Flexible if nothing else

Well our Thanksgiving plans changed at the last minute this year. For years this was the big holiday spent with the neighbors that bring the family down from Erie. They were not able to make it this year for a variety of reasons so we went to a friends house in Greensboro, NC.

It was a very nice Thanksgiving with a small group of people. It takes about 4 hours to drive from Myrtle Beach to Greensboro and we have made this trip many times.

This time we left the cat (Pez) at home for a few days. I figured she would have a party while we were gone and just really enjoy herself. She travels OK but it's not one of her favorite things to do. And since the friend we were seeing has two other cats we just felt it would be less tramatic for all of us to leave Pez at home.

Sheeot had a tough time.. She had to share her pillow with a Monster Black Cat named Titus. It's hard not to share when the cat is bigger than you are and has sharp claws.

When we got home Pez was really happy to see us again. I think she might have been a little stressed being on her own but now I know she can do it.

I'm off to San Francisco this week. Then Texas the week after. Then I have a new account in Savannah, GA.

I'm exicted about the Savannah account. It will be nice since it's driving distance and I can just hop in the car and not have to hassle through airport security and connections. I hope to take the dog and cat down to Savannah with me sometime and stay over a weekend after work. They have both been there before. I just want to stay and tour sometime.

Nature TV

This little squirrel was out preparing for his own Thanksgiving feast this week. He stopped in the tree outside my bedroom and made fun of me and the cat. Pez was not amuzed.

I’ve always been told…

I’ve always been told that if you have nothing nice to say; don’t say anything. So I’m going to my little corner and shut up and try to fly under the radar today.

Happy Hump Day everyone…
Oh and it's raining again. Maybe I should go back to bed.

What I Woke Up To

Well all... I'm still alive. Just been super busy working from home office and to be quite honest been too lazy to write. I just wanted you all to know I'm still out here kickkin' and causing trouble.

Here is what I got to see this morning when I looked out my bedroom window. I now it's just water and trees, but it makes you glad you woke up.

Do I Have to Do All The Work Around Here?

If you ever wonder what I do for a living this picture should sum it up. This week was the go-live for the Inventory project at the hospital. Take a guess which person in this picture is me.


One Clue - I'm wearing a paper hat! Just like I did when I worked in fast foods. I guess my career has come full circle now.

Daytrip to Shreveport

Thursday night I decided that the weather was too bad to drive to Arkansas to see mom. It was a good call considering how much rain and bad weather we had. There were 4-5 tornados in the Shreveport area which I would have had to drive through.

Shreveport is about half way from where I’m working and where mom lives. So I met her and my aunt there in Shreveport and we drove around looking at the damage and then through some neighborhoods just to see the nice houses in the area.

A church steeple was blown off and fell on a car that night. It was a white Lexus from what I heard. My aunt tells me he woke up in the hospital and wasn’t sure what happened. The steeple is said to weigh 2 tons.


We went downtown Shreveport and went to a botanical garden and art museum.

The statue below is at the River Walk in Downtown Shreveport.After we messed around downtown a while we tried to get to the Rose Gardens in time to walk around. We didn’t make it but I did get a few pictures at the front of the gardens. Maybe next year I’ll get to see it.

Soaked in Texas

Well this week I have been in Lufkin getting ready for a go-live over the weekend. Since we needed to be back on Sunday morning I decided to stay out here over the weekend instead of flying back to South Carolina on Friday and back here on Saturday.

I thought this is a great time to run up to mom’s about 4.5 hours north of here and spend the night. Tonight would have been the night to go but we are getting torrential rains here so I called mom and told her I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to drive in the dark in heavy rains.

It turned out that my decision was the right one. Mom called me back and a tree is down over the power line down the road from her and she has no power. So I couldn’t have worked home office from there. They have had flooding there and we have had flooding here.

On the way back from dinner I drove through water that was up past the floor boards on the side of the car. I would never do this normally but I was on the major highway here and I couldn’t do anything but proceed. I am looking out my window now and I see they have that road closed and routing traffic around the flooded area.

I am staying at the Courtyard that just opened this month. I have been waiting for this place to open so I could move back into the Marriott Chain. They have had a tough night here. The parking lot is flooded out in front and there is a full sized pickup with water up to the doors. I am parked on the end of the building up-hill from the water.

To add to the frustration the fire alarm was going off in my co-workers room when he got home from work. So he reported it and we just decided to go to dinner. When we came back the entire fire alarm system was going off. They could not bypass the system until 45 minutes had passed. So about 5 minutes after we got back they got the alarms shut off. But then the elevators don’t work because they are in fire mode. I finally got tired of sitting in the lobby and hiked my butt up the four flights of stairs to my room.

So I guess I’ll have a nice day working from the motel tomorrow and have a day of rest in the motel on Saturday. Might as well make the best out of this right?

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I’ve written notes with this title before. Yesterday was one of those days where I hit all those forms of transportation. It was more like Automobiles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

This week’s destination is a place where I really wish I had a few extra days (San Francisco Bay Area). We are in a little town named Walnut Creek just northeast of Oakland. I am traveling with a co-worker that I am lucky enough to travel with quite a bit. It’s a good thing he is a great traveling companion.

Yesterday Ed missed his connection in Charlotte and his flight was 3.5 hours later than planned. Of course he had rented the car and he just knew I’d be stranded at the airport. I had scoped out our destination and knew that BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) had a train that left the airport and dropped me within two blocks of the Marriott where we are staying.

So I proceeded to head out on my little adventure. The BART train took me through San Francisco then under the bay to Oakland and then northeast to Walnut Creek. The train ride was a few minutes over an hour ride. The girl that sat in the seat next to me did not speak much English but was enough to know we were going to the same stop.

I always find it strange how things work out. Another guy that sat in the row in front us found out we were heading to his stop. This guy was about 20-21 and lives in the area. We struck up a conversation and I learned a lot about him on our trip. It’s funny how much people will tell you about their lives. His story was interesting enough to listen to.

His parents met in the Peace Corps; his father was from Costa Rica and his mother was from California. Neither spoke the same language when they first met but they still fell for each other. He spent most of his life growing up in Costa Rica. Then they moved him to the states to get a higher education. He is going to school to get a degree in Engineering. He and his friends are starting a Reggae Band. When he graduates he wants to join the Peace Corps and eventually he wants to sail around the world.

It’s so refreshing to listen to someone young who has all these lofty dreams. I don’t even know this kid and I so hope he can fulfill them. When we got off the train he helped the girl in the seat next to me with her suitcases. We had to navigate a long escalator and he made sure she got down with her bags and helped direct her to where she needed to go.

I was so glad that we found him on the train ride. It reminded me of my trip to Paris France in 1997. This girl was in a strange country; spoke broken English and this nice gentleman helped her get where she needed to go. I was so pleased to know that in a big city there are still young men that know how to be a gentleman.

I have lofty goals for the rest of this week… Tonight I have dinner plans with a friend I worked with in Charlotte over 10 years back. Then the next night I am hoping Ed will take the train with me into San Francisco and catch a cable car down to find some place to eat. He has never been to this area and I’d like to show him what little I know about the area.

I’ll try to get pictures this week. Tonight will not be the night since there is a huge storm blowing in today. They are projecting 2-4 inches of rain in the valleys and 5-7 inches in the hills. We are expecting winds in the 40-60 MPH range and in canyons gusts up to 70 MPH. You would know I’d be here when you have tropical force winds and rain. At least it’s only one day of bad weather.

Danger to Dogs - Xylitol / Sorbitol

In July 2007 our dog had a seizure that we could not explain. Of course it’s on a weekend evening and we rushed her off to the emergency animal hospital in Myrtle Beach. We thought maybe she had been poisoned. Her symptoms were sudden a few minutes earlier she had been playing like a puppy then later she could barely walk; was lethargic and yelping in pain from the slightest touch.

Just this weekend we have finally figured out what happened. I had heard on the news in Houston the other day that Sorbitol and Xylitol sweeteners are poisonous to dogs. I heard the blurb on the news and decided I needed to read up on this since I chew gum that is sweetened with these sweeteners.

I first read an article that was in USA Today back in 2007. Then I did more research and found the AVMA had posted a warning back in October 2006. Further research lead to a blog by a Veterinarian in Miami who had written an article about the dangers of Xylitol and dogs.

The symptoms Sheeot had were exact to what has been described in all my reading. It was quick to come on and it was very serious. After reading all this I realize that she is lucky to be alive. I feel bad that I didn’t know about this sooner.

I would have thought with us giving the exact descriptions of this to the Vet they would have at least been prompted to ask us if we had Altoids or Sugar Free products where the dog could get them. This information had been published less than a year prior in the JAVMA which I would hope the veterinarian would have read (I guess not).

All the articles I have read indicate that Dogs bodies don’t process Xylitol like we humans. The dog can develop a sudden drop in blood sugar, loss of coordination, become lethargic and have seizures. The effect is rapid and can come on in as little as half an hour or start up to 12 hours later. The JAVMA states that you need to act swiftly and get your dog to the Veterinarian.

Many of the articles tell you to call the Animal Poison Control Center. There is a $60 cost for support and you are told to pay it because they will assist the Veterinarian once you get there. As of this weekend I have programmed the Animal Poison Control Center number - 888-426-4435 into my cell phone. I have also posted it at the house.

Please spread the word to your family and friends of the dangers of sugar free products to dogs. Don’t assume they are informed – trust me I had no idea until recently. I can't even say your Veterinarian will catch it quickly enough. Ours never figured it out.

Looking back I’m sure our dog picked up an Altoid or some gum I may have dropped near my recliner. She’s not above helping herself to things out of the trash can.

So this is my Public Service Blog.

Listed below are the links just in case you can't get the links above to work.

USA Today - http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-18-xylitol-sweetener_N.htm
AVMA - http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct06/061001b.asp
Animal Poison Control Center - http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/
888-426-4435
Dolittler Blog - http://www.dolittler.com/2006/10/27/pet.vet.dog.cat.vs101.10.27.06.html

Medical Advances

Tonight I got to attend the ribbon cutting at the hospital I am working at in Lufkin, TX. I had been through the building during construction and even toured it earlier in the day. I got the behind the scenes tour up to the helipad on top of the building.

The new tower is amazing and the CEO said it cost 47 million to construct the state of the art Cardiovascular and Stroke Center. Later this month they will start moving departments across a floor at a time.

I got the biggest kick out of the robot in the Emergency Room. It had a screen on the top as the head and the guy running it was in Kansas City and controlling this robot in Texas. It showed his picture and your own picture. He could adjust the picture to pick up groups or zoom in on individuals. What an amazing tool to have a robot that can navigate halls and go room to room with a doctor anywhere there is an internet connection. This was the “Wow Factor” for me.

The bed in the Intensive Care Unit was pretty slick too. It has so many tricks it can do to make the nurses and patients lives better. The bed speaks 25 languages. So if the patient does not speak English they have common care plans loaded and they select what they want from the patient and the language and the bed translates to the patient. Not only does the bed speak 25 languages… It plays music; weighs the patient; rolls the patient side to side and can convert to a chair. It can pound the back (I think she said percussion) to help patients with pneumonia. Let me tell you this thing was quite the improvement over my bed at home.

They have built a Heart Room and a Cath Lab. And one room can convert from a Cath Lab to a Cardiovascular Room so the patient does not need to be moved. The rooms were 900 square feet. They are the largest Cath Labs in the world at the moment. I’m sure someone will build a larger one at some point.

Oh and they were handing out brains at the entrance tonight. They were the little squeeze balls in the shape of a brain. So now I have a spare brain to boot.

So this is what a day in the life can be for me. It was a pretty cool day in general.

Memories of a Dear Friend - Ruby

It has been a long time since I’ve really had something I wanted to write about. Today after looking at pictures of Jackie’s Hot Air Balloon adventure it started me reminiscing about when mom and I took our Hot Air Balloon ride.

The first person I knew that took a Hot Air Balloon Ride was a retired lady who volunteered with me when I worked at the Oklahoma Blood Institute. Her name was Ruby. She went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque. She had such wonderful pictures and I was so surprised that she had taken a ride in one of these balloons. I thought what a gutsy woman she was.

Ruby had been widowed quite a few years before I met her and she didn’t have any children. She is one of the people I can say really touched my life over the years. She passed away 15 years ago and I still think of her fondly to this day. She touched so many lives.

Way back when before I started traveling for a living I started saving key chains from places I’d been. Then people would bring them back to me from the vacations I doubted I’d ever get to take on my own. Ruby probably brought me the most key chains of anyone. She was always on some adventure to Europe or in the United States. I still have a strand of key chains from all around the world she picked up for me all those years ago.

I have been lucky to find a job I truly enjoy that allows me to see places I never dreamed I’d see. Ruby would be so happy for me if she were here. I never thought I’d go to Europe or for that matter take a Hot Air Balloon ride. I remember her writing me a note when she was in Ireland she was describing how there were so many shades of green she couldn't do it justice in her note. It was a place that I know she dearly loved visiting.

Jackie – thanks for you post and the beautiful pictures. You brought back some very fond memories of a lady I have not thought about for a while. It was nice to think about her again.

Well it's officially FALL now...

I got home today and found my Spider Lilly's in bloom. I used to love these when I was a kid. Mom brought me these bulbs a few years back and I missed them blooming last year because I was out of town. I caught them this year!