I made a forward pass!

I passed the stone on Sunday afternoon!

Actually, I was surprised that it had passed.

Rather, I was expecting a more momentous occasion than what it was.

Much to Ellie's disgust, I had been plugging up the sink and pissing in the sink to watch for the stone.

Well, when it came out, I helped it to back up pressure so that it could help force the urine through better. (i.e. shut off flow at the tip to build up pressure.)
(I'm sure you wanted to read this detail, no?)

The pain was bugging me so I closed my eyes and let it flow.

When I was done, I looked in the sink and found a mostly clear, crystalline "stone".

It wasn't "small", but it also wasn't too bad.

I mean, it was smaller than two mini M&Ms stacked round edge to round edge.

So that's like, 2x4 mm? or less?

Honestly, I was looking at it and at first, I didn't think that was it, so I squeezed it with my fingers really hard and it cracked.

It really looked like a piece of sugar crystal, although, I doubt it'd tasted like sugar.

Well, it continued to crack and break down, even though I was trying to view it better with my jeweler's loupe.

In summary, it passed!

This means, no surgery to remove it, and as I figured it, it was going to be small and pass on its own.

If it wasn't, then the kidney/bladder pain would've started to climb through the roof.

Well, he's pissed... and it wasn't only me this time.

Today, we were going through our weekly training group for security certification.

Now, I've hated these trainings...

OK, not the group training, but the interactive one the corporate purchased for us to use...

The corporation pays for the "best"...

"I'm sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit."
-Detective Del Spooner.  I, Robot (the movie, not Asimov's book)

During the start of our study group, it was noted that the content of the session was not well communicated.

It was also pointed out that nothing we've been studying... and I mean NOTHING has the same theory, definitions, or industry standards.

In other words, I cannot study from Company A materials and have the same theory match up with Company B's.

Well...

Our "Fearless" boss got pissy and just ended the web sharing session and disconnected the conference call.

Needless to say, he was really, really pissed.

Now, I've hated these things pretty much since we started going through the "practice" tests, because the questions are POORLY written.

I mean, REALLY POORLY written!

Did I stress how POORLY they're written?

In the past, instead of looking for the logical answer based on the question, I was told to look for the answer based on "buzz" or "key" words...

I.e. I need to just shut up and give the answer they're asking for instead of the logical, correct answer.

Like...

Was Jesus born on Earth?

1. No he was born in a stable on hay or straw.
2. Perhaps the stable floor was bare and didn't have a wooden floor, so it might've been bare earth/dirt...
3. Who is this Jesus fellow?
4. Yes, in Bethlehem.
5. What am I going to get for Christmas?

 The answer they might want to give is 2, instead of 4.

Ok...

I'll have to stop..

I got way off track of this post doing the Jesus question and have lost it.

I was really down... He was waiting for me...

This week has been hard for me.

I haven't necessarily been down, or felt down... but I have been using my pain meds in a hope for a boost/pick me up.

They weren't working and I was going to keep taking more for the desired effect.

Today, when I started thinking again about waiting to get fired so that I could retire and stop trying to work..

I realized I needed to stop and take care of myself.

Really, I needed to take care of myself.

Not spend time by myself, but to really take care of myself.

To shower, shave, pray and read the scriptures.

When I decided to take time to do this, I went to the LDS website, www.lds.org, and saw a video link captioned: "Am I even a good man?"

This video really, REALLY hit home to me...

I went looking for Him and advice...
He was waiting for me.

"Am I even a good man?"
 
https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/reflections?cid=HP_TU_10-13-2015_dPTH_fMLIB_xLIDyL1-B_

Thank you Heavenly Father.

For the rest of you...

Vaya Con Dios!

It's getting closer... but is it close enough... finally?

Ever since I was a pimply, another face in the crowd, teenager in High School, I've wanted to be a writer.

I suppose I didn't want to right off the bat, but several teachers over the year until I was in 10th grade have commented on my stories and writing style.

It was my 10th grade English teacher and 9th grade Social Studies teachers who pushed me to start submitting my work to the School's annual creative writing magazine.

None of my writing actually made it to print, but it really started my ambitions of writing.

In 11th grade, I enrolled in the Creative Writing class where I learned that I loved writing in all sorts of styles. (Plays, Poetry, Stories, etc.)

To date, I still don't have any of those sorts of documents printed, although I do have all of those manuscripts here somewhere...  I think.

In the years since though, I have over a dozen individual Windows based application that have been published internally to my employers and externally to their customers.

Along with applications, I have authored over 100 public tech articles.

See, my writing skills haven't disappeared or went dormant.  They just went in another direction.

Over the past 15 years, since I've been married to Ellie, I go off into my writing world/dreaming.

The past few months, it's happening more and more.

A few nights ago, I started searching out where/how to submit a children's story that I wrote shortly after I married Ellie.

I have other poetry, mostly ballads, and a few other stories that I would also like to try and get published.

Even now, as I think about it, I have either a very long short story or possibly a book that keeps coming to my mind that I feel needs to be written.

Since I got those fountain pens for my wedding anniversary, I've started writing more...

I'll see what happens.

Are you Kidney Stoning me!?

Yes, it seems it's time for another kidney stone!

Can I hear a "OH HOLY SHIT THIS MIGHT REALLY HURT!?"

Actually, I started noticing my symptoms last week.

First comes additional swelling and water retention.

Next comes the sensation of having your testicles squeezed by some invisible vice grips.

Following that comes the bloody urine and sensation that you have gravel up your piss pipe.

This time the pain is very minimal compared to the large kidney stones I had last year.

It feels like this time around there might only be one kidney stone and it's small.

I don't feel like it's in the kidney anymore and it's probably somewhere on it's way to the bladder or there already.

It's just a matter of drinking more water and increasing the amount of citric acid in my diet.

Citric acid comes in all sorts of things.

Citrus fruits (lemons, limes, oranges, etc.), different instant drink packages you put into your water bottle, and various vitamin/food supplements.

The urologists suggest Potassium Citrate.

I hadn't been taking my Potassium Citrate for a while, and a few weeks back I started eating roasted salted peanuts with candy corn. (Pretty good if you've never tried it).

Peanuts aren't good for people with Kidney stone problems.

At least I found that salted & roasted peanuts are the worst for me.

I wish Ellie hadn't of bought the peanuts in the first place.

Ah well...

I'm just going to keep drinking lots of water, and trying to piss this think out.

Are my heroes going to fail me?

Previously, I wrote about my "little" girls being my heroes; especially Big Miss.

They still are my heroes!

Both of them are much, much better students at school than I ever was.

They've both demonstrated good conscience, moral decisions of watching or not watching specific types of movies/shows.

On top of that, they stand up for what's right and will take on others to defend others that need help.

Big Miss did this last year with her friend. (I wrote about this previously.)

Little Miss did this several years ago when a few of the current cub scouts several years ago were picking on a smaller boy that she knew.  She stood up and told the other boys, who bigger than she was, to leave him alone.  Not only did she tell them off, she about got into a full on fist fight with them.

These girls are both very strong and great heroes to me!

Why am I writing about them now?

The other day, they were at Ellie's parents house.  One of their cousins started watching "The Walking Dead" show.

I'm surprised that this happened at all.

First of all, my Mother-in-Law normally doesn't allow the kids to watch movies with there are other grand children at the house.

Next, this cousin is about the same age as Little Miss.  They're not even teenagers yet.

"The Walking Dead" is an R-Rated TV show that Ellie and I have watched.

I'm upset because Ellie's mom didn't have the one grand child turn it off.  She also didn't seem to respect that Ellie and I don't want our children to watch movies/shows like that yet.

Well, it turns out that Big Miss might've started watching it and they've actually borrowed it from Ellie's mom.

Little Miss isn't interested in watching the TV show because they've heard the audio from Ellie and I watching it.  They both described it as "moan, groan, scream, bang, bang, bang".

I told Big Miss that I would watch several of the episodes from the first season.  If she decided she didn't watch the show that I would stop watching the shows too.

It's not good to tell your children to stop doing something if you're also doing it.

Ellie might feel the way I do about stuff like this.

I'm ashamed that I watched these shows and I'm even more ashamed that my children watch them when they're as young as they are.

Little Miss and I have been watching Futurama, a show that I love to watch and have obviously quoted quite often here.

One of the episodes from Season II was very inappropriate for a pre-teen.

I kept watching it with her, and then we talked about the content of show and agreed that we would stop watching the shows for a few more years.

Personally, I believe a lot of shows that exhibit the "fun" and "relaxed" nature of sex and violence have become the bane of our society.

Call me a prude, or a conservative parent/person over this.

I used to and still love listening to Heavy Metal, Rap, Rock, Alternative music; however, my exposure to this music has diminished a LOT.

Over the last year, I started listening more and more to the lyrics of these songs.

Many of them are very bad, and seem to encourage violence and acceptability of very bad/inappropriate behavior.

I worry that my children might let their guard down, just to be part of the popular crowd.

However, I also know that Ellie and I raised them to know right and wrong.

We try really hard to point out that many things that are "funny" are actually degrading and not how people should behavre.

They are strong and know what's appropriate to watch and listen to.

A great leader is the person who will stand up and do the right things despite what others say.


Sometimes, the world needs someone to just stand up and do the right things.

I love them and want them to continue being my Heroes.

Every hero must learn his purpose. Then he’ll be tested and called to greatness.

-Hiro Nakamura

It was pretty fun!

The other day I had a chance to play with my first set of CW/Morse code paddles.

I asked a fellow HAM that I'd become friends with if I could borrow his paddles


My little radio has a built in paddle/electronic keyer module.

The keyer module is a solid state module that takes incoming dits-dahs and smooths them out to the speed that you specify in the keyer circuit.

So, I put the keyer module to 10 wpm, and started tapping code out with the paddles.

It was pretty darn fun.

Granted, I had to adjust the paddles tighter than my friend had it.

I mean, the contacts are probably closer together than a sheet of paper.

These paddles are from the company that sold me my little CW radio.

After playing with these paddles for an hour or so, I can see why they're listed as one of the best companies for this equipment.

However, I'm still upset at those guys for how they handled the shipping, communication and warranty of my radio.

I said I'd never buy their stuff, and that's probably buying it brand new...

From emails from my friend, I think he's going to make me an offer I can't refuse for these paddles.

I'll have to wait to hear from him.

I guess I should drop it

It seems to me that I cannot completely forget how my old friend reacted to my email stating that I didn't want to have any sort of sexual relations with her.

I suppose it bothers me that I got accused of doing or wanting things that I didn't have any desire of doing.

Ever have that happen?

Ever been yelled at and accused of doing things that you never did nor had any intention of doing?

It's happened to me several times in my life and since I dropped it, it seems that many people assume that was my intention.

Oh well, I suppose I'll have to chalk this up to what another friend told me many, many years ago.

"We're just the last of the good ol' boys..."
"We stand by our convictions.."

I knew I hit my peak too soon.

That title is based on a line from the movie Biloxi Blues.

Specifically, it's from a scene where several of the servicemen are waiting for their first turn with a lady.

Anyhow, where does this lead us?

It only leads us to the stats of my blog here.

For several days I was getting 6+ visits and for the past two days, nothing.

Just nothing.

Oh well, I never started this blog as an attempt to gain followers, provide world peace or increase harmony.

It's just an easy journal/log for me to sound off on things while I'm working and it just happens to be public.

Thanks for checking in!