Today........

At 4:45 PM today in Queens, NY several years ago, my father snuck into the 4th floor window of Que Gardens Hospital to see my mother who had just given birth to me. The nurse caught him shortly after he got in, and she made him leave by the window. He did get in to see me. the normal way.

Things were not always perfect as he liked litigating against the IRS. He could obfuscate the Third Marine Corp in a house of ill repute after they had been on a troop transport for six months. After all, he was a lawyer, and an accountant. So he went out and built houses for a living. Was it any wonder that he screwed up the entire Oedipus Complex? I think not.

So, to get you in the right mood for my birthday, I am going to send you here, here, and here and read about Good Chi. And please leave these good folks a comment, these are great and wonderful, fun sites! Have a great weekend!

Stop The Abuse Day

I am late in getting this out. Echomouse has written an excellent post about her favorite form of abuse that she would like eliminated when she writes about the stalker who has made her life a living hell since something like 2001 or earlier. My mind boggles. She is the source of the badge, which I urge you to copy and put on your own site. She is a lot more than just another pretty face.

James Burnett has already written two pieces about race relations, one being about Bill O'Reilly and Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem; and the other about the Jena 6 in Louisiana, and the issues involved in both instances. He also brings a lot to the table, demonstrating that he is more than just another pretty face too.

The issue is that abuse comes in so many forms that you can roll your own. We should dedicate a year to talking about the ways we abuse each other and don't realize it. If I say that we discriminate against the elderly, you think I mean people who are say 80 or older. I had a woman who was age 32 tell me that her social life was finished because she was now too old. I was stunned. She proceeded to tell me that where she comes from (San Diego, California) men want younger women, and that they were in abundant supply. If she wanted to meet and marry a man, she would have to leave California.

Frankly, I really don't know if it's true or not, but I was astonished to hear it at all. On the East Coast, what I hear is that all the good ones are taken from the 40 year olds. But what scares me is the employment situation. I am being told that unless you are a high level executive, you can change jobs at age 50, after that, you're where you're going to stay until you retire.

I have friends working 60 hours a week like it was normal. They fear, at age 50, being replaced by two 25 year olds at less than a third of what they are making, and then some other poor fool gets promoted into their position for half what they were making. These folks will almost never find work again. After a couple of years, they stop looking, and they end up in a retail store, or they start their own business, or three of them try to start a business. They are not counted as unemployed. Their benefits ran out long ago. This is typical of the Fortune 1000 companys. That's why so many jobs come from small companys.

To end on a really high note, there's a brand new blog you should try. There's this guy named Bruce. He used to teach at Virginia Tech, then he left to go to NYC where he got a job doing strange commodity type things. His blog is called If You Knew Yoonew Like I Know Yoonew.... Bruce is another one who has some substance to him, or is more than just another pretty face. And, if you want to learn how to get tickets to the Superbowl for your team, should it go, that could cost thousands for a few hundred or so, check him out. Bruce is an evangelist for his company. And you got it here first!

Nice People

Heartinsanfrancisco a.k.a. Hearts, of Guilty With An Explanation
gave me a Nice Matters Award. This from a woman who writes about some of the most difficult topics embedded in our Society with a style and grace that is boundless and insights that ring solid and true, with a sense of humor that is delightful.

I went to the dictionary like a typical graduate student, and grabbed the primary definition of the adjective 'nice'. It is:

To one's liking: agreeable, congenial, favorable, good, grateful, gratifying, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, satisfying, welcome.

Using this definition, Hearts has certainly elevated the bar. So I went looking for five people that I feel do the same, elevate the bar. I didn't pick anyone where, for instance, I have a secret relationship with them, like you know who, who shall remain nameless. And, CMHL has brought her blog down for a while, and besides EVERYONE knows how I feel about her.

I have known Echomouse for about a year now. During that time, she has battled a debilitating disease, lost her father, then her mother, the police finally caught her stalker, and yet she seems to handle life with an equanimity that makes me jealous. She derives happiness and joy from the most basic and most wonderful things in life. Carrie is an exemplary person whom I hold in maximum high regard. She write movie reviews, and does a lot of other even more interesting things on her blog. And she is justifiably proud of Canada! Just so you know.

I have known Tiffany King of A Dog, A Cat and A Girl in Fabulous Shoes
for over a year also. She has actually met Holmes when she was alive, and became good friends with her. That alone elevated Tiff to the rarefied air. Her blog lets you become part of her family. Tiff is the Physical Therapist I asked a lot of questions of when it came to healing after surgery. Tiff is the person who is the daughter of Joe King, the man I wrote a post to about being so glad that he made it through surgery. It's because of her blog. Periodically Tiff, does something that saves someones life in the hospital where she works. Tiffany is my antidote to Britney Spears/Paris Hilton/Michael Vick/O J Simpson/etc. Another one who raises the bar higher.

When I feel the need to talk, to blab, I turn to Alison of Alithinks. I actually have never talked to her. I have written a ton. I go to her when I am angry, I go to her when I am happy and laughing, I go to her when I just feel light saying hello. She's like my rabbi. The rest of the world knows her as a fabulous chef, or a fabulous photographer, or a wonderful writer (she knew that today was National Punctuation Day, I don't know if this is a well formed sentence), or Allan, her fiance has a few other views that the rest of us wouldn't have.

Another blogger who I had the good fortune to meet is the Reflecting Pool and her husband Poor Bill. You could not hope to meet two nicer people. Pool is amazing, dealing just as effectively with pre-teens through the elderly, and everyone in between with good humor and great intelligence. I count myself and Judy as 'tweeners, naturally. And I certainly didn't think of Bill as 'poor', I liked him as a matter of fact!

I have never met MJ, and I promised her I would never use her real first name, although I know it, but she is another person like Echomouse, who just keeps going no matter what. She has had more surgeries than Carter has little liver pills, and she still has this great sense of humor. I find her inspiring as she talks about wanting to go spend the weekend with her husband who is gone on a business trip because she misses him. I find her inspiring, just like Echomouse as she simply pursues life regardless of what has been happening. I wish I was as strong as she is, I think she is the epitome of a role model! A really nice lady.

My last choice should surprise no one. I recognized early in the game that you never really wanted to be with the 'crowd' in the middle. That made you average, just like 65% of the population. Better to be more exclusive if you could do it. Better to be out there in the 95% area, or 2nd std deviation than in the middle. Best to be in the 3rd std. deviation at 99%, the cream of the crop. That's where you will consistently find Glamourpuss. Puss writes a blog about her life and about well dressed people called The Pole Affair
which is really a wonderful read. But for real literary excellence, you must read her blog Clairvoyance. Puss has been a really nice addition to my existence, and I am grateful for her, and the others. And that's what the award is about, to me! Thank you all.

A Professor's Lecture Of A Lifetime

You can find several versions of the last lecture of Dr. Randy Pausch of Carnegie Melon University on You Tube, but no one has a better version than ABC. The one listed below is the one that was done by their News Division:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3633909

This URL has an 18 minute version of his last lecture. It is well worth your time.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3633956

Please note that the lecture is not depressing nor morose, but he shares what he has learned from looking at his death about his life. There is plenty for all of us to learn from this man, who at this writing, is still alive.

What I would really like is this. If you choose, listen to what he has to say, and write a comment about what you saw, learned, discovered, whatever made an impact that's worth sharing. Thank you.

Health Insurance Fiasco

This is my third attempt to write and publish this post. Blogger is having a terrible time with my blog, horrid indigestion. It has eaten two complete posts with no Alka Seltzer, and responded once in German (Deutsch). Undeterred, I offer you three pictures of surgery below.



They keep operating rooms cold enough to keep fresh meat preserved if you wrapped it in paper. I mean to tell you that it's cold in there. They offered me blankets, and I took them up on it. I mean, I wasn't wearing anything, they had removed the gown that was covering the area to be cut.



The idea behind cold operating rooms is because of all the lights. I don't know about you, but I want the person with the scalpel to be able to clearly see what they are cutting. Seems all those lights generate a lot of heat. You, the patient don't notice because you are in a drug-induced state of deep sleep, and probably have a tube down your throat, but you could care less. I never got to counting backwards from any number, I was busy explaining to these four nurses about the party in the parking lot when I finally got out of there, and how when you made the jello, you substituted the last of the four parts of water with vodka. I never got past the parking lot.



Surgery actually took place at High Noon on Friday, May 4, 2007. Yesterday, I got a bill, payable with my MasterCard, from the surgeon's partner. Yesterday was September 19, 2007, a mere four (4) and a half months after surgery. Please remember that the Insurance Company (I.C.) has a huge bank of mainframe computers, PC computer networks, and manpower. The Billing Company (B.C.) is backed by a national company that makes the software that they use, and they sell their services to the doctors based on the concept of increasing the doctor's cash flow through electronic billing which increases the doctor's cash flow because the I.C.s love the reduced errors and they pays faster. Yeah.

I got the bill for $630 from a Dr. Moore. Dr. Moore was going to be my surgeon if I could be operated on before May 4. They couldn't get my blood level stabilized in time to operate by May 3. Dr. Moore was going out of town on May 4, so I got his partner, Dr. Josh Felcher. Felcher, the laporascopic superstar. I was thrilled with Moore, ecstatic with Felcher, but I digress from the bill. Their billing service had just sent me a bill for Moore's pre-op examinations claiming that my medical benefits had run out.

This happens a lot, getting a bill from a doctor's billing service saying that your medical benefits have run out and to please pay the following bill immediately. The last one was for $4500 and until you become an old hand at this, you could have heart failure. I used to have this dream of a lawyer carving me into little tiny pieces on a witness stand saying, "of course you did READ the ENTIRE CONTRACT BEFORE YOU SIGNED IT, DIDN'T YOU?" Of course I always want to ask, "How come doctors can just walk into my room when I'm asleep and bill me $850 when I never saw them?" which did happen. That's when one particular hospitalist came to check to make sure I was alive. Their billing service also sent me a bill saying that my medical benefits had run out.

I have been told by the office managers in several doctor's offices that I.C.s like to bounce back various claims because it lets them hold onto their money longer. They feel that it's the poor doctor, and by extension the doctor's staff that suffers because they have to wait so long for their money. They forget that I know about the billing services. On the other hand, they also do have a point. Every day that an I.C. can hold onto a buck is another day it can keep it in the market in some financial instrument earning money for the company. That's why they are in business. The billing services are a different story. They get to keep a percentage of what they collect. The issue is that they want to do as little work as possible collecting so as to keep the cost of collecting low. So when an I.C. kicks a bill back because it was misbilled, the billing systems find it easier to emulate the I.C. and send out a bill to the patient.

The last time, it took me an hour to find out that the B.C. forgot the hospital code for the surgery so the operation appeared to take place in the doctor's off. The I.C. kicked that back as not possible. The B.C. kicked it to me as my medical benefits had run out. I straightened it out with the I.C. for the B.C. That was for $4500. This time takes the cake.

The $630 bill was a code error. It took an hour's research with the insurance company, but we found it. The B.C. had the issue in hand and could have merely read it to the I.C., but no, this is a better way. The B.C. had filed a code of 337 an examination for intestinal bleeding as the result of a fetus or abortion, as opposed to a 743 which is an examination for gastrointestinal bleeding from the ascending colon. The woman on the other end of the line asked me if I had been the patient, and I told her I had been. She then excused herself as it was clear she was having trouble breathing. Even I had to laugh at this one.

When the lady, and I think the rest of the staff where she was located, came back on the line, I asked if she would join me in calling the B.C. to explain the problem. She sounded delighted to join in. I gave her the number, and she dialed a conference call to the B.C. a few miles from my house. We got the head customer service rep. I gave the customer service rep the account # etc., and she asked for the problem. I asked the lady from the I.C. to explain. The I.C. lady said, you can't bill this claim with a code of 337, you MUST use a 743. And the B.C. lady bit, hook, line, and sinker. She said, "and why not?" The response was electric as the lady said softly, "because men can't have babies, dear." And the B.C. lady just said, "oh." after which the laughter was thunderous.

The last operation above is a robotic prostatectomy. Something to think about. I wonder if the B.C. thinks that women can have them?

Hello Again

We are in the middle of the Jewish High Holidays at the moment. Last week we had the New Year celebration of Rosh Hashunah where you pray to be inscribed into the Book of Life for the next year. Next weekend we will atone for our sins of the past year during a holiday called Yom Kippur. This is the one where we fast, for 24 hours and pray for forgiveness. The actual idea is to let nothing, including eating, distract you from your task. It's pretty serious. I take it seriously. I'm still trying to be a better person.

I took off from Steve Gearhart's funeral through the beginning of the High Holidays. This next week I'll do my usual running around and then celebrate Yom Kipper next weekend.

In the meantime, the World has continued turning, the markets keep climbing their Wall of Worry, although they really look like they are set for a fall after Tuesday's Fed meeting to me. More cheating has been found in Sports, this time the New England Patriots were found to be stealing defensive signals from the New York Jets during a game, and fined heavily by the National Football League. The Business Press speculated that this type of behavior was actually accepted in the business world. Naturally, this will also be subject to interpretation. On the other hand, the concept of "Win At All Costs" was not a mantra for almost every endeavor when I was growing up.

To end on a high note, I put the picture of the California Sequoia in for James Burnett's wife. It is one of three that I planted around the house in August of 1973, the month we moved in here. The cardinals have a nest in one of the small trees around the base of the Sequoia somewhere, I don't want to go looking for it and disturb them. I'm happy where they are. Just trying to leave the campground better than the way we found it.

Trying To Learn From Bernie

Yesterday I wrote a lot about Bernie Cohen before I told you about his son-in-law Steve Gear hart's death. I am going to try to do what i think Bernie would do, I am going to do something I am good at, namely get some of the photographs I have been taking since I got the digital camera and share them with you. If I have your picture, don't worry. If promised not to publish it, I won't. I hate having mine published too. So, like CMHL says, I am lighting the candle so as not to curse the darkness. A small description follows most pictures.



Dr. Josh Felcher is the surgeon who operated on me and ultimately saved my life. I had lost enough blood on two occasions in a one week period of time to warrant getting 9 units of blood, twice. They finally found the place where the blood was leaking from, and in he went. I got out of bed the next day. The man's a walking wizard. I think Wicked H had something to do with it, but she's not talking. He and his wife had just had a baby 3 weeks before I took this picture, which was BEFORE surgery. I was confident.




This is Pat Hancock, the man who teaches me t'ai chi. He has more trophies than I have ever seen in one place at the same time. They come from International Competitions in Taiwan, China, and Japan. He still goes to Taiwan for some tournament. He is quiet and pretty unassuming. We have no uniform, and he teaches for about the same or less than everyone else. The setting in the countryside is quiet, and pretty amazing lending itself to concentration and meditation. It is amazing what doing t'ai chi has done for me. I cannot begin to recommend it enough to anyone.

I was a heavy smoker for 43 years. When I was in the hospital, before the powers that be will let you be operated on, you must have a stress test to make sure your heart will stand up to surgery. They do this will chemicals. I don't have a lot of endurance yet since I was such a heavy smoker (minimum of 3 packs a day, most of the time a chain smoker). After a year of t'ai chi, I looked like any other normal person. The cardiologist, who didn't know me, asked me why I was concerned. I said that I had been a smoker. He looked back at his data, and asked me, "for how long?" When I said, "43 years" he said, "no way" and I broke out laughing.

Thank you, Pat.



Does anyone know a UN Weapon's Inspector? Meet Jack McGeorge, who has been a friend of mine for about 15 years now. I took this picture in March when Jack had just returned from Iraq. If you look closely, you can see that his lips are still dry. He had that problem for months. He called it a job-related hazard. Like in-coming mortars. This is not a job that I would want to do, but Jack is very good at it.




For all of you that think that photographers can't make a living with their cameras, this is Sterling Hoffman and his wife Linda. They are like Judy and I in that they work together and live together in their home. It's only recently that Judy went to work on her own. Sterling does portraits in the Washington area, and he is in constant demand. Last year, he billed almost $1.3 million. He's been doing it for years. The reason I know I'm a pretty good photographer is that he handed me his camera at Jack Hauber's Retirement Party to take pictures of he and his wife. I also got shots of he and the other photographers there, a coup!



This is Diana Adams, another Portrait and fine Arts Photographer in the Washington, DC area with a wonderful reputation. One of her pieces of fine art is hanging in my home. I see Diana regularly, and we talk about Sales and Marketing oppotunities. She lives in Arlington, VA. while Sterling lives about 25 minutes away from me.


You have seen the birds before, and the picture of Holmes is one of the thousands.

Cardinal


Female Cardinal



Holmes


Holmes



Bkuebird


Woodpecker





This is a silver lace red maple close up. It has spread out in the front of the house. I love it, and think it is simply gorgeous.



This is the actual silver lace red maple dwarf tree in front of the house.



This was my nephew Jacob Perkins, taken from a picture taken at one of the last girls basketball games he attended.



Flo Carrol is Judy's aunt from Atlanta, and this was taken when she was up in February.



This little beauty is called a bleeding heart plant. Let's please remember that I am a moderate.

I started writing this piece Wednesday morning at about 9:30 am and worked on it pretty steadily until midnight. I had written the piece about Bernie yesterday trying to write an antidote to existential angst, not knowing that we were going to get the phone call that we did about Steve at the end. This scene has been deja vu here. Me blogging, Judy answers the phone, and suddenly she is talking at the top of her lungs saying, "What".

I have listened to Bernie and CMHL, and things are fine. They did understand existentialism. I am going to take the next few days off. I have so many things to do. I will be back next week some time. See you then. And have a great weekend. Go visit Odat, she is akways there to put a smile on your face and make you glad you're alive!

Life Isn't Fair But It Has Its Compensations

Some administrative things first. The Morning Meeting went over it's 10,000th visitor recently. and our 237th independent comment not made by me. I am swelling with pride! I thought I'd share it with you. The data has just arrived.

I have written about Bernie Cohen, the guy in the foreground, before, when he died at the age of 92, and was buried about two months ago. The guy behind him is Steve Gearhart, his son-in-law of the past thirty years, and a particularly nice guy. This picture was taken last March at a very nice French restaurant that we all go to for Steve and his wife Sybil's birthday every year. This year, Bernie joined us, and it turned out to be the last time I saw him alive.

I bring Bernie up here because of all of the misery that is going around recently. It is everywhere, and I hate seeing my closest friends, myself included, miserable. Bernie was married and survived not one but two wives. Both wives lasted over twenty years, and loved him passionately until the day they died. Bernie reciprocated completely. He worked as a roofer. He owned his own company until he was 70 years old. Then he sold his company, but continued working until he was almost 80.

Bernie was a creature of habit. He had the exact same cold cereal for breakfast every day of his life. He did as many things as predictably as possible. We might not like his routine, he reveled in it. He adored his two daughters, and all of his grandchildren, their children, and their children. He lived to play with them.

When disaster struck Bernie, he mourned, then took refuge in his habits, and his work. He found fulfillment there, his identity was there, and ultimately a lot of his happiness. After his second wife died, Bernie maintained his independence until he came down with cancer at age 92. He had been dating three different woman at the time, but the cancer was wearing him out. He moved back to this area and moved in with Steve and Sybil. He lived with them for almost a year and was treated for his stomach cancer. Finally, the cancer got bad enough, and Bernie gave up. He had lived a full life.

I learned a lot from Bernie, as did we all. He was almost always laughing, he tried to see the best in life, when things got tough he turned to his core competencies and found joy, Bernie tried to spread happiness wherever he went. Bernie was a good man and I was happy to know him.

Steve, his son-in-law was the same way. He died Saturday morning at the University of Maryland hospital of pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 55. It is a total surprise that was just diagnosed.

Our First Anniversary Together

Today, September 2, 2007 is the first anniversary of The Morning Meeting. According to Dashboard, including this post, I have published 249 posts in one year. I didn't think I had that much to say, indeed, the blog wouldn't exist without all of you. I can honestly say that the blog has survived life, death, surgery, and little children.

I have always known that I could think, but the years in grad school beats the academic drone into one's writing, and to this day I find writing a chore, not the thinking part. I keep writing because I think one day it will get easier; maybe next year. And maybe next year will be the Redskins' year too.

Happy New Year to all of us, I am so happy to have met you! And here's to next year, may it be even better.

Old Friends

I have been a tad bit despondent lately. It has not been a stellar year for us so far, and the odds of it picking up are not looking good. Judy and I will be the Grand Marshalls in the Poolsville Day Parade next weekend, They are commemorating our nephew Jake for all of his years of service to the City (of 5000 people). When Jake died, one of the people that knew him made up t-shirts for the girl's basketball team he helped coach. The lady in the upper picture is another coach who was close with Jake. The back belongs to the school's Athletic Director, and one of the speaker's at Jake's funeral. He and Jake did everything from being athlete and coach when Jake was in high school, to going to baseball games in Baltimore, and playing golf together when Jake got older and they became friends.



Judy will probably wear this shirt, and I will wear his old football jersey. Strangely enough, I am not looking forward to this. I haven't been out to the cemetery yet. I'm not supposed to go until the ceremony to unveil his headstone. That's coming in October.

Meanwhile, my closest and dearest friend Jim, who used to live in Alexandria, Virginia moved closer to his job. He now lives two hours away. Shouldn't be insurmountable. We even scheduled a day down there, but he called at the last minute and had to cancel. That was in the beginning of July. I know we'll hear from Jim sometime soon, he just moved in June.

Jim is important to me. I met him in 1963 when we were both freshmen at the University of Maryland. I was interested in Chemistry, and he was majoring in Chemical Engineering. Naturally, we met in a Trampoline Class we both took for a Physical Education requirement. I liked him enough that I moved into his dorm in my sophomore year, and we became fast friends, for life, so it seems, so far. We double dated when he was dating what turned out to be his first wife. I was his best man when he got married and moved to Jolliet, Illinois to go to work for Amoco. We paid long distance charges, and talked on the phone. He met Judy in O"Hare Airport, and knew I was going to ask her to marry me before anyone else in the World.

After five years in Illinois, his wife 'made him' move back to Maryland close to her family. Jim thrive, and had children. I should mention that his second son is named for me. I have also been his best man twice now. His second wife had a little girl, but his second wife was one of the meanest, nastiest people I have ever known. She was a lawyer on top of that, a lethal combination. I actually stood at the top of the aisle and offered to drag him away and throw him in my car and race out of the state. He laughed at me and said, "Let's go down the aisle" with a big grin on his face. For his third wife, we all thought that his first two sons should be the best men, he needed a change in luck!

Jim's third wife has three kids, two boys and a little girl. The two boys are autistic. They both know Judy and I, and we spend a lot of time with them. At least we used to spend a lot of time with them all. I am having severe withdrawal symptoms.

Last Thursday, my close friend Robyn called. She has decided to start looking for another job with the intention of moving to Phoenix in April. She has an entire plan. We talked for over an hour, and we have plans to get together to talk more. There's a lot that has to happen for her to make this work. Regardless of her moving or not, she is fed up with the 7 days a week push 'required' of her as a 'professional'. A new Government-wide contract for services will be coming up next year, and she has been involved in meetings, and traveling all over the country gathering specifications. She can already see that come next February, she and a lot of others in her company will start working 16+ hour days seven days a week as routine for several months, and that this will become common practice for the rest of the year, although not a daily event, after three or four months have passed.

This practice has become common among white collar worker in this area. It has always been typical in what has come to be called professional work. With the advent of the Department of Homeland Security, the current administration negotiated that government workers could be required to work more than 8 hour days at Homeland Security. Bush actually changed the Labor-Management equation.

Robyn is actually a former student, the best student I ever had by a long shot, from when I taught at the University of Maryland from 1976 to 1980. I met her in 1977. I got her work as a student, helped get her work when she graduated, we were in her wedding, and we stayed in touch while she worked at one of the Big 8 (at the time) Accounting Firms. She worked there for ten years, making Senior Manager, but they passed her over twice for Partner. It was clear that she was passed over for reasons other than competence. She left, and was given a very high level position in the Clinton Office of Management and Budget, where she excelled. She stayed through the Clinton Administration, then left to go to a Fortune 500 Organization in town. She has been there since. Her hobby is running in triathlons. She generally medals in her age class. She is also quite the knowledgeable wine drinker. Go figure.

I have been a bit unhappy thinking about Robyn and her husband leaving town, even though it's not guaranteed. We live in a very high income/ high tax/ high expense state. Living outside Washington, DC means we are outside one of the two major power centers on the East Coast, lots of pressure and tension to go around. Traffic has become unbearable. Commuting downtown is expensive and difficult. The area is undergoing an enormous change as illegal immigrants flood the area and tax public services. There are times that I wonder if I am the only one that didn't get the memo around here.

I found myself reading Glamourpuss' Friday Post, which was really so perfectly put together and expressive. It seemed she knew exactly how I felt too, and had included a prescription. She's going to work out on her pole. Excellent advice! Nothing like some self-improvement, and Lord knows I could use some. Now, if you really want to savor something excellent, read The Reflecting Pool's comments. It should be obvious why her second blog is called Arguably Better Advice where you get to e mail her a question and she will render you better advice than you would normally get. Personally, I wish she had a couch and a spare 50 minutes a day for me, I need more help that you can achieve through e mail.

So, I will take Puss seriously (I always take Puss seriously) and I am going off to exercise. Her piece of philosophy was the old Chinese saying "This too shall pass" a favorite of mine. For the situation I am looking at, I will leave you with,

"Each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is being born."