To B(log) or not to B(log)…….

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……)

You Decide 2008

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

Name that …….. skate shop!

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!

Total Momsence……

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.

Test # 2

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!

Adenosine Test #1

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.

Britain’s Got Talent!!

This guy rocks!

Make a run for the boarder!

My dad left for his annual migration to his mexican beach house. He is a little later than usual. But we were soo happy he stayed as long as he did. He really stepped up his grandpa duties since we moved a little closer. It has meant a great deal to my girls and I to see him so much this fall. But…since he is in Mexico I can finally catch up with his emails! Ok, I will explain. My dad has discovered “yahoo search”. So he will search for something, cut and paste the url of the search results, then forward them to me. The only problem is that there are like 17,234,324,222 results for “green board”!! So I have no idea what he is looking at. And his subject line will be something like “chk this out, some cool stuff” and no text body, just the url! I dont even read them half the time because I cant keep up. Like 20 a day!! I just leave them unread.

Now dont get me wrong, I love to get email from him daily. It lets me know he is healthy and it keeps our communication lines open. But I rarely have more than about ten minutes to check my email(s). So last night I took the time (and yes I read and click every one, hey its my dad) and went through about 120 FWD’s and url’s. And I am happy to report my inbox is now silent. Dad, I hope you have a wonderful time in Mexico, see you in the spring, and all my girls send hugs and kisses to Grampa R.

Broken Heart; Chapter 2

Well I went in to see my cardiologist today. I have been having some “odd” feelings in my chest for the last week. It is different from before and there is no pain involved. But it seemed to concern him enough to schedule a test next week.  The test sounds…interesting. But not looking forward to the radio active part.  Its called a Nuclear Adenosine Stress Test. Doesn’t that just sound peachy? I should have the results by Tuesday next week. I will let you all know how it goes.

After a year of eating Grape Nuts for breakfast EVERY day and only getting my precious beef once a month, you would think I would be done with this. Makes me feel like going out to the Texas Road House and getting a juicy prime rib, a pint of New Castle, sniffing some glue and smoking a cigarette!  (Just kidding of course but that was the worst thing I could think of.)

Anyway if it puts  the brakes on me again, maybe I can spend more time blogging and working on my business plan.

As always pray for my health and God’s guidance in this epic Heart saga of mine.

“Free HBO” or “Headline Hypocrisy”

I just love TV!!! I mean where else can you be subjected to in-your-face consumerism with a dash of sexual content while you wait to stick your nose in the business of Brittany, OJ, and some guy that makes his career marrying and murdering. Love em’ and leave em’ (in a query pond!). Then there is the “real” news. How about the new game show for bachelor immigrants, “Who wants to marry a US Citizen”, or the back to back stories, “Ban spanking” (which makes good parents criminals) and “Pregnant woman tasered for not “cooperating””. Keep in mind she was at a police station, unarmed and “get down on the ground” poses a little of a problem. So I can’t spank my child , but electrocuting a pregnant woman because your ego was hurt is ok? Now I know that someone will comment “there’s more to the story”. DUH!!! But does it matter? No, because here is my point; I unplugged my TV for the past 5 years and guess what? The world went round without my cable connected, and 5 years later its still the same worthless junk on TV (and people are still just as stupid)! So I am going to un-plug it again and check back in another 5 years or so. It’s just such a waist of time. Oh and this is the part where I tell you the only reason we plugged it in was because the cable company never un-hooked it after the last folks moved out!! Haha!! So technically I am not breaking the law. Kind of like I bought a hotel room, only bigger! My house came with a fridge, a coffee maker and free HBO!