have no impact on anything. If you want to break it down into wasted hours, 300,000 divided by 60 is 5,000. You heard it right, 5,000 hours were spent signing a petition to remove Mr. Bieber from the country for nothing more than being an extremely popular, very annoying, spoiled little super star. So how about days?? 5,000 hours divided by 24 equals out to approximately 208 days. 208 days without sleep I might add. The numbers provided were only based on the 100,000 minimum signatures required for a response. The actual petition to date has 273,968 signatures. I will let you do the math on that one.

The main reason the petition was started is because the creators knew that any deportation petition acquiring 100,000 or more signatures requires a response from the US Government. Here is the even funnier part of the whole story. The US Government just stuck their tongues out at the signers and said nice try bozos. Ok, that is not exactly what they said. They basically said they would not comment and used the statement as a commercial to discuss our broken immigration system. So who won this whole battle? Justin Bieber and the US Government. Justin Bieber got more attention which will likely allow him to become more famous and more successful. Essentially free press. And the US Government got an opportunity to bring more attention to the immigration debate.

In the end, Justin Bieber gets to live another day in the US. While I won’t calculate the money spent based on the average per hour salary of a US Worker, I can tell you that those signers did pay a huge advertising bill for Justin Bieber and the USA.

Leave a comment

April 18, 2014

Yes, Another Poem

The April showers pitter patter on my brain
creating a short circuiting
electrical mess.
Hopefully cerebrum flowers are just May away.

The cyclical bullshit is getting older
than the worn down rubber wheels of a 57 Chevy.
Crush through the roadblock and unlock
the hidden gift city behind it.

I can taste the rewards of overcoming
a rocky road.
A sweet drop of honey
dancing on my tongue.

I won’t let the world hijack
and hold my dreams hostage.
My resolve is a societal militia,
destroying the ever present evil.

Leave a comment

April 17, 2014

NHL Postseason is Some of the Best

I have been consuming truck loads of playoff hockey the last two nights. While I love watching most sports, especially postseason, I probably enjoy watching the NHL Postseason as much as any. The level they escalate the game to and the amount of continuous action is unparalleled. The hitting is always fun too.

The other thing I enjoy is the refs’ ability to understand the impact of any penalties called and to try their best to just let them play. The refs do avoid the measly calls that are often made in the regular season. In just two nights I have seen three overtime games. One even going into triple overtime. With one goal handing in the balance to decide who wins the game after three periods of gut wrenching, exhaustion causing, no holds barred play.

Even if you don’t usually watch hockey I encourage you to try watching at least one NHL Playoff game. I have heard all the reasons why people don’t like watching hockey. From not being able to follow the puck, to not enough goals scored, to fighting being the only fun part to watch. Look closer and dig deeper. When it comes to playoff hockey, NHL Postseason is some of the best.

Leave a comment

April 16, 2014

The Amazing Microscopic World

Where I work they have a gravel path around the building. It’s nice to work for a company that cares enough about its employees physical health to build such a walking path. This morning while taking a short 15 minute break to walk, I came upon one of the few benches that are on the path. Walking closer I decided to sit down on one of them and just check the world of social media using my phone. I started to get sucked into, what I like to call, the social media vortex. Upon looking down at my phone I could see past it and caught a glimpse of a small stream of gravel moving. “Am I hallucinating?” I said to myself. That thought quickly faded when I realized I was seeing a stream of very small ants marching in line like a perfectly trained band. Believe it or not, I started staring and watching closer. Microscopic nature was actually slowly rescuing me from the vortex. Watching these ants for a few minutes brought some welcomed mindfulness to my morning. It’s amazing how quickly watching some microscopic bugs can relax you.

If you can get past the ick factor, which is pretty easy for me, you might be able to realize that ants are amazing. The distance they can go in very short period of time almost seems impossible. In my few minutes of watching I saw an ant probably go a few feet. If you think about it, its almost like me running 3 miles in a few minutes. It’s miraculous! Even more miraculous is that a few of the ants were carrying, with ease, little nature debris bigger than their heads. Most of us already learned long ago in school that ants do this but watching it closely really amazed me. I can’t remember the last time I had watched ants for that long. Usually we only watch for this long when we are trying to find the source in our kitchen so we can ultimately squash the ant band.

Next time you see a line of marching ants, take a few moments to watch them closely. You may be amazed at the feats they can accomplish along with the mindfulness and relaxation it brings to yourself.

Leave a comment

April 15, 2014

Half Way Home

Here I am half way through my April Blog-A-Thon. For those of you just joining for the first time, thanks for coming. I have been in a self imposed challenge to post one blog everyday for the month of April. And this being April 15th is my 15th blog, which puts me half way to the finish line. Thank God I already finished my taxes two weeks ago. I am beginning to understand what a marathon runner must feel in exhausting mile 13. While there is very little physical effort in writing everyday for 30 days, there is certainly a high amount of mental strain and necessary discipline to be successful. My feet are not running a marathon but my neurons are. Mental fatigue is certainly gaining traction and the need for synaptic Gatorade is setting in.

I am still also feeling the effects of writing everyday with very little proof that anybody is reading my posts. Sure there have been a few likes and followers here in there and I thank those who have done so. I still, however, feel trapped in the Pump Up the Volume movie. Its just too bad there is no Eat Me Beat Me Lady to make things just a tad more interesting. If you haven’t seen the movie, just pretend you didn’t read those last two lines despite how absurd they may seem. Or better yet, watch the movie and come back to the post to laugh along with us.

If I was smart, I would have mapped out exactly what I was going to write about everyday for 30 days prior to starting this challenge. That, however, is just too much planner for a procrastinator like me. Although I think my posts are better because they are more stream of consciousness writing rather than bland preplanned blubber. Yes I did just figure out a way to include the word “blubber” in my blog post even if it doesn’t fit there very well. What can I say, no glove ever fits perfectly. I always used to kind of dislike those YouTube videos where they encourage you to comment below but I am beginning to understand their constant directional verbiage. They are just trying to make sure they are not talking to the air. At this point, I have done enough pleading. Even if nobody comments, follows, or listens anymore I will at least be a better writer at the end of these 30 days.

So do I sound too much like James Altucher? If so, I take that as a compliment. And with that, I am half way there. Feet, uh I mean, mind don’t fail me now.

Leave a comment