the journey has come to an abrupt halt

not the poker part i still enjoy poker altho i havent played much lately

i had a stroke early februry and it has left me with a paralyzed left arm, amoung other things..

so i decided to start a new blog

ill be making posts there from now on

peace

Home Owner ( or ower )

I bought a house today. At least, I think I did.

Last saturday, I went to the subdivision and picked out a small lil number that would be ready in 90 days.. then, over the weekend, I decided that I really didn't like the floorplan, so, when I went back this last Monday with my earnest money, I picked out a different plan, and they said that they would have to build from scratch.. ok, whatever.. as long as the lot isn't sucky..

so i picked some colors for the exterior and the interior, and then a few upgrades.. and signed a crap load of paperwork... then yesterday, i was at the lender's office, which wasn't really the lender, but an 'originator', who will sell my loan to a 'servicer'..

so Misty, that was her name.. went over another crap load of paperwork and had me sign it all, and when it was all said and done.. i asked..

so, did I just buy a house?

and she said 'pretty much'

So, I am not sure what kinda calculator they use for figuring out my credit, but, I want one for work.. figure it could solve a ton of my cobol problems..

anyway.. expected close is july or august, and until i actually get a key.. i doubt I will believe it actually happened...

plus side is that the monthly payment is only 28 dollars more than i told myself i could handle, and that was a high estimate on her part.. and I intend to bring more for a down payment than she figured in the magic calculator computations...

im kinda excited, and still kinda in shock... ( i doubt i picked matching colors for either inside or outside, cuz, i am no good at that.. and I am sure i didnt pick anything that matches my furniture, which at the time, I didn't know was necessary.. )

Its not a big home.. ( 1100sqft ), but its twice as large as any apt I have been in.. and it has a garage, and a yard, and a tax break...

I'll be taking pics as it is built, unless they decide to use a different calculator and figure me out..

peace

Baby nephew

a few posts back, I mentioned my nephew being born with a herniated diaphram, and a 30% chance of survival. ( he was born early october.. )



Couple of month laters, we have the normal, I am taking a poop pose:

You go Hayden!

Peace

Merry Christmas!

YAY ME!! I got City of Villians to compliment my City of Heroes PC game.. moo ha ha...

( Actually got a gift card from target.. but, target didn't have it, so picked up a movie, Fearless, instead.. then after hitting CompUsa, Circuit City, Office Depot ( cuz it was right next door ), finally found City of Villians at BestBuy. And I'll link them, since they had it.. )

Had to come in to work tonight, and after I fixed the problem, decided to stay for a shift, so, I can play CoV all day tomorrow.. so went to the 7-11 to get some java, and was approached, by a bum, asking for, not a quarter, not a buck, but, 10 dollars.... whoa!! Inflation at its best... Now, the story doesn't end there... this 'bum' noticed my Texas Hold'em cap and asked me if I was a gambler... to which I replied, "oh no, I never gamble, I just take calculated risks".. he found that amusing and challenged me with:

"If I tell you a funny poker joke, will you give me 10 bucks?"

I chuckled and said, " If it makes me smile, I'll buy you a cup of coffee." (which I had planned on doing any way) "and if i decide to share it, I'll buy you breakfast".

"ok" he said.. then, cleared his throat:

( now I have no idea how old this joke might be, but, I never heard it before )

"Why don't elephants play poker in the jungle?"

"I just don't know" was my humble reply.

"Too many cheetahs."

heh, well, I handed him a 5 dollar bill and told him I would share it will my poker buddies... he thanked me and then said:

" I got another one... "

heh.. I had to go.. but, I figured he earned that finsky... I was gonna give it to him anyway.. being Christmas time and all, and he didn't smell too bad, ie, drunk.

We draws name in my family, at Thanksgiving, to decide who buys what for Christmas.. the adults do anyway.. the deal is, each adult gets one gift from some other adult, but, the kids get whatever.. with the parents of the kids being responsible for the crap they don't need, ie, Wii, Nintendo, Playstation, et al...

I try not to spend more than 20 bucks on each kid.. I used to spend up to $100, but, that was back before there was a dozen of them.. back when then were only 2... ie, mine. heh.. times change tho, and families grow.. anyway.. I picked up a mechanical wine bottle opener for my mom.. let me see if I can find one to link to... sumtin similiar to this, which will come in handy for her, as she is becoming elderly and all that comes with that... ( she doesn't drink wine alot, but, likes to open a bottle for guests and what not ). Her and my dad, pretty much have everything they could possibly need, or want, so, its not that easy to find sumtin for them.. Anyway, I picked up a bookshelf style game, Stratego and he flipped over that.. he is 12 years old.. I had that game when I was a kid..

But, the piece day resistance.. I pulled out the magic singing magnets.. heh.. of which I had picked up 4 sets the day before.. 3 bucks a set.. 12 bucks plus tax.. one for my dad, my bro, my bro in law, and my afore mentioned nephew... you would think I had given these 4 men a million bucks.. they forgot all about all their other gifts, and proceeded to spend the rest of the day, playing with their magnets.. go figure....

Peace!

I met my Grandson the day he died

Well, as you can see, it has been awhile since my last post... just haven't been much in the mood.. shortly after hearing about my nephew, who is fine now.. my daughter called with horrible news about my grandson... I flew to Iowa as quick as I could, to be with her, my son, and their mother.. it was a very sad time... difficult for all of us.. and the mourning, for me, lasted awhile..

I had never met Orrin, before that day.. I estranged myself from my daughter, not on purpose.. and certainly not planned.. nonetheless, true.. I spent the last 24 years expecting the bond her and I had until she left me, with her mother, at 4 years old, would still be intact.. no matter what actions I took or did not take... and on most occasions, the latter.. how naive of me...

But, she wanted me there, to be by her side as her son passed away.. along with her mother, and her brother and sister(half). And this was not going to be one of those times where I neglected her..

Orrin was playing outside of he paternal grandparents house.. a 15 month old, prolly barely walking.. fell in a coy pond and drowned before anyone found him.. Becky was at work, as was the father.. he was in the care of the grandparents.. he was revived, and kept alive by all sorts of machines, until the family arrived, and at about 10:30 am, monday, the 9th of october, they disconnected the last of the machines, and he passed on about 8 minutes later..

Since then.. not much has mattered to be in my life.. certainly not poker.. and certainly not blogging... I pretty much immersed myself in work... coming in early, staying late, working weekends... I kept taking mental notes of stuff to blog about.. and occasionally i would fire up a SNG on Absolute.. but, it just didn't feel right...

Now, today, a little over a month after the loss.. I am remembering how 2 years ago, when I was in a similiar physcological 'perdicament'.. I starting blogging, and the daily writing of thoughts and such helped me.. and since I really don't like working extra hours.. I am going to start blogging again...

I love my children very much.. and I know they know this.. but over the last 20 years I just have not done the things a father should do, in regard to his children.. and it was due to my own selfish needs.. even tho there were mitigating circumstances.. I could have and should have overcome those obstacles.. I can only hope that I am not too late realizing how stupid I am..

So, for my loyal 2 or 3 readers, now you know why I have been absent..

This year in summary, has infact, been pretty sucky...

pnemonia in march
auto accident in july
kidney stone in september
nephew with herniated diaphragm in oct
loss of grandson in oct

I got like 40 bucks on Absolute I built up from nothing.. gonna start playing again and see if I can't make it 400.. :)

See ya in Vegas!!!

peace

News of Baby

baby went in for surgery today at about 11:30 CST they were done about 2pm... out of the three possible reasons for the hernia, baby Kayden had the least complicated one... the best of the worst, so to speak.. he is way way out of immediate danger... they were able to put his inards back in place, and watched his lung begin to accept air... inflate a bit, is how the doctor put it.. and they are going to let his heart move back into position on his own...

it went well.. they said it usually takes about 4 to 5 hours.. so, it went pretty quick.. he got a small incision ( well, some for an adult.. about 2 inches ) where they went in to work their miracles.. and then a smaller on for the scope they put in so they could see things..

Mom and Dad are very relieved as are the grandparents... me too. we were all there all day... praying and what not.. pretty scary, not being able to do much, cept worry...

So, thanks for all the kind words and all the positive thoughts....

He will still be in intensive care, for about a week, and they are hoping to take him off the ventilator later this evening...

There was a huge sigh of relief in that room..

Requesting good thoughts....

..prayers, vibes and what not..

My brother and fairly new wife had a baby yesterday.. not all is well tho.. will just quote what my dad sent me..

Kayden has a hernia in the upper part of his diaphragm which has allowed an intestine to enter the left part of his chest and deflate the left lung and pushing his heart to the right side of his chest. He is getting only 58% lung function. The doctor will not know the extent of the problem until he goes in and has a look. Could be that the diaphragm didn't grow together in front (this is the less severe option and we are hoping this is the problem as it can be correct the easiest without further complications), Could be a hole or tear in the diaphragm and third there could be no diaphragm at all. Hayden is stabilized on a ventilator now and is getting oxegen and etc through various tubes. If he stays stable for a few days the doctor will do surgery in a week.
He is in the neonatal ICU at Brackenridge Children's Hospital, so we know he is in good hands.

I'm just trying to help console the family and just be available for anything.. feel rather helpless atm....

peace

oh oh oh

tonite is the premier of Heros on NBC.....

really looking forward to that....

couple highlights from this here blog...

First Post

First Comment
( who woulda thunk )

First time I was quoted approvingly: ( and last heh )
**
At 9:37 AM, BadBlood said…

"I know if the flop is gay, it will end up costing me more than I care to pay"

That's classic stuff right there :)
**

that's it... maybe will look for more later doubt it, but, ya never know...

got my car back finally... finished with therapy and finished with medical...
meaning, the accident from july 31 is entering yet another phase...

Amazing Race was not watched as usual last night, due to Extreme Makeover, Home Edition catching my attention first... I kept flipping back and forth, missing something from each show, making neither one all that great an experience....

( I don't do TIVO and my VCR just isn't recording like it used to )

But, my pick of Peter & Sarah ended up and first place this last leg.. go team go!

peace

update about accident

so an update on my condition..

ouch ouch ouch

neck and back are pretty much in constant pain.. nothing so bad as I need to be stuck in bed or such.. but, it is there none the less...

doctor is gonna put me on physical therapy, and we meet tomorrow to get that rolling....

missed about 2 days of work so far, if you add up the hours...

muscle relaxers and pain killers make me feel like a drug addict, or at the very least, a hollywood mogul that 'must' have his pain meds, cuz he has millions of dollars... now, i dont have millions.. so, i guess im stuck with the drug addict...

good thing about that, is that i am able to realize it.. so, prolly wont actually become a drug addict.... they sure make me feel happy tho



so, basically, im ok.. just hard to move neck without some pain.. and walking or standing or sitting or laying too long aggrevates my back..

peace

More accident photos

the driver of the 18 wheeler is there, in the orange tshirt, on the phone.. and you can see the top of my head in the background...

The bird bite

While I am post pics, might as well show you the bird, and the damage he did to me....

the bite was on Thursday, July 21st.. I took the picture of my injury on Tuesday, July 25th, 4 days later..

So, I'm driving along...

... minding my own business... on my way to my parents house, which I am house sitting til tomorrow, and lo and behold...











This happened about 3pm.. I finally got to the house about 4:45... was on the scene for an hour and a half.... now, this big ass truck, which lost its brakes.. plowed thru a guard rail while bouncing off cars on his left.... I was the last car to be hit... he just tapped me...

I was sitting in traffic... heard a God awful noise.. looked in my rearview mirror.. and what I saw was just like out of a John Woo movie.. a big ass out of control 18 wheeler plowing thru the traffic behind me, about to run up and over my car, crushing it, and me, in the process... I had about 4 feet between me and the car in front of me, and about 2-3 seconds to act... I moved over to the left as far as I could, not caring if I hit the vehicle that was there... and went foward at the same time.. I think this saved me from any serious injury.. as he would have rearended me for sure.. as you can see.. the damage was to the passenger side rear... I forgot to mention.. during those 2-3 seconds I had to act.. my asshole closed so tight a pin would not be able to pass thru, AND my life passed before me.. in a flash...

One of the other folks that got hit, had a camera and promised to email me the pics.. hopefully they will, and I can post those as well.....


I am not hurt, as yet... Ill prolly be pretty sore tomorrow tho, as I am sure every muscle in my body tighten up in anticipation of death.

peace