Target Practice

I live on a golf course in Virginia.  The scenery is absolutely stunning.  I look out the windows on the back of my house, and I see a golf course.  Just past the golf course there is a lake.  The lake has no visible houses on the far side.  So I see nothing but trees on the other side of the lake.  It really is beautiful.

When I was younger,  I would go golfing from time to time and I would imagine what it was like living on a golf course.  I imagined having no neighbors in my back yard and enjoying a nice view.  So when I saw this house for rent I jumped at the opportunity.  I never realized it would be hazardous to my health living on a golf course.  Our house gets hit by golf balls almost daily.  The house is stucco on the outside  Because the house gets hit all the time, the back looks like Swiss cheese.  This house is ruined by the constant barrage of golf balls flying into the back yard.

One day I was out mowing the yard, and a golf ball landed about five feet from me.  Another time I was sitting on the back patio with my Father-in-law, and we had two golf balls, within a 20 minute time frame, fly into the patio area and bounce around.  Most of the exterior lights have been damaged in one way or another.  We have had two broken windows. and the frames of the screens over the windows are so bent and dented up that they no longer fit right.

The other major issue I have is golfers wandering around in my back yard looking for their ball.  Some respect our privacy while others act as if they own the property.  Some will hit the ball right out of my yard even though it is out of bounds.  There is one area of sweet revenge so to speak, I have on occasion been able to go out and startle a golfer who was about to hit out of my yard.  It makes me laugh, they know they are not supposed to be hitting out of my yard.  When I startle them, they run off like a little child who has been scolded.  Its very funny to see a grown man scampering off.

Moral of the story?  Think long and hard before you buy a house on a golf course.  Make sure you buy a house right by the tee box, and NEVER I repeat NEVER buy a house in the middle of the fairway.

You have been warned.
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I'm Back

Hi all,
I am back.  I am excited to be writing again.  I will try to post twice a week.  I have been thinking about life quite a bit lately.  My beautiful wife recently passed her one year mark of being cancer free.  The whole experience was very surreal.  I never imagined I would hear the words you have cancer.  I know that is a very naive thought to have, nevertheless it was a surprise to me that she was sick.

I have not written my feelings until now.  I think the first feeling I had was surprise.  I know I felt some fear, especially when the Surgeon wanted to do her biopsy the same day as the consultation.  I remember I met her at the doctors office, and had to drive home alone after the biopsy was taken.  I know I had some fear at that point, but it was very quickly replaced with peace.

I do not remember if I have posted this before, but I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We are more commonly known as Mormons, but that is a nickname.  The name comes from a book of scripture, The Book of Mormon.  I will talk about the Book of Mormon at a later date.  As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I believe that the family is the unit of eternity.  I know that God is my Heavenly Father, and that I am his son.  I know that through the Priesthood restored to the earth I will be with my wife for all eternity.  I also know that I will be with my children for all eternity as well.  That knowledge alone brought such peace to me it was incredible.  I knew that irregardless of what the outcome would be, I would be with her again.

Snow in Virginia

The other day, the 26th of December 2012 to be exact, we woke up to snow on the ground here in Virginia.  I have to admit I was excited.  I had heard rumors that we were supposed to get hit with a ton of snow this winter.  Prior to the 26th, we had a flake or two but that's was it!

I had to go out to the store on the 26th, to return a table tennis table, and pick up another one.  I experienced the strangest thing as I was out and about.  The roads had some slush, which for a seasoned Idaho Driver was nothing to worry about.  Every driver I encountered that day was driving as though they were on a sheet of ice.  I couldn't believe it.  Normally for my commute in the mornings, if the speed limit is 45 traffic is moving at 60 mph or more.  Not when there is snow.  On the freeway the speed limit is 65 and everyone was driving 45 or less.  Crazy.  The snow wasn't even that bad.  In Idaho you will see people driving 75 or 80 mph on snow packed roads, basically a sheet of ice.  Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by their caution. 

Here are some tips for winter driving from years of experience driving in Idaho.
First of all slow down.
Second relax if possible.
Third keep plenty of distance between you and the car in front of you.
Fourth if you start to slide or skid the worst thing you could do is hit the brakes.  If you find yourself in a slide, turn into the slide, but remember a little turn goes a long way so don't over do it.  If you hit the brakes while your back end is sliding around you will make it worse.  If your car has ABS it makes braking safer but I would still try to avoid using them in a slide.

Always be cautious driving in the snow.  Saving a few minutes by driving too fast is not worth the risk!

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Brush your kids teeth!!!

For those of you who don't know I have moved to Virginia and I am working in an office seeing mostly children.  I love it!  Kids are so funny.  All the time I hear parents say that their kids brush their teeth every day.  But when I look in their mouths its obvious they are either not brushing at all or they are doing a very poor job.  I have three kids of my own and I would love to tell you that they all have made it through life cavity free.  But I would be lying.  Cavities happen, they happen to kids and adults, but the fact remains, if there is no plaque on their teeth then there will be no cavities.  Cavities are caused by plaque bacteria and that is it (I am excluding developmental defects and genetic issues with teeth).  So how can you prevent cavities in your child?  Easy, brush and floss their teeth.  Yes I said floss!!  I love to tell my patients that they only have to floss the teeth they want to keep.  We will end up pulling all the rest sooner or later.

What is the best way to floss your kids teeth?  One method is to sit down on a couch and have your child lay their head in your lap and then floss the same way you would floss your own teeth.  I happen to like floss handles better.  There are several different types.  The most common are the single use and toss type.  They also make a handle that allows you to change just the floss head.  It really doesn't matter which one you get as long as you get them and use them.

When children are little I would say under the age of 10 they need at least some level of supervision.  Young children do not have the manual dexterity they need to brush effectively.  So please mom and dad, brush your child's teeth!!
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Moving to Virginia

I'm back!  I know it has been a while since I have posted but I have been a little busy.  I recently moved my family across the country to Virginia.  Can I just say that I hate moving!!!!  We used ABF to move our stuff and we drove the mini van across the country.  2200 miles with three kids and a blind deaf diabetic dog.  Woooo hooo!!! Let the good times roll. 

Fortunately we have a DVD player in the car that I refer to as the pacifier or passy for short!  My kids really did handle the trip quite well all things considered.  We left town without making any hotel reservations because I wasn't sure where we would want to stop.  The fastest route to take from Idaho to Virginia is to get on I-80 and drive until you cant see straight then drive some more.  My wife had tentatively planned on stopping in Sydney Nebraska.  We had also planned on stopping in Wyoming for a few hours to visit family.  Little did we know that our family members would be out of town.  No biggie we will just drive on. 

Because we didnt stop in Wyoming, we arrived in Sydney earlier than we had planned so we decided to drive to North Platte.  Another hour and a half or so.  We pull off the freeway in North Platte and see a bunch of hotels so I pull into one and walk into the lobby and ask about a room for the night.  After the lady climbed off the floor ( she was laughing at me so hard she fell down) she told me that there wasn't a room in the whole city.  Is there a convention or something I ask.  Again I had to wait for her to settle down with tears streaming down her cheeks and between gufaws she said, no this is normal for us.  I ask about a hotel down the road and she tells me that when she last checked there was a room in Kearny (with her hotel chain) but the hotel didn't allow pets. 

Grumbling, I walk back to the car and tell my wife the news.  I could barely hear her response over the sound of my kids groaning in the back.  After a quick pit stop at a gas station we are back on the road with the passy playing.  I have my wife start looking on her phone for pet friendly hotels that don't appear to be run by Norman Bates.  Let me tell you they are few and far between!  We call several hotels along the way and even pulled over in a couple towns all to find no rooms available.  Finally we call a hotel in Lincoln Nebraska, they are pet friendly and they have a room.  We will take it!  By the time we arrive it is 3:30 am.  I have been driving since 9:30 am the previous morning.  To say I was tired was the understatement of the year!

I walked into the room and fell into bed and passed out.  We got a bit of a late start the next day but made it to Chicago to stay with my sister.  The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful.  But heed my warning.  If you are traveling across Nebraska and it is getting later in the day, call and make a reservation, otherwise you might end up driving much further than you want to.
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Chick or "Crack" Fillet

I don't know if you have ever had a meal at Chick-fill-a, but if you haven't you need to.  I have dubbed it Crack-fill-a, simply because the chicken is soooooooo good.  I love their chicken bites with the Chick-fill-a sauce.  Chick-fill-a sauce is basically a honey mustard, but it is amazingly good.  So if you are in the mood for some great chicken nuggets go to Chick-fill-a.

Going against the grain.

Have you ever felt like you are going against the norm?  I think most people have felt that way at one time or another.  I have not written for a while due to the fact that my family and I have made some huge changes in out life lately.  I just recently sold my dental practice and moved to Virginia.  I never imagined that I would end up on the east coast, but here I am.  I left my family back home in Idaho and moved across the country.  Why, you ask?  Because I was given  the opportunity of a life time.  I am now a dentist in Virginia.  Perhaps at a later date I will tell you all the details of the job I was given here but not today. 
Back to going against the grain.  Most of the people I know want to move closer to family and when they finally get close to family they don't want to leave.  For instance I know of a dentist who lived close to me in Idaho.  He had a friend who offered him $30,000.00 per month just to come to Nebraska and work.  His wife said no and as a result he is still in Idaho probably making 15,000.00 per month.  I would have jumped at the opportuinity to make 30k per month.  My wife and I talked about it quite a bit and we decided that after having been screwed by a prior business partner we needed to take advantage of this opportunity.  So here we go.  I am excited for the opprotuinty and I firmly believe that if you don't take a chance then you won't ever taste the sweet reward of success.
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Im losing weight

So I weighed myself this morning and I am down six pounds.  That makes 2 pounds per week.  I am very happy with that.  I have lost fast in the past and gained it all back plus some.  This time I am trying to lose slow and see if I can keep it off.  Go me!!

Getting taken advantage of

Why don't people do what they say they will do?  It makes me sick to hear of all the people out there trying to weasle out of fulfilling their agreed to obligations.  Everyone needs to man up (sorry ladies just a figure of speech) and take some responsibility.

Diets

Weekends and I don't get along when it comes to losing weight.  I do very well Monday through Friday, but when Saturday and especially Sunday roll around my eating plan goes out the window.  I did however work out on Saturday this last weekend.  So here is what I am doing.  I have started exercising for a half hour every day except Sunday.  I have cut out all soda which is a hard thing for me to do but I have found it is worth it.  I even have to say that I feel better being off the soda.  I also am drinking fresh juice from a variety of fruits and vegetables.  I have lost one pound so far but I am encouraged by that as I don't want to lose to quickly because when I have done that in the past I gained it all back plus some.  I really like the Jillian Michaels work out I am using.  I hope to drop about 40 pounds.  I will keep you posted but so far I feel much better and I feel my muscle mass is increasing and I am hoping that is why I have only lost one pound so far.

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Diet and exercise

For those of you who follow my blog, you will know that I have started several workout programs.  The ones I have talked about the most are Insanity and Asylum.  I really like both of these work outs, but they are very intense.  In fact they are too intense for a fat middle aged guy like me.  Needless to say I need to lose some weight and get in shape before I take those DVDs on.  I told you yesterday that I am trying to clean up my diet.  I am juicing and I started a new work out DVD series by none other than Jillian Michaels called body revolution.  I have done the first two workouts one last night and one this morning.  I think that I am really going to love this series.  First of all the workouts are only 30 minutes long, second she starts off with "easier" exercises that a tub of lard like me can handle.  I have enjoyed the workouts so far and they aren't going to injure me like I was injured by Asylum.  It was my own fault but I did get a minor shoulder injury.  I am feeling better with the juice and cutting out soda.  I will keep you posted, I weighed myself for the first time this morning, and I will let you know how much weight I am able to drop.

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Diet

I along with many Americans am over weight.  I'm not going to be on  the show my 600 lb life, but I could stand to lose about 40 pounds.  My wife and I watched a video the other day talking about how to lose weight.  The video was an hour and a half so I won't go into much detail about it in this post.  The main thing I took away from the video was that we don't always need to make huge changes.  The idea is to start incorporating things into our diet so that we eventually get to the point where we say, I can have that but I don't want it rather, than I can't have that.  With that said I am starting to add juice to my diet.  Not the juice you buy in the store but juice from vegetables and fruits juiced at home.  Yesterday was my first day adding juice to my diet and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  I had a small glass of juice in the morning for breakfast and that was it.  I stayed full until lunch, which is no small feat.  I felt like I had more energy, and felt a little clearer.  I was amazed.  The juice contained carrots, spinach, parsley, cilantro, apple, cucumber, and celery.  The juice it looked a little off, it was green after all.  But it tasted quite good.  I will keep you posted on how it goes but I am excited to see if making a few small changes will help me feel better.  On a side note I am cutting out all soda.  Will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

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Taxes

I am paying my taxes this week.  Boy what fun.  Until I owned my own business I never realized how expensive it is to have employees.  Lets say you make 40k per year.  Do you know how much your employer has to actually pay to have the privilege of you working for them?  They have to pay at least another $8000.00 per year.  The simple way to figure it is to take you salary and add 20%.  And that is if you don't receive health and dental insurance, or a 401k.  Where does that 20% go you ask?  It goes to Social Security, Medicaid, Workman's comp. insurance, and unemployment insurance.  That is exactly why it is so hard for the small business to make it.  We need employees, but they are the biggest expense we have.  Oh and I hate tax season!!!

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My dentist says I have gum disease

So your dentist says you have gum disease.  What is it exactly?  Gum disease is gingivitis in the early stages and periodontal disease in the later stages.  Once you have periodontal disease you always have periodontal disease. 

Gingivitis is in a nut shell inflammation of the gum tissue.  It is a completely reversible disease.  Gingivitis is caused by plaque, which is a waste product (yes their poop) of bacteria that live in you mouth.  Plaque is formed every day by these bacteria and if it is left on or between your teeth it will cause gingivitis and other problems.  If you leave gingivitis alone long enough your body will sense the infection and start to dissolve the bone around your teeth.  Once that bone loss starts you have periodontal disease.  Once the bone is gone it is gone. 

Periodontal disease can be stopped especially if it is caught early.  But again, once you have periodontal disease you will always have periodontal disease.  If you are diagnosed with periodontal disease or even gingivitis your dentist may recommend you come in for a cleaning more than twice a year.  It is critically important that you follow these recommendations. 

In my office I highly recommend the use of a waterpik.  The waterpik is basically a power washer for your teeth and it cleans in between your teeth extremely well.  I have seen patients who have gingivitis start using a waterpik and the next visit their gums look very healthy. 

Gum disease has been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease, and problems with an unborn child.  Some dental professionals think it may contribute to far more health problems than we currently understand.

If you have been told you have gum disease, you need to take the necessary steps to treat your disease.  Talk to your dentist to learn more about how to take care of your mouth.

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Adventures in traveling

Last week I had to leave town and go to Virginia for a very quick trip.  I was going to be in Virginia for 7 hours.  I flew a red eye out of Salt Lake and had a lay over in Atlanta.  Spent the day in Virginia taking care of some personal business then hopped back on a plane to fly back to Salt Lake.  We were scheduled to land in Detroit for a lay over and then on to our final destination.  About half way to Detroit the Captain comes on the intercom and tells us there is a problem with the front landing gear.  He says that when we land he won't be able to steer the plane.  He says that it is a routine landing situation but that he is going to land us in Cleveland instead of Detroit because there is fog in Detroit.

I had a full day of patients scheduled for the next day.  CRAP!!   As we are landing I look out the window and there are fire trucks and ambulances lined all along the runway with their lights flashing.  We landed without incident though.  I get on the phone with Delta Airlines as soon as we touch down and call to see if there are any flights out of Cleveland to Salt Lake leaving that night.  Of course there aren't.  I get off the plane and talk to the gate agent and there is nothing out of Cleveland or Detroit at all that night.  I hop on a bus to Detroit and sit back and try to enjoy the 2.5 hour ride.

I get into Detroit and get flight arrangements for the next morning.  We will fly to Minnesota then on to Salt Lake.  How fun another lay over.  The next morning for some reason my phone doesn't change time zones so I over sleep.  I have just enough time to get up and get dressed in the same clothes I have been wearing for the last 36 hours with no shower.  Gotta love it!! 

I fly into Minnesota and have a very quick layover then back on the plane for my 5th flight in 36 hours.  On the way to Salt Lake the stewardess comes on the intercom and asks if there is a doctor on board because there is a passenger having some medical trouble.  In my mind I envision us landing in Denver of Iowa or who knows where.  Fortunately that didn't happen and I finally made it back to Salt Lake.  It was a very long couple of days.  But at least the plane didn't crash.  I am not sure what it is but I have kind of rotten luck with travel.  Oh well could be worse I suppose.

The Power of Prayer

Life is hard, really hard at times.  I often wonder how some people deal with all the heartache and pain and trials they go through.  I know people who have lost children, spouses, have terrible diseases, lost jobs, the list goes on and on.  I am grateful for my life.  It isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I am glad I have my life.  I am grateful for the power of prayer.  I have felt my Father in Heaven's warmth and comfort as I have fallen to my knees and prayed to him.  I was recently betrayed by someone I considered a friend.  He took advantage of me and my trusting nature.  I have been on my knees praying often for help in dealing with him and his behavior.  I don't know how I would get through my trials without prayer.  If you don't pray start and you will be amazed at how much it will help you.

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Whitney Houston

What is it about some celebrities that draws so much attention when they die?  For instatnce Whitney Houston.  For many years now I hadn't heard much about her other than the terrible stuff on the cover of the tabloids which may or may not be true.  I am always curious why one persons death attracts more media attention than another?  Just a question if you have any thoughts on this matter, please comment.

Socialism will it work?

I was on Facebook the other day and I ran across this story.  It seems that a professor (I found out he was teaching at Texas Tech  from Snopes.com) had an interesting experiment with his class.  The story follows.

"An economics professor at a local college said that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich - a great equaliser.

To counter this, the professor said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little, studied even less and those who had previously studied hard, decided they wanted a free ride. So they too studied little.

The second test average was a D!

No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Couldn't be any simpler than that."

I thought this was a great example of how socialism would fail miserably.  But as I read some of the posts on Snopes.com I discovered that many of the posts said that the professor didn't understand what Socialism was.  I decided that perhaps I didn't understand what socialism is either.  I went to Wikipedia.com and looked it up.  As it turns out there are several different ideas all called socialism.  From my reading and my understanding I do believe that this professor was right with regard to what socialism means under some definitions and wrong under others.  All that aside the principle learned from this experiment is a valid strong argument against a socialist type society, wherein all work, and all profit or product produced from that work is divided equally among the entire population.  "You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." 
Much the same as you cannot legislate morality, you cannot have people give their best and strive to achieve more and more if there is no reward.  If I had a job as a door greeter at Walmart, (nothing against that job) and I had all the same perks and benefits and money as a Neurosurgeon, who spent 8 years in college and medical school plus a seven year residency for a grand total of 15 years after high school, why on earth would I be a slave to an education for an additional 15 years?  Bragging rights?  That is a little too far fetched in my opinion.  In a nutshell, socialism cant work because human nature is to be lazy, and to want something for nothing.  Many overcome that tendency but many do not.  Until you can change the true nature of the human being you wont be able to pull off socialism of any type.  I am sure many will disagree with me and that is just fine.  It makes this country I live in a fantastic place to live because I can express my opinion and so can you.

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Fighting the Turd.

I have a daughter who is a one of the biggest sweet hearts I know.  She is also "champion of the picked on".  She will always stand up for other kids who are being teased or riddiculed even if it's behind their back.  Because she is a sweet heart and a very sensitive girl she gets her feeling hurt easily, which makes it difficult for her when she stands up for other kids.  Last night I picked her up from the sport she plays, and she came out of the building crying.  She was very upset.  I asked her what had happened and she told me a story full of injustice and drama.  The story in a nutshell is this, she stood up for a friend of hers who is on the team, and the girl who was saying mean things about her friend then started being "mean" to my daughter.  This is a very common theme by the way.  I am frustrated because many of the problems she has she brings on herself by defending other kids.  I dont want to tell her to stop defending others because I think that is a good trait to have, but at the same time when she does she ends up in a bad mood or in tears.  In a moment of inspriation it occured to me that I can use her experience to teach her an important lesson in life.  I called it fighting the turd. 
One issue she had yesterday was this other girl "cut" in front of my daughter in a line they were in.  My daughter of course started it up with this girl.  So I told her that her decision to fight about, (not a physical fight) or argue about it was hers to make, and that I wasn't going to tell her what to do.  But I did tell her that if she wanted to take on this girl, who we referred to as the "TURD", she needed to expect to get some poop on her.  In other words she cant expect to stand up for others or herself with out a backlash.  I have found that in life we need to pick our battles.  We need to decide if it is worth it to fight the bullys and protect the innocent.  I happen to like the fact that she stands up for others, and tries to help those in need.  But many times that isn't the the popular way to go, especially on the grade school playground.  I could see the light come on in her eyes.  It was the first time I have really felt like she understood and agreed with what I had said.  I think that I have helped her understand that if you are going to stand up for what is right instead of being a sheep in the crowd, someone will always disagree with you, and that is ok. 

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Getting older

It is a sad day when a person finally comes to the conclusion that they aren't as young as they used to be.  I don't feel old by any stretch of the imagination but as I have taken on the extremes of the workout Insanity Asylum, I have been feeling it in ways I wouldn't have 10 years ago.  I know this happens to the best of us but it is a little bit of a hard pill to swallow.  I am the kind of guy who when it is time to get back in shape I go all out, I push myself hard, I over do it really.  I am starting to realize I can't just jump in with both feet anymore. 
A few years ago I got myself into a bit of trouble.  I went for a bike ride after several months of near inactivity.  I rode hard and really pushed myself.  I arrived at the top of a hill and felt very sick.  I think I was on the verge of having a serious health event.  But fortunately I was smart enough to turn around and coast down the hill, and back to my house to recover.
I am fine I even had an EKG to make sure my heart was ok, but I know that I came very close to having a very serious event.  So what is the moral of the story?  Take it easy and work up to the extremes of exercise especially if you are middle aged and you have been inactive for a while. 
I have no doubt in my mind that I can work up to the level of fitness required to do Insanity Asylum, but I need to make sure I do it in a safe and smart manner.

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