Losing Proposition : Health, Wellness, Education

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Naturopath Makes My Day

Most of you know that I have HEP C. I went through six months of treatment, where I nearly died from the side effects of the "cure." The cure worked for the six months and then one month after I finished the regimen, the virus was back.

According to traditional medicine, my choices are to go through another year of the same treatment and side effects, with little hope of better outcome. Or, I can do nothing and hope that research will give us a real cure before I die.

I was a bit depressed as you might imagine. I started planning my demise, writing my epitaph, creating a "bucket list," and putting my affairs in order.

One of my girlfriends had seen a naturopath located in Wimberley, which is a town about 20 miles from where I live. She said the doctor would look at my complete health and lifestyle and would not think "inside the box," like the doctors at the Veteran's Administration.

I finally went to see the doctor (MD) yesterday. Naturopathic medicine is based on the belief that the human body will heal itself with help from diet, exercise, lifestyle changes and natural therapies.

So, I am going to take supplements, change to eating low on the glycemic index, drink Chinese herbal tea and begin taking medicine using a nebulizer. Oh, yes, I have to EXERCISE!!! Time to buckle down and do it. No more excuses.

He said that I am in much better shape than he expected and that he saw nothing that meant I could not live a long and healthful life.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

BluFrog, Richard Petty and Me

Have you seen the BluFrog contest? They are offering five different prizes, one of which will be just perfect for you.

Ultimate Gaming Package : Xbox 360 Elite Gaming System with a Rock Band 2 bundle
New Years Eve trip to NY : spend New Years Eve with a friend in Times Square
Lollapaloza in Chicago : you and a friend could attend the Lollapalooza music event
Richard Petty Racing Experience : take a friend and learn to drive like a race car driver
Winter X Games in Aspen - grab a friend an attend the 14th Winter X games

I would love to win the Richard Petty racing experience. You may not know it, but my first career choice was race car driver. However, this was pre-Shirley Muldowney days and it was not an option at the time.

You can enter the contest three times:

Leave a comment on the contest page detailing the experience you want to win and why.
Tweet how BluFrog is better, adding #bluworld and http://bit.ly/UiiJy to your tweet.
Blog about the contest and which prize you want to win. Leave a comment on the contest page with the URL of your post.

Each comment, tweet or post counts as one registration. The contest ends July 17 at 11:59 EST.

I received two cans of BluFrog for St. Patrick's Day and put them in my refrigerator. They were gone the next day! My oldest said that BluFrog tasted like fruit juice (contains papaya, pear, mango and apple juice) and gave him a boost like other energy drinks. I like BluFrog because it has less sugar, less calories and fewer carbohydrates than other energy drinks. BluFrog is loaded with vitamins, too!

You may order BluFrog online. If you are looking to make some money, you can introduce BluFrog to friends and coworkers and receive a commission on their sales.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Internet Interruptus

48 minutes on the phone with someone in India, constantly repeating my phone number, repeating my name (spell please) and my problem(s) and Finally I convince someone who can barely speak English that the best solution is a Service Call. 48 minutes of Pure Frustration paid off when I was connected to Dispatch. I thought if I got one more recorded message asking me if I had re-booted the modem and/or my computer before calling Tech Service I would give the Re-Boot to the recorded voice right through the phone line! Please note - this is not the First Call, this is the Last Call. We are now at the End of our patience. We will no longer accept anything but final resolution - Ha! Take that huge phone company corporation - just try messing with us. Yeah, right, like they care that we're frustrated to the point of Insanity. So is this where we open the door to the "To Have Internet or To Not Have Internet, that is the Question" issue? another day, perhaps?

So, this morning "Mike" arrives. I explain how our wireless goes down constantly, our desktops run at "slower than molasses" and we are basically holding him hostage until we get some answers. He said our problem is in the wiring. He goes outside and completely re-wires, he comes inside and completely changes our hook-ups, all of which was done by the last Company Tech sent out. Okaaaay.

Now he says our signal strength and speed is what it should be - and we are Healed. I immediately requested his personal phone number so when (ok, and if) it quits working again we can go straight to him so he can come straight here and see the problem while its happening (ok, if it happens again). So this is as good a time as any to give it a go!

Do you know what the service guy told me? He said if he has to replace our modem, he has to call India, "and that's an argument" - he said he would have to figure out how to get them to let him install a new modem if that turned out to be the problem! Is that sad or what? He said they read from prompters and only from prompters and are not allowed to respond other than what it says on the prompter. except for the omnipresent "Yes, I understand." Which adds to your frustration level because you just Know they Do. Not. Understand. That's u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d. arghhhh.

So why does this Major Phone Company make their service techs dial India? Hmm? The service guys don't have a good answer to that question, and are every bit as frustrated as the rest of us. He said it's a nightmare to convince them to replace defective equipment! Weird, huh? Well I hope we're done with Internet Interuptus. Hope being the operative word here, along with our modem working faster and stronger and BeT-Ter! Feel free to vent any tech frustrations in the Comment Portion, and could you spell your name please? :) Sincerely, your typical "I Want My Internet and I Want it Now!" American.

PL& F, y'all.

P.S.I googled "downtown delhi India" the photo here is a result of that search. And no, I'm not about the level of English the Indian employees have mastered, I'm more concerned that we have people in our own communities who could use the work.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Fireworks & Everything the Fourth Brings Forth

Our new neighborhood really surprised us last night. Starting about 9:30 fireworks lit the sky, all around us our neighbors were celebrating the 4th of July. This is our first 4th here and I was thrilled to be able to sit on the front porch & watch the beautiful fireworks. We always did fireworks, especially in Montana where we lived on a private lake and the dock was perfect for setting off fireworks. Here we have a heavily wooded yard, so we're unable to get enough clear sky.

In addition to Independence Day, we celebrate July 4th for our son's birthday. He turned 23 this year. Well, you didn't hear this here first - Where does the time go? We have a tradition of talking to our son every birthday about the day he was born - some of it he hears every year, some new things come up now and again. We really don't care whether he's tired of it or not, we just keep on remembering to him every year - and he does get into it - he laughs with us over our excitement and funny memories, and actually asks questions. Now that he's older it's a different experience, this "birth day" story. Up until about 15 or 16 he mostly listened, laughed at the telling and absorbed the emotions shared between the three of us. As he grew up a little more (notice I don't say "became an adult"), he started participating more in the telling, getting a little more new "parts" to the remembering of the day, now we talk about more than just the hours at the hospital, we've expanded into the day before, and days after. Including when the nurse first brought him to us in my hospital room - we've already covered him being handed straight from me to his Dad in the operating room (C-section birth). It's a good birthday tradition for him, for us too. And he expects it to be part of the day now, that's great.

The sniffle part comes when he takes the remains of his birthday cake and goes home, he's a big boy now, not my little one. I don't tuck a tired kiddo into bed anymore. I can handle it. Yeah, sure. Well, I can. I'm actually okay. I thought I would miss him more than I do, but the going off to college transition with coming home on holidays worked really well and now I like a visit now and then, but then go home, know what I mean?

It's been pretty hot the last few weeks, and I'm ready for a break in the weather - I hear I can expect it around the end of September! That's okay too - I love Fall and Winter and Spring - so I can live through the summer, it's only a few weeks of the year.

Diet is still number one and my willpower is strong. I'm living pretty worry free right now in regards to being tempted off into Bad Food Land. They don't have Fireworks there, Birthday parties either - so you see, it pays to stay out of Bad Food Land. I fully intend to have Fireworks and a Birthday party too, lots of both please.

PL&F, y'all.