Sunday, April 29, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Sprint Express Cellphone Review
I got my first smartphone a few weeks ago, after losing my 3 year-old LG Lotus (awesome phone).
This is the Sprint Express:
Not a bad looking phone, but poor battery life and constant dropped calls soured the experience for me. Here it is after I slam dunked it into the concrete this morning after the third dropped call in 5 minutes:
This is the Sprint Express:
Not a bad looking phone, but poor battery life and constant dropped calls soured the experience for me. Here it is after I slam dunked it into the concrete this morning after the third dropped call in 5 minutes:
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| Dammit! I lost my temper and killed my smartphone! |
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
A Small Miracle....
I ruptured my right eardrum back around 1986 while I was down about 60 feet deep in a freshwater quarry during scuba diving training in PA. This put an abrupt end to my hopes of becoming a dive master unfortunately.
Actually I never did get an official diagnosis from a doctor, lacking any medical insurance at the time, having been fairly broke since college graduation about three year's earlier. All I remember is that I felt a sharp pain in my right ear and then blood was flowing out of it and I then became somewhat - though not completely - deaf in that ear.
The bleeding eventually stopped, but my hearing came back about 50% and remained about that level in the years that followed. Years became decades. A few weeks ago I became completely deaf in that same ear, drastically affecting my daily life. I got sick of saying "what?" all the time, so I went to a FNP (family nurse practitioner) during a visit to my adopted home town of Nashville, TN recently on unrelated business.
I had originally stopped by an M.D. office in the same strip mall, but judging from the opulence of the waiting room itself and the attitude of the receptionist, they obviously were so dependent on insurance that I immediately got the sense I was about to incur a huge doctor bill if I were to go through the whole nine yards of bullshit they were about to hand me in the way of exams, tests, MRI's and the like. I said thanks, but no-thanks and cruised one door down to a FNP's office, with which I had no previous experience, but had heard good things about.
It was called the Xai Family Medical Clinic". A paper sign on the door read, "walk-ins welcome". I had a feeling this was the right place for affordable care! A slightly built Asian man was the only one on duty. He was the nurse!
I informed him of my lack of insurance and he said, "no problem. We charge $65.00. How is that?" I said that would be fine. He then had me fill out a short one-page health history and promptly brought me back to the examination room. He gave me a short bio of his resume. It turns out that he had worked all over the world and had ten year's experience as a nurse! This made me feel better.
He also said that he had some experience working on ears. Good enough for me. Anything beats myself sticking a tweezers in my ear in the bathroom mirror, trying to pull out whatever it was that had been blocking my ear canal for a good two decades plus!
He then brought out a big plastic syringe, a jug of water and a curved plate for me to hold under my ear. This should be interesting.....
He told me that "this will probably hurt". I said, "okay fine". He then inserted the narrow tip of the syringe into my ear and proceeded to irrigate it with a fair amount of water pressure until it spilled out of my ear and into the curved plate, along with some small red chunks. "Blood clots" he said. Yes, it did hurt, a lot, but I was ready to go for broke at this point. I was glad at least, to see something come out of my ear.
After about four more irrigations he had managed to dislodge a number of chunks of debris from inside my ear canal. He said that the rest was in too deep and needed to be softened up first before I would be able to make more progress. He then prescribed this over the counter product and said that I would probably need to treat with it three days in a row before I completely cleaned the ear canal.
Actually I never did get an official diagnosis from a doctor, lacking any medical insurance at the time, having been fairly broke since college graduation about three year's earlier. All I remember is that I felt a sharp pain in my right ear and then blood was flowing out of it and I then became somewhat - though not completely - deaf in that ear.
The bleeding eventually stopped, but my hearing came back about 50% and remained about that level in the years that followed. Years became decades. A few weeks ago I became completely deaf in that same ear, drastically affecting my daily life. I got sick of saying "what?" all the time, so I went to a FNP (family nurse practitioner) during a visit to my adopted home town of Nashville, TN recently on unrelated business.
I had originally stopped by an M.D. office in the same strip mall, but judging from the opulence of the waiting room itself and the attitude of the receptionist, they obviously were so dependent on insurance that I immediately got the sense I was about to incur a huge doctor bill if I were to go through the whole nine yards of bullshit they were about to hand me in the way of exams, tests, MRI's and the like. I said thanks, but no-thanks and cruised one door down to a FNP's office, with which I had no previous experience, but had heard good things about.
It was called the Xai Family Medical Clinic". A paper sign on the door read, "walk-ins welcome". I had a feeling this was the right place for affordable care! A slightly built Asian man was the only one on duty. He was the nurse!
I informed him of my lack of insurance and he said, "no problem. We charge $65.00. How is that?" I said that would be fine. He then had me fill out a short one-page health history and promptly brought me back to the examination room. He gave me a short bio of his resume. It turns out that he had worked all over the world and had ten year's experience as a nurse! This made me feel better.
He also said that he had some experience working on ears. Good enough for me. Anything beats myself sticking a tweezers in my ear in the bathroom mirror, trying to pull out whatever it was that had been blocking my ear canal for a good two decades plus!
He then brought out a big plastic syringe, a jug of water and a curved plate for me to hold under my ear. This should be interesting.....
He told me that "this will probably hurt". I said, "okay fine". He then inserted the narrow tip of the syringe into my ear and proceeded to irrigate it with a fair amount of water pressure until it spilled out of my ear and into the curved plate, along with some small red chunks. "Blood clots" he said. Yes, it did hurt, a lot, but I was ready to go for broke at this point. I was glad at least, to see something come out of my ear.
After about four more irrigations he had managed to dislodge a number of chunks of debris from inside my ear canal. He said that the rest was in too deep and needed to be softened up first before I would be able to make more progress. He then prescribed this over the counter product and said that I would probably need to treat with it three days in a row before I completely cleaned the ear canal.
Needless to say, this stuff worked like a charm! I picked some up at Walgreens and treated it again the next day, excited that the FNP had actually found something in my ear. I put the drops in and laid on my side on the couch for about 20 minutes. I could feel the stuff bubbling deep inside my ear. I then got up and used the provided rubber syringe over the sink to force a jet of water deep inside my ear canal. I was encouraged when several large red chunks washed out of my ear. After a while nothing further came out, so I put things on hold until the next night.
Night number two was discouraging because I only managed to dislodge some small chunks-nothing major. I still had no hearing in that ear. Perhaps I should use 15 drops instead of the recommended 10 drops of Debrox? I also made a mental note to use hot water next time for the irrigation process.
Night number three came and I anxiously applied 15 drops of Debrox to my sore ear canal and laid down for 30 minutes this time. Then I went to the sink where I drew very warm-almost hot water from the faucet and sucked it up with the syringe. I stuck the tip deep in my ear canal and squeezed- pretty hard. The hot water rushed into my ear, but it hurt so good, because several large chunks came out of my ear and suddenly......I could hear, clear as a bell too, for the first time since 1986.
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| Blood clots in my ear since the mid-1980's..... |
Monday, April 16, 2012
Dear Obama
A TEACHER FROM THE GREAT STATE OF MISSOURI MAY LOSE HER JOB FOR STANDING UP FOR
ALL OF US.
Give this teacher, a true American, a standing ovation. This 4th grade teacher has said it all, and she was brave enough to attach her name to it.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington , DC 20500
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.
I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
ALL OF US.
Give this teacher, a true American, a standing ovation. This 4th grade teacher has said it all, and she was brave enough to attach her name to it.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington , DC 20500
Mr. Obama:
I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally
You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth.
I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?
Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?
Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You didn't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir?! How dare you?!
You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you? I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you.
You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.
What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now?
I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.
I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.
Sincerely,
Every real American
P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'.
PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL LIST.
It's past time for all Americans to wake up!
Ms Kathleen Lyday
Fourth Grade Teacher
Grandview Elementary School
11470 Hwy .. C
Hillsboro , MO 63050
(636) 944-3291 Phone
(636) 944-3870 Fax
This woman may lose her job for this letter. I believe we owe it to her for expressing the outrage that we feel but fail to address. Please pass this on.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Tent Life
Despite my best efforts, I have still been unable to find a decent place to live in Okeechobee for less than a small fortune for rent. As far as paying big bucks to live in Okeechobee, I simply will not do it-I refuse.
So I'm still in this old trailer park for super-cheap rent. At least I'm banking some cash, but it sure is depressing. Here is a picture of the outside:
I recently returned from a trip up north to check on my real house, which I am apparently never going to get a chance to live in, to find mouse turds on my bed and God only knows what else is living in here. It looks like the place is infested after all.
Here is a picture of an Arizona Wolf Spider I found dead in the kitchen, so at least I know the pesticide I sprayed all around is working:
Regardless, after my latest attempt at finding decent housing failed today, I decided to go to Wal-Mart and buy a small tent to at least sleep in at night inside this trailer, so I can feel comfortable knowing that nothing will be coming out to suck my blood while I sleep....
So I'm still in this old trailer park for super-cheap rent. At least I'm banking some cash, but it sure is depressing. Here is a picture of the outside:
I recently returned from a trip up north to check on my real house, which I am apparently never going to get a chance to live in, to find mouse turds on my bed and God only knows what else is living in here. It looks like the place is infested after all.
Here is a picture of an Arizona Wolf Spider I found dead in the kitchen, so at least I know the pesticide I sprayed all around is working:
Regardless, after my latest attempt at finding decent housing failed today, I decided to go to Wal-Mart and buy a small tent to at least sleep in at night inside this trailer, so I can feel comfortable knowing that nothing will be coming out to suck my blood while I sleep....
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