Stephen's Place At Live

My brother lost Zeus this week. He passed away totally unexpected and before his time. He was and always will be the sweetest Rottweiler I have ever come across. He was Dave’s buddy and friend. May his special way always be remembered. Zeus passed away with Dave there, June 16th, 2009. We are all going to miss him greatly.

A Dog’s Eulogy

Gentlemen of the jury:

The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. A son or daughter he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those who we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors.

The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in moment off ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may the first to throw in the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolute, devoted friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that will never abandon him, the one that will never prove ungrateful is his dog.

Gentlemen of the jury, a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground where the wintery windows blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the wounds and sores that result from encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.

When all other friends desert he remains. When riches take wing and reputation falls to pieces he is as constant in his love as the sun in it’s journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless. the faithful dog ask no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against enemies.

And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in his embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all his friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will be the noble dog be found., his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in the alert watchfulness, faithful and true to death.

Author: Senator George Graham Vest of Missouri ©

For the most part it’s been a hum-drum week all in all. Basically, it’s consisted of car repair and several trips to the auto parts store and doctors appointments. Sure I’ve had worse weeks so I’m not complaining at all.

With the Cadillac I thought my side marker and plate lights were working when they weren’t. All but one side light needed to replace, easy fix. I HAD to fix the turn signal flasher that’s buried under the steering column and the OEM manual that we paid a lot of money for was worthless because in the diagrams they had the hazard flasher module and turn signal module transposed and I couldn’t figure out why when I replaced the turn signal flasher wasn’t working after replacing it. Trust me, you never what to drive a car that doesn’t have working turn signals. I hate it when someone doesn’t signal and I became one of those people, ARGH. So I contacted our mechanic, Fred, and he quickly diagnosed the problem, so I quickly ran the the auto parts store to get a new turn signal flasher. Presto, I had turn signals once again. It a was a lot of headaches for a $10.00 part. Silly me trusted the manual as fact when in reality, Fred said, “You can never trust these diagrams in the manuals”. That’s no shit. We still haven’t figured out the issue with the plate light, but will get it fixed soon as it’s a ticketable offense not to have working plate lights.

Yesterday morning I went to see my gastroenterologist at the new medical building here in Clarkston. I had seen him and talked with him and made it home by a little after 9:00AM EST and that was even after stopping by the pharmacy and getting a ton of my meds refilled. Can’t beat that with a stick! :)

I stayed home last night and listened to the storms move over head and it was kinda cool because we had the air going, still do infact and I just laid in bed and listened to the thunder and the hail and rain pummel the house outside. I don’t have anything major planned this weekend, today I am dragging ass and cannot get motivated but I did want to at least check in.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!!  :)

Alas, it’s the weekend and it’s Spring and everyone is out buying flowers and such to pretty up their homes. It’s always my favorite time of year with all the planting and the well manicured lawns.

Yesterday I set out to try and find some paint and some flowers for our place. Ken had went to Bordines on Friday and picked up the plants for our box garden. I have yet to weed, hoe and plant the plants, but it’s on my agenda to get done this weekend, most likely today once it warms up a bit outside. No luck so far on the paint. They only have limited retailers but I haven’t exhausted my search yet … I still have to try True Value hardware, WalMart and Meijer. I only need two gallons and have no ambition or money to repaint the entire deck because I can’t find the color and type of paint I need.

Below is a sample of the spidering geraniums that I picked up for the deck. I thought the color would look great with the gray house as it sorta “pops”. I don’t know the name of it but nevertheless it’s a geranium of some sort. Also I included a road view of the front of the house. It looks so much better with the flowers! Plus, the Cadillac is pictured and you should know I like showing off my baby. Still haven’t figured out when we are going to fix the turn signal. It’s one of two parts, I’m half tempted to replace both and just get it fixed so I don’t look like an idiot without any turn signals.

I hope everyone is having an excellent weekend. Wish me luck in finding the deck and porch paint I need, I could use it. :P

LATER:

Well it’s been a very productive day! I was able to get the box garden weeded and I planted marigolds and tomatoes. We have six tomato plants, I am hoping they all make it through the season. They are small plants and yes, it’s getting a little late to start planting things, but alas … the garden is done.

I also ran to the auto parts store and picked up a new turn signal flasher and some bulbs. I had no idea I had so many body lights out, I’m like … “What the f_ck…”. Every one I’ve installed is now working except one. I think the socket is shot so I have to stop at a junk yard for another one that way all the lights are working. I was pretty happy with myself getting so much completed! I suppose it wasn’t a typical Sunday but it was a beautiful day to get a couple things off my mind. :)

Have a GREAT week everyone. :)

All I can think to say this morning is “thank heaven it’s Friday”! It’s been a fudged up weeks as weeks go. But I know I am not alone in my feeling that things have been tough lately, not just for me but for many others as well. All I can do is hope and pray that your “stuff” gets resolved to some extent soon for your sake and your sanity. If you’ve had a great week, then please pass the joy around … there are a couple of us who need it. ::chuckle::

Last evening while I was updating the computers, I decided to go through my contacts and network people I had. In total I had somewhere around 400 members. So knowing that all those people don’t keep track or talk in messenger I deleted them, especially if I didn’t recognize the name or email address. If you were taken out by accident, PLEASE let me know and send me a request. It was NOT my intention to delete anyone who currently visits my blog, but soon I will be going private and didn’t want all these extra people in my contacts and profile when I don’t even chat with them … just didn’t make sense.

So I woke up at 6:00AM this morning and had some cereal, Lucky Charms to be exact and hopped into my robe and got on the computer to play more catch up. I have a couple things to get down today, namely weed the box garden in case we plant anything this year. I have plenty of micro-projects I could be doing but I sorta just feel like kicking back today.

Until next time, Peace!  

Well once again another week has went by and I have to admit I’ve really missed my blogging friends this week. I haven’t been in the mood to surface myself for the past several days mainly do to the fact I ran out of one of my meds and the doctor that was supposed to fill the scripts didn’t show up to my appointment … the place was closed and locked up tight as a drum. It’s not a good idea to put people on meds and then poof and disappear. I don’t know what’s going on with her but it looks like I need to replace my psychiatrist. My primary doctor wrote for what I needed as of today, so I was saved there.

My personal/primary doctor is pointing me towards the nutrition route, sending me to some colleges in the new building he’s in. Bad part is that my insurance doesn’t cover for me to see a nutritionist under the diagnosis that I have, so I’ll end up having to pay for it. Then today, I get this letter from another one of my insurances that they are no longer paying for dental or vision among a few other things. Great day this has been. Ack!

I’m still having issues with the turn signal on the Cadillac, only works when it damn well pleases too. I have no idea what this is going to cost to fix but we don’t need it now. I’ve been on disability for a while and Ken is back on disability because of his knee. I will be more at ease when the checks start rolling in so I know when to pay what.

I SO WISH I would have taken the opportunity to have more of a holiday when we were in Charleston, SC. I am really needing a holiday right about now. Good news is I found some retailers that carry the brand of paint that I painted the deck last year as we are all but out and it really needs to be painted again. Just another project to get taken care of.

We had a small get together last evening, there was myself, Ken, Tony, Wendy and Myrtle. We enjoyed some Kentucky Fried Chicken and a couple laughs, I really enjoyed their company.

I hope everyone has been doing okay while I’ve been hiding. Please don’t take it personal, it’s just hard to blog when your mind is going bizerk. I realize I shoot be posting more than once a week, everyone else does and they seem to be able to get other stuff done too. Sometimes I just don’t want to sit at the computer, most of this week has been like that. I certainly enjoy all the comments and those people who just drop by to say hello. :)

Until next time, Peace!

Well it’s been a bit since I posted a regular blog post and I thought I would catch everyone up on what’s been going on around here.

Last Friday, ABC News with Charles Gibson nominated their person of the week as the Class of 2009. In the snipets they broadcast was a quick sound byte of from MUSC, “Cheryl **** Peters”. I was in the chair and Ken was walking into the bedroom when they announced his sisters full name! Needless to say we were both shocked!!! Couldn’t have picked a better person among the others to be announced as persons of the week. Ken immediately called his sister and she didn’t see, damn … of all times not to be watching the news.

Ken went to the doctor and the doc immediately put him back on disability because his knee isn’t doing so hot. So he won’t return to work AT LEAST until July. Then he got a call from someone in his department that the Stand by status has changed in the factory he’s in and they are looking to have the plant closed in 60 days and have already started to ship out die’s. Not good. Everything remains a mystery, the only ones who actually know what’s going on is the upper management and GM. His future there is questionable at the very least.

A couple days ago my uncle Richard went into a diabetic coma – his sugar dropped to 20. Not good. At least there was someone there at the house the called 911 and they responded quickly. My uncle came too with five firemen and paramedics standing over him. He’s doing better now but his sugar needs to be monitored very closely.

I need to send a shout out to Sue Mac for her birthday!!! Happy Birthday Sue!!! Also, Ken’s mom had her birthday on the third and we went out to dinner and were all stuffed by the time we were done. So happy birthday to all you folks that I missed. :)

I was out running errands yesterday and my aunt called and talked to Ken to have him let me know that my cousins husband had passed away. It really wasn’t that unexpected, sad, but not a shock. He’s had problems for years with his heart and I’m sure he out-lived all the doctors predictions. I really feel for Janie, his wife.

I went to my primary doctor yesterday and we couldn’t get the ball rolling on finding out exactly what’s going on with my bone marrow because he didn’t have my chart. Great huh. He was less than thrilled to put it mildly. So we set up another appointment for next Thursday and we will discuss it then, hopefully I chart won’t be at the old building at that time. Cross your fingers.

With everything that has been going on, I have just been taking it one day at a time. That’s all any of us can do really. Don’t ya think.

Have a wonderful day!!!  :)

I finally made the time and took the red eye out of a LOT of photos that Ken and I took during our trip. I was going to sort them and then I decided that it would be too obsessive so I just lumped all our pictures into one album. The primary events were Mike & Jessie’s wedding and Cheryl’s honor society event and then her commencement from Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

Please take a moment to mull through the pictures.

PS – Some of the images are courtesy of Cheryl’s Facebook site. We took around a hundred photos altogether but I wanted to give credit where credit was do. :)

Enjoy!!! :)

Well I realize it’s been yet again several days since I posted an entry to my blog, for that I apologize. Among all the stuff I needed to do once we got home from Charleston there was a computer repair that I needed to do and let’s just say that it’s amazing what a sixteen year old can get infected on a computer in just less than three years. This computer was dared to be tossed out a second story window and Mom took the dare and hurled it out the window and watched it crash finally. Strangely enough, other than the case being all bent, the motherboard, CPU and graphics card all seemed good. Ken and Nick’s mom Pam got out some tools and went away fixing the poor case. The only thing that needed to be repaired was the power switch was broke. Surprising huh. Well, this time it was just infected by a lot of spyware and viruses. Now, the system is running great and with a different case than it had before – an extra we had laying around. Nick better be happy with his computer, Ken and I put a lot of our time into it.

Here’s a picture Ken thought he’d lost when they were trying to bend the case back together.

  “I’ll fix it!”

I should have more time online than previously and when we were in Charleston. The WiFi at the hotel was crappy at best and so I stayed off my laptop for the most part. I have a couple projects for this week so I will be busy but I will hopefully have time to catch up with everyone. This is Memorial Day weekend and I hope everyone understands the meaning of the holiday other than it being a day off.

I put this in an album but wanted to display it here too in honor of all the service men and women.

I wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day holiday! Freedom comes at a price, remember where it comes from. Please take a moment during the holiday to fly our American flag and observe a moment of silence for all those who have fallen in the name of the United States of America!

Well as most of you know we had a road trip to Charleston, South Carolina to make for Ken’s nephew’s wedding and to Ken’s sisters college graduation. The trip was all planned out until the transmission went out on the Yukon and so we rented a 2009 Buick Lucerne, black and very sleek. So Ken, myself and Tony, Ken’s son piled in and headed southeast. That was May 7th. We were there as expected for about ten days and it was a certainty that we would make it to the wedding and graduation. Ken’s grandmother and mother also went but they went by plane. Our trip went well, only coming across a few idiots on the road. The wedding between Mike and Jessie was held on Saturday and all went well, except I noticed that Ken and I weren’t in a lot of pictures. But then we weren’t taking too much either. Never let anyone tell you it’s easy to get around Charleston … it’s a madhouse compared to the traffic here in the Clarkston area. We got a suite at a local hotel for the week and did a lot of visiting and I stayed back at the room a couple times to allow Ken to have some time with his sister and Tony – both are rare so I wanted him to spend as much time as he could, especially with his sister and her family as we rarely see them due to the distance. From our place here to their door it’s 909 miles one way. The Buick was great on the road and I am glad we took that instead of the Cadillac because of the room in the back seat. With it being the three of us, not to mention our abundant luggage we needed something that would fit our needs better. I guess it’s better the transmission go out on the Yukon BEFORE our trip as opposed to somewhere between here and Charleston. Like I mentioned we left on the 7th and didn’t arrive until around 6:00am on the 8th. We got settled and then rested and then got to visiting.

The wedding was a little hard to find because the church didn’t look like a regular church might look. But with the aide of Cheryl, Ken’s sister we found her with a little help from the Garmin we brought with us. Ken took several pictures of the wedding ceremony and I took some at the reception. We forgot to get a picture of Ken and I at the reception, or wedding for that matter so as yet no one except who was there, no one else has seen me in my Perry Ellis suit we bought and had tailored at Men’s Wearhouse. Don’t worry, I will get a picture soon enough of me in the suit, I love that suit!

We also went to Charleston to attend Cheryl’s college graduation! She received her bachelor’s degree, with honors and Summa Cum Laude so indeed – we were VERY PROUD to attend a ceremony the day before for honors students, the following day, Saturday the 15th was the formal graduation ceremony. The guest speaker was Stephen Colbert from “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central. I usually don’t watch him because he’s sort of a twit but he did an excellent job with the commencement ceremony at the Medical University of South Carolina. Cheryl had front row seats so she had a great view of the stage. She has worked so hard on getting her degree, we couldn’t miss that!

We also saw Jon, Ken’s nephew (Mike’s brother and Cheryl and Kevin’s youngest). Boy he’s the same age as my niece and man have they grown up fast. Then just this past Saturday we left for the road trip back home and it only took us 14.5 hours to get home. We ran into some VERY dangerous weather that day and got home Sunday morning about 2:45am. We threw everything from the car into the living room, relaxed and quickly went to bed to get rest. On the way home I had to entertain Ken while he drove because he was slowly pooping out and being an alpha male that he is – he was driving. The car was easy for the most part on all of us, we just wanted out of it ASAP because although it is a nice car, we were over it. It took 16 hours to get to Charleston and 14,5 to get back. Needless to say, we made less stops on the way home. Now, I’m just trying to catch up on things. I brought my laptop but the WiFi signal from the hotel had a lot to be desired and so I didn’t blog while we were gone. I’m really glad we made the trip, it was good to see everyone and spend time with Ken’s sister and her family.

Below are some pictures from the road trip. :)

I missed you all while we were away, I hope everyone is doing well and please bare with me as I catch up with all my messages and emails I have stacked to reply. :)

Oh my, so much has been going on in our life that I’ve had little time to post let alone browse my buddies and friends blogs. For that I am so very sorry. It was like when I got done with the doctors and all their testing all I wanted to do is not talk about it and decompress. I’ve had a couple computers to work in the process as well and plan for a trip to South Carolina, Charleston to be exact and arrange for friends to stay here at the house while we are away on family stuff. Ken’s nephew is getting married and his sister is graduating from college, she will finally have her bachelors that she has worked SO DAMN hard for. We are proud for the happy couple and for Cheryl. So we have been doing a lot of preplanning for the trip trying to get everything ready so all we have to do is load up the Yukon and hit the road. I have decided to let my primary doctor run the blood work and testing for my conditions instead of every Tom, Dick and Harry they want me too. I’m sick of running from one doctor to another doing this or that.

While I was away, I checked my email and that was about it. One system I worked on is the most advanced yet I had crossed my path so it had a few quirks and issues and it took several days to figure it out. By the time it took to get my daily stuff done I was too mentally exhausted to even turn on my computer to check my blog or get on Facebook. I haven’t abandon everyone, especially those who commented on my blog and sent personal messages, of which I am still behind so please bare with me.

Today, I need to hit the stores and find some black dress shoes to go with a killer suit Ken bought me at the Men’s Wearhouse in Auburn Hills. It’s a Perry Ellis and it’s gorgeous!!! All three of us are going to be dressed to the nines and loving it. Ken already had a couple suits to choose from but I didn’t have one, just a couple sport coats so I needed a suit. I am still tanning of course and I think while we are gone I will go through “tanorexia” withdrawl or something similar. I still need to get another trip route printed and Ken’s been hunting down a couple places for us to stay while in Charleston.

We leave in a couple days so it should prove interesting, I still need to get a few things to the dry cleaner on Monday. Man on man what a schedule we have been keeping.

Warm hugs to all my friends and thanks SO MUCH for being there!!! :)

Last evening, Ken, Tony (Ken’s son) and myself were guests of Joe and Kim at Extreme Cage Fight War at the Palace of Auburn Hills. You can see more about the fights at Donofrio Entertainment. We had main floor seats thanks to our hosts and it proved to be a very exciting evening for all us MMA (mixed martial arts) fans. We were seated about half way up the runway where the cage warriors use to enter the octagon. We had a great position on the main floor but the seats we were had were hard on my rear end because I’m so thin the chair just dug into my bum. I saw Kim and Joe mingling in the crowds but they didn’t come into our section and I didn’t want to scream their names to get their attention. A MMA legend, Ken Shamrock was there signing autographs and getting pictures taken. We forgot our camera, so Ken had to take the picture below with his cell phone. Next time the camera goes with us.

The fights were well matched and everything seemed to go of as planned. It was a rowdy crowd but I wouldn’t expect anything less for a series of mixed martial arts. I even got a signed t-shirt from Ken Shamrock and so did Ken and Tony. We really had a good time! Great job Joe!

First I would like to say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH to the people who commented on my last post. As many of you know I usually respond to comments, if for no other reason to let you know I do read them. I haven’t been online much the past week, been busy with things that keep me off the computer and away from anything that would remind me of what I might hear come yesterday.

It’s not cancer thankfully. However, my bone marrow is irregular/abnormal but he doesn’t know why. The doctor is a well known hematologist and oncologist. He had two pathologists go over my bone marrow sample and both agreed it’s abnormal but for what reason, they are unable to figure out why it’s abnormal. So in the meantime, I dealing with a compromised immune system and I have to be careful not to pick up any countless germs that I might come into contact with. I had hoped for answers, but got only that it’s not cancer. He feels the neuropathy is related to what is going on, but I still have that and the hypogammagoblinlunemia. *try to say that fast three times* So where do I go from here? I really don’t know. I am going to discuss this entire matter with my personal physician and see what he thinks we should do.

I really appreciate all the love, friendship and support I have got from so many. I am not alone as I felt, especially when reading all the emails and comments.

My deepest thanks to you all!!!  :)

I want to take a moment to thank all my friends both online and off for your support and kindness during this troubling time I have been going through. It really has helped me to remain centered and keep a clear head when I am being shipped from specialist to specialist and test after test. Ken has been a good listener too, as well as Leon. :)

Yesterday Sarai and Drew drove me to downtown Rochester for my bone marrow biopsy. I was warned that it would be painful by more than a few people and I felt better knowing that than not. I was in angst about the pain that’s involved when drilling into someone’s pelvic done and drawing out marrow. I didn’t curse at the doctor because he was doing as best he could and I could tell that. I did however give out a couple good “yelps” during the procedure, the worst amount of pain was when he extracted the sample and rod from my pelvic bone. It hurt worse than a kidney stone, of which Ken and myself have had problems with in the past. At least that part is over and I am scheduled to see the doctor next Thursday for all my results. Leon said he would go with me because Ken will be at work and I just feel the need to have someone who cares there with me when I get my results. I’m not so afraid of getting a cancer diagnosis as I am not getting any answers at all. I much rather KNOW what I am dealing with than still have no answers. So I’m not stressing too bad about the day I get the results because I already know there is something screwed up in my immune system, it’s just the matter of what the hell is it. I think you can understand that, or at least I hope you can.

Upon returning home yesterday, I wasn’t in the door ten minutes and the US mail carrier was at the door so I could sign for a air mail package from Australia. What a pleasant surprise that was, it really made my day!!! I consider myself very lucky to have so many caring people rooting for me! Today I am pretty sore but it’s nothing Vicodin or Loratab can’t handle. All I heard from the doctor once he pulled the marrow out was, “Very good specimen”, he said that three times. He was starting to sound like a mad scientist or something. All it meant to me was that he didn’t have to drill into me a second time!

Damn if I am not one lucky guy having so many great people by my side! I am truly blessed!!! :)

I hope everyone has a good Easter if I don’t chat with you between now and Sunday.

It’s been a while since I last posted. Sorry about the interruption. I am just trying to stay normal as best I can. The news from the neurologist is the polyneuropathy, After more blood and a couple doctors there, I also have hypogammagobulinemina (is a type of immune disorder charecterized by a reduction all all types of gamma goblins) … so you can imagine I'm thinking all sorts of things. It’s not HIV, that was non-reactive meaning no. The hematologist/oncologist thinks it’s all probably related to a larger cause. The hypo gamma stuff appears secondary to a lot of diseases. Yesterday I went for a skelatol/body imaging with the X-RAY and he also took some blood and I’m supposed to schedule a bone marrow biopsy as well. You mean there might actually be a reason my body seems to be falling apart? Thank you all for reading, I really needed to get all that out. Now can you see why I’ve been distant. I hope so. :)

Not much of anything else has been going on. Ken’s work is going through a lot of stress right now. Understandably so.

Last weekend was pretty nice. Ken and I had company on Friday and Saturday night – difference people. Basically it was Tony, Sami Jo, and Wendy. It was good to spend time with friends, I personally really needed the distraction for a while. I have some laundry waiting that I think I will start on tomorrow, I realize Computer Surroundings Day is either here or gone, but I will try to get my desktop online. I need to get a letter out to an older friend. It’s been a while since we’ve talked and we just need to touch base. Thank heaven tomorrow is Friday. I am SO READY for the weekend.

Boy. Did I ever need to get that out of my system. Thanks for reading as always.

First I want to thank you for stopping by and catching up on what’s been going on with my life. Thankfully, things are quickly calming down and I am back closer to my old schedule where I tend to function better. Although I feel weird apologizing for being bipolar, the last mood shift being what they call a “crash”. It’s usually when you quickly to one mood to the opposite other in just a day or so and stay there for a while. I was certainly in the down state, you’d have to be crazy not to prefer a straight on mania trust me! At any rate, I’m glad I’m coming back to semi-normal and I’ll be able to keep up with everyone more easily. :)

I got paperwork on my insurance earlier this week and that’s all good. I was facing not having a co-insurance because my bank, Chase. I haven’t given their name before because I didn’t want backlash so I kept their name out of it. Just today, I two letters from Chase regarding a couple of accounts, basically telling me what my banker told me earlier and that was that some of my accounts are back the way they should be. It can get pretty stressful when the bank is screwed up and your afraid to even write a check. I usually stay right on top of stuff like that so I’m glad it’s all taken care of. I sent a thank you note to my banker as she really went out of her way and spent some time getting all my stuff squared away.

I see the neurologist on March 26th. I’m crossing my fingers that he finds the cause of the polyneuropaothy but for some reason I have a voice in my head saying, Oh no, it’s not going to be that easy my friend. I really don’t have a clue as to what he’s going to tell me but I WON’T stress over it because I will know when it’s time. The important thing is to find the probable cause, then work on getting my body fixed. That’s all I really want, catch it now before it gets any worse.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Microsoft has released the newest version of their browser, Internet Explorer 8.0 . Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 For those who beta tested it you won’t find too many surprises but I would highly recommend upgrading your browser if you can. I upgraded all the pc’s in the house and haven’t yet had a problem. I really didn’t expect any because I tried the beta and that didn’t give me any grief either. Also, if you get an email stating something has been found to be a virus or trojan and it’s been “checked out” and a friend is just warning you …. check it out for yourself at Symantec Security Response. I have yet to get a warning email of impending doom and not have it be a hoax that is currently spreading through the internet. People forward these warnings with good intentions I think, they just need to research them and most of the time they’ll be glad they did because they almost warned all their contacts/friends about a hoax. Symantec updates their definition files every couple minutes, so they are a good source of seeing what’s authentic and what is bogus. Point being, don’t stress yourself if you don’t have too. :)

I hope everyone has a good weekend! We are moving slow today, just doing what we have to and leaving the rest. We’ll probably spend some time with Wendy and Tony tonight once Ken is done at his mom’s place.

Is it me or is everyone getting bogged down with private messages from countless strangers along with network invites from again people who probably have never even seen your blog. It boggles my mind. I don’t want to go private but it’s crossed my mind when I have to sit and delete countless stuff off my Windows Live page. :P

Happy Spring!!!!   :)

Quote

Talking about YouTube - Kevin Rudolf - Let It Rock
Music video by Kevin Rudolf performing Let It Rockwith Jil Hardin [Video Producer], Jeffrey Panzer [Video Producer], Ronald Williams [Video Producer], Justin Francis [Video Director](C) 2008 Cash Money Records Inc.

I personally LOVE this song, I can be seen seat dancing while driving down the road. I have it on my Microsoft Zune too. I'm sure you iPod owners can get it too.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICKS DAY!!! Please be safe but have fun for all you Irish folks. I don't have a lot of Irish blood in me but it's still a fun holiday. :)

 

 

I want to apologize to the many friends that I shut out while I was on holiday so to speak. With my bipolar when I get too many things going in circles I have major problems concentrating – that’s why I wasn’t blogging or checking blogs. I would every couple days check my email and private messages put here and Facebook and MySpace. So many thanks for baring with me during this stressful time.

On the immediate front just today I received a letter from the USPS and also from Blue Cross with Blue Cross saying that they never got last months premium. The letter from the USPS said they got an undeliverable piece of mail – it enclosed my premium payment check copy. They said it was the only remnant left as the image was deleted and the mail shredded. I was just lucky it ended up in Atlanta, GA and not god only knows where. So I will need to re-send my premium from last month and this month, not a biggy. Let’s just hope this time they get it.

I went to the bank this morning to meet with my banker and get some paperwork and a letter generated and so I could send them along to the person that needs these documents. That didn’t take long and Pamela was extra helpful, helping where she could. You wouldn’t believe all that’s happened since I found my checks to be missing, it would boggle your mind and frankly you’d probably wanna shoot me for even staying with my bank. They have been helpful whenever possible I must say.

This morning began at 7:30AM and after I ate some breakfast and went to the bank, I tanned (it’s only across the street) and then once all that was done I headed to KMart to pick up stuff for the house. It won’t be the only trip to KVille this week, so hopefully I can wrap things up next time. I got up early so I would be awake enough by nine or so to be ready to face the bank and everything else. I prefer to do my stuff whether it be online or offline in the morning. I prefer to blog in the morning but since Ken is resting I thought I would pop on and say “Hello” to everyone who checks up on me. :)

On the neurology front I won’t know much of anything until the 26th of this month because a lot of labs have been ordered and some they are still waiting on. I have partial numbness in my right foot which isn’t very settling but what else can I do but take my vitamins and meds. I am SO OVER getting my blood drawn and my urine (once even a 24hr urine test for heavy metals) examined. I went over things with my personal physician at my appointment last Thursday and we are under the same notion that the polyneuropathy could be due to my malabsorbtion problem with my stomach. I need or rather I should pull all my labs going back about three years and get them for the neurologist but I figure if he wants them, he can pay the document company to generate the stuff he wants, rather than me paying for it myself. I’ve relied on my appointment book A LOT lately just to help me keep everything together, otherwise I would be screwed.

It’s been a typical Monday, I hope yours was at least more interesting! :)

Be blessed all my dear friends. :)

As most of you know I am taking a break to figure some things out and to decide how I want to approach them in the blog. Well in the meantime, I received this BEAUTIFUL figurine from a very dear friend. I don’t want to give her name but if your a regular you pretty much know who it came from, just trying to maintain some privacy is all. :) I am forever in your debt for such a personal and loving piece of good friendship! I hope everyone enjoys the angel as much as I do – it’s sitting atop my fireplace.

I was going to blog the last few days but I’ve been very distracted and stressed by crap going on with my bank. It’s become a nightmare and since I don’t deal well with stressors hitting from every direction I have had to put the last day or so to try to unwind. Since I will probably be online sometime this weekend, I will try to catch up with some of my dear friends I have here on Live Spaces. Until then, please be good to yourselves. :)

First thanks for dropping in and reading my blog. I haven’t been around online much lately because I am dealing with stressors that really don’t allow me to shut them off for a bit and play and chat back and fourth with my buddies and read their blogs.

I realize I am hibernating – let’s hope not till Spring comes but nevertheless I didn’t want my online friends to wonder what’s going on with that guy anyway. I have tried to keep up with personal emails and messages though thankfully. It helps to know so many people care and are empathic with another persons troubles. I can’t obviously go into everything here but let’s just say I could certainly go without the distraction.

It’s a little after five on a Saturday and Ken is taking a nap, he was up today pretty early. I thought I would just grab a moment to tell me from you … THANK YOU for being such a friendly and supportive bunch. I am glad to have you in my life.

I think I will go out and watch some TV and get away from the computer a bit. I just need a little me time to get my head back on straight and back in the swing of things …. and most certainly check in on everyone! :)

Have a WONDERFUL evening and rest of the weekend!!!  :)

As most of my friends online have noticed that I haven’t been online much over the past week or so, mainly because I just wasn’t up to it with everything that has been going on. It’s not my intention to keep people who have been so supportive and true friends but I just didn’t want to sit at the computer much as I have had a lot on my mind.

I saw two neurologists this week and I now know why I have been having balance problems and being an incredible klutz, stumbling and hopping around like I was a drunk person. Well my primary neurologist did an EEG on my head and asked a college to do the EMG as the the first neurologist was pressed for time but wanted the results of the EMG before I saw him again yesterday. I have progressive polyneuropathy in my legs and it’s worse in my feet. It sure answered a lot of questions and symptoms that I hadn’t put together until I looked it up and presto! It’s not really something that my primary physician missed because I never really brought the symptoms up to him because I didn’t think the issues with my balance and the way my legs and feet feel has any correlation. So the main reason for seeing the neurologist was headaches and for him to review the MRI of my brain. I think I’ll let my primary physician contend with the headaches, the medication he’s given me so far seems to help. But then now I have a lot more tests to be done with regard to the polyneuropathy. My grandmother had neuropathy from her diabetes and for her it was very painful. I haven’t had burning or pain with mine yet so I didn’t think it was what it is. I have already lost fine motor function in my feet which now I’m thinking might have played a role in my car accident. First the neurologist needs to find the cause of the neuropathy, then we can hopefully treat it. I have a ton of blood work on order and they are going to test for heavy metals, there has to be some reason the nerves in my legs and feet are dying off.

Again, I’m sorry for keeping everyone in the dark – I just didn’t know anything and didn’t want to go off half-cocked.

Ken has been wonderful throughout all this. Giving me my space and he even got me some flowers and a very sweet card for encouragement. The flowers smell great and sit next to my recliner just for the utter smell! What a sweetheart!!!

I hope everyone is doing alright, thanks for reading and thanks for always being there!!!

Well it seems like it’s been longer than it has since my accident with the Cadillac, but it’s been less than a month. My brother Dave took care of dealing with the insurance company and the repairs himself and Wow what a difference.

Before Repair                                                     After Repair

It’s a like a night and day difference isn’t it! Great job Dave, I GREALY appreciate all your hard work and time taken in this mess. Let’s just hope I don’t have a heart attack when my insurance renews! My baby is fixed and I couldn’t be happier!  :)

Well I know I haven’t been posting much and I have once again been neglecting people and loosing track of who is doing what and why. I haven’t been on the computer in a couple days deciding I just need a small break from the tagging and never-ending status updates.

On Friday we had a wedding reception to go to at the Shark’s Club in Waterford for friends of ours, Mike and Casey. After being together for nearly five years, they finally decided to make it legal and got hitched. I was under-dressed as I thought the celebration was going to be in the main entertainment area with all the pool tables and such. I never knew the Shark’s Club even had this reception area off to the right once you walk in. Anyway here is a picture of the newlyweds.

Sorry for the poor image quality, as we didn’t bring our digital camera and relied only on cell phone cameras. They decided to get married on Friday the 13th because they went out on their first date on Friday the 13th. Strange to some but not if you know these two. They also have a son named Damian. No, they are not satan worshipers or anything, they just both like the strange and unusual. Personally, I think it’s interesting … not many people would dare get married on a notorious day like Friday the 13th. Anyway, we chatted for a while and I stayed back to talk to Tony (Ken’s son) for a while when Ken and Wendy went out to play some pool in the main room. It was Wendy’s birthday too which made it really strange, once you start adding all these things up. (Wendy is someone Ken works with.) She seemed to have a good time and we ended up leaving at around 11:30PM.

Then comes Saturday, Valentine’s Day. I had feel asleep in the recliner and Ken put a blanket over me because he didn’t want to wake me up. Funny thing is I forgot to take my evening meds the night before and my brain was a mess because of that when I woke up at 6:00AM Saturday morning. We loafed around the house for a bit and then decided to go shopping. So we left and headed down to Oakland Mall and then to Ferndale/Royal Oak area. We had Valentines Day dinner at Como’s located at 9 Mile and Woodward and we both really enjoyed the food. I had pizza and Ken had Chicken something ‘err other. It was a nice Valentine’s Day, at least we got to some time together but away from the house for a bit.

Yesterday, we paid Justin to shovel the driveway and my brother came over later and needed to get the paint color from inside the trunk. I never thought they would put that kind of info in there – I thought they always had it in the VIN for each car, alas, all I know is that he had the new hood and is ordering the paint. Isn’t that great news, fast progress too. I didn’t think he’d be at this point already, but then my brother never ceases to amaze me. My baby is well on it’s way to being fixed. Well, at least the wheels are in motion that is. :)

I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day weekend!  :)

Well it’s almost Friday, thank heaven for that. I have been keeping to myself the full results of the MRI scan to myself and one other person online and Ken knows too. Although the MRI was negative for anything with pathology, there was noted a “Incidental note of a ‘mega cisterna magna’” noted on the results. I have the films and even I can see what the radiologist was seeing. Because I have progressive symptoms like frequent headaches, dizziness, double vision and poor balance, my personal physician is deferring the rest to a neurologist. So I made an appointment with Dr. Glass’s office for next Thursday so a doctor there could make a judgment based on the CT, MRI and the results of each. What is really cool is the way I have the CT scan. It’s placed on a CD and you can click the image and go out and in, it’s REALLY cool to play with. It’s like “Look Ken, it’s my brain on drugs”. I’m not too worried because my personal physician doesn’t seem too concerned but he would like to see my symptoms go away, as we both would. Enough of that, that’s why I haven’t posted lately. Enough of that frustrating stuff.

This is even more frustrating. Our DirecTV HD-DVR box went on the fritz! It was fine yesterday before I went to the dentist then Ken and I returned home at he same time. (I blew past him on Walton Blvd. just to be a wise-ass. Then he finally saw me, I told him I had a dentist but being who he is, he forgot and was wondering what I was out doing. Anyway, we come home and the TV is telling us there is a problem with the hard drive, format to continue and reboot. Well half the night we had satellite for about half the night and last night it just went out while I was watching “Nightline”. So I said, “Piss on this noise, I’m going to bed”. Then when Ken was up this morning he unplugged the box and TV from the wall, I plugged it back in and presto, we had picture. Now I not going to shut it off until we have to because it seems every time it’s shut off, it’s screws up again. In the meantime DirecTV is sending us a new box. Setting that up should prove fun, NOT!

Well I am installing new security software to all the computers in the house, doesn’t that sound interesting? Nah, I didn’t think so. I hope your day is more exciting than mine. Time for the tanning salon and the post office. I haven’t a clue what to make for dinner – maybe we’ll go out tonight.

Well I need to scoot – I’m way behind on my “homework”, mostly from Facebook. Michelle and Chuck know what I’m talking about. I can get to Michelle’s tag pretty soon, Chuck’s might take me some time as we have to find 25 Random Things about ourselves. I get a lot of random thoughts but this one I really need to sit down with some paper with. So no tags for a while, I’m buried as it is. :) 

I wish everyone a wonderful day!  :)

In looking back on this week it’s not one I’d like to repeat anytime soon! I see my personal physician tomorrow mainly to go over everything and get copies of all the reports, the copy lady will be busy when I come in.

I really am doing a LOT better knowing I don’t have some sort of pathology going on in my head than I already do, if you know what I mean. When you get a call from your doctor and he’s sounds rattled on the phone and that your CT scan came back weird and they want an MRI ASAP, it tends to put a person in such a state that they can’t help but worry and mull the issue over in their head repeatedly. I’m VERY relived that the MRI didn’t show anything too bad to cause great concern, but I will be happy when I see the actual reports.

I would like to reach out and thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers with regard to my tests and you all bared with me through a very trying time and I will NEVER forget that! But then that’s what friends do for each other, allow them to vent and get things off their chest … without judgment. All I could do Wednesday and Thursday is decompress from being so rattled. I’m not taking the Xanax anymore as I am back to my old self again, scary as that sounds. :::chuckle:::

My brother is taking care of some things with the insurance and the Cadillac. People seem to think that because I drive a Cadillac that I’m wealthy, hardly the case but it’s a 1994 so it has some years on it. Ken put a LOT of money into the car and we want to preserve it as long as we can. It’s my baby and I can’t wait but will have to until the shop is less busy to get it repaired. As it sits now, it looks like a hooptie mobile, but that thankfully will change soon.

Again, thanks to everyone for being there for me through this rough patch of life. You all make a big difference in my life! :)

Have a SUPER weekend!!!

“The MRI doesn’t show any significant abnormality”.

This is a direct quote from my personal physician. So I hope you don’t mind if I take the rest of the night off to CELEBRATE!!!

Damnit, I needed this good news!

Have a great evening everyone. :)