Day plus one

Surgery was yesterday. After a four hour delay, I got in. Minor changes, they kept me awake and talking, which was ok. I think I had my eyes closed.

I got to my room around 6pm. Due to all the changes, I lost the option to go home early. I slept off and on through the evening, but never more than about 2 hours at a time. Around 5am, I walked down the hall and around the corner. It was only a few hundred feet, but it felt wonderful. For the first time in two months, the pain doesn't get progressively worse as I walk. I can stand for minutes at a time without pain.

What a difference a day makes.

T minus 1 days and counting

Ok, I should have said "and counting" not "in counting" on my last post. I can blame it on the drugs.

I keep wondering, if they are going to do a laminectomy, does that mean they are laminating my back? Or is it that my back was already laminated, and they are taking off the lamina?

Early tomorrow morning, I go in and take a nice little nap. Everyone says it will be like the 60's. Then I will wake up with tubes coming out of various parts of my body and I get to see if I'm better. If I feel like it, I can come home same day. Or I can spend the night. I do have a private room and my wife is going to stay, it'll be like a hotel room.

Probably no posts for a couple days. They tell me I can get up and move around, do email etc. the first few days. So maybe not too long.

See you on the other side!

T minus 2 days in counting

My left leg and hip has been hurting for about two months. In reality, some of the pains started long before that. I've had an MRI and it confirms that I have a bluging disc in my L4/L5 vertebrae touching the S1 nerve. What this means it the problem is in my back, even though my leg hurts.

I'm now scheduled for a laminectomy on Monday. I'm looking forward to it. I've read a lot about it and think it is the best option towards me returning to normal (or as normal as I've ever been). Wish me luck!!

Ice

They said it was 1/4-1/2 inch of ice. It loaded up the trees and the trees came down. Power outages all around. Fortunately, our power came back late yesterday afternoon. So, we only lost it for about 8 hours. Cable was out a while longer, but it's back too. Internet now works, everything.

We're hosting a few people who weren't so lucky. Not a great place to stay, but it's cheap. Mi casa, es su casa and all that. We even had a potential for 7 more guests (family of 5 plus two people who whould have had to sleep in separate rooms). They would have been welcome too.

I am forever greatful to God from whom all blessings flow. He has given me much in my lifetime. If I can give some of it back to some of His people, well, I'll never get back even with what He's done for me.

Hats off to Burger King

I went by Burger King this morning to get my weekly serving of cholesterol. Sausage, egg and cheese on a croissant. If there was a legal limit on cholesterol, this would exceed that limit.

When I got to the driveup, the man gave me the bag, the coffee, cream and sugar. As I left, he said "Merry Christmas!"

I was shocked, but not too shocked to wish him a Merry Christmas as well.

Hats off to Burger King for being brave enough to risk offending people!

I may have a double helping of cholesterol this week....

Providence

If you google "define: providence" you get (among others) these definitions: "the guardianship and control exercised by a deity", and "a manifestation of God's foresightful care for his creatures ".

It seems ostentations (showy) to say "God planned this" or "God planned that" when something good happens. But it seems just the opposite to call it a coincidence. And while I like the idea of karma, Providence seems to fit better in this case.

Flashback, 1993, Carolina's Medical Center wants to be a "regional" hospital. They scour the country for talent and find Dr. Michael Bosse, trauma and orthopaedic surgeon and hire him from Johns Hopkins Hospitals. October 2, 1993, I am involved in a traffic accident and break my femur, my elbow and my ulna (forearm). Dr. Bosse does his stuff and puts humpty-dumpty back together again. I always thought it was Providential that he moved just before my accident.

Now, flash to present day. My back started bothering me pretty bad on Thanksgiving weekend. I hate doctors, but I went to see one on Tuesday. He gave me pills. The following weekend, I nearly went to the ER. But I waited until Monday. On Monday, I pushed HARD to see an Orthopaedic specialist. I called this one place (I had to do some detective work to even get the number) and they said that it would be a couple weeks. I puhsed harder and they said it would be Thursday. I accepted that, then they called me back and said they could see me that day.

The doctor came in and I explained about the stuff I had done in 1993. He said he trained under Bosse. He knew the guy well and write me a note with a lady in Bosse's office who could help me get the records from Charlotte. He knew the name and phone number without looking it up.

I truly believe it was the Hand of Providence working again. I was very nervous about this and He made sure there was a connection to the man I admired in the past. He made sure the right doctor was there, now twice.

Providence. I like the sound of that...

Accounting for Economics

I'm finishing up my Management Accounting and Management Economics courses. I'll probably get a B in the first and an A in the second. I'm disappointed at the B, but I have some really good sounding excuses. It will be my second B in the program (first was statistics). Overall, not too bad. I've heard rumors that you're allowed to make two C's, my employer only looks for an overall GPA of 3.0, which should create no problem.

The accounting class is NOT a bunch of forms and stuff. Very little on the debits/credits. It's more decision oriented. For example, if you make widgets and get a special order for 1000 widgets at a discount price, should you accept the order? It all depends and that's what we study.

The economics class is sorta the opposite. Assuming you make widgets, how much should you charge for them? What will give you the most profit? Will accounting profit be more or less than economic profit?

There are lots of issues between accountants and economists. It's fun to take both courses at once and see how the professors deride the other profession. And to know, they could change hats tomorrow and never miss a beat. Reminds me of a football rivalry....

Happy Holidays

A lot of people are getting upset over this "Happy Holidays". Stores, in the interest of diversity, say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". This way they don't offend Muslims, Jews, aetheists, agnostics, Hindu, Kwanza-nites or dogs. Christians are upset, because it means taking Christ out of Christ-mas.

First I believe stores should be willing to step out and take a risk. If you're buying things that are obviously Christmas-oriented (Christmas wrapping paper, Christmas lights, Christmas cards, etc), they could guess. If you're buying stuff that says Hannukah, they should wish you Happy Hannukah (I've said that to friends who were Jewish). If you're buying something that says Happy Birthday, they should mention that too.

But I have an answer to the indecisive who say "Happy Holidays!". Simply turn and ask them "What holiday?" or "Which holiday?" If they truly want the holiday to be happy, they should tell you which one, or what day it is. I'm not sure when Hannukah is, but I want to have a happy one. And Kwanza doesn't hold special meaning for me (I probably misspelled it), but I'm cherish the day (as I do other days). Besides, I could take the day off and relax with family and friends. I just need to know which holiday is supposed to be happy.

So next time the Wal-Mart greeter tells you "Happy Holidays", ask them "which Holiday?"

Hats off to Gary

For some reason over the weekend, I thought of Gary. Gary was my best friend in high school and college. Not sure if he knows how many times I tried to steal his girlfriend. I was unsuccessful, someone else stole her our freshman year in college. Last I heard, she was married with a couple kids.

Gary was the kind of guy who would do anything for a friend. My senior year, I drove my hunk-a-junk car to Atlanta for an interview. The transmission was slipping but it had never failed. I drove into downtown Atlanta for a trade show, then followed the person interviewing me out to the office on 285. On the trip out, I weaved in and out of traffic following the fellow and my transmission started slipping. At one point, I thought I was going to have to pull off, but it got me there (it usually worked better when it was cold).

On the way home, it quit. I let it sit for a while, still nothing. I sat for about 30 minutes, then walked 1/2 mile to the nearest exit (where are the highway patrol when you need them). I called my fiance and asked her to find someone to help me. She called Gary. He had been up all night the night before studying for a test and had just gotten in. He agree that he could help if she couldn't find anyone else. She tried several people, then called Gary back.

Gary ended up driving from Clemson to just inside Georgia to pick me up.

I'm not sure I know anyone who would go to that length again for me. My hat's off to Gary.

Day after Thanksgiving

It's the day after Thanksgiving, can I still be thankful?

I'm thankful for family who all came together yesterday. I'm thankful for food which they all brought and mostly consumed, so that there's litte left to stare at me next week. I'm thankful for humor, which I try to have and share. And which they have to have in order to put up with my attempts at humor.

I am thankful for someone who stepped into my life 5 years ago and puts up with me, and actually ENJOYS being with me and ENJOYS the family around me.

Mostly, I am thankful that I've been allowed to be here for 46 years. Tomorrow (or today) may change all of the above, but I am thankful.

I apologize

For some reason, I feel the need to apologize lately. Yesterday, I got an email from someone who was offended by an email I sent (I think I spend all my time sending and reading emails). He explained that he wasn't normally responsible for the job I thought he was doing (he was a fill-in, my mistake) and that he had done his job well (no question about that on my part). He also made some comments about how I had done my job.

All this in response to an email I sent. I looked back over the original email. All it was saying was that a customer had encountered some problems and in retrospect, they could have been avoided. Would have required some work on my part and his part, his part would have enabled him to charge more for his work, which he SHOULD have seen as a good thing.

I started to fire off another email. Instead, I decided to pick up the phone (such a novel invention) and call and apologize for the confusion. I figured I would make a new friend.

Instead, he explained in more detail how wrong I was, how it didn't matter whether I did my job or not and how he wasn't to blame anyway. Then he proceeded to tell me he had missed three other calls that were important.

I apologized for him missing the calls...

Clemson Reigns

Much was said last week going into the big weekend. I chose to remain (mostly) quiet. I have great respect for both schools (Clemson and USC). Each has their strengths. Each has weaknesses. Football is just a sport, just a game. But oh, what a game it was.

As hard as Clemson tried, they couldn't give away the game. From a muffed punt to an interception that was ripped out of their hands. I can't remember the last time the game was played and only one touchdown was scored by both teams combined.

How many nationally ranked teams has Clemson beat this year? I also heard a stat about Bowden being the first coach to beat both Spurrier and Papa Bowden in the same year. (not sure if this was in xx years of forever).

Some will choose to speak ill of the colors, or tradition (rubbing the rock, run down the hill, etc.) Some will choose to dig up old history, talk about a championship year from years ago and how it really wasn't deservered. (even though they point out the almost decade between the championshop and recruiting violations - a long time in football history). They will point out a dark history as if that represents the school completely (even though WB stadium was 1/2 empty after half time 2 years ago).

They point to all these things as "evidence" that Clemson is a lower class college. Instead, I point to the scoreboard....

Fixing things

Men are accused of trying to fix things. A woman comes to him with a problem and talks. And talks. And talks. He buts in and trys to fix it. Turns out she doesn't want it fixed, she just wants him to listen. On the show Two and a Half Men (which rates higher than Earl), Charlie said all you have to tell a woman is "I understand". I think he's right. It works for him.

Being a sensitive man, I like to listen to my wife's problems. I knod, say "uh-huh", ask inquisitive questions and such. Sometimes I say things like this: "I know you need to talk and I'm a sensitive person, so let me know when you finish" (for some reason, this doesn't help).

Women , on the other hand think they listen. They listen to the details, and ask questions. Then they say smart things like "it will be allright" or "you'll know what to do" or something else like that. What good does that do? If a man tells a woman a problem, he wants it fixed. He doesn't want just listening. It does him know good.

So how do we solve this problem? Well, as Garth Brooks said "I could have missed the pain, but I'd of had to miss the dance."

Oh, and by the way, I understand.

Anna Louise

Some very good friends of mine just had a baby. She was less than 24 hours old when we got to see her, to hold her. She's small. fingers not much bigger than toothpicks (well, a little hyperbole here). She was actually a big baby (7lbs, 14oz, don't throw that one back!), but they are still small.

Mother and baby and even father are all doing fine. Scared, but fine.

My dad once said that baby's are God's sign that life should go on. Something like that. He was right.

Congratulations to the new family and welcome to the world...

Muckracking

I used to be technical. I prided myself on how technical. The geekiest of the geeks. One of my customers bought me a button that said "That's Mr Nerd to You" and gave it to me. That's how proud I am of my technical abilities, it shines through.

So what am I doing now? Filling out spreadsheets and muckracking. A google on Define: Muckracking brings up this definition: "a journalist ... who investigates and exposes societal issues such as political corruption, corporate crime, ... and similar topics."

Ok, I'm no journalist unless internal emails count. The issues I've been investigating are not involved in political corruption, corporate crime or anything like that. But I'm stirring the pot and playing politics to make people mad and hopefully take action.

I'd rather be technical...

Hermit

I've decided to be a hermit when I grow up. You know, the kind of guy who lives in a house, way off in the mountains and never comes out. The idea is that you don't have to see anyone, or deal with anyone. You don't have to answer questions or anything.

If someone wants to come visit, they can. I may even have a spare bedroom or two. You could come and stay. But, when I build my hermit house, don't plan on me coming to visit you.

dry humor - DOUBLE trouble

My economics professor is hilarious. The other night he was lecturing and talked about doubling the inputs to a production process. He started to write "DOUBLE" on the board and was talking. He wrote "DO" then turned around to say something. When he went back to the board, he wrote "BLE". Then he looked at what he wrote, "DOBLE", confused. That look that says, "something is wrong, but I'm not sure what".

Someone commented that this was Spanish for DOUBLE. He asked "Really?". They assured him that they were serious. He turned back to the board and said "Well, I'm bi-lingual and didn't even know it."

Later he commented about two economic terms, the short-run and the long-run. He wrote them on the board and asked the class the difference. Everyone was quiet (sometimes when he asks questions, he wants an answer, sometimes not). After a moment of silence, he commented well, in the long run, we're all dead so it really doesn't matter.

Class is always interesting....

Halloween

I missed Halloween this year. I think it's the first Halloween I've missed in at least 24 years. I always enjoy Halloween, seeing the kids dressed up. One year I bought a gorillas mask. Sometimes, I wear it when the kids come to get candy.

Each year, I count the number of kids that come to the door. My mom came over this year and counted for me. 96 kids. That's a lot of candy. That's about how many we've had the last few years.

I missed it....

Karma

Ok, I admit I'm enthralled with the idea of karma. Technically, I don't believe in it. It's (I think) and Indian Hindu philosophy. Google search turned up this definition:

a belief system that is similar to the saying "what goes around, comes around". Karma can be either good or bad. What you do in this life will determine whether you are rewarded or punished in the next life.

While I don't technically believe in it, I see it in practice. Every day. Someone works very hard in their job when it's not the perfect job may move from second shift to first shift. And someone else who does a poor job of managing their life and makes bad decisions may drive a cheap Bronco and it may have ongoing problems. (Good karma vs. bad karma).

The key is the motivation. Should I do more so I'll get more good deeds counted in my corner and then get good Karma later? No. You do good deeds because they're there. And then when good things happen to you, you do more good deeds. Recently, I was in the Atlanta airport and saw a lady walking around with a white cane. She was not completely blind, but evidently mostly blind. I was in the middle of a conversation with a friend, but I broke it off to go help the lady. She was lost and couldn't find her gate.

I was glad to help her, not because I was hoping for good karma, but because I could see my mother (and someday maybe even me) wandering around like that. I hope that when/if that happens, someone will step up to help. Sorta the same idea as the movie "Pass it forward" (which was a terrible movie built around a good idea).

Willie Nelson sang it in "A little Old Fashioned Karma"

There's just a little fashioned karma coming down
Just a little old fashioned justice going round
A little bit of sowing and a little bit of reaping
A little bit of laughing and a little bit of weeping
Just a little old fashioned karma coming down

Coming down coming down just a little old fashioned karma coming down
It really ain't hard to understand
If you're gonna dance you gotta pay the band
It's just a little old fashioned karma coming down

News journalist and Cobol programming

Why is news journalism like Cobol programming? No it's not a joke, it's true. I invite journalists to comment.

Cobol is an acronym for COmmon Business Oriented Language which was "invented" in 1959 (a very good year, but besides the point). Admiral Grace Hopper, a fascinating woman who served her county for many years, was part of the commision who "invented" it. The significance of Cobol is that it was the first computer language designed to make computers usable for business purposes. Admiral Hopper's idea was that computers should be programmed in English. Cobol is still in use today by most (all?) Fortune 500 companies.

The other significance of Cobol is that it is verbose. Writing a Cobol program takes NUMEROUS lines of code. A simple program for student purposes may be under 100 lines, but by the time the student finishes an introductory course, he is easily working with programs 300-500 lines. In the business environment, programs over 1000 lines are common and if you work on a system, you describe it's length in k-locs (pronounced "k locks"). One k-loc is 1000 lines of code.

Here's the similarity to journalism. In college, I learned that no one ever wrote an original program. Well, maybe Grace Hopper wrote the first one, then everyone copied that and modified it. In classes I took, we started with one simple program and modified it. In businesses, there are models everywhere that are copied and modified.

This morning, I was doing some web research on the Iraqi constitution. I recalled reading an article last night that told the number of voters and the number of voters in the January election. In looking through several newspaper (via the web) articles, I kept seeing the same articles over and over, with slight variations (maybe only the headline?)

So journalism seems to be just like Cobol programming. Comments?