Water Under The Bridge

Yesterday was another day at the doctor’s office; the second of this week. The first was with my cardiologist who confirmed once again that I do have a heart and that everything was ticking along well.

This time, my appointment was with an orthopedic surgeon to get his insight into the cause of my neck ache. The diagnosis was not that great; but considering my age and spinal issues- no nasty comments needed about my age - LOL - it was not unexpected.

There is degenerative bone ‘disease’ related to scoliosis and osteoporosis. At my age, surgery is out of the question. The alternatives or combined treatments suggested were physical therapy and/or acupuncture. A referral was given for a therapist but not for an acupuncturist. It was not that the doctor did not believe in acupuncture but, rather, he had no one specific for providing that service. Fortunately, Joyce had been to an acupuncturist who is well respected by us.

So, it looks like that being needled is going to be part of my life.  If you don’t get the point, I know I will.  LOL

Yes, the years are creeping up on me and it is not unusual to encounter a few senior moments. Thankfully, they have not been too many.

The most recent episode of senior moment (some call it ‘CRAFT’) occurred toward last weekend. when there was a frantic search for a missing laptop. It should be known that there are three laptops in the house; the newest is a MacBook, which replaced a Dell that is to be erased of personal information to be given to a disabled friend of Joyce. The third is also a Dell which was assigned to Joyce many many months ago for her use.

There is the expression that it’s always in the last place you look and of course it is; because when you find it you stop looking. Well, I searched high and low; even in our two cars but nada, zilch, zero, nil, etc.

Then Joyce came over to my desk, which is somewhat cluttered but could not hold an extra laptop, and asked “Have you looked under here”. I pushed back my chair and looked under the desk, which I had done previously, and there was nothing to see. Out of the blue, it hit me. There is a pull out shelf, not very big but big enough, immediately below the desktop. Yeah, yeah. There it was.

Now, I don’t really feel so bad because, a few days later, someone who is much younger and has no excuse of senior moments misplaced his iPhone. Fortunately it was found; in somewhat similar circumstances. I will not mention any names; that will be left to him to admit. LOL

Thanks to those who read my posts. They should not and will not be forgotten. Please say “Hi” as you drop by.

A big THANKS.

OK !! It is not soccer but American football and Joyce and I, although we don’t attend the games, we root for our two local teams; the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers.

Both teams have been playing abysmally badly and the win record, to put it mildly, can be counted with two fingers. This Sunday, just passed, was a day of minor celebration when each team won after many weeks of losses. The Raiders played a fairly good game and the 49ers did not win as much as the other team lost.

It was almost a pathetic comedy of errors by the Cardinals, the losing team. The game had gone into overtime and the Cardinals screwed up two field goal attempts to possibly win the game and then their quarterback fumbled the ball in their own end zone; thereby giving the 49ers the game.

A win is a win, I guess.

Thanks to the great work done by my good friend, Daniel; can’t sing his praises loud enough, my Scottish trip pictures are now a part of my desktop screen.

They are set to rotate every 30 minutes and the detail is wonderful. A Canon PowerShot A75 is the source of these great pictures. The nostalgia level is very high; misty eyes.

My next endeavor is to be able to have these wonderful (personal opinion) pictures posted to my blog. That is a technique that has still to be learned; contrary to the concept that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

And, yes, age is just a number.

Why this came to my mind at this time escapes me; but in googling the title, a comment sent to The Scotsman newspaper by me back in April popped up.

Here is the excerpted comment:-

Shame on me - lol - based on my birth in Braveheart territory, a private label Scotch being sold by a major drug store chain in the Western States and Hawaii is named “MacTays” - blame my supervisor, vice-president and founding brother of the chain. He asked me for the names of rivers and lochs in Scotland. In the bunch were Loch Tay and River Tay. As I mentioned these two, he snapped his fingers - “that’s it - MacTays” .

This event took place back in 1962 and, to this day, “MacTays” is still being sold. Another private label Scotch, “Kilties Best” had a similar naming process; but is no longer on the market.

Lang may yir lum reek.

Instant messaging is a wonderful way of communicating ; but, at times, it can get me into ‘trouble’. Even with the use of emoticons.

My Scottish education of many many years ago taught me that each word had its own impact and meaning. As a consequence, it is my nature to be too precise in today’s times when reading IM’s or e-mails. To the best of my knowledge, there is no way for me to overcome this except for me to be more open in my interpretations.

Also, another aspect of my education was composing letters, etc without using “I”. In fact, it was one of the components of our “Control” exams when moving into junior high.

To this today, many of my writings follow the same pattern and it is still difficult for me to overcome the precise interpretation of words.

Call me “Mr. Precise”.

One more week of what? One more week to what? It’s all about the National Blogging Posting Month; otherwise referred to as NaBLoPoMo.

Many bloggers are participating in posting every day during the month of November; and this is my second year of hanging in. A participant award for last year appears to the right.

There have been days when it has been a struggle to find a subject; but, fortune did shine on me and now the light at the end of the tunnel is in view.

To all participants, hang in there; there is only one more week to go.

It is now a month since my blog has been analyzed through Google Analytics and the results are becoming more interesting each day as I browse.

The breakdown of information is amazing and includes the number of viewers by country, state and even city. And that is only the beginning.

I will not mention the name of the person who encouraged me to make the switch and actually implemented the change; but his first name has the initial “D”. LOL

Yesterday, I was invited to watch a YouTube video posted by my good friend, Daniel. The video is self-explanatory and greatly appreciated; as evidenced by my comments.

Daniel has been a source of wonder and expertise when it comes to computer technology; and, as mentioned in my comments on his video, he encouraged me to blog and provided all the technical knowledge and design to make it happen.

In closing, Thank you, Daniel.

Despite the title, yesterday was not a day of dread; it was time for a review of this year’s estimated taxes. The results left us ecstatic and money to spend. Actually, the money is ours and invested in various IRA funds that require annual minimum withdrawals; so that we are able to withdraw a bunch without having tax owing at the end of the year.

Credit should be given to my former employer, with whom I worked over nine years on a regular part-time basis, for providing this tax service. In addition, pro-rated vacation, sick and holiday were provided; even though it is not a large company. To top that off, there was a Simple IRA plan to which a contribution of three percent of gross was added.

It was like old times when I was there today. There is not a large staff; so when the phone rang and everyone was busy, it just seemed natural for me to answer the phone; one of my previous duties. Also, my voice is still on the answering machine. Think a Scottish accent. LOL

The day was made even better when Joyce and I were once again invited to join the staff for the Christmas lunch. It is nice to be appreciated.