If ye be bold enough, click the picture above and this page will become: Pirate!TEXT:
Well me Hearties it finally be time for Talk Like A Pirate Day! We be Ready for some fun, so hit play fer the podcast and beware….
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I WAS going to write a post this morning about the end of the world that didn’t happen…but then Ralph covered it in his news wrap for the week.
Well…figgering if I was going to copy someone’s work, it might as well be the work of a GOOD writer…***snicker, snicker, snicker***…not to mention that I wanted to avoid a charge of plagiarism (after all, I’m a redneck from Georgia, not a liberal writer for the New York Times) I decided to post a post from one of my other blogs, JuicyMaters, that I wrote last week.
This way I can avoid taxing my limited mental capabilities by having to come up with a Plan B, and at the same time get some important information to you folks who don’t frequent my other sites. After sorting out the slightly deranged parts of the post below, you might find some important health information that might help you or a friend or family member. We here at Coots try to insert, occasionally, information that you can actually use…other than How To Be Cantankerous, of course.
For those of you who read both this and my other blog(s) and have already read this, sorry to bore you with what you’ve already read.
For those of you who haven’t been to my other blogs…why? You can learn all about yurts, homesteading, and other cool stuff at JuicyMaters, and I’ll piss you off with my political ramblings at Common Sense Conversation. You need to come over. You REALLY need to come over. I CAN find you, you know? If you’ve stopped by here we have your IP address, your browser type, and much more. With modern computer technology, stopping by here tells us a lot. We even know what you are wearing while reading this, right down to the color of your underwear…LOL. Visit our individual blogs of we might have to visit YOU!!!
Without further ado, here is that other post:
Reading time: 6-7 minutes
Yes you! When I say, “I kinda like y’all” I’m talking about you…the folks reading this. Besides being readers of my blog, I kinda sorta consider you folks friends…and that is why I’m writing this post.
You see, I like writing this blog, and since you are here reading it I assume you like what I write. It is sort of a symbiotic relationship. I write stuff, and you read my stuff, and we support each other that way.
The only way we can do that is for both of us, you and I, to be able to do our part, and that is what this blog post is all about… Staying able to do our part.
In case you all haven’t noticed, my posting has been a bit sporadic. Sometimes you will see two or three posts in a week, and sometimes you’ll be lucky to see two or three new posts in a month. Off and on, I have been having some cognitive thinking issues for about a year, and in the last two or three months the frequency and intensity of my “altered mental state” (fancy medical jargon for “more nuts than usual”) have been getting closer together and lasting longer.
That, combined with a few other health issues popping up, spurred my doctor and I to decide that I really needed to go in the hospital, have a few tests done (“few” being relative. I think I ran out of places to poke and prod) and find out just exactly what was going on.
Now for your regular readers of JuicyMaters, especially the ones that spend much time at the Family Homesteading and Yurt Yak categories, you already know that I tend to lean toward homeopathic medicine and I avoid big Pharma drugs as much as possible. With that said, there is a time and a place for allopathic medicine as well. This past week has been the time, and Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta was the place.
You have to be wondering where I’m headed with this… And if I’m in one of those “altered mental states” that I was talking about. Bear with me… This is actually going someplace that makes sense.
Among the other things they found at “Big Piedmont” was that my carotid arteries, both of them, left and right, were clogged with plaque. The right carotid artery was 30% clogged… Not enough to do the Roto Rooter on, but the right carotid was 100% blocked…TOO occluded to fix, oddly enough.
From a 50% occlusion to a 99% occlusion, doctors can clean out your artery, but once it’s completely blocked it is blocked for good…maybe. We’ll get back to that “maybe” in a minute.
Here is where I try to keep you folks, my readers and friends, able to read all this stuff that I write.
This problem has been coming on for a year or better. At first I ignored it, actually finding it mildly amusing. “Oh gee, I feel drunk and I haven’t had a drink in a few years…ha ha ha.” As time went by, as the episodes got more frequent, more intense, and lasted longer, I still played the typical macho American male… “I’ll get over it.”
As late as three months ago the problem probably could have been fixed, but I waited too long. Now, doctors tell me I’m just going to have to put up with it for the rest of my life. Understand, as long as my other carotid artery stays open it is really not that big a deal. Some mild disorientation? Yes. Occasional trouble finding a word I know as well as I know my own name? Yes. A need to nap occasionally what I was never much of a napper? Yes. But it is not a tremendously huge deal. For example, I’m still safe to drive.
But dammit, it is inconvenient… And was totally unnecessary.
The problem is simple to find before it gets too bad, and fairly simple to fix. In fact, it is so simple to find that many insurance companies pay for annual carotid artery ultrasound that will find the problem quickly and painlessly.
For those of you who might already have the same problem I do, remember that “but once it’s completely blocked it is blocked for good…maybe” back up there part way through this post? Well, while a 100% blockage might not be repairable surgically, I’m holding out hope that there is a homeopathic way to fix the problem. My research starts today, and I will let you know if I find anything that will help clear the blockage.
For those of you who do not have this problem, or who think you might but are not sure, here is my recommendation, from someone who learned the hard way:
For folks over 50, and certainly for folks over 50 who have diabetes and/or cholesterol problems, get an ultrasound of your carotid arteries annually.
If you and I both do that, I’ll keep writing stuff, and you’ll keep are reading this stuff that I write. I kinda like it that way, don’t you?
the personal computer
Computers have become like women. Absolutely essential, high maintenance and utterly impossible to understand. Today I intended to get some writing done. I was just planning a quick survey of email before I started and then everything got complicated.. My computer told me that something needed updating. Did I want to continue? You know how that goes. You can’t win. If you update, you have no idea how long it will take and what may actually be required. If you decide to pass, you get annoying reminders and sometimes the computer will go ahead anyway at a time even less convenient. I decided to go ahead. From there on it was hurry up and wait while it checked for viruses and other mischief. Meanwhile no writing happened.
My plan for the day was simple. I got up early, inspired to write. I had a few ideas competing in my head while I showered and had breakfast. I got to the computer at 7:00, inspired and ready to rumble. By the time the update was finished it is 9:00. My computer is once more behaving but the muse is dead- or at least on vacation. I don’t remember what was in my head. It wasn’t my fault. It was all because of a silly computer. These days we are completely depended on the darn things.
How did we get to this state of affairs? What made us so dependent on an electronic assistant? It is so unnatural and for a guy that completed his education before anybody even invented a personal computer, so unexpected.
I grew up before computers took over life. I used pen and paper to compose my school work all though school. In those days I could write anywhere. I just needed a pen, some paper and a flat surface. Writing was valued and it was important that your writing was legible. People wrote letters to friends and family and mailed them. You used to actually like getting mail because there might be a letter. Letters were considered literature. Not any more. Now all you get is email and test messages. Who looks forward to them?
Remember the typing pool?
When computers started invading the workplace, it was quite an adjustment for me. My brain got stuck when I fingered a keyboard. It only worked when I had pen and paper. Some folks learned to dictate memos and the like but I never mastered the organization it required. Unless your brain had it worked out from the start, your document was fatally flawed. I had to write.
Then they put a computer on my desk and told me to use it like a typewriter. Happily, the computer was nothing like a typewritier. I spent six months of my Army career typing Morning Reports for Bravo Company at Fort Leanoard Wood. Typing Morning Reports meant multiple carbons and only 3 errors per report. (Errors could be crossed out and corrected but if you made too many you had to start again.) Typing was torture and an endless task until I discovered corrasable typing paper.
I learned to love word processing because it let you fix errors before ever producing a document. It took some time to master the brain connection however so that I could actually compose at the keyboard. My brain still required a pen in hand to operate. It went blank when I sat at the computer. At ifrst I would write out a draft and then type it just like I used to type my college papers. Over time, however, my brain made a new connecting and I could think and type at the same time.
Then came the idea that everyone needed a personal computer and here we are. These days it seems that everything I do depends on my computer. It’s where I make notes, store documents and organize my activities. Now that I am absolutely dependent on a computer for almost everything I do, I approach each day with trepidation. I am completely at the mercy of my computer and I don’t have a clue what to do when it gets tempermental or balks. I’d love to say goodby and good riddence to my computer but I’m afraid it’s too late. Without my computer I’m helpless.
TabletPC2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I don’t know that everyone is as frustrated and torn about computers. Maybe you love them or just tolerate them. What’s your computer story?
Finally!
Large amount of pennies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s another bad week for news. I don’t mean that there isn’t any. There are plenty of news stories but nothing you really need to know. If you wait ‘tll the end of the post, I’ll share Bob’s stories. You don’t need to know them either but, they may provide some diversion.
This week only one story has news you can use. It’s another example of why Canada is eating our lunch these days. Quietly and in small increments, our neighbor to the north is making tweaks that improve their economy. Today’s tweak is the elimination of the penny. It’s a small thing but imagine the many ways this will simplify life for Canadians (and save money to boot).
In the US, pennies have been nothing but a nuisance for years. People throw them away or stick them in big jars at home because they are such a nuisance. Sixty years ago, we had mills (plastic coins representing one half a cent and one tenth of a cent). Those disappeared after the War as irrelevant. With sixty years of inflation, the cent is worth less than the mill when it disappeard and yet we still are stuck with it. How long before our leaders in Washington show the sense of the powers in Ottowa?
Don’t hold your breath.
And now for your titillation, Bob’s story of the week.
And what do you think about the penny? Should we follow the example set by Canada or should we keep it?
waters on the Adams river thick with Sockeye salmon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Once again it’s time for our Cantankerous Old Coots news report. I don’t know if Bob is getting to me but all of the stories today are about government. Now that I think about it, these days it is hard to find any aspect of life where the government hasn’t gotten itself involved. And as soon as the government starts messing with something, they find unintended consequences that they have to fix which cause other unintended consequences and soon enough we have a whole government bureaucracy to manage something that took care of itself for millions of years at no cost. Once you intervene into Mother Nature’s affairs, there is just no getting out. As they are finding out it Oregon. It’s not so easy to do something nice for the beleaguered salmon. First you have to say ‘May I’.
In California, lawmakers discover that loveable sea otters just can’t play nice with fisherman and don’t believe in the rule of law. Bill would keep Southern California’s controversial ‘no-otter zone’ in place
Don't fence me in
The other story this week takes us back to Germany. German politics is always interesting because Germans seem unable to manage with only two parties. With two parties, politics is simple and boring. You have a majority party and a minority party. One controls and the other fusses. When you have three or more parties, then nobody has a majority and politics is a mess. Messy politics, coalitions of people that don’t get along and gridlock are probably the main reason the European Union was formed. With the EU, bureacrats run everything and voters don’t count. Like the EPA back here. Governing is easy unless you are the poor citizen. But I digress.
German’s used to love the Green party but with the solar debacle, Green has gotten a bad name and out of nowhere a new party has emerged to take it’s place. Move aside Christian Democrats. Make way for – The Pirate Party. ARRRRG!.
Don't mess with the pirate party
As usual, Bob has sent some more stories that titillate his funny bone. Don’t blame me.
