On an Even Keel
Can we all just be on an even keel?
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Friday, December 14, 2012
Twenty
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/14/us/connecticut-school-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Rise Up for your personal rights!
http://news.yahoo.com/hilarious-tsa-note-womans-vibrator-142200267.html
Okay, I now have to leave my personal possessions at home when I go to work, when I get into my car and now when I pack something. I have to leave my thoughts in my head for fear of being criticized, being canned at a job or from someone mistakenly being offended because I didn't measure every word before it came out of my mouth. I think we are becoming more like Russia every minute. (TSA = KGB with no intelligence) If you don't recognize that we have slowly lost many rights including the one to make a decision about how or what we take when we travel. While I'm not convinced packing a vibrator was the right choice, at least the choice existed and was made.
If they have the equipment to see all the way down to our body through an xray machine why don't they have the same for packed luggage? We should be allowed to lock our personal posessions, especially when flying domestically. I guess to some degree I agree with extra searches for international travel because there are many things out there we have yet to discover that may be very destructive and we may not be able to recognize them in their natural state. Searches of luggage could catch that. I totally agree that it isn't the brighest bulbs in the pack that are working these TSA positions. Having been totally F'd with on a trip about a year ago over something very stupid (and I fly a LOT). Additionally, I listened to an older female TSA employee (I refuse to call them agents because that would take a level of respect I can't muster) comment on the attractiveness of a particular male business traveler (ooohhh -- eee he sure is hot!) who then proceeded to give him some grief just so she could talk with him (or as she said make a connection). You can't make this stuff up. They can say whatever they feel but god forbid you ever make any kind of joke in a TSA line.
RISE UP for your rights and for the personal freedom we continue to lose daily.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The "back" things in life...
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Just breathe...
One of the reasons I've been writing less frequently is that I am in total and complete pain when sitting at the computer for any length of time. Unless I take something for it and we all know how ambitious anything we take for pain makes us. Not to mention the senseless schlock my brain would be committing to the perpetuity of the Internet. Finally, after putting it off for some time, I went to the doctor as I thought I might have carpal tunnel syndrome. After so many years on the computer, I just figured it caught up with me. Not so much.
What I've now learned about my body is that I have bulging discs in my neck. In my lower back I have a slipped disc. Not to mention that the arthritis that I have had intermittently in my fingers has also positioned itself in the bones of my spine. I have many bone spurs, so that even if they get the disc problem under control eventually this arthritis with time will become more of a problem. Not the news I expected or wanted to hear but hey I've dealt with a lot worse in my time and the people closest to me know that I speak the truth. I always have been and always will be the proverbial cat that still lands on its feet. After all, I haven't used up all of my nine lives, only 3 of them. I've still got the magic number 6 left. Insert snicker here for those that will get this plague of 6.
But still with all that news, that's not what I learned about myself. Following the x-rays my doctor wanted me to get two MRI's and an EMG. I was scheduled to go have the MRI's this past Tuesday. I never thought anything about it and left work early to go for my appointment. It's just the nature of my job that I usually end up being early for appointments because I get when the getting is good. I got to the doctors office and checked in. The MRI tech got all ready and I was ready so we started. The loud ticking of the machine wasn't scary but looking into that tiny space of the MRI was.
You all know that I am a bigger person so I asked. The tech was very reassuring that I would fit fine so I calmed down, laid down and focused on getting this two hours of my life over with. I would do anything to get out of this pain. Well I guess I should restate that to be almost anything. After placing the plate over my face the machine began to slide me head first into the machine and as the machine covered my face panic set in. I am not a panicky person so I tried to convince myself this is just a medical test I can take it. I inched a little further into the machine and this overwhelming feeling of being buried alive consumed me. My eyes are closed, hands were crossed on my body and I truly felt that this must be how it must feel to be dead. PANIC and I mean it in a screaming way. I was hitting that panic button for all it was worth and punching the sides of the machine to get out. I cannot tell you how it felt when they finally got me out but needless to say, I've never taken a better breath of air in my life than at that moment my head came out of the machine.
The MRI tech tried to be understanding and tried to calm me down but all I wanted was to be out of there. I went to the reception desk, explaining that I couldn't go through with the procedure because I felt like I was in a casket. To which the dimwit at the desk replied, "Well how do you know that? Have you ever been in one?" All of you that know me very well know I think fast so I replied "Well, I do know that I have several family members that are in one and I don't want to be the next to try it out, even in practice." Needless to say that pretty much shut her up.
Now we get to the point, here is what I learned about myself. I suffer from a bit of claustrophobia. I have been in many tight places including the little round cylinder in the airport where they lock you in and run air over your body to analyze the results and that's a pretty small space. I never had this problem before, so where did it come from? The intelligent side of me tells me that this is a routine test that millions of people have everyday with no problem but the illogical fear still rules my brain. I just can't get past this one.
I have now scheduled an open MRI for the same day I have the EMG on October 7th. I have heard that the open MRI is similar to a CAT Scanner and I've had that before without incident. So I'm hopeful that I will be able to have that done. They have informed me that if they can't do the open MRI that I would have to be put to sleep to have the test done. Without the test they cannot treat. Let's hope that I don't have to be put to sleep (like a sick dog) to have this test done. I'll report back because I know you'll all be waiting to read more about my medical adventures.
If it's any consolation, I'll be staying at a hotel in Dallas from Sunday to Wednesday and most of you already know how many wonderful adventures I have when I stay in hotels. Can you feel that sarcasm coming through yet?
I thought so... until next time...
~D~
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Burning....
Here is the link to this story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-koran-burning-20100908,0,7795425.story
Is a show of burning the Quran as a freedom of speech display to support a religious organization's belief against the very real atrocities of the radical Muslims such an outrage in light of the number of our military troops (among others) who have lost their lives? Those men & women are fighting for our right to be able to have this type of protest. I don't think anything should happen to the troops or citizens that may be there but if the radical Muslims have their way they would be decapitated and for a reason far less than burning the Quran.
I am a bit radical by nature and I tend to think to the extreme. So while I'll probably not light a Quran on fire, not out of respect or due to my religious beliefs but because I believe in the "people's" right to live their lives the way they see fit. I believe in the rights we adopted under the Constitution and not the continually evolving interpretations used to create more control. The Constitution is about rights, not control. We need to start being more sensitive to people's rights and not so hung up on control. Most of the fight about issues in our country are about control and not rights. Under my first amendment right, it is my right to say, if you're a Muslim in America, I am open to accepting you in my country and my life, however, if you're a radical Muslim who has a plan to hurt even one American then you need to leave this country. Do not pass go and do not collect $200.
Now that we're on the subject, this has a direct tie to the rights that the people in New York are talking about when it comes to the Mosque building. Yes. You have the right to build a Mosque under our Constitution and Reverend Terry Jones and his followers have the right to destroy a copy of the Quran if they choose, after all the Constitution provides us the right to practice all religions. Reverend Terry Jones (and parishioners) believe that in the freedom allowed to practice their religion and under their first amendment rights they are able to burn a book (the Quran) that isn't part of their religion. Religious freedom and freedom of speech. Two of our most basic Constitutional rights have turned both the Mosque issue and the Quran burning threat into an exercise in control rather than a battle of rights.