OK, so I’m a little freaked out.  I just traipsed over to Dermatology and had them look at a little bump I’ve had on the side of my face up by the temple, and they decided to do a shave biopsy to rule out cancer.  One thing about working in a hospital is you learn not to fool around and ignore little things as they come up.  I’ll keep you posted. I’ll probably know the results on Monday.

Draggin’

This is me today, already at my desk at 7:22 a.m.  Thank god it’s still quiet here.  Most folks don’t arrive till another hour or so.  Didn’t sleep well last night and the reason is it’s so damned cold outside that I turned on my electric mattress pad thing and that woke me up a few hours later roasting.  Then I turned it off and woke up again a few hours later freezing.  Etc. through the night.  Better think of a better solution.

Deep Thought:  Frank knew that no man had ever crossed the desert on foot and lived to tell about it. So, he decided to get back in his car and keep driving.

Today I am grateful for:  Spinner Radio

“Man who says…
‘It cannot be done’,

Should not interrupt woman
who is doing it.”

Chinese Proverb

As the holidays approach, I’m becoming aware that soon I will be making lists of people in my life and presents to buy, and who will appear where at whose house, and when, and what will the weather be like, and whether I can budget for it all, and plowing through the shoppers at the mall where the Christmas stuff goes up before Thanksgiving arrives. I am also aware that there are people sleeping under bridges in the freezing cold while I consider the hubbub of my life. I hope I will keep this perspective and find time to stop.

Deep Thought: Despair is like a cable that is buried just under the surface of the ground. You pull it up and pull it up, but that cable just keeps right on going, clear across a field, until you come to a bunch of guys who are burying the cable. Then just walk up to them and go, “Hey, have you seen Fred?” And they’ll say, “Fred who?” And you say, “Fred of snakes?” Then cover your ears, because big laughs are coming.
Today I am grateful for: Curbside recycling.

Snow

Eeek!  Just a few hours ago I was hydroplaning to work, and now it’s snowing!  We haven’t had snow this early in Portland for years.  But the last time we did was awful.  I have to drive up and down a steep hill to work and that year my car slid off the road trying to drive down and I had to catch a ride with an SUV down the hill and a bus the rest of the way home, leaving my car behind.  Pray for me.

P.S. Later the same day (3:15 pm) – home safely. The snow didn’t stick on the streets, although my yard is completely white. Hopefully, it’s not going to freeze tonight so I can drive in again tomorrow safely. Thanks for everybody’s good words. I am, however, going to bail on my last darkroom class tonight.

Whooping Cough

OK, we’re having some kind of a whooping cough alert here in Portland, so in case you are too where you live here’s what it sounds like. Even if you’re not having an increase in cases where you live, listen to the sounds so you’ll know them if you hear them. I’d never heard a whooping cough before:

Thanksgiving for the Health Conscious

Following is a breakdown of the fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, calories from fat, sodium, and total calories in turkey and other poultry products.

Product (3 oz. cooked, unless otherwise noted)	Saturated Fats (Grams)	Cholesterol (mgs)	Total Fat* (%)	Calories from Fat** (%)	Total Calories	Sodium (mg)
Breast without skin	0.3	71	0.6	5	115	44
Ground turkey, breast meat only, cooked	0.5	35	2	20	130	55
Processed lunch meat, lean turkey breast (2 oz.)	0.5	23	1.9	28	61	602
Breast with skin	0.8	77	2.7	19	130	45
Wing, without skin	1.0	87	2.9	19	139	66
Processed lunch meat, turkey, ham (2 oz.)	1.1	34	3.6	43	75	576
Leg, without skin	1.3	101	3.2	21	135	69
Turkey roll, light meat (2 slices or 2 oz.)	1.4	23	4.0	44	81	269
Leg, with skin	1.4	60	4.6	29	145	68
Wing, with skin	2.3	98	8.4	43	176	62
Ground turkey meat & skin, cooked	2.9	87	11.2	50	200	90
Turkey bologna (2 slices)	N/A	54	8.4	69	110	483
Turkey hot dog (1 hot dog)	N/A	59	9.7	70	125	785

Hydroplaning

It was actually beautiful this morning setting out in the pouring rain and the dark to work.  Thankfully, I heard some instructions about possible hydroplaning on the weather news before I left the house because I ran into a couple of deep pools of water.  I love this time of year when the street lights are shining on the yellow and red leaves that have fallen from the autumn trees and everything is glistening.  Here’s some info about hydroplaning. Stay safe.

Hydroplaning is the result of your tires moving FAST across a wet surface – so fast that they do not have sufficient time to channel that moisture away from the center of the tire. The result is that the tire is lifted by the water away from the road and all traction is thus lost.

Of course the word ‘fast’ is a relative term. Tread design, tread depth, weight of motorcycle, tire pressure, depth of water and even the consistency of that water – (whether it is highly aerated or not, for example) – all play a part in determining at what speed the tire will begin to hydroplane. It is a pretty safe bet to assume that any speed in excess of 60 MPH is fast enough to support hydroplaning regardless of the other variables. This is not to say that at 55 MPH you are safe, however.

In any event, there are two absolutely essential NO-NO’s to remember should you experience the beginning of hydroplaning:

	Do NOT apply your brakes
	Do NOT try to steer in any direction but straight ahead

Though I am not formally trained in the matter I would suggest that the only thing you can possibly do to help the situation is to feather your clutch to moderate your speed without the possibility of drive train ‘snap’ that would result from an abrupt change of the accelerator.

Hope there is an idea in there that you can work with. Frankly, I think if you start to hydroplane the odds are that you are going to go down unless you keep the front wheel pointed absolutely dead ahead and it is of the briefest of durations.

Deep Thought:Anybody who has an identity problem had better wise up and get with the program!

Today I am grateful for:  British Bush Protestors.

To My Friends Who Are…………NOT SO SINGLE

Love isn’t about becoming somebody else’s ‘perfect person.’ It’s about
finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be.


To My Friends Who Are…………PLAYBOY/GIRL TYPE

Never say ‘I love you’ if you don’t care. Never talk about feelings if they
aren’t there. Never touch a life if you mean to break a heart. Never look in
the eye when all you do is lie. The cruelest thing a guy can do to a girl is
to let her fall in love when he doesn’t intend to catch her fall and it
works both ways…


To My Friends Who Are…………MARRIED


Love is not about ‘it’s your fault’, but ‘I’m sorry.’ Not ‘where are you’,
but ‘I’m right here.’ Not ‘how could you’, but ‘I understand.’ Not ‘I wish
you were’, but ‘I’m thankful you are.’


To My Friends Who Are…………ENGAGED

The true measure of compatibility is not the years spent together but how
good you are for each other.


To My Friends Who Are…………HEARTBROKEN

Heartbreaks last as long as you want and cut as deep as you allow them to
go. The challenge is not how to survive heartbreaks but to learn from them.


To My Friends Who Are…………NAIVE

How to be in love: Fall but don’t stumble, be consistent but not too
persistent, share and never be unfair, understand and try not to demand, and
get hurt but never keep the pain.


To My Friends Who Are…………POSSESSIVE

It breaks your heart to see the one you love happy with someone else but
it’s more painful to know that the one you love is unhappy with you.


To My Friends Who Are…………AFRAID TO CONFESS

Love hurts when you break up with someone. It hurts even more when someone
breaks up with you. But love hurts the most when the person you love has no
idea how you feel.


To My Friends Who Are…………STILL HOLDING ON

A sad thing about life is when you meet someone and fall in love, only to
find out in the end that it was never meant to be and that you have wasted
years on someone who wasn’t worth it. If he isn’t worth it now he’s not
going to be worth it a year or 10 years from now. Let go…..

(author unknown)