I believe that is a fair question. Everywhere we look we are seeing it happening. Young people do not seem to be learning like they did even ten years ago. Many believe it goes back even farther. Studies have shown an incredible decline in vocabulary, critical thinking skills, the ability to communicate, problem-solving skills and a host of other skills necessary to compete in the global economy of the twenty-first century.
I have written about this before and after watching this brief video by the late, great George Carlin, he makes some interesting points in the direction our educational system is going. Watch this short bit and see if you agree with him or not:
http://youtu.be/WGL8FEMc378
You may read my previous grammar post of March 7, 2013 by clicking here.
He makes a compelling argument regarding what our children are learning, or in the greater sense, what they are not learning.
After reading several articles on the topic, being turned away from schools because they do not want to bring in an outside speaker that would take away time teachers have to prepare for the test, countless conversations with frustrated teachers when I do get in the schools and a host of other factors, No Child Left Behind is not working for schools all over the country.
One of the biggest problems No Child Left Behind has is it is given as a standardized test to fifth graders of every educational level. That means children whose primary language is not English, Special Education students on all levels, gifted and talented students; students with lower IQ's are all tested on the same test. There is no way many schools with very diverse populations can keep up with other schools that do not have a wide range of students.
Of course, there are other factors in why our children are not learning critical thinking skills, creative problem-solving processes and constantly lowering their vocabulary skills. Please do not get me wrong here, I am all for the digital age and learning with computers. What I have a problem with is the loss of the ability to communicate with one another in a one-on-one conversation, and do so intelligently without one or both of the people using improper grammar, today's modern acronyms, and not being able to formulate a proper complete sentence.
One of the things that bothers me the most is when I turn on the television to watch the news, SportsCenter, or watch a game of any kind, and have the broadcasters and announcers using improper grammar.
To me, listening to someone speak improperly is like scraping your fingernails on the blackboard. It is everywhere. I often find myself hitting the Mute button when watching a game of some sort and not having to listen to the broadcasters butcher the English language.
I try to be as well-informed as I possibly can in writing because I believe it is important to show I care about what I believe to be an important subject. I cannot tell you how many times my editor and I discussed certain language when we were writing my book. I constantly try to be vigilant in my language on this blog, every letter I write, every comment I make on a Facebook post and email I send.
I know sometimes I come off as being a Nazi Grammar Police, but I believe it is important for us not to forget an important skill. As you may know, I use a voice recognition software program to write this blog. It is called Dragon Dictate and is Macintosh's version of Windows' Dragon Naturally Speaking. I used that program to write my book when I had a MacBook Pro with the Parallel program that allowed me to use the Windows side of my computer. Now I have a Mac Mini and have Dragon Dictate as my program.
This is just a small portion of my problem with the educational system today. My little brother, Chad, taught in a year-round school in Southern California for seven years. He loved the students, but had problems with administration and some of the requirements that were heaped on him. They never went more than six weeks at a time without being in school. I believe that is the wave of the future. Year-round schooling makes sense to me if done properly.
It is been proven time and again students lose a lot of the knowledge they gained in the previous school year when they have a three-month summer vacation. I believe that should also change.
Those are just two suggestions. I have many more. I will save those for another post. Does anyone see any mistakes I made in this post?
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Monday, September 30, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
We Did It!
In my last post, I told you I was going to my forty-year high school class reunion. A week ago tonight we had a good turnout and everyone had a wonderful time. We started with a tour of the newly renovated high school and saw just how much things had changed in the forty years since all my classmates graduated.
Before the tour, I spent about ninety minutes with the high school principal learning about all the good things happening besides the bricks and mortar changes. Their enrollment is growing, they are offering new classes, students may now get college credits for some of their coursework and several other highlights were just gushing out of his mouth. He is truly excited about the direction the school is taking! That was a fun conversation for me.
After the tour, we gathered for a social hour and then banquet. It was great fun seeing some people I had not seen in forty years! It was a challenge recognizing some people and there were only a few I did not recognize. One of my former teammates came up to me, did not say anything and I just looked at him. I was drawing a blank, and then I asked him to smile. As soon as he smiled, I blurted out, "Kevin Johnson!" I did not recognize the bald head, but I certainly recognized his smile!
The entire evening went by far too quickly, as they always do at events like this. At one point during the social hour we were all asked to go outside for a group picture. I am going to put a photograph here of someone trying to organize all my classmates. It was like herding cats!
Click on the image to make it larger:
Someone had lined up a row of chairs that was supposed to be the front row. So, I had someone move the middle chair, parked myself and waited for people to fill in around me. It seems simple enough to me, but it proved a little more difficult for a group of middle-aged people!
Saturday was the big hometown festival called King Turkey Day. There is a whole other story to that which I will not go into, but suffice it to say there are all kinds of activities for just about any demographic group's interest. The big part of the day is always the parade. We had a Class of '73 float which consisted of a flatbed hay rack with bales down the middle for people to sit on, and we opened up a spot in the back for me to sit.
Here is a photograph of me getting on the float using a front-end loader, which is the same one they used to get me on the podium when I spoke at last year's Turkey Day:
Once again, click on the image to make it larger:
Notice I am wearing a black poncho Deb (Bourassa) Peterson graciously lent me as the rain was just starting to come. Randy Haack, Bill McCuen and partially hidden Dave Baker all helped get me onto the float. I do not plan on riding on another float anytime soon!
Seriously, I was in no danger. It is always just a little scary being put in a situation where I am completely out of control. That comes from experience!
After the parade, they were more events that ran long into the night. Unfortunately, I only lasted until about 9:30!
All this week I have been collecting photographs, as I am sure many of my classmates have been of the weekend events. I believe I can safely say everyone enjoyed himself or herself.
Now it is back to all parts of the country from Florida to California to Oregon and all over the Midwest to resume our lives and rekindle our memories of our forty-year high school class reunion.
One more thing, I would like to thank everyone on the committee who organized the tour, evening's activities, slideshow, parade arrangements and anything else I may be forgetting. Also, thank you to the guys who helped get me on and off the float.
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Yes, I Know What Day It Is …
Of course, I know today is the twelfth anniversary of one of the most horrific days in American history; however, this post is not about September 11, 2001. What it is about is a celebration of the fortieth class reunion of my fellow classmates in Worthington, Minnesota. I say my fellow classmates because I never graduated with them. After my accident, I spent the first seven and one-half months in three different institutions, came home and quickly developed my first pressure sore which led to six months in bed and three surgeries. That followed into their senior year when I tried to go back to take classes for three weeks, but the sore kept me in bed and I never graduated with the class.
The spring of 1973 when my classmates were finishing their high school education, I had started school at Worthington State Junior College. Technically, I am a tenth grade dropout! However, I do have a college degree.
They timed our reunion events around the annual celebration in Worthington known as King Turkey Day! Friday will start out with a golf event for those that choose to participate in the morning, followed by a tour of the newly renovated high school. After that, it is off to the new Worthington Convention Center for an evening of reminiscing, exaggerating old stories, seeing friends I have not seen for many years, meeting spouses, sharing stories of children and grandchildren, showing pictures on people's smart phones and just having a good time. I am extremely excited and looking forward to that night, Friday the 13th!
Saturday will bring the annual all-you-can-eat free pancake breakfast, a small art fair, a midway, a 5K walk and a 10K run which grows every year. Following the race, will be the featured speaker who will have an incredible speech to follow since yours truly was last year's speaker! I wrote about it in a post last year. You may read that post by clicking here.
That is followed by the annual race of the turkeys between Ruby Begonia from Cuero, Texas and Worthington's own Paycheck. Last year, they even made me kiss Worthington's turkey. I never saw the picture, but I have been told it made the local paper.
Our class is having a hay wagon for us to ride on in the parade. If we can figure out a way of getting me onto it, I will ride in the parade for the second straight year.
Following the parade will be many people from all walks of life who will want to talk with me. That is a part I truly love! Not that the rest of the events are not fun, but as happens every time I am around anyone who remembers me, from my accident or all of the events that followed forty-two years ago they will want to tell me stories of their recollections of that time.
Much of my book, comments on my blog and Facebook posts are filled with people's recollections of that time so many years ago. I have always said, "It's amazing to me how an instant in time can affect so many people's lives!"
People still tell me it feels like my accident happened yesterday! I feel that oftentimes too! I have mentioned this before how I cannot believe how fast life travels. This weekend will be another reminder of that phenomenon.
That being said, my personal care attendant, Robert, and I will leave tomorrow afternoon for four days of storytelling experiences. I am looking forward to it. Bet you cannot guess what my next post will be about?
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
The spring of 1973 when my classmates were finishing their high school education, I had started school at Worthington State Junior College. Technically, I am a tenth grade dropout! However, I do have a college degree.
They timed our reunion events around the annual celebration in Worthington known as King Turkey Day! Friday will start out with a golf event for those that choose to participate in the morning, followed by a tour of the newly renovated high school. After that, it is off to the new Worthington Convention Center for an evening of reminiscing, exaggerating old stories, seeing friends I have not seen for many years, meeting spouses, sharing stories of children and grandchildren, showing pictures on people's smart phones and just having a good time. I am extremely excited and looking forward to that night, Friday the 13th!
Saturday will bring the annual all-you-can-eat free pancake breakfast, a small art fair, a midway, a 5K walk and a 10K run which grows every year. Following the race, will be the featured speaker who will have an incredible speech to follow since yours truly was last year's speaker! I wrote about it in a post last year. You may read that post by clicking here.
That is followed by the annual race of the turkeys between Ruby Begonia from Cuero, Texas and Worthington's own Paycheck. Last year, they even made me kiss Worthington's turkey. I never saw the picture, but I have been told it made the local paper.
Our class is having a hay wagon for us to ride on in the parade. If we can figure out a way of getting me onto it, I will ride in the parade for the second straight year.
Following the parade will be many people from all walks of life who will want to talk with me. That is a part I truly love! Not that the rest of the events are not fun, but as happens every time I am around anyone who remembers me, from my accident or all of the events that followed forty-two years ago they will want to tell me stories of their recollections of that time.
Much of my book, comments on my blog and Facebook posts are filled with people's recollections of that time so many years ago. I have always said, "It's amazing to me how an instant in time can affect so many people's lives!"
People still tell me it feels like my accident happened yesterday! I feel that oftentimes too! I have mentioned this before how I cannot believe how fast life travels. This weekend will be another reminder of that phenomenon.
That being said, my personal care attendant, Robert, and I will leave tomorrow afternoon for four days of storytelling experiences. I am looking forward to it. Bet you cannot guess what my next post will be about?
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Forty-two Years And Counting ...
-->
Forty-two years ago tonight my life changed in a heartbeat. An instant in
time has affected many people in one way or another. Unaware of what was about
to happen, my head football coach, Milt Osterberg, called me into the game to
replace an injured teammate. It was about halfway through the second quarter
and Owatonna was driving again.
Owatonna had two excellent running backs, and they were chewing up yardage all night long. We were undersized and inexperienced compared to the entire Owatonna team. When I was called into the game, little did I know as I ran out on the field those would be the last steps I would ever run. That is why they call them accidents!
Some of you have read my book entitled "I Still Believe In Tomorrow" and know all the details of what happened those last three minutes of my first life. I have always told people I felt I had two lives. I lived to be sixteen in my first life, and tonight I start the forty-third year of my second life.
It is incomprehensible for me to believe it has been forty-two years already. I cannot tell you where the time has gone. I am sure many of my older readers often feel the same way. Where have our lives gone?
I once heard an analogy about life being like a roll of toilet paper. I will paraphrase, but it went something like this, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes."
I do not know how you feel about it, but I believe that analogy is spot on. I remember in my first life how time could not move fast enough. When I was a first grader, I wanted to be in junior high. When I was in junior high, I could not wait to be in high school so I could play the varsity sports, football, basketball and track and field. Then, I played baseball all summer long. Those last two summers before I got hurt were idyllic for a young, athletic, wanna be growing up in a small town in southwestern Minnesota. Worthington had everything I wanted or needed.
Sure, the Vietnam War was raging in Southeast Asia, but that had nothing to do with me because I was not going to war when I graduated. I was going to go play basketball on a college scholarship. My mother had three brothers who did four tours of duty in Vietnam. She wrote letters to them and sent them religiously. When they wrote back and told her where they were, she would put a pin on our Vietnam map hanging on the kitchen wall to show us where one of them was at any given time.
We know better now more times than not they were lying to her about where they really were and the kind of danger they were in. But the kind of men they are, they did not want Mom to worry.
As per my regular writing style I have wandered off course again from the point of this post. I believe tonight it may be intentional.
I am writing this about the time I would have left home to go get my ankles taped in preparation of the game. I was so nervous; I left early and was the second person to arrive at our locker room. Ben Horak was one of our co-captains and he was already at the locker room when I got there. I do not know who was more nervous, Ben or me.
As everyone started to arrive, along with coaches, managers and other players tension in the locker room was starting to build, as was the noise. I remember lying down on that cool, concrete floor using my helmet as a pillow and trying to relax. I could not relax as this feeling that had been with me all day was getting more intense. I later learned it was my intuition.
That is a whole other story! I go into greater detail in my book about intuition and how males are taught not to listen to it. We are taught to suck it up, it is just nerves and you will get over it.
Once we hit the field for warm-ups, the feeling went away a little bit; but it was still there and I was not going to listen to it. I remember everything from that night; and those feelings always come back every year on September third. My anniversary is always a melancholy day, and this year was no different. Writing about it always helps, and this has helped me immensely put up this post. Thanks for reading.
For those of you that do not know, I am not actually writing this. I have a Mac Mini with voice recognition software called Dragon Dictate. I have actually been speaking this entire post. That explains why I have made it so long! I hope you enjoyed my rambling.
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Owatonna had two excellent running backs, and they were chewing up yardage all night long. We were undersized and inexperienced compared to the entire Owatonna team. When I was called into the game, little did I know as I ran out on the field those would be the last steps I would ever run. That is why they call them accidents!
Some of you have read my book entitled "I Still Believe In Tomorrow" and know all the details of what happened those last three minutes of my first life. I have always told people I felt I had two lives. I lived to be sixteen in my first life, and tonight I start the forty-third year of my second life.
It is incomprehensible for me to believe it has been forty-two years already. I cannot tell you where the time has gone. I am sure many of my older readers often feel the same way. Where have our lives gone?
I once heard an analogy about life being like a roll of toilet paper. I will paraphrase, but it went something like this, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes."
I do not know how you feel about it, but I believe that analogy is spot on. I remember in my first life how time could not move fast enough. When I was a first grader, I wanted to be in junior high. When I was in junior high, I could not wait to be in high school so I could play the varsity sports, football, basketball and track and field. Then, I played baseball all summer long. Those last two summers before I got hurt were idyllic for a young, athletic, wanna be growing up in a small town in southwestern Minnesota. Worthington had everything I wanted or needed.
Sure, the Vietnam War was raging in Southeast Asia, but that had nothing to do with me because I was not going to war when I graduated. I was going to go play basketball on a college scholarship. My mother had three brothers who did four tours of duty in Vietnam. She wrote letters to them and sent them religiously. When they wrote back and told her where they were, she would put a pin on our Vietnam map hanging on the kitchen wall to show us where one of them was at any given time.
We know better now more times than not they were lying to her about where they really were and the kind of danger they were in. But the kind of men they are, they did not want Mom to worry.
As per my regular writing style I have wandered off course again from the point of this post. I believe tonight it may be intentional.
I am writing this about the time I would have left home to go get my ankles taped in preparation of the game. I was so nervous; I left early and was the second person to arrive at our locker room. Ben Horak was one of our co-captains and he was already at the locker room when I got there. I do not know who was more nervous, Ben or me.
As everyone started to arrive, along with coaches, managers and other players tension in the locker room was starting to build, as was the noise. I remember lying down on that cool, concrete floor using my helmet as a pillow and trying to relax. I could not relax as this feeling that had been with me all day was getting more intense. I later learned it was my intuition.
That is a whole other story! I go into greater detail in my book about intuition and how males are taught not to listen to it. We are taught to suck it up, it is just nerves and you will get over it.
Once we hit the field for warm-ups, the feeling went away a little bit; but it was still there and I was not going to listen to it. I remember everything from that night; and those feelings always come back every year on September third. My anniversary is always a melancholy day, and this year was no different. Writing about it always helps, and this has helped me immensely put up this post. Thanks for reading.
For those of you that do not know, I am not actually writing this. I have a Mac Mini with voice recognition software called Dragon Dictate. I have actually been speaking this entire post. That explains why I have made it so long! I hope you enjoyed my rambling.
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Friday, August 30, 2013
Spinal Cord Injury Study
As many of you know, I spent
part of the 1974 and all of the 1974–'75 school year going to school at the
University of California, Berkeley. That first year, I lived in a special
residence program for students with disabilities at Cowell Memorial Hospital,
which was the student health service on campus. The third floor had one wing
with twelve students of which ten of us had spinal cord injuries, and four of
us had broken our necks playing football.
It was an excellent program and way ahead of its time for students with severe disabilities attending classes, living on campus and a pioneer in helping to get educations for students with disabilities.
When we left for summer vacation, they closed the door and integrated us into the general population of the dormitories. At the time, that was unheard of. But, Berkeley had Ed Roberts! Ed was a pioneer for the disability community, which started with that residence program.
When I came back to Berkeley in the fall of 1974, my dad and uncle came with me. We dropped Terry off at McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento, and dad spent a few days before he flew back to Worthington.
I got settled in to Room 118 Putnam Hall in Unit 1 of the dormitories just off the campus. Sometime during that year, professor Nancy Crewe, PhD, from the University of Minnesota who was beginning a Longitudinal Spinal Cord Injury Study, contacted me and she wanted to know if I wanted to be a part of it.
I was more than anxious to be a part of it, and Nancy and one of her PhD students flew to Berkeley to interview me for the first part of the study. While Nancy was at the University of Minnesota, she interviewed me several times in person, or sent out forms for her study on our successes, failures, frustrations, education, employment, general health and a host of other concerns.
It was always interesting to know I was a part of a study of such importance she would fly halfway across the country to meet me for the first time. Once I moved back to Minneapolis, I worked with her and one of her PhD students, Jim Krause. Jim is also a C5-6 quad, and we have many similarities.
Nancy eventually moved to Michigan State University and left the study in Jim and his associates very capable hands. Once Jim received his PhD, he moved on to Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta where he worked for several years on the study. Eventually, Jim moved to the Medical University of South Carolina where the survey is being worked on today.
That is what brought me to this blog post and the meeting Richard Aust, Program Coordinator II, from the Medical University of South Carolina. Tuesday, we spent three hours with four participants in the study, of which I was the only one who has been with it since the beginning.
We had an interesting conversation, and he had an agenda with questions he wanted to get through. There were periods during our discussion where I made it rather difficult to keep on his agenda!
He did come up to me during our break and thanked me for my input. I believe he got a little more from me than what he was expecting! I told him, "I thought that is why you wanted me here was to give my opinion. Am I correct?" I gave him a polite smile and he agreed with me. The entire three hours was videotaped so Jim will be able to see just what took place.
It just so happened, I had several of my books with me and gave the other three participants and Richard a copy to share with Jim. Jim already has read it in ebook form, but I want them to have paperback versions and see if we can get one version or the other into the hands of the remaining participants.
At one point, I asked Richard how many of the original one hundred participants were still involved in the program. Care to take a guess? I was pleasantly surprised when he said, "Forty-two of the original one hundred are still participating!" After nearly forty years of living with spinal cord injury, 42% of us are still alive and able to fog a mirror!
One of the participants had his personal care attendant with him, and I noticed she was already reading the book before our session was through. I received an email from him the next day, and he said his attendant thought my book was "Wonderful!" He said he was going to read it now. I will take that endorsement any day!
On my way out of the building, I ran into another friend and his wife who were waiting to go into the next session. I am anxious to see what this round of information will tell the researchers about our study.
I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
It was an excellent program and way ahead of its time for students with severe disabilities attending classes, living on campus and a pioneer in helping to get educations for students with disabilities.
When we left for summer vacation, they closed the door and integrated us into the general population of the dormitories. At the time, that was unheard of. But, Berkeley had Ed Roberts! Ed was a pioneer for the disability community, which started with that residence program.
When I came back to Berkeley in the fall of 1974, my dad and uncle came with me. We dropped Terry off at McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento, and dad spent a few days before he flew back to Worthington.
I got settled in to Room 118 Putnam Hall in Unit 1 of the dormitories just off the campus. Sometime during that year, professor Nancy Crewe, PhD, from the University of Minnesota who was beginning a Longitudinal Spinal Cord Injury Study, contacted me and she wanted to know if I wanted to be a part of it.
I was more than anxious to be a part of it, and Nancy and one of her PhD students flew to Berkeley to interview me for the first part of the study. While Nancy was at the University of Minnesota, she interviewed me several times in person, or sent out forms for her study on our successes, failures, frustrations, education, employment, general health and a host of other concerns.
It was always interesting to know I was a part of a study of such importance she would fly halfway across the country to meet me for the first time. Once I moved back to Minneapolis, I worked with her and one of her PhD students, Jim Krause. Jim is also a C5-6 quad, and we have many similarities.
Nancy eventually moved to Michigan State University and left the study in Jim and his associates very capable hands. Once Jim received his PhD, he moved on to Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta where he worked for several years on the study. Eventually, Jim moved to the Medical University of South Carolina where the survey is being worked on today.
That is what brought me to this blog post and the meeting Richard Aust, Program Coordinator II, from the Medical University of South Carolina. Tuesday, we spent three hours with four participants in the study, of which I was the only one who has been with it since the beginning.
We had an interesting conversation, and he had an agenda with questions he wanted to get through. There were periods during our discussion where I made it rather difficult to keep on his agenda!
He did come up to me during our break and thanked me for my input. I believe he got a little more from me than what he was expecting! I told him, "I thought that is why you wanted me here was to give my opinion. Am I correct?" I gave him a polite smile and he agreed with me. The entire three hours was videotaped so Jim will be able to see just what took place.
It just so happened, I had several of my books with me and gave the other three participants and Richard a copy to share with Jim. Jim already has read it in ebook form, but I want them to have paperback versions and see if we can get one version or the other into the hands of the remaining participants.
At one point, I asked Richard how many of the original one hundred participants were still involved in the program. Care to take a guess? I was pleasantly surprised when he said, "Forty-two of the original one hundred are still participating!" After nearly forty years of living with spinal cord injury, 42% of us are still alive and able to fog a mirror!
One of the participants had his personal care attendant with him, and I noticed she was already reading the book before our session was through. I received an email from him the next day, and he said his attendant thought my book was "Wonderful!" He said he was going to read it now. I will take that endorsement any day!
On my way out of the building, I ran into another friend and his wife who were waiting to go into the next session. I am anxious to see what this round of information will tell the researchers about our study.
I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Saturday, August 24, 2013
I Took Another Little Vacation
It seems I can never go too long without my body giving me a reminder I am still a quad! It did so again the last ten days. About that long ago, I started feeling a low-grade fever, lethargic, shortness of breath and just not up to my usual self. I had no energy and knew what was coming on.
It was the beginning of another urinary tract infection, and I hoped I could stay ahead of it by getting a urine specimen into the lab on Monday. It did not quite work out that way. By Tuesday night, my fever had gone up over 100°, I was having a very hard time breathing, my hands and fingers were ice cold and I was just feeling poorly.
I called my doctor's office and he told me to go into the emergency room and have them check me out. After several hours in the emergency room at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, they checked me in and started administering IV antibiotics to help battle the E. coli bacteria in me. They gave me two of the heavy hitters, Vancomycin and Zosyn which is one I had never heard of before.
After one dose of the IV antibiotics, I started feeling better, my temperature was coming down and my blood pressure was starting to come down.
I got out of the hospital yesterday, and still feel a little weak. However, my temperature is down, my hands and fingers are back to normal and the lethargy is gone. I had a decent night's sleep and feel fairly rested today. I could not say that after my first night in the hospital. I did not bring my Bi-Pap unit with me to the hospital, so that first night was very uneasy as I was in full sleep apneic mode going to sleep and waking up every thirty seconds!
I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea in 1996 and have been on Bi-Pap ever since. For those of you that do not know anything about sleep apnea, it is not something you want to deal with. There are various levels of restless sleep, but basically, it does not allow you to get good, REM sleep and you often feel more tired in the morning then when you went to bed the night before.
I remember watching a news report in my early twenties about how many American adults suffered from sleep disorders. At the time, I was getting good sleep and could not imagine how those poor people must suffer by not getting good sleep. Now I know what that report was all about.
I am happy to say the pharmaceutical companies do have their place in my life; I just cannot believe how expensive they are!
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
It was the beginning of another urinary tract infection, and I hoped I could stay ahead of it by getting a urine specimen into the lab on Monday. It did not quite work out that way. By Tuesday night, my fever had gone up over 100°, I was having a very hard time breathing, my hands and fingers were ice cold and I was just feeling poorly.
I called my doctor's office and he told me to go into the emergency room and have them check me out. After several hours in the emergency room at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, they checked me in and started administering IV antibiotics to help battle the E. coli bacteria in me. They gave me two of the heavy hitters, Vancomycin and Zosyn which is one I had never heard of before.
After one dose of the IV antibiotics, I started feeling better, my temperature was coming down and my blood pressure was starting to come down.
I got out of the hospital yesterday, and still feel a little weak. However, my temperature is down, my hands and fingers are back to normal and the lethargy is gone. I had a decent night's sleep and feel fairly rested today. I could not say that after my first night in the hospital. I did not bring my Bi-Pap unit with me to the hospital, so that first night was very uneasy as I was in full sleep apneic mode going to sleep and waking up every thirty seconds!
I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea in 1996 and have been on Bi-Pap ever since. For those of you that do not know anything about sleep apnea, it is not something you want to deal with. There are various levels of restless sleep, but basically, it does not allow you to get good, REM sleep and you often feel more tired in the morning then when you went to bed the night before.
I remember watching a news report in my early twenties about how many American adults suffered from sleep disorders. At the time, I was getting good sleep and could not imagine how those poor people must suffer by not getting good sleep. Now I know what that report was all about.
I am happy to say the pharmaceutical companies do have their place in my life; I just cannot believe how expensive they are!
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Fifty-nine Years Ago Today
Fifty-nine years ago today my parents were married in a small, civil ceremony in Ivanhoe, Minnesota. Here is a picture of my parents at their wedding reception in the basement of the parsonage in Aurora, South Dakota:
Click on the image to make it larger:
Their marriage, like so many others, did not end with those three words, "happily ever after." However, it did produce six wonderful children who I am proud to say have turned into wonderful adults.
Mom likes to jokingly say, "I didn't raise no dummies." Of course, the irony in that statement is the improper grammar, which she uses to make her point very well.
After their wedding, Dad went on to finish his bachelor's degree from South Dakota State College in nearby Brookings in 1956. Over the years, as SDSC started offering postgraduate degree programs and became South Dakota State University, he earned two masters degrees, one in Physical and Health Education in 1961, and the other one was in Guidance and Counseling in 1967.
Of course, Dad did not earn those degrees on his own. He had help. Here is a photograph of his typist and her assistant:
I was probably more of a nuisance than an assistant; but since this is my story I am calling that large-diapered boy an assistant. I love the antique secretary behind my Mom's chair. Unfortunately, that was put in storage and never survived. We did not know what a treasure we had when we lived above the White Creamery in that tiny apartment.
We moved many times as my dad's career began to develop. When we moved to Worthington in February 1969, I was just thirteen years old. Worthington was town number eight and the house at 716 West Shore Drive was the sixteenth different location I had lived in.
Once Mom and Dad were married, they lived in a one-room utility shed on her maternal grandfather's farm for a few months. After only three or four months of being married, they moved into a house just off Main Street in Brookings and were caregivers for Fred Baker who was roughly one hundred years old. I was born when they lived with Fred.
After that school year, we moved three times. The first stop was a farm just outside of White. Then a few months about the Gambles store, a few more months above the creamery and the Odyssey was on.
That fall Dad got his first teaching and coaching job in tiny Revillo, South Dakota for two years where we lived in a small apartment behind the local café for one year. Next year saw us living in a big house until it was time to move to the next town. Are you beginning to see a theme of change and moving here?
It seems we were always moving. We went wherever my dad's job took us. Every job he got was better than the last one. Every move he made, whether it was his choice or the school board's decision to not renew his contract was an improvement over the last one. Plus, he was earning his advanced degrees, and becoming more qualified to be more of an asset to a school district.
As the years went by, our family was growing. Kathleen came along two years after me. Rick was three years later. Vicki came four years after Rick and Tammy followed four years later. Five years after Tammy, Chad arrived. He was born two years after my accident. Here is a picture of Chad and Dad on Dad's farm shortly before he died July 23, 2006:
My parents divorced in 1991. Chad had just finished high school, and Mom and Chad moved to a small house in St. Louis Park, Minnesota where Mom still lives today.
The day Mom and I took Dad to the Mayo Clinic for the last time when the doctors told him he did not need to come back because there was nothing more they could do for him unless he wanted to have chemotherapy, we had a very special moment before Mom and I left Dad at his farm.
Dad gave me a big hug as we both were crying, he said, "We had a good run, didn't we? He was still talking about running even as he was dying.
Then it was Mom's turn for a goodbye hug. Mom said as she hugged him, "I loved you a lot longer than I liked you."
That comment puzzled my dad and he did not know quite what to say. It was a very touching moment and one I will always remember.
I have so many stories I could tell you about what happened fifty-nine years ago today; but I have gone on long enough. Thanks for reading. This was good for me!
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Their marriage, like so many others, did not end with those three words, "happily ever after." However, it did produce six wonderful children who I am proud to say have turned into wonderful adults.
Mom likes to jokingly say, "I didn't raise no dummies." Of course, the irony in that statement is the improper grammar, which she uses to make her point very well.
After their wedding, Dad went on to finish his bachelor's degree from South Dakota State College in nearby Brookings in 1956. Over the years, as SDSC started offering postgraduate degree programs and became South Dakota State University, he earned two masters degrees, one in Physical and Health Education in 1961, and the other one was in Guidance and Counseling in 1967.
Of course, Dad did not earn those degrees on his own. He had help. Here is a photograph of his typist and her assistant:
I was probably more of a nuisance than an assistant; but since this is my story I am calling that large-diapered boy an assistant. I love the antique secretary behind my Mom's chair. Unfortunately, that was put in storage and never survived. We did not know what a treasure we had when we lived above the White Creamery in that tiny apartment.
We moved many times as my dad's career began to develop. When we moved to Worthington in February 1969, I was just thirteen years old. Worthington was town number eight and the house at 716 West Shore Drive was the sixteenth different location I had lived in.
Once Mom and Dad were married, they lived in a one-room utility shed on her maternal grandfather's farm for a few months. After only three or four months of being married, they moved into a house just off Main Street in Brookings and were caregivers for Fred Baker who was roughly one hundred years old. I was born when they lived with Fred.
After that school year, we moved three times. The first stop was a farm just outside of White. Then a few months about the Gambles store, a few more months above the creamery and the Odyssey was on.
That fall Dad got his first teaching and coaching job in tiny Revillo, South Dakota for two years where we lived in a small apartment behind the local café for one year. Next year saw us living in a big house until it was time to move to the next town. Are you beginning to see a theme of change and moving here?
It seems we were always moving. We went wherever my dad's job took us. Every job he got was better than the last one. Every move he made, whether it was his choice or the school board's decision to not renew his contract was an improvement over the last one. Plus, he was earning his advanced degrees, and becoming more qualified to be more of an asset to a school district.
As the years went by, our family was growing. Kathleen came along two years after me. Rick was three years later. Vicki came four years after Rick and Tammy followed four years later. Five years after Tammy, Chad arrived. He was born two years after my accident. Here is a picture of Chad and Dad on Dad's farm shortly before he died July 23, 2006:
My parents divorced in 1991. Chad had just finished high school, and Mom and Chad moved to a small house in St. Louis Park, Minnesota where Mom still lives today.
The day Mom and I took Dad to the Mayo Clinic for the last time when the doctors told him he did not need to come back because there was nothing more they could do for him unless he wanted to have chemotherapy, we had a very special moment before Mom and I left Dad at his farm.
Dad gave me a big hug as we both were crying, he said, "We had a good run, didn't we? He was still talking about running even as he was dying.
Then it was Mom's turn for a goodbye hug. Mom said as she hugged him, "I loved you a lot longer than I liked you."
That comment puzzled my dad and he did not know quite what to say. It was a very touching moment and one I will always remember.
I have so many stories I could tell you about what happened fifty-nine years ago today; but I have gone on long enough. Thanks for reading. This was good for me!
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Friday, August 9, 2013
Clyde Turner's Educational Basketball Camp
I had fun in the last thirty hours. Please indulge me and let me tell you what happened. On Thursday after my acupuncture appointment, I ran a few errands. One of them was to stop off at the OfficeMax store and get a new printer cartridge. I found my printer but could not locate the printer cartridges.
So, I wandered around the store looking for someone to help me. I got back by their copy area and waited my turn for the next available employee. She happened to be helping a large, black man who I recognized as Clyde. Remind you; Clyde is hard to miss. He is six feet nine inches tall and casts a large shadow.
Clyde played for the University of Minnesota in the early seventies with Jim Brewer, Ron Behagan, Corky Taylor and Dave Winfield, among others. That team won the 1972 BIG 10 Championship. They were fun to watch! Bill Musselman was their coach and did a fun, choreographed pregame show to "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Keep The Ball Rollin'" which filled Williams Arena well before game time just to watch the show.
When I coached at Golden Valley Lutheran College, Phil Saunders had us doing that same routine at our home games in a tiny gymnasium that was packed an hour before tip-off. If you had tickets to Golden Gopher games back then, you know what I am talking about.
I am getting off task again! Meanwhile, back to OfficeMax and the copy center. When the woman came out from behind the counter to help me get my printer cartridge, she was standing about five feet from Clyde. I told her I had two things I needed help with. The first one was if she knew Clyde Turner played basketball for the Gophers back in the early seventies? I heard he could still play! Of course, I said it loud enough so he could hear me. You should have seen the look he gave me. It was precious!
He said, "I know Clyde Turner."
I acted surprised and replied, "Clyde, you're Clyde!"
"No, I'm his twin brother."
I said, "I didn't know Clyde had a twin brother."
Clyde replied, "He doesn't, I am Clyde."
He was playing me just like I was playing with him. It was a great exchange, something I will never forget. He told me I looked familiar. Then I told him I had spoken at his camp several years ago. In reality, I spoke at its camps twice in 1994! He remembered my visits.
We started talking and I gave him my book to show him the picture of the Golden Valley Lutheran College Royals the first season I was one of their assistant coaches in 1977. He was pleased to see all four of the coaches as he knew all four of us. It was another one of those fun exchanges I have all the time.
He told me he was having a camp right now and was ending today at 4 PM with the parents coming for an award ceremony. I asked him if you would like to let me say a few words to close their ceremony. He said that would be great!
So this afternoon about 2:30, I went up to the Phillips Community Center, sat in on the last hour and a half of camp, gave a little motivational speech, talked about Clyde and all he has accomplished outside of basketball, told how valuable a mentor and coach he was, discussed the staff and their commitment to helping these young people improve their basketball skills, and ultimately their attitudes towards life. He has been running his summer camps for twenty-seven years, and has more than ten thousand young people attend those camps!
I found out he had speakers all week long from the business, education and medical fields coming in and talking to the campers about being successful in a chosen field. I really like how he incorporates the educational component into his basketball camp. They learn basketball skills, but more importantly, they learn life skills.
I even got to play with one of the coach/counselors and ended up giving him my ATTITUDE pin! It has been a fun last thirty hours! I truly believe some learning took place.
I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
So, I wandered around the store looking for someone to help me. I got back by their copy area and waited my turn for the next available employee. She happened to be helping a large, black man who I recognized as Clyde. Remind you; Clyde is hard to miss. He is six feet nine inches tall and casts a large shadow.
Clyde played for the University of Minnesota in the early seventies with Jim Brewer, Ron Behagan, Corky Taylor and Dave Winfield, among others. That team won the 1972 BIG 10 Championship. They were fun to watch! Bill Musselman was their coach and did a fun, choreographed pregame show to "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Keep The Ball Rollin'" which filled Williams Arena well before game time just to watch the show.
When I coached at Golden Valley Lutheran College, Phil Saunders had us doing that same routine at our home games in a tiny gymnasium that was packed an hour before tip-off. If you had tickets to Golden Gopher games back then, you know what I am talking about.
I am getting off task again! Meanwhile, back to OfficeMax and the copy center. When the woman came out from behind the counter to help me get my printer cartridge, she was standing about five feet from Clyde. I told her I had two things I needed help with. The first one was if she knew Clyde Turner played basketball for the Gophers back in the early seventies? I heard he could still play! Of course, I said it loud enough so he could hear me. You should have seen the look he gave me. It was precious!
He said, "I know Clyde Turner."
I acted surprised and replied, "Clyde, you're Clyde!"
"No, I'm his twin brother."
I said, "I didn't know Clyde had a twin brother."
Clyde replied, "He doesn't, I am Clyde."
He was playing me just like I was playing with him. It was a great exchange, something I will never forget. He told me I looked familiar. Then I told him I had spoken at his camp several years ago. In reality, I spoke at its camps twice in 1994! He remembered my visits.
We started talking and I gave him my book to show him the picture of the Golden Valley Lutheran College Royals the first season I was one of their assistant coaches in 1977. He was pleased to see all four of the coaches as he knew all four of us. It was another one of those fun exchanges I have all the time.
He told me he was having a camp right now and was ending today at 4 PM with the parents coming for an award ceremony. I asked him if you would like to let me say a few words to close their ceremony. He said that would be great!
So this afternoon about 2:30, I went up to the Phillips Community Center, sat in on the last hour and a half of camp, gave a little motivational speech, talked about Clyde and all he has accomplished outside of basketball, told how valuable a mentor and coach he was, discussed the staff and their commitment to helping these young people improve their basketball skills, and ultimately their attitudes towards life. He has been running his summer camps for twenty-seven years, and has more than ten thousand young people attend those camps!
I found out he had speakers all week long from the business, education and medical fields coming in and talking to the campers about being successful in a chosen field. I really like how he incorporates the educational component into his basketball camp. They learn basketball skills, but more importantly, they learn life skills.
I even got to play with one of the coach/counselors and ended up giving him my ATTITUDE pin! It has been a fun last thirty hours! I truly believe some learning took place.
I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Cheerios And Chidren
This commercial came across my cyber desk the other day:
View it by clicking here.
It has caused a lot of controversy because the family is biracial. Obviously, this particular version has not been seen that often; however, other versions with discussions following can run up to six, seven, eight minutes or longer.
It was not that long ago when biracial or interracial marriages were outlawed in many states. Today they are allowed in every state. It was not until 1967 when the Supreme Court deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, with many states choosing to legalize interracial marriage at much earlier dates. That is according to Wikipedia. If you want to read the entire Wikipedia entry, click here.
I find it appalling how certain groups of people still have a problem with miscegenation in the United States in the year 2013! There are enough of them to create such an uproar that Cheerios and General Mills decided not to run the comments after their online commercial.
If that is the case, do those groups feel the same way about people with disabilities marrying? I know people who are against people with developmental disabilities being married.
What about the LGBT community and the recent Supreme Court decision allowing Gay Marriage? Look how long it took that group and the fight they had struggled to gain equality in marriage.
Are there always going to be haters out there? I already know the answer to my question. What can be done about it? Anything?
I try to do my part in speeches when the opportunity arises where I can make a comment on the subject. That rarely happens when I can get into the subject very deeply. Occasionally, I may get a question from an audience member that allows me a platform to give my opinion on certain subjects. I have to be sensitive to my meeting planner's goals and objectives, so I cannot stray too far into subjects I might like to discuss.
I look forward to your comments. I hope this leads to an interesting discussion.
Later,
Mike
View it by clicking here.
It has caused a lot of controversy because the family is biracial. Obviously, this particular version has not been seen that often; however, other versions with discussions following can run up to six, seven, eight minutes or longer.
It was not that long ago when biracial or interracial marriages were outlawed in many states. Today they are allowed in every state. It was not until 1967 when the Supreme Court deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, with many states choosing to legalize interracial marriage at much earlier dates. That is according to Wikipedia. If you want to read the entire Wikipedia entry, click here.
I find it appalling how certain groups of people still have a problem with miscegenation in the United States in the year 2013! There are enough of them to create such an uproar that Cheerios and General Mills decided not to run the comments after their online commercial.
If that is the case, do those groups feel the same way about people with disabilities marrying? I know people who are against people with developmental disabilities being married.
What about the LGBT community and the recent Supreme Court decision allowing Gay Marriage? Look how long it took that group and the fight they had struggled to gain equality in marriage.
Are there always going to be haters out there? I already know the answer to my question. What can be done about it? Anything?
I try to do my part in speeches when the opportunity arises where I can make a comment on the subject. That rarely happens when I can get into the subject very deeply. Occasionally, I may get a question from an audience member that allows me a platform to give my opinion on certain subjects. I have to be sensitive to my meeting planner's goals and objectives, so I cannot stray too far into subjects I might like to discuss.
I look forward to your comments. I hope this leads to an interesting discussion.
Later,
Mike
Friday, July 26, 2013
I Can Drive Again!
As some of you may or may not know, I had an accident in my van on April eleventh. I was going up the freeway following at a safe distance when I started to see the brake lights go on in cars in front of me. I started to slow down, and then all of a sudden the car in front of me came to an abrupt stop. I tried to stop to avoid hitting him, but my brakes just would not let me stop in time. So, I swerved off the freeway only to find a small car stopped who had run out of gas.
I could not stop and hit him squarely in the back. My airbags deployed and the front end of my van was destroyed. There was a light mist falling and I talked to the Minnesota State Trooper who asked me what happened. After I gave him my account of the accident, the paramedics were there and managed to get my chair unlocked and pulled me back away from the driver’s area.
I had a bad gash on my right knee from the hand control mechanism underneath the steering column. Needless to say, I did not feel it; but there was a nice sized pool of blood on the floor right below where my knee had been. They slid me out the driver side sliding door and left my wheelchair in the van when they took me to Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC). It is the closest Level I Trauma Center to where I was on 35W. For those of you outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, yes, that is the same 35W Freeway where the bridge came down August 1, 2007. On a completely unrelated side note, my first post on this blog is titled, "When Bridges Fall" when I told about my day when the bridge fell. If you are interested, you can read that post by clicking here.
I spent a night in the hospital after getting my knee stitched up in the emergency room. It was a very ugly seventeen stitches since the wound went in all directions and all the way down to the patella. I got a charge out of one of the paramedics in the ambulance when he said; "I can see bone so it's a deep cut."
Whereupon, I responded, "That must be the patella then."
You should have seen the look on his face when I knew what bone he was talking about. He responded by saying, "Uh ... yeah, that is the patella."
After getting my van back from the body shop several weeks later, it still was not in good operating order, as the brakes did not work very well. I was having a hard time getting home that day from the body shop up the street I live on a little more than thirty blocks from my house.
I could not turn the wheel and get it past my apparently much larger abdomen. It seems I had gained a good amount of girth in those five weeks! I found out later the brackets that held my lock down on the wheelchair had shifted in the accident and caused me to sit closer to the steering wheel so I was unable to turn it.
The van sat in my parking lot until May twenty-first when my attendant and I took it to Rollx Vans so they could look at the special modifications and see if the van was indeed drivable.
Finally, after more than two months and $2500 more repairs, (the total repair costs were just under $18,000), Robert and I went out to Rollx Vans and got my van. After more than three months and being dependent on the independent haulers to get me to them from appointments, I am driving again. The brakes work great now! It took a brake booster, a few other parts and a new master cylinder, which needed to be sent from Detroit to Rollx, and then off to Idaho to be modified and back to Rollx, it finally arrived back at Rollx when they called me and told me they would be able to look at it on July fifteenth.
The service technician who called me, told me I could bring my van out at any time around the fifteenth. I told him you have had it since May twenty-first, and he was completely surprised! That did not sit very well with me!
Anyway, I got it back and drove it to my acupuncture appointment yesterday. It is now sitting right outside my window where it belongs, waiting for my next trip. Here is an old picture of me driving from about ten years ago: this picture is also in my book and on my website. Click on the image to make it larger:
I am very excited to have my van back and the degree of independence it affords me. For those of you that know me well, you know how important my independence is to me.
I was once told many years ago I would never drive. This is my sixth van and I have driven approximately one-half million miles!
I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Monday, July 15, 2013
Are You A Fan Of Professional Sports?
If you follow the four major
professional sports in the United States and Canada, you probably
already know today is a very unique day. In fact, it is one of only two days
all year long when not one of the four major sports has at least one game.
When I talk about the four major professional sports, I am talking about the NBA (National Basketball Association), the NFL (National Football League), MLB (Major League Baseball) and lastly, the NHL (National Hockey League).
Growing up there was only one major league baseball game televised every week. I remember watching Saturday afternoon games on a black-and-white TV with my uncle, Terry Smith, when we would be at the farm for the weekend. He was as big a fan of baseball as was I, if not bigger. We always like to watch when the San Francisco Giants played because that meant we got to watch the great Willie Mays play. It seemed like every time he came to bat something great was going to happen!
I also remember watching Minnesota Vikings games on Sunday afternoon when they always started at noon. It is not that way anymore with a sixteen-game season played in seventeen weeks. Now, there is Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football and even a bye week somewhere in the middle of the season. It is at a point now where you are not sure when your favorite team is playing anymore.
You can now get cable packages to watch every game, every weekend in the NFL season. That is far too much football in my mind.
Even though the Minnesota Twins are not having another good season, I find myself watching many of their games being an armchair manager and announcer all rolled into one. If I am watching a game by myself, I find myself talking to no one, telling everyone what needs to happen right now and what I hope will happen. If someone is in the room with me, which often times is my mom, she gets a coaching lesson whether she wants one or not!
I do not understand hockey since I never played it and had no interest in learning the game because basketball was my winter interest. Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, track in the spring and baseball occupied my summers. Those innocent days in every driveway we had as I grew up were the places where I played out making the winning shot as the clock ran out.
I was also fortunate to have a father who coached basketball and would often spend time on Saturdays and Sundays working in the locker room or his classroom while I had the gym all to myself. It was a charmed existence for me.
I prefer watching college basketball over professional basketball and the NBA because I believe it is more fun to watch than a bunch of overpaid, multimillionaires going one-on-one and then beating their chests once they score or block a shot. I have grown tired of watching the prancing, dancing in the end zone and general arrogance of these overpriced millionaires drawing attention to them for something they just did. When in reality, it took their whole team working together to get them in the end zone or get them open for that winning shot.
Professional sports have lost their luster to many people because of the inflated egos, the huge salaries, the on- and off-field behavior of some of their players, and especially the crimes a small few are committing.
Charles Barkley once proclaimed he was not a role model. With all due respect to Mr. Barkley, he was a role model and still is as an analyst on television. These men are role models to young boys and girls throughout the world now. The marketing of their jerseys, caps, helmets, bats, balls, autographs, pennants and other memorabilia is a huge business.
Fantasy sports leagues are everywhere and many people are addicted to checking their computers to see how their team is doing. The odds makers in Las Vegas make predictions all the time and you can wager on just about anything having to do with professional sports, as well as a number of other things.
All that being said, I will probably watch part of the All-Star game tomorrow night to see my favorite players do what they do best. I will not be watching the Home Run Derby tonight, as I find that and many of the other activities around the All-Star game frivolous and a waste of time.
Do you know what that other day is when there is no game in any one of the four professional sports yet? If you have not already guessed, it is the day after the All-Star game. Wednesday is a travel day for the players to get back to their teams so they can start the second half of the baseball season on Thursday.
Go Twins!
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
When I talk about the four major professional sports, I am talking about the NBA (National Basketball Association), the NFL (National Football League), MLB (Major League Baseball) and lastly, the NHL (National Hockey League).
Growing up there was only one major league baseball game televised every week. I remember watching Saturday afternoon games on a black-and-white TV with my uncle, Terry Smith, when we would be at the farm for the weekend. He was as big a fan of baseball as was I, if not bigger. We always like to watch when the San Francisco Giants played because that meant we got to watch the great Willie Mays play. It seemed like every time he came to bat something great was going to happen!
I also remember watching Minnesota Vikings games on Sunday afternoon when they always started at noon. It is not that way anymore with a sixteen-game season played in seventeen weeks. Now, there is Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football and even a bye week somewhere in the middle of the season. It is at a point now where you are not sure when your favorite team is playing anymore.
You can now get cable packages to watch every game, every weekend in the NFL season. That is far too much football in my mind.
Even though the Minnesota Twins are not having another good season, I find myself watching many of their games being an armchair manager and announcer all rolled into one. If I am watching a game by myself, I find myself talking to no one, telling everyone what needs to happen right now and what I hope will happen. If someone is in the room with me, which often times is my mom, she gets a coaching lesson whether she wants one or not!
I do not understand hockey since I never played it and had no interest in learning the game because basketball was my winter interest. Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, track in the spring and baseball occupied my summers. Those innocent days in every driveway we had as I grew up were the places where I played out making the winning shot as the clock ran out.
I was also fortunate to have a father who coached basketball and would often spend time on Saturdays and Sundays working in the locker room or his classroom while I had the gym all to myself. It was a charmed existence for me.
I prefer watching college basketball over professional basketball and the NBA because I believe it is more fun to watch than a bunch of overpaid, multimillionaires going one-on-one and then beating their chests once they score or block a shot. I have grown tired of watching the prancing, dancing in the end zone and general arrogance of these overpriced millionaires drawing attention to them for something they just did. When in reality, it took their whole team working together to get them in the end zone or get them open for that winning shot.
Professional sports have lost their luster to many people because of the inflated egos, the huge salaries, the on- and off-field behavior of some of their players, and especially the crimes a small few are committing.
Charles Barkley once proclaimed he was not a role model. With all due respect to Mr. Barkley, he was a role model and still is as an analyst on television. These men are role models to young boys and girls throughout the world now. The marketing of their jerseys, caps, helmets, bats, balls, autographs, pennants and other memorabilia is a huge business.
Fantasy sports leagues are everywhere and many people are addicted to checking their computers to see how their team is doing. The odds makers in Las Vegas make predictions all the time and you can wager on just about anything having to do with professional sports, as well as a number of other things.
All that being said, I will probably watch part of the All-Star game tomorrow night to see my favorite players do what they do best. I will not be watching the Home Run Derby tonight, as I find that and many of the other activities around the All-Star game frivolous and a waste of time.
Do you know what that other day is when there is no game in any one of the four professional sports yet? If you have not already guessed, it is the day after the All-Star game. Wednesday is a travel day for the players to get back to their teams so they can start the second half of the baseball season on Thursday.
Go Twins!
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Why Are We Here?
I have been thinking about this post for several days, and I am still not exactly sure where it will go. So, please bear with me as I may start to ramble; although, many of my regular readers already know that about me.
For some time now, I have been having very vivid dreams about my dad, my grandparents, great-grandparents and even extended family members. Some of them I never even knew. However, they are showing up in my dreams and I am trying to figure out why.
You may or may not know I have sleep apnea. When I was first tested, they found I woke up and went to sleep every thirty seconds. As a result of that, I never got into REM sleep. I would always wake up more tired than when I went to bed. I would often fall asleep sitting in my chair watching a movie or even talking with friends and/or family members. I was tired all the time and driving was beginning to be a problem as I had a hard time staying awake.
Once I started to wear a BiPAP machine, I got into good, deep, REM sleep and my dreams became very intense. After all, REM sleep is the only stage of sleep when we dream. I learned years ago our average dream is only about twenty seconds in length. I also learned we tend to dream about the last thoughts we had before we fall asleep.
One of the problems I get frustrated with is I rarely remember my dreams. Last night I did remember one and it was about my maternal grandfather, Joe Smith. By the way, if you were to come up with an alias, could you come up with a better one than Joe Smith?
Grandpa died at age eighty-six peacefully one Sunday morning watching Mass in the same spot in the living room my grandma died thirty-one years earlier on a Sunday morning while the rest of the family was at Mass. She stayed home that day because she had fallen and broken her leg and was not comfortable getting in the car and sitting in a church pew for an hour. They were also married for thirty-one years. There are so many serendipitous factors around their two deaths that always amaze me how they peacefully passed into the spirit world.
On the other side of my family, my grandfather, Ben Patrick was killed by lightning while working a field in 1942. He was only thirty-seven years old. He was the oldest of six children and his younger brother, my Great Uncle Stanley lived to be one hundred years old! Three weeks later, he passed away. He had reached his goal and it was time to join his siblings and his parents in the afterlife.
Here is one of my favorite photographs of my Grandfather Ben, Great Uncle Stanley and Great Aunt Hazel Patrick taken in 1911: Click on the image to make it larger:
I love Stanley's curly hair. Stanley and I would have great conversations over these last several years. He told me stories about his brother Ben and his sister-in-law Irene I did not know. He was a treasure trove of knowledge and information from his time here on earth. I loved listening to his stories. Now he is gone and that wealth of knowledge is gone with them. I believe that is sad.
I have so many pictures from both sides of my family I am having a hard time choosing which ones to post.
Now, I want to talk about my dad because I have been thinking a lot about him lately. I posted about him on June 6th and you can read that post by clicking here. June 6th would have been his eightieth birthday. Unfortunately, he died July 23, 2006. He was my best friend and I miss him every day.
Here is a picture of Dad and me in the summer of 1968 when he was coaching my junior high school baseball team in Sibley, Iowa:
I am still not certain the point I'm trying to make with this post. It is just in these dreams these relatives and several others are alive and are all young adults, as am I. I find myself in various stages of my life with these dreams and others. Often times I am able to do things I could before my accident, and other times I find myself in my post-accident life.
I do not know what a psychologist would tell me about these dreams with my dead relatives. I am not sure I want to know!
I just know they all had an impact on my life in one way or another even though I may never have met them. My dad was a tremendous influence on me growing up. I see myself doing things and saying things he would have said. Like many of us, we find ourselves turning into our parents. I told you earlier my dad was my best friend.
Today, my mom is my best friend. We spend time on the phone almost every day. She also does some of my attendant care and stays with me every weekend. She has had two near-death experiences, one of them just a couple of years ago when she was in a coma for twelve days!
Am I learning things from these dreams in these relatives who are long gone? I do not know. Do I need to experience life with them through my dreams? I do not know.
Besides my mother and father, the most influential individual in my life was far and away my paternal grandmother, Irene Smith Patrick Grieme. I was the oldest grandchild and grandma was alone from 1942 until 1967 when she finally remarried Leslie Grieme. He also taught me many things when I stayed with them on weekends and for two weeks every summer for about five years until my accident.
I can extend this post much longer by sharing all kinds of stories about grandma, but I will not do that. Suffice it to say, I miss her tremendously as well.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, I was not exactly sure where was going to go. I have rambled on long time here. But, I feel good about sharing these albeit brief stories. I look forward to meeting them all again one day in heaven. I am anxious to have great conversations again with Uncle Stanley, Dad, talk baseball with my Grandpa Young, and meet my Grandpa Patrick. Uncle Floyd is another one who was a great storyteller. I have not even mentioned him yet!
This gets back to the title of my post, "Why Are We Here?" I am not sure I answered that question, but I am sure while I am here I want to make a difference, just as all my deceased relatives made a difference in my life. I am trying to pay it forward with my speeches, my book and of course, this blog.
If any of you have any ideas about what I might take from these dreams, please comment at the end of this post. If you are a first-time reader of my blog, I want you to know this is twice as long as most of my posts! If you're still reading, thank you for sticking with me.
As always, I welcome your comments.
Later,
Mike
For some time now, I have been having very vivid dreams about my dad, my grandparents, great-grandparents and even extended family members. Some of them I never even knew. However, they are showing up in my dreams and I am trying to figure out why.
You may or may not know I have sleep apnea. When I was first tested, they found I woke up and went to sleep every thirty seconds. As a result of that, I never got into REM sleep. I would always wake up more tired than when I went to bed. I would often fall asleep sitting in my chair watching a movie or even talking with friends and/or family members. I was tired all the time and driving was beginning to be a problem as I had a hard time staying awake.
Once I started to wear a BiPAP machine, I got into good, deep, REM sleep and my dreams became very intense. After all, REM sleep is the only stage of sleep when we dream. I learned years ago our average dream is only about twenty seconds in length. I also learned we tend to dream about the last thoughts we had before we fall asleep.
One of the problems I get frustrated with is I rarely remember my dreams. Last night I did remember one and it was about my maternal grandfather, Joe Smith. By the way, if you were to come up with an alias, could you come up with a better one than Joe Smith?
Grandpa died at age eighty-six peacefully one Sunday morning watching Mass in the same spot in the living room my grandma died thirty-one years earlier on a Sunday morning while the rest of the family was at Mass. She stayed home that day because she had fallen and broken her leg and was not comfortable getting in the car and sitting in a church pew for an hour. They were also married for thirty-one years. There are so many serendipitous factors around their two deaths that always amaze me how they peacefully passed into the spirit world.
On the other side of my family, my grandfather, Ben Patrick was killed by lightning while working a field in 1942. He was only thirty-seven years old. He was the oldest of six children and his younger brother, my Great Uncle Stanley lived to be one hundred years old! Three weeks later, he passed away. He had reached his goal and it was time to join his siblings and his parents in the afterlife.
Here is one of my favorite photographs of my Grandfather Ben, Great Uncle Stanley and Great Aunt Hazel Patrick taken in 1911: Click on the image to make it larger:
I love Stanley's curly hair. Stanley and I would have great conversations over these last several years. He told me stories about his brother Ben and his sister-in-law Irene I did not know. He was a treasure trove of knowledge and information from his time here on earth. I loved listening to his stories. Now he is gone and that wealth of knowledge is gone with them. I believe that is sad.
I have so many pictures from both sides of my family I am having a hard time choosing which ones to post.
Now, I want to talk about my dad because I have been thinking a lot about him lately. I posted about him on June 6th and you can read that post by clicking here. June 6th would have been his eightieth birthday. Unfortunately, he died July 23, 2006. He was my best friend and I miss him every day.
Here is a picture of Dad and me in the summer of 1968 when he was coaching my junior high school baseball team in Sibley, Iowa:
Again, click on the image to make it larger:
I do not know what a psychologist would tell me about these dreams with my dead relatives. I am not sure I want to know!
I just know they all had an impact on my life in one way or another even though I may never have met them. My dad was a tremendous influence on me growing up. I see myself doing things and saying things he would have said. Like many of us, we find ourselves turning into our parents. I told you earlier my dad was my best friend.
Today, my mom is my best friend. We spend time on the phone almost every day. She also does some of my attendant care and stays with me every weekend. She has had two near-death experiences, one of them just a couple of years ago when she was in a coma for twelve days!
Am I learning things from these dreams in these relatives who are long gone? I do not know. Do I need to experience life with them through my dreams? I do not know.
Besides my mother and father, the most influential individual in my life was far and away my paternal grandmother, Irene Smith Patrick Grieme. I was the oldest grandchild and grandma was alone from 1942 until 1967 when she finally remarried Leslie Grieme. He also taught me many things when I stayed with them on weekends and for two weeks every summer for about five years until my accident.
I can extend this post much longer by sharing all kinds of stories about grandma, but I will not do that. Suffice it to say, I miss her tremendously as well.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, I was not exactly sure where was going to go. I have rambled on long time here. But, I feel good about sharing these albeit brief stories. I look forward to meeting them all again one day in heaven. I am anxious to have great conversations again with Uncle Stanley, Dad, talk baseball with my Grandpa Young, and meet my Grandpa Patrick. Uncle Floyd is another one who was a great storyteller. I have not even mentioned him yet!
This gets back to the title of my post, "Why Are We Here?" I am not sure I answered that question, but I am sure while I am here I want to make a difference, just as all my deceased relatives made a difference in my life. I am trying to pay it forward with my speeches, my book and of course, this blog.
If any of you have any ideas about what I might take from these dreams, please comment at the end of this post. If you are a first-time reader of my blog, I want you to know this is twice as long as most of my posts! If you're still reading, thank you for sticking with me.
As always, I welcome your comments.
Later,
Mike
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Business Cards — What Do They Do?
I have been collecting business cards for many years. Likewise, I used to give them out like candy, especially before the Internet. I do not have a current business card anymore as the only information on it that is correct is my website and email address.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately as I look at a recent pile of business cards. I understand the need for business people to have and disseminate their information in an easy manner. Business cards fit that need quite handily. In this age of ever-changing technology, with blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and various other social media outlets, entering into the picture, how much information do you really want on your business card?
I have two three-ring spiral notebooks full of business cards dating back to the 1970s. Do you think I ever use them? Do you think any of them would be current? Before the Internet, I used to refer to them all the time. More times than not, it seemed the information was old and out of date. Telephone numbers were wrong, people that moved on and their information was useless. How did I ever find them without Google?
Yet, I still have not had the courage to throw those binders away. There might be a morsel of information in there I might need. In reality today, I can just Google the individual's name and find them that way. Then, I can simply add their information to one of my databases and not have a tiny piece of paper lying on my desk until I lose it.
When someone asks me if I have a business card today, I tell them, "Just Google 'Mike Patrick speaker' and it will be the first site to show up."
Now that I have put that information in this blog post spammers, phishers and crawlers will take my information and put it on their list, right along with the NSA.
I find it interesting just how much information people are willing to put on that tiny piece of paper. For instance, it is becoming increasingly popular to put your picture on your business card. People also will include their advanced degrees if they have one or more. It is common practice for a doctor to include MD after his or her name. I understand that. That makes perfect sense. I have always marveled at some of the initials people place after their name. I even count them. Often times I will read someone's credentials as MS, PhD. That tells me that person has a lot of education! Again, I understand that.
There is an old joke about a person becoming a lawyer and a doctor so he or she can defend themselves in their own malpractice suits. I do not know how many people actually do that, but I am sure somebody has.
I came across a business card a while back that has set the record for me with fourteen letters following his name. They are: LAc.,Dipl.O.M.,M.Ac.O.M. I am positive every one of them mean something to him and the people he gives them to. I know LAc. is Licensed Acupuncturist, and O.M. is Osteopathic Medicine, but I am not sure about the rest. If you know what they mean, please make a comment on this blog. Thank you.
I guess the only reason for this little rant is how are we as professionals handling change and are we doing a good job?
We all know change is inevitable, and how we communicate is a big part of that change we are all experiencing. As a professional speaker and author, I am constantly looking for new ways to find and book speeches and sell books. Therefore, I need my Internet presence with everything bad that goes with it. I am inundated with spam mail they got off information from my website. My webmaster has put up a folder in my email that blocks many of the bounce back emails I receive. That amounts to around one hundred every day.
I have booked speeches and sold books from my LinkedIn profile as well as my Facebook page. I also believe some of my contacts who are reading this blog right now have also purchased books and inquired about my speeches.
I would appreciate any ideas you may have about what you do to handle the spam emails you receive.
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
I have been thinking about this a lot lately as I look at a recent pile of business cards. I understand the need for business people to have and disseminate their information in an easy manner. Business cards fit that need quite handily. In this age of ever-changing technology, with blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and various other social media outlets, entering into the picture, how much information do you really want on your business card?
I have two three-ring spiral notebooks full of business cards dating back to the 1970s. Do you think I ever use them? Do you think any of them would be current? Before the Internet, I used to refer to them all the time. More times than not, it seemed the information was old and out of date. Telephone numbers were wrong, people that moved on and their information was useless. How did I ever find them without Google?
Yet, I still have not had the courage to throw those binders away. There might be a morsel of information in there I might need. In reality today, I can just Google the individual's name and find them that way. Then, I can simply add their information to one of my databases and not have a tiny piece of paper lying on my desk until I lose it.
When someone asks me if I have a business card today, I tell them, "Just Google 'Mike Patrick speaker' and it will be the first site to show up."
Now that I have put that information in this blog post spammers, phishers and crawlers will take my information and put it on their list, right along with the NSA.
I find it interesting just how much information people are willing to put on that tiny piece of paper. For instance, it is becoming increasingly popular to put your picture on your business card. People also will include their advanced degrees if they have one or more. It is common practice for a doctor to include MD after his or her name. I understand that. That makes perfect sense. I have always marveled at some of the initials people place after their name. I even count them. Often times I will read someone's credentials as MS, PhD. That tells me that person has a lot of education! Again, I understand that.
There is an old joke about a person becoming a lawyer and a doctor so he or she can defend themselves in their own malpractice suits. I do not know how many people actually do that, but I am sure somebody has.
I came across a business card a while back that has set the record for me with fourteen letters following his name. They are: LAc.,Dipl.O.M.,M.Ac.O.M. I am positive every one of them mean something to him and the people he gives them to. I know LAc. is Licensed Acupuncturist, and O.M. is Osteopathic Medicine, but I am not sure about the rest. If you know what they mean, please make a comment on this blog. Thank you.
I guess the only reason for this little rant is how are we as professionals handling change and are we doing a good job?
We all know change is inevitable, and how we communicate is a big part of that change we are all experiencing. As a professional speaker and author, I am constantly looking for new ways to find and book speeches and sell books. Therefore, I need my Internet presence with everything bad that goes with it. I am inundated with spam mail they got off information from my website. My webmaster has put up a folder in my email that blocks many of the bounce back emails I receive. That amounts to around one hundred every day.
I have booked speeches and sold books from my LinkedIn profile as well as my Facebook page. I also believe some of my contacts who are reading this blog right now have also purchased books and inquired about my speeches.
I would appreciate any ideas you may have about what you do to handle the spam emails you receive.
As always, I look forward to your comments.
Later,
Mike
Friday, June 21, 2013
Tammy Is Officially A Commissioner
It is official, Tammy Patrick is now one of President Obama's bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration. She, along with the other commissioners were sworn in this morning, June 21, 2013 in Washington, DC.
Here is a picture of the new commissioners: Tammy is the one wearing the pink blazer as she brought a little splash of color to Washington. Click on the image to make it larger:
It is a pretty impressive group of representatives from all over the country who have been involved in election administration for many years.
There is also a video of the entire proceeding you may watch by clicking here. It is fairly long and does not get started until about minute 18:30.
The Commission is charged with a number of things including:
• To ensure eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their votes without undue delay, which includes management of polling places, poll workers and voter rolls, voting machine capacity and technology, ballot simplicity and voter education, and provisional ballots
• To ensure the experience of voters facing other obstacles in casting their ballots, which includes overseas voters, members of the military, people with disabilities, voters with limited English proficiency, absentee voters and victims of natural disasters or emergencies.
It was fun watching Tammy introduce herself amongst this very distinguished group of commissioners. They start to introduce themselves at about minute 23:00.
You have all heard the old saying, "It's not what you know, but who you know." That is very true in many instances in our lives. Having this woman ask to speak to you because of your experience in getting disenfranchised people like the American Indians to enable them to vote for the first time certainly carries some weight in a place like Washington, DC.
If Sandra Day O'Connor asks to speak with you, you are well advised to take the meeting. Here is a photograph taken last year with the first woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court speaking with Tammy and asking for some of her ideas:
Again, click on the image to make it larger:
I can only imagine if people in Washington are telling Sandra Day O'Connor she should meet with you, it probably does not hurt your chances of being named to this commission.
As always, I look forward to your comments.
I am very proud of you Tammy, and watching your career develop.
Later,
Mike
Here is a picture of the new commissioners: Tammy is the one wearing the pink blazer as she brought a little splash of color to Washington. Click on the image to make it larger:
It is a pretty impressive group of representatives from all over the country who have been involved in election administration for many years.
There is also a video of the entire proceeding you may watch by clicking here. It is fairly long and does not get started until about minute 18:30.
The Commission is charged with a number of things including:
• To ensure eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their votes without undue delay, which includes management of polling places, poll workers and voter rolls, voting machine capacity and technology, ballot simplicity and voter education, and provisional ballots
• To ensure the experience of voters facing other obstacles in casting their ballots, which includes overseas voters, members of the military, people with disabilities, voters with limited English proficiency, absentee voters and victims of natural disasters or emergencies.
It was fun watching Tammy introduce herself amongst this very distinguished group of commissioners. They start to introduce themselves at about minute 23:00.
You have all heard the old saying, "It's not what you know, but who you know." That is very true in many instances in our lives. Having this woman ask to speak to you because of your experience in getting disenfranchised people like the American Indians to enable them to vote for the first time certainly carries some weight in a place like Washington, DC.
If Sandra Day O'Connor asks to speak with you, you are well advised to take the meeting. Here is a photograph taken last year with the first woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court speaking with Tammy and asking for some of her ideas:
Again, click on the image to make it larger:
I can only imagine if people in Washington are telling Sandra Day O'Connor she should meet with you, it probably does not hurt your chances of being named to this commission.
As always, I look forward to your comments.
I am very proud of you Tammy, and watching your career develop.
Later,
Mike
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