I've actually been waking up earlier and feeling less tired lately ... I also have been going to bed earlier.

I haven't put on any weight since I changed my diet, but I haven't lost any more either. I guess I just have to start exercising to start losing.

I am surprised I didn't put on any weight after we stopped the last diet, I usually pack on the weight I lost + 1 or 2 more pounds real quick. I guess eating better is good. :-)

In The News
Boy, there always seems to be something for the news programs to latch on to, and they always talk about these sensational stories ad nauseam.

They have the power mold public opinion, unfortunately it's usually the only opinion of a few 'Fat Cats'. When ever there is another side of some of these stories they don't air them. That's why the govt. can't control the digital bandwidth, because the cable/satellite/TV and other media providers convinced most of America that it was bad for the Govt. to control it and it was safer in the hands of the big companies (yeah, right).

Remember, these are just my opinions. So no suing me. We are still aloud to have opinions here ... for now. 'Land of the free,' my big, fat, hairy armpits. Try 'Land of Big Business!'

And the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that stripped away so many rights from individuals that have been proven rights through the decades. People are allowed to photo copy books, and make backup tapes of video tapes, why not DVDs and CDs?

Enough ranting, I'll see you next time. Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.

Healthier Than We Were
Between Andrea, Alana, Owen and I we have all been pretty healthy except for about 3 to 4 days each over the last few weeks.

Time to Work Out
Andrea's new diet seems to working out for her, she just tries to eat healthier (as do I now), and exercise about 3 times a week.

I think it works better for her because she exercises, I don't have time to. :-(

I'm Sleepy
On average I get about 4½ hours of sleep a night. My wife usually keeps me up until about 12:20 AM. My daughter usually wakes up around 4:00 AM and climbs into our bed. My son usually gets up 1 or 2 times a night and just needs a little attention to rock him back to sleep. Then I try to get up around 6:30 AM

I feel like I'm walking around in a daze.

Andrea's grandmother had to go through her operation to replace the mechanical valve in her heart on Wed Nov 05, 2003, they had less than an hour's notice. They had to take her or risk losing use of her kidneys or she could die.

Her first Doc backed out in the beginning, the second one (supposedly the best in the country) backed out the morning of the 5th (neither of them wanted to do it with out using blood).

Finally a resident at the Cleveland Clinic did it "against his better judgement." It took 2 hours less than they said it would, and there was "minimal blood loss" and it went "as well as they could have hoped."

The next day (11/06/2003) they said she was the healthiest person on the recovery floor, I guess people who do not have blood administered recover faster. She even got some functionality of her kidneys back.

Pet List (2003)

I just thought I'd list the pets we've had (in reverse order [newest first]):

<2008 -="" .02.09="" begin="" edit="">I needed to add the following...

Sprinkles (Beta Fish)
5 Nameless Hermit Crabs
Spinner (Parakeet)
Debbie (Girbil)
Eeyor (Girbil)
Piglet (Girbil)
Sally (Parakeet)
Pinky (Gerbil)
Ben (Girbil)
Goldie (Beta Fish)
Sophie (dog)

Koko (dog)
Nameless (fish)
Cosmo (congo african grey parrot)
Spike (cockatiel)
Picasso (sun conure)
Buttercup (parakeet)
Peanut (parakeet)
Baxter (dog)
Zoe (dog)
Daisy (cat)
Elwood (cat)
(fish)
Jake (dog - started as George's)
Shadow (cat - George's only)

I'm done with pets! When Koko is gone, I don't think I'll be getting any more. Don't get me wrong, I love them, they are just a lot of work!

It's about time to give Koko (our Bichon Frise) a bath.

They say that the Bichons do not smell, like other dogs. They also say not to give them baths more than once a month.

I'm here to tell you that those two statements are wrong. They do smell like other dogs, and you need to give them more regular baths to prevent it. It does take longer for them to get that dog smell, but it comes.

Since Koko likes to be outside, he smells like a dog sooner than most other Bichons. I think we need to get on a weekly bathing schedule for Koko.

I'm not sure if Andrea's grandmother would have gotten sick even if she had finished her antibiotics.

They have to replace the mechanical heart valve she had put in about tree years ago, it was supposed to last the rest of her life.

They are going to be putting in a "biological" heart valve (one plus with this is that she won't need to be on anti-clotting [is that a word] medication) when they can get her blood count up to 37, she's at 35 right now.

They want to get her blood count up so they can perform bloodless surgery on her.

One of the doctor's at Cleveland Clinic refused to do bloodless surgery on her.

The doctor they have now is supposed to be the best in the field and he will do the surgery. I don't know if he works out of Cleveland Clinic or if he's coming in just to do the surgery.

My own opinion is that a doctor who cannot perform bloodless surgery is a hack, and they need the blood because they aren't as skilled at surgery as they should be, or they aren't as up-to-date on the latest techniques in their field as they should be.