My New Hangout

I was at the county clerk's office today to get tags transferred over to my wife's Isuzu when I came across a gem of a custom remodel.

A blue Chevy Geo converted into a truck.  The disappointment comes from not getting my iPhone camera out fast enough to take a picture.

I believe GM could have staved off bankruptcy had they only created vehicles such as the Chevy Geo truck.  It's hauling capacity alone just screams 3 cylinder power!

My next day off might be spent at the DMV or county clerk just so I can snap pictures of custom cars ;)

Unbelievable...

Rutherford County citizens are outraged and embarassed.



The next Rutherford County School Board meeting is December 11, 2008 @ 5pm. Parents should voice their concern over this principal being in charge of children.

The Murfreesboro Post should be boycotted for their editors not doing their job!

Thank GOD for decent men such as Colin Powell

JibJab

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Race Matters

The national news is overwhelmed with a discussion of race and the upcoming election.

The sheriff of Lee County Florida recently gave speech while in uniform at the podium for the McCain-Palin ticket. This is clearly unprofessional behavior but it is also a violation of 'the Hatch Act'. Had he appeared in a private citizen capacity he could have avoided a guaranteed federal investigation.

It is painfully clear that McCain and Palin are directly and indirectly inflaming racial tensions in their recent rallies. Up to this point I have had great respect for McCain as a war hero. But I feel he is AT LEAST standing by and letting hate speech take over his campaign. McCain is demonstrating he is willing to do anything and everything to win. Even if it means he solicits the racist vote.

We are already experiencing the trouble from electing the dumbest President in history. Do we really want to risk another dumb President if McCain dies in office? Palin is a partisan hack with no brain.

... and we're back

Let me get the updates out of the way.

Mom in-law is doing okay with her oral chemotherapy. Other than reduced energy levels the side effects have been none existent. Unfortunately we had to hospitalize her this past Friday for pneumonia she developed from the virus going through our entire family (thanks to our youngest's Pre-K class). She initially refused to go to the hospital.

Thank god for the home health nurse. It makes no difference having a nurse in the family. I am still her son in-law. She listened to the home health nurse... who by the way, read her the riot act! She is doing better now and we expect her to come home 'from hospital' (nod to the Brits) tomorrow.

Our oldest started back to school in 1st grade and our youngest started Pre-K thanks to the new TN lottery money! They are currently on their two week fall break (alternate school schedule).

I'm loving working in the emergency department. The ED has a great crew and it couldn't be in a better environment to work and learn. The down side is that now that I'm on my feet more I've been having more problems. In addition to pain I started to lose sensation in my toes.

Heidi has been great by offering to massage my aching feet at night and I bought some expensive running shoes with arch supports. Relief was modest. In late August I went to my first ever podiatrist appointment.

My podiatrist diagnosed me with fasciitis, heel spurs, and falling arches. NO DIABETES (for those of you concerned). The falling arches didn't surprise me as I've had feet problems all my life. You should see the size of my right heel spur... wholly hang upside down from a tree branch BATMAN!

My doc recommended buying custom orthotics which relieved some of the fasciitis and all of the toe numbness but didn't do much for the heel spur pain. He also recommended buying a pair of Z-coil shoes which if you've ever seen a pair... look a bit dorky.

SO NOW I'M A DORK! I went to bed last night for the first time in months with zero pain. Best money I've spent yet.

Novartis Patient Assistance... what a joke!

So I have been slacking in the posting department. Sue me.

I'm writing out of anger today. Just being honest.

*Gripe alert*

So mom in-law has needed to move in with us in early spring while she battles her breast cancer. She has put up the good fight with chemo, radiation, and mastectomy.

Yesterday we took her to the oncologist with concern. She has developed nodular areas on her back and the doc confirmed the worst. The cancer has spread. A PET scan has been ordered. We will find out the rest after the scan.

Have you heard the term 'when it rains it pours'?

Once we got home there were several messages from her various pharmacies letting her know that all of her medications are now going to be full cost as she has fallen into the infamous Medicare part D for 'DONUT HOLE'. This includes her oral anti-cancer agents.

We called back to the oncologist and they were able to switch some things around so she would be taking her drugs in his office to allow Medicare part B and her secondary to pick up the tab. Great! But this did not fix all of the problem.

My mother in law takes Fumara (a hormone treatment) for her cancer and it is still in the donut hole. We were told by the doc's office to call Novartis to enroll her in their "Patient Assistance Program". So I called.

After listening to the automated operator direct me through various "press this button for this" and "press this button for that" I finally made it to a human being. Or so I thought.

The Novartis representative asked me all sorts of questions about my mother in-law... SS#... Medicare #... DOB... monthly income... blah blah blah. Then she asked me about my income and my wife's income. I asked her why the hell did she need to know our income since it was my mother in-law who needed the assistance.

She just smugly responded, "We have to factor in all family member's income to determine who qualifies."

"So if I had a twelve year old son who cut grass in the summer you are telling me that Novartis would factor that income into this program?"

"Yes."

"F**king incredible! Of course we would pay for your drug if WE could afford to buy it for her but this IS the 'PATIENT Assistance Program' is it not?! I hope you and your CEO are able to sleep at night."

Silence.

"Maybe you idiots at Novartis might consider being more honest by renaming your crappy PR scheme to 'FAMILY Assistance Program'".

Go USA!

Wow!!!`

I have been offered a position in the Emergency Department!

Remarkable Inspiration

Good Policy or Paternalism?

The Nashville area hospitals (including mine) are all implementing policies for the new year to stamp out smoking completely from their campuses. That means NO SMOKING ever anywhere on campus. Nadda!

I absolutely loathe smoking and I agree with these new policies. I can't stand smoking and feel bad for individuals who are addicted (most of my family included). Hate the sin but love the sinner.

When we think of NO SMOKING policies most of us immediately think of acute care settings. Its no big deal to have the physician order a nicotine patch.

But what about long term care units where the hospital is also a home? Is it fair to deny patients the right to have a vice? Keep in mind long term care patients have access to outside smoking areas away from non-smokers.

In this instance is no smoking paternalism?

For your consideration. Think about a vice you may have and substitute it for smoking (social drinking, sports gambling, overeating, etc). How would you feel if choice was no longer an option for you?

Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Two Double Oohs & 8

Okay. So this is the only mention. I haven't posted in a long time. So I forgive myself and have moved on. LOL

What has Too Fat been doing all of this time?

Vacation. My family has gone without for so long while I changed careers that I OWED them a nice vacation. We bought an off season vacation package to SeaWorld & Busch Gardens (Florida). The kiddos loved it (even though they were too small to ride most of the rides). I have to give the theme parks some credit. They had sections specifically for the younger set. The wife enjoyed the time away from normal life. We spent a couple of days on the beach collecting shells before making our way home. It was a fun vacation and I can't wait to take the next one.

Re-fi. In the midst of the mortgage industry slump we managed to get a re-fi on our home to pay off some old debt and new (from nursing school). Yay!

Work... work... work. Work is moving along. Our census is up (lets hear it for job security) and staffing numbers are slumping. Lets hope the 'powers' get their act together and hire some more staff. Otherwise work is going well. I work on a good unit where 95% of the staff get along with one another and inter-unit fighting is kept to a minimum.

Winter Solstice. We attended a winter solstice party hosted by some friends of ours. We haven't been able to socialize as much as we liked to over the past couple of years so it was nice to see our friends again. Unfortunately they are moving to Georgia so we wish them the best of luck and hope they won't be strangers on their way back through to visit nearby relatives.

Christmas. Being the RN with least seniority on the unit I was lucky to have gotten Christmas Day off. The weekend leading into and Christmas Eve were filled with 12 hour shifts so I was pretty frazzled by the time the night of Santa's visit required LOTS of wrapping and tucking under the tree. Morning of went fine. We had a lot of fun and the boys got most of what they wanted (I am a firm believer in not getting EVERYTHING!). Grandma spent the night and was able to share the morning events with us (despite her lap dogs barking all night at Santa!). LOL. We had to miss the my family's big holiday get together but hey... there is always next year.

I am going to try and write more often. If I don't then I think it may be time to consider taking this blog down. We'll see how it goes in 2008.

Happy New Year everyone!

Too Fatt

Awesome!

iPod schmipod

3 weeks post 1 year warranty
iPod stopped working
called Apple support
"sorry. no repair available"

just satisfying my curiosity now


rot in hell Apple, Inc.

Not so much a guy thing...

I LOVE being an adult again with a real job!

Recently I bought something that at first blush had my wife rolling her eyes. I am the proud owner of a brand new DeWalt 12" Miter Saw... (insert Tim Allen-esque grunting here). It is by far the nicest power tool I have ever owned. Lowe's was having a sale and it just happened to fall in the same week as a 'freed up' paycheck.

Now the stereotypical thing to write might be... 'it's a guy thing'... but you don't run in the same circle of friends that I do. One of my good friends just so happens to own plenty of power tools and has a workshop... and... just happens to be a wife and mother of two.

So the possibilities are endless. I am constantly thinking about projects that need to be done and projects I would like to do. Now I have to get some lumber in here and start sawing away!

BTW, my wife stopped rolling her eyes once she realized that 'miter saw' equates to "New Front Porch Railing," "Backyard Deck," "New Flooring," and "New Privacy Fencing."

Can't wait to call up my friend so we can break it in!

Recalls... Recalls... Recalls...

It would make sense with all the recent Chinese made product recalls that one would like to stop buying 'made in China'.

Good luck with THAT!

EVERYTHING is made in China.

We are going to be as careful as we can this coming holiday season. Of course we will try to buy 'made in USA' and other countries whenever possible. One suggestion you may like to try is to purchase toys online.

A recent article by ABCNews is complimentary of the online companies notifying customers directly through email of recalls... which is something the rest of the retail industry is sorely lacking.

Being a nurse, former database administrator, and a parent makes me, I think, uniquely qualified in stating that retailers could easily use existing barcode/database/marketing technology to do a BETTER job of notifying consumers of recalled products.

If you think this is a good idea then I suggest you do what I have already done. Contact your representatives and demand the same thing. Sure would be nice if a Presidential candidate would jump on the bandwagon... but then of course that would mean less corporate donations pouring in from retail political action committees.

Ups and Downs of the Younger Set

We just got home from picking Seth up from school. And it was an interesting ride home.

"Poppa?"

"Yeah?"

"I got a red check today."

"What for? What did you do to earn a red check?"

[silence]

"Seth?... Tell me what you did."

"Someone got a red marker this morning at home and put it on my calendar."

Needless to say we had to get home and dig through his backpack to read the note the teacher left. Seems that after almost a month (3.5 weeks) of green checks... the kiddo had a bad day. Basically it boiled down to not listening to the teacher and causing a distraction to others.

As I write, Seth is in his room for the rest of the day.

"Poppa?"

"Yes?"

"If I get a green check tomorrow do I have to stay in my room?"

"No. If you get a green check tomorrow you will get to ride your electric motorcycle, play Xbox or Wii, and watch cartoons."

"Poppa?"

"Yes?"

"I don't like staying in my room."

Now he's getting the idea.

Guess its best he learns this at the start of the school year. At least he'll know for the rest of the year what punishment will be in store for him at home for anymore red checks.

On a brighter note... (aka Kicking your nemesis while he's down)
Ben has been semi-potty trained for a while. He'll take the initiative to go pee-pee in the potty but won't go poo-poo. That is... until today.

After Seth got his punishment handed down Ben started hollering from the bathroom. I figured he needed help with his pull-up. Nope. The little guy left Poppa a huge present!

We celebrated and he was thoroughly congratulated.

I'm thinking the younger is trying to show up the older... lol!

Which would you prefer as president?

The dry-drunk frat boy that we currently have (i.e. GeeDubyaBush) OR the class smartass?



I prefer the class smartass... at least there is some intelligence there.

Only in the mood to surf...

I visit a friend's blog regularly and also visit his link to Post Secret... check them both out.

Birthday Par-TAY!

Our youngest turns 3 today but his party was yesterday... in the backyard... in the heat!

We had a good time. My wife and I rented a 'Go Diego Go' bouncy castle and we setup a couple of shelters to keep the sun off of our 20+ guests. The kiddie pool was setup under the main shelter and the kids thrashed around getting everyone & everything WET! Despite the heat I think overall it was a good party.

Ben got lots of presents thanks to our good friends. He is big into "mals" (his word for animals) and I'm not sure if it is due to his liking the show 'Go Diego Go' or if it preceded the show. But either way he racked up.

The big present (from Momma and Poppa) was the battery operated four-wheeler. His older brother got a battery operated Harley at his 3rd year party... and now it was Ben's turn.

I searched for another Harley and couldn't find one so we had to settle for another 'type' of motorcycle. Either way it will be a fun ride. One thing is for sure. The new toy was a hell of a lot easier to assemble than the Harley. Now comes the long wait (18 hours) to charge the battery.

Maybe I'll buy a rapid charger?!

Wii have a Wii

That's right. I thought I should let you know that my sorry ass couldn't wait any longer to get one. Besides. My birthday is around the bend.

Confession time. I've been trying to hunt one down for a couple of days now. They retail for $249.99 (very reasonable as far as consoles go) and nobody had one. Sure I could have bought one off of eBay for 2-3 times the retail price but I refused.

Then today I just decided to call some of the businesses I hit a few days ago to see if they had any shipments arrive. BINGO! Toys R Us said they had a few but they couldn't hold any due to the demand.

I rushed right down. Into the store I went and WHAMMO! I was crushed to read a sign as I entered the gaming department, "Nintendo Wii Sold Out".

DAMN!

So I went up to the customer help desk to ask when another shipment would arrive. TRU associate 'Brad' quickly told me, "We aren't sold out. Actually we have six!" He went on:

"And for some reason they aren't selling as quickly as past shipments."

"Could it be the signs you have up telling customers you are sold out?"

"Oh yeah! I guess we should take those down."

Ah yes. I too remember those days of minimum wage retail work. It sucks!

Now even the most hardened critic (namely my wife) succumbed to the hip-ness generating from the console known as Wii.

I've owned many consoles over the years and have tried many, many more. My younger brother is a Playstation II fan while I was (kinda still am... just not as much) and Xbox fan. But the Wii is like no other. It is really good family fun.

We set it up tonight to play. The wife, our oldest and I played bowling while the youngest cheered us on enthusiastically. Its like having a bowling alley in your home. The disc packaged with the console also included tennis, baseball, golf, and boxing.

One of the other nice features I like is that the Wii came ready to connect to my Wi-Fi network without having to purchase additional hardware (unlike my Xbox). Once our bank account recovers from this purchase I'll use the Wii to surf online to their store and download some classic Nintendo games.

There are several channels preloaded. Most require an Internet connection. Forecast Channel, News Channel, Wii Shop Channel, Photo Channel and then there is the Mii channel. A Mii is a neat little way for you to customize your online player (body type, facial type, overall appearance) to use in your games and online community.

A free channel I downloaded is the Voting Channel. Its a fun little channel that lets you vote on various polls setup for the Wii online community.

I'm really digging this little white box. Its looks are deceiving. Anyone familiar with computer hardware might mistake it for an external CD/DVD drive. But there is a lot more in there than a disc reader.

"You are sweating like a... a... well... you are sweating a lot."

"Thanks honey. Now you know the FAT reason why I bought the thing!"