Misc ...

The last two weeks have been rough on me.

On July 10, 2003, I had to be taken to the emergency room. I had a blood pressure reading of 171/95, my heart rate was 124, and I had some shortness of breath. For me, they were extremely high. Fortunately, it was an anxiety attack and not a heart attack or stroke. My blood sugar tested at 153 that morning, but the follow-up test a week later showed that I was not diabetic (whew!). Nothing was said about my oxygen level; maybe I'll find out next month.

The following weekend, I went to see my soul sister. I discovered Monday evening that I got her cold. It moved to my chest Tuesday. By Wednesday evening, I had trouble breathing (a chest cold should not leave you short of breath). It felt like my lungs were filling up; I couldn't sleep laying down. I should have stayed home Thursday, but I forced myself to go to work. I later went home early, got some antibiotics that were called in for me, and stayed home for the rest of the week. I was better by Monday, but as of this writing I still have a little chest congestion, and I'm still not feeling great.


But, on to other things ...

I've acquired a screen-capture program that is fairly easy to use, and doesn't cost much ($10.00). Now I can take capture my Aquazone fish tanks and display them on my site or send via e-mail.

I've opened up an account with Yahoo! to let everyone access my calendar. Not all my entries will be made public. Some may display as just "busy" or some may not display at all (like my friends' birthdays). It will be interesting to see if it generates any interest at all.

I met one of my former classmates yesterday that I have not seen since high school. It was good to see Brenda, and I am so glad she's been doing well for herself. She was basically a good person in bad circumstances, and I'm looking forward to catching up with her. She told me that I've always been on her mind. I've always wondered how she was doing. It's surprising how in school, I always assumed that I didn't matter to people. It still stuns me to hear people like Brenda tell me just the opposite. I mean, I just had no idea. I had another childhood friend tell me he had a crush on me one time. I know he was being honest with me; it's just that it never occurred to me that he or anyone else could see me in that light. To quote Keanu Reeves, "Whoa!"

Beer for the Homeless!

No joke! There really is a website called Beer for the Homeless. As I kept browsing over it, looking for the word "parody," I realized that it's not a parody, it is for real.

The site claims that a Chattanooga, Tennessee, talk radio host and his show's producer are the masterminds behind the website. The host is known locally for speaking for those who, for societal or prejudicial reasons, cannot speak for themselves. The site is designed by a local webmaster who has worked on several websites based in the Chattanooga community.

Whether or not you agree with the website's message, you can't help but agree that it is something you don't see everyday.

All I can say is "only in America."

Fourth of July Weekend (misc.)

I've got a Greenie Gal Get-Together tomorrow evening at my house, and I'm nervous as a cat. I want the ladies to enjoy themselves. I hope it goes over without a hitch.

This weekend, I have got to get working on Dan's site. I've had to put it off for either being out of town or doing things around the house. To raise the bar a bit, FoxNews.com is reporting that there is going to be massive hacker attacks this weekend, so I'm wondering if maybe I need to put it off a little while longer. I've already backed up The Mundling Zone so I should be able to re-upload it if necessary.

I wrote a new poem a couple of weeks ago called Torn. Even if the decision seemed simple and easy, the impact of that decision on my heart was not.