Blood Pressure and Blood Work

As I told the doctor yesterday morning, "I haven't been to the doctor this century!"

I was feeling funny on Saturday after we had finished running the water line to the goat/chicken pen. I thought it was just the stuff I had last week kicking me in the butt again. I was walking up the slight incline from the mailbox when if felt dizzy. When I got back in the house, Sarah said my face was beet red. My soon to be FIFTY year old body has caught up with me - my blood pressure was elevated.

Sunday Morning I didn't feel like going to Sunday School. I woke up about 10:30, too late for morning worship. But I did make it to evening worship. Selinda being the good nurse that she is, offered to take my blood pressure with the sphygmomanometer from the first aid kit in the kitchen.

155/100



So, off to the Doctor in, uh, er... I don't actually remember when I last went to a doctor!!!

And to show off, I beat the numbers from the night before ---

168/108

So after a night of fasting, I head to the lab this morning. Three vials of blood later, I head back to house. I see a change of diet and more pills in my future. We will see for sure Friday morning.

Sick Day

Did I pick up the bug from someone at church or work?

Folks are determine to be in public when they shouldn't. The spread of viruses is at a peak after the holidays. Families are in close contact, traveling cross country and back home - bringing the germs from distant lands with them.

The days of my vacation were spend on the farm. But going back to work on the 3rd, put me in contact with creepy crawly from who knows where. I was cold and chilled all day yesterday.



Here I sit - connected to the email server in New Jersey. Telephone, if needed, is on the table beside the recliner.

So, am I really taking a day off? Oh well, I will blame someone from work for infecting me with this yuk I've got!!!

Another Milestone

A year has passed since I got the call from Sherry that Dad had passed away on that Monday morning.

Freddie and Eletha have four sons. As the Minister delivered the eulogy last Thursday, he said to the boys, “There will be times in the future, when you will want to ask your Dad just one more question.”

Nope. I wouldn't have any questions for Mom and Dad. But I would love to be able to speak to them, or rather, listen to them. I would soak up their words like a sponge. As I sit here at my desk today, finished with my lunch, this would be the time of day I would pick up the phone and give them a call. This is when it really hits me!!!

Mom and Dad, I miss you so much!

Good Day to Stay in Bed?

Below is an article from MSN today...

Today has been declared the most depressing day of the year. This year, make it your call.


The superstitious have long worried about courting bad luck on Friday the 13th and stayed “beware the Ides of March.” But for the past couple of years there has been another day to mark in black on the calendar: The most depressing day of the year.

In 2005, a psychologist named Cliff Arnall (who was, at the time, a part-time lecturer at the University of Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning in Wales), declared that he had devised a formula to calculate the worst day. That year, it was Monday, Jan. 24; last year, Monday, Jan. 23. So watch out, because today may well be 2007’s most miserable day.

Monday, January 23, 2006 - he hit that one on the head!

Arnall’s so-called formula looks like this: [W + (D-d)] x TQM x NA.

All of the letters and symbols apparently represent a sort of mathematical code to track the following:

W: How bad the weather is at this time of year.

D: Amount of debt accumulated over the holidays minus how much is paid off.

T: The time since the holidays.

Q: Amount of time passed since New Year’s resolutions have gone south.

M: Our general motivation levels.

NA: The need to take action.

Now that the fun of the holidays is over, we need to make a plan that gives us something to look forward to. Arnall’s dreaded-day formula was originally commissioned as a public relations stunt for Sky Travel. The company planned to use it as a tool for encouraging depressed people to start booking winter getaways. In the two years since he created it, Arnall and his equation received plenty of January press—and, eventually, lots of backlash.

Several bloggers in Britain, for instance, took issue with Arnall’s pseudoscience, posting entries with titles such as “Will someone please muffle Cliff Arnall.” And an article in the London Times last January, called “Research + PR = a very depressing equation,” exposed Arnall’s prescription as a work for hire rather than a true academic exercise.

“It’s based on no science, no research and it’s incredibly gimmicky,” says Ellen McGrath, Ph.D., president and founder of Bridge Coaching Institute in New York City. “But as a marketing strategy, it’s brilliant.”

Here’s an interesting twist: McGrath concedes that if you dissect the gimmick, Arnall’s equation does take into account some very real issues. “He took several currents of common experience and funneled them into one specific moment,” she says.

The weather—and in particular, the lack of daylight—is an issue in January and February, especially in the northern latitudes. And that’s the primary cause of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Wow, what a fitting acronym!!!

Another universal dilemma around this time of year is debt.. “Buyer’s remorse is a core part of the post-holiday blues,” acknowledges McGrath. “Love is defined as buying a great gift, but when the bills come due in January it can lead to depression.”

Late January is also time to confront reality, say psychologists. Difficult decisions about jobs, family and relationships are often put off until after the holidays. So while we may wake up feeling very positive on Jan. 1, life may look a lot less shiny a few weeks later.

While Arnall’s equation has received its fair share of criticism, most experts agree that if this “day of doom” prediction helps raise awareness about the serious issues of depression and seasonal affective disorder, then, overall that’s a good thing and not harmful. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that almost 18.8 million American adults suffer from depression and nearly six percent of the population is affected by SAD.

Still, plenty of people take offense at such a specific “most depressing day” pronouncement. “It essentially vacates any concept of free will or self-determinism, putting the focus on external events rather than what’s within us,” says Susan C. Vaughn, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University.

Vaughn elaborates: Even if you have maxed out your credit cards, failed at your New Year’s resolutions, and the weather is lousy, not everyone will succumb to depression—especially not all of us on the same day. In fact, some psychologists and life coaches argue that January can be a time of focus and motivation. The frenzy of the holidays is past, and there is time to concentrate on accomplishing new goals.

“It depends on how you interpret it,” says McGrath. “One choice makes you lose power and one makes you gain it."

So Cheer Up, there are better days ahead!

Freddie and Eletha

Eletha was the Sarah's boss for nearly three years. Quality Control Manager to Quality Control Supervisor.

Freddie and Eletha celebrated 40 years of marriage this past summer. Hills and valleys, ups and downs. We knew Freddie mostly from Eletha and the times the three of us had lunch together in the Q.C. office. He was a sick man for about eight years, since he retired from A.Y.P. due to health issues. We only met once, at the department cookout at their house in the summer of 2002. But we shared a common interest. NASCAR!

For me it was a catch as catch can on Sunday afternoon between morning and evening services.

For Freddie it was Sunday! or Saturday night! or the whenever there was a replay on Speed Channel. And anytime Swainsboro Raceway was open, he was there.



Freddie's funeral was this morning at Eleven O'clock. Eight of the Q.C. auditors and myself represented Tumi...

Number 15, take your Victory Lap!

Crazy Weather

It has been too warm 'round here lately!

So warm that Japanese Magnolias, Cherry and Peach Trees are blooming all over!





Narcissus Jonquilla have popped up along the Main and side Streets in Ailey - a sure sign of spring on the way! But General Beauregard Lee, Georgia's Weather Rodent, hasn't even thought about poking his head from his minature plantation house!!!

Now with a change in the weather - it was bone chilling today - they won't hang on much longer! :( But it was a welcomed sight. One down side to a mild winter in these parts - gnat and noseeums are sure to be more plentiful come summer!!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

On what would have been your 75th Birthday!