Things are a Little Bit Fuzzy Right Now!

Friday afternoon I was out and about with my beautiful bride, Jamie, when we decided to eat some lunch at Schlotzsky's. After spending some quality time with Jamie, I went to clean my glasses and "snap" I broke them in half, very much like the picture shown. This was my only pair that I had. My prescription was old, and I could not find a place that had any frames they could put my lenses into. So we had to get my a quick eye appointment and order a new pair of glasses, that should be in later this week.

In the meantime; things  are a little fuzzy. I can see well enough to function, but I cannot read anything and watching TV gives me a headache after a little while. I have taped my old paid together, but wearing them for any length of time, also gives me a headache. They are so loosely tapped together that they don't fit my face well, which makes things "wonky!"  So I am at the mercy of my son driving me around and my family reading for me until my new glasses come in. It's gonna be a blurry week.

Day 12 -- Time to Do The Work

In an effort to make some changes in my life; I am about to start a program that should help me change my way of thinking about some things. Although undiagnosed, I probably suffer from OCD and other social anxiety disorders. This tends to play havoc with my personal and professional life. This program should help with both of those issues.

The program is called The Work of Byron Katie. According to her site this work is "a way to identify and question the thoughts that cause all the fear, violence, depression, frustration and suffering in the world. Experience the happiness of undoing those thoughts through The Work, and allow your mind to return to its true awakened, peaceful, creative nature."

I am going to get me good notepad and take some good notes and try to apply the lessons taught in the Work and hopefully I will be a better person for it. I have listened to a couple of her sessions before, but I was not really listening, so I'm trying again, with a new focus. Wish me the best.

Day 8 - The Barista is Back

Today I am covering a shift for a fellow barista, at the Starbucks in Midlothian, TX. It has been about 6 months since I last worked at a Starbucks; however, I am excited to be a barista again. I worked as a barista for the Starbucks in Longview, TX for over a year and it was my favorite "part-time" job I have ever had. I hope I still have my skills.

Separate and apart from working at Starbucks; I have survived one week without any soft drinks, such as Dr. Pepper, Coca-Cola, IBC Cream Soda, etc... I was told by a doctor to avoid caffeinated drinks to try and help some acid re-flux problems I have been having. I can't give up my morning cup of coffee, but I can cut out the over sweetened colas and I don't have to drink a free cup of coffee every time I work a shift at Starbucks. I may even loose some weight doing this; if I can also control my eating. The longest I have ever gone without a soft drink was back in 2008, when I went from January 1 - February 26. I went out to eat on my birthday and I drank a Dr. Pepper. I think I can go longer this time!

Praying for Things That Cause Me Stress

On the advice of a co-worker, who works with stress & anger management; I am listing the top 10 things that cause me stress and I am going to pray for each one for one week! I am going to ask God remove any undue stress these may cause in my life. He guarantees that if I do this I will see a dramatic reduction in my stress levels and possibly my blood pressure as well.

Here is my Top 10 Stress Causes in no particular order

1. Food! -- I can't stop eating...I need to eat more healthy and less of it. This would also help my blood pressure and my high cholesterol.

2. Work -- I love my job, but the hours are often irregular and I do have to work some weekends.

3. My Family -- I love them to death, but every family has traits that bother you. Like not putting up clothes, dirty dishes or snack containers.

4. My Dog -- Back problems, peeing and pooping on the carpets and rugs. He is potty trained...why does he do that!

5. My OCD -- Why do I freak out over the clothes, the video games, the dog, and anything else that does work the way I need it to? It causes me to be very ugly towards my family and I don't like it.

6. My Dear Wife's Health -- She has to have some continuing test and procedures done and we have to budget to pay for that and I am concerned about how she is handling all of the stress related to them.

7. Wal-Mart -- I hate that store, but it is so darn close to the house. I hate waiting in lines, the lack of customer service, the parking, the blah blah blah.....

8. The House -- We really need a new roof, the kitchen ceiling to be fixed, new carpet and floors and some new paint. Not to mention furniture etc...

9. Our Yard -- We have no front yard! At least no green grass. Something is killing the grass in our front yard. We were told it is a fungus or maybe the trees are sucking all the water away from the grass??

10. My Father-in-Law -- Do I have to explain?

So starting tonight I will start praying for one of these things for 1 week, or do I pray for all of them for 10 weeks? I will pray for all of them tonight and check with my co-worker in the morning to get my directions right.

Is There Such a Thing as Food Porn?

As most men do (if they admit it or not), I struggle not to look a little to long at the over sexual advertisements that blanket the television airwaves. I have also hesitated a tad to long when about to delete that spam e-mail asking me to view the available women in the local area. Even though pornography is not one of my major struggles, I do know my limitations and I do my best to avoid looking at or supporting anything that has to do with the porn industry.

What I do struggle with is, the overwhelming number of food commercials out there. I may not be looking or seeking out naked women, but I am constantly tempted to eat the calorie friendly Subway Sandwiches, the Red Lobster shrimp specials, or the best pizza deals from Papa John's or Pizza Hut. Food can, and is, controlling a large part of my thoughts. If I am correct, isn't this gluttony? Gluttony is a sin right? How am I supposed to focus my energies on the bread of life, when I can't quit thinking about the delicious bread sticks at Olive Garden?

I think the food commercials are affecting me much like the half-naked Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders affect someone with a porn/sex addiction. I am going to have train myself to fast forward past food commercials when watching shows I have recorded. I am going to have to train myself to turn down the volume and look away from the television when the commercial for Burger King's Bacon, Mushroom and Swiss burger fills the screen. I do this when half-naked women appear in the commercials; why can't I do this when food comes on the commercials?

What about the billboards along the roads? When I see a billboard for a XXX place or a "Gentleman's Club" it almost makes me sick; yet, when I see a billboard for IHOP's latest monthly special, with those delicious looking syrupy pancakes, I "lust" for them.

I think I have stumbled across the answer to my food addiction. Treat food like I do pornography and I just may see things a little differently. Food Porn, that's what I'm calling it. It looks pleasing to the eyes, but it destroys your body and soul.

Calling All Prayer Warriors, We Need Some Prayers

The Devil seems very determined to keep my family from having a great summer.
It's time we do a little fighting back! So pray hard fellow saints, pray hard!

First prayer request...My wife, Jamie, had her first mammogram early last month. (Click here for more information about that.) It seemed the doctor found something so they scheduled her for a follow up visit, which happened today. After a second test, the doctor decided to perform a biopsy on the "abnormality". It is probably not anything to worry about, but of course we are concerned. Her mother and both her grand-mothers are survivors of breast cancer.

Second prayer request...I found out today that the Adult Education Program at Kilgore College is doing a little "reorganization" and as a result, I will no longer be employed as of July 31st. So, just like last summer, I will be job hunting. So far I have found out that 3 school districts near me, including my last employer, are looking for Social Studies or History teachers. I am even checking out a possible General Manager position at a local hotel chain. It's a start.

Third prayer request... My wife and I wish you to pray for the success of our new home-based business. We recently signed up to be on-line travel agents. If you wish to book a vacation, come check us out at Four English Peas Travel. We want more than anything to honor God with this new business. So pray that we do just that.

One thing to know about us is, that we fully believe that God will lead us through all of this! After all He is the God of "Miracles and Wonders" according to Psalms.

Blood Pressure Update & Zoo Trip

After talking to the Doctor on Friday, I am now on a temporary BP medication until I see my regular doctor on Wednesday. So far the new medication is working. I have an extremely dry mouth, but my BP was 140/92 when I arrived at work this morning. So maybe things are getting better.

My family went to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, TX on Sunday afternoon. We took many pictures (See below for a few of them) during the trip. We had a great time together as a family. The only disappointment was that the Cheetahs (my son's favorite animal) were apparently napping or hiding out of site, so we didn't get to see any of them. We may have to make a return trip later in the summer.

Caleb and Rachel Feeding the Birds at the Caldwell Zoo

Yet Another Thing to Turn Over to God.

Apparently This High-Blood Pressure Thing is a Serious Matter!

I woke up this morning feeling much better than yesterday. I went to work and taught all my classes without any feeling any ill effects. After classes I went to the offices of the Nursing classes of my college. I asked them to check my blood-pressure again just to see if it was any better. The results...183/110. Apparently this is still high. Not as high as yesterday, but still serious enough that the Nurse/Teacher instructed my supervisor to send me home for the day and to call my doctor to get some kind of medication to bring my blood pressure down.

After doing a little more research into my incident yesterday...I found out my blood pressure was so high, yesterday, that the EMT's and the Hospital was worried that I might be on the verge of a stroke. Wow! Needless to say, when the nurse at my college told me my blood pressure was still us, I am a little worried. I called my doctor and I am waiting for him to return my call. If he cannot contact me before the end of the day I might have to make a trip to the Emergency room again just to have someone give me something to bring my blood-pressure down.

I really don't want to have a stroke or heart attack or anything else related to high blood-pressure. Apparently I will soon be taking another Rx soon.

In the meantime I will look up some info on the Internet to see if there are some natural remedies to help until I see the Doctor. I will also be doing a lot of praying. With my OCD I will probably worry way to much about this, which won't help at all. So I'm going to have to let God take care of me! Imagine that, God taking care of his boy. OK, God I'm all yours. Go to work.

My Trip to the Hospital in the Nice Red Van.

I have a very interesting morning. I at home now fighting off drowsiness just to write this blog, so I can go to sleep.

Shortly after arriving at work this morning I was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea, light-headedness, and vertigo. It literally knocked me off my feet. I managed to grab a nearby chair and ease myself down to the floor. The whole time the room seemed to be spinning rapidly around me. I dang near threw up. Lucky for me no students were in the classroom at the time.

After sitting on the floor, spinning around in my head, for a few minutes I managed to pull myself up into a chair. About this time one of my co-workers came in and saw me with my head over the trash can and moaning about how I wished the room would stop spinning. She told one of the students to go and get an EMT (our campus has an EMT training course at our location), to come check me out.

The EMT instructor (who just happens to be a certified EMT) came in to check me out. He said my pulse was high and since I had "hit the floor" due to my vertigo, it was campus policy to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital to check me out. When the ambulance arrived, the EMT's from there took my blood pressure, it was a whopping 169 over 124. Dang! They didn't tell me what the pressure was they just said it was very high and asked if I was suffering any other symptoms other than vertigo and nausea. I told them no, all I wanted to do was just lay down a minute and let the room stop spinning. But being good EMT's they told me that my high blood pressure would not allow them to just let me lay down. Since I couldn't walk straight due to the vertigo, they strapped me to a gurney and wheeled me out to the ambulance and took me to the hospital to be checked out.

After going through a brief medical history they stuck me with an IV and told me wait until the doctor came to check me over. Turns out my condition was probably caused by a reaction my body had to two different cold/allergy medications I have been taken to try and shake off this "crud" I have had for the past two weeks. They said the combination of the medicine I took for allergies and a dose of cough medicine I took last night, caused my blood pressure to shoot up and that is what they think caused my sudden episode of vertigo and nausea.

After a near 3 hour stay at the hospital, my blood pressure finally went back to normal. The doctor gave me some pills to help with vertigo and told me to check with my regular doctor about the blood pressure. He told me to sleep the rest of the day and I should be OK to go back to work tomorrow pending what my regular doctor tells me.

So here I am, half drugged out of my skull and about to fall asleep at the computer. I guess I need to go to sleep and see how I feel in the morning.

Baseball, My Voice and Other Thoughts

Baseball Season is back and I am loving it. My Texas Rangers are 3-3 and just came off an impressive series win over division rivals the LA Angels. Tomorrow is the Rangers home opener, and if I were rich enough or dumb enough I would take tomorrow off and go watch them. How about the starting pitchers for the Rangers? They are doing great!

My voice is back, sort of! I can at least speak but it is not up to full potential. Allergies or something is still causing a little drainage back there, so there is still a squeak from time to time.

Our family has made a choice on where we will spend our "Family Date" this month. We all plan to spend the afternoon at The Caldwell Zoo in Tyler. It's been a while since we have been there. Last time we went it was still free to the public. Now there is a admission fee, but I'm sure it will be fun. We plan to go Saturday weather permitting.

Our family is also considering signing up to start a new home-based business. More details about this as it develops. Just pray that God leads us and guides us in making the right decision about this possible new venture.