Here we go again?

Well, I promise not to do this very often. However, for those of you who have kept track of us through this blog, I want to give you an update.

We truly don't know how long this has been happening and don't know what the outcome will be at this time, hence the question mark at the end of the title of this post. Myrna's father has been having diarrhea for a few days at least. We're not sure how long the diarrhea has been going on, but, last Friday, Myrna noticed a considerable amount of blood in his stool. She called dad's family physician who highly recommended we take him directly to the emergency room. We did. After several hours of tests and waiting, they discovered a mass in his colon. They immediately admitted him to the hospital. Incidentally, he was admitted to the same floor that Mom was on, actually could see her room directly across from dad's. Kinda weird. (I mentioned to Myrna that maybe it was time we came to terms with mom's death in that hospital. Dunno, but it could be.)

Endoscopy was performed and a mass was determined to be right near the connection between the colon and the rectum. X-Ray determined the size to be about the size of a plum and surgery was scheduled to remove it. Options were not great. Leave it and he would die from not being able to have a bowel movement. Remove it, with his heart condition, take the chance that he wouldn't make it through surgery. Not good options, but the doc highly recommended the surgery with the hopes that the heart would take the trauma and that, perhaps in the future, his heart issues could be addressed. Without the surgery, no heart problems resolved and no chance to even consider anything else.

Surgery began at around 5:15pm on 6/29/2010. We met the doctor after surgery (around 7:20pm). The surgery entailed removing the tumor, all of the lymph nodes around it, and some of the wall of the abdomen because the tumor had started attaching to it. The doctor was quite happy that dad had survived the surgery fairly well. Blood pressure is a little elevated at this time, but dad seems to be stabilizing. Now, begins the waiting. Dad is in ICU at Lexington's St. Joe hospital. We're trusting God to pull him through. Several weeks of rehab will follow release from the hospital. So, this is a long process. We won't know the outcome of the biopsy and the lymph node examination for a few days.

Of course, the end is certainly in God's hands. We would appreciate your prayers that dad's heart handles this trauma, that he recovers well, and that we are able to live into this new phase. Thanks for your prayers. We know they will definitely help us.

FHA and Louisianna

Bureaucrats and lawyers, which are better. Well, in this case, I gotta side with the lawyer. This is great and proves my point further. Read on.


FHA LOAN

Part of rebuilding New Orleans caused residents often to be challenged with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership. Here's a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client:

You have to love this lawyer........

A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.

(Actual reply from FHA):

"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."


Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows: (Actual response):


"Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus 's expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana . God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our damn loan?"


The loan was immediately approved

Return to "normal"?

One of the Pittsburgh Steelers, upon the return of Ben Roethlisberger from suspension, "We just need to return to normal, whatever that is." See, even dumb jocks know that normal is subjective.

Come to the USA? - Ray Stevens!!!

In this day of such wild accusations and crazy thoughts, Ray Stevens has come up with another gem. Watch this. Regardless of your political persuasion, I think you'll enjoy it. So, laugh a little. We're crazy like this ...

Bloodmoney Film - Disturbing?

To learn more, go to: http://www.bloodmoneyfilm.com/index.php

Sunday Morning?

Sunday Morning? Well, for some this is it. Gotta love it. :-)

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

2 posts, 2 days?

That's right, two posts in two days.  I forgot about this story.  I thought it was quite ingenious.  The story is about someone who has created a machine that will give the person minimum wage.  All it is is a handcrank on a box that is calibrated to spit out the correct amount of money to equal minimum wage as the person turns the crank.  It comes to about 1 penny for every 5.04 seconds of turning.  Turn the crank - get paid.  The longer you turn, the more you make.  Meaningless?  Yep!  But, it earns a wage. :-)  What can I say?  It's as brilliant as some ideas I've seen.  Here's the link.

http://gizmodo.com/5512338/minimum-wage-machine-pays-you-715-an-hour-for-cranking-a-handle?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+gizmodo/full+%28Gizmodo%29

As always, it just shows that people are weird.  Right?

Which key?

I have a good friend that just told me a story on herself.  I've done some crazy things, but never one like this.  She was on her way into the office with an armload of books.  Standing in front of her office, she held out her keys and pushed the keyless entry button for her car, kept pushing it, absently thinking it would unlock her office door.  Just then, a colleague walked by.  He said to her, "Let me know how that works for you."  Yep, wrong key or wrong door. Yep, weird. :-D

What is allegiance?

Just a quick word about another thing that makes folks weird.  Have you ever said or heard someone say they love some thing?  A car?  A boat?  A job? A house?  Yep, you've heard it and probably said it yourself.  I know I have.  However, I've started re-thinking this.  When you say you "love" something, that means that you hold that in highest esteem.  It takes the place of all others.  To say I love the church denomination to which I belong means that I would die before I would change.  Hmmmmm?  Well, I'm not falling on that sword!  I like my Jeep, my church, even my job, but none of them enough to die for.  In this, you are the weird person for using that language.  We're too casual with it.  We love everything.  NO!  I love my wife, my God, and perhaps even my country.  Do I love my Jeep that much?  Nope.  I enjoy it.  So, if you find yourself in agreement with this short post, you will start working on this on a regular basis.  I'm not trying to expunge the word "love" out of my vocabulary.  Not at all.  Actually, I'm trying to elevate it by prizing it so much that it is used to signify exactly what I'm meaning.  That's it.  Love, but understand what that means and use it wisely.

Status quo vs. change? And the winner is?

You know, it's really difficult to accept change.  It just is.  We say we embrace change, we like it, we think it's needed, even necessary, but when it comes right down to it, change is loss and the unknown.  Even if we know the change is going to be better there is still a sense of loss because of what was, the comfortableness of what was - we had gotten used to it and we knew how to adapt to what was.  Now, what is or will be is the unknown.  Buyer's remorse?  Same thing.  Even though we know what we've just purchased may be better than what we had, it's still difficult because of the unknown. That new car may roll off the lot and break down and I'll have a "lemon" on my hands.  None of us want that.  Besides the embarrassment at having been taken, it's the hassle of the trouble we've brought on ourselves. Ya know, I wish I could say I always embrace change and want it. The reality is that change is just difficult.

Allow me a rather sad illustration.  Perhaps you've known someone to be in an abusive situation.  You've scratched your head and wondered, "Why don't they just leave?  They would be better off, safer, and happier, so they should leave.  NOW!"  And yet, they stay.  Why?  Aw, I know, plenty of theories abound but I believe one of the biggest reasons is just what I'm writing about.  Change.  Status quo, even though unhealthy, is "knowable" and therefore more comfortable than the unknown of change.  That abused person may even admit that change is important and necessary for survival.  But, you'll hear them say things like, "But, when he's good, he is such a wonderful man; loving, kind, compassionate.  It's only when ..."  Or, "Yes, but, she can be the sweetest person around.  Most of the time.  It's just that ..."  Hmmm?  Change?  That abused person is saying, "Nah, I'm comfortable with this because of the safe, loving times.  I know what to expect.  I think if I avoid 'this' I won't trigger 'that' and I'll have the best of both worlds."  We all know that won't happen and eventually the person's very life may be at stake.  It's because status quo is much more comfortable than the change because change represents the unknown and the status quo, though perhaps unhealthy, is known.

One final thought: should we make changes for the sake of change?  Absolutely not.  Our Creator built us to enjoy the comfortable.  Change for the sake of change is disruptive and harmful as well.  We can talk about that at another date.  Suffice it to say, living in constant disruption is not good and definitely not healthy.  Stability is necessary for change to ever be effective when the opportunity for change comes.

Why is unhealthy status quo preferred above healthy change?  Because we're WEIRD; that's why!