Uh Oh, It Wont Be Long Now

Did I report the other day that things are back to normal after the operation??? Normal was not the correct assessment of what is going on. Think of drinking lighter fluid or perhaps Bhut Jolokia (a pepper that makes the jalepeno look like a sissy) juice then relieving yourself. OUCH. Nothing like a little liquid fire in the middle of the night and then trying to go back to sleep, thank God for "Movies on Demand". By the way, my Doc prescribed a medication called Cialis to promote regeneration of damaged nerves and blood flow. Our local drug store called yesterday to advise me that they could NOT fill this prescription until the doctor fills out another form and they get authorization from my medical insurance company. "Is there a problem with this drug?" I asked. "No Sir" the druggist replied "but normally this pill is taken five to six times a month and not daily as in your case". Boy what an opportunity. "Will this take long? Uh, OK I can wait till then but it sure puts a damper on this weekend". Wonder what kind of looks "The Madge" will get when she picks this prescription up.
Erin went into Cadens room the other day and look what she found.
We have to think that another few months and he might be climbing out of the crib, roaming around the house at three in the morning, readjusting the various settings on the stereo and/or TV and perhaps make an overseas call or two on the phone. The whole time he is snooping around a big smile will be on his face. Perhaps I am giving him too much credit on making the phone calls since the phone is out of his reach, but a quick push of the chair and look, it is within his grasp. Hello China.

Only in Texas

Back to Normal

Went to the Doctor yesterday to have the last tube removed from my body. Dr. Chip Winkle of the "If you can't tinkle see Winkle" fame is quite a interesting character, he has an earring, rides a Harley and has won numerous awards in the area including but not limited to "most humorous" and "most congenial". He informed me that he is about two operations away from being certified on the Da Vinci robot, Huh??? Don't worry he said he was assisting another doctor who is certified. Well on with a normal life until "The Madge" has me see another specialist.
Bob Stefans of Sugarland sent an interesting story about a man that was pulled over for having a bumper sticker that read "Abort Obama not the Unborn". Well rather than write about it OKC man pulled over
Gotta go now there is somebody is knocking or kicking my front door.

Chew On This

Without getting too graphic the eating instructions you received after having your prostate removed is "After surgery until you expel the air that has been pumped into you eat one teaspoon of ice chips at a time, once you have passed the air you graduate to colored liquids". Breaking wind is no problem for a pro like me so I went into colored liquids within 24 hours, now comes the tricky part. "Continue of colored liquids until you have a movement at which point you can eat solid foods" OK, I have been eating jello and slurping down broth and juices for almost one week, remember you must fast 24 hours prior to surgery. What would they like me to move??? There is nothing in the system!!! I broke down today and asked "The Madge" to give me something to EAT, well I just had a can of Tuna fish and it tasted better than any meal I have ever eaten in my entire life. It took twenty minutes to finish it, savoring each bite and I am full. I don't want to get carried away so for dinner I might have two cups of warm water and an cherry flavored ice pop.
In the meantime I would like to share these with you.

Some of the artists of the 60's are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers.

They include:

Bobby Darin --- Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash.

Herman's Hermits --- Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker .

Ringo Starr --- I Get By With a Little Help From Depends.

The Bee Gees -- - How Can You Mend a Broken Hip.

Roberta Flack--- The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face.

Johnny Nash --- I Can't See Clearly Now.

Paul Simon--- Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver

The Commodores --- Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom.

Marvin Gaye --- Heard It Through the Grape Nuts.

Procol Harem--- A Whiter Shade of Hair.

Leo Sayer --- You Make Me Feel Like Napping.

The Temptations --- Papa's Got a Kidney Stone.

Abba--- Denture Queen.

Tony Orlando --- Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall.

Helen Reddy --- I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore.

Leslie Gore--- It's My Procedure, and I'll Cry If I Want To.

And Last but NOT least:

Willie Nelson --- On the Commode Again

Many thanks to Doug Martin for sharing these.

Well I Made It

Had to be at St. Lukes Hospital on Wednesday at high noon to prepare for the 1:30 surgery. This particular surgery was to be performed by a robot( for those of you that are interested google Da Vinci Robotic) and had been highly recommended as it is the least evasive and recovery time is cut in half. I went to sleep at 1:20 and woke up 7 1/2 hours later. Then I had to have the typical hospital night rest, every two hours someone is waking you up to take your vitals. Some rest. The next morning at 10 the doctor came in to see how I was doing and said I could go home. This was unreal, less than one day in the hospital for major surgery. I of course jumped at this chance. By the time "The Madge" got to the hospital and we were given the all post operation instructions and goodies (slippers, gauze, urinals etc etc) it was 4 PM. Things were still looking real good. The doctor had given us two prescriptions, an antibiotic and pain medicine, Madge said she would get them filled the next day. I think it was about 7:30 when the train came roaring down the tracks and hit me head on. I didn't realize that I HAD been on pain medicine and it was wearing off. Too late now to go to the drug store so let Jimmy grin and bear it. My stomach was now bloated, more than normal, and it felt as though a steel tipped boot was kicking me the entire night. Since I also have a catheter, I had to keep checking it to make sure I didn't go over the brim. This was not pleasant. The Madge did get to the drug store this morning so everything is once again mellow.

Another Cruise Under Our Belt

First things first, I finally got the movie we took of Caden in the bathtub. The little guy looks like a sea turtle trying to get back into the ocean.

The cruise was great. We were supposed to go with both the Calonico's and the Kennedy's however due to a death in Dave's family they had to cancel at the very last minute. So the Kennedy's and the Murphy's headed down to Galveston to board the "Voyager of the Seas". After being stuck in traffic, due to two accidents, we arrived in Galveston only to be stuck again in "Cruise" traffic. The access to the dock and the parking process needs a major overhaul, but once we were in the facility we had priority boarding, a glass of champagne and were on board in no time.
Hadn't even made it to the elevator when it was time for the bon voyage drink. This was our first time to travel with Kay and Joe and seeing Kay in action is a real treat. We hadn't walked the thirty five feet to the table in the cocktail lounge and she had three different conversations with total strangers. By the time the cruise was over she had been in contact with a least fifty percent of the passengers and ten percent of the crew, Some children actually ran the other way when they saw her.
The weather could have been better, at one point the wind was 40 M.P.H. and the seas had fifteen foot swells. We made it to Mexico where Kay and Madge played with the Dolphins while Joe went to the farmacia to buy prescription drugs that were sold over counter for 1/8 the price that the US gets. Do I hear the word "Illegal"?
We then headed to the Cayman Islands where the Captain announced that it was so rough and windy that he will sail to the other side on the island to see if we could get ashore at another port. The women spent about three hours on land, Joe also went ashore for thirty minutes and yours truly hung around the bar reading a novel. Now it's off to Jamaica, a place none of us cared about. Just as well because we arrived in Montego Bay at 10 in the morning and the Captain announced "Too windy and too rough to attempt docking" We then sat drifting for three hours and headed back to Galveston.
While at sea the Kennedy's celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, their room had been decorated, the champagne had been chilled and the crew sang "Happy anniversary" and gave them a very nice cake with an inscription on it. Since Kay had told all the strangers she met, some of them twice, that they were celebrating their 50th I am surprised the ship didn't blow it's horn and have the entire crew sing. Outside of the weather we had a great time. The food was the best we have every experienced, the crew extremely polite and accommodating, and memories we made will always bring a smile to our faces. Here's a few pictures.

Too much gambling, excitement or Pinot?

Kay doesn't look impressed with this salad

But Joe sure does

The water splashing out of the pool and this pool was drained about half way.

The 50th anniversary party

Now it's time to start planning our next excursion, but before that there are a few things I must take care of. I head into the hospital this Wednesday to have a little surgery, it seems with some of the tests Madge had me do found cancer in my prostate. Well say goodbye to that gland, I am having it yanked out, besides I didn't need it to begin with. So I won't be posting for a few days but should be up and going strong by this weekend.

If You Don't Like It Wait An Hour

I am referring to the weather here in Texas. We are just five days from jumping on board the cruise ship and heading south. Today it's 79 degrees, sounds great doesn't it? Tonight it will be 38 with a high tomorrow of 43 then dipping to 31. By Saturday it will be 65. So what is one to do in preparation for a vacation? STAY INDOORS. You leave the house today in shorts and polo shirt, do some shopping, leave the mall around five and potentially freeze your tootsies off. You then catch a cold, run a 102 temp, shiver, sweat, cough, sneeze and wheeze and by Sunday (day of the cruise) you wished you were in a pine box waiting for the dirt to fall. Your house is a controlled environment therefore stay in it.
Went to the rare bookstore the other day and I bought Anne Franks' Diary, not the book but THE diary, paid a fortune for it but it IS a collectors dream and will increase in value. (see picture and click to enlarge)
A-CHOO gotta go now.

We Are Getting Close

The cruise is only one week away and I must say I have covered most of the bases. Bought new luggage and it has arrived, reserved and prepaid for parking on pier, ordered a few bottles of Pinot Grigio for "The Madge" and will be chilled and delivered to the room by the time we set sail. I have also booked some shore activities for "The Madge" on some of the islands, this will be a surprise for her. After carefully looking over the 100 plus excursions that the cruise line offers I decided to deal directly with some locals and get the unusual tours.
Tour number one in the Cayman Islands
This should be a good one for her.

If she enjoys that tour I am sure that this second one in Jamaica will really excite her.
I of course have already made arrangements for myself.

Pat's Birthday

I tried to publish this on You Tube for the whole world to see, however it seems there is a copyright infringement with Time Warner. I will work on this and WILL get around it, so stay tuned.

And You Wonder Why They Fail

About six months ago I closed an account account I had with Chase Bank, everything went smooth and the funds were transferred over to another bank/account. Last week I received a statement from Chase showing that I have a balance of $.01, I thought this can't be right and immediately called their service center. The woman on the other end of the phone was extremely polite and explained that when the account was closed the computers calculated the interest for on the balance for a partial day. OK, I can accept that but how can we make this one more piece of unneccessary mail go away. She explained that I would have to write a authorization letter or go down to the Service Center with this letter allowing me to withdraw the funds. Funds?????? "It's one penny" I explained "so why don't you keep the change". Nope, that's not possible. "So you want me to write a letter, either pay postage or drive over to the Service Center (13 miles), allowing me to withdraw one penny?" "I have a better idea, you can continue to send statements showing no interest was earned on this penny and then you will have to send me tax statements showing activity on this account, and will probably cost the bank about $150 a year". "Thank You and have a nice day".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "THE MADGE"

JAN 11 - - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADGE

Small Investments With Major Returns

That was the headline that caught my eye. I think we are all interested in "major return" on an investment, plus if a small investment would yield a major return then what would a major investment yield? What a disappointment the article was and here's why;

"And, unlike your typical investment tip, these returns are pretty much guaranteed. What's more, you won't have to call your broker to make any of these moves:
a. Buy a Bread maker, You can buy one for $55. If it saves you just $4 a week on store bought bread, that's 208 a year. A 208% return. Bread maker at Williams Sonoma - $149, bread mix from "JBDough" $13 per package. You eating your baked bread all the time = membership in a Gym to lose the 45 pounds of weight you've gained $39 per month. Nope not a good deal
b. Get a credit card with a great sign-up bonus. Like a AirTrans Visa card. Cost: $40 annual fee. After your first purchase you get enough reward miles for a free flight. Seems to me that people getting credit cards and obviously not having the fortitude to to cancel nor not to spend is one of the reasons this country is in a mess. Not a good idea.
c. Replace your premium cable package with a netflix subscription and a $100 set-top box. You can download movies and TV programs as well as getting DVDs through the mail. Cost $100 for the cheapest set-top box, plus $17 a month for a three movie subscription. If it replaces a $50-a-month cable package, that's a 98% return on investment. I haven't checked this out and this might be good assuming you can download as many as you want with the max three at one time.
d. Take out a local library card, Cost: Nothing. If it saves you $10 a month on books, that's $120 a year. Return: Infinite. Note: Some libraries now let you borrow electronic books over the Internet as well. I certainly hope people have a library card, whoops I don't. There are sites on the Internet to download books for free but unless you want to print it out you are stuck to the screen. The Madge reads one book every two days, and she buys them. A few times a year she drives over to Goodwill and drops them off getting a blank receipt for a tax write off.
e. Order a packet of seeds and plant them in a window box or garden. Growing your own herbs, spices and even vegetables - depending on the amount of space you have - is a great investment. If you spent just $10 on seeds and saved a mere $50 in the year, that's a 400% ROI. Huh???? Obviously this person is sitting in Kansas. We tried growing herbs and spices, you have to constantly water, feed and spray for bugs. If the bugs don't get em the heat will. My advice buy in a air conditioned store.
f. Switch to a prepaid cellphone, Cost $20 for the phone and maybe $100 a year for minutes. Move the rest of your talk time to free Internet call and stop hemorrhaging $60 a month on a cellular plan. ROI: 500% This is excellent advice assuming you are not a teenager. We pay $85 a month for two phones with 700 minutes between the two of them. Last month we used 28 minutes. We have a house phone with unlimited minutes of local and long distance for $39 per month. Go to the prepay phone and stop making unnecessary calls from you cellphones.
g. Start making your own coffee to take to work each morning. Cost: $20 for a Thermos, $10 for a filter and papers, and $60 a year for ground coffee. Then skip the $4 a day drive-thru. If that saves you $1,000 a year, the return is more than 1,000 %. I have a better idea - stop working or if you can't, stop drinking coffee.

Recent Survey

In a recent survey carried out for leading toiletries firm 'Brut', people from Chicago have proved to be the most likely to have had sex in the shower!

In the survey, 86% of Chicago's elite residents, and government official's(almost all of whom are registered Democrats) said that they have enjoyed sex in the shower.

The other 14% said they hadn't been to prison yet.
Many thanks to Bob Truesdale for this.

It's That Time Of The Year Again

Wow, Jan 11 one year ago "The Madge" turned the big 60. This year it won't be quite as extravagant and unlike today's businesses the reason has nothing to do with the economy. So, even though when it involves "The Madge" it's special, Colleen and Mark will join us for a nice quiet dinner at Perry's Restaurant. As usual, the birthday girl bought herself a gift from Shannon's Jewelry (thank you Kathy for this discovery) and will unveil it Sunday evening at her birthday dinner. I can hardly wait.
If you care to send her a birthday email it's "themadge@comcast.net".

I have been watching a ton of new movies and I STRONGLY recommend "Gran Torino", and "The Express". Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" is still in the theaters and I understand that "The Express" will be out on DVD Jan 20th. "The Express" is a football movie depicting the life of Ernie Davis, while it is a guy movie, parts of it will appeal to the girls.
"Gran Torino" will reintroduce you to ethnic slurs like, Spooks, MIC's, WOP's, Gooks, Dago's, etc. etc. These are used constantly in this film so be prepared, but a great movie. I have also seen "Twilight, Changeling, Marley, Seven Pounds, Valkyrie, Australia, and Che: Part One", none of which received my vote. I have watched part of "Defiance" which I understand will be released in theaters next week, so far it's a Thumbs Up.

Once Upon A Time

Here we are seven days into the new year and things are chugging along. I always remember reading a night time story to our girls which they seemed to enjoy. Unfortunately these books were thrown out years ago so it's time to buy some new ones. Boy have times changed, here are a few of the new ones I picked up. I sure hope the grandsons find these interesting.

We had our first precruise meeting at our favorite Italian restaurant the various assignments i.e. ice duty, snack patrol, making the buffet to the room sprint with hors d'oeuvres and stocking up on the "booze to be smuggled on board". All these jobs have been assigned and the six of us only have five more meetings to discuss other things. Picture of the first completed task "The Booze".

Caden's other Grandfather David, a man of many talents, built the little guy a toy chest. I am sure that the way this was constructed that it will be passed down for generations. So here is Grandpa Struck making heirlooms while Pops Murphy stocks their library.

This is really good

Women In Film from Philip Scott Johnson on Vimeo.



Men In Film from Philip Scott Johnson on Vimeo.

More Pictures from New Years Day

Good pictures and actually have one of Caden crying.

Yes he cried but five seconds later he was laughing

New Years eve dinner, Surf and Turf

Yuk, what is this stuff

Erin having a tough time looking at the lobsters

Buddy didn't have any toys to play with so let's ride the dishwasher

Mom said we are going home and I have to leave Mimi and Pops