Interesting Stories

A group of us meet at a local mall every week for recovery and fellowship.  We don’t share a lot of back story about family members focusing instead on ourselves.   Today we got into some family history.  One guy’s family were Jews from Poland that got out before the holocaust.  Another’s mom was a Miss Maryland beauty queen.  One lady was Dutch via generations in the midwest.   I have known these people for 10 years.   Did not know that about them.  There is a good chance I am a crappy listener.  I know we are very reserved in talking about our family history.

I am grateful to know more about my friends and their family history’s.  Fascinating stuff.

2015 Comes to a Close

2015 was a dreary year.   My body aged much faster than time passed on the calendar.  

I am ready to regroup for 2016.  Physical fitness will be a high priority this year.  Ideally, swimming will be my primary exercise outlook.   Healthier eating will help.

I am grateful to have survived the year with enough gumption to plan on making 2016 a better year.

A Much Better Sense of Community

Spent the morning at the mall with our regular group of 5 people.  We exchanged Xmas cards and small gifts.  Bought some gift cards for others while there.   Went to a noon meeting and greeted all 20ish men in the room by going around the room and shaking their hand.  Saw my old friend Paul from Tri-cities who is town for Xmas.   He took me to my only Seahawk game in the new Century Link stadium eight years ago.

I have always had a problem bonding with other people in my life.  In my world-view,  I can attribute all personality issues in life be attributed to nature or nurture.  I am darned sure I missed out on a lot of nurturing throughout my childhood.    Part of my recovery is to re-parent my inner child so that it lives in a much more loving and secure world.   That is best done with the help of many other kind people that love in a healthy way while I reach out to help others.   It takes a village.

My relationships with others are now by far and away the best they have been in my life.   I am grateful for their love and support as they show me how to live.

Headache

I rarely get actual headaches in my head.  There are plenty of “headaches” in my life.  This morning’s headache was greatly mitigated with acetaminophen and sleep.

I am grateful that I rarely get headaches and have great compassion for those that do get them, especially those that suffer from migraines.

My Cat Bug

I have had my tortoiseshell (tortie) cat Bug for nine years.  Torties are almost always female.  She is an incredibly kind gentle and loving creature.  She has never bitten or scratched me hard enough to break the skin.   She greets me at the door when I come home (and feed her kitty treats).

This is the longest pet relationship I have ever had.   We get along well and spend lots of time together.   She sits next to me when I work at my desk and sleeps next to me in my bed much of the time.  Bug likes to lie next to me when I am reading my Kindle.

We got another cat last year that we now call Baby Kitty.  She is also a tortie.   Lea and Baby Kitty bonded very closely.   BK follows Lea around the apartment and meows when Lea takes out the trash.

I am grateful to have such a great kind loving social cat in Bug.

Joined the Apple Mac Universe

My new car stereo has a variety of inputs including CD, AM/FM radio, Sirius, Spotify, Pandora, Bluetooth, USB and a 2.5mm audio jack.  My goal when buying the stereo was a better FM radio experience.  I hate commercials.   Now my goal is to play MP3 files.  

A USB stick would work but it is in linear order from start to finish one at a time.   A cheap MP3 was better but was still seriously lacking in user-friendly controls.   It was impressive to have 64GB on a $40 device,

The stereo was clearly designed to work with Apple univers in the iPhone, iPad and iPod domains.   I broke down and bought my first Apple product yesterday.  $pendy and attractive.  I am copying my MP3 files over and will give it a try in the car later this week.   I hope it works out so that I get the music playing experience I am seeking—constant sequential music with little need to do more than skip songs I am not in the mood for.

Getting my files transferred over called for installing an iTunes program on my PC and getting the iPod sync’ed to my PC along with some help from Google.

I am grateful for sophisticated tech devices, being able to afford said devices, and the tech literacy to make them work with a small amount of time and effort.

Feeling Better

It is not clear whether I had a cold or flu for the last five  days.   An infection started in my chest and moved to my sinuses.  I was not nauseous although I had an upset stomach for a couple of days with some fever & chills one night.   I guess it does not matter much what it is called.  I was sick and now I am better.

I will get a flu shot this Friday when I see my doctor.   I surely don’t want to tempt fate by having a worse infection due to lack of prevention on my part.  That would suck.

I am grateful to be feeling better.

Colds and Medications

Came down with a medium-sized cold on Thursday night or possibly a mild flu since I also had an upset stomach along with fever & chills.  Took lots of cold medications and some acetaminophen.   I am sure the medications made whatever infection it was much less virulent. 

I am grateful for a mild infection and medications to treat the secondary effects like pain and coughing.

A Persian Lunch

A new guy at our morning meeting is from Iran by way of teen years in Germany.   It was his birthday last Friday and he does not have any family here.  Lea bought him balloons on Monday.   I took him, Lea and three other guys out to lunch today nicer Persian restaurant in Bellevue.

We met at a noon meeting which already got the others in early recovery a bit out of their comfort zone from the Alano Club.  It is always good to go to a new meeting.   A couple of them shared at the meeting expanding their recovery horizons even that much more.

It was a celebration of his recovery and my small token of a geo-political statement for all the anti-Muslim rhetoric bandied about by fearful haters in the news these days.   We had a good time at lunch.  I wish we would have lingered to chat longer, but it was a good start for all of us on practicing socializing with and supporting others.

I am grateful to be able to afford lunch at a nice place for myself and others.   

Modern Medications

I take four prescription medications every day.  One needs to be monitored on a monthly basis.   They are not addictive nor mood altering drugs.  They help with my body do better with poor circulation and a compromised immune system.   I would have died years ago without them.

There are multiple rants to had on the US medical delivery system and pharmaceutical industry.  Obamacare has changed the lives of millions of people for the vastly better and will again be changing the US health insurance landscape with mandatory insurance required next year.

I am incredibly grateful for the life-saving benefits of generic drugs and health insurance.

Lots of Rain

Seattle rain set a new record for this date (12/7) with .97 inches of rain beating the old record of .88 inches in 1968.  It has been a wet start to December with the average first week of rain being 1.35” and we have had 3.2”.   A couple more inches are predicted in the next two days.  Our weather is wonderfully mild.  5 inches of rain in 10 days is a mild fraction of the impact that other places can get in a few hours or a day.  

I don’t like going out in the rain, but it is okay to drive in and we don’t have flash floods.   There will be some flooding and landslides.   Not living at the bottom of the valleys nor on a steep hill easily avoids those problems for most of others.  Others chose less wisely and have real problems.  Federal flood insurance ensures the same problem keeps happening over and over again.

I have lived in a desert before.   It was creepy not having rain.   It was simple math since before the first dam that California would have water shortages.   I knew I would never live in a place without precipitation.  I love fresh clean soft (not mineralized) water way too much.

I am grateful for fresh clean water.  Let it rain! 

A Fantastic Finish to A Great Football Season

College football is on its second season of a four team playoff to a champion.  The last games of the season before assigning bowl games and playoff spots was the league championship games held today. #1 Clemson and #2 Alabama both won.   #3 Oklahoma is in the only league that does not have a championship game from two divisional winners such as North vs. South in the Pac12.

#4 Iowa played #5 Michigan State for the Big 12 conference championship and last spot in the playoffs.   It was the last game of the regular (not bowl) season going down to the wire.   Michigan State scored a must-have touchdown with 30 seconds left in the game.   It was a fantastic finish with an 18-year freshman getting tackled by 5 bigger and slightly older guys before the goal line and still making 3 yards to score the game winner on the their all-but-last chance.  It was a perfect finish to a great regular season of college football.

There has been 600-ish college football games this fall.   I am grateful for all the entertaining great plays, feats of athleticism & teamwork, and great finishes.   Good luck to all in the holiday bowl games.  May all the games have a exciting ending.

College Football League Championship Games

I have watched a lot of NCAA football this year.   Tomorrow is the last day of good games until the bowl games after Xmas.   In an effort to squeeze even more money out of “student athletes”, leagues now play a championship game thus getting around the rules limiting the number of games and generating more money for the big league schools.

These are the most meaningful games all year determining the schools that will be in the final 4 championship playoff bowl games and seeding for the other bowl games.   It is a lot more fun for players and their fan base to be in San Diego instead of Detroit in January (or any other time of year).

I despise the hypocrisy of student athletes when the UW spent millions to remodel their stadium moving the student seating from the desired middle of the field to the shaded west end zone selling the naming rights to Alaska Airlines for $40 million  while refusing to pay its workers a $15 minimum wage as voted on by the residents of the City of Seatac.

I love the optimism of youth while watching college football.  For example, Michigan State beat Michigan on the final play of the game while never leading during the entire game.  It was a crazy finish.   Happens every weekend.

I am grateful for the entertainment of college football on TV.   There are at least 5 or 10 good games every weekend from September to December and during the bowl games.

Better Disagreement Skills

Got into an instant spat with my roommate this morning.   I was again annoyed by her making a commitment to do something and then failing to meet that commitment for days.  She asked what I was thinking about.  I expressed frustration in a polite way.   Her defensive response was to posture-up and leave the room muttering crap under her breathe.

In the past, conflicts with roommates would need to be solved ASAP in a single discussion.  Another good theory that never worked in practice…   Instead  I declined to spend my morning with her, made some phone calls and meet with a recovery friend for step work this afternoon.

While my roommate did not say much when she got home, her body language expressed chagrin and she completed a part of her previous commitment.   We still have a bunch to work out, but we did not use, break anything nor abuse each other verbally.   No major amends need be made nor did we spend the day in active resentment.

I am grateful for better skills and much more patience in resolving conflicts.

Root Canal

Got the second half of my second root canal completed today by a student Endodondist at the UW School of Dentistry.  I was in the chair for about 7 hours for a job that takes a working professional about an hour.  The student had a nice touch and I tried to sleep through as much as possible.   I was extremely lucky to not have this be a horribly painful situation.  My tooth was sore.  Lidocaine reduced the pain to a negligible level.

I had a root canal done 6 years ago in Redmond.   That costs $1100 and took a few minutes since my dentist had already done most of the work.   This root canal cost $780 and took 7 hours.   I am sure rates have gone up considerably.

Now I need to get a crown installed by a dentist.  Not my favorite way to spend time.  I do love having all my original teeth (sans wisdom teeth) and am willing to go to some lengths to avoid losing the first one to rot or decay.

I am blessed and grateful to have nice straight teeth that are generally in good health and pain-free.

Giving Tuesday

Today is “Giving Tuesday”.  GT was founded by the 92^nd Street Y which is a Jewish Community Center in Manhattan.  Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame lead the charge with a commitment to give away the vast majority of his $45 billion fortune.

On the other hand, I got a call from a tele-marketer claiming to represent a charity for veterans.  At best, those firms give 10% of the money collected to said charity (often less than 1% which is essentially nothing).  I told him to not call back and hung up on him.  Vultures.

There are many worthy organizations and causes to be supported in the US and around the world.  I am a big fan of better governance.   The Sunlight Foundation and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) provide great bang for the buck value.

I am grateful for all the volunteers and charitable organizations that make our world a better place to live, work and serve.

All I Need

It is crazy era to be living in.  According to Oxfam, next year 1% of the people will own more than half the world’s wealth.  That is a huge increase in 7 years.  In 2009, they owned 44% of the wealth.   Looks like trickle-down economics did not work as promised… 

Since getting paralyzed at 22, I only worked about 7 years of my adult life.   Thanks to the blessings being hurt on a job covered by workmen’s compensation insurance, I got a pension that allows me to live in a nice apartment in a somewhat expensive city with a car, heat, clean running water, reliable electricity and plenty of food to eat (maybe way too much food).

Those are all great things.  One thing that my cohorts often take for granted is the security of having those resources.  There is little danger of no clean water, food or being invaded happening in my lifetime.   That is a tremendous amount of emotional security in not having to worry about fleeing for my life like what happened in China when I was a kid, Eastern Europe during the Soviet era, Central America, SE Asia, Africa and the middle-east since the dawn of history.

I am grateful to have all I need with no anxiety about whether it will still be here tomorrow or next year.  Thank god for a stable prosperous place to live and the means to do it.   It is a HUGE blessing.