The big drop

Out from my office window towards the hospital

POURING DOWN!

So at 3pm today it was a hot and muggy 76 degrees and at 4pm it was a windy and c-o-l-d 61 degrees just after the storm passed.

The hospital looked like a ghost ship during the storm and I felt for the folks who sprinted across the parking lot without umbrellas. I hate that cold wet feeling.

Got the call from PR today and they want to follow the CI journey and turn it into a story! I told them out would step out of my comfort zone and blog raw data about what I feel and what is going on as I get cyborged.

I have to admit the Rebuilt book is really helpful because too much of it is what I've felt. The loneliness of not going somewhere because there would be too much noise and you just can't hear voices enough to understand. Actually I can hear voices but I don't understand. It's an insane sort of feeling. Serious, my hands sweat sometimes when I go into a meeting just because I wonder if I'll be able to hear.

Another fear is going to happen next week. Terri and Tyler will be going down to FL to see Terri's folks. Emmy and I will be here at home. So what's the fear? At night I can't sleep because I'm afraid something will happen and if Emmy called out to me for something, not that she has in years, I wouldn't have my hearing aid on to hear her. It's a "what if" sort of feeling.

Yes, I'm looking forward to the surgery and the real start of the CI journey and yes, I have really high expectations. One of the things Rebuilt mentioned what that the author listened to Winnie the Poo and read along in the book so he would learn the sounds that go with the words. First thought, "what a cool idea". I bet it's all part of the therapy.

I was surprised when Speech Path called and asked if it was OK that my Speech Therapy appointments were not the same day as my Audio appts. Speech therapy?! My speech is fine. OK, thick country southern accent but fine otherwise! HA! Sorry but you can't take the south out of this boy. I'm interested to see what I'll be doing in speech. I know it will be repeating words and sentences I suppose. Oh man, just thought of something... please Lord, don't let it be those same words I have to say in my hearing test!!!
Say the word baseball
Say the word hot dog
Say the word sidewalk
Say the word 'night y'all!

Cochlear Implant countdown...

Cochlear Implant: 15 days and counting!

It hit me today as I booked an appointment in my datebook for Nov 27th. I would be getting my CI the next day! I'll getting excited now. Yep, two weeks from Wednesday. I slipped in and read the notes on my account to be sure everything was really in place and I saw the insurance authorization number and they even gave me a 2 day ticket to ride inpatient if needed. It won't be. I'm just doing this through the drive through lane! In and out in a few hours, home to sleep off the versed and just hanging out the next day. I wished they made versed in a 6 pack! They give me that stuff then I just dgjaaash sijgths 'ojpjnaidfhb .....

I plan to get a movie or two for the day after. I remember growing up and if I had to stay at home sick there was never anything to watch (pre-cable). Well guess what? Now years later I can be at home and loaded up with a truckload of stations and still hate daytime TV. If I'm ever in a car wreck where I have to stay put, trust me, TV is not going to be a part of my day! Judge this and Judge that with "Have you been injured in a car accident?" commercials in between. Not me!

I've been over to the cochlear implant forums at Advanced Bionics site and there are some really nice folks over there who have gone through what I'm about to. It's been a nice way to ease the nerves.

I kept seeing a reference to a book called Rebuilt by Micheal Chorost. He was 36 and on the road traveling when his hearing aids go out or so he thought and it was his hearing going down by the hour. He ends up with CI's. I read an except from his book on Amazon and thought this is so true to life. I mean the guy hits it on the head! So I asked the buds over in our CI clinic if they had the book and sure enough. I got it this afternoon and plan to start reading it here in a little while.

I love the book cover! One of my coworkers saw the book on my desk this afternoon and said, "Is that going to be you?" You bet cha! Part Computer/Part Man!

Ok, I know the other big question you want to know...

How many miles did I ride this weekend?

Uh, that would be zero.

WHA??!!!

I said that would be zero, turn your aid up a little!

But why?

So you can hear me!

No... but why no ride?

Because I was busy cleaning the yard.

I have a neighbor who cleaned the leaves off their yard Saturday and then again Sunday because yo couldn't tell they did it the first time. This morning as we drove out of the drive I pointed there yard out to Terri and neither of us could believe their yard was covered up again. I mean it's really covered up.

Oh well.....

North Little Rock fall color and swans

Seems like just the other day

I took this same photo and it was fall.

Another yar has yet come and gone.

After battling a stomach problem all afternoon and into the night yesterday I woke feeling really rested. Maybe that was because I parked it after I got home and didn't do anything but watch the tube and nap then in bed around 10.

I turned the clock away from me so I couldn't see what time it was and I would really get some rest. For some reason I have this goofy mental thing that if it's 4:30 then I'll be up in an hour so why get anymore sleep? But if I don't see the clock I will sleep until daylight. Weird sleep patterns seem to run through my family.

Since I was feeling so good and the sun was just coming over the hills I ran down the road to the lakes and tried to shoot at the Old Mill but it was closed until 8 and I would the early sunlight. Also they had a backhoe parked down there. There goes everyone's fall photos. If you have ever seen the movie "Gone with the Wind" then you've seen the Old Mill. It's several neighborhoods over and a beautiful place to go.

I ended up at a couple of the lakes surrounding the Mill.... enjoy the fall photos from this morning.

The exposure isn't good on this one.

The colors are really dark and rich

but the sun was too high already.

I just have a cheap camera but it's still a lot of fun.

These swans were not happy that I didn't bring them food like many visitors do.

The Friday 5

Sneaking in a blog hit right quick while no one is looking...

Friday five, here we go...

1) Yes, I am riding my bike tomorrow afternoon. I need to work on my climbing.

2) I have to mow up leaves this weekend

3) Got to clean the garage because I know that an attic full of Christmas stuff is about to coming down in a few weeks.

4) For those who know me... I ate fish taco's last night so I won't be eating them this Saturday.

5) Terri returns this afternoon!

Thursday

Another day of Mr. Mom is coming to an end. Terri will be home tomorrow. I spoke with her earlier today and said the meetings were going good.

Here's the opening media for Sunday. Y'all don't forget, it's Vet's Day Sunday.

I'm having a blast doing media for church. Sometimes I get really nervous in the booth during the services since I move the media with the songs. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something but so far there has only been one bad Sunday but no one remembers now but me. It was an emotional service and one of he songs got out of order and I sort of jumped the tracks. Luckily the songs were ones everyone knew so not a big deal.

I have a link off of my website to my niece Melissa's blog. She is in the middle of the time of life when everyone is having kids. She and her crazy husband (that's crazy in a good sort of way) have twins. She has some of the best links off her blog. Most are mommy sort of chick reading stuff but some are filled with heartwarming stories while others are filled with heartbreaking. There's a mom with quads. No, you fool... not a deer camp ATV. She has 4 babies. One of he mom's is starting an adoption process. I won't even tell you what is on her blog today! Remember the movie Caddy Shack and the Baby Ruth? It's something like that!

I cannot believe tomorrow is Friday! Everybody dance now!!!

The big boom!

Frost is coming in so I shot these two real quick before work.

It's going to be sad to see the summer flowers leaving for a few months.

Ok, I lied... there is something going on. We have had 2 days of drill at the hospital. What happened? A fake BIG earthquake. I mean end of the world type stuff. My VP was Administrator-on-call this week and every time she's on call something happens. Usually it's something like a snow/ice storm or something crazy but this week she got to save the world. It was funny seeing the update emails coming out. It started off as an earth quake in a small rural town of Arkansas but it ends up complete chaos! I mean the sewage failed, cell phone service goes down, public panic and they start coming to the hospital, traffic stops and EMT's can't get through. Yes, that crazy.

But as much as we laughed about it, it was a good thinking exercise too. Terri and I drove down to Benton after work yesterday to have a little family meeting with my sisters. Nothing big, just planning some stuff. Anyway, we were talking about what would be our plan if something of that scale did happen? I'm lucky that my wife is 3 blocks from my building and our son works about 2 blocks from her. We worried about Emmy being 8 miles away over here. Morbid, I know, but you really do need to plan for the unexpected sometimes.

Terri has a conference over in Vicksburg, MS today and tomorrow and will be home Friday afternoon. I guess the drill really did have an effect on me because it was really lonely driving home solo today. I miss hearing about her day... good or bad.

There is a really cool Wounded Soldier bicycle ride coming through Little Rock tomorrow around 11. I hope to bust out a few moments and get some place so when they ride by I can cheer them on. They will ride from War Memorial stadium down to the bike trail along the river and over the big bridge then along the north side to the USS Razorback sub. That will be really great for those guys!

Walking with The Dino's starts tomorrow at Alltel. They have been here for a week setting up.

I noticed on my comments was an entry from a girl named Jennifer. Folks, I think she got her 2nd cochlear implant surgery yesterday. Cochlear in stereo! I was over on the Advanced Bionics boards trying to calm my pre-surgery nerves. Hello Jennifer and thanks for the comment! i hope your surgery went well!

Oh yeah, when I got home yesterday, I walked to the end of the drive to get the mail and called Terri out to look across the valley with me. Beautiful afternoon but something had happened over the pas couple of days. The oak trees turned b-r-o-w-n. Serious, straight from green to brown.

Quick hit Wednesday

Just a quick hit this morning. You'll laugh or roll our eyes but it's trash day on my street so you know what that means!! It's getting closer to the weekend! HA!

Not really a lot going on here. I got a shot yesterday for my cochlear implant surgery. Hard to believe that I'm exactly 3 weeks out. If I would have kept the first schedule where I would be doing it over at UAMS then it would be tomorrow but I'm really glad I'm having it with my own hospital. When I went for the shot yesterday i had to go to the ENT clinic and it was like a beehive over there. People everywhere! I asked Patti if it was always like that and she said every Tuesday and Friday. Guess who is in clinic those 2 days... yep, the best... Dr. D (Dornhoffer).

I'll write some more tonight but gotta run to work.

Sunday 11.04.07

Sunset at my sister Donna's backyard (aka: Arkansas River)

The time changed and from what I hear, I was not the only person who woke up an hour earlier. My friend Michael from church said he did the same. i woke at 4:30 rather than my usual 5:30 but did go back to sleep until 5:45. Whew, felt like the day was half over! HA!

I'm not liking the earlier sunset but am digging this daylight by 6:15 again! My girls get up so much easier when it's daylight.

Been a nice relaxed day with nice temps and plenty of sunshine ... sigh... my kind of day!

Oh the bike!

Oh yeah! I did it!!! I rode a down and back on the north side. Man, it was like going back to preschool for bikers. I felt awesome just pushing along at 16-17. Lot of families out and it was a great day to get back in the saddle.

Plan to do it again tomorrow. Hoping I can make the 1pm club ride if for nothing else to say hello to some friends I've not seen in a while.

Our media production for church in the morning is looking good! I'm about to meet up with Greg for the run through. I'm looking forward to infusing more video into the service.

Don't forget to set your clocks back... I'll wake up at 4:30 thinking it's 5:30 no doubt!

The Friday 5

Here's a new gig for Friday's on the blog... 5 things.

1) I do feel bad about eating so much and bragging about it. D-u-m-b!!

2) Tomorrow -- the bike and me! Oh my love my love where have you been! First ride in 47 days. (Note to hard core friends... no I am NOT riding in the morning when it's 50 degrees!). You can find me on the river trail about 2:30 or 3.

3) I'm loving our Honda Odyssey! It's so soccer mom or old foogie van but man they ride nice and the space... they were made for road trips!

4) One of the stores here sent us a post card to let us know they were opening at 6am this Saturday morning. So what? Hope they don't expect folks to be waiting in lawn chairs for them to open. What happened to celebrating a little Thanksgiving for a moment?

5) Favorite costume seen this week... on my nephews blog. His daughter dressed as her mom (nephews wife). She went as "Mandy in the Morning".

It's been a good week friends and family! Hope y'all have a greeat weekend and i'll try and write and post a few photos. It's all about the hair!

I kid you not!

I kid you not... the day is a little over half over and I'm so ill and plan to get even ill-er.

Meeting this morning -- "Geo, I brought dounuts!"
(I ate 2 chocolate ones --- but but but I got a flu shot then too. I needed comfort food!)

After meeting -- "Geo, I'm going to Java City... come on!"
(I go to Java City and gets a medium latte)

A bit later -- "Geo there were dounuts left over so I brought them up. They're over there on the counter."
(Thank goodness... no chocolate ones left -- I passed)

10:30a.m. --- Time to go over and judge a chili cookoff for one of my departments.
(I sampled 5 different ones -- 4 little samples and a big one -- ever had BBQ chili --- good stuff!)

!0:32 a.m. -- Ok, maybe a little later -- I find out I also am a judge for the desserts.
(Cheesecake won hands down! It was my daughters boyfriend (or whatever he is this week)stepmoms cake. She works at ACH).

11:00 a.m. Given a Thank You gift for judging. Bag of Orange lifesavers and box of Whoppers. Both are downfalls for me.

Noon: Open the box of Whoppers

Noon -o- two: Shaking the box wondering where they all are... tummy reminds me.

1:33pm -- I need a coke... be right back!

**************Later that day****************************

I know, y'all want me to say I barfed! I didn't...

Ok, so at 1:33 I got up to go get the coke but never made it.

2PM -- "Geo, come on it's October birthday's in the conference room!"
(I'm thinking, they're joking right? So I have my piece of birthday cake)

2:30pm -- I opened my bottom drawer for a form and there looking at me with evil brown eyes are a box of Whoopers that I was given earlier for judging the chili cookoff. I released a primal scream and eat them! Ok, maybe not the primal scream part.

Dinner: Terri made Weight Watcher taco soup. I eat it to ward off the evil hunger spirits but she also made cornbread that was like cake... ohhh cake! I had 3 slices. No shame at all!

8PM a juice size glass of chocolate milk.... ok I have to have chocolate milk at night. I've done this for 500 years now.

Well tomorrow will be a better day... (I'm thinking all the left over Halloween candy!)

Missing my homeys!

Man, I'm really missing the love of my biker buds these days! Rushed to get home and still didn't make it out there for the ride. I did notice that at 6:15 is was starting to get dark. That's only 15 minutes into the ride. Oh the fun thoughts of me trying to get back to my car and riding along the river trail in the dark with only a three quarter moon as light. I would sing at the top of my lungs to spook the deer out of the way. Surprised they never got ticked about it and mug me and beat the snot out of me to make me shut up! Trust me, hearing impaired folks don't sing the best... sort of like that kid on Little Rascals. Yep, that bad. But then come to think of it, I don't think we (the hearing impaired nation) are as bad as some of the folks on American Idol.

Emily got back from DC last night. We picked her up at the airport and got home around 11. No one wanted to get up this morning. She had a great time and had loaded her photos by the time we got home today. I think I might have to got to DC some day. Cool stuff. I was strange saying her shooting a gun at the FBI training center.

You know how I live for the weekends and certain things signal the weekend is approaching? Yes, I took the trash to the curb tonight. That means tomorrow is Wednesday and that's the halfway point and when the tornado tester sirens go off at noon tomorrow it's all downhill from there baby! At least that's what I like to think!

By the way, a couple of friends of mine have announced they are expecting! I'm happy as a loon for them. They have one little girl. Both of the parents are a hoot to be around and I'll tell you more later. Not sure how public it is just yet.

Happy Halloween folks! Y'all go buy good candy if you haven't already. Don't bu that cheap crap... Oh, I got to see some of Charlie Brown tonight. Haven't seen it in a few years. I as really laughing! Poor Charlie Brown... do you realize he has been getting those same rocks in his trick or treat bag since 1966??!!!!

Geo out....

Ok, so anyway...

Ok so anyway....

Rain for couple of days then a teaser of sunshine then a cold drizzly day. But in reality it was a beautiful day! Trust me on this one!

Last night I was checking over the heating system in our house and I sneezed from the dust. Silence. Everything became very quite and the only sound was way off in that barrel effect sound. I gasped and then told myself to pull it together. I was as nervous as I could ever be. I became sick at my stomach at the thought that my hearing had just bottomed out. Think positive my man, think positive. It's not what you think, it's not what you think, it's not what you think... Hearing aid out, drops in, throw yourself into your work. I closed my eyes to sleep a few hours later wondering what the world world be like tomorrow.

I got up and went about my routine and kept putting off the hearing aid longer and longer. I had to go to work but first had to hear Emmy's voice before she left for DC today. Flipped the switch and bottom of the barrel sounding.... but it was a little better. I could hear enough to wish her a fun time and to tell the Bush's hello for us.

On the way t work I popped my ears over and over. It really is what you are supposed to do with ear problems (unless it's post surgery). With each pop it allows a tad bit of fluid out. I logged in at the office and tried to play cool. Who am i fooling? I stopped, headed out the back door and straight to my safe zone... Audiology. On of my favorite heros looked at it and smiled.

Geo, what's it been doing outside for the past few days?

Raining.

And what happens to our hearing aid when it gets wet?

It croaks.

That's what happened.

But I didn't get it wet.

Didn't have to. There is so much mositure in the air it's getting in through the door where the battery is.

Are you serious?

(Warm smile) Yes. Come on, let's fix it up.

Flipped the switch and ta-da!!!

I told them the sound of the aid was different than when I workout/ride and it gets wet.

Ok so anyway... LIFE IS FULL OF SOUND AND IS GOOD!

Let's see what else... today is the official end of the 40 Days. Of course it's raining so I can't ride (which I gave up for 40 days) but my tail will be on the river trail for a "Hello legs, remember me?" ride. I have gained way too much weight during this but it was a good thing. If you haven't tried one of those bibical 40 days without something ... try it but be forewarned, it can make you insane but it gives you a clear picture of a lot of things.

Man this house it quite without Emmy the cell phone queen. She did make it to DC and has a beautiful hotel with a great view. They were about to go hang out and see the nation's capitol city. It was funny listening to Terri talk about them at the airport. "Oh yeah, it was fine but Pam had to check in her gun..." At least my daughter's Washington baodyguard "carries" HA!

Well, y'all stay dry out there and I'll right some more soon...

Close to 2 months then the wheels began to turn again

It's been close to 2 months since I've written in bloggness. Folks have really asked me to write again. People really think this stuff is interesting?

Well awww righty then, let's kick off this show!

Let's see, I gave up my bike riding for 40 days for a church issue. Ok ok, giving up the blog was a part of it too. Have you ever done this 40 Day deal. Man, I'm telling ya, it's playing a real game and it will stap you ragged. I will admit, I rode my bike 1 day for a ride I signed up for a long time ago but I only rode half and felt guilty for doing that. It's sitting in the same place I put it that day after the ride. It's right by the door in our garage so it begs me every day. I hope what they say about "it's just like rding a bike, you don't forget." If that's not true then keep checking back and I'll post bloddy crash pics.

I have hair now! Serious! I have hair on my legs which I've not had in a couple of years. I have a lot of hair on my head now. It is inching over my collar back there now. I'm doing it for 2 reasons. One and the real reason is for the cochlear implant I'll be getting the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. I was given the opition to move it back 2 weeks and have it done right here. It's going to be a hoot because I recruit the surgery staff and now they're going to see me in a pediatric backless OR gown. I was told I had to wear Batman underwear like all of our other patients. My favorite nurse said she preferred Superman. I think they are going to mess with me something bad! Oh well, y'all know me... make 'em smile and the world is a happier place. The other reason my hair is growing out is some weird midlife crisis I'm going through.

Oh, I meant to ask... y'alll ever look at photo blogs? They are the bomb! I love looking at weekend warrior photographers work. There are some awesome folks out there. Go over to flick'r http://www.flickr.com/ and type in anything you want in the search. I've only run across one that had nude photos but it warned me before it opened that it would be partly nude, so you have time to exit out of that... yes, I exited out... geesh! I have used a couple of photos I've found for slides during church services. I just send an email for permission to use one time. Most are very excited you use their work. It's a free compared to stock photos. There is also a guy that walks along the river with a camera a lot and I found his work. Type in North Little Rock and you'll find it. Awesome stuff! You can also type in any event and someone has photos posted.

OK... that's a taste of what's to come... thanks for reading friends and family!

Oh what a beau-tee-full morning!

Oh what a beautiful morning it was! Rumor had it we would see a low in the 60's for the first time in a long time and we did! I woke to 67 degrees and I let Sadie out and even left the door craked so she could go in and out. Been a long time since that happened. I even opened a window or two. Ahhhh, fresh morning air and a Saturday of a long weekend. Neighborhood was as quite as it gets. I had a little breakfast and headed out the door for a ride to the river and some play time. I spotted several long lost friends and said howdy as we passed. I was hoping to see the NLR Summerset 5K but they were finished when I rolled through.

I stayed on the NLR side and there was yet another no addition to to the trial. There is now and new section to stop and enjoy the sand bar view where the boats all bank and play volleyball in the middle of the river. Yep, it's cool. I also spotted a few larger house boats easing their way down the river.

I finally headed toward the house and still rolled in 45 minutes before I thought I would. Next week is the MS150. I'm going to ride the Saturday part of the ride and boy I'm looking forward to it!

Lots of folks are going to ride Robb's POP ride tomorrow. I wished I could go out and ride it. I've done it once and it's a blast. Tough but fun. Part of the course is the Saturday MS course. I would be nice to go out and ride that for prep for next Saturday.

Later folks!
Geo.

Life explained

God created the dog and said:"Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:"Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:"You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer 's family For this, I will give you a life span of sixty Years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:"Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But man said: "Only twenty years ? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves.

For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.

For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren.

And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

I'll be a geek before it's all over

Aww right now! I had lunch with our pastor Greg today. I laughed so hard I think those Red Lobster cheese biscuits were about to come out my nose! He told some funny stories about what happens during church that us normal pew warmers don't see. I landed the media bit and I've been working on s presentation for about 4.5 hours now. Changing and doing it this way and that way. I'm being super picky since it's my first week. I didn't take the whole service just yet. And right now I just realized I needed to change something else.

I'm sooo really for the long weekend! Aren't you!

Later tater tot!
Geo

Ok, someone spit!

Aww right now! Someone spit and called it rain! I did rain at my office for about 5 minutes. Became hot and humid after that. I had a meeting in the main hospital so I had to walk across the parking lot and even with 12 ozs of hair gel in my hair, it still fell! HA! Still no rain at the homefront. Maybe during the night.

I am having lunch tomorrow with our pastor and I'm going to go out on a limb and make a gutsy move. I'm going to ask for the media part of our church services. I have done a couple of marketing type things and have gotten a huge response. So I'm hoping I'm seeing this right and going after my "calling". There are so many cool things we can do at our church and I want to be on the forefront of those helping make those changes. I am putting together a media event for our teens for Oct and I'm so excited about it. The video part opens with a jet flying in over head and the noise level will crank to full on loud with a lot of bass pull. I did a teaser type email and sent it to several folks to get their feel and it was 100% thumbs up! Yeah! It's not a huge change but it's a lot more contemporary than what we are currently doing. One of the kids made a remark about when church sings some of "their" songs. I feel changes comin' on! If we don't market church to teens and young adults then we'll lose them so we'll crank it up a notch and meet 'em on their level. We'll see. Cross your fingers.

The bike?? Well, I haven't been on it lately. Sad I know. I'll be out there maybe tomorrow afternoon and then on Saturday for sure. Plan to try for a Sunday afternoon ride and a Monday morning ride. Need to wake those legs up for the MS150 next weekend. I'm going to ride the Saturday part. I have a whole list of things to "road text message" this year. Lisa, the organizer asked me to do something at the event but I'll keep quite until after I do it. My friends at the ride are going to crack up.

Weekend is getting here by the minute! Whoo Hooo!!
Geo.

Quick hit Tuesday and a correction

Ok, it was JMar who had the sub 5 hour HH100 not JBar. Gee, how could I have gotten that mixed up. Congrats JMAR!

Full moon Monday

I walked into my office today and was greeted by a very chipper co-worker who asked "Ohhhh, hellooo! How are you this morning!" This is usually done with back flips and cart wheels. I just stopped and gave her my best Red Forman (70's Show) look and said, "Ok, it's Monday, it's hot and there's a full moon. Ya need anymore information?" She just stood there looking at me like a wounded puppy then I busted out laughing. I told her I was fine and even invited her and another coworker to walk across the parking lot to get Java City. Life is good at the office but I have to mess with them!

Ok, weekend wrap up... here we go!

David and Mariann but did great in the KY Ironman on Sunday. Swim 2.6 miles, ride a bike 112 miles then run a marathon? They ain't got no sense! HA!

The crew are back from hell... well Hotter'n'Hell 100 in TX that is. All survived.

Still no rain.

Home ball team Arkansas Travlers took one in the belly from the Springfield Cardinals. 16 to zip. Not as bad as the whipping TX dished out last week to some poor soul less team but ...

Tyler had to work ALL weekend on a Wal Mart video project but he came by tonight and had dinner with us.

Would you believe I didn't ride all weekend? I was too busy doing other stuff. I'll go ride this weekend. Oh, I just realized it's a long weekend. Ithink maybe I'll go off for a long ride early Monday morning because there will be no traffic until about noon. Monday holidays are the best days for riding.

Here's my upcoming fall ride schedule.

Sept 8th is MS 150 - Pedal The Peaks (Petit Jean Mountain)

Sept 15th is a training ride for BDB 100.
Sept 29th is Big Dam Bridge 100.

Oct 6th is Medic One's Ride for a Better Life in Jonesboro. Fun ride and always very nice goodie bags! Whole group of riders that I've never met before. That's always cool! I get to hook up with my buddy Brandon once again. Might even stay at his and Hannahs house the night before.

Well that's all folks! Thanks for reading and hang out for a moment!

Geo

Within inches of the house

Woke up at a dark 5:30 this morning and not sure why!

Had coffee and read more of a book that I started. Bob Franquiz "Elements". Good book. Inspirational. Revolutionary. Someone gave me that "Purpose Driven Life". Yeah yeah yeah but Elements... ding ding... the winner! Just the shot I needed.

I checked my email and one of the guys down in TX finished the HH100 in 4:47! Ok, take a century ride (100 miles) and divide it by 4:47! That's over 20mph average. Way to go JBar! I was surprised to find out several regulars I know didn't return to HH100 this year.

Note to Wes: Hope you did great at West Point Tri today!

*** Later note: I went to some other websites and came back by my own and cracked up! I forgot to say anyhting so the title of he blog would make sense. IT RAINED just inches from the house. Dark clouds, wind blowing and Weather Channel showing a red and orange blob heading right toward us. Nah, it turned to green then light blue then nothing. Awww come on!

Serious Bling!

This is some serious hearing aid bling! It can be yours for $50,000. It'll look good with your black Yukon!

Thursday lunchtime hit -- HH100

Hey friends
heading down,
over,
up,
across
to Hotter'n'Hell 100 in TX this weekend!
Y'all have a great time and a safe trip!

Thursday lunchtime quick hit --- IRONMAN KENTUCKY

Here's a rundown of the folks from AR heading to Ironman this weekend!

454 Darnall Tyler M25-29 Rogers AR
1905 Theriot Beau M25-29 Conway AR
1970 Vandiver Nathan M25-29 Conway AR
884 Herget Ted M30-34 Jonesboro AR
1406 Newberry James M30-34 Jonesboro AR
2067 Williams John M30-34 Fayetteville AR
152 Beard Donald M35-39 Rogers AR
970 Irvin Drew M35-39 Little Rock AR
1615 Reynolds Chris M35-39 Hot Springs AR
1738 Schmidt Ron M35-39 Fayetteville AR
1880 Suminski Michael M35-39 Jonesboro AR
2118 Young IV Joe M35-39 Jonesboro AR
757 Golden Christopher M40-44 Bentonville AR
1846 Starr Don M40-44 Conway AR
2061 Williams Ken M40-44 Springdale AR
77 Angel Michael M45-49 Conway AR
281 Bryant Barry M45-49 Fouke AR
655 Ford Paul M45-49 Jonesboro AR
2098 Wonn David M50-54 North Little Rock AR
166 Bender Heather W18-24 Cabot AR
1480 Park Marianne W40-44 Cabot AR

Up again

Crud, I cursed it... the temps are back to the 99's. **Sigh***

It broke!!!

Yeah-izzzz!!! It broke! Finally! I was hoping it would break soon. The heat wave broke for the day. It was cloudy today but still no rain. I hear it's gushy at the St Louis Card's game right now.

I got home from work and couldn't wait to go play on the bike for the afternoon. I headed down to the river and really enjoyed the ride. I had the I-Tunes cranked and rocking. Don't give me lip about wearing tunes while riding. Some folks freak out about it but it's usually the same folks that don't realize they just ran the red light while their blabbing on their cell phones. HA!

The ride was fun and fast. I rode both sides of the river and spotted a few friends. Ironman David was out doing a run and Paul C was out with a group. He was pulling when I saw him. Go Paul!

As I was coming back to the north side I was climbing the BDB (Big dam bridge --- yes, it's really called that!) and a dad was pulling his little guy in a bike trailer. Dad was getting on up the bridge and looked back and saw me. I shouted, "No prob!" But dad jumps and dances on those pedals and up they went. When we got to the top I laughed and told the little guy in the trailer if he knew his daddy was a superhero? The dad just laughed. Good times!

I still like the shirt Keith Hill had on when we went to HH100 last year... "I'm a Superhero but without power or motivation." It's something like that.

I did a little marketing piece today for a church sock drive for the homeless guys. It's a photo of a sock with toes sticking through and the title was "Holy, holy, holy." I'm trying to get more into the "marketing" part of church with stuff like that. We have the Roast 'n' Ride coming up in Oct and we'll be pulling out some stops for the short youth devo we'll do. Let's just say, it'll be cutting edge for sure! Can't wait to see the kids faces. It's gonna rock!

I'm outta here...
Geo.

A tropical storm next door and still no rain

It came ashore last week in south TX and dumped the rain. Now it's in OK and they are getting tons of rain but it's going north. We are so close to rain but nada. We are getting the wind. There's a nice 15 mph breeze blowing out there today.

Last week I got bit on the arm by something and it formed a white looking blister. Nothing serious but the other night I went outside to the side of the house, in the dark to turn off the sprinklers and something bit me and it hurt! I noticed my little toe where the bite was looked swollen and red. This morning I had one of those weird blisters on my toe. Whatever it is, is a pest!

I woke up too late to get down to watch the half Ironman yesterday so I rode a little along the river, watched an Easter Seals 5K race then spent the rest of the day cleaning and organizing the garage. I had let a lot of things go around the house and so i decided it was time to get back into the handyman mode. Terri and I also bought a freezer after diiner Friday night and I needed to make room for that. It was funny some of the memories I had going through stuff out there. I had cans and cans of old paint. There was the half full can of light "baby" blue that Emily just had to have her room painted in. There were several sample cans of various cream colors that we had to paint sections of the wall to see which one it was going to be. I found a can of old house trim that was really ugly. I was scratching my head, thinking, did I really have a house color like that? Funny house style and colors change through out the years.

I have to finish getting some stuff out of the garage this afternoon so we can put both cars back in. We ate at Fridays after church and while we were there this lady who had been sitting at the big table of seniors across from us had gone to the restroom and slipped and fall on the way. Several of her friends got up to go see when the waite came and told the table. Terri leaned over to see if it was outside and BANG! See didn't relaize the glass was right there because it was double pane and looked like it was further away than it was. We all laughed and laughed.

Well time to get back outside and inishe the job and maybe get a ride in at sunset this afternoon.

My worst nightmare came true!

Oh man, y'all ain't gonna believe this!! My worse nightmare came true! I went to work in my boxers and no one even noticed. My that was because everyone else was in theirs as well!

Yeah baby, the heat wave continues but might have a break this weekend thanks to the possible shot of rains coming up from the tropical storm in Texas. First day of school on Monday may be a cool and brisk 96 degrees.

I'm hearing the 10 day forecast for the Hotter'n'Hell 100 next weekend in Texas is 88 degrees. Wha??? 88??? Last year when I rode it was 188. That's right, one-hundred-eighty-eight! Guys were stopping on the side of the road and just hanging over their bikes. Every now and then you'd see a bike just abandoned on the side of the road and no one in sight. Made one wonder if the rabid arm-ah-dillo's kidnapped them. Ok, truth be told... I'm sort of feeling left out since I'm not going.

Hey when I finish this you know want I'm going to do? Log in and make my LAST car payment! I will have no more car payments at all! Now if I can just pay off the house right quick! It's been a long time since I've gone into the no car payment club. I will get to enjoy it until May when I'll let Em get a new(er) car. Probably another Honda Accord that will last her through college.

One other thing... a guy slit his wrist and jumped off the bridge down onto the interstate right in front of the hospital yesterday.... and lived! OK, humor me here. I don't think it was his time to go. Know what I mean? You don't try to kill yourself times two and live through it. I was wondering today... what was the purpose of this? Where did it fit in with "the" plan? Who did it affect? Good or bad. By the way, when he flipped off the bridge he misjudged a tad and landed on the shoulder of the road rather than in the lane of oncoming traffic. Really a sad scene.

Just plain ole hot

It's just plain ole hot! I ate lunch in the lounge at 11 and the Weather Channel was on... temp was 98 degrees. When I started to leave and go back up to my office at noon it was 102.

I'm going to work in my boxers tomorrow. So what if they laugh. This long sleeves and jacket business get up is for the birds.... HA!


Make it a fun day!
Geo.

I wished I owned the bike store!

Holy molely batman --- you see all those bikes this morning? No kidding! There were bikes everywhere and we are supposed to have the hottest day of the year today. I spotted the Hotter'n'Hell training ride. I spotted the Ironman training group. I spotted 1/2 dozen running friends. Spotted Solo Kyle, awesome cyclist from church but always rides solo. I spotted a million other riders out enjoying the river trail. I'm serious folks, there were a lot of bikes this morning!

I woke early and had a good cereal breakfast and headed out the door about an hour later. The temp was really nice (upper 70's) and I was feeling the love this morning! As I rode down North Hills Blvd there were very few cars. Even though NHills is wide it's still nice to have car-less. I noticed there was a lot of glass along the sides of the road. Fingers crossed for no flat today but I did see a couple of folks changing tubes along the river.

So I rounded the corner and into one of the parking lots and oh man, cars and trucks everywhere! Packed! I was just stinkin' awesome. Now that Kincannondale over in OK finally turned the water off and the Arkansas River finally went down along with the Big Dam Bridge (BDB) open the bikes were out! I rode up and down a couple of times then had to remind myself that I did have to ride home and it was mostly up hill for several miles and the temp was climbing... but I was having a good time!

I spotted Solo Kyle leaving and tucked in behind his Pathfinder and waited for hi to look up. Of course when he spotted me drafting he puts on the brakes. HA! We yapped a second while rolling along then he gunned it -- no way bubba, I have to ride home, not drive in air conditioned high end SUV. HA!

I then spotted some of the Ironman group and others coming in off the farmlands. Got to talk to Robb for a few moments and got to see Skinny Yale for a second (there was a truck behind him--- bummer). Seeing them really makes me miss them all really bad. Fast Girls Slow Guys were also having a yard sell today for the MS150. I hope to go up and ride the Saturday part of the ride with them like I did last year. Fun ride, good friends, and a lot of laughter!

Well I rolled into the driveway and parked my tail on the front porch swing and looked out over the valley and sudenly found myself dripping in sweat. Like the flood gates opened. I finished off my water and GU-2-Oh and just enjoyed cooling down!

How fast did I average? I dunno.
How far did I ride? I dunno.
I have turned the bike computer off and told myself to just go enjoy your ride... so I did!

Have an awesome weekend friends!
Geo

Like Pair-rez always says, "Oh that's hot!"

Hot hot hot. Yep, it's triple X Hot and sweaty and.... never mind! It's 103 (That's the triple XXX -- three digits) for tomorrow then then we have 102 for the rest of the 7 days and the icon is this funky orange hazing looking thing that looks like LA.

(Note to Boomer: Man, I feel like the squirrel some days too! HA! You're blog has gotten so funny lately... keep it going! Driving Lindsey to rehab... LOL!!)

The half Ironman is next weekend in Arkadelphia. I hope to go cheer on the gang! I plan to do some "road text messaging" if I get down there. I really want to get there early enough to draw a picture on the road instead of just writing.

DWonn and MaryAnn are doing their KY (full) Ironman training tomorrow. There may be some others training it with them but I don't know them. I saw a 6a.m. swim on the schedule for this morning. I think tomorrow has a 2 lap 56 mile course with an hour run afterwards. Crazy stuff.

I'm still be asked what I'm going to do next year. The answer, just event rides and regular guy rides. Am I riding for the hospital as a fundraiser? I doubt it. It takes so much work and time plus I was blocked from so many accounts that I had for the first ride but another hospital group is working them for another event. It's a soapbox thing so I'll stop here.

OK, it's the weekend so I think I'll rid as early as I can get out in the morning. I mean it's going to be 100 by noon.

Here's a laugh for you. They are doing major construction around the hospital for the next 10 years and they've had to reroute traffic. Look at this map they sent out this afternoon!! Our hospital is so big that folks are lost in K-Mart during a blue light special but this is over the edge! It looks like one of those Family Circus cartoons where Billy walks to school. I promise I did not alter this in any way.

Well y'all have a dandy weekend in!

Geeee-oh!

The dog days of blogging

Ok the weather is saying 101, 102, 101, 99.99, 98 I mean c'mon!

I'm having dog days of blogging.

Really not a lot going on so go on back to doing what you were doing before you were doing this. HA!

And this little piggy went for a ride

Today was my first "event" type ride since R2R. It was in Morrilton and called the Tour de Oink. It was part of the Great American Pig Out. This was my third year to ride it. Always a fun little ride (40 miles) because you get to see a lot of the Conway crowd and always make a new friend or two. The ride didn't start until 8:30 which makes it really nice. Set the clock for 6:30 so I could take my time and have some breakfast. And like all event rides I toss and turn the night before and for the life of me I don't know why. Even if I over slept and missed the ride it would have been fine.

I drove solo breaking the tradition of Keith M and I riding up together. I knew he would be riding a lot faster than me and I didn't want him waiting an hour for me to roll in. I pulled in and they had a big crowd. I turned in my paperwork and check and walked back down the alley to the parking place we've parked in the past couple years. HA! Got everything and rolled over toward the start and spotted Keith M, Dr. Paul from the hospital and Brandon, fresh in from New Orleans from FloMax school! HA! He has been in school getting ready for his new position as an RX Rep. He'll be a great one. Then I spotted a fella I've not seen in a year or so... Brandon's dad. Larry is one of the most awesome guys I've ever met. Serious, not making this up. He was sporting a "Life is Good" t-shirt and that pretty much sums it up. We got to catch up a little bit.

The ride started and rolling hills begin. I remember that there would be some climbs so I rode very conservative. After the first climb we rolled out across the farmland and the rider in front of me a bit was pointing really big to something white in the road. Then I realized it was a puppy. A really little fella. It was running down the middle of the road as fast as his thumb sized legs would take him and screaming his head off. Oh man, it was tough to not stop, toss the ride and take the little pup home. There were no houses anywhere around. Whoever dumped the pup, well, I'm not going to say it... make up you own ending.

Some of the riders who flew out of the gate were alread starting to slow. The heat would eat them alive soon. Been there, done that, got the $800 ER bill for it. I didn't have the computer turned on so I had no idea how fast I was going, no idea how many miles I had been. I knew the ride was 40 miles and I would get there when I got there. I looked at the crops and farms and just enjoyed the ride. I planned well and had frozen my polar bottles so I had cold water and GU-2-O for the whole ride as well as gels. I drank often and shot a gel after I passed the rest stops. Sure folks passed me and some played pass/catch for miles and miles. There is one place before you reenter the town that I have noticed for 3 years now that someone dumps toilets. It's the weirdest thing. Just a pile of toilets going down an embankment to a creek.

I rolled in with some guys from The Ride bike shop in Conway. Like I said I had no idea my speed so I rounded the corner and there was Brandon. He was going to knock out the ride in 2 hours (20mph average). I rolled in at 2:15. I had no problem with that at all! This puts my average at 18.6mph??!! I was expecting maybe 15mph. We laughed!

Like Larry's shirt said... "Life is good!"

Way to go Rahsann Bahati!!! Cover of Road!

Awww right!!!! Check out the new issue of ROAD magazine!! Rock and Republics Bahati is rockin' the cover!!! I've been following them since spring now and they are ripping it up out there! Way to go Rahsann, Austin and team!!!

You just thought you lost that lovin' feelin'

It clicked back in place tonight! I was out for a solo ride just returning to build base miles and I spotted friends along the way. Rode with a few then decided to climb Ft Roots. As I was climbing I thought to myself, "Man, when was the last time you were right here?" I thought for a moment and I think it was late May. I climbed on up and heard my name shouted. It was Paul Creel and the guys he rides with. Super nice folks. We all headed back down the hill together and they stopped at the skatepark for water bottle refills. We all rode together and it was awesome riding with these guys. It was pretty fast but it was fun. As we passed the golf course I saw Darrell and Robert and heard the words, "Tube". I told Paul and them I'd cover the flat and bidded them good evening. We got the flat fixed and just about the time we were about to roll again, Fast Girls came by. They were looking strong as usual. Got to talk a few moments with my bud JMar. He and his wife Allison are some of the nicest folks you'll ever met. I rode with Robert a few minutes then dropped off at my car and Robert rode on home to Maumelle.

When I stopped and loaded my bike I sat on the back of the SUV for a few moments. It was back. The feeling of having a good ride and having fun doing it. It wasn't my fastest or mega miles but it was just plain fun and that my friends was what got me started in the first place.

Keith called and left a message and asked if I was going to Tour de Oink on Saturday. Yes, it's the Great American Pig Out about an hour from here. Last year a tornado ripped through the community the night before the event and we rode through the mess at the end of the course. I plan to just go ride for fun. It's just a 40 miler but always was a fun little ride. It's gonna be a hot one too! Cooked bacon -- no doubt!! HA!!!

Laughed to hard!

Lunch quick hit:
The employee relations guru has an office just around the corner from mine. She stopped me as I was coming in from lunch just now and shared a funny happening with me...

She said, "I never look at the personals in the paper but this caught me eye yesterday and it's about ACH so I circled it and brought it to our VP's attention. Well there was a problem... I circled the wrong one. Look..."

She had indeed circled the wrong one! She circled the personal ad below the one she wanted to discuss with the VP. The Vp just said, "Well, ok?!" and handed the paper back to her.

The ad she circled was an ad for one of those "naughty toy" parties.

I laughed so hard my tummy still hurts.

There's nothing better than a Monday workplace laugh!

Out for a Sunday ride

I had been about 3 weeks since I've seen my folks so Em and I drove down to Benton for a visit. They hadn't eaten and Mom said Dad hadn't been out of the house in about 3 weeks so let's get him out. Mission on! He wanted to ride on Hwy 9 a little and Mom wanted to try the new Chik-fil-a (sp?). So we drove over and we had all forgotten that those are all closed on Sunday's. So we jumped the street and had Sonic in the monsoon. It was pouring! Food came and everyone got all settled in for the drive and off we go. I was funny because we had to drive right by their house again to get where we wanted to go. It's always weird to drive by their house and not pull in. Anyway we spent the afternoon together driving and laughing. He told me that he thought it was Monday when he first got up. Said it happens to him a lot. I told him I was going to come down every Sunday afternoon and get him out of the house even if it's just to wheel him around Home Depot. I had a great idea that I would build them a deck on the back of the house but he nixed the idea. He likes the front of the house better because where they live is on top of a hill and the driveway is really long. So he like to sit on the front porch and watch the world go by. So now I'm trying to figure a way to build a patio type area in front of the house. He'll probably nix it too... can't say I didn't try.

I did ride yesterday but not the ride I wa planning. I slept until 6:58. I woke and looked at the clock then looked again. I never sleep that late! River trail: the flood waters of the river have finally gone down to where you can cross the small bridge which means the river trail is wide open once again. It's been 4 weeks and there is one section that was flooded during the spring, finally cleared up then flooded again and is still knee deep. The floods softened the dirt so much that trees have fallen all over the place on it. A huge mess. The strange part is before this spring, it was very rare for that section of the trail to flood. Bet it has to do with Al Gore and the global warming.

Check out this site: www.lifechurch.tv
I'm really liking a lot of these comtemporary churches and their sites.

Oh yeah, Em brought me cinnamon bagels and hazelnut cream cheese from Panera while she was in Bentonville! OH YEAH!!!! Daddy's a happy camper!

Back to bloggerville

I know, it's been a week since I've blogged. If I go to sleep here in a bit I might get up and jump on the 7:15 ride that starts down the road from the house in the morning. I don't luck out and have too many group rides that start over here. They are training for HHH (Hotter'n'Hell 100) and plan to get 75 miles in. I'm back to square 2 or 3 so I don't have the conditioning to get 75 in the heat tomorrow. I plan to ride down and met them and ride out a little then back to the house.

Em was out of town last night so Terri and I tried the new Bonefish restaurant. Good eatin'!

Wanna watch something wild... Beat they never show this on the Food Channel
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/2789.html

More later...

The 3 weeks are over now

I did it. I got back on the bike today and boy did it feel different. Different because I was happy to be there and not on a scheduled training. I rode and looked around at rabbits, birds and even had to dodge a whole family of coons that waddled across the bike trail. They were really cute little things. Probably full of fleas and have rabies but hey, we all have our short comings huh?! HA! The river is still massive flooded. I wish those guys over in Oklahoma would turn off the water a moment.

Lots of folks are started to talk about the next big ride, Hotter'n'hell 100 in Wichta Falls, Tx. I rode it last year and they had record heat. It was a fun trip but I'm passing this year. I try to do different rides every year. Like I did "Ride for the Roses" in Austin then the next year was the Hotter ride. This year I want to ride the Big Dam Bridge ride. I helped put together a fun rest stop for BDB 100 last year. This year I want it to be my event ride. Next year is a Cajun ride in early spring.I'm also going to Jonesboro in ealry October to ride a ride I've done once called "A Ride For A Better Life". It benefits a counseling center outreach program for a Church of Christ there. Read about it here: http://www.betterlife.org/view/28

Since the internet was messed up I didn't get to download many photos from FL but check this out... Little girls grow up! The kiddo's senior year is about to begin in a couple more weeks.

Oh the Wal Mart story: Aww right, so Wal Mart is going to build a new suepercenter about a mile from the house but thank goodness our street is not the main street going to it. It was a Sherwood Good Ole Boys club property deal and boy did it cause an uproar! They have cleared a massive amount of land and were even blasting. A friend from the hopital lives in one of the neighbors that border it and she asked if I had seen the clearing. I had not. We drove by it this afternoon after work... Oh man... it's huge! I don't mean sort of huge but massive huge. Once it's all done it will be nice (I think). Yea, Ryan, I still still love ya man! HA

Speaking of Wal Mart, I scoped out the garden center at the Wal Mart in Navarre Beach last week. Ok Melissa, that was probably the last time I cried! Plants that I pay 30 bucks for here were huge and only 4.50... yep, 4 dollars and 50 cents. Next time I go, I'll leave the kids in the parking lot and load the car with plants and bring them back.

One of my favrite things to do is link off other bloggers sites and read who they know if it looks interesting. One of my favorite links is to the family of Suzanne & Joe. Why, well they are about to have quads. Yes, 4 babies! Ok, let me warn you it's sort of a chick site because you know those mom's to be tell the world all this birthing stuff and show photos of tummys and she is no different but it's been fun watching this with the rest of the world and I do mean the rest of the world. Look at her hit counter... over 200K hits. It was 174K last week. Anyway, she is almost about to have them... here's the link: http://www.thelifeofsuz.blogspot.com/ For those of you who pray, send one up for them... 4 babies at once... I'd move to Cayman!

Well the weekend is almost here... "everybody dance now....!"

Later friends and fam... Geo.

Hacked off!!!

Oh man! It's been a great day and then a sort of frightening one.

I'll do the bad news and get it over with... Our cable modem may have been hacked. I had never heard of this before but my son is IT type smart and the computer said it was connected and the modem said it was connected but we kept getting an error screen when it tried to open the internet. Here's what might have happened.... whenever we would log on someone was getting little bits and pieces of info then got enough to use our modem and block us. I sort of did the puppy-tilting-head-in-wonderment-look... huh?! He looked and ran this test and that test. Said take the box back to Comcast and get another with a different serial number because someone is using your IP for what they want to do...maybe. Ok so are you saying someone out there is going nuts and it's pointing back to my home office desk. Yep, Dad, and I'd watch for SWAT guys to bust through the windows welding uzi's any moment now. Not funny! So I'm running off the air card tonight. I thought firewalls and Mcafee (sp?) was supposed to stop all that.

Ok now for big news! I went to see Dr. D today and he wants to hook me with a cochlear implant! I was giddy! I will be able to hear out of my deaf ear for the first time in 6 years! We talked at length then he sat and looked at me without saying a word. Then he just smiled and noddled his head as a "Yep, let's do this". Here's another cool part. Cochlear implants have been around now for about 15 years and they just had a big breakthrough with a company called Advanced Bionics(http://www.advancedbionics.com/) and their product called Harmony. He said that it is supposed to be great for listening to music. He also gave me a word of caution. Said that when it gets turned on which is about a month after the surgery then I will hate it. Said the sound is nothing like what you hear because the brain will process it in a different matter (gray matter..get it? Cheesey, I know!). Anyway he said it will sound like a bunch of weird electronic buzzes and tones. Said after about 3 months I will start getting used to it then at around 6 months then something will suddenly click and it'll all come together. Said after that happens, I will hate my hearing aid and will want to get a cochlear in the other ear but he won't do it until my good ear goes down which he predicted will happen around 5 years. That's why he wants to go ahead with the deaf ear implant so when the other ear does go down it won't freak me out to get the implant in the left(good) ear. The ball is just started rolling so I hope to have it all done by Thanksgiving. The really nice thing is that while I heal for the surgery I will still have all my regular hearing. No loss of time at the office but a couple of days for the outpt surgery. Now how cool is that?!

It's been a really good day and I've changed some of my thought processes on how I view things. Part of it came from my long walks on the beach. I really had a lot of time to think about a lot of stuff last week. The vacation really couldn't have come at a better time mentally. I was exhausted. I was beating myself up over the "DNF" (Did Not Finish) mark beside my name on the River 2 River ride. Seriously it floored me. I really did finally come to the conclusion that it's OK. I've followed countless folks who have trained for epic events and something goes wrong along the way. I mean look at the Tour de France. A bizillion crashes last week. All the time those guys put into training just to be taken down in the first week. Yep, it stings but you live and life goes on. Get over it.

The other thought process came from a video we saw in our small group setting last night. For those of you that don't know, "Small group" or "community group" is just a breakout group of church friends who met at each others homes and enjoy each others company while doing church sort of stuff. We really enjoy it and it makes for a great way to make some really good close friends. You know those folks who you would call at 3am if something happened and they could call us at 3 as well. It's a security blanket of sorts. Anyway, that video was about thought process and looking at things just a little different. No drastic changes but just a little and see how it goes. Remember those WWJD bracelets? It's sort of like that but without the rubber bracelet.

Well once again...enough of this blah blah blah

Saturday 07.14.07

Nice to be back home. I always like walking into our house after being gone on a trip. You house how peoples homes how certain smells? Ours smells like some sort of candle. Not over powering but it's just a smell that signals "you're home!"

Sadie (the dog went completly nuts to see us as Emily, Sean and I were to see her! Got got all excited when she saw Em then the same with me then she spotted Sean, while she was out in the gargae thank goodness, and peed everywhere. It was funny. Sean seems to be her alpha male. He trained her a lot better than we did. I spoil the crud out of her and don't mind one bit! She protects Em and sleeps on her bed and Em is lost without her as we found out on vacation. This was the first time we had all gone away without her. Tyler stayed at the house and took care of her and thank goodness because we didn't want to put her in the kennel for the week. And it rained everyday so that wouldn't have taken her out to play which is 10 dollars more a day.

Yesp, we had sunny skies everyday while Little Rock had storms every day and boy could I tell it when I got home! The grass in the backyard grew a lot. I even found a wind chime out in the yard. It most have done some blowing too!

The beach was fun but I know I can't spend a week inland anymore. I have to stay on the beach or I'll just stay home. Just too much trouble to load and drive everytime. Some folks get up early and get going (me) and others take until 11 to do anything. I now know that Em can handle about 2 hours on the beach then she'll find some excuse to need to go back to the house. Sean kept getting a werid rash when he would go out in the water but he was a good sport about it and did he's best not to spoil the fun but you could tell it really bothered him. I finally called it on Thursday and we went inland for the afternoon. When you stay on the beach you can come and go as you wish. If we get to have the big family vacation next summer then we'll be right on the water.

I got up this morning and it was quite around the house. I made coffee and had bagel I bought yesterday at the Panera Bread in Spanish Fort. Someday maybe Little Rock will get one of those, and I'll be broke! We took Tyler's request and brought him back a bag full. He worked at Panera when he first went out to Denver for college. Now we are all hooked on them.

For the first time since the R2R ride I thought about going for a ride. I cleaned the bike up really good about mid morning and decided about 2 I would head out. Instead of the neighborhood I thought I'd go down to the river and see how the legs felts after a 2 week bike vacation. As I was heading over it began to rain, harder and harder. I keep it positive and told myself it was a pop up shower but it was raining at the bike trail and looks like it had been raining a while. Then I turned the corner to the parking lot I normally park in and whoa baby... everything is really flooded! There was a lane that went to the soccer fields but the bike trail was all underwater. Parts on down the way have been under for over a month now! All the rain from Oklahoma hits the Arkansas River plus all the local rain and that is a major over flow. I was really surprised it was that much. I'll be a week before it all goes back down then it will be slick mud for a few days and then stink of dried dead fish. I sighed and turned around and came back home.

Since I had me chores done I rent the Aztec Mel Gibson movie Apoli-something. I really liked it. Yes, it's hard to watch and it's bloody but it's good.

Also I got to see the Tour de France last night and the live stage this morning. Terri's folks have Dish so they don't get the VS channel. Today's stage was great! Love it love it love it!

Well enough blah blah blah... just catchin' ya up.

I'll try and ride somewhere tomorrow maybe.

Have a good weekend out there!
Geo.

Thank goodness for island time

Ahhh just another beautiful day on the gulf coast. We headed over to Destin this morning and spent the morning at the Silver Sands Outlet Mall. I was supposed to pick up some Dooney bags for folks but the ones they wanted were sold out. It was some purse that was ust inside the door to the left and it was 107 marked down from 375. Gone! I did load up on he 9.99 polo shirts! I walked out of Harry and David with a sack so full the clerk put it in a plastic bag then a thick bag sack. I wanted he Moose Mnch but it would have melted in the car. Oh well, all he more reason to go to Branson!

we did get to se Terri's brother's house which is down the first road to the left when you go over the Destin bridge. Yep, the back door opens to the sound. Really pretty! Sad thing was the wave runner stuff fell through so me and the kids went to the beach when we get back.

There were some black blobs in the water and Sean went out and took a small net and they were snails! Thousands of snails. I've never seen anything like that before. The water was sort of murky today anyway so glad we didn't plan a full day out there. We will be out there tomorrow. By the way, not sure I'm a fan of Destin as much anymore. It's gotten unreal crowded and the cowd is different. Seems southern manners have gone out the door. Nah, I would probably have loved it if I was actually staying in the town.

As we were leaving the beach late this afternoon they were setting up for a wedding. Beach weddings are the thing this year. I would love to see some of the photos! Here the bride and groom are standing and in the background is a middle aged woman with a dixie flag bikini and a hairy beer bellied guy! Oh yeah! HA!!! Note to Melissa: Yep, that's what will happen to Adam on Labor day! Y'all enjoy the laugh because ain't nothin' you can do 'bout it! HA!!!!

Well the sun is setting making the shadows of the palms long across the yard and southern breezes caress the leaves. The parrot calls from the top of the chair and Jimmy Buffett is singing. Yeah, life is good!

Monday 07.09.07

Woke this morning and headed down to the beach. A storm cloud was on the horizon and the water was murky from the breakers to the shoreline. Not too bad really. Em, Sean and I walked along the beach looking for shells and general goofing off. Not missing work for sure! HA! I did get an email that said they were have a really bad storm in LR though.

We came back to the house and had breakfast and waited around for everyone to get ready and finally got out the door heading to Ft Walton arund 11. Lord, they are slow pokes! We hung out at the mall and then over to touristy Fudpuckers for late lunch. 70 bucks for lunch! Yes, I was puckered alright!

Afterwards we went down the road to the Nautlus http://nautiluscondominium.com/ Condo's to check out some units that my sister had recommended for a huge family gathering next June 14-21. We looked at 3 different ones and all were nice. I hope it works out where the whole family can go down. We did it several years ago and it was a lot of fun. Our family is so big now, who knows.

We came back and heading down to the beach for the late afternoon. I did exactly what I said I was going to do before the trip and that as hit the beach, good book in hand and read. Terri and the kids found a million nice shells. Don't ask what we are going to do with all of them.

Tomorrow the kids are supposed to go over to Destin since Terri's brother Toby is off and he lives there. They are supposed to go ride wave runners. I'll probably go over and tinker around for several hours and then pick them up. Who knows. The plans change around here by the minute! HA!

The Moving House story

We were on our way to Florida and anyone who travels on 98 through Semme, AL knows it's a traffic nightmare on Saturday! All the folks heading into FL and all the folks leaving FL heading back to AR, OK, TN, MS, TX all go this way.

We had just rolled into Semme, which is just before you get to Mobile, and traffic stops. We are at the bottom of a small hill and you can't see what's on the other side. We notice several cars turning around at the top of the hill and coming back so I was preparing myself to sit a while. About 10 minutes pass and we see a police car coming over the hill and everyone is having to move off the run. What on earth is it? A race? The president? Nah man, it's a house! Yep. the busiest day of the year for that road with 4th of July travelers and everyone else and they block the road for a moving house.

Well, after we pass the house... actually, after the house passes us, we rolled on. We started counting the line of cars behind the house. Y'all ready for this??? 618 cars backed up and rolling at 5mph. Oh I bet there was some carrying on going on. Tired from the trip and ready to get home and it's sort of like a big flight delay. Just puts your panies in a wad!

Saturday 07.07.07

Welcome to Florida!

I'm not sure what this looks like on a regular cable upload but I just loaded this with dial up.

We left LR at 3:30 and at 4:15 I turned on he windshield wipers. They stayed on until almost 8. We went through some real rain and I was none to happy when it was over. From outside of Vicksbg on was a nice drive. Lots of Arkies, and Texas folks heading that way.

We stopped in Hattiesburg and stayed over night. The Super 8 was recommended and it was fine, just basic. It worked for what we needed.

Left about 8 and headed on down. Got to Mobile and holy smoke! These guys were driving really fast! I got in a groupo and looked down to see us pushing a tad over 90 mph!!! Everyone was going that fast. (Note to Wes: Do y'all really drive like that?)

Spent the afternoon on the beach. Came back to the inlaws house and had shrimp and fish dinner. Now we are going back for the sunset.

The water was like swimming pool clear!

More later... you have to hear the "moving the house down the road" story...

Thursday 07.05.07

Well howdy out there!
We have suitcases everywhere, plans and plots being made, packing and unpacking and repacking going on! Ahh, ya just gotta love the night before vacation starts! Tyler's going to watch the house and babysit the pup!

Here's the live cam to where I'll be!
www.navarrebeachlife.com

We will leave out and drive to Hattiesburg, MS tomorrow night and get there about 10 then drive on down to Terri's folks and I plan to get out of the car, drop the suitcase and park the butt on the beach for the next 6 days. I'll come in and eat and sleep. Don't call us, we'll call you! HA!

We had planned to not go until Saturday and drive all the we through but if it was up to Terri and Em we'd be throwing stuff in the car and leaving now! HA! I tried to find a hotel in MS but all were really high and only king bed room left. I needed a double and my buddy Gary was just there last week and told me the Super 8 was actually good. I'm a Country Inn and Suites sort of guy but if Gary says it's good then it's good. I was booking the room and just as I pushed the reserve button a screen came up and it said they would take 30 dollars off if I would chat live. I just laughed and started to click the red "no" X but thought oh way not. Sure enough I was asked a few questions and then was told a mail in rebait was coming. I didn't have to give any private info that would have raised a red flag. Just simple, "was the online reservation system is to use?" Questions like that. I got a room for 51 bucks! That made my day!

I said I wasn't going to take the bike but boy it sure is wanting to go! If I ride I'll have to do it at first light or it gets too hot and muggy going inland down there. By the way, yes, I feel fine.

We spent yesterday at my sisters house. She lives out on the Arkansas River and all the rain that they've had in OK and northwest Arkansas is coming down the river. An island floated by and all sorts of trees went by. We kept joking about dead bodies floating by. It's really moving fast and it has been for abut a month now. Sort of feel sorry for all the summer boaters that like to habg out on the big sand bar just off the bike trail. We've not seen it in a long time. There are always a lot of boats parked all the way around it and cookouts and beach volleyball going on.

Plan to see Transformers while I'm in FL. Maybe Sean and Em will let me go with them! Daddy on a date with the teens! Oh joy! HA!

I downloaded beach tunes for the gift card Tyler gave me from the ITune store. Endless Summer was a must! Love that music! I ran across Duran Duran's Rio and grabbed it too. I know... old school. That reminds me... I need a few more tunes! Gotta run!

Yep, I'll be broadcasting from the beach and even plan to load up some photos. I always say crap like that then something happens where I don't get to.

Later folks!
Geo.

Tuesday 07.03.07 Part II

I thought I would update at lunch but went out with Jason and Allison. Always a hoot with those two.

It's been a very nice week so far. I feel great and just kicking back. Serious, I can't really remember the last time I took a bike break. I know there was a time back in the winter a couple of years ago when I had a bad sinus infection but other than that... If the weather is bad I can spin. In fact, I'll be heading back to the fitness center at lunch a few days a week fro spin classes and core training.... after the beach next week.

Oh yeah, a correction from River 2 River stuff. I've been told it was Yale that had his hand on my back pushing me at the end and Jenn was on the other side. I know I said Jo and Keith and I'm sure they were right there as well. Yep, I guess I was really flipped out.

Y'all would not believe how many folks have now told me stories about a cousin or uncle who had a heat stroke and how many died. Awwright, I get the point! I'll be a lot more careful out there and I love y'all too!

Big Firecracker 5K in town tomorrow. My VP is running and she was joking this afternoon that she should do a lot better in this race because she got to move up to the next age group. Rance, the director of the Fitness Center is running it too. I'm sure there are a lot of others from ACH running it. We have a big runner group there.

Hey, race news... Rock and Republic won their race the other day! Rahsaan and the guys are really kickin' it out this year! Keep it up guys! Hey RB and Austin... y'all need to just go ahead an smoke 5 Star and put 'em in their place. Check out the story: http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=11295

Tuesday 07.03.07

Is this what OK and TX have been going through? Oh man, we got the rain. Actually very small in compared to those guys. We got a shot of rain about 5 yesterday then just as we were heading into rush hour the cloud bottomed out. Several local flooding places.

oops, got to run to work... more later...

Sunday 07.01.07

This is actually copied from my River 2 River blog. I'll be posting here again...

We did what we set out to do and that was raise money and awareness for kids with hearing disabilities. We got the word out that this area of a child's life needs attention. There are over 16 million folks like me called Baby Boomers who have a hearing loss. Some are born with it and others got it from rocking out to their Kiss and Fleetwood Mac 8-tracks. Some, like myself are probably both. Technology is really just kicking in on hearing aids because so many of us are striving to live regular ole daily lives but we get tired of not being able to hear so we pester the companies who make hearing aids and we pester out Audiologist. It's called being an advocate! Find a passion, a cause, a charity and be an advocate! Make a difference. Sometimes making a difference is as simple as a hello to someone and sometimes it's pushing your body until it breaks.

Saturday night our friends and my team mates Rebecca and Chris Irons stopped by our house to pick up a couple of things that had been in the team van. Em was off on a date and Terri and I were about to grill out. We talked them into staying and eating, which wasn't real hard to do! HA! After dinner the 4 of us drove over to Shakey's for "ice cream". It was then Chris and Rebecca unfolded the events that surrounded my struggle to get from Cook's Landing to the hospital. It was really hard to believe they were talking about me. Some things I remember in a foggy sort of way and some are clear, all were tough. I do remember someone pushing me as we climbed the BDB. I do remember a group of guys passing right through the group on the right (you know who you are). I remember the hill by Dillards Corp office that I knew I had to get over. I remember the kids by the hospital on their bikes. I remember a lot of faces from the stop. I remember Keith Moore and Jo Spencer being right beside me talking me through it. Those gave me strength!

The fog: I heard that I ran a red light, that I rode off from Cook's Landing with only Blake riding along while everyone was getting their water refilled. I heard I was tilted to the right. I heard I was almost expected to pass out and there were folks on each side in case I did. I rode the wrong way coming in and rode through a barricade with very little room. I remember Lori taking me to the ER. I remember the nurse was named Emily and always was smiling. I remember Yale being there in the restroom after I barfed.

I also have some very good memories!
There was no rain at the start in Ft Smith! It was 80% chance!
The guy that owns a very respectable bike shop (Champion Cycling) in NW Ark was there to lead us out of Ft Smith.
The funny stuff my family and teammates said on the way to Ft Smith.
Getting cracked up watching Yale taking photo after photo after photo.
The police escort in Ozark.
Talking to Kevin on the Point 94.1 while riding in Ozark. Finding out he played it on the radio.
People telling my teammates they were crazy to do this ride with me.
Friends telling me that if I had called them at 1 a.m. and said I was about to ride the rest, they would have come back out. Now that is true friendship at it's highest level.
People telling me that 1/2 the ride was a major deal.
Telling the team who jumped on outside of Russellville that they smelled good and listening to them laugh. The Ft Smith group was stanking by then! HA!
Hearing Jenn giving some long drawn out excuse why she wasn't allowed to bring her honking horn.
Hearing the same Jenn ask a camero at a stop light in Russellville if he wantd to race and when the light turned green it sounded like he lost his muffler. Brain laughed so hard I thought he's fall off his bike.
Seeing Tom (SoundStart) standing on the side of the road in Conway.
Seeing Erik and the Ride bike shop guys waiting for us in Conway.
Having Rob from Conway pull us into the headwind from Conway to Maumelle.

You see the good memories list is much much longer than the struggling memories.

So what happens now? That's the question a lot of folks want to know. I do know that I'll take a little break from the bike just because. Remember all the day after emails? Well, almost all the ones from riders say, "You've got to get back up on your bike." Oh friends, I plan to do that!

Are you going to ride it again? I don't know about the whole 300 but I will finish the ride. Riding from Burn's Park to Forrest City is only 103 miles. I think I can make it the next 37 to West Memphis. I'm pretty sure a group of us will put our jerseys on and head out some fall morning and knock it out. There are so many scheduled rides for everyone between now and fall that I doubt we could work it in before then. Who knows, we wanted to ride this ride so bad we could be crazy enough to try it again but we'll do it under the radar.

I wanted to leave you with some most awesome news that has come from doing this ride...
On June 28th there was a program named the "George Cobb Amplification Assistance Program"!!! It's a loaner program for kids who need hearing aids and FM devices to succeed in school and in life! So you see my friends, the ride was a success right where it was always meant to be.... all for the kids!