Prednisone in Action

Since monday, I have been taking 60mg of Prednisone to combat any nasty virus that may have been responsible for my hearing loss. I believe that I am beginning to see, or rather, hear results. The best that I can describe how I was hearing was to remove any bass from a song and jack the treble all the way up. Now, make the resulting noise sound really far off and you got it. That noise has changed as of last night. On the "weigh" to Weight Watchers, it sounded like I could hear more bass.

Hopefully this is a good sign.

Faithfulness in times of affliction

I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.

Psalms 119:75-77

Diagnosis

Today I went to the ENT Specialist regarding my ear and have been diagnosed with Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SHL). After the physical inspection, I went through the Audiology test, which showed that my left ear was not hearing lower ranges. The main cause of SHL is a viral infection of either the inner ear or nerve of hearing, and the main treatment is the steroid prednisone. I was told that there was a thirty percent chance that I would recover, a thirty percent chance that I would have no change and a thirty percent chance that this could worsen. If the prednisone does not do its job, we will move onto an MRI to get a better look at what is going on.

Cindy has told me that I have had selective hearing for about fifteen years, and seems to have started on the day we got married.

Dysfunctional

All day Wednesday, something just was not right with my right ear. Everything sounded weird. I knew something had been happening in there because for the past few months, listening to my cell phone was pitched differently depending on which I ear I was using. But Wednesday was worse by far. I knew I was going to Patients First (aka Patience First) when I got in my car to go home and the "seat belt" dings your car makes actually sounded like someone was playing two notes on a marimba. At least they were in tune.

I was diagnosed with Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (ETD, for those of you in the ENT business). Essentially, that little tube was remaining closed and not allowing for any drainage to occur. Fluid builds up, and I am assuming the ear drum can not vibrate correctly. I was given a prescription for Flonaze and recommended that I take Musinex DM. If it did not clear up by Monday, I received a referral to an Ear, Throat and Nose Specialist. Oh yes, I made that appointment toot-sweet.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, you never realize how much your hearing. I find it difficult to have conversations with people, watch TV or listen to music because it sounds like everyone is using a voice altering device to pitch their voice: musically speaking, it sounds like people are talking in thirds.

Hobo Soup

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

Late in high school, I started participating in my church's Awana program as an Awana Leader. On one event, we made Hobo soup. In case you have never had Hobo soup, let me describe it for you. Basically, everyone brings a can of soup and dumps it into this massive cast iron pot. Broccoli, Beans and other vegetables are also brought in and dumped in the pot. It has a brown, gruel like texture, and I don't even like broccoli that much. The result is something that looks awful, however, it tastes wonderful.

This verse from Romans is a lot like that good taste. God does not promise that every detail of your life will be good. We experience so many hardships in life: death of two siblings, miscarriage, loss of a job. These are things that I have faced in my life, and not a one of these details was good. But I believe that God has worked all of these together for good because he has called me to Him and I do love Him.

Neat Gmail Trick

I came across this "trick" today and will try it out. If you use your gmail account to purchase an item at Amazon, I use this email address username+amazon@gmail.com.

Gmail ignores everything between '+' and '@'. I believe that Gmail treats that as a filter. So, if Amazon sells my address to some Pr0p3cia, at least I know who sent it to them.

However, do not use this if your email address is the same for your login identifier. For example, if you try this with your Netflix account, you will find that you can not login as the '+' seems to be stripped out.

Adding Bad Movies to my Netflix Queue

I recently watched the Donner Cut of Superman II and thought, why not go ahead and watch the last two Chris Reeve Superman Movies. Yes, I know, they are bad. Really bad. I remember that I actually yelled at the screen in Superman IV it was so bad.

So here is what Netflix recommended that I might also enjoy: Jaws The Revenge and Batman and Robin. "Hey, he wants to watch Superman IV, what other crap might he like?"

Laser Cats 2

Wow! my last post really seemed depressing. The cool part was a victory that I experienced over being over whelmed. It was also neat that the Sales guy for our product called yesterday to see how I was doing. He had heard from operations that they were slamming us with requests. At least this wasn't all in my mind.

Anyways, enough of the serious stuff, on to some funny. This is a skit that appeared on SNL last week and made it onto NBC's YouTube channel. It has that "so dumb it's funny" quality that made SNL great back in the day. So sit back, relax and enjoy Laser Cats 2

Drowning

Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Psalms 69:1-2

Week one of 2007 was overwhelming. I can not recall a time that I felt so buried in work, pulled in so many directions. Friday was truly a blessing and a reprieve.

But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
Psalms 69:13-16

God is so good that he has heard my prayers and lifted me above the mire and muck. Sometimes, my pride does not even let me admit that I am stuck. Or, I am so buried, that I don't even realize that I need to cry out "Abba."

Weight Watching

Well, yours truly has put on a few of those pounds that he had lost (around twenty to be exact). So, I know that it easier to lose twenty rather than sixty, I started going back to Weight Watchers. Funny, it seems that everyone else had that same idea as well. Weigh-ins started at 6:30 and went on until 7:50. Many who attended the meeting were doing so while in line.

I went ahead and signed up for their monthly pass because I anticipate that this will take a couple of months concentrated point tracking and exercise. The monthly pass saves me a few dollars, but, it gives me access to E-Tools, which I used extensively the first time. Especially tracking my daily points while at work.

So, wish me luck and hope that you see less of me later!

Argh...Pirates!

So, it is 2007 and how did I spend January 1st? That day always seems to just mark time in view of the work day up ahead, all of the Christmas decorations had been taken down and packed away. As Cindy commented, it is always so nice to put the decorations away because you reclaim your house again. I think it is more like we are getting back to business. Even Homeschoolers recognize the end of vacation periods, so the children were wanting to make the most of their last day. So what did we do?

We played the Pirates Constructible Strategy Game. This game can be played with as little as one pack of cards, but we have several, and, thanks to Lorne from New York, we have a bunch of his "dubbles." For Christmas, Katie got a pack of the "Davey Jones" cards which included the Kraken Sea Monster. The game is simple, you choose your fleet, place down islands and distribute gold. The object is to retrieve at least 1/2 of the gold, or sink the enemy fleet. Katie fell behind on the gold collecting objective, but she sent two of my four ships to "Davey Jones' Locker" with that sea beastie of hers.

After this, we were pretty pumped up, shouting back and fourth Piratey Talk (Argh, Avast, etc) so I went and rented the Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. Clearplay did a good job of cleaning up the language in the film and skipping most of the gore. My feelings about the movie are still the same from when I saw it this summer, but, I think more kindly about it on DVD. The Cursed Crew of Davey Jones is really cool (especially the Hammer Head Guy), and the Kraken was a big hit. Unfortunately, the kids were also disappointed that the film did not have an ending. Me too kids, me too.

2006

I can not believe that 2006 is winding down. I can't believe that I have been posting on this blog for nearly a year. I've wandered back through various posts, and found yet another good use for a blog: capturing memories.

Some of the highlights of this year has been:

• Burglar Alarm 2oth Anniversary screening: This was the first time that I had gotten together with Todd, Jay, Rick and George in many, many years. Unfortunately, as we discovered, there is no brunch on the Vista, but IHOP is just around the corner.
  
• Birthday Star Wars Marathon: A full day of Star Wars, I - VI, what more could I have asked for?
• 20 Year High School Reunion: The actual reunion was not as much fun as the pre-reunion. At the reunion, I ran in Maria, who, as it turns out, I have known since Kindergarten. Also, my Youth Group buddy Stacie was there. Jeff B is now a teacher (that really blew me away). The Pre-reunion get together was priceless, and I hope we do not wait another 10 years to do that.
• Corolla Retreat: Got the chance to go down to Corolla, NC for the night. It was the first time in a long time that I can remember being away from the girls. And, they survived.
• Discipleship Study: Started and completed a discipleship study with Mr. Heath. What an awesome guy, with lots of insight. I can only hope that I can have that much insight one day.
• Buffalo Trip: I really had a good trip to Buffalo. Including getting lost, buying a GPS and Roller Blading at the middle school.
• Total Money Makeover: Potentially one of the biggest impacts in my life this year was my discover of Dave Ramsey. He kicked my butt, and got me thinking straight about how I have been wasting money.

2006 has been a good year for me. I hope that 2007 continues the trend.

Wiitastraphies

Have you seen this new game console from Nintendo called Wii? It differentiates itself with it's controllers that allow you to interact with the games by using "natural" motions. The brilliance behind this form of interaction is that it opens Gaming up for traditionally non gamers. For example, the console comes with "Wii Sports," a collection of games including golf, tennis, baseball, bowling and boxing. You can use the same range of motions with your controller as you would with, say, a tennis racket (backhand, forehand, topspin, etc).

However, there is a dark side. The controllers must be attached to your arm via a wrist strap. Already, a recall has been made on the initial straps. And, if you are too manly to wear the strap, then dozens of cases have been documented on the Wiitatraphies that have occurred (including, but not limited to, busted televisions and finger cuts).

Crown Me!

A few weeks ago, while enjoying a Firehouse Sub, I broke a tooth that had a hairline fracture for years. Fortunately, the angle of the break was clean, and I did not need to fiddle with wax to try and plug the hole. Today is the day that I go to have the tooth crowned. I am not looking forward to this, as a previous trip still lies darkly with me.

Review: Rocky Balboa

My introduction to Rocky was Rocky III, the Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan of the series. Unfortunately, it was followed up by two films that were not memorable. Rocky IV was a example of 80's Cold War fiction, pitting Rocky against a huge Russian ("I will break you"). I have completely forgotten the plot of Rocky V, except I thought Rocky had a heart problem. But forget about those two. It was Rocky and Rocky II that defined the soul of the boxer, his drive and his character. Add to those first two films Rocky Balboa.

You might think that you are going to see a "fight film." You would be wrong. In fact, there is only one fight in the whole film. But, this film is not about the fight, and it does not follow the typical formula. The formula where Rocky has a fight, loses the fight, training montage (powered by a Survivor soundtrack) and then the final fight, where, in the final seconds of the final round, Rocky wins. Rather, this movie is a heavy character piece, which was completely unexpected. And I think that is what I liked most about the film: I am more interested in Rocky as a man rather than Rocky as a boxing legend.

As a side note, Rocky owns a restaurant, and this reminded me of Ilio DiPaolo's restaurant in Buffalo. I've only been there once before Ilio died, but I had heard that Ilio, like Rocky, would visit with his guest, sharing stories of the ring.

Rocky Balboa: ***+
Theater Worthy and Approved.

Back to Work

I have enjoyed my five day "mini-vacation," but all good things must come to an end. Yesterday, my parents left and my in-laws arrived. This all took place in a matter of hours, and represents the quickest turn around for us on record. Here is a list of all the things I can look forward to this week:

1. Abbreviated work week
   
2. Mexican Dinner with Small Group
3. Visiting the Dentist to get a tooth capped
4. Early Release on Friday
5. Liberty Bowl
   

The Day After

Right after the Christmas feast, I put Scrooge into the DVD player. This has to be my favorite musical and my favorite screen version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

So...for all of the wonderful gifts received this year, I can only say:

Thank you very much!
Thank you very much!
That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me
I may sound Double-Dutch
But my delight is such
I feel as if a losing war's been won for me
And if I had a flag I'd hang my flag out
To add a sort of final victory touch
But since I left my flag at home
I'll simply have to say
Thank you very, very, very much!

Stuffed

After a morning full of beef stick, cheese ball, peanuts, crackers and a full on Christmas dinner with Turkey and Ham, I am full.

Off to put in Scrooge and enjoy the next two hours on my back.

Twas the Night before...Wait, it's 3AM!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Katie and Megan woke up at 3:00 this morning and could not be convinced to go back to sleep. They didn't "Sneak and Peak" this year, but waited patiently until 6:00. Thankfully, the Big Guy made it here after all, and all of their wishes came true.

Katie's big item was a "Fur Real" Butterscotch Pony. This toy is really cool! He snorts, neighs and eats. Along with the Pony, she got a "Lead Rope" and a tack box to keep the Pony nice and clean.

Megan received a "Pet Shop" for her little "Pets," a CD Player (she wore her other one out) and a "Fur Real" Monkey (again, another really cool toy). Santa revealed that the Pony and the Monkey were best friends and it just did not seem right for them to be parted.

And now, for something completely different.

I heard something on the Dave Ramsey show the other day and would like to share. It is a one of his "financial myths": Why would I ever want to pay off my home mortgage when I get such a great tax return from the government?

For the scenario, to keep all the math simple (besides, this was his scenario), let's make these assumptions:

Mortgage Amount: $200,000
Interest Rate: 5%
Annual Salary: $70,000

At 5%, the amount of interest that you would pay to the bank is $10,000. Since this interest is tax deductible, you do not pay taxes on 70k, but $60,000.

Now consider that you do not have a mortgage. Since you did not pay $10,000 to the bank, your taxable income remains at $70,000. How much would you pay in taxes to Uncle Sam on that $10,000? At 70k, you are in the 25% tax bracket. 25% of $10,000 is $2,500.

So, some might have you believe that it is better to send $10,000 to the bank in interest to avoid sending $2,500 in taxes to the government.