I guess two months is long enough of a hiatus from the blog. Not that I planned on being away this long. It just kind of happened. It was brought on by about a week of depression shortly after my last entry, when I learned that Google Adsense would not let me make money with them any longer due to the fact that I openly asked people to click on the ads on my blog. I was mistaken, and have acknowledged this to all of you, and to Google, whom I appealed to to get back in their good graces so I could make money again with Adsense. They are having none of it, and that is that. So I was depressed, which I got over within a week or so, after I took a trip to my friend Serena's house to visit for my birthday, and get away for a few days. That helped. As for why I didn't start back in to writing the blog when I returned home, I chalk up to lack of motivation, laziness, procrastination, and a general malaise of the soul. I just couldn't get it up.
So now here I finally am, getting it up. I can't say that I've actually rid myself of the afflictions that have kept my fingers from the keyboard, but I've found through the years of being with myself, that when it comes to me and getting things done, the only way I'll do it, is if I just start doing it. It's the getting started part I seem to have the hardest time with. Once I get goin' I'm like a perpetual motion machine, I just keep chuggin' along. So let's talk, shall we? I'll get my coffee.
Besides the usual work, hang with the kids and pay the bills, there have been a couple of new developments. At the beginning of March I joined the "Health and Wellness Center", (a.k.a. the gym), through work, It's been just over 6 months since I quit smoking, so I figured it's time to start trimming off the 25 or so pounds I acquired since I did. And to get myself into some sort of shape besides amorphous blob. I'm starting off slow and easy, as I want to keep this up for a long time, and don't want to give myself a heart attack the first couple of weeks in the gym. I start out stretching with some Yoga moves I learned in a class 15 years ago or so, then walk briskly on the treadmill for about 2 miles, usually accompanied by Spongebob, or whatever the History channel has to offer for the day. Then it's off to the rowing machine for 2000 meters, about 10 minutes, then over to various weight machines for some lightweight repetitions, always hitting the abdominal machine the longest. Someday soon I will again see my nether regions without leaning forward 45 degrees to get past the roundness of my gut. Finally I change into my brand new black Speedo's and hit the pool for about 1000 yards of swim/kick/pull, always stopping in front of the mirrors first to bask in my glory. I am Adonis! After the swim, I hop in the whirlpool for a few minutes and let the hot water jets work their magic on my complaining "muscles". Yeah, that's right, my lower back! Then hit the showers, weigh myself to see that I've once again lost 3 lbs. in water weight, get dressed and head on home to some sort of meal, and a little mindless television.
The gym offers a fitness assessment with one of their personal trainers, which I have signed up for, and have only done one half of. I haven't yet done the whole thing, because I need to get the OK from my doctor to do the cardiac portion of the assessment. Which brings me to the other development in my life in the last couple of months. My first physical in almost 20 years. Scary stuff indeed, but it must be done. That is if I want to know just what's going on with my body. From a doctor's point of view, as opposed to my superstitious guesswork as to all the funky goings on inside the flesh. I like science. I think it's a good thing. I may be a spiritual person, and believe in the power of the mind to heal, but when push comes to shove, I want a doctor with proven science on my side. Surprisingly to me the physical went off without a hitch. No major problems to report. A little bit of a heart issue since my dad died of a heart attack, and my brother has some arythmia or flutterings or something goin' on with his ticker. I've got some kind of flutterings myself, so they've got me wearing a portable heart monitor for the next week which I need to record whenever I feel it happening. She also put me on Crestor, which is a cholesterol medication to get that under control, and Fish oil, Niacin, and multi-vitamins to boot. Good God I'm gettin' old. "Where's my pill box Mildred? I left it next to the sink in the bathroom, damnit!" I took a stress test yesterday as well. That consists of walking on a treadmill, increasing speed and grade until they get your heart rate up near 100% of what your age range dictates, which for me is 177 BPM. I got up to 173 after 11 minutes. Not too bad. Everything was normal on that as well, as far as the nurse could tell. A cardiologist needs to give it the final go over. Back at the physical, I went over my laundry list of aches and pains and fears with the doctor which helped her get a more complete picture of my sorry state of affairs. Hypochondria and heart problem aside, I'm doing pretty good for somebody who abused themselves as much as I have over the last 20 years. Lucky fucker. I almost forgot! The ol' prostate is doin' just fine as well. I'm just glad the doctor was a lady. A hot young blonde no less. That's the biggest sexual thrill I've had in over two years! Too much? Too bad.
Even though I've got all this positive action going on in my life, I'm still stuck with a mouth full of rotting teeth, two of which are abscessed and really need to come out. On that front, a couple of weeks ago I got some fairly good news from an old frat brother of mine. Turns out his nephew works for the biggest producer of implants in the country, right here in the Chicago area. I got in touch with him, and gave him my insurance info so he could pair me up with some of his clients, dentists, who might be able to help me out. Plus he might be able to cut the cost of the implants dramatically as well. Well he got me in touch with a local dentist/cosmetic dentist in the area. I went to their office a few days ago to see what they were all about, and what they could offer me. It's a pretty upscale place, with state of the art equipment, and back massaging dental chairs. I was in heaven. But heaven costs money on this plane of existence, and I still have no credit. I really liked this guy, 'cause he's the first person I've talked to who actually said that a lot of my remaining teeth could be saved. Albeit with 5 implants, numerous root canals, bridges and caps, but saved they could be. Of course the cost is where I'm screwed. Right around $32K for the whole procedure spread out over a couple of years. Compared to $40 to $50 K to take out all my teeth and get full implants from one of the implant shops. I feel more informed, yet still impotent to finding a monetary solution. What to do. Indeed.
Well, I still have some leg work to do, and more research into other options. I've yet to check out the dental universities, and I figure I can talk to my local bank as well. The worse they can do is say no. I've heard that before. No big whup. I also got the idea from somebody to write a short book, maybe 30 or 50 pages, self published on Amazon. Why not. I've already got a few ideas floatin' around in my head. Lord knows I've cranked out quite a few pages on this blog so far, so what the hell. I can write about a book a month maybe, and see much I can make. Somebody out there will buy my schlock. Maybe you. One can dream.
On that note, this posting is complete. Don't forget to brush your teeth, and pay your bills. And if you feel like donating up at the top of this blog, feel free, and thanks.
