Kaki King and CI's

Finally music to my ears! It's Kaki King! I get it with my CI!!!!

I came in and Terri had August Rush DVD playing and the music was awesome through my CI. I kept turning it up more and more and it was clear! This was the first time I had seen August Rush and it's an awesome movie. So far music just hasn't been a strong point with my CI. But tonight it was right on. I was listening and thinking to myself am I really hearing it this clear? I turned down my hearing aid and just enjoyed the movie and music with CI only. I came back to the laptop and listened to several sample cuts and ended up downloading the whole Kaki King CD called Dreaming of Revenge. So far it's awesome! I have always been a fan of guitar and this really made me believe the CI can handle music.

Got in a late afternoon ride on the river yesterday and Edgefest, a music festival named after a radio station was an hour out for starting. This is a head bangers ball. A mass of black t-shirts and mascara. The kids are alright.

I spent the afternoon with my house church at River City cooking hot dogs for the low income and some homeless folks in that area. Since it was a cloudy and sprinkle sort of afternoon there was a lighter crowd. Still good though.

I bought an IPOD for the family to use yesterday but guess what, the plug is a tad different than my hearing aid jack. It goes in and I can here music but it doesn't have that connecting click that you normally feel. Working with the CI fine. Got to make a play list for my flight next week.

Saw the list of hospital folks going to Disney Institute next Sunday. Wow! I'm way out of my league here! VP's, Directors and docs. Can you say n.e.t.w.o.r.k.???? HA!

Life is good!
Geo.

Weekend! Yaba-daba-do!

Terri and I got ordered out pizza, salads and crashed on the sofa and watched a movie. We normally go out on Friday nights to dinner but we were both peopled out from the week.

I've got a long list for the weekend... plant flowers in the pots for the patio and front porch, church media stuff, got to get an afternoon ride in tomorrow, house chores, maybe buy a real IPod. buy clothes for trip, haircut...on and on...

CI readers: Any tips on airport security and CI's? This is my first flight since getting this.

Any airplane reading suggestions? Need light hearted stuff.

Life is good... it's the weekend...go have fun!
Geo.

PANERA is coming!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We will be getting a Panera.
No more driving over 2 hours to get a cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese.

http://www.panerabread.com/

Is that screwed in your head? Cochlear Implant story

"Is that screwed in your head?"



No, look (I take the CI off and stick it to a metal food rack)



OMG!!! That's sick!



I'm now laughing...



Geo, everyone thinks that is screwed in your head.



Let them think that man! If they're gonna mess with my head, let's mess with theirs!



Does it bother you?



No, not at all. I suspect it hurts as much as putting on a pair of glasses.



Serious?



There's nothing to it.



Can you feel the magnet under your skin?



Not really. Not any more. I can feel when the magnet connects with it but it's the same feeling as sticking a magnet on the frig. You feel it pull together then you hear it coming in. I wish I could tune in a radio with it. That would be great for meetings. Actually I bet in a couple years I can program it to open the garage door as I drive up!



ARE YOU SERIOUS?!



Sure, why not?



Man, you are so lucky. You always get the coolest equipment.



(Note to CI friends... do you have that new program that opens the garage door yet?!)

*********************************************************



Well I got home yesterday and the streets were dry and the air was so southern (that translates to humid). I stopped by the bike shop and picked up some new gear. Ok bike bud's brace yourselves.. I didn't realize I was this bad... I bought some new riding shorts. Specialized! I realized the other day that my favorite shorts were... OLD! I bought them before I did the ride-around-the-state-tour! I kid you not! No wonder I'd been having "issues" (Ironman & Ironmaiden, stop laughing, it's not funny! HA!). I haven't changed my shorts since 2005?!!

HA!



I also am looking at a new seat but y'all already know that. So I'm talking to Dan (I think is his name). He's the new manager at the Bike shop just down the road from the house. I love this shop but now that Dan is running it and plans to make some great changes it will pump life back into it. This guy was some knowledgeable and helpful. Anyway I was talking about the new seat. Nope, he was not going to sell me just any ole seat... they now have a cushion thing you sit on and the seat you need comes in a certain size. (Ok OK... fat butt... I know!). So the seats come in in a couple of weeks and I'll get fitted and get a new one. I plan to leave the bike at the shop while I'm in Orlando on business for the spring tune up.



Got home and rode around the neighborhood. Hills and hills. Either up or down. Going training though. It was a good ride... lots of sweat.



Oh, when with a bud to lunch yesterday to a place downtown called Luvah. Oh man! It's awesome. They have these mini burgers that you can get 3 of any kind you want. I ordered 3 funky but oh so good ones. A hamburger with crab meat... who would have thought?



Life is so good!

Geo.

Ka-BOOM!

Was over in the main hospital and was about to leave and Ka-BOOM! Flash of lightening and clap of thunder and CI crackled. Yikes! It's working fine though.

Fingers crossed the wind will continue to blow and dry the road for the evening training ride.

Disney, Dry & Store, Specialized Pro

The rain stopped and that meant do all the things I need to do around the house.

Got to play in the yard a lot over the weekend and that's always good therapy for me. I went to several plant places and plotted and planned my new landscape project for the front yard.

Took the bike out for a run. Heebie geebie that last flood was way higher than any other I've ever seen. Remember those photos I posted? They were nothing compared to the last flood. There are river wash lines (piles of sticks and logs) mashed into fence lines. It's going down really fast so hopefully the whole trail will be reopened soon. Thank goodness they invested in a detour higher ground section last year so at least we can ride. The river left a lot of fine sand in places. I felt my back tire slip once and thought I was either going do or pulling off a cool power slide on a road bike.

Oh the big new... I'm heading down to the Disney Institute on the company ticket! I get to see how their Human Resources department runs and get to go into the tunnels to see all the behind the scenes stuff. Since I was flexible allowing them to book my flight that when they booked it the travel agent said I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and there was a sale on first class seats so it was cheaper to book me in first class rather than business. Oh yeah, me strolling into the airport and hopping a 6am on Sunday morning flight over to ATL then down to ORL. I want to go buy so Dolce and Gabbana (sp?) sunglasses to wear so I'll look like the other rock stars ...buh ha haha... right.... I'm excited that the director of Audiology & Speech (Patti) is going on this trip as well. She's a riot anyway plus it will be good to pick her brain about all things audiology.

Speaking of audiology stuff... I got a slight ear infection right after I got my new ear mold. I usually don't go nuts over a product but this Dry & Store unit is really on target! Serious. My ear infection was gone as fast as it came. I like the Dry & Store too because every morning my CI and hearing aid come out smelling new. That's the best feeling... sort of like a fresh just of the dryer towel... smells and feels good. I did have some email talk with one of the Dry & Store folks. Nice lady... gave me tips to keep my ear mold from drying out. One is to wipe it off before I put it in the dehumidifier. I think that may have been part of the reason my ear mold was getting whacked out. If you don't have one, order one. They're a good investment.

I had to drive today since Terri had an eye appointment so I took the bike and the plan was to ride right after work and meet some friends on the Little Rock side but as I pulled my bike out the front tire was flat. Bummer. Pulled the tire off (Specialized Pro) and the tube out. I've done this a bizillion times. Tug and pull and nothing. Is this thing glued on!? I worked with it for a while then decided to head over to the house instead. I was floored that I was losing patience over a flat. Never been a prob before. Got to the house and worked a few minutes and had it right back ready to roll. I had already changed back into street clothes so I used the time for some spring bike maintenance. She's all cleaned up and looking pretty. Tomorrow Terri and I will ride together so I'll probably just ride around the hood. My hood is the best for hill training anyway. Another thought I had was that I hadn't had a flat with thse tires at all last year! This was my first flat with the ride. Way to make a great product Specialized!

I spent lunch on the fitness center with my coach. We laughed and had a good time while he cracked a whip. While I was between sets on one of the leg machines I was talking to another guy and he changed the weight up a bit. I wasn't expecting it then ugh...u.g.h...oh man! When I finished he said, Geo, you broke a sweat," I just laughed and said, "Yep, us fat boys do that." He said at least 3 times a week I had to have my rear in there for training. Yes he is training me for something big for 2009. I will be in the best shape I will ever be in by this time next year. I'm having to pull back on the sugar for starters. On the weekend I can do what I want and don't worry about it since I'll be riding more that will take care of it.

By the way, I will be biking to work if this gas keeps going. How high will it get before most folks change their habits? They were doing the gloom and doom report on the way to work this morning and I just thought it was funny (sort of) because I'm stuck in a traffic jam.

Life is really good!!!!

Update coming tonight

Sorry... update coming tonight! Big and funny news will be posted.

Well Noah set sail again...

Well Noah set sail again... no it's not raining but from the massive rain last week the river is way up. Where I rode my bike last week... remember those photos? Well it's ALL under water now. What's not under water is nasty slick mud.

Tonight is supposed to be the cold night but it warmed up pretty nice by getting off from work time.

Not much really going on so I want bore you.

Life is good!
Geo.

Brrr wee it's chilly!

For the life of me I can't figure out why it's always chilly and cloudy on Sunday's these days. Where's that little orange spiky ball they were showing on the weather updates?

Oh man am I having a Ci moment!!!! There is a bird ACROSS the street on the wire and I can hear it like it's on the front porch! I kept telling myself it could not be that bird I am hearing but every time I would hear the singing the bird would have it's beak open and sort of bouncing. When it would be still the singing stopped.

I finally got my own copy of my favorite movie... yep, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It's just a funny movie to me and Em was heading over to Michael's for scrap book stuff and Best Buy is right beside it so I gave her money and asked her to look. She called and said now what is it? She then started reading off all the movies she was looking at with "Midnight" then she found it. Yep, dad here it is the with girl holding the 2 bowls. That happens to be a statue called "Bird Girl". Google it why don't ya.

The movie is set in Savannah, GA and there is a senior (as in old folks) group going on a road trip and that's one of the cities they will stop in and eat at Paula Deen's Lady & Son's restaurant. I wanted to mess with the 49er's today and actually sent an email requesting permission to use a Paula Deen photo. I get a personal email back from one of her staff giving approval. One of the things I'm a pest about is copyrights. I don't like stealing art.

Speaking of Paula Deen, Terri and I got tickets to see her in May at the Grand in Tunica. It's a Sunday afternoon show so I checked out the tickets and we hit 5th row center. I bought them then told Terri happy mother's day... early. She was excited. I just like to hear her say "butter" (pronounced bud-ah). Something tells me fellow blogger Wes says it the same way since that's his state.

I'm actually working on reports this afternoon. I got some wrong numbers in so I'm correcting before turning the thing in tomorrow. Thank goodness it's only once a quarter! It's a monster report.

Note to Jennifer: Sorry, I don't know why I thought you were in KY. But you did miss the TN tornado's right?

Life is good!!

The dove with the olive branch

I could almost sense a dove with an olive branch flying up to the front porch. The rain is OVER!!! Noah's Arc is settling on a hill in Sherwood! As the sun set this evening to the east was the tail end of the storm. Everyone was on pins and needles today because there was talk of a repeat of last Thursday nights wicked weather. When I let the pup out this morning it was real warm and muggy so I was starting to wonder. At around 11 this morning the storm rolls in and tornado sirens start blaring... oh great I thought. But to every one's relief, the storms headed out at sundown.

Note to fellow blogger and CI guru Jennifer over in KY: Hope you folks are safe tonight. This storms are nasty little snots.

So the weather has this little spiky looking orange ball for the next 7 days. I think it's called a sun but not sure. I will say this much for the rain that is everything deep dark lush green!

At noon I took off and headed to Benton to hang out with Dad while mom went to the eye doc. She got great news and doesn't have to go back!! We talked about our summer vacation plans for FL! The whole family is going! Boy do I look forward to some down time and with my sisters there it will be a riot! It's very rare that me and my sisters have "just us" time except when we take vacations together. One of my favorite FL (Destin) memories is walking on the beach with a couple of my sisters. We laughed and cut up and would have all been grounded if mom and dad knew what we were up to. They were talking about everyone having a dinner together just once and when the count was down it was 35 people!!!!!

I've gotten to go over to the clinic and talk to folks consider CI's. It's really an honor to get to do this. Actually I don't really do anything but let them know I enjoy mine and then answer any questions they may have. I still have days where I'm hearing something new. Hearing the birds is still my favorite. I can crack my window in my office and the birds sit on the telephone wires and sing all day long.

I was having is problems with my hearing aid ear mold and got a new one. WOW! The sound and clarity is so much better now. I was also putting the whole thing in my Dry & Store each night and found out I wasn't supposed to put the mold in there. I think I may have dried out the other mold too much to the point that it didn't fit correct.

It's Friday eve!!!

Life is good!

It's back....again...

More rain...

Life is... wet....

Sunday sunset and tornado tales

Well the tales of the tornado are in full circulation right now. Em's high school was hit hard and so the kids have to go to 3 different places. Em will be going over to 1st Assembly church and what more could a girl in distress ask for??? It's right by the mall. Just trying to make like of a bad ending to a senior year. One of her close friends (JT) house got hit and they will have to tear it down. It's a new house and a beauty. They have moved into an apartment until they rebuild.

I shot a few photos of the river trail at Burn's Park.

I shot the photo above just for fellow blogger Wes. Yep, it's the soccer fields.

The last time we flood like this there were fish that had gotten over into these parts when it was all under water. When the water dries up there will be dead, smelly fish here.
More flooding along the Arkansas River.

A bit blurred but it struck me as a solitude shot.

Sometimes I'm awarded being in the right place at the right time. I got to see a beautiful sunset. Oh you want to watch... the video is below... enjoy!

I headed out for a slow "look at the pretty flowers" ride this evening. I really didn't even realize the tornado hit the park until I got there. These couple of trees are nothing compared to what I saw on the way home. I took the back road that goes behind our house and that was where the twister crossed. Man, there is stuff everywhere. Our pastor, Greg lives right on the edge of where it came through and it picked up he boys trampoline and threw it over the fence and wrapped it around a pole a ways off!

One of the weird stories is that it hit the press box but everything under it was still perfectly stacked!

Life is still good... it really is...

We are OK... no damage

Just a quick hit. We are all ok and no damage. It starts several blocks from our house. some folks who used to go to our church said they have a swing set in their backyard that's not theirs. Also on Remont Road the giant black cow that's on top of that meat packaging company is missing.... anyone seen an 8 foot black angus statue laying around.

More later

Thursday... or as I call it "Friday Eve"!

Several friends and blog lurkers have asked if we are ok. Everyone seems to be hearing Arkansas and the word flood in the same sentence a lot these days. Here are a few photos along the bike trail this evening and this is *after* the water has gone down quite a bit. Of course tonight a new storm is coming through and I heard 3-6 inches of rain with large hail and gusty winds. I let the girls park their cars in the garage so just mine with get hailed on. Maybe it won't be so bad.

All of this used to be under water. That's actually the river trail that's right beside the water.Here's where the trail goes in the water
Can you imagine flying down this to look up and see you are heading for the water? Lucky though it turns and the trail is completely out of the water but it looks very "OMG!"

As promised I added photos back to the blog.

I got home this afternoon and Terri pulled in right behind me. Both of us changed into active clothes...me in my bike get up and her in her walk/running gear. She walk/runs with a group of ladies every Monday and Thursday. I ride with a group of ladies every Tuesday and Thursday. (HA! The guys will kill me for that remark).

Tonight I actually rode solo because I took the camera for flood photos. I really had a good ride just enjoying being outdoors. I had some good thoughts too. I thought about Jen Shaw (ShawKitty) and how all these years she has maintained that good spirited attitude towards riding. She can go fast but if she falls off the back, no be deal at all, just enjoy the ride. Me, I freak out when I fall off the back. I think several guys I know are like that. Sort of that oh man up and catch back up. No...just enjoy being healthy and riding!

Note to Jen (aka: chopped liver). Thanks for the pull into the headwind the other night but it wasn't me behind you. Dan and I where coughing up our lungs trying to keep up with you! Don't you have some Dr. homework to do or something?! HA!

Oh, and on the ride tonight... the Travs baseball had it's season opener and I could smell ball park food. Ugh! Gimme a dog and some BBQ nachos! (Don't knock BBQ nachos until you've had them at the ball park!)

So I get home and again, Terri pulls up behind me. When I get out of the shower I can smell olive oil something... ohhhh that smell!!! We had some sort of fish on the George Foreman thingy and doctored up green beans. Dang, she can cook and it was healthy.

Funny story: I just got my riding shorts out of the washer and I told Terri I was getting some new ones this weekend. The ones I had on tonight were the first ones I ever bought years ago! The ones I had on the other night were from when I rode around the state 3 years ago. Think it's time for some new padding! HA!

Oh here is a photo from Easter at church. Each week we added something all month. The first were the big palm trees, then the columns (temple), then the Jar and bow, then the last supper table then the cross for good Friday, then the tomb which the rock was rolled away during the service. It was a lot of fun... a lot of work... but a lot of fun! I forgot to turn on the Stained glass light at the top so it was sort of dark. This is my view from the crows nest where we do media and sound.

Just a fun day! Life is good!!

Quick lunch post

Weather says 3-6 inches of rain heading this way.... Hey Noah, ya got that boat ready?!

I did have my "regroup session" yesterday. No more sugar and I have to keep a journal of everything eat & drink for the next week. Core training starts next Monday. So I'm asked, what do you want to train for? The answer was that I have some unfinished business to ride. No date and I won't be doing it as a fund raiser unless someone else decides to pick up that ball. it's just too much to work, train, fundraiser and have any home life.

Congrats go out to TriBoomer on being selected for an elite Tri team. Congrats!!

I rode the trainer Monday night. Rode with the slow part of the Fast Girls Slow Guys ride last night. Ok, the slow group was rolling along at 21-22 most of the time. So much for slow. We climbed Ft Roots. Jen, JBar and myself stopped for a moment at the top to talk. Haven't seen JBar in a while. Was great as always to see him.

More later...back to work...