140- Off to Duetschland

I'll be off to Germany for the next few days. I hope to drink plenty of beer, see the Alps and spend quality time with my lovely wife K who is deployed to Stuttgart. With lots of personal issues that have popped up recently I leave the country with a little apprehension. Also being a retired American Serviceman I am always wary and vigilant when I fly internationally- especially since 9-11. I hope to post a few times while I am away but if no--- I'll see you in the blog-o-sphere when I return.

139- CPR Recertification

As a doctor I need to renew my CPR certification every two years... and what a difference two years makes. the protocols have changed considerable and required me to reconnect brain cells. For so many years CPR was never changing... and then lately it seems it changes every time I take the course. Now the be emphasis is on chest compressions, blood circulation, shocking the heart with electricity and prompt activation of the EMS 9-1-1 system. Instead of the A-B-Cs it is now C-A-B.

For those that haven't had CPR recently the big push for a heart attack victim that doesn't have a pulse is to immediately call 9-1-1 and then doing 2 minutes of chest compressions to circulate the blood. The prompt arrival of an ambulance or an AED (automated external defibrillator) is key.

So I'm re-certified and good for another two years. As a dentist I have had to do CPR about 11 times (8 in dental school, 2 in the Navy and once on my daughter). Yes. I saved my daughter's life- but the others were too far gone or too injured to bring back. I am glad to have been a CPR instructor in years past and appreciate all the American Heart Association has done to help save lives through revamping and improving the CPR protocol.

138- Creative Pursuits

Five creative things I like to do:

1- Photography. There is something special about composing and taking a good photo that I have enjoyed since childhood. I started with a box brownie camera and then used my dad's Minolta 35mm for awhile. I purchased a 35mm Minolta after I graduated from dental school when I was stationed in Diego Garcia (1986). My first photos were of exotic Singapore. I used that camera through my training program and eventually it crapped out at the worst time... while on vacation in London, England in 2001. Thankfully the kids had point and shooters to save the day. I went digital with a "jam cam" and moved up to a 2mP Fuji Finepix in 2002, Fuji S7000, Nikon coolpix in 2006 (and again in 2010) and finally a Nikon D3100 DSLR last month.

2- Writing. I have always enjoyed writing- especially fiction. In fact during my Navy career I authored hundreds of evaluations and fitness reports that many would say were excellent works of creative writing. I have completed the first drafts of six novels during November's "National Novel Writing Month". I hope to one day join my wife as a published author.

3- Wine making. We started this hobby in 2000 while living in Portugal. We visited many wine cellars, vineyards, wineries and bodegas and figured what the heck. We visited and toured the fine Port cellars in Oporto. I completed a six week wine tasting course given by a Spanish master.

4- Brewing. I have yet to start this hobby... but I have the gear as it was a present from the kids for Christmas.

5- Travel. This really isn't a hobby but it allows me to pursue and enjoy the other four hobbies listed above.

Other things I do that require a little more creativity are: cooking (more to eat than because I enjoy it), Gardening (well call it what it is... yardwork. I worked as a greenskeeper for 8 years and cutting and caring for the yard jsut comes natural), Being a dentist does require a little creativity... but it really is more like problem solving. The creative part comes about when it comes to solving dental problems.

137- Velocity Micro's R101 Reader

Well for $84 how can you go too wrong? I just ordered this book reader/android tablet- not from Amazon but Woot (on sale for $79 + $5 shipping). Woot offers a new deal (but for one day only) every day.

I know this reader is a little old and out of date. It runs Android 2.0 and can't be upgraded. But it will run the Kindle app and also allow you to "borrow" e-books from your public library. To me this makes it better than the Kindle, which I own. My version of the Kindle doesn't allow me any books but Kindle books and PDFs. It cost more than the newer version that they now sell and are not being software supported like the newer versions... which sort of sucks.

Anyway. I'll be giving it a try.

136- Ten Things

Ten things that are on my world view radar:

1- The whole "We-killed-Bin-Laden-and-now-the-terrorists-are-really-angry" thing. Ok. So we killed their boss and they're mad. Here's the real story. They hated us before, they've hated us for nearly 25 years, they've killed thousands... can they hate us even more now? I thought they espoused a "peaceful" religion? They've been wanting to kill us forever and that fact hasn't changed.

2- Space shuttle launch. Spectacular. I had the chance to watch it this morning. It always thrills me. I hear that Sen. Giffords was there- pretty cool.

3- Rick Huckabee isn't going to run for President. Good for him- leave dirty politics to the others. Nice guy. Good Christian. Good TV show host.

4- Mississippi River floods. I feel for those getting flooded out. Wonder how this fits into the global warming thing?

5- More fighting on Israeli borders. What's new? This place will never see peace. -

6- Japan Nuke reactor. Seems to be old news... what's going on over there?

7- Genetically modified foods. Are these safe? Can they be good for us?

8- Foreign Aid by the USA. How about USA aid by the USA? Spending the $$$$ at home makes more sense to me. Tell the Pakistani's to eat shit.

9- U.S. Budget. Balance it already will you? What else can these overpaid elected officials do? Start by cutting your own salaries, cut the foreign aid, raise the Social Security ages, eliminate tax loopholes, drop the income tax and make everyone pay a national sales tax or flat tax.

10, Energy. All that election talk about stimulus for renewable energy...the money got spent... so show me the results. Where are those windmills? Where are those solar panels? Where are the electric cars? Where are the _________ (fill in the blank). Time to see some results for all this talk, money and science. The only thing that seems to have come about is talk of energy credits, pollution taxes, raising the mpg of future cars... I'm an American dammit I want some results NOW!

135- Photo Editing Software

What do you use to edit and fix your photos?

I use Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate. I have found it very good and easy enough to use. I am trying to get back into photography as a hobby and found this program as a "deal" at Buy.com. Seems to be money well spent so far. I looked into several others before I purchased this at the discounted sale price of $29 (normally $59). They have recently released an X3 version which sells for $59.

Others:

Gimp it's free but open source.

Picasa also free (from Google)

Photoshop elements 9 a little pricey at $99 ($79 on sale)

Elements has lots of online tutorials, Picasa is one my daughter uses, and I could still could end up going to GIMP--- but for now, learning to use PaintShop Pro is my goal.

I use Paint Shop Album 4 to organize my pics and am just now using tags to organize it. (I know. I'm late on this). I also have MGI PhotoSuite 4- but not very often at all and am thinking about deleting it.

I also have replaced FlipAlbum with Slideshow Expressions to merge pics to music as slideshows (on DVD) with mixed results. The music has been a problem- it doesn't seem to fill the slideshow like it is supposed to. Another thing to remember is that when I play it on a television it chops off the top and sides... that's important when I am cropping or when taking the pics... to leave a little headroom.

134- Writing Yet Not a Writer

I'm a writer... meaning I write. I'm not published but how bad is that? To most people if you've not published a book that they can buy at the Barnes and Noble then you AREN'T a writer. Now isn't that funny? If someone says he golfs then you call him a golfer. If someone says they play tennis than they are a tennis player. So why when someone says that they write you can't call them a writer?

Let's just ponder that one for a while.

132- Dryer Fire (part 2)

Yes that's what the repairman called it. Seems that the previous owner had a cage over the dryer vent... to keep out animals or something. Well unbeknownst to us it blocked the little flapper closed to our dryer vent thus keeping the lint/moisture/hot air bottled up inside the vent tube.

No I never saw any flames. I guess we were really lucky for that.

Note to self: Check the flapper periodically and have Sears do the PM every year on the dryer. Also get the dryer vent cleaned out every 2-3 years (yes- they are comnig out Monday to clean it out).

So the inside of the dryer body accumulated lint. Last Monday it was ... poof. Bad smell and smoke alarm going off. When they pulled it apart the inside was scorched and the lint charred. Luckily I was home at the time. The thermostat was designed to shut down and turn itself off and thank God it did or I might be blogging about a fire.

The repairman ordered the parts- his name is Aaron and he's a real pro- and thank God (that's good luck #2) we were covered with a maintenance agreement from Sears. What they would be charging was over $1700... more than we paid for the darn thing.

So although we are waiting for parts and then the repair visit to rebuilt/repair the dryer, at least there was no permanent damage.

131- Red Wings Win 3-1

Well it looks like there will be a game 7 on Thursday. I didn't see the game, but by all accounts the Wings outhit, out hustled, out shot, out fought and out scored San Jose. The Sharks must be shaking in their boots when they think about how they have had three games to close out Detroit and win the decisive game and have been unable to do so.

My cousin's post on Facebook said it all... you can see fear in the Sharks eyes.

130- Old Friends

Tonight was the military/civilian dental meeting. It was good to see many old friends. The longer I have been retired from the service the fewer and fewer friends I see who are still serving in uniform. It seems that just like me they are wearing a suit and tie and are "Retired" from the Navy and in private practice.

It turned out to be an interesting lecture... on acupuncture. Not related to dental practice but to medicine in general. Some day it might be something to try out. I mean I don't like getting stuck with needles but the results are pretty good.

129- Smoking in the Laundry Room

Well that was exciting. I found out that the smoke detector doesn't just work when I am cooking. I put a load of clothes into the dryer and wooof. Five minutes later the smoke alarm went off and when I went down stairs there was smoke billowing from the laundry room. It was a burning stinky smell. Not clothes but maybe a heating unit or something. I called Sears... to repair.. they'll be out on Friday... the first available.

Seems like no laundry will get done this week!

128- Wings Win, Wings Win, Wings Win!!!

Jimmy Howard, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Lidstrom and the rest of the gang rallied around the flag to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3. Trailing 3-1 with less than 20 minutes of hockkey left in the game, the Wings cranked up their motor city motors to score three unanswered goals including Tomas Holmstrom's game winner to extend their series another game.

So it's back to Detroit for game six on Tuesday. (730 pm EDST and 430pm PDST)

127- Red Wings Win to Force a Game #5

They jumped out quickly to notch a 3-0 lead but needed a goal from Darren Helm in the final minutes to eck out a 4-3 win to extend their playoff series with San Jose for at least one more game.

Two oldtimers were key to the win. Nick Lidstrom came up big with two goals in te first period and Todd Bertuzzi scored on a brilliant spin-o-rama to open the scoring and also added an assist.

Will the Wings be able to come back all the way? The odds are against them but they do live to play one more game. Stay tuned for game 5 on Sunday. Game time is 8pm EDST and 5 PSDT.

LGRW!

126- Mayan Calendar Update

Hope you are all working on your bucket list. The countdown to December 21, 2012 goes on with a mere 595 days left.

Five things I'd like to do:

1. Visit Yosemite National Park

2. Take an Alaskan Cruise

3. Visit Yellowstone Park

4. Finish my novel.

5. Watch the Lions play in the Super Bowl

125- Happy Cinco de MAyo

The fifth of May is a celebrated Mexican Holiday... but it's not really celebrated in Mexico. Everyone I talked to today mentioned that it's only Americans who celebrate cinco de Mayo. Huh? I was confused so I looked it up:

From the Wikipedia:

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state ofPuebla.^[1][2][3][4] The date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride,^[5] and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War.^[6] In the state of Puebla, the date is observed to commemorate theMexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.^[7][8] Contrary to widespread popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day,^[9][10] the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico, which occurs on September 16th.

124- Wings Lose Again

The Wings got beat in overtime for their third loss to the San Jose Sharks 4-3. They now trail in the seven game series 3-0. Yes, fellow Red Wing fans, I think I can hear the fat lady beginning to warm up her lungs. She's getting ready to sing... and barring another "Miracle on Ice" the Sharks are going to advance to the next round.

123- Photography

my new goal is to take more photographs and take better pictures. I am trying to get a handle on all the functions of my new camera. With my point and shot digital camera it was all so simple... just point... and shoot.

I can still do that. But I can also change the shutter speed, aperture and film speed. Huh? Well that's what I want to learn about.

I'm reading the cameras manual, a photography boo and also watching a three disk instructional DVD. So it's sort of like taking a mini photography.

122- ULB is DOA

Rot in hell you sick bastard. Ten years has been a long time. These bastards thought America didn't have the guts or fortitude to stick with this for so long. They figured we would lose heart and slink away from the fight. You guessed wrong, buttheads. Now ULB "sleeps with the fishes" (to paraphrase the Godfather movie).

Final score: Using a woman as a human shield, Bin Laden shot in the head, body buried at sea- to feed the fishes.

121- Blurb Sunday

My Yesterday:

1- The NFL draft finished up after three days.

2- Took the dog for a walk and he and a big boxer did a little growling at each other.

3- Went to a small "Portugal Reunion" downtown at Buca de Beppo.

4- 600 Days until the Mayan Calendar ends.

5- Watched the movie "3:10 to Yuma" written by Elmore Leonard.

6- Cashed a check on the Marine base.

7- Filled the car up with gas.

8- Went grocery shopping.

9- Took the hazmat (old batteries and paint) to the city dump to recycle.

10- Trimmed bushes in the front yard.

What Today Might Bring:

1- Take the dog for a walk.

2- cook breakfast.

3- cut the backyard and fertilize.

4- trim and weed the "vineyard"

5- watch the Red Wings-Sharks hockey game.

6- clean up the house.

7- clean up my desk.

8- take some pictures with my new camera.

9- read some travel info on Germany.

10- do a little writing.