Well here I am again!

Well here it is 4 something AM on Friday morning and I am watching "Apocalypse Now Redux" on TV with Oreo. Earlier Fasha and I were at BMC's ER. It seems that my ailment does not know when it is it's supposed to be in remission. I started to have some returning symptoms on Wednesday and they continued to worsen during the night and Friday till I ended up back at the ER getting some IV fluids and medication. Luckily the Dr. did not decide to keep and admit me. Believe me I would much rather be at home than in the hospital, mainly due to the fact I have better TV and better food. Plus at home I can actually rest, in the hospital they have a tendency to wake you up and ask if you need anything! At home I have around 300 channels plus 100 music channels, the hospital only has 35 (yes that's better than over the air broadcast, but I like having such an enormous selection to choose from). Oh did I fail to mention that I am only waiting for a TB Test to clear for me to start Cimzia. And no this blog will not turn into an ad for any medication, it's just that I am so psyched to start as I have heard some good things about it. See as I have previously stated I have had Crohns Disease for awhile now and have gone thru all the standard treatments for it. I am finally getting a shot at a medication that is considered Front Line in the treatment of it. Cimzia is the latest in what is called a TNF-Blocker. It is similar to Humira or Remicade or Enbrel with the exception that those 3 are given IV infused, Cimzia is a self-administered Injection very much like insulin, also it is given every 2 weeks not each week, but it costs around $2500.00 a month

Anyway, Fasha more or less told me I was going to the ER to get fluids and to get checked out. Turns out I was only down a couple of quarts of oil and after topping off I was able to come home. Wow this was easy, except for the part about getting stuck with needles 4 times trying to find a vein for the IV, that part always sucks. Oh well it takes a pain to have to deal with a pain like Crohns and anytime I don't have to stay at the hospital is a good time and makes me happy. One question comes to mind though if I had had to stay would you be reading a similar post only gripping about being inpatient and possibly having a weird or strange roommate? (Note: I am planning on writing a blog about some of the more different and weird/strange hospital roommates I have had over the years, believe me I have had some doozies!) Well the answer is YES, BMC has high-speed wifi access hospital wide! In fact every hospital in the Baptist Health System in San Antonio has wifi access, something that Methodist Healthcare does not have. Methodist only has wifi in a couple of their locations and only in certain spots in those select locations. Believe me when I say that having wifi available is truly a benefit and a perk I am willing to use and take advantage of, as there is nothing more boring than being stuck in bed with nothing to do but stare at the walls with nothing on TV to watch or only having one TV and sharing it with a 90 yr old who only likes soap-operas and Lifetime. Yes having net access is something I would use to weigh my decision about where to go for healthcare!

Okay now that we all know I am shallow about something and I am 'net slut' can we continue on here. As I stated I am up still (it is now 5 something in the AM), and I am awake due to having a killer headache from being dehydrated earlier, and am still watching "Apocalypse Now Redux" on HBO Z West. Wow but does it ever beat the original. I love the addition of the previously cut scenes especially the 'stolen board' and the 'monkey sampan'. The French plantation one is also good, but you need to have some comedy in a movie of this magnitude and style!

Well it is back to the movie as my popcorn is done, and I need to get a fresh glass of water!

Another day, another……

Well good morning, (those who are in San Antonio, TX maybe asking what is so good about another drab and dreary day with it drizzling and cold and all) I hope like me you are glad for something! Me I am just glad I am not in the hospital and that once again I am able to awaken next to Fasha in my own bed and surrounded by our dogs (yes our dogs sleep in our bedroom if they so choose to do so, and yes we spoil them). Having a chronic illness, Crohns Disease, you quickly learn to appreciate the small often overlooked little things that make life so sweet! For me waking up anywhere other than a hospital room is one, another is not being poked with needles (ironic since I get two shots each day). In case you are wondering this is Sunday (for those who enjoyed Saturday a little too much I will keep my words quiet). Sundays have always been special for me. As a child growing up my Grandpa Snow would be the first to get up and almost always make breakfast, weekdays it was usually something quick and then he would be off doing what grandpa's do, but on Saturday and Sunday's it was special, and I'm just talking about the day or the occasion, I am referring to the food. With my grandpa you could always count on there being at least 3 different types of meat, besides eggs, oatmeal, toast, biscuits and what else was leftover or available. As a child I have had virtually anything you can imagine for breakfast, remember the adage 'waste not, want not'? I am 100% certain my grandparents on both sides came up with that phrase and practiced it faithfully. Nothing ever went to waste, leftovers from meals were put aside and put back out at the next meal, (on those rare occasions when it was not eaten it was added to the compost heap and turned into plant food). I have had everything from fish to to liver for breakfast along with pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, potato's, grits, green beans, corn on the cob, steak, roast you name it I have had it for breakfast, my favorite item is and will always be blackberry cobbler. These days at our home Sunday mornings are a time for my wife and I to slow down and enjoy the morning, taking our time, while getting ready for church and enjoying the last full free day of the weekend before having to confront reality on Monday. One of my favorite activities is to get up before my wife make coffee and peruse the 'net for news and noteworthy items. I usually get a good laugh out of what I come across and sometimes even forward them on. One of my favorites of this past year was the BBC UK news article about wallabies getting stoned on opium poppies in Tasmania and in the process creating their own crop circles. So does this mean the government in Australia is going to spring for wallaby rehab, and if so is E! going to do a reality show entitled ReHab: Hoppin on the EdGe? Let's hope not!  

It has been a bit since my last post, I have been busy though taking classes, studying and all that is involved with my education. It is fitting though that this post occurs on September 11th, the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I presently watching a live feed on my computer of from SKYNEWS showing live coverage of the events marking this event. Words cannot begin to tell the story as the names of those who died that day 8 years ago. I sit here with tears streaming as family and volunteers read the list. It is hard not to want to scream out for vengence for Osama bin Laden and the others responsible. Watching husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, neices, cousins and friends read the names touches in a way that cannot be expressed in words. It not only puts a name to those who died that tragic day, it also humanizes and brings into perspective the fact that these victims had lives and lived. After watching this how can a person not feel emotions, not shed tears for these heroes and for those they left behind who deal with 9/11 daily. It is okay to want to do violence for the cowards who did this, yet by doing so would it change things? Would the extremists of Islam up and quit because Osama is now dead at the hands of JUSTICE? The answer is a loud NO! The only way to stop radical Islam is to wipe it out permenently and in its entireity. Nothing short will work period. I am not condoning violence on anyone or anything, but I am for ending radical Islam at any cost whether it means the current war or by converting them to peace. Believe me they want to kill us for just being Americans, no reason other than just for being born free and having the freedoms we have. Speech. Liberty. Pursuit of happiness. Religon. The freedom to choose our lives and our destinies. To set our own course. This gigs them to no end. When I say if they ruled the world they would outlaw the wheel I am not exaggerting. These idiots are nothing but insignificant fleas who claim to do their violence for God yet what God would condemn innocent lives to pay the full cost as those who died did? What kind of God requires innocent blood be shed? When he finally stands before his maker and creator bin Laden will realize all to late that he was wrong! Obama will be held accountable for his actions by the only one who counts, GOD will judge him and hold him accountable all he has done of that I have complete faith!

A behind the scenes look at me and my Blog.

Hello all how is your is day progressing mine is going okay so far. This post will answer a couple of questions about me and this blog, kind of a behind the scenes tour of me and the BLOG.

1st off a lot of you have asked about the acronym Fattaasss, well it stands for the original Name/acronym of what some political hack wanted to call TSA. If you really want to know email me and I will send you the article and the original complete name. The fed's in Washington had gone so far as to order stationairy and building signs, until a clerk and a painter pointed out that the letters in their name spelled out FATTAASSSS haha lol. Oh yeah the Federal Government is always good for a laugh or two.

2nd What does the comment 'My political views make me a criminal' mean? This is an interesting story. About 18 months ago I was writing another blog and had commented on the electioneering and animosity of Obama's and Clinton's camps. I got email responses from both Obama's loyal minions and from Clinton's Kool-aide drinkers. What was interesting was that almost all of the emails I receieved made me out to be an 'outlaw' and an all around 'bad guy', I was also informed that if their respective parties were elected then they would make sure to 'outlaw' my opinions and I could be "labeled and possibly prosecuted for hate crimes and inciting to others to hate and to possibly commit hate crimes". The funny thing is that when I contacted both parties officials (not low level campaign workers, but high level people) I was told that this was not their party line but some crack pot working for them who has no authority to make such statements, which is all well and good but the fact still stands that I got over 100 emails with those almost identical threats. That tells me something is up, or they all are blind, Kool-aide Extremeists, I am going with both! Even though I had supported McCain I did not ever feel I should switch countries and move elsewhere like some of H. Clintons rabid dawg loyalists had said they would if Obama was elected which just goes to show you that Hilliary can really draw some hardcore lesbians, hmmm I wonder if that means anything about her personal life? (I am willing to bet a donut that this blog will get several dozen responses all derogetory, expressing violence towards me and telling me I will should be prosecuted. I thought this was America, land of the free thinkers and a place where I can have and hold my own opinion of things? I guess that is true if you hold forth the party line and spew forth the correct party doctrine, otherwise, NYET!)

Catching up with...........

Okay before I go any further I know, I know I have have been amiss in my blog posts but I do have a Doctors note excusing me. In September I had a Crohns flare and ended up in the hospital and had surgery #12. This though was not do entirely to Crohns but a problem left over from the December 'o8 flare/exacerbation. It seems that my small intestine had popped loose twisted and had choked it self causing approximately 3 inches to die. This in turn set off a chain of looping loose stools with the end result of my being dehydrated for the last 4 months! Not good at all, in fact not good ever! Due to the dehydration I become quite the frequent visitor at BMC (Baptist Medical Center - Downtown San Antonio). I was admitted 3 times and a ER guest 4 more times. (Don't get me started about needle sticks and IV lines as I will cringe run away and have screaming fits.) I guess being stuck with needles to either draw blood or for an IV access is better than the alternative (death), so I am fairly certain I can live with the hassle and the poking! Now that I am back to reality and life outside the hospital I have alot to do and make up for. I had to suspend myself from college (Kaplan University online), and put some projects on hold for a bit, namely a small Internet show I produce, direct, edit and host (more about this in a future post so stay tuned to this blog for more information). I also have been guilty of not giving my gorgeous, talented, funny, charming wife Fasha the attention she so very richly deserves (oh did I fail to mention that she is the most beautiful woman in the known universe? well she is!! so there!!). So you can see that I have been busy since since getting sprung from BMC on 3 Dec. busy, busy, busy.

Even though Fasha has been off this week on vacation and we have vowed to rest and take it easy we are still busy! We even have a guest, Alisha, one of Fasha's co-workers daughter and her best friend at CHLC is spending the last half of this week with us. Talk about fun, this little dynamo is cute, funny and has extreme amounts of energy (where do 4 yr olds get all that energy? If I could capture, bottle and sell it, I would be rich beyond belief) and being so darned cute she has been getting spoiled rotten, hey I have to stay in practice for my grand daughters. Which leads me to about where we were supposed to have been this week. Our original plans were for us to be in OKC, OK. this week visiting Manuel, Heather and Madison then on to Sand Springs and Claremore to see Nina, Frankie, Afton, Madelynne and dad. We had the perfect romantic vacation trip planned, a nice quiet trip to OKC on Amtrak! Think about it no hassles, no driving, no having to stop for gas or bathroom breaks and no TRAFFIC or other DRIVERS to deal with! Oh well we have postponed it till next month, so same trip same schedule just different date.

Now lastly, since this is a blog about my political and social views I am almost required by law to make a comment about what else but Politics. A lot has happened while I have been kicking back in the hospital getting pampered from head to toe by literally thousands of nurses (ha ha, yeah RIGHT, wake up ED, WAKE UP NOW lol), there is healthcare, Obama's speeches, the end of Obama's first year in office, and hundreds of thousands of other things I could choose to discuss. With so many choices it is a hard pick but I have to go with Obama and the Nobel Prize. With so much to say I feel like Quagmire on 'Family Guy'. Where do I start, OMG, OMG. (Okay big deep breath, while thinking calm happy thoughts) With so many other more qualified people on the planet was the committee on drugs? Seriously were they high? Obama had not been in office a full year and he wins an award for something he has yet to accomplish in office. Here is a president who to avoid having to make a decision about Iraq and Afghanistan and how to proceed with both continues to blame the Bush administration. Wait a minute, STOP, Obama dude you have been in office almost a year, you need to grow up and be a man, as much as you don't want to take responsibility for your actions you cannot continue to blame the former president for what is happening now. This became your war after you had been in office 100 days. But seriously dude now that it is Dec. you need to stop blaming Bush for every mistake you make while you are president. IT IS NOT CUTE IT JUST CHEAPENS YOU AS AN EFFECTIVE LEADER! Stand up and be a man, if you are so against what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan you have had ample opportunity to pull out the troops and walk away, yet you have not done that. (More wishy washy than Charlie Brown). Dude Seriously get real and admit you are not the Rock Star/God the press first made you out to be. The honeymoon was cut short and now that it looks like an annulment is pending all you are capable of doing is to blame everyone else and hope your smoke and mirror magic show works. Guess what? It's not working, didn't even sell one ticket, what a shame? What makes this an even better topic is that the Dalai Lama has even said this award is a bit premature. The head lama dude also warned President Obama against relying too much on his advisers, saying, quote, "due to his advisers' views, some of the policies have been a disaster." (http://mystateline.com/content/fulltext/?cid=121562). Considering only two previous sitting U.S. Presidents have won, Jimmy Carter was awarded for his work and efforts in 2002 long after he left office, and they were awarded after actually achieving peace not just talking about or having a peace plan. What is also interesting is that he has said he will donate the $1.4 million that comes with it to charity, yet to be determined. If he is really determined to reform healthcare why not set up a trust and use the funds to help our citizens that have current needs and cannot wait for Congress. Take me for example, at present I have a diagnosis of Crohns Disease, have had it since 1993, I am currently taking (in no particular order) Asacol, Prednisone, Entocort, Lomotil, Tylenol #4, Sandostatin Injection and a couple of other medications, the doctor has added Cimzia (waiting on a TB test for final insurance approval). Luckily I have healthcare coverage as both Sandostatin and Cimzia are Tier/Level 5 drugs, meaning both require approval before I can get Humana to pay for them. The cash price for Sandostatin in my area is around $700.00 per month, Cimzia is between $2000.00 and $3000.00 depending on the type of injection prescribed. This choice can also add another expense. Cimzia comes in preloaded syringes or a dry mix solution, both are sub q injections, one you can give yourself the other requires a nurse, hence the added expense. As I said before I am lucky, I have healthcare coverage through Medicare (I have a Medicare replacement policy thru Humana ) but there are others out there who don't have coverage, they have to make a choice each day on whether to buy food, medication or do something extravagant like pay a bill. Fasha and I have never had to make any decisions concerning food, drugs or utilities and I pray we never will have to. Yet there are untold numbers of fellow Americans who do each and every day. I am also concerned about those who do or will not qualify under the new reform plan through no fault of their own. What about those who have no income and cannot afford the premiums or those who don't qualify because of other factors. Will this be Obama's version of the holocaust? Only time will tell.


Agree or disagree? Please feel free to send comments. But please note that any email I receieve can and probably will be posted here, so please be nice and note that inflammatory comments and threats, (threats of violence of any type will be forwarded to the proper authorities and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law) have never ever changed a persons mind, I am entitled to my own opinion just as you are entitled to your own opinion.


Internet news articles referenced for/in this post:

http://mystateline.com/content/fulltext/?cid=121562
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fgw-nobel10-2009dec10,0,410509.story
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2002/press.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/10/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5962550.shtml

Wow does time really fly or what........?

Well first let me again apologize for not posting sooner, what with school, a job, family and a life it has been a bit hectic. I can't believe just how quick time flies though it just that yesterday I was 10 yrs old and wanting to be 16 so I could drive. Then I was 16 and i wanted to be 18 so I could well indulge in adult beverages (the legal age to imbibe in 1982 was 18, dont believe me look it up). Then I was 21 married and had a child and from there it has not let up. Life sometimes has it's own agenda compared to what we want to do. Now that I turning 45 it seems that I have hit warp speed 9 and things just fly by. Take for instance the fact that Fasha and I have been married for 11 years now, again it seems that it was just last week that we got married. Since time is flying super fast maybe my college classes will zoom zoom along too. I can only hope.

One good note though is that I have an internship coming up soon with a Federal Gov't agency, according to the disclosure agreement I signed I am not supposed to say which agency it is, but it should be pretty easy to figure out, since it is the largest one around, when it was formed back in 2001 with Tom Ridge as its first director, it has absorbed close to 50 different other agencies, namely the U.S. Coast Guard and USDA. Anyway I should start a 6 month internship with them around the beggining of the year, I then have another internship lined up to start in August of 2010 with a private consulting firm, (this one has a stipend attached to it also, so I will be a paid intern, this will be a total hands on experience with travel included, they made sure to ask me if I had a U.S. Passport and could pass a complete background check).

Things are looking up now if I can only apply the brakes to my speeding life it will be perfect.

Until next time or until I get a wild hair and want to rant, please watch your choice of beverages and keep it 'tween the ditches people.

I really hate.....

Let me state that I really dislike writing papers for class, but I am doing it! Why? Well 1. It gets me out of my comfort zone 2. I know it is helping me to get a better education and that is good. Well back to writing. Oh boy.

To study or to enjoy the weekend?

Well it's the weekend and the weather is great but what am I doing? I am studying for next weeks classes. Since the term started on Wednesday I only had 1 class last week, next week my other class starts CJ 210 Criminal Investigation starts, this unit should be tough but hopefully I can do it. Anyway I am inside studying and blogging but that is the price of getting an education. Giving up some things for an education, those things being money, time and family life.

So far so good....

Well college is off to a good start as I had my first class for this unit. Like I stated in a previous post the current unit started 10 June 2009 and goes til 18 Aug 2009. I do know that I will probably be writing some much that I will get carpal tunnel and my computer keyboard will wig out. If there's one thing I don't like to much it is writing but I also feel I need to do more things that take me out of my comfort zone. If writing does that then maybe I can learn to like it. After my first class in College Composition Effective Writing for CJ Students, I must say I like my Prof. and classmates a lot. everyone seems to be on the same page and they all want to help themelves and each other. Well I post more later this week and after my next class on Monday 15 June. Till then be safe and be good.

Thoughts on Visiting Oklahoma

Recently I traveled to Oklahoma to visit family there. Even though I reside in the greatest Nation State in the union Texas, I will admit that I have family outside of 'the Lone Star State'. My daughter and son-in-law along with their two kids (my grandkids) live in Oklahoma along with my dad and Sis-in-law and her husband and new baby. Why would anyone ever consider any state other than Texas to live? Texas is the best, the biggest of the lower 48, and is the only state authorized to split into 5 other states if it ever chooses to do so but why would it. Texas contributes lots of great products, services and ideas to the US and the world. My home town is also the birth place of Texas! Yes not only do I live in Texas I also live in San Antonio home of the Alamo, the birth place and cradle of Texas Liberty and Independence. Again I ask why would anyone move away or want to live anywhere else but Texas. Texas, to put it like my daughter would say about things she thought were great or truly stupendous, is the bomb.

Been busy and a little under the weather lately!

I know, know it has been a little while since I last made an entry and I apologize profusely. I have been extremely busy at both work and at home, I hardly had time to eat let alone write and research what I wanted to. Well now what has been happening, Oh yes the stimulus bill redeaux. Wow almost 2 Trillion dollars. The big question is does anyone actually know all that is contained in the 10 inch thick bill ? And yes it is several phone books thick. I have heard that it is anywhere from 10,000 pages to 15,000. The scary part is that no one knows for sure all the contents of the bill and I do know no one has read it completely through. Does not this create Strike 2 for the Obama administration. He did promise to not allow pork thru his office. And he would veto anything he did not understand. Trust me he will never understand this legislation NO ONE EVER WILL!

After bailing out banks and car makers and having almost NO OVERSIGHT on where the money was spent do we really need to up the ante anymore? Can Congress or the White House actually keep track and have complete oversight of this bill? Can either side guarantee that the funds will be used as earmarked and that this plan will actually work? If not are we prepared to be in debt till GOD CALLS US HOME or EVEN LONGER? One thing that worries me is that this bill was drafted and written in less than 2 weeks with little to NO RESEARCH.

For the sake of America I hope this stimulus plan works, but with things being the way they are, I am not confident about it working, and no I don't want to see Obama fail bigtime I want America to be the greatest nation again, THE ONLY TRUE SUPER POWER and the ROCK OF ALL OTHER NATIONS. Unfortunately I do not think that will be the case. If you have any thing to say or any comments on this entry or my blog please email me.

I am back from the nearly deceased.

Wow it has been awhile since I have posted, this was/is due to myself being in the hospital for 22 days all of it in ICU or PCU (Progressive Care Unit). I have Crohns Disease and at present it is active and that is not good. I was lucky, my gastro caught it in time other wise I could have bled out as it was I was on the operating table within 10 minutes. Between Dr. Jocelyn Theard the gastro and Dr. John Winston the surgeon I am alive and doing good. Coming close to death can have an impact on your life. It makes you think and actually appreciate what you have. It can also scare the crap out of you especially since I was close to death when I got to the ER and then after I got better I came close to death again, when I lost 5 pints of blood, and they removed 2 feet of small intestine. Anyway, I wrote a small blog for several days while I was in the hospital, I will post them when I get my other laptop back from the shop (getting upgraded). Until then know that the fine folks at Northeast Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas are truly lifesavers. I thank G_d for them, they truly are my heroes. Stick around to read my blogs from the hospital. And also be sure to read my criminal blog about "Osama Obama" I still think its crazy that because I am posting against Obama I am a criminal, hmmm when did Freedom of Speech get suspended, damn Liberals can not have it both ways. What do you mean? You might ask. Well look at what they said about McCain and other Republicans and conservatives. They used freedom of speech to their advantage but when I use it and point out Osama Obama is nothing but a pretty face and style with no substance, they call me and others criminal for expressing my opinion and thoughts. Come arrest me if think you can make it stick. Come on I am in San Antonio, Texas my zip code is 78244 and if you will contact me via email I will give you my home address so come on calling me a criminal then not backing it up you are nothing but a chicken. And yes I think Osama Obama will be the worst thing that could happen to this country.