5 loaves, 2 fish….did someone say Fish?

Sorry, I have not been feeling like writing lately. I will soon be posting some stuff about my trip and the likes. But I think I need a break for a bit. Thank you all for keeping up with me, sorry for the lack of posts.

I am traveling to San Diego to bury a long time friend. I wont be checking in until late next week.

I am not really sure what being “tagged” means. Nothing on my blog or my dashboard indicated I had been tagged. However using my powers of deductive reasoning, I guess it has something to do with adding a link in this post to some of your blogroll friends, and also making sure they are reading your posts. So anyway I guess I have been tagged, thanks Nick. Here it goes!

1. Grab the nearest book to you that has 123 pages or more. (No Cheating)
2. Find Page 123
3. Find the first five sentences
4. Post the next 3 sentences
5. Tag Five people

And here is what I came up with:

“During the night, their sleep was interrupted by many blood-curdling cries and howls; they were glad to be up an hour before dawn, to have prayer and then breakfast.

“But presently, all of the sudden, they heard a great and strange cry, which they knew to be the same voices they [had] heard in the night, though they varied their notes, and one of their company, being aboard, came running in and cried, “Indians, Indians!” and withal, arrows came flying in amongst them . . .two muskets were discharged at them, and two more [men] stood ready in the entrance of their rendezvous, but were commanded not to shoot till they could take full aim at them . . . The cry of Indians was dreadful . . .”

The skirmish continued, with neither side gaining any advantage, until several of the Pilgrims, wearing coats of mail, rushed forth from the barricade and discharged their muskets together.”

-”The Light and the Glory” by Peter Marshall and David Manuel

Sorry that was so long, but it was a quote within the quote. This spiritual history of the founding of America has become an ongoing bestseller, now introducing a new generation to America’s Christian heritage. It is curriculum for my 3 home schooled children. It offers great insight to the truth about our history and some obscure figures that were more integral to our foundation that some of the more popular lore.

Carol Ann Kelly, Rob Kelly, Greg Stier, Debb Bresina, you’ve been tagged! (Sorry, I only have 4. And not sure they all read this.)

That is the question! Do you ever find yourself obsessively checking your blog hit counter? Clicking through your blog roll, and their blog roll, to find a new post? Waiting days on end at the edge of your computer chair, for SOMEONE in your blog roll write something new? Hoping SOMEONE would leave a comment (because that was a really good post)? Wondering if your visitors even read your post, because how could they not leave a comment (because that was a really good post)? Because I mean think about it. Are we writing to “express” some inner journalist in us, or are we really trying to communicate our lives to those we know? Do any of us really care to read about the daily life of someones cat, or their opinion on politics?

Well I hope that at least some of you answered yes to some of the questions posed. I check my hit counter daily, click through my blog roll daily, love it when someone comments, and hope to communicate a small part of my life with those I know. I did answer no to one: I dont like blogs that ramble about cute kitties or pseudo-intellectual rhetoric.

So I wonder why no comments. I came up with a few reasons.

Blog not, least you be blogged yourself.

Blog unto others, as you would want blogged to you.

Blog your neighbor as you blog yourself.

These are the guide lines of good blogging. (Yes I know I borrowed them from somewhere) If you want to read fresh posts on your blogroll, you too must commit to fresh posting. If you want more hits, click on others. If you want more comments, leave comments for others. And if you are going for the rhetoric bent to your blog, at least write something that inspires, heals, brings joy, and uplifts others. Refrain from big words (I have a thesaurus too) unless it is to make a profound point and you can do it with taste and excitement. And never forget, this is only cyberspace, you must bring the reality in with you.
By the way, why is blogging so fun and addictive? (Excuse me, I need to go check my hit counter……)

Sorry, I couldn’t resist….this is pretty clever!

I need help! I am working diligently on opening an xtreme gear shop here in my town. It will carry everything skate, paintball, snowboarding, and climbing. (and anything else xtreme people want) I am diligently working on my business plan and need a name to fill in the blanks. It needs to scream xtreme! Something catchy that will be easy for one to say “Hey, lets go down to “______’s” and check out his new “__________”. So I have some ideas but I just can’t seem to settle on one.

Here are some perimeters for the theme:

Skate Shop, Extreme gear, paintball, climbing, cool place to be, uplifting, mentor (I still want to “reach out” to the youth) Delta, Highway 50, Colorado, Rocky Mountains, Grand Mesa, Black Canyon, skater lifestyle, hard core, bones. Just to name a few.

So here are some names:

Big Daddy’s Xtreme Gear Shop (or a variation like Big D’s) Rocky Road Xtreme Gear, or Rockies Xtreme Gear

Black Canyon Xtreme Gear. Benthic Zone Skate Shop (play on words, you will have to look it up, but it could be a cool logo!)

Street Disciple or Stone Disciple, anything like that ( I know there is already a skate shop called concrete disciple and a rapper that calls himself the street disciple)

Holy Roller Skate shop (ok cheesy I know, but hey, we are brainstorming here! There is a skate park in LA named this)

Big Daddy’s Boards ‘n Stuff. Delta Skate Shop. Delta Xtreme. Hyw 50 Skate Shop (BTW Hyw 50 is the only coast to coast Hyw and it goes through my town) Go Big Xtreme Gear.

The Concrete Wave, The Stone Wave, Street Wave.

Ok you get the picture. So I expect any one who visits this site (not just my regulars) to vote or add. And any logo ideas (from, say, a certain graphic designer) to fit the theme of the name would be cool too!

Ready, enter your vote………………………………………………..now!

This is for all you moms in the crowd! God bless you moms! You can find this on YouTube if you want the words…lol.

Oh my…it appears I forgot to finish this entry! Forgive me all, it must have been all the radio active juice in my blood! So anyway this is how my second test went. Pretty much like the first, but it turns out that the first test is a control test and only the Tc 43 was administered and not the adenosine. So the second test they gave me a “pushed” IV of adenosine and made me walk very s…l…o…w…l…y on a tread mill to circulate it through my blood. And let me tell you….IT WAS HORRIBLE!! I felt like I had run 200 miles in like 30 seconds and I was just walking. It made my heart rate shoot up past 120 bpm, I started sweating, every muscle went weak and sore, and I felt like I was having a heart attack! It even gave me a bad taste in my mouth.  And I was only WALKING! The drug apparently simulates physical stress, and people react differently. Some report no change at all and others (like me) report that it “totally sucks!” The really weird thing is less than a minute after they turn of the IV push….its gone. You feel totally normal. It is so weird that something that makes you feel so nasty is gone in 60 seconds! To bad we cant get over the flu that easy.

Anyway, it was then back to the weird x-ray machine to take pictures of my heart and listen to the two nurses go on about the lives of their children and try to catch a few z’s. I finished up there, and ate at the hospital cafe. It was pretty good! They really had an amazing grilled salmon for a hospital.

So..the results. I am told that all the pictures and monitor read-outs were normal, which would indicate I am ok. However, because I had a reaction to the adenosine, they are required to say that the test was “inconclusive.” Therefore I have a regular stress/echo test on the 21st of this month. I will let you all know how that goes. For now though, my cardiologist attributes my “weird chest feelings” to a possible mild case of some weird chest cold that has been going around. It really stinks being so gun shy about my heart these days. But I continue to swim (about a 1200 yd continuous and then a 100 sprint, 25 on the 25’s.) Most of my symptoms have all but disappeared. Thanks for all your prayers!

B-O-R-I-N-G!!!!! So the nurse comes in with a metal box, pulls out a lead-capsulated syringe and pumps me full of nuke juice. I am asking myself the whole time…”She has to carry it in a metal box with one of those yellow “nuclear” stickers on it, it is in a lead syringe, and some how this is ok once it is in my veins?” I move to a room with the scanner and they lay me on the table, slide me under the machine and say “she that donut shaped thing? Thats your heart.” Now to things strike me as funny here. One; all I see is a bunch of dots on a screen….like something from the Matrix, except in black and white. The other was that the nurse just likened my heart to a donut! I have a clogged artery and she wants to talk about junk food!

Well I spent the next 30 minutes listening to the two nurses talk about their children and complain about over-time. Just about the time I am falling asleep (marked by the drool) the beeper goes off and the say “Thats it”, and instantly I get a cramp in my Lat! (I have had my arms over my head for a half hour at this point.) I get up and they say “See ya tomorrow at 1100, and remember no caffeine or chocolate!” Thats it….So I left starving and glowing. Say tuned for tomorrows adventures.

This guy rocks!