Warning - Soap Box Post

So here is an issue that has been agitating me for a few months now and I must let it out! I think the cell phone was a needed invention. Being able to always be in touch is important. I have long felt like the ability to always be in touch has come at the price of us losing our manners. Generally it bothers me when people go to restaurants, banks, stores and cannot hang up their phone long enough to carry out the business at hand. I believe this behavior communicates that service personnel are unimportant.

I become even more disappointed when I go to a movie and hear a phone ring behind me and someone answers it. Answering it is bad enough, but then they talk at a regular conversation level like they are the only ones in existence. I did not pay $8 to hear you talk to uncle Al about his car, take it outside. If you are ever talking to me and my phone rings I will not answer it, I think it is rude. If you do this to me know that it bothers me. Now if you get a call you have to take excuse yourself and GO answer it. I get especially agitated when my wife calls me, I answer and all I can hear is her carrying on a conversation with someone else. Generally I will hang up or tell her to talk just to me.

All that is not my soap box, this is, hang up and DRIVE. Because of my rehab I have to travel downtown at least twice a week, and at least once a week I have a near miss with someone because they are talking on a cellphone. The biggest red flag for me is when I see a truck driver driving with one hand, shifting gears and holding a cellphone. This is not safe! Especially at interstate speeds. One day I saw a driver trying to pull his long truck out into a busy section of traffic on Broadway. It was nearing rush hour, there were a lot of cars, and he was going to have to block all three lanes of traffic in order to get his truck out. I looked at him and he was holding his cellphone while trying to do all the other stuff.

Most of you all know how much I value my Blackberry, and when my wife reads this she will have one critique, I tend to text and drive. I know this is perhaps more dangerous than talking and driving. So this is my commitment to you I will quit looking at my BB when I am driving and will definitely stop texting immediately. If you call while I am driving I will put you on speaker phone or return your call later.

Safety First!

A Charlie Brown Xmas Tree!

For the past 8 years Olsa and I have purchased a real Xmas tree. Last year as we took down the tree we noticed that the stand leaked water onto our hardwood floors. So I decided that we would not get anymore live trees and instead purchase an artificial one. So as the season rolled around this year Olsa began looking for one. We have used Craigslist before so she decided to look there. She looked for several weeks and found one that was tall enough, 7.5 feet, was pre-lit and was a good/fair price. It was still sealed in the box so we thought it was a good deal.

Well....we unpacked it on Wednesday and boy were we surprised.

I did not realize that they made artificial trees that looked this shabby. The limbs at the bottom, where they should be the longest are less than 12 inches long, it is sparsely filled. Over all it looks like the one Charlie Brown picked because he felt bad for it. Every time I walk by it I just have to laugh. Oh well, maybe next year!

A Weekend Getaway

Friday is never a good day to go see my doctor. In the past six months his solution has been to admit me to the hospital. Thursday, November 19th I began to feel bad. I had chills, a high fever, body aches and a massive headache. I got in bed, and took some stuff because I thought I had the flu. Called my doc and he wanted to see me the next day. I must say that I have an injury from the accident back in June that will not go away. This was what my doctor was worried about. After a flu test and some blood tests it was determined that my injury had gotten infected and so on Friday afternoon, November 20th, I went back into Vanderbilt hospital.

Now my dad, always being the joker commented that this would be a nice getaway for Olsa and I. HA HA! I am starting to joke now that I have my own room at Vandy, Dr. Womack just calls them up and tells them I am coming in and they get my room ready!

Seriously, this infection has knocked me down, again. I got out of the hospital on the following Monday. During my stay they drained about a liter of fluid and ran antibiotics through an IV non stop. I was shocked at how far down I was, I spent all of last week on the couch or in bed. I made it to the office yesterday, but after an afternoon at the doc and rehab I went home and got in bed. When the accident happened the docs warned us that I would be dealing with this for at least a year, and it appears they know what they are talking about.

I am on the mend again. Hopefully this will be the last setback, but either way we will keep plodding along. Thanks for you prayers and keep them coming. God is good!

Let me say this, I have an excellent doctor and I would highly recommend him and Vanderbilt to anyone!