November 8th

Wow, what a weekend, not only was the weather perfect here in the Atlanta area (sunny and temps in the mid to high 60’s) but the weekend was super successful and both Judy and I hit some pretty major milestones.

Not a lot of people know this but as of the beginning of October Judy and I moved in with each other at her house. Normally that would not be that big of an issue. But both of us are major pack rats and we had a lot of double stuff that was just piling up in our living room and back office. So we did what any good American dose, WE HAD A YARD SALE.

That’s right, having all the neighbors come by your house and dig through your junk, so they can find treasures beyond belief. It was the perfect day for doing the sale, we cleared everything that we wanted to get rid of and stuck it all out on the driveway for all to see, and adore. The sale went from 9am till 3pm, and we ended up not really having anything left to keep. We had a pretty constant collection of people coming to the house all day (even before the official start time) and even had a few shoppers come back three or four times for more stuff. It was a really pleasant experience and glad to have helped others line their homes with our “junk”.

Sunday though was the big day; I actually went hiking for the first time in almost six month. What’s the big deal about not taking a hike for six months you might say, well first off I love hiking and walking, and usually try to do a decent hike at least once or twice a month. But something bad happened to me a few months back that kept me from being active for quite some time. It also leads into part of the reason I wasn’t around for quite some time on the site and some pretty big changes had happened over the past few months.

Let’s take the way back machine back to August of this year, for quite some time I hadn’t been feeling well, and when I say I hadn’t been feeling well that’s pretty big for me. I’m usually one who just keeps going and going, nothing really gets me sick. I had never been in a hospital since I had my tonsils out when I was seven. At fist I thought I had a normal everyday cold but then It started to get a little tough to breath and I started having really bad night sweats. So me being Mr. stubborn just took some over the counter medicine and lived with it for a few weeks. Finally Judy convinced me to go to the doctors since I now had health insurance.

I went to the doctors and the first thing she said to me was, “You don’t look too good”, I thought, gee that’s a nice thing to say when you first meet a new patient. She did a few tests, and listened to my heart and my breathing since it was now at the point where it was hurting to breath. I told her that Judy thought I might have walking pneumonia; she said maybe but then wanted me to have a chest x-ray. So I went through thinking, “ok this is fine, she will maybe prescribe some bed rest and some anti-biotic”. Boy was I wrong, more wrong then I had been in quite a long time.

The doctor came back into the check up room and I asked her if I had pneumonia? She said “no Michael, it’s a lot worse, it’s your heart”. I think at that very moment every ounce of color I still had on my face drained completely, and I think I had a massive flash of my life. I asked if she was sure and she said No she wasn’t, but according to the X-ray it looked like my heart was enlarged and pressing on my lungs (hence the pain breathing). She wanted me to wait a few minutes and then go to Piedmont Hospital and have a Echo Cardiogram on my chest to make sure the x-ray was correct. This might sound funny, even though I had no clue what was wrong with my heart at the moment, I was kind of relieved, because in the back of my mind lung cancer had started popping it’s ugly head, since Mom and my Uncle Fred both died from it, and my lungs were hurting so bad at that time. My heart I could almost deal with, cancer, not at that moment.

So she gave me a few minutes to call Judy, and let her know what had happened, Judy of course was extremely worried and said she would meet me at the hospital. It was weird being the one to keep her calm when I was the one who had no clue with what was going with his body. Like I said before this was the first time I was in this situation with my body. I was always there for friends and family when they took ill. I drove myself to Piedmont and all I could think about if this was it, how pissed I would be not to have my life with Judy and watching William grown into the great man he will someday become. But I kept a good attitude and made it to the hospital to get the test done.

The test they gave me wasn’t very intrusive at all. It’s called an echo cardiogram it’s basically the same tool they use on a pregnant woman when she has a sonogram. They studied my heart doing all kinds of scans, and measurements. After about 35 minutes or so they told me that I didn’t have an enlarged heart, and that my heart was very strong and healthy (thank god), but I did have fluid around my heart, it’s fairly common and it’s called pericarditis. Pericarditis is an offshoot of a cold, sometimes when you get a cold it settles into your chest or into your head, but with me it settled around my heart and it started collecting fluid that usually is absorbed into your body, in my case it wasn’t. They were worried that they might have to drain the fluid so they wanted to keep my in the hospital to observe me for a few days.

It was completely weird being in the hospital for five days, with nothing to do really except rest. It was weird being in there surrounded by people who were gravely ill, and me who just had a bad cold. After the initial shock of being in the hospital and the joy of getting poked and prodded for tests and to see where my levels were at, things got pretty old hand around the hospital. I think I was ready to leave within 20 minutes of arriving but the doctors decided for my best interest I should stay and enjoy the hospitality of Piedmont Hospital for a bit. After five days I was given the clean bill of health and the doctors were impressed with how much the fluid had drained from my body, they let me go and told me that I had to take it easy for a bit. So much so that I was told that I wouldn’t be really fully removed from this incident for up to six to eight months. So that meant no really strenuous activities or events for quite some time. (I couldn’t even work out or lift anything heavy). Which kind of sucked since I always prided my self on being an active individual.

Being in the hospital was a read eye opener. It showed me how mortal one can really be and who really means the most to you. Judy was a complete trooper through the whole ordeal coming to visit all the time and just being a total worrywart through the whole thing, but it wonderful having someone in my life to be there for me like that.

Now that I’m almost fully removed the hike was almost like a coming out party for me, one where it’s now time to get back to “normal” and live my life to the fullest, and enjoy everything that comes my way.

Here’s looking at you kid.

Peace

Mike

Here's some images from the hike:

November 4th

Yes dear readers, this isn’t an illusion nor a fantasy, not even an alternate universe version of Faber’s Place. Com, we are back in action once again and will be coming to you almost daily or when the mood strikes me to write something that’s been on my mind. Yes I know you have heard this before from me but this time I really mean it. I have too much to talk about and have been keeping quite for so long. (God that sounds like a Tori Amos song).

Gosh so much has happened to us since last we spoke, no idea really where to start, I guess with the obvious one, the recently past US Presidential Election. Well it looks like George W. is going to “running” the show again for the next four years. I don’t know why but this year’s election felt so important to the world. I wasn’t a huge fan of either candidate but John Kerry was more in tune to my beliefs (especially since he had chosen John Edwards as his running mate).

I’m a little disappointed that the American people had chosen to re-elect an individual with the IQ of a Disney character. On Election Day I was so hopeful and upbeat that Kerry was going to win, even the exit polls and large turnout were pointing towards a landslide against the president. Boy was I in for a shock. When the results started coming through it was almost depressing to see how low Kerry was doing, I don’t think he ever had a lead going. Around 11pm Judy and I finally went to be and George W was leading 196 to 113 I think. Figuring it was pretty much over at that point we shut the TV and bitched about the election for a few minutes on our way to sleep.

When we awoke the next morning I had planned on hearing on TV all about the landslide victory for Bush, but to my surprise it was down to five electoral votes, and there were some concerns in Ohio about the voting. I thought “Oh CRUD” here we go again. Mercifully we ended up with Kerry realizing the cards were against him and decided to concede the election.

Do I think George W. won the election fairly. NO. Do I think there was tampering with the electronic voting machines in different states YES. This is one of the first times in the last 60 years that the exit polls were off 180%, and there is just too much irregularity in the stats to make it this cut and dry. I’m not usually a conspiracy theorist but man, I think the Republicans did it again to the American people by stealing the election, but they just did it a lot smarter and sneakier.

Ok that’s enough rumbling for my first shot back, I hope everyone on your end is doing well. The next four years are going to very dangerous and very tense. I’m hoping to be here to help lighten the mood the whole way, and ranting and screaming the whole time.

Talk to you soon

Peace

Mike

P.S. Here some pictures from Halloween, William was the Black Power Ranger and his friend Sara was a mermaid.

September 13th

Yes the schmuck who runs this website is finally back and getting ready to entertain you with all his adventures from this summer. You could say I went on a summer vacation, of sorts. Some of it was good; some of was not too pleasant.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to filling you guys in with everything. For tonight though I will tell you I am on the road to recover, and finally starting to feel like myself again. Sorry to be so vague, but you will understand when you the whole story.

Hope everyone enjoyed their summer and I fully expert a handwritten report on my desk by the end of the week.

Now I’m sure your glad I’m back…. (Ok, the report can be in Word format)

Here are a couple pictures as a tease of this past summer..

Peace

Mike