Getting Old

I have been working out with weights for nearly 6 months. I've been doing some cardio workouts for about a month.
I hurt as if I started working out yesterday. This getting old stuff really bites.

Here's a picture of me, before any of the workouts started. Look how happy I was:

McCain and Stuff

Someone who you know....and who I know really well....has been invited to a very private meeting with Mr. John McCain in two weeks.
He is beginning his campaign to be re-elected Senator for Arizona, and he is meeting
with the grassroots campaigners who are out in the rural areas of the state.

Just so we're on the same page, I am a grassroots campaigner in a rural area of Arizona.
It's a top secret meeting and I will be sure to post plenty of pictures of me and Senator McCain.

Then, the following week, we get to haul Sneaky Pete over to Santa Ana California for an appointment with The History Channel. They are interested in doing a little story about Ol' Pete.

Somehow, someway, I am going to get my face on The History Channel. I'll have to stick my head into the background or something.

Superman Wall

I've had a growing Superman wall for several years now, ever since he was put in a wheelchair after his riding accident. "His" accident, I mean Christopher Reeve's.
It's flattering when someone takes the time to look for some Christopher Reeve memorabilia, to give me for a Birthday or whatever, because I know sometimes it can be difficult and pricey. After all, he was suddenly unable to sign autographs and photos after May 1995.
That's what makes my collection special to me, because the script I have from the 1978 movie and a couple of the photos have his signature on them.
When Reeve died in 2004 I was so heartbroken. I had to keep from crying at work and I remember my asshole co-workers were teasing me because it was to them merely the death of a has-been actor. But he was much more than that. He personified a hero during his acting career and gave people something very huge to be excited about. Not just comic book readers, but people who really wanted to believe that humans were capable of much more.
And then he personified a hero when the horse riding accident paralyzed him from the neck down. He used every ounce of will to get out in the public and raise awareness as well as money for spinal cord injury research. He battled hernias, broken bones, blood clots, deadly allergic reactions to medications, and endured 5 hours a day of physical therapy to keep his body in good shape so he could continue to show doctors and the public that it is possible for a quadriplegic to regain function.
And he did. Before he died of a severe reaction to medications in October 2004, Reeve regained sensation in his lower body, and had begun to take steps in physical therapy. He had also partially weaned himself from the ventilator he'd been dependant on for nearly a decade.

I was nervous about reading his book "Still Me" that he wrote in 1998, because I didn't want to have a week-long cry fest. But really it was an inspirational and interesting read.
One paragraph, though, brought plenty of tears.

He was writing about a surprise appearance he made at the Academy Awards, just a year after his accident:
"I entered hotels and buildings thru garages, kitchens, and service elevators, and met cooks, waiters, chamber-maids, and maintenance crews. Many of them said they were praying for me. Others looked me right in the eye and said, "We love you Superman, you're our hero." At first, I couldn't believe they meant it. Then I realized they were looking past the chair and honoring me for a role that obviously had real meaning for them. I didn't feel patronized in any way. Clearly a part I had played twenty years before was still valued. The fact that I was in a wheelchair, unable to move below my shoulders, and dependent on the support of others for almost every aspect of my daily life had not diminished the fact that I was--and always would be--their Superman."

Shay's One Hundred Days

Shay's school offers great rewards every year for perfect attendance, and this year is no exception. So far, 50 students qualify for the drawing in May for 4 tickets to Sea World. I believe that's a couple hundred dollars worth of passes.
Today, the perfect attendance students were recognized with a little assembly outside the school, with certificates and cookies.

Proud of Shay, because he is learning what the value of a free education is.

The Budget

The way I see it, government needs to cut funding to anything that isn't a mandated service. Go back to basics. Keep funding to police, fire, probation, jails, etc, and cut the funding to the services that aren't required for a community.
We've been living fat and happy for waaay too long.

Country Cookin

I have never tried one of the Barefoot Contessa's recipes. I've tevo'd her show, watched it over and over, but have never had the guts to try out one of her meals. Till yesterday, that is.
I made short ribs in a wine sauce, jalapeno cheese bread, and black eyed peas. The short ribs were her recipe, and it took over three hours to make them. The rest of the stuff I just made it up as I went. Well, I was excited about the short ribs seeing how they took so long and took so much effort.
One bite, and I was horrified. They were as tough as shoe leather. Maybe worse. I don't know what I did wrong--something in the sequence must've been left out, because it was the worst ribs I'd ever made. WORST!!!
But the bread and peas were awesome.

Intervention

Say you've got a bad habit. Nail biting, hair chewing, something like that.
Mine is tugging on my ear lobes. I've done it since I discovered I had them.
I hear people's remarks once in a while, "Leave your ears alone, blah blah blah blah." But if I'm not wearing earrings, I am tugging on my ear lobes. At the end of the day, my ears are sore and red. I suppose if I don't stop I'll be a 90 year old woman with ear lobes that reach my shoulders, or something like that.

I've gotten hooked on A & E's show, "Intervention." I tevo it and watch it with my son. He's a smart cookie, he knows the dangers of alcohol and drugs; but I still like to sit him down and reinforce what substance abuse can do to a perfectly good person.

Most of the time, the person who is the focus of the intervention knows they have a problem and they freely admit it. But once in a while a person will sit in a room full of his family and friends and flat out deny there's a problem. They will be drunk off their ass and barely able to sit up, all the while saying, "Hey, I only have like one or two drinks a day, I don't have a problem." They seriously have a look of confusion as their family members, one by one, cry and tell them how awful their substance abuse is.

I watched an episode recently of a man my age who opened and operated his own chain of tanning salons in Las Vegas. He ran the administrative part of the business out of his house, which enabled him to drink straight vodka all day. His employees brought him food and took care of all the things that he couldn't.
He had all the symptoms of liver failure. Bruising on his torso and of course he was a shaky mess. He'd managed to get this messed up in about an eight year time period.
The intervention finally took place, and this guy honestly looked as though his family was TOTALLY overreacting and his one or two drinks per day were definitely not a problem. The look on his face was, "Huh?"
All I could think of was my ear lobes. I'd probably have the same look on my face, should my family decide to sit me down and say that I needed help for my problem.

"Huh?"

"We think you have a problem and you need to get help."

"I don't have a problem. I only touch my earlobes when I don't have earrings in. You guys are overreacting."

I can understand this guy's love affair with vodka, though. Each holiday season we find ourselves out socializing a little more than usual, and the fancy martinis are everywhere. Each holiday season I have to make a conscious effort to STOP drinking the vodka.

Well, this guy wasn't so lucky. He refused to concentrate on his treatment and he relapsed shortly thereafter. He died in his home a couple of months later.

I am certain I am not going to die from ear lobe touching. If my family decides to confront me, they're looking for trouble.