Another day to be blessed (thanks to Shawn for the title)

Its 11:15 am

    Wow,I can't begin to tell you have beautiful the day is outside. It looks more like a summer day then a early spring one and I can almost hear my lawnmower crying out to "Fire me up"!
 As you could see in the last post,I was feeling a bit in a funk...its just been a rough week here on the ranch. But I'm going to shake it off and get a couple of projects done. Going to re-work my job search again,make up a another master list and see if I can shake something loose. While I am still hoping for DHS to call,I haven't been resting on that...but something I'm doing is not working so back to the drawing board for sure,right?
   And I'm cooking dinner tonight,completely solo. No help from Lori other then answering any questions I may have. Now I have cooked before but its been more like a team effort but not tonight....Its going to my show and Derek has already meowed that he'll be my sous chef. I'll take him up on that offer....and well let you know how we do. Today dinner,tomorrow Iron Chef America!
  Now how do you boil water again.......?
A lady in a nearby town made national news this week because of a 30 pound wild turkey that attacks her every time she comes out of her house. Calling the turkey "Godzilla",she says it ambushes her whenever she steps out of her house and since she has to go to the post office 6 days a week to get her mail,that is at least 12 encounters with this goofy bird she has to deal with.
   I have seen wild turkeys by my in-laws house up in northern Michigan but never been close enough to have one charge at me. I have had a chicken charge from behind me when I lived in San Jose and a Canadian goose charge at us when we were visiting Lori cousin's gravesite. I merely laughed at the chicken and charged back at the goose but a wild turkey? I don't know if that would be a good thing,Godzilla actually jumps up and tries to claw at this 69 year old woman and has drawn blood. But I give the brave lady credit,she uses either a broom to a umbrella to ward off Godzilla and tries to out think him. All the gun loving NRA card toting zeroes probably be planning a frontal assault with 20 redneck friends and some AK-47s.

But she isn't calling animal control on Godzilla,she thinks once the weather changes,he will be more into his flock of fellow wild turkeys that live behind her house on state owned land.
 Going to post this now and start a new entry,had a POV about the whole Rush mess but re-reading it,have decided its just not worth talking about. Guy is a asshole but if you don't like what he says,just don't listen to his fat ass.

Saturday Randomness

Its 10:55 am

    Its a beautiful day this morning. Its time to get in a walk,pay some bills,listen to some music and finish reading the Tom Delay book. I also have done something I haven't done in a very long time...I bought some new(ish) music,our local Dollar Tree got in some CDs and I ended up getting 3 of them instead of books. I'm actually sort of proud of myself for not buying anymore books on this visit..
 
Its 8:11 pm

    Back at the keyboard.....Chely Wright is singing sweetly on the iPod. I love her voice,it has such a soulful feel to it but with a country twang. Chely was a staple on country radio because of her voice and a popular video artist because she is a real beauty. Always thought she should have been a much bigger star,great vocals,looks and a writer? That is a rare combo in country music that you see these days. Ironically I found her album Metropolitan Hotel in the same Dollar Tree store about 3 years ago. Funny how that goes.
  The day wasn't exactly what I call a barn burner,paying bills,sorting and filing coupons,cleaned up the cat boxes,laundry and general house work.
  Was talking to a fellow writer who is a novelist today,she was having problems coming up with a workable plot for a chapter of a book she is writing. I told her I can relate,have always struggled to write smoothly and easily,some days the words flow and I can write a lot of good stuff and then I have days like today where I'm fighting to put words down. It helps I have music playing,it help relaxes me but I think the fact Lori is gone to see her parents and getting some sad news last night has stalled me out a bit.
  Last night I read that Amy Rauch Neilson,whose blog "Its In the Genes" is listed on my Blog I Follow list,is really struggling now with her cancer. She has fought breast cancer for years,it went into remission and then came back. I discovered her because of a local news story that journalist Amy Lange did on her brave fight.
  Because of Amy's blog,I was able to learn what to expect in some respects what Lori and I were facing.
For a long time it seemed like Amy was making great progress until she somehow broke her leg shopping at a Kohl's store during Christmas. Since then it has been 1 step forward and 2 steps back.
 So when her husband posted last night that her cancer has spread to her back and brain,my heart sank. Now she is facing 6 weeks of radiation to try and stave off this latest attack.
  I wrote my journalist friend Amy Lange about how you are filled with both nerves and dread when comes to seeing your oncologist. You can't wait to see him/her to see what needs to be done yet when you do a test or a lab,you are filled with dread at what you may hear. And of course sitting here alone with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company,I can't help but think what will be our next step....will it remission or will it be another round of chemotherapy/surgery/radiation? I pray every day for the strength to keep a smile on my face and a song in my heart....and admiring the hell out of Dan,Amy husband and caretaker. I know I'm Lori's rock and I will never bend or break. I ask all of you who are reading this to please keep the Neilson family in your prayers,they really need us all now.

   Picking up on a thread from my last entry.....seems that a man walked into a BP station in Detroit. He got into a beef about the price of some jimmy hats with the clerk. The man and his friends started causing a bit of a ruckus,tossing displays around and knocking items on the floor. The man said the clerk overcharged him and wanted his money back...the scuffle ended when the clerk grabbed a gun and put a bullet into the man's shoulder. The man's friends rushed his to a local hospital but he bled out before they got there. The clerk was arrested.......all for a box of condoms. And City Councilman Kenyatta wants armed guards at these stations?
Only in Murder City....

  The USS Enterprise (the Big E) is preparing to sail into the sunset. Its the largest active aircraft carrier in the US Navy and has been an important part of the Navy for 50 years. It was only due to serve 25 years but it was overhauled in 1979. Built in 1958,she was launched in 1960 and in 1962,she sailed on her maiden voyage. The USS Enterprise saw action during the Cuban Missile Crisis,the closest the world has come to nuclear war.
The Big E also served in the Vietnam War but not without cost. A missile aboard a F-4 Phantom blew up on 14 Jan 69 which killed 27 crewmen,wounded over 300 more and destroyed 15 planes. This forced the carrier into Pearl Harbor for repairs.
 Whenever there was a cause for a show a force,the USS Enterprise was often the first carrier task force,be it  Vietnam,Korea,India and now Iran. This final deployment will be for 7 months and then she will be decommissioned,defueled and scrapped by 2015. But she served this country with pride and honor.



To learn more about the USS Enterprise just follow the link....

Well that is all I have for now....comments are always welcome.

21st Century Battlefield - Detroit,Part 2

Its 11:12 pm

   

   Its a cool night outside and I have just finished finished watching "Let It Rip" on my local Fox news station here in Detroit. Last night the mayor of Detroit,Dave Bing,gave his State of the City address. He spoke for 30 minutes where as most folks in Detroit could have spoken for 60 seconds and called it a State of a Shitty City address.

   Simply put,Bing is a fool. He has done very little to fix the city after the crap that Kwame Kilpatrick and his thuggish posse put it through. He doesn't work with the city council,he has laid waste to the public transportation system and in my opinion is the main reason why Detroit's crime rate is skyrocketing. He speaks well but then again,so did Kwame and look where it has gotten Detroit.

  The blight here is unreal,the poverty is crushing and the crime is unrelenting. Even now we have 3 high profile cases that on the 5 o'clock news..a 14 year old killed his sleeping mother after being told he had to stay inside and away from a unsavory element,two young women were kidnapped by the ex-boyfriend who earlier had taken a shot at his ex-girlfriend and was due to stand trail for that crime. And two 15 year old niggas strapped with AK-47s went on a carjacking and robbing spree that end up with a 6 year old boy shot in the back of his car.

  The sudden spike of violence isn't random...an ATF source has said that these shootings are tied to a series of gang initiations sweeping the metro area. Many gangs make potential members kill and rob as to prove their loyalty to whatever set they will be claiming. Not the first time this has happened,young brothers often go on shooting rampages,be it schools,bus stops,barber shops or on a city street. The sad thing is Bing had a ace up his sleeve and his ego and vanity caused him to force out Warren Evans as chief of the Detroit Police Department.

   Bing did say one term that I have been using for years now...he said the city is under attack by domestic terrorists. Domestic Terrorism....right here in the good ol USA. I find it ironic watching everyone plus their goldfish jumping on Joseph Krony and raising such a outcry about him NOW. Its more of a instant fad then any real desire to see justice done. The man has been carrying on these tactics since 1986 and you're just NOW thinking its "cool" to denounce him? 

Now apply the same mindset to Detroit,its been waging a war since 1968...between the race riots,white flight,corrupt city leadership and unions,massive drug usage and sales,the flood of guns on the streets,the slow decay of what once was a great public school system and of course the violent crimes...how is Detroit any different from Uganda? What? Because we don't make kids kill their parents and friends?But is that not what is happening here? We are killing these kids by not providing a stable home,a school system that designed to pass not teach. The hundreds of gangs here are no different then Kony is making these young people destroy their own people via the shootings,drug pushing,peer pressure to fail in school. Can you image that? Being bullied as a young black person because you actually have the nerve and courage to want to better yourself!!

Once in a while we'll get a outpouring of community support,like the new fresh push by the Detroit 300 to organize citizen patrols to help out....but trying to sustain that when the media turns off it cameras is its biggest challenge,fighting apathy and your own inept leaders like Mayor Bing. He has made so many mistakes since taking over that its hard to imagine anyone being able to come in after him and having any chance to clean up this mess. Letting Warren Evans go was just the tip of the iceberg....that was Strike One....Strike Two was appointing Ralph Godbee as the new Chief,the Keystone Cops can do a better job the Godbee has done. But combining Godbee along with dismantling the Gang Squad was the deal breaker.

Gone was an 70 member elite crew whose contacts and hard work into developing a network of known gang members was reduced to a mere 12 men reduced to pushing paper and driving a desk.

  Slowly and steady the crime rate and murder rate has gone up,you can't believe the stats that minor crimes have gone down. The only reason crimes like burglary,robberies,simple assaults,purse snatching has gone "down" is the fact that people here simply have quit reporting it. Time and again we hear about a crime that either the cops don't respond to or they will show up sometimes DAYS later to take a report.

  The media and the cops all clamoring that the community needs to help out,to speak up,support the police department. But slow response times and Detroit cops abusing their authority has undermined much of the goodwill that had been hoped for. Harassing people as they drive through a certain neighborhood and trying to issue tickets with hefty fines does little to foster goodwill.

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/more-metro-detroiters-come-forward-with-flimsy-tickets-linking-them-to-hookers-and-drug-dealer

Not only has this poisoned the citizens against the cops,it now has led to a class action lawsuit against the city which will cost tens of thousands of dollars to resolve. This has happened under Godbee's watch. In January of 2011,a man invades a police station with a shotgun,the firefight leaves many cops wounded and his attacker dead. The metal detector was broken and the shooter was able to breach security.

 Now you would think that the chief of police would make sure every metal detector at every station after such an attack...and you would be wrong.

  Godbee new idea of policing is to shut the doors on all the police stations at 5 pm and leave only 3 cops on duty to take reports,the rest of the cops are supposed to on the street protecting the casinos and tourists downtown,err,the taxpaying citizens in high crime areas. So if you are a victim of a crime and its after 5 pm,don't drive to a police station in the city because you'll be told to call a number and file a police report via the phone.

When a local journalist went to cover this story about 6 weeks ago,he went to the same station that had suffered the 4 cops being shot...and what did he find? The metal detector was STILL broken over a year later!!

Nice going Ralph,old boy...

  The foolishness doesn't stop at the mayor or the police chief,it rolls downhill to some members of the city council.

Like Kwame Kenyatta...you're going to love this one.

  Going to fill your car up with gas is a mundane but an important task. You pull in,swipe your debit/credit card,pump a few gallons of gas in and maybe grab a snack or smokes,right?

 Here in Detroit,its different....here you take your life in your hands when you fill up your car. Or in some cases,you may arrive IN your car but you may up WALKING home without it after its been jacked by some blood looking to get some wheels.

  And if you are a gas station owner/worker? You can see exactly why Detroit is such a fucked up city....one minute you may be sweeping the floor,the next you may be saying hello to Tyrone or Leroy as they back a truck up through your window and trying to snatch up your ATM machine. When you hear someone say they need to use a ATM machine,better start looking for the speeding car that will soon come looking for that machine.

  Or sadder yet,you can be a victim of a cold blooded murder like the one two dudes pulled on a clerk about 3 weeks ago. One guy is buzzed into the store,he arranges to "drop" a bottle of juice on the floor. He says "sorry" and maybe he pays for the drink but he leaves. As he does,his partner jams the door leaving it unlocked.

The clerk comes out from his bulletproof station to clean up the mess when the first guy comes back in with a gun and shoots the 59 year old father of 4 kids because he can't open the safe.

  So what does wise city councilman Kenyatta suggest? ARMED GUARDS at the gas stations!! Yeah,that is the answer! Firefight at the BP Station! I mean,I can't think of a better place to have a shootout then at a gas station full of fuel. I mean,the pumps can provide good cover,right? Instead of having a quick police response and trying to develop a good action plan with the gas station owners like maybe providing free hot coffee for on duty cops thus having a much more police presence,Kenyatta wants to make the gas station owners pay to have armed security and says if they don't that maybe people should stay away from their stations because they are too dangerous!

He said that on a local show called "Detroit Wants 2 Know". I shit you not....

  This is what we experience here everyday here in the metro area.....forget Kony,I'm more concerned with the folks who live HERE.

   But I do have some good news (I hope). I blogged recently about the Bloody Mile,which is a stretch of road we used to live by. I blogged about all the animals I used to take off the road and had tried to get signs up before someone was killed. Well 3 people have been killed since we moved away...

I recently have been talking about a local county commissioner named Kevin McNamara who really seems to have his heart in the right place as far trying to make a difference. I wrote to him asking him if he would try and help me make 7 Mile a safer place. Now I have called/written many times and they have fallen on deaf ears but I got a note on my wall from Kevin asking for more details. I did that and now am really hoping that 2 or 3 signs and some crosswalks will be put down so that people will slow down and keep an eye out for both animals and people.

If this gets done,I'll personally buy Kevin a tuna fish Subway sandwich and post pictures here.

    Well,that is all I have for now.....thanks for reading!

Comments and feedback welcomed.

Action and adventure in the ER plus some football and a call for supporting a real fighter.

Its 11:27 pm

  

    I know...a rather late time to be starting a entry but I do have a reason for it...

Last Thursday afternoon I noticed my back was starting to hurt. I put it down to our bed,we have a IKEA bed and sometimes to slats that support our box spring fall off,causing a uneven platform and it cause my back to get tweaked.

It started hurting quite a bit and I was a little surprised by how much. I was able to still attend my CERT class but I was uncomfortable.

  I mentioned to Lori that I might have to have my back adjusted on Friday but the pain actually calmed down and I was able to stand and sit okay. I used a heating pad and took Motrin to try and make the back happy.

 It seemed to be working until Monday morning when I woke up in major discomfort,the pain was back and has moved to my groin area. And no matter how I sat,laid down and stood,I could not get comfortable and the pain was increasing. We had hoped to wait til Friday until seeing the chiropractor but this morning was even worse so I called the guy who adjusted me before. He couldn't see me til 2:15 pm so I had to hang on til then. I took more Motrin to help with the pain,it did very little and I was feeling worse by the minute,the pain was getting unbearable. 

It wasn't until I felt like I had to throw up that it hit me,I had a kidney stone. Now I have seen a couple of big men reduced to tears because of kidney stones,they are no walk in the park. I could barely move when I called Lori and told her to come get me,I had a kidney stone.

  20 minutes later I was being wheel chaired into the ER at my "favorite"place,Oakwood. I was checked and then the fun started in earnest. They only have one ER doctor on call so I had to wait. That wasn't a problem until the pain level started going up. Anyone who ever had a kidney stone knows what I'm talking about. That was the worst feeling I have ever had in my life,I thought I was going to toss my Oreos (happy 100th birthday by the way) it hurt so bad.

  Had to draw on my 3 guardian angels who gone through so much worse then this and come out with flying colors,soon I was given two very strong drugs and an IV drip. Ended up getting 2 more doses before being wheeled for a CT scan. Then I managed to sleep for 3 hours,the doctor wanted to drugs to have a chance to move the stone out.

   In all we spent 6 hours in the ER before being given the green light to go home. I don't think I passed the stone as of yet but I'm not nearly as much pain either. I had to keep gently pushing Derek off my hip because he is just too heavy for me right now.

 I'm taking it easy today that is for sure.....

 I love college football...as I have stated before,its my favorite sport. While I follow the mighty San Jose State Spartans of the WAC conference (so,okay...going 5-7 and losing by 54 to Stanford doesn't evoke "mighty" but this year will be different!). I enjoy spracking with my buddy John down in Florida who is a Miami Hurricane fan. We also talk about smaller teams as well which you hardly ever see these days as most fans root for the big boy teams like Ohio State,Miami and Oregon. You never run across a New Mexico State or Eastern Michigan fan that actually admit it.

  Being a fan means you like to know who your school is going to be playing in the future. It helps create excitement when you see two teams you follow finally matching it up on the gridiron. A lot of games you see played have been scheduled years in advance but schools don't always release the advanced schedules.
So how do you find out about a favorite team's advanced schedule?
For the average fan they would have search the internet for bits and pieces. But about 12-15 months ago,I stumbled across FBSchedules which lists all 122 FBS teams along with the upcoming NFL schedule. But mostly its aimed towards the college football fan. Created and run by a die hard U of Georgia fan,Kevin Kelley,every day has some new press release on a either a new big game added,the news about the massive league realignments or schedule changes. Each team that sends Kevin a release gets equal coverage,ALL 122 TEAMS get equal billing,just not the BCS leagues. It has taken a while but more and more fans have discovered the site and the comment section is really starting to get lively. FBSchedules also has a FB page as well with almost 4,500 fans.
  So take a minute and cruise over to FBSchedules and see when that big Savannah State-Florida State will happen. And ask Kevin when UGa is going to grow a pair and schedule the game everyone wants to see...San Jose State-Georgia. Its hard to have a rivalry when one team keeps ducking the other.

Lastly but the most important.....please keep our fellow cancer warrior Amy Rauch Neilson in your prayers. Amy,who has fighting stage IV breast cancer,has been really struggling as of late having landed in the hospital 3 times this month along. Her cancer has reached her back and she is now facing a new round of radiation. Now radiation is rough on a fairly new cancer patient but each time you have to go through this really does weaken your body tremendously,this why it is so controlled as far as dosage and length. And Amy,already trying to come back from a broken leg last Christmas,is now facing this new hurdle. And we have to keep her husband and caretaker Don and her little boy up in prayer as well. Amy is a real hero and it is very important to any of us that are or have gone through this fight to help keep going.
Her blog "Its All In the Genes" is listed on my blogs I follow list....so please take a second and pay her a visit and encourage her. Tell her Michael and Lori sent you.....

  Well that is all I have for now. My back is starting to really hurt again so I'm grabbing my cat and laying down for a few.

Thanks for reading.


Kevin- Thanks for creating such a great site and for having fun with our"rivalry"
Scorpion- Google+....going to need a pathfinder for this one!
Amy + Don - Prayers are with you.
U of Michigan Hospital- You need to hire Dr. Weaver from Oakwood
Beth- Thank you for the follow! Very cool indeed.

Food Stamp Nation

Its 11:00 am

   Spanning the globe....

While Newt Gingrich run for President has faded into the wind...his legacy of words are still be tossed about by the American public. Like calling President Obama the "food stamp president". Telling blacks they should demanding a paycheck instead of food stamps.
  Our society is goofy...we encourage people to donate food to the poor and needy,run PSAs about 1 in 7 children go hungry at night because of a lack of food.
 The media covers the very poor at Thanksgiving and Christmas time at a food kitchen eating a hot meal delivered by churches,volunteers or even the station that is covering the story. Its a "feel good"kind of story designed to tug on your hearts. And for the most part,it does.
   But when those same folks are standing in line at the grocery store and they pull out a Bridge (what we call food stamps in Michigan) you get a very different reaction...people aren't so tolerant and you see the stares and hear the nasty comments. Having a Bridge card is a symbol of shame in America,a sign of poverty.
I worked at a grocery store for 7 years as a cashier and later as a store trainer and I saw Bridge cards every day in my job. Saw the customer often trying to hide the card if anyone was behind them.
  I never understood this,if you have a family and you're not making it,why should you be ashamed if you need help? I did my very best to help each customer no matter how they paid. Now I'm not going to sit here and not say every case was pure and innocent. I know far better then that..fraud does happen in the Food Stamp program,the USDA,which runs the program nationally kicked over 44,000 people off the program for fraud.
  Stores also abuse the program...offering cash for the cards. I saw this often in the neighborhood I grew up in..you get 500.00 in  food stamps but sell the card for 300 cash. A lot of folks robbing Peter to pay Paul (or their dealers). In Pennsylvania,over 175 stores were caught paying cash for cards.
  States are now tightening up the rules,fingerprinting in New York,drug testing in Florida,set limits for individuals to get off the dole. Food stamp fraud costs the US taxpayer 375 million dollars a year...(but compare that to the 60 Billion that doctors rip off Medicare,including one doctor just busted for 375 million alone!!)
  What exactly are food stamps? Its federal aid designed to help people affected by poverty buy food. The program started back in the 60s and actually used to come in paper booklets with dollar amounts attached to them. This was phased out in 2004 in favor of plastic debt cards. This made it easier to stop massive postal thefts which happened quite a bit and gave the person both protection and tried to hide the stigma that using food stamps brings.
  Newt Gingrich has said that more people have been on food stamps then any other president in history.
Good ol' Newt says he is a historian,well if he is,I guess he must consider yesterday to be ancient because if he had done a little research he would have discovered that food stamp use has gone up under each President since Reagan back in 1980...
While we can't argue that more folks since 2008 have added to the food stamp program is larger then any president's term,lets look at the numbers a bit more.
  Last year,45 million Americans used food stamps,that equals to roughly 15% of all Americans. In 2008,28 million folks were on the program when Obama took office. But the number of folks added has risen sharply the past 10 years and actually GREW BY A HIGHER PERCENTAGE under the 8 years of George W. Bush's presidency then Obama's. I hear the teapublicans start to stammer and sputter when reading this but it was under Bush's watch then this recession hit,not Obama's.
 But was the recession totally at fault for the rise? Not all the way...millions of Americans lost their jobs and went from being middle class to sliding under the poverty line,thus making them eligible for food stamps.
15% of all Americans now live under that line,1 in 7 of everyone you may meet is officially poor. An average family of 3 living under 19,090.00 per year is the poverty line now.
The average family of 2.2 members now receives around 290.00 a month,or 73.00 a week to eat on. It isn't much to feed 2 people on but food stamp spending does add up quite a bit. It has risen to 80.5 billion during the past 10 years.
  Critics  blame this upsurge in spending on different factors..Bush relaxed eligibility standards and an boost to benefits that Obama had to put in his stimulus bill after those millions of folks started to lose their jobs.
Obama also increased the time limits that folks could stay on the program as well as people just weren't rebounding in finding a job as quickly as they had in the past.
"No program in our government has surged more out of control more dramatically then  food stamps" Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama has said. He goes on,"Do you think there are 4 times as many people who need food stamps today as in 2001?"
That is a fair question....until you realize that Alabama ranks as the 3rd poorest state in the country with over 750,000 living under the poverty line. How exactly did Sessions get elected again??
  And Newt made it a point to signal out blacks as the leading food stamp users. But the percentage is this...of all food stamp users,34% are whites,22% are black,16% are Hispanic and the rest (Native Americans,Asians,etc) are the other 28%.
40% of families that on food stamps do have at least one member who WORKS a job. Again...not only did folks lose their jobs but by the time they found another one,either they had used up all of their savings and or found a another job at much lower wages thus keeping them under the poverty line.
  Is there abuse? Sure there is....in New York City,they found 2,000 people using two names to draw extra benefits costing tax payers 5 million. In Michigan we had a man win a 2 million dollar lottery jackpot and still be able to use his Bridge card.
And as I said...over 44,000 people have been kicked off food stamps for abuses....which equals one tenth of one percent of program participants.
  There should be no shame tied to using this program....only shame if you are abusing it.

Thanks for reading and comments are most welcome.

Your daily Boo

Its 4:59 pm
    Its a partly sunny day here....but very chilly. The wind is pushing past the window and I can see a couple of folks bundled up and walking their dogs. Derek is asleep on my Oregon State sweater,yesterday he was snoozing on my BYU one.  Sure does look warm lying there...
  Not feeling the best today but since I like to post something new almost everyday,I'll leave this as my post.
The video below is of actor Craig Bierko who has starred both on the stage,the small screen and in the movies. His performance as boxer Max Baer in Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man" steals the film and made me a instant fan.
  Craig is a very warmhearted man as well off camera,he works with many charities and is helping to raise money for the Loma Linda Children's hospital. He also rescued a sweet dog named Boo which he is turning into a star via some very funny clips on YouTube called "Your Daily Boo". In each little video,Craig is interacting with Boo on some level..and I thought this episode was outstanding since I can totally relate to taking my cat,Derek Jeter,to the vet.
 If you think Craig is talking to Boo just for the camera,he isn't...we pet owners DO talk to our wingman. Derek loves to talk to me both coming and going to the vet. He and I have had some great debates about world peace,beer,baseball and Anna Faris. Lot of the time,it has to do with "Are we there yet?".
 So kick back,relax and be prepared to be charmed by the very talented Boo and the very cool and witty Craig Bierko.  If you have a YouTube/Twitter account,you can subscribe/Follow both Craig and Boo.

And to find more about the Loma Linda Children's Hospital,just click on the link.
And to see what Craig is doing next on both the small and silver screen,you can find out here.

Two Days in the Valley (and a medical update)

12:29 pm
 
   Hmm....I guess writing about my day working the Michigan Primary was about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall....

  Its a grey gloomy day here in SE Michigan. The weather is rapidly moving from winter to spring and not just here. Yesterday saw a massive outbreak of over 30 tornadoes including one F4 which resulted in 12 dead.
I'm sure we'll be hearing about this tonight at our first CERT class. Now while I have seen wild land fires and been through a earthquake,I have yet to see an tornado here in Michigan,my first year here was the closest I have come,we had a storm touch down at the airport,fly over us and touch down in a junk yard in Detroit.
  I have always wanted to see one up close but Lori has said "no" to my request to go storm chasing in Kansas or Oklahoma.

Davy Jones of The Monkees died yesterday at age 66 of an heart attack. The Monkees were America's answer to the crazy ride that was The Beatles in the late 60s. While the Monkees were a cookie-cutter band put together in Los Angeles and despite having a cartoon like show,still managed to have several international hits and selling over 65 million albums and singles.
  Davy was definitely the heart throb of the group and became a huge teen idol. That led to a now famous guest spot on The Brady Bunch where Marcia Brady had a huge crush on him. While the group went their different ways,Davy Jones remained in the spotlight the most while the others faded quietly into doing music,small parts in TV and other interests.
  R.I.P. Davy and thanks for the good times...

Got a bit of a shock yesterday....local Channel 7 sports director Don Shane called it quits after 23 years on the air. I like Don...a lot. He has always been a steady professional and his reporting was firm and straight to the point.  Sports reporters are blessed to have so many teams to cover here,it makes the job a lot of fun. But Don grew tired and found it less and less enjoyable as time went on and he also missed spending time with his family. So yesterday,while on the air,he announced he was retiring.
  But I'm also very excited because this will mean my favorite sports guru,Tom Leyden,will be stepping into the spot and I couldn't be more happy. Tom is the man behind the Sunday Sports Final show on Channel 7 and that show,besides the Let It Rip show on Channel 2,is must see TV. Tom's style is loose and relaxed and keeping area sports in perspective,unlike ESPN/MLB Network,etc...Tom makes it fun without mocking it or just showing up and going through the motions (right,Bernie??).
  The only downside of Tom moving into the main newscast is this might mean the end of his run on the Sports Final. And instead of 30 minutes of fun with Nate and Stoney,he'll get his 3-5 minutes a hour to drop a score or a highlight. And most importantly,it means he most likely won't be able to wear his Yankees cap on the air again...
  But to honor my buddy and his new job,I'm once again going to fly my Met's logo on my FB wall as my way of saying "congratulations"! Lori will be happy however,I'll be going to bed a little earlier on Sunday nights now.

Saturday morning....8:50 am

   Back in the saddle,with a twist.
Its a cold and very windy day outside.Its been blustery all night in SE Michigan but after seeing what has been happening to Illinois and Indiana,we have been rather blessed. Tornado season has decided to show up and in major force with over 100 twisters already touching down and killing 28 people so far.
 Just hope its not an omen as I started my 9 week CERT class in my town. While the first session was a bit stiff and not very exciting to say the least,our instructor showed us a training video on how a CERT team works and if that is how it does,every city should try and create one.
  I thought my city already had one in place but found out that we are the first group to get this training. Of course a vast majority of the 35 folks have a fire/medical/armed forces background so there will a great core to start with. The class is being taught by our city's Emergency Management Director,she has been trying for four years to get this program funded so it could be established. She said that she was lucky to get funding for maybe 3 classes but feels the funding will dry up soon. That is a shame because after seeing these towns get the catpoo kicked out of them by these storms,they sure could use the help that a CERT program could offer.
  Went to Ann Arbor yesterday for a medical appointment for Lori. Things are looking very positive for us right now,the PA told Lori was her appointment schedule would look like for the next 5 years. Why 5 years you may be asking....because if you are cancer free after 5 years,you are considered healed. So to mention that timetable is very encouraging indeed. This is what we are striving for...SO KEEP THOSE PRAYERS coming,they really are working!
  Pinched a nerve in my back...not a fun thing I have to admit. Did it on Thursday and despite heat,motrin and a long soak,there is little improvement. Just what we didn't need right now....but we'll deal with this and I will hopefully be back and feeling better in a few days.
 
 Lori and I spent some time in our den last night,I was reading Tom Delay's book "No Retreat,No Surrender" and she was watching Davy Jones videos on YouTube. Soon we talking about childhood crushes and I said it seemed like  Davy Jones was like a LOT of women's first crushes. Lori asked me who my first crush was and that was a pretty easy answer. My first crush was on Tina Louise of the old Gilligan's Island series.
 Tina was a sultry redhead who played Ginger the movie star. She was forever using her charms on Gilligan to try and find out secrets or offering up ideas she has gotten from roles she played to help the castaways get rescued.
  Now I didn't know for a long time that the show was much older then I was when I first watched it with my brothers. But even after I learned that,I still followed Tina's career even though she didn't do very much.
As crushes go,soon it went away but years later I found a CD of her music that had been put out by her daughter Caprice. Once again I got to rediscover my first crush...so it fun watching Lori talk about Davy Jones and then Bobby Sherman.
  So it got me to thinking....who was your first celebrity crush? Just a drop here or on the FB group wall...it will be a bit fun to see who liked who...