SPAM

Awhile back I got an "URGENT" email from a friend....well...the email address was that of a friend, the name was accurate, but I highly doubt my good friend that I've known since I was 10 wrote me something like this:

"Hello,How are you doing?I'm sorry for not informing you about our trip to London,England.We had  to visit a resort in London,England..Unfortunately we got mugged at GUN POINT by some muggers,all cash,credit card and phone were stolen away.It was a scary experience but glad we still have our lives and passports.We've been to the Embassy but they are not been 100% supportive.Return flight leaves in few hours but having troubles sorting out the hotel bills
and the hotel manager won't allow us to leave until we settle the bill.

I was wondering if you can loan us some money to get the hotel  bills sort out and also get a cab to the airport,will definitely refund it as soon as we get back.All i need is $2000 but will appreciate
whatsoever you can afford to loan me right now.Am freaked out at the moment.You can have it wired to my name via Western..Here is the details to get it to me:

Receiver's Name : (The name was inserted in here in the email)
Location : 10b Archway Mall London, N195RG ,United Kingdom.

Here are the details needed for me to pick the money up here.

MTCN..................
Sender's Name.........
Amount sent...........

Email me the transfer details(MTCN#) as soon as you are done with the transfer including the amount sent..Let me know if you are heading out to western union and how soon will you be back.

I owe you Alot.
Await your response."

How many people fall for this kind of SPAM?

My Life Through You

My life Through You

Birth: You accepted me as your "5th" child. You let me stay in your home, you fed me bottles, you played with me, you held me, you were there for me. You were the father figure in my life from the moment I came into this world.

5 Years Old: You spent time with me and shared in your hobbies. You took me fishing out at the "lake" and on the dock. You let me watch you clean fish and bring home deer from your hunting trips. You made breakfast for the family every Christmas morning and your whistling could be heard throughout the house.

8 Years Old: You signed me up and took me to guitar lessons. You listened to me practice and encouraged me to "do my best". You helped me when my ears got infected. You played music with me and sang to me. You helped me to ride my bike and went on walks. You took me on vacation.

13 Years Old: You are coming to all of my band concerts to watch me play. You tell me it's OK to be nervous. You practice soccer with me so I'm not the one sitting on the sidelines. You continue to give nothing but encouragement, especially in school.

15 Years Old: You teach me how to drive. You are patient with me throughout parallel parking and getting on the highway. You are attending all of the football games to watch me march on the field with the band. You take me to my solo performances for concert band.

18 Years Old: You support decisions that I make as I enter the next stage in life. You watch me graduate from high school. You cry while giving objective advice about the future, all in celebration of the accomplishments over the years.

21 Years Old: You walk me down the aisle and give me away.

23 Years Old: You watch me become the first family member to graduate from college. You take us all out to celebrate after wards. You don't stand up and make a speech, but I know what you feel. You are proud and happy for the start of a career and the hard work and dedication that you taught me.

25 Years Old: You are always the person I can talk to about goals, my career and questions about life. The tables have turned and I am finally able to afford to pay for YOUR meal when we go out to dinner. You remind me what commitment and hard work will get you out of life. You are level-headed, smart and strategic. I am humbled by your experiences and ability to share but not sway.

28 Years Old: You are there for the birth of your first great-grand child. A son, who we name after you giving him the middle name "Paul". We are honored that he can carry that name. You are proud and record every moment possible. You go to every single race I've ever run, no hesitation, not a single one missed. You even break your ankle walking TO a race and you still stand on it long enough to see me finish. You are the only one that will try all of my experimental healthy meals and say every single one of them tastes good.

33 Years Old: You show nothing but unconditional love as I make the decision to move across the country for a new job. You even help me pack up my car and make the long 2 day drive. We spend hours talking about your troublemaking years, your time in Korea and your big decision to pack up the family and move to Texas over 40 years ago. We eat homemade macaroni together on the side of the road. You do most of the driving because I can't stay awake. You share your life experiences all while being a part of mine.

35 Years Old: You are surrounded by family who love you more than anything. You leave us with the peace of knowing the family you created will take care of each other, and that you have lived as one of the most caring and honorable people most will never be, and that we are so lucky to have had. At 35, I will try to continue to make you proud. Taking care of family, being a good person, always working hard, keeping healthy, trying new things, knowing it's OK to have feelings and yes, playing (holding up hands to motion) the guitar.

I will love you always.

Your Grand(daughter)
Tooter

Goals Complete for 11.11.11

This year marks the 4th year I have set GOALS online for myself, and the time range has run for 13 months each.

08.08.08-GOALS COMPLETE
09.09.09-GOALS COMPLETE
10.10.10-GOALS COMPLETE
11.11.11-BELOW

The next one will now be.

Wait for it....

12.12.12 <-----Isn't that right around the time of the apocalypse?
I better make these next ones GOOD!

The goals completed from this past year have not been the best from my lists, that's for sure. But they are still significant:

GOALS COMPLETE

* √ Find a New Dermatologist
* √ Lose 10 Pounds
* √ Take a Yoga Class
* √ Visit Another Country
* √ Take the Boys Bowling
* √ Get a Family Pic Done
* √ Complete Body Detox


There are also quite a few things that I wanted to write about and didn't get up yet. Not sure that I ever will so here are a few:

• Review of Bistro 101
• Obsession with Ho-Chunk Casino
• Review of Toy Story 3
• Father's Day this year and visit to the ZOO
• Running progress and details about the marathon training
• The Botanical Gardens
• The Petting Zoo
• Cave of the Mounds (we have season passes now though)!
• The EMU that came running after me on the country road while I was driving!
• Review of Japanese Takara (2 locations)!
• The Apple Orchard
• The UW Geology Museum
• Review of Otto's
• Madtown Twisters Visit
• Easter Sunday
• Trip to Germany and the UK

Now it's time to reassess the upcoming goals and get to work!
Bring on 12.12.12!

Goal Complete: Find a New Dermatologist

There are not many, but one of the downfalls to the move up to Madison has been having to get all new doctors. For the most part, I was comfortable with all the doctors we had in Dallas for ourselves and for the boys. It takes so much time to build up that relationship, and then once the history is there it's hard to make a change.

So it's been a year and a half and I finally found a dermatologist.

It took quite some time to get the appointment scheduled as a new patient, and I needed to go in for a full skin check and acne.

Unfortunately, I was not impressed.

I had a 10:00 appointment and didn't get called in until closer to 11. "Strike 1" The nurse was very nice and we went through the long laundry list of medical background and questions, and also concerns for the day. I felt like things were going well but on the inside I was frustrated that I had to go through all the "new" stuff, but also excited to have a new opinion and outlook on things!

The doctor came in (she shook my hand which is two big thumbs up for me) and she was very polite. I got a good first impression. But as the exam went on she did a full body check and completely overlooked the areas that I called out. She told me to come back in after a year to keep up, but then when I called her out on the "misses" she looked again and said "oh yes, let's take pictures of these and you come back in after 3 months".

Hm.

So then we get to my face. I can't express enough how frustrated I am at 35 years old and still having breakouts. It's always been a problem for me. I was on minocycline in my 20's and it worked great, but wanted to know what other options were out there. After she told me about 8 different combinations of meeds and topical she asked me what I wanted to do. I mean, not two options…literally 8. "Strike 2" I told her whatever she thought I needed to do while still respecting my caveats.

So she put me on a med and topical. Which takes us to "Strike 3". I went to call and check on the prescription that night and there was no record of it. I called the doctor's office and left a message and asked them to call me when they were going to have it sent in. I waited 5 days (got busy). Called the doctor again and they said they called it in the day after I called the week before, but didn't let me know.

Well, at least I got it that night. And they did apologize.

So at least I have a doctor now. And I will probably stay with her for the rest of my life because I don't want to go through the ordeal of finding another and starting over "new".

Mission complete.

Goal Complete: Lose 10 Pounds

Something I've learned over the last 7-8 years, is that it's not so much about the number on the scale as it is about how you feel.

Okay, that's kind of true.

I really do tell myself that. Thinking back to when I was in high school and the weight I was at - it DEFINITELY was NOT healthy, as I was skipping breakfast, eating a chocolate chip cookie for lunch and swinging by Taco Bell every night at 11pm after work.

But I felt good when I got on the scale!

Fast forward almost 20 years later and I'm sitting at a weight much higher, but I can guarantee I'm a lot healthier than I was back then. Sure I splurge and don't always make the best choices; but I work out, understand the value of calories and nutrients, and I TRY to eat my vegetables.

(Ketchup counts as a vegetable)

With that ramp up, I have to admit although I had on my list of goals to lose 10lbs, it's not like I really tried to get the weight off. I did do very healthy things this year, like training for the marathon, picking up yoga, taking vitamins and doing a lot more weight training than last year. I guess I just figured without a real huge change in my balance between food and activity, my body would sit where it's at.

But ALAS! As I was going through paperwork yesterday and found my information from last December when I was in the hospital, I realized…I really did lose the weight in the last 11 months! Exactly 10lbs.

Still a long ways to go on getting stronger and being healthy, but at least I accomplished this goal!!