Hey Four Eyes!

Yep, it finally came to this. I now have eye glasses. And actually I'm really pumped. About 3 years ago I went to the eye doctor because I was having trouble seeing things clearly that were far away. She told me that if I wasn't asking for glasses she wouldn't give them to me because my eyes weren't really bad. So I decided to not get any since it would cost a lot and I didn't want to wear them if I didn't have to.

Fast forward 3-4 years and I went to the eye doctor again (yeah I know they are called optometrists) and was told that one of my eyes was below the legal limit, or someting like that. My other eye was still good so she said I don't need glasses to drive, but if I get some it will make everything clearer and will help with driving at night.

The eye glass shopping ordeal was long and tedious. When you have never worn glasses before, everything you try on looks weird. But thanks to my beautiful wife Shiela for her patience as I tried on a million pairs and she helped me pick out ones that looked good. So now I have glasses (which I got 50% off on the frames, lenses and coatings) and they are awesome. I can't believe what I was missing! I keep pulling them up and down to see the difference when looking at things. I can see road signs further away, I can see the writing on the wall at church (during the worship, people...I know what you were thinking) and I can see people a lot clearer. I wasn't planning on wearing them very much, but because I can see so much better I think I will wear them alot! (until someone makes fun of me and calls me four eyes LOL)

Does anyone out there remember their first time with glasses?

*glasses pictured above are not the ones I bought. I don't have a digital camera so I can't show you the real ones.

Things are looking up!

Last night I was up late and perusing through some blogs I like to read and one of them is the www.canadianpoker.com. I was reading through Dave's Poker Log and he asked a question and the first person who emailed him the correct origin of the motto would win a Team Canuck Poker hat. Needless to say I quickly emailed back the answer and found out this morning that I had won the hat! I can't wait to get it and wear it in our next poker game (hopefully it's here for this Friday's game). I'm hoping this luck carries on to the $40,000,000 Lotto 649 draw tomorrow!

The motto, which was used by the Canadian Destroyer Squadron 4, is "Taken at the flood." Does anyone out there know the origin of this motto? Let me know in the comments section.

Oh Oh! I'm Slipping! - Medical Update

Yeah, it's true, I'm slipping again. I went back to visit the specialist again and it looks like my platelet count is going down again. As of last week I was at 40,000. The specialist lowered my prednisone amount to only 10 mg per day because he doesn't want me on them for a long time. But if my platelet count drops below 30,000 then I will have to go back into the hospital for another 3 days of IV therapy. He said I shouldn't be prone to bleeding at 40,000 and I'm pretty ok. I took this to mean that I can still play soccer (but I didn't outright ask him). I played soccer on Sunday and my lungs were burning by the 2nd half since I haven't done much running for about 2 months now.

Today I went for my weekly blood test to check my platelet count. I'm obviously becoming a regular because one of the nurses at the clinic called me by name when I went up to the counter. I'll keep you all posted as things progress and/or digress. Please keep praying for me!

The Indoor Soccer Season Has Begun

Our Tauro FC soccer team has entered the SDSA Men's Division 3 for this indoor soccer season and I am excited about it. We have alot of good players on our team this year and I believe once we start to gel as a team we will do very well.

However, our first game was this last Sunday and we lost 6-1. But, they scored all 6 goals in the first half and after our halftime talk about team defense we won the second half 1-0. Unfortunately, you don't get points in the standings for only winning half a game so we are still 0-1-0 (wins, losses, ties). The problem right now is we don't have a regular goalie. The goalie we had on Sunday was awesome and I wish he would play for us all season, but unfortunately he just doesn't have the time. So if anyone out there knows of a goalie (preferably living in Saskatoon) let me know and we'll sign him up (if he's good LOL)!

I'll be posting the results of our Tauro FC soccer team throughout the season so you can be sure to keep up to date!

I'm not dead yet!

I apologize to the thousands of daily readers that have been wondering why I haven't been updating my blog. And the reason is...well, I don't really have a reason. It started with a couple days, then a couple more, then a week, then I started wondering how long I could go without updating it, then a few more days, and on and on. Well, enough with that! I'm back and will be blogging like mad over the next few weeks to catch up on everything that has happened. Ok, that will only take about 2 minutes, but don't worry, I'll be posting things worthwhile for you to read!! So stay tuned and welcome back loyal readers!

Hurry! Hurry Hard! - Fact or Fiction

I like to consider myself an athlete. And as such, I plan on playing sports well into my older years. The only thing is that the sports may change to more social sports instead of contact sports. This is why I want to get good at curling now...that way when I get older people will want me on their team. If I'm 60 years old and just learning to curl, nobody is going to want me on their team because I'll be no good. It'll be like elementary school all over again when you always get picked last for the team. I vowed that wasn't going to happen to me when I get older.

So to help remedy this I decided a few years ago that I needed to learn to curl. I was too busy to join a league or anything, but as luck would have it a couple friends of ours needed two extra people on their curling team one Sunday afternoon. I was so excited I jumped at the opportunity to get out on the rink and learn this game.

When I got to the rink I was handed a broom along with a "slide" (a slippery thing you put on the bottom of your shoe to slide better) and I was set. The only problem was that the other team didn't show up so we had no one to play. Thinking that my curling day was over I was about to leave when I found out that we were actually going to split up our team onto a couple other teams in a "skins game" (this is where whichever team wins each end gets $1.00 per point scored). I was extremely scared and told the other team that this was my very first time ever to play the game and that I would be terrible. They assured me it wasn't a problem.

So there I was, curling for my first time with a bunch of people I didn't know. I was obviously throwing lead and threw my rocks down to the other end. I didn't do too bad and the people I curled with were very encouraging. The hard part was the sweeping. I had already swept a couple rocks down the rink and thought I was getting the hang of it...but I was obviously just getting cocky. The next time down the rink I was sweeping away at the rock going as fast as I could when suddenly the next thing I remember was looking up at the ceiling and wondering where the rocks, ice and all the people went. The sharp pain in my butt as I landed on the ice brought me back to reality and I realized that I had just completely wiped out. And while wiping out I had kicked the rock we were sweeping eliminating it from the game (it was the first of a few that I would eliminate due to touching it while sweeping). Obviously not a lot of people wipe out a lot there because suddenly practically every person on every rink in the whole building stopped and stared at me while offering shouts of "are you ok?" I struggled and slipped back to my feet, brushing off the snow and assuring everyone that I was just fine (even though it did hurt a bit). Nevertheless, it was a miracle but our team actually managed to win and I walked away $2.00 richer. As I handed back my slide at the end of the day I realized that I still need a lot of practice before I get old. Luckily I have about another 40 years or so until I need to be good!

Let me know if you think this great curling adventure is fact or fiction!

March 22 - What A Great Day

Your Birthdate: March 22

While sometimes employing unorthodox approaches, you are capable of handling large scale undertakings. You assume great responsibility and work long and hard toward completion. Often, especially in the early part of life, there is rigidity or stubbornness, and a tendency to repress feelings. Idealistic, you work for the greater good with a good deal of inner strength and charisma. An extremely capable organizer, but likely to paint with broad strokes rather than detail. You are very aware and intuitive. You are subject to a good deal of nervous tension.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Thanks to Janelle Loewen's blog for the link to this very insightful information about myself based on my birthday. I was skeptical at first and thought this was similar to a horoscope, but now I'm not so sure. I thought it described me pretty well. I always like things that reassure me in my thinking. For example, right now I'm thinking about starting a business and one of my ideas would be quite a large venture. So when this birthday thing tells me I can handle large scale undertakings, I get pumped up to go out and do it!

Take the birthday quiz yourself and then let me know in the comments whether you think it was an accurate description of yourself.

Wake Me When It's Over

Last week I went to the dentist to get some work done (I really need to floss on a more regular basis). I realized again why I don't like going to the dentist...because it hurts! They pry away on your mouth to keep it open, start drilling on your teeth while the little pieces of tooth come flying into your face, and they stick needles in your mouth to numb it (which is a good start!).

What I would like to see is a way for them to knock me out completely during the whole process. I would love to be able to sit down in the dentist chair, say hi to the dentist as they give me a quick needle in the arm that knocks me out, and then just wake up when it's all over. It would be so simple for both the dentist and me:

1) They can just prop my mouth open while I'm sleeping instead of constantly saying "Can you open a little wider?"
2) I don't feel any pain at all
3) The time would go by very quickly

I really think this would make us all like the dentist a whole lot more. Who can argue with a quick 30 - 60 minute power nap while you get your teeth worked on.

What do you think? Do you like my idea or am I just a wimp? Is there any other place you wish you could get knocked out and just wake up when it's over?