Treking Along

The time is upon me. I have noticed 2 things that are way too high for me these days. One is the price of fuel and the other is my weight. I had purchased a mountain bike (Trek 3700) about a year ago and have been crying wolf that I was going to be riding it to work every morning. Well, as a test I rode my bike up to my work on one Saturday morning. I live just over 3 miles from work. I averaged about 30 minute’s roundtrip. I have ridden my bike now 3 days last week and I am planning on riding it four days this week. (I was just running late this Monday morning so I took my truck). I figure that this will start some sort of trend and more citizens will follow my lead and save on gas and get back into descent shape and start riding more frequently. You don't have to ride all the way from your home, one can drive a certain distance, park, hop onto one's bike and pedal strong!

Yes, it may take us longer to get home in the afternoons, we will sweat a bit, but it is all so tranquil, exhilarating and way worth every drip and every minute we spend pedaling. I wish my ride was longer actually. I am considering a different route to get more cycling in on a day. Wish me luck, I wish you luck and looking forward to seeing y'all on the road.

Dollar Bill$

What is with all the wealthy celebrities donating their time and money for the Katrina relief efforts? It just lights a little fire under my bum when I see all the benefit concerts and telethons, during Monday night football none the less. They are raising and donating thousands, millions and even billions of dollars for the Katrina victims, which is out fricking standing. But the part that really burns is why it takes a national disaster of this magnitude to get these wealthy idiots to start donating time and money? Why can’t they set up shelters, offer room and board in their million dollar homes? Another question, why is it that people in the entertainment industry, being an actor, singer, director or artist, feel that they know everything there is to know about running a nation? Their job is to entertain, why do they have to be so political?

Men and their soaps.

I remember the days when guys would talk about their women and their sports. But those days are now just about gone. They are talking and giggling about Lost, Alias or one or all of the CSI’s. I come into work and they start, have you seen this, have you seen that. I too am guilty of watching and getting caught up in these programs. I am more partial to HBO programs and one or two local channel programs (the Office and Invasion). But like any program on local channels, they run their course within in 2 years, with the exception of Seinfeld. I have cable DVR, I love to capture movies and my sports, but I am hearing so many people that use it to capture Survivor or the Nanny. Is there much difference between General Hospital and ER? But yet men are so ready to pounce on women for watching their soaps, but cannot wait to come to work and discuss what happened on 24. There needs to be an acronym for ABC for stealing the testosterone from the American male viewers.

I on the other cannot wait until the Yankee – Boston series tonight! Now that is excitement that is real. I do wonder if there will be a brawl or if David Wells will pitch drunk. Dun-dun-duuuun! (Thrilling)

Spare Change!

Question! What's with all the window begging these days? I pulled up to 4 different intersections last weekend and at every intersection there where at least 8 people carrying either a bucket or a boot wanting donations. Now, I do not have problem with donating my money or my time to support a good cause, but at four intersections in a row! I donated at one, for a local fire department. And I’d be damned but, at the next intersection, not even 5 minutes down the road, another fire department had their boots out. And it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but they walk up to your window and stare at you and make you feel so uncomfortable. Besides, that it’s dangerous to be walking on the road with cars around, not to mention the poor example they are setting for kids watching these firemen, and women, walking in the street begging for change.
So my question is, why are the allowed to solicit like that? I would think that these organizations would have a better way to raise money besides begging at your car window, like a car wash or a garage sale at the fire station.

Answers

Well, I had my x-rays and my MRI's and the prognosis is that I'm old! Actually I had a budging disk in my lower L5 region. And with a little exercise and steroids I'll be young again and ready to play some more soccer!

Anniversary #3

Well, last Tuesday, August 23rd, was the anniversary of my dreaded episode and I would like to take time to thank my neighbor, we’ll call him George, for performing CPR on me as well as would I like to thank my wife of 12 years for regaining control in a very intense situation. But most of all I would like to thank God for not removing me from my family.

For those of you who do not know about my “episode” I’ll try to be brief and shed a bit of light on the subject. On the night of August 23rd, 2002 my wife and I had a couple over for dinner, we’ll call them Eric and Lisa. Eric is a great chief and that evening he made some pasta and some rice balls and some tiramisu. Now if I had the recipes for these meals I would so provide them, especially the rice balls, incredible. After dinner we all went out onto my backyard patio and sat and enjoyed a wonderful evening with a gorgeous full moon while my two children where inside the house watching TV or a movie. I had just popped the top off of my second beer of the evening. George, my neighbor, and his family where sitting outside around there patio table enjoying the same wonderful evening. As the night went on, I started to feel a bit week and light headed. I started to sweat profusely. I looked at my wife, who was sitting right beside me, and I told her “Baby, I’m not feeling too good right now.” She placed her drink on to the table, felt my forehead and said, “You do not look well. Something is wrong!” She then leaned her ear to my chest and then said, “I can barely hear your heart beating.” Eric, then said, “You need to get up and walk inside.” And that is the last thing I can recall consciously.

From talking with everyone there that evening, here is what transpired next. I stood up and started to take a few steps in the direction of my yard, before I could get off the porch, I vomited, took about 2 more steps and then “TIMBER!” Unprotected, face first, right down like a tree. As I hit the ground, my wife yelled out to me which in turn got the attention of my neighbor. Eric rolled me over and yelled out, “He’s not breathing!” George jumped our joining fence and instantly called out for someone to call 911 and then began CPR on me. My wife was frantic, yelling into the phone to the emergency operator. George’s wife grabbed my wife and told her to get a hold of herself and to take control. She told her “You need to make sense and stay level headed to help your husband.” Then next thing I remember is like someone had just turned a TV where you can hear the voices but you can not see the picture. Once I regained my sight, I realized that I could not move any of my extremities. And right then, someone hit the power button on the remote and turned my right off again. I then came to while the paramedic placed me onto their gurney and placed me into their ambulance…

The rest will have to come at a later time!
Gotta jet!

Goooooaaaaal!!!

I have recently joined an indoor co-ed soccer team, (for 30 year olds and older ;-). Now I consider myself to be a pretty athletic guy. I played football, tennis, soccer and ran track in high school. I played intramural lacrosse and soccer in college. Since my high school and college days, the most athletic activities I have participated in has been men’s softball and golf; and I have been seen picking up an occasional game of wiffle ball. But now that I have crested “the hill” I have found myself realizing that I am not in the condition that I once was. I am now in the “30 and over” leagues. My first game back onto the field was memorable; I scored the goal that sealed our victory! I have yet to score since, but I do have quite a few assists to my name. Our record is 1-2-1 in an 8 game season and I am now started to get my lungs and legs back.

I am enjoying this season and I am very much looking forward to our next. Once our season comes to an end, I will “blog” back on and recap my experience, but until then I will be drinking a lot of water and taking my son’s inhaler to all my games.

Lights, Camera, Flash Video...

Lights, Camera, Flash Video...

Streaming Video on the internet has long been dominated by Quicktime, RealPlayer, and Windows Media Player, but Macromedia.Com has started promotion of Flash Video as a viable option to streaming video over the internet. The best part about this, is with a huge share of web users having Flash installed, they are already set to reap the rewards of Flash Video.

Here's a sample encoded into Flash Video of the slide show we ran for the Final night at the 2005 APHA World Championship Paint Horse Show.



The photographs used in the Flash Video slide show where taken through out the 2005 APHA World Championship Paint Horse Show by Robert Owens and Adriana Silvestri of the American Paint Horse Association. I used their digital photographs and some music (mp3) that I had on my computer and created the slide show using PhotoStory3 for Windows. The software is a free download through Microsoft and is extremely easy to use to create wonderful slide shows of family events, business events and any special occasion. It also features a wide selection of image effects, transitions and distributions types.

The Straw...

The Straw...

Well, it’s been nearly 3 months since I can remember my back not aching. I have been battling a back ache since Memorial weekend of this year. I thought it was just a pinched nerve that would eventually go away, but no! I have had 3 visits to my family doctor and he finally scheduled an x-ray, which we all know that an x-ray does not show cartilage nor does it show nerve damage. Needless to say, I had the x-rays done, 2 days later I get a call from his nurse and she begins to tell me that my x-rays look fine, except that I have had some moderate arthritic changes to my spine! So therefore my doctor would like me to continue taking this anti-inflammatory by the name of Piroxicam for the next 7 days and if there was no improvement he would recommend me for some physical therapy. After the first 3 days of taking the medication I thought it was doing a tiny bit of good, but after I get to work and sit for about 2 hours, my back gets so stiff and I’m in constant pain until I get to bed and wake up the next morning.

I have been unsuccessful in getting my doctor to schedule an MRI or a CT scan for my back so I have know scheduled an appointment with a neurologist surgeon to take a look at my back and to answer the burning question that I have been asking myself for about a month now, “Is it a herniated disk?” My appointment is scheduled for Monday, August 22nd. So until then I will be continuing the battle!