Say What?

I've had 3 of the last 5 weeks off from work. It's been nice to be away. Tammy and Rachel were at the Sonshine Music Festival in Willmar, Mn for 3 days last week. I stayed home with the pups and spent some extra time on my bike. I managed to put in over 500 miles last week. I'm on track for 6000 miles by my birthday in late August—that's sort of been my goal—same as last year. I found a wallet on my ride yesterday. I was flying along country rd 46 at about 33 mph when I saw it laying on the shoulder. As I drove by it I could see a driver's license. I put the brakes on and circled back for it and put it in my jersey pocket to check it out when I got home. I had no idea what it contained other than the driver's license. It was loaded with cash—$286 worth as well as a credit card and some other IDs. I'm surprised nobody else had stopped to pick it up as the area was very busy with traffic. It had been run over several times. Tammy gave the owner a call and d...

US intelligence under Clinton was drastically cut. If the intelligence Bush used was bad you can look to Clinton to own a good deal of the blame for that. His administration was more concerned with prosecuting Bill Gates than they were the threats which really mattered to our country. It was also the Clinton administration which made regime change in Iraq a goal. Bush followed through and made that happen and he did it with the best intelligence information he had to work with. If you disagree with our invasion (I prefer to call it liberation) of Iraq for the purposes of regime change, is it also wrong that we had sanctions against Iraq? The sanctions only hurt the little people. Was it wrong for us to put any restrictions on Saddam at all? Did you ever believe there were WMD in Iraq and that more were being assembled? What happened to them? Everyone who was anyone in Washington was saying that Saddam had them and they needed to be taken out of his hands. Would it have been smarter f...

Happy birthday America! I'm back to work after being having a couple weeks off. I love my job and most everything about it but I really needed to spend some time away. We didn't plan any extravagant out of town trips this summer as we indulged ourselves a bit more than we planned on our basement project On my first day off we went to Valley Fair and had a blast. There were very few people there and most rides had little to no waiting. Power Tower here we come! I can't get enough of that ride. Tammy and Rachel love it too so that makes it triple the fun. Rachel brought her friend, Katrina along. Another ride we like a lot is Steel Venum..." steel venom is launching in 3...2...1... Scream!!! " Rachel and I posed for our annual caricature drawings . I think this is the 3rd year we've done this. We all thought hers was the best...very cute. While we were there I had a guy come up to me and ask me if my name was Kevin. I knew right away who it was: Frank Cob...

It's good to feel the sun on me when I'm out on the road...the heat helps too. It's been cloudy, rainy and cool almost all of the month of May. The sun and heat are exactly what I need to help lift my spirits. Coming off the prednisone took a solid month and I think I'm totally back to normal as of a few days ago. Rachel had a violin recital a couple weeks ago. It was the first time she played with an orchestra. The piece wasn't very difficult according to her and she really enjoyed the experience. She was sitting next to the first violinist who is also the most senior member of the Dakota Valley Symphony. She had some nice compliments for Rachel. I asked if she gave her any pointers but she didn't. Rachel was hoping she might. Tammy and I were so proud of her. The weekend before last was Rachel's dance recital weekend. She did four performances over three days. She's so poised up there. I asked her how she feels being on stage and she said she...

Mat Kearney, Tomorrow I hear a voice crying out from the bellies of their mammas Hold on for today don't worry about tomorrow Though the rains of today seem to fall with sorrow Let me be and we'll see this life for tomorrow I hear a cry going out in the middle of the night Under the scatter of the stars from a voice cracked with fright And as the tears stripe cheeks from pain running south The taste of salt hits the corner of her mouth Resting on tied tongues with no breath left to speak Sick of throwing up with no bread left to eat Tired and confused from disillusionment Sunny days turn to grey and away he went Ripping the hooks out your heart from the promises at dark The words found their mark as the sheets came apart Every spoken word broken As he flipped you a token Kiss on the cheek as his feet found the open door What's in store for you he didn't question Shook his burden to the floor to leave you guessing About the future and what it will unfold But your still ...

I'm glad this week is over. The weather was cold, windy and rainy which didn't do much for my depression as I try and come off the Prednisone which took me through my headache cycle. Every day was an effort to do anything other than just sit on my butt. It made it easy for me to make excuses for being lazy but I'd rather have the normal me back. There isn't much information online about prednisone withdrawal but they do mention dizziness, tiredness, and irritability and I've definitely experienced those. I was hoping to find something which would tell me how long I can expect to feel this way before I'm back to normal. It really depends on how long a person has been on the drug and at what doses. My adrenal gland which produces steroids for my body shut down as the drug did its job. Now that the drug is no longer there the adrenal gland needs to wake up and begin production. It's different for everybody. I was hoping that exercise would cause it to kick into...

I was hoping that when I came into work today I'd have my medical back but that's not the case. Actually, I'm expecting a call at any minute telling me I'm good to work traffic again. I can always hope. I met with my doctor last Wednesday and he gave me the green light to get my medical back as it appears my cluster headache cycle is over. I'm waiting on the regional flight surgeon from the faa to act on it and get back to me. In the meantime, they've got me doing some menial stuff in the control room which I don't need a medical for and which needs to be done anyway. It's not all that bad but I'm anxious to work traffic again as this is the longest I've ever been away from the boards. Coming off the Prednisone hasn't been fun. The injuries I received in my crash 10 days ago hurt more now than they did then. I'm not sure if that's because the Prednisone was helping to reduce the swelling and overall pain. Anyway, last Friday I decid...