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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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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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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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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This is going to be expensive

My patients who don't brush and floss regularly tend to get a lecture about how expensive it will be to fix their teeth down the road.  I usually save this lecture for kids and teenagers, because I've found that adults really don't care.  Yesterday I had a young patient sit in my chair.  He is in his early twenties and is attending university.  He is married and has dental insurance but as with all dental plans it only covers about $1500.00 a year.  He is in for a cleaning and exam.  I start to list off all the cavities he has and there are a bunch.  In fact if memory serves correct he had a cavity on almost every tooth.  I rattle off filling, filling, root canal and crown etc.  In other words cha ching, cha ching, cha ching.  I really did feel bad for this kid.  I can tell they don't have a lot of money, and he is at a major cross road with his teeth.  He either forks out almost $10,000.00, yes that's ten THOUSAND dollars, to fix his teeth or he will be in dentures in the near future.  End of options.  I'm not talking big cosmetic case with veneers, I'm talking fillings and where needed root canals and crowns. 
So as I tell my patients 1 minute a day can save you thousands of dollars, I am not exaggerating at all.  If he had flossed regularly he would be nearly cavity free.  How is that you ask?  Simple, almost every cavity he has is one that started between his teeth.  Flossing prevents those cavities.  It really is that easy.  So for what it is worth, take time to floss.  Or you can just plan on writing a big fat check to your dentist.

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Modern Day Slavery

I am convinced that slavery is alive and well today.  I am convinced it is far more wide spread than it ever was during the early years of this country.  This slavery doesn't care if your male or female, it doesn't care what color your skin is, it doesn't care how old you are, it doesn't care what religion you are.  It is amazingly non-discriminant.  What is this form of modern day slavery?  DEBT.  I felt this was an appropriate topic having just passed through a very expensive season.  My main goal in life right now is to become debt free.  Only then are we truly free.  Only then do you have the freedom to say, I just don't want to work anymore.  Now I admit there are some things that almost universally require us to go into debt for.  A home, an education, and perhaps a car.  But that is it.  I hope and pray that for this new year we will all get a little closer to becoming debt free. 
I remember meeting a dentist in Cleveland on a golf course.  My friends and I were out golfing and he was playing as a single so he joined us.  Through the conversation we had with him we discovered that his father who was also a dentist was still working at 80 years of age because he couldn't retire.  I just about lost my lunch.  I felt so sorry for his dad.  Now if his father chose to work at 80 years of age more power to him, if however he had to work for financial reasons, that is very sad. 
Some people blame the banks for our current financial problems in this country.  If you do how can you get back at them?  Become debt free. 

On a happier note, I wish you and yours a happy new year and truly hope you had a merry Christmas.
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Stalkers.

A very good friend of mine has a stalker.  I don't know about you but I have never had a situation like this strike close to home.  I mean every now and again the news reports about some star who has a stalker, and I know that people who aren't famous have them too.  But until it comes close to home, I think it is similar to many other problems we have in this life.  We tend to live in a "that won't happen to me" world.  It is sad to see someone who is dealing with a person who is obsessed.  This stalker is an intelligent person but when he sent my friend an e-mail it was quite clear to me from the first paragraph that he was either really drunk or way off his rocker.  Fortunately for my friend she got the police involved right away and he is now under arrest.  If you have someone who is stalking you take the threat seriously and get help from the police.  I know they can't do everything to protect you but it is better than nothing or at least is has been for my friend.

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Thrive not just survive

Often times in life it seems we get so busy with work, school, kids, grand kids, church, friends, etc. that we don't take time to enjoy the simple things in life.  The other day I was riding in the car with my wife and she was reading a book and she would periodically share parts of the book with me.  One sentence she read to me was, The key to happiness in life is learning to thrive not just survive.  I am quoting from memory but that was essentially it.

I really had to stop and think about that for a minute.  There are so many things in life that are beyond our control.  We never know from day to day or minute to minute if something bad will happen to us or some one we know.  We never know when tragedy will strike or hardship will reign supreme in our lives.  The only thing that is certain is that we will all experience tragedy and hardship.

So how do we thrive instead of just survive when the bad times come?  I am not 100% sure I have the answer.  But I often think that it is all about how we look at it.  When events in life come we have the choice to be angry or be happy.  Let me give you an example.  When I was a kid I would ask my dad to tell me a story at bed time.  I used to say if he could make me laugh the story was over.  Well as you can imagine I would do my best to not laugh, and I was quite good at it.  I was taking a happy event and nullifying it.  Now I know this is very different from a tragic event in life but I believe that the same principal applies.  We choose how we feel.  It isn't always an easy choice but I truly believe we choose how we feel.

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