Sleep Deprivation Headache

I live above a store across the store from a bar, Brits read Pub without the nice manners ( yes I know Canadians are polite but a polite drunk is still noisy and still drunk ). With Halloween being on Sunday this year it was way above normal noisy Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Also as this is what is sometimes called a one horse town only I have never seen a horse here so make it a no horse town, there is nothing to do normally. The result was after the bar closed the patrons remained in the area being noisy till dawn. Not rowdy or anything but enough that sleep was out of the question.

Normally on a normal weekend just Saturday usually sometimes Friday as well but rarely I compensate by watching a DVD with surround sound till the bar closes at 2.

Now I hope all realize I am just making a commentary not a complaint. This town needs every job it can get and most of the bars have closed in the past few years. In fact I think the only other one ( aside from the Legion which has very restricted hours ) the other is also a pretty nice restaurant. I often go to on Friday as that is their Prime Rib special day and I love prime rib.

So for certain types of behaviour, like dancing listening to a band this is the only choice. I am glad there is something, and they use local bands often. Don't have too but it is nice for local musicians.

Moving is not a good idea ( if I move it will be to a city ) as with my Agoraphobia though I have good days most days I have only about a two block safe zone ( meaning I am very unlikely to have a panic attack ) and this is by far the nicest place downtown and also about dead center. The hardware stores are way out of my safe zone so males can take pity and women may laugh.

However when I worked I did 22 of my 29 years at the TTC on either a solid night shift or a solid afternoon shift. So my body has been used to sleeping during the day most of my life. I won't complain about the Army because the Infantry's definition of happiness is getting enough sleep. ( and for some reason Infant ry does not mean Baby Army )

Anyway, normal things are waking me at normal times so I am having great trouble sleeping. This morning I didn't get to sleep till 6 AM and my cell woke me with a text at 10. ( tonight It goes off for the night ). Result for the 1st time in a few years a sleep deprivation headache. Coffee Tylenol and I may go for one of those long lasting energy drinks that are mostly vitamin B.

So here is hoping all of you even if you have newborns are getting a good nights sleep. For myself hoping tonight is to sleep perhaps all night.

So anyone emailing this evening please excuse me if I don't get back till tomorrow hopefully late.

Army Slang and Insults

Odette was not familiar with Acronyms, Odette since you have not been here long enough to pick them all up don't worry you will. But if you hear one and want to know what it means email me and I will tell you. Mind you Canada and the US are not exactly the same for them.

I know I use a fair bit of army slang. I generally ( nothing to do with Generals ) try to avoid it here. However I realize it may slip out so I will mentions some of my favorites.

A Commando ( US calls them special forces, ) Slang term: Rough and Tough and hard to Diaper.

Very, very dangerous. Slang term: Killed more men than an Army Cook.

Motto of the Commandos ( not slang real motto ): Death from Above

Motto of the Army Cooks corps ( joke motto ): Death from Within

The Army usually during the various times of Basic, Each promotion includes training courses that include versions of Basic meant to be harder and also suit the new job. Go up the infantry ladder and it can get vicious. One thing while you are doing things like trying to not let go of a rope from exhaustion, or keep moving on a 5 mile run with a 10 pound rifle and 40 to 60 pound pack are insults. It's not mean they serve a purpose. At first to make you madder to carry on. Later to get you used to ignoring insults not letting things get to you if for example a protester spits on you ( something I never understood, don't the realize those guns are not for show they are loaded and with live ammo ). Since I was often the one yelled at ( but remember the good ones yelled at others I will do them in first person.

Brechin, it's a case of Mind over Matter, I don't Mind you don't Matter.

Brechin, No One is totally useless. You can always serve as a horrible example.

My favorite which was not part of training just a comment. A Major was making a comment about an Officer Cadet who was a friend of mine and some other Lieutenants standing having a drink in the mess. ( Officers club in the States ). He said " That man has no class " Mike another Lieutenant piped up " Are you Kidding Ron's got more class than anyone I know. It's all Low but it's still Class "

Which goes to show the wisecracks and insults can go either direction up the chain of command.

First up the chain one I heard I was on Rifle coach course as a 16 year old Cadet. 3rd week of a 6 week course. We were all gathered in the common room for a chewing out. Sgt says " I have been getting calls and letters from some of your Mothers. They are complaining you guys are not calling or writing home. I'm 33 years old and still write my Mother every week."

Voice from the back of the Room ( won't name him but he did go on to win the Pan Am gold medal for large bore rifle ) " Does she ever write back? "

With that remark the Sgt lost control of the room. Whole team was confined to barracks for two days but was worth it. I have a story I am telling 40 years later.

Truth in Acronyms

Today we use a ton of Acronyms.

Not a new thing I think while serving it was possible to have a two hour conversation with another soldier and never us a single real word. Everything in acronyms. You got to know when you were out of control when every paragraph ended with over and every conversation with out. Also the word yes became replaced with Roger. That no end tended to bug my brother Roger btw.

However when I say truth in Acronyms I a referring to take a common expression and make it sound more masculine or politically correct or whatever in order to sell something.

What pops to mind is a drug. Specifically any drug to treat what they created the term ED for. All my life we had a term for ED that applied that they chose not to make an acronym and the only reason I can think of is ED seems less funny than CGIU. Now I have never heard anyone say CGIU. They have always said the term in full. However since it has been around at least a lot longer than me why get cute and invent the term erectile dysfunction, when for ages CGIU was used.

in a useless aside how many knew that the mostly male medical community were greatly divided about weather PMS even existed until it was successfully used as a temporary insanity defence in an English murder case.

Comfort

At the moment the photo function is offline which is not bad because I couldn't find an appropriate picture anyway.

Right now I and most folks I know in town are having something don't think it is technically a cold or flu but something. I suspect it is some kind of respiratory illness because first the smokers seemed to come down with it first and worst. Second it seems to give everyone a slight cough. Like the kind you fake when you are trying to hint to someone they are about to do something stupid ( which never seems to work anyway they still do whatever you were trying to warn them not to ) The effect this is having on me is my sleep patterns are terrible either I can't sleep at all or I spend over 18 hours sleeping unable to wake up. The part I find hardest is it seems to making thinking difficult. I am putting off serious writing till this passes as I am forgetting things. I had to make 5 trips to the store to get toilet paper. I would get there and forget why I went. However as to the article title at the Sally Anne I saw a chair I really like and need to replace my computer room chair so I bought it. A friend helped me get it home and in the morning I will give it a good cleaning. I do have an upholstery cleaner. I use an easy chair lazy boy recliner type at the moment. Can get away with that as I have a huge screen and wireless keyboard. This is really a living room type chair I bought and big but is so comfortable my only fear is I am likely to fall asleep in front of the computer.

There is no harm in spoiling oneself.

The Pen is Mighter Than the Sword but it's No Match for a Gun

For anyone wondering yes I have been doing some work on my books. I am finding the hardest part that I am writing for a target readership whom I have not wrote for in the past.

On top of that I have not been sleeping well for the past several days due to nightmares. Which explains being up at 5AM my sleeping patterns are way off.

So over the next little while certain of you will be getting chunks of the serious book to look over for me and those who agreed to do this thank you very much. The reason you will be getting chunks rather than the whole thing is some chapters are only applicable in some parts of the world. For example Tracey doesn't need to know about Polar bears. I almost typed beers instead of Bears and I am sure she knows they are cold and that is all she will practically need to know about them. ( we actually have such a thing here and in the states and the can changes colour if the beer is cold enough. This is not a joke ask your yankee readers. )

The only person I expect will read all the chapters is Matt who is ex US Navy but part of that is out of interest on his part and part out of a church duty that overlaps. My brother George will likely read it all and make suggestions but he was there for much of my polishing the skills and if anything is even better at it than I am. He can also get more technical yet has more of a talent for putting it in common words than I do so I definitely want him to look it over. He is the type of guy who if he feel in a hole with a Polar Bear after the screaming stopped George would climb out burp, wearing a new white fur outfit, with a supply of meat to last a couple weeks and fuel made from the fat. He would have also known not to eat the one part of only two fur bearing animals which is poison to humans.

Oddly while writing memoirs and stories the computer is great. For the survival aide memoir I am finding old fashioned paper and ink or pencil more practical who would have guessed. Especially since I have been using Word Processors since they had a name and before that could use a manual typewriter. Odd some things we learn about ourselves.

Your Password is Secret

I don't know how many of you recall when computers and before the net was as public ( hard to believe it started as a weapon of sorts. Not the weapon itself but how we were supposed to communicate to stop a war after everything that could be destroyed was. The only survivors would be eaten corn, old episodes of M*A*S*H, peoples memory of the most embarrassing thing you ever did. Sorry to inform you but when you get met by your favorite friend or relative at the end of that long bright tunnel on leaving this mortal coil. The first words you hear will not be "Welcome to Heaven" they are more likely to be " Remember that time you......"

Anyway I was thinking about the early days of computer mania and this new thing the net. People were shocked I was able to guess most of their passwords on the first guess. If you had one of those early 300 baud modems you may have even done this.

I would guess your password is and I would write down the word secret. Most would be shocked how did I know that. Now that you are a sophisticated member of the cyber community you may laugh at this. Books of the time made a point of saying. YOUR PASSWORD IS SECRET. Do not tell anyone your password and the readers would happily type in secret as their password.

Nice Day but Not in in a sense

It has finally turned nice out. What we often call Indian summer. I even got a Thanksgiving card in the mail today. Thank You. For our American friends who think Thanksgiving is next month just remember it is basically a harvest celebration being further north our harvest is of necessity earlier.

As to the not in part I am in the process of defragging my largest drive the 1.5 T drive which takes close to 24 hours. I can do some in fact most things at that time but prefer not to save accidentally writing to that drive. At that time. My mail and internet programs are on one of my 1 T drives and I have already done all the rest. Mainly while sleeping. Isn't multi-tasking great when sleeping is one of those tasks.

Attention Mothers

The Army had a version of Multi-Tasking they called concurrent activity. It meant as a platoon getting more than one job done at the same time. For example a Patrol being done while others did dishes or laundry. So next time ask if they want to play Army and they have a choice of volunteer to wash or dry.

I Hate the Rain

Might sound a bit wimpy but I hate the rain.

Wasn't always like this a misadventure mountain climbing at 20 had me stuck literally overnight on the side of a cliff face as it rained most of the night. Once the rain stopped falling my partner and I were able to get to the top of the face very quickly. Climbing wet limestone is like climbing wet soap. Winds dry the rock very fast but that was only half the problem. Climbing up is perhaps a tenth as hard as climbing down. Especially in the dark, today battery technology I imagine climbers in similar situations would have headlights that would last till dawn. In 1974 no such luck.

Top of the face, not the top of the mountain our goal had been to climb a face that according to the record books had not been done before. The storm came from behind the mountain. Mountains create mini weather effects on their own. We didn't have fore warning. So we ended doing an unclimbed route about half in the dark. Perhaps 2,000 feet of rock face or 200 stories if you compare it to buildings. That wasn't the worst we were still soaked to the skin and with night though not terribly high maybe 8,000 feet maybe another 500 the mountain was 9,386 total. However night still meant temperature dropping below zero. We moved north as we knew there was a trail to a cirque and if we hit the cirque we could slid down it to the trail. We didn't make it that far. Two miles in the dark would have been a fair feat anyway. On the way we hit a treed area. Our combined survival training mine military his as a Swiss climber let us build a fire and remain awake. I can not recall ever being so tired.

Night that high up is short. With the sunrise our clothing quickly dried. We rappelled down the mountain and hitched a ride back to base. Just in time to take out classes both of us has scheduled to teach that day.

For years after that I did not know why rain made me very uncomfortable. One day about 15 years later I was telling the story of that climb to a friend of my wife's who happened to be Swiss. Suddenly I stopped. Though I had told the story many times this was the first time I made the mental connection. That day had been the start of my mild amaphobia. No need to look it up. It means "fear of rain".

The Tooth the Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

As you may have guessed I have a dental appointment in about a half hour. Also since I am not one of those people who have dentist's and shrink's for their dog's. Dogs do a big part to serve as effective shrinks on their own. The look at you like they are listening. Cause you to repeat your last statement only without adding your mother to the statement. btw I put this on my own post today and did not get it mixed up with Rocky's.

I don't think it got as cold as forecast but a warning from someone we were in for frost did have me put the hear on so I many just not have noticed. It is cool here today. Being Canadian I should define our version of cold. Cold means the temp is low cars won't start. Really cold means the snowmobiles won't start either so you can't dress in a suit NASA could use for a Mars landing and enjoy your day off because everything is closed.

Not sure if the above cartoon is apt as I can't recall if this is my extraction on some other evil dental procedure. Every notice if they want to give you the impression someone is about to tortured in the movies they show dental tools.

Have a good day all and may your Teeth keep ALL their parts

Whose Afraid of the Wicked Witch

Daddy said yesterday like we were going to get taken to some place called Oz. I didn't know where Oz was but Daddy has a movie from a time called 1939 and the Movie is Called the Wizard of Oz.

Don't know why everyone was scared of the Witch. Toto must have been a really wimpy dog. The Witch couldn't handle water. I would have seen how much she liked a leg full of dog pee.

Ruff Said!

Feeling Every Second of my Years

It's not quite 9AM and it is one of those days I feel every second of being in my 57th year. Which is an old fashioned way of saying my next birthday is my 57 but I've finished 56 whole years and feel at least that old.

I feel as if I have just had the above medical procedure and am having all side effects of taking some modern miracle drug designed to very effectively cure disposable income and have been abducted and subjected to unthinkable acts by assorted kinds of space aliens.

I'm sure all of you know what I mean. I really have nothing wrong with me but nothing feels right.

I live across from a tavern and last night they had a band. Okay it's Friday night goes with the territory and when they do get a loud band I tend to watch DVD movies with surround sound on so the Movie drowns out the bar. I did really enjoy the one I choose to watch for the first time last night. I had bought it earlier in the week and to be honest am surprised I hadn't seen it months ago as it came out last year. Jackie Chan in "The Spy Next Door" a spoof of both high tech spy movies and babysitting flicks. I enjoyed it very much and found my amused at myself knowing exactly which James Bond theme they were using in the score at any given moment. On top of that I picked up on some tv spy themes from the 60's and 70's. So though I was not up terribly late movie and bar both were done about 2. My allergies are not bothering me. The pets woke me about 7 for some reason. Maybe they heard something outside I'm limited to human hearing. The sky looks like there is a trip to Oz scheduled for later on today. I have not had my coffee yet. ( it is sitting in front of me as I type and the dog has been walked ). I just feel blah. I think I have one of those energy drinks in the fridge and if I don't feel more like something which at least has the ability to walk upright may drink it in an hour or so.

Looking out the window of the computer room it really does like that trip to Oz is a possibility. I hope not. This weekend is the county fair in the next town over and a number of friends who belong to the same mental health support group I do are going to be manning a booth there the aim of which is this coming week is mental health week and they are part of a nationwide maybe bigger effort to reduce the stigma people associate with mental illnesses. Makes sense a mental illness is not like a tattoo, you don't choice to get one as well as when and where. ( though at time I have thought of getting one with the oriental symbols for "Stupid White Man" Though I only know how to say it in Japanese the meaning is the same in several languages. ) Also I am the only member of this particular group who is also a card carrying member of Mensa so I sort of feel I should be there even if only to prove that having a genius IQ does not make you crazy but it can't prevent it either.

The short version of this whole thing is I have a premonition it is going to be " One of those Days. "

Head Cold

Good thing I had almost no e-mail today. The expected well due butt kicking from Tracey as expected thank you. There are various forms of encouragement and one of the most effective comes only from mother's, Wives, Regimental Sergent Majors and Ladies of Scots Ancestry. Tracey belongs to the last group but at times she can be as motivating as members of the Third.

I slept in first. Then got a call from my housekeeper asking if I had any medicines for head colds. I do get allergies almost constantly but rarely a cough, possibly as I have never been a smoker. In fact tobacco starts my eyes watering as badly as pollen or the cat sleeping on my chest. Unlike the latter two I can normally avoid tobacco. It isn't the smoke which apparently triggers allergies but tiny particles of unburnt tobacco carried by the smoke. At least according to the Doctor who first Dx'd me as allergic. I unfortunately can't tolerate the shots to reduce your allergies. Perhaps six hours after one I will have a terrible migraine which can last for days. So instead I rely on simple anti-histamines. It's not so bad. First they are pills not shots and the main side effect drowsiness you soon get immune too. I gave what I had for cough to Tina as I said I rarely get coughs and these were from my last cough which must have been during the winter ( summer for Kirst I'm on the other side of the equator ) and all were getting close to their expiry dates. However it is going around as they say and there is lots of vacant space in my head so I have one of the symptoms. Excessive sleeping. Two coffee's one more than normal. ( I would have had more but I slept till after the coffee shop closed when I tried to watch some television in the early afternoon and woke after dark.

Took the dog for a pee walk did get a coffee from one of those places that plans to stay open right through the second coming.

Ever notice that nowadays the lists of side effects on any kinds of pills is longer than the dictionaries we used our last year of school. And side effects the 3 stooges could not have come up with as well. Ringing noses, Runny Ears, Watery Navels, Dry Itchy mouth, Premature you know what and green and red stuff popping out the end on top. Erections lasting under six seconds or over six hours. I think our wives are used to the first but they say you should call your doctor if it lasts over six hours. I figure they came up with that number, because the people at market research calculated it would take you five hours and fifty-nine minutes to call and brag about it to all your other friends first. Worst thing is that's not on a box of cold pills but the side effects for a tube of M&M's or a pack of breath mints. Actual medications probably warn against abduction by space aliens ( as opposed to the kind from neighbouring nations ). I also have come to the conclusion that the space alien sudden interest in probing is our own fault. Things used to be plain run of the mill bright lights and autopsy while still living. Then we started to broadcast of various government sessions convincing them beyond any possible doubt that there is no intelligent life on this planet. Try watching a government broadcast and in less than five minutes you likely will have reached the same conclusions the aliens did. Why keep up the probing and why there. Maybe like here if they don't use up this years budget next years will be cut and after watching our world leaders on television they figure if they are find any thinking that's the place to look because it's where our officials normally keep their heads.

Sorry for the Delay

I realize I have not posted either as myself or Rocky since my Step Dad's death and Step Grand Son's birth came back to back.

Aside from a week with the computer down due to damage from a power out ( a shattered disk drive plate of all things )I have had no good excuse or extenuating circumstance. I have had a great deal of a few friends both physically near and cyber universe friends to start writing seriously. I very much appreciate all the encourage the enthusiasm and would appreciate suggestions for what to write my none blog serious works on. Those of you who read the blog articles know the type of things I either enjoy writing about or have a skill in so your suggestions will all be appreciated. I am Tracey will have some colourful metaphors which when translated back to black and white boil down to it's about time.

So I am back. I am healthier than I have been in a long time and a side note which I did forward to Kirst. My friend Rick now often billed as the world's fasted one legged man ( For anyone who thinks he is just raw courage he is also at least as smart as I am ) he will be running representing Canada in Kirsts City of Christchurch New Zealand. To prove I am still an idiot I can't recall when. I hope they have the chance to meet as both are fascinating people and both are excellent role models for others. I really have they chance to meet each other. I told Kirst to tell him she's a friend of Sid's and he will know exactly who she means. If that is not me being guilty of the sin of Pride or Vanity I don't know what is.

Death in The Family

My Stepfather George Winston Campbell passed away last night at I think age 69. He was a good man and hard worker and treated my Mother very well.

At the present time I don't know what to say being at a rare loss for words. It's also difficult to cry though tears.

The photo is at Their wedding he is sitting front right next to my Mom. The reason he is sitting is he broke his leg very shortly before the wedding and didn't wish to postpone the wedding till the leg had healed.

Bad Personal Medical News

Just returned from the Doctor to find that after a round of tests I may be borderline diabetic. I need to go for more tests at the end of July. I'm hoping I can drop some weight and improve the outlook that way however it will be difficult as one of the major side effects of one of the medications for my Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia is weight gain. I have managed to lose about 10 pounds since I went for the tolerance test about a month ago. I suspected something was wrong since after drinking the high sugar content drink the give you to test with I felt sick for the rest of the day.

I have a treadmill now need the will power to use it. I also have a super home gym so the exercise part of improving my lifestyle is at my finger tips. Now I just have to motivate myself. I've done it in the past now I just need to find that in myself once more.

In other news the dog got his summer haircut yesterday and I swear he is now half the size he was. I forgot to take before photos but will take some after shots and put them on his blog probably by tomorrow. For a dog who is over 13 he is in darn good shape aside from his blindness.

Movies

Have been watching a lot of movies in as outside it is warm enough to make you consider jumping in the microwave oven to cool off.

Which got me to wondering. What are other peoples favorite movies. I have come up with categories

Historical

Ballroom Dance film

Fantasy

Epic

Deliberately Dumb

Accidentally so Stupid it becomes funny

Movies with twists you don't see coming.

Movies you don't want to watch before bed because they ensure nightmares.

Sorry for the Delay

It has been a long time since I posted.

A fair bit has happened. One my own illness got bad again, bad enough there were days I could not walk the dog. Best I could do was before sunup and after sundown take him out just long enough to do his business and clean up after him. The friend I had taking care of that when I was sick could no longer do it. People often say rumors are only rumors, however for those in delicate situations rumors can result in very strong consequences. In her case she has to avoid them because she has limited access to visit her child. Rumors can be enough to reduce or even eliminate that access. She had been working for me walking the dog when I was unable to plus she worked as my cleaning lady. Because of someone starting rumors she has had to give up both jobs. She walked the dog as a favor for me unpaid and it was a boon to me on my worst days. The working as my cleaning lady provided her with a modest disposable income she has had to give up. I admit $10 an hour was not a huge amount but it did allow some items she would have had to do without otherwise. We remain on good terms but I myself do feel bad she now must do without that small amount of non necessities her working for me allowed her.

I do now have a new and excellent housekeeper I was introduced to via a friend of my step-daughters who does an excellent job. I must admit I am slightly in awe of the networking that exists as a result of my daughter's circle of friends and her personal recommendation to her friends that I am a person her friends can go to for guidance when they need it who is non-judgemental. Maybe the fact that in the past I was the person soldiers came to has stood me in good stead. Or perhaps it is my past as a Cadet Instructor, Scout leader or priest or a combination of all. Reduced overall I would like to thank my daughter in that even though she has returned to New Brunswick she keeps in touch with her friends up here and has done her best to see that those friends make sure her step-father is ok.

Other things which have added stress to me in the last month or 5 weeks are as follows, my fathers Parkinson's"s has increased and my own illness makes visiting him almost out of the question. There is a possibility of a way for me to visit him but it is awkward difficult and will depend on a great deal of luck. The town I live in has no bus routes in or out. None at all. Cab fare to where I could catch a bus is roughly $100 each way. Add my illness to that and things do not look good. However this town has an airport a leftover from training pilots for the Allies in WWII and my Dad's town has one as it is in the middle of nowhere and as a result has an emergency international airport ( ie even the Concorde could land there ) as a result of location. That perhaps I can find a private pilot willing to take me to the airport roughly a $20 cab ride from his place. It would have been no problem when we had the Chinese flying school here as the airport near his home was the other end of their training missions but following last years flooding their school had to relocate to London ( Ont Tracey not UK ).

Back to family burdens my step dad was since my last posting found to have both lung and brain cancer. The Brain cancer was just operated on and he is ok but has lost his driving license as a result of the surgery. My Brother is also moving out of the area which will leave me with no relatives within roughly an hours drive. My Mom and step dad will be forced to move as they are ten miles out of town and unable to afford cabs for everyday expenses.

My mother, father and youngest brother have all needed cataract operations on both eyes within the last six weeks. Something I view as strong co-incidence. Though I have had to wear glasses since my fight with meningitis at 16 I have no sign of cataracts. On the down side I just had my annual medical exam and had to go back for a diabetes test. I have never needed to get one before and even if it comes back positive diet and exercise should take of it. beyond that it is a controllable illness under most conditions. Trying to maintain a positive outlook. I managed to get myself into a position where money wise I am ok for the rest of a normal lifespan. Getting sick when I was about to retire was not in my plans and has certainly affected my hopes and dreams was not in my plans but preparation has in the long run turned out wise. Two years that could not have been foreseen I still try to put behind me..Barriers remain, friends have been lost over rumors, some major choices over where I will live will present in the next year. Right now things are not easy. For the next year when choices present they will not be easy. Then again I never did well when things were easy.

five days of Rain I think

Now been raining pretty much all of the last five days. I only room with one cat and one dog my names not Noah and I'm definitely not a holy man so if is going to last another 35 days I'm in trouble.

Unlike a lot of people I hate walking in the rain. Even with an umbrella. Dodging puddles and in some cases tiny steams at curbs. Even the dog doesn't like it. I think he has different reasons. Some I think have to do with his being blind much of knowing exactly where he is comes from his sense of smell and smells have been washed away by now. He also isn't a lover getting wet, does the dog shake when he gets home. Lucky for me that's still in the hall. He also doesn't like puddles and really jumps over those little streams. I put off non urgent errands so he doesn't get out on those either. Plus fewer folks out means he gets less attention. Right now he's napping and dreaming. I probably would be to were 101

Seeing Depressin hitting Hamilton

Yesterday a friend had a 7 pm appointment in Hamilton. Knowing I need to get away for therapy reasons she drove me to the area which is downtown Hamilton and I headed for the Mall at the City's Center.

I guess it has been 8 years since I was last there.

I was shocked. Most of the mall was closed by 5. Same with almost every store downtown. What was open were coffee shops, sushi shops and the odd convience store. Last time I was in downtown Hamilton you could not find sushi anywhere. I did have sushi for dinner but the waiter spoke no Japanese ( I had to order again in English ).

It looked like Buffalo 30 years ago. I guess only Ray will know what I mean. Not as bad as Detroit but Detroit has not been rebuilt after the wild Halloween in I think it was 85 when most of downtown was hit by arson. My brother lived across the river at the time in Windsor. He tells me most of the people in Windsor took lawn chairs down to the waterfront park and watched Detroit burn. The movie the Crow is partly about that year.

Good news no Panic Attack. Bad news I am exhausted today. ( a marked improvement ). Other bad news I won't be putting up a Blog for Rocky till tomorrow or late this evening. My allergies are also acting up as it is a bit above freezing some trees may be pollinating. Itchy eyes plus the drowsy from the allergy meds. Yes I am going to use some eye drops too.

Even if I don't blog tonight or tomorrow Rocky will. I promised him.

Rocky is 13 Today

Rocky is 13 today it's birthday and no Gail one dog birthday party was enough. Carrying home 3 medium sized dogs who decide to go for a run in the alley is just too much work.

As you know dogs don't age at the same speed as humans of since people say one dog year is 7 human years in theory he is 101. The seven to one isn't exactly accurate. In the first 18 months mature to match roughly a 21 year old human then the rate slows down. It is still faster than us by far but if a dog lives into his mid teens that difference slows down to as low almost 2 or 3 to one. I saw it expressed in a graph once but that was years ago and I no longer have the graph. I also had one for cats. It was even more extreme. A cat is an adult in a few months them of course the curve evens out.

Rocky's blog is doing well it took me over a year to get 9 followers he got 4 in less than a day. I knew he was the good looking one in the family. Turns out he's the better writer too.

Wanted to take a birthday pic. It is to snow and slush covered outside. May try later in the day or if not will wait till his return trip from the Groomer's in the Spring ( Which here means realistically late April ). Human males only get Groomed to get dragged to the alter.

Alters for Marriage Alters for sacrifices. There has to be a blog article in there somewhere.

Adding New Blog

Going to add a new blog. Sort of. It will be the Dog's Blog. Trying to look at the world via the 4 remaining senses of a blind dog.

As he shares my sense of humor only he's nicer and has much more hair I hope it will be enjoyable.

I will let you know when he makes his first posting.

The Blog's title will be Warp Drive Canine Mind Unleashed you can click on it in Blogs I follow.

this should be the link for the first article. Be sure to follow it as dogs love attention. http://rockyhasablog.blogspot.com/2010/02/welcome-to-rockys-blog.html You will need to cut and paste it for now.

Men Mirrors and Haircuts

I got myself a haircut yesterday around noon. The barbershop is literally my neighbour. In fact as I look out the window in my computer room or den the roof I am looking across is the barbershop. It means I get light on a side most apartments above stores don't but because of the V shape of the alley if a slight wind is blowing in the right direction I get a howl like a horror movie sound effect. Has caused a few sleepless night if it is a strong wind. Until sh*t for brains here realizes the couch is very comfortable and uses his single brain cell to decide to move.

Back to haircuts. I joke that there are only 3 men's hairstyles while women have a near infinite number. In fact there probably more ladies hairstyles then there are possible number combinations for the lottery. However men there are 3, parted, unparted and departed. However departed is usually not complete. So we have to get cleaned up at least every couple of months. Not to mention cutting ear hair before we trip over it.

Anyway I was finally about to shut my eyes for the night about 2 am as lately I have been having trouble sleeping. 2am was my finishing time when I worked subway emergency so that or 7 am from when I worked night shift in streetcar emergency are almost normal betimes for me. Not by choice by choice I prefer to sleep midnight to 8 am. Seems that only happens if both the weather and my health are at nice levels. Just as I was taking my last medication I happened to look in the mirror. At that time I realized I had not looked in one since before I got the haircut. Normally I would come home trim my beard and go about but yesterday I needed a few grocery items so got those first. Routine broken I went about my day. Not a big deal but I can honestly say I have no problems in the vanity department about my looks. Can you imagine a women not looking in the mirror for 14 hours after a new haircut.

So a couple jokes. Who would have to be the laziest man in History.

The man who invented the Golf Tee.

Think about it.

How lazy do you have to be to invent something to rest your balls on?

Going to spend the day lowering my IQ

Boredom. Mainly Dumb. Typical winter. So I am going to spend the day watching cartoons. Did it Saturday mornings as a kid and only side effect seems to be a thin line between right and wrong and thinking of consequences of my actions. Over cautious as a result as others either can't or won't do the same.

So a day on the cartoon channel. Didn't have that when I was a kid.

May also get a lottery ticket. Since odds of winning are so low you may as well look at them as contributing to charity.

Danger of Boredom & a Warped Mind

Outside it is like a Christmas Card. Cold just below freezing so not uncomfortable cold. Slight wind so the much larger than average snowflakes fall almost straight down. A quiet, so very very quiet. As Elmer Fudd would say with his accent "Quiet enough to hunt wabits".

Which of course leave me inside no urgent errands to already walked the dog and had my coffee. Cleaned the litter box. Not completely out of closet bachelor meals so no need to go shopping. ( Wallet needs a refill so unless I choose to make the 100 yards or less trip to the bank machine no pizza or chinese food delivered. Mind you the last time the Chinese Food was delivered and the young man delivering it said "Good Day" I replied Ni hao ma. Which is Chinese for I am having a very good day thanks to you. He almost dropped the order. I laughed it is one of the exact phrases I do know so I couldn't resist.

While walking the dog I got to wondering how they leave messages for each other in pee. Now I don't even pretend to be able read dog pee. It makes me wonder though. Are dog pee messages like human phone tag? I live 3 telephone poles and a fire hydrant downwind give me a call. Or are they more like graffitti on Washroom walls. In big black magic marker " My Mother made me a Homosexual" below in a red pen " If I buy Her the Wool will she make one for Me? "

Pee the Canine version of Business Cards.

Some days I think if they take out the engine from a V8 Engine and Replace it with my Brain we will have discovered Warp Drive.

I've Figured out why Men pick their Noses

Due to snow plow activity last night I couldn't sleep. Scraping the ground when moving forward beeping when backing up. As a result I lay in bed thinking. As most of you know at times me thinking is not a good idea. However I did figure out why men pick their nose.

As everyone knows men have two heads but only enough blood to use one at a time. It used to be we were incapable of intelligent thought until our later years. Then they invented Viagra and adult males may never think again. However here is my reasoning of why men pick their nose.

Lack of room. Let's face it our southern heads are nowhere as large as we tend to imagine they are. Can't take much blood to fill it. So if we get stuffed up in the head even a little bit there isn't much room. If enough blood gets up there to engorge our single brain cell the smallest restriction on volume can prevent us from having an idea. So we have to do it to make room just in case. Combined with the fact whenever a man learns something new it pushes out something else to make room that just may have been important. As Homer Simpson said " Remember when I took that home wine making course and forgot how to drive."

Best to err on the side of caution.

In the interest of keeping this blog readable by polite society I won't try to figure out things men do with this substance once it has been mined.

Haven't Been Blogging Much Lately

I have to confess I have not been blogging much lately. In fact as of today I am exactly one month behind where I hoped to be today. Excuses, while some hold up some don't. Excuses are what you tell people for why you did or did not do something. While I had about 6 weeks of Bronchitis which does wear me down that is not the reason. Part of it maybe. Laziness is the big thing.

What had I wanted to be doing.

1. Working and posting the survival book. Partly laziness partly being non-fiction I can't sit down in front of the type writer and hammer it out. I just gave away my age make that computer. I can't have mistakes in that. Peoples lives could depend on my getting it right. Winter I have down cold ( no pun intended ) most of what I will be writing about winter survival I have myself put to the test.

Other seasons in temperate zones will also be personally tested. As will some things like water treatment etc. I want the book to be as useful as possible and am seeing where I need to research a bit more. Not a lot, I was well trained. However I don't want anyone to die of a typo. For once I don't mean that as a joke.

I have many talents however drawing is not one of them. I could take photos but and this is my opinion I don't know if it really holds true. I think a photo has two much information when you want to make a simple point. There is too much to distract. I wish to use mostly line drawings and am still looking for help there. To be honest my stick men don't even look like stick men.

It will get done how fast I don't know.

I wanted to review French at the moment. Studying French was not a game for me I did need to study. Most subjects came so easy I once was asked to read from Shakespeare in class but had a comic open on my desk and the book open but upside down on the desk. I stood holding the comic open didn't lift the book and delivered the speech ( from King Lear ) as if I were on stage. That particular teacher never tried to have me read unless we were taking turns again. I had happened to like that particular speech and memorized it. I can still quote it. That class was in 1972.

However French was hard and the only time I enjoy it is if I am using it. So procrastination is slowing me.

I also wanted to add a new language Odette's to be honest. I am almost ready, getting the written texts printed was my hold up but that is almost done. I tried once before with voice only and to be honest. I have standards for myself I was far from meeting. Shortly I should be meeting them.

So for now I am only going to say sorry for now. I won't say it won't happen again as I am far from saintly and err as all humans do. However I do intend to do better. On the positive side I have seen vast improvements in my illness reducing over the last couple of months and expect that to continue and probably accelerate. In time I should be able to travel. Probably either with a companion or needing medication but that is almost a normal life and I won't complain about that opportunity.

To all I open email soon as it arrives if I am home and awake. If not when I get home or wake up ( not quite true I pee first in the morning ) so to all thank you in a way you are all like a very large distant but effective therapy group.

My Computer doesn't have shelf space for awards

I get embarrassed at awards. That's not entirely true. I almost went into shock when I won best master Cadet. I embarrassed my Parents and Grandparents in 8th grade where I went to an 8th grade only school with 720 students. I won an award for best math student and while the winners of science and English were looking sheepish beside me on stage I was holding mine up to the light to see what was inside the envelope.

The award is supposed to be for contributing to humanity. I'm wondering who accused me of being human. Couldn't have been any member of my family they know better. So humane maybe human nah. Like Groucho Marx said " I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member "

So who do I give this to as I am to pass it to 12.

Tracey of course for physical fitness. She gets me out of my easy chair. If falling on the ground and rolling around the ground laughing via her cartoons.

Ray the Angry American partly for when he does write and partly for when he bites his tongue or proverbial pen. I know he could tell it like it is but as Jack Nicholson said " We can't handle the Truth!!!")

Amy of bubbles blog for realizing she can enjoy life when she looks at the positive side.

Steven Amy's husband not only for his unusual blog but I will also have to give one to his Roster Achmed If I can get award that means it's not limited to humans. Give an infinite of typewriters to an infinite number of monkey's and you will waste a lot of paper.

Gail of Gail's books though she is close in the real world and can pull me down to earth.

Kirst though she has removed one of her blogs for trying to prevent pain and suffering in others.

Fi for her dedication the more evolved species on this planet. That means anything but Man.

Odette for getting so many of us into this and it's therapeutic effects.

My daughter gets two as she just started two blogs. Baby Blog and Balthuer family blog. They are in my blog follow list. The different last name is complicated and I understand her reasoning and do not disapprove. It just may mean extra work for her if I pass before hitting 65 my pension is guaranteed till then. After all even I could accidentally get whacked by a falling chunk of the planet Krypton.

Mimi can I pass you a copy back and here is the reason. Some of what you have told me has me doing extra research for my book. Here we have an earthquake someone is likely to accuse another of passing gas. I know Japan has excellent facilities for dealing with them my Japanese is very slow to translate. Also your police could take some lessons from them. If they have a hostage situation they have special trucks pull up and the back angles at where the hostage is being held. Four or five trucks then they turn on the lights. Each truck is full of spotlights like you use to play night baseball the prokind. Also giant speaker trucks the Rock industry would envy.

A few hours of this then negotiations begin which usually start with the surrender of the bad guys.

The remaining two I will have to divide among blogger anywhere who don't swear, berate, put down or ostracize. The ones who build folks up. Also in the process they are letting all of us know more of the world then the media or ten lifetimes of travel could. All without getting shot at ( With the possible exception of RAY ) ;)

Politcally Correct Reference Books

Beside my computer I keep a copy of the Penguin English Dictionary. I think it comes from the Oxford. ( IN other words English Language not American ).

I wanted to post a comment on Odette's article today and needed to look up the spelling of the name of a Greek god. Probably the hardest one to spell. To my surprise his name was not there. So I thought ok maybe I just can't spell it I'll look up the Roman version and it should have the Greek too. So I check no Roman version either. Which of course started a search for all the ancient God's names I could think of. Not one not even Zeus. I was Shocked has political correctness secretly made it's way into our reference books now.

Is anyone else shocked. Or am I alone in this?

By the Way the dictionary is close to 4 inches thick and has no pictures.

Land of the Midnight Moon

I'm afraid its after 5 pm and I only woke up an hour ago.

I worked the off shifts for so long whenever my system goes slightly out of wack, cold, flu, even overtired It goes back to shift mode.

So I tend to sleep when the sun is up and then up all night and it is very hard to switch back. I never did the rotating shift I would be on nights or afternoons for years at a time. I think out of 29 years I only did 4 or 5 on days.

Human's were meant to function like this. ( not that I am that qualified in the being Human department ) Overall my health is improving greatly. However I am willing to bet I go through a bunch of day night upside down cycles before I am back to so called normal.

My Mom should have named me Abe then given me the middle name Normal.

Oddly Exhausting

In my last post I wrote about having a breakthrough in not having a panic or even anxiety attack travelling out of town. It is a big deal as with the exception of travelling with very trusted friends that was the first time I had been able to do that in Eight years. Sometimes I have had limited sucess with the help of medication.

Since then I have been testing the bounds of my comfort zone. Areas that not long ago were limits that would trigger an attack are no longer triggers I can go past them too problem free. With the exception that I am very exhausted by travelling past these former boundry limits. Though only a little more than a half mile back I took a cab home yesterday. I really was tired after ward and some of you may have noticed I don't think I was even at the computer once. It was minor chores then to bed and not even a book or TV on. ( I am not much of a Music person and don't play music while resting. Perhaps I should develop that habit. It may be more relaxing then I would think in theory. That would be my theory not anyone else's. I saw many live concerts while working at a major concert hall during high school. Most of my Cadet and Army postings were out of range of radio stations in those days. And even the weight of a transitor radio ( maybe a pound as opposed to today's grams and an MP3 player also lets you choose thousands of your favorites. A pound made a difference. In fact we would tend to eat the heaviest of the foods we were carrying first so the remainder of the trip we could carry less.

The exhaustion is I think just the next step on the way to healing. I see the shrink next on the 12th and am going to see if I can slowly change one of my meds. Prevents depression as a secondary effect and reduces general anxiety but I do need it to sleep, it is one of the rare meds which you don't build up a tolerance to its sleep effect. It does have one side effect which was good when I had lost so much weight from the constant attacks years ago. Weight Gain is a very deffinate side effect. I wan't to reduce it replacing it with something herbal but now RX not because the med is dangerous but years ago a batch was contaminated. A few deaths resulted some countries pulled it before the cause was found not to be the med but an accidental batch that had poison in it. Our response was to move it to RX only. I had taken it as a young man with no ill effects ( same for the poisioned batch no ill effects have ever been reported it is the same chemical as makes one drowsy after a turkey dinner ) I also found out some take 24 times the amount I do. So I would like to decreae the other med and increase this. He is a very good doctor and explains why he does what. I know I can't sleep without the first med as on the rare times I forget to take it I am unable to sleep for hours till I remember ( and check ) and found I won't fall asleep without it. yesterday while exhausted I still could not actually sleep till after I took it.

All in all I am enthusiastic that I seem to be getting over this. I have read it came in rare cases cure itself as sudden as it came ( It came like someone threw a switch).

So plans now include saving, moving to a proper city. Then preparing for travel. 2 to 3 years in all as I also want to study when I travel so in additon to travel costs I will have tuition.