goals

January Goals

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I think I’m feeling a little better today. I’ve had two days of antibiotics, on the third day of breathing treatments and the strong cough syrup. I’m still coughing, perhaps not as much and not as deeply, and my voice is a little closer to normal. I just washed accumulated dishes, so after sleeping most of the morning away, I’m ready for a couple of hours at the computer.

The 7th is kind of late for January goals, but this is the first time I’ve felt like typing them. Wrote them in my journal on the 4th.

1. Blog 12 times.

2. Write and publish 8 articles at Suite101.com.

3. Make at least one freelance submission.

4. Write 1000 words in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People.

5. Begin work with Demand Studios articles.

I should probably have more goals than that, but in my reduced capacity I’ll feel good about getting that much done. Last night, while watching the football game on mute, I put together notes for a Bible study I want to write. I looked in the usual places, and didn’t find it. I’d like to get some of it typed today.

Health, Writing

What the Doctor Said

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Pneumonia.

Yep. Went to see him yesterday. When he listened to my lungs he said he thought I had it, and ordered the x-ray. The x-ray showed less than he was expecting to see, but he said he still though it was pneumonia. Coughing without sinus drainage. No flu-type body aches. No fever. Just the persistent cough. They gave me a breathing treatment and a shot of antibiotic, plus prescriptions for an antibiotic, a home breathing treatment, and a strong cough syrup.

So, it looks like I’m home for a while, at least for this week. I won’t go back to work or church until the cough ends. I have gobs of sick time accumulated, so no worries there. Guess I’ll just lay around and rest, sleep, eat, watch bowl games, read, and play mindless computer games. Lynda is in OKC with Sara, Richard, and Ephraim. I’ve been reading a ton, mainly in the letters of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Also in the Bible.

Funny thing, I haven’t felt much like writing. Made a few entries into my journal, but haven’t felt like writing to this blog or any articles for Suite101.com or anywhere else. But as I was reading in Numbers this morning, my memory was jogged about a Bible study I had planned to write about Israel becoming a nation, taking material from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. Perhaps tonight I’ll feel like at least outlining that. Maybe in a day or two, if the medicine kicks in like it should, I’ll feel like writing again.

goals

The December Report

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I’ve still been sick these past few days. Taking Thursday off didn’t work, for we had a second Christmas dinner, and I did too much with the preparations. Rested that afternoon, as my voice totally left me. Friday I managed to get a little rest, but don’t think I felt any better by the end of the day. I knew then that I’d be resting Saturday and Sunday and going to the doctor on Monday.

But Saturday included packing the van for Lynda’s, Sara’s, and Ephraim’s trip to Oklahoma City. Still, I did less of that work than I usually did, Lynda and Sara doing more. At 2:00 PM they drove off, and I hit the couch, probably at the low point. I saw a little of a bowl game, but not much, as I dozed or slept for a few hours. I got on the computer a while last night, but didn’t feel like writing. I finally felt like reading a little.

Today I woke up to find 2 inches of snow on the ground. We were only supposed to get a dusting. Since I parked the pick-up in the drive on Saturday, that meant I had to shovel or else would not be able to get up the slope tomorrow and head to the doc. So I shoveled the part of the drive behind the pick-up. And I felt marvelous doing it. I coughed little, and the fresh air entering my lungs, even though it was around 26 degrees, seemed good to me. I coughed little while I was out, and not much the rest of the day (until the last half hour). I spent a lot of it on the couch, or in my chair.

So I’m behind in my beginning of the month posts. I’ll check in with my December goals now, but will leave January goals till tomorrow. Where I fell short in December, I’ll blame it on two weeks of being sick.

1. Blog 12 times >>> Did this.

2. Post at least 8 articles to Suite101.com >>> Fell two short, posting only six articles.

3. Make my submittals log perfect: all entries made in appropriate places; all acceptances/rejections gathered. >>> “Perfect” is a hard standard to live up to, but I think I accomplished this. I spent an evening early in the month getting things up to date, and don’t think I left anything hanging at the end of the month.

4. Make my ideas notebook perfect: appropriate dividers; hard copies of all ideas in the file. >>> I did quite a bit of work on this, but “perfect”? Probably not. Still, I believe I have a system in place that is significantly more workable than what I had at the beginning of the month.

5. All poems properly filed; includes transferring all poems from my computer at work to the one at home, and making the one at home the official repository of electronic copies; hard copies of all poems in a file. >>> Did almost nothing on this, except dealing with some of the hard copies I had floating around the office and the house.

6. Write 2,000 words in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. Last month’s goal was too ambitious, given all that’s going on. >>> Nope, did nothing on this.

7. Finish that appendix in the Harmony of the Gospels. I believe I left it, some months ago, with not much more than a page to finish. I shouldn’t leave it hanging. >>> Yes! After having this for a goal for several months, I finished it. This required that I read through the entire appendix and the related text. After all this time I wasn’t sure what the last page of the appendix was supposed to say. I decided it wasn’t too bad as it was, but did see a few things that needed to be added. Anyway, it’s done, and I actually began working on the next appendix.

8. Continue studies of Demand Studios (tutorials, editorial guides), and begin writing for them. >>> I continued my study of what Demand Studios requires, but I did not begin writing for them. I discovered that they do have some articles available for writing that I can probably write, maybe about $100 to $200 worth. I’m fairly certain this will be a goal in January.

poetry

R.I.P. Hunter, 1997-2009

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I have a picture of him somewhere, though I don’t think I can upload it to any of the computer I normally work at. If I can find the card, I’ll add a picture later.

Hunter was our dachshund. He joined our family in the fall of 1998, age 18 months. We had not had a dog for several years, and he was a delight from the start. He was friendly to a fault. One time when he wandered from our yard, he gladly hopped in the dog-catchers car. Anything to go for a ride.

He loved to hop up on the couch when I sat there, or when I lay there taking a nap. He would wedge himself between me and the back of the couch. That was his favorite position, to be wedged in behind someone. He seemed to enjoy the television, though possibly what he enjoyed most was his human company.

In the yard he loved chasing squirrels and digging after moles. If he found a carcass of any kind in our field, he would role on top of it. He especially liked to do this right after we gave him a bath. Running in the field was a favorite pastime of his.

In March 2003, at a time when we had another, more quiescent dog, and four foster children, we gave Hunter (I should say my wife gave Hunter) to her step-sister’s family in Oklahoma City. That meant we got to see him from time to time, and he even came back for one or two visits to Bella Vista. He had a good life there, and they took good care of him. But at 12 years of age he was beginning to suffer. We learned in their Christmas letter that they had him put to sleep a few weeks ago.

This is not as sad as a human death (I’ll be writing about one of them soon), nor as if he had been with us these last six years, but still it is sad. Hunter was the inspiration for the following poem, a parody of Leigh Hunt’s famous “Jenny Kissed Me”.

Hunter Licked Me

Hunter licked me on the nose,
showing me his deep affection.
Whimpering, this dachshund knows
who provides food and protection.
Tell me that my poems won’t sell,
that no muse has ever picked me.
Call me crazy, but then yell
“Hunter licked me.”

Health, Writing

Weathering It

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Good morning, everyone. I’m back at work, my first hours here since last Tuesday noon. Fighting that cough last week I only worked 1/2 day on Tuesday. I had Wednesday scheduled as vacation, and we were off Thursday-Friday.

Weather reports didn’t look good on Wednesday as we prepared to drive 450 miles to Meade Kansas. We considered not going, but we got a local weather report that indicated things were pretty good there. So off we went, taking a southern route through Oklahoma and arriving in Meade about 8 PM. No snow at all on the way; Meade had only a dusting.

For the next three days I proceeded to do as little as I could. I parked my over-stuffed hide in a recliner and sat there. They didn’t want me in the kitchen, coughing all over the food. They didn’t want my on the furniture moving detail, since the exertion would set me to coughing. And they didn’t want me much in conversations and games, for the same reason. And I didn’t want that much either. Thursday I was mostly in a fog. I had no head cold, just the cough, but that was taking a lot of energy, so I rested. Outside the prairie winds blew at 40 to 50 mph for three days solid. The house shook and windows rattled. But with some senior citizens in the house the hostess kept the furnace cranked up pretty good and we were all warm enough.

I find that when I have a cough, if I just rest quietly, I can resist the urge to cough for a long time. After a cough I lay back, regulate my breathing to short breaths, and before long I can feel the air going after the tickle in my throat. Then it’s a matter of slowly letting my breaths lengthen, and restricting my air passage as best I can to minimize the irritation of the tickle. Knowing where the tickle is, and controlling my breathing, when the urge to cough comes I am able to endure the pain across the tickle instead of coughing. Eventually the tickle worsens, and I cough, but maybe it’s every 15 minutes or half hour instead of every three to five minutes.

I suspect that helps with healing, but it requires extreme concentration. I can’t read while doing that, for I will forget about the tickle and cough when I could have suppressed it. Even television is too much of a distraction. Don’t want to talk or hardly move at all. I can pray some while doing that, but even praying is a distraction that lessens the benefits of my cough self-suppression.

Of course, driving won’t work either. So Lynda drove on the trip home, and some of the trip out. We came back through Oklahoma City and picked up Sara and Ephraim to come and stay with us a few days. Richard is in Mexico with a group from their church and an extended group from the college on a mission trip. So they’ll be with us until New Years Day, when Lynda will take them back and I’ll batch it again for a few days.

During this time, writing went by the wayside. I hardly checked in at Suite101, didn’t check in at Absolute Write, and didn’t read, think about plots or story lines or poems. I think I need another day or two before I’ll be ready to think about words again.

Oh, yes. That snow that Kansas was supposed to get–Oklahoma got it, but a day later. On Christmas eve Oklahoma City got 14 inches and Tulsa 8 inches from a wrap-around band of the storm–the first blizzard ever in Tulsa. The roads east of Tulsa were still a mess when we drove them on Sunday. Lynda did a great job and we had no problem at all.

Health, holidays

Under the Weather

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Well, I had great plans to make several posts to this blog over the last few days, but I have been knocked down with a winter cold. A strange cold. Normally they begin with my sinuses, and I can feel them coming on a day or two before sinus drainage really hits. Then they progress to full sinus drainage then to a chest cold that seems to linger forever. This one, however, began as a chest cold, the same as my usual cold but without the preceding sinus drainage. As I say, strange.

On Saturday, when I probably should have been resting, we drove to Baxter Springs Kansas (68 miles) to meet up with Lynda’s cousins for lunch at a small cafe on the old Route 66. It was a pleasant time, but I could feel myself going downhill during the day. Our route back home took us by the Wal-Mart we normally shop at, so we stopped and shopped for two hours. And the downhill slide continued. By the time we got home around 5:30 PM I knew I wouldn’t be going to church the next day.

So I rested Sunday, doing almost nothing except reading my Bible (several chapters in Numbers, as I’m trying to figure out the wandering Israelites), napping, watching football, and reading in magazines and newsletters. I got caught up on a number of those. I didn’t think, in my diminished capacity, that I could tackle the next book in my reading pile.

Monday I stayed home from work. I hate to do that on a holiday week, because who will believe you are really sick? I had a restful day, doing very little. I exerted myself only in looking for a couple of misplaced items needed to work on our Christmas cards. Those items being found, I developed our send-list and then Lynda and I began addressing. We got about half of those done by the time to turn in. Tonight will be dedicated to the other half, and to finishing and printing the Christmas letter. Maybe we’ll get most of them in the mail tomorrow. Then again, maybe not.

I’m at work, but only for a half day to do some critical items. I’ve got three out of four done already, so should have no problems heading home by 1 PM at the latest. Between resting due to this lingering cold, and the normal busyness that comes with Christmas and the days that immediately surround it, I doubt I’ll be posting again before next Sunday at the earliest. I wish my few regular readers, and those who stumble on this, a blessed Christmas. Ponder Christ’s birth, and be thankful.

Health

The Rheumatoid Report

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I took the last pill in my steroid dose pack last night. The decreasing dosage should have been having less and less effect anyway. The immediate effect on my finger, from last Friday to last Saturday, was amazing. I was ready to find the person who discovered this miracle drug and kiss him/her. Through Monday all was well.

Tuesday I felt just a little more swelling and a little more pain in the same finger, the ring finger on my right hand. The other nine were as usual through all of this. Well, maybe the right middle and pinkie had some sympathetic pains for their neighbor, and the left hand fingers were perhaps a little stiffer. The steroid helped them all.

Until Tuesday, that is. As I said, the swelling, pain, and stiffness crept up a little on Tuesday; more so on Wednesday. So I was not looking forward to this morning, expecting it to be more or last like last Thursday: swollen to the point where it felt hard, stiffness all around, pain more than I felt like bearing.

But it wasn’t. In fact, this morning the stiffness may have been a little less than yesterday. I was able to go through my morning routine at my usual speed, using both hands as normal. Of course, of late I’ve been compensating for that errant finger. Today I may have had less compensation to do.

So what’s up? Wish I knew. If I did something right over the last two days, something that caused this improvement in the arthritis, I’d like to know what it was so I can do it all the time. The only thing that stands out is I’m losing a little weight again. In the past I’ve noticed that, when I’m gaining weight, the arthritis feels worse; when I’m losing weight, the arthritis feels better. At my weigh-in yesterday I had lost all my Thanksgiving bloat, and more. I’m within striking distance of where I hoped to be by the end of the year, which is at least 20 pounds lost for the year, or 25 if possible. It’s possible.

Maybe that’s all it is, being careful of overall food intake and eating small enough portions that I’m losing some weight even without exercising. Whatever it is, I’ll take it. Now it’s time to get a little bit of writing done and posted on-line before the days of Christmas start, and writing ceases for a time.

Health, Writing

A Mixed Bag

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It’s amazing what a white powder, pressed into oblong shape and put into a dose pack, can do to rheumatoid arthritis. After all the problems of getting my prescription–both due to doctor error and pharmacy busyness–the pills did an amazing job. By Saturday morning I was in good shape. By Sunday morning my hands were mostly healed. I say mostly because not quite. The stiffness I normally have was back to background pain. The extreme flare-up was under control. I was able to work again.

Except the emotional toll of the pick-up repairs, the prescription fiasco, Lynda’s lingering illness, and general lack of success with writing in general brought me to Sunday not feeling like doing much. So I did little except go to church and rest. I read a few blogs, finished a stock trading article at Suite101.com (an article I had started on earlier), and read. I read in two days Charles Dickens’ novella The Chimes, the second of his Christmas books. Tomorrow I plan on posting a review of it.

Speaking of Charles Dickens, my Suite101 article on him is one of my recent success stories. This article was picked up and linked by a Charles Dickens dedicated web site. Scroll down to the “Dickens in the News” section to see the link. The way the page is set up, this link should be public for quite some time. Given the season, this is having a positive impact on my page views at Suite.

Also positive is that I discovered a certain site, Investors Journal, is linking to Suite101 articles. Several of mine have been there, although they rotate quickly and none are listed at the moment. But my recent stock trading articles were there, Google still has those links, which boosts my article ranking in a Google search. This apparently was unknown to Suite until I discovered it.

A negative is that the rheumatoid is a bit worse today: same hand, same finger. I’ve worked my way down the steroid dose pack to where I’m not taking much now, and I’m hoping this doesn’t mean in a day or two I’ll be back to where I was last Thursday-Friday. But, to compensate that my weight is down some. I’ve lost about six pounds from the Thanksgiving overeating times, and am pleased with it. I’m right now five pounds above where I hoped to be at the end of the year, so a little exercise, reasonable eating, and the New Year should see me at my goal weight. Time to set a more ambitious goal for 2010.

Two positives are things I wrote at Absolute Write recently, one in a poetry critique and one in a comment on a public events topic. Both were thought excellent by others, and are being quoted. That’s a good feeling.

I suppose we should expect a mixed bag out of life. It can’t all be good. The trick is to not become emotionally down when the bad comes. That’s been my problem lately. Setbacks have set me back emotionally, when they shouldn’t. Hopefully, with a correct appreciation for the situation and expectation for outcomes, from this point on they won’t.

book reviews

Book Review: Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

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I’m not sure where I acquired this book, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, Whitaker House, 1981, ISBN 0-88368-095-5. Perhaps at a garage sale, for it does not have a resale shop sticker. I bought it because of the subject matter, not from prior familiarity. Who wouldn’t want to read about those who went before us in the faith, and who suffered the ultimate price for that faith?

John Foxe wrote this record of the saints’ suffering from about 1550 to 1563. He continued to modify it for years after until his death in 1587, adding anecdotes and more stories. These were difficult times in England. King Henry 8th took his nation out of the Roman Catholic church when the pope wouldn’t grant him a divorce. His heir, the boy king Edward VI, continued on the same Protestant path under the influence of regents, but died at age sixteen. His half sister Mary became queen in 1553, and for the five years of her short reign through domestic affairs into turmoil as she restored Catholicism and attempted to purge Protestantism with threats, coercion, imprisonment, and execution.

Foxe lived through this, though he spent the Mary years in exile. So the book is concerned mostly with the martyrs of that era. One long chapter covers martyrs of the first three centuries of Christianity. The next covers Constantine–not because he was a martyr but because of his impact on Christianity. John Wycliff is next, again not for martyrdom but for persecution and impact.

After this are chapters covering the martyred and the persecuted of the late 15th and 16th centuries, a parade of names both familiar and not: Oldcastle, Huss, Tyndale, Luther, Hooper, Taylor, Latimer, Ridley, Cranmer. Some chapters cover a number of martyrs in short fashion, such as those from Scotland and those many burned at the stake at Smithfield near Newgate.

Foxe, in his narratives, concentrates on the period after arrest of the “heretic”–the subsequent attempts to turn the prisoner to the Catholic faith, perhaps some words in defense or the refusal to recant, then the actual execution. Almost nothing is included about what led to the arrest, or of the martyr’s earlier life. That’s probably as it should be, but it leaves me a bit unsatisfied. I’d like to know more about how these men and woman developed the beliefs and convictions that allowed them to face the flames without fear and with joy.

I left the book having disgust for Queen Mary, and sadness that such things as trans-substantiation and the mass and the authority of the pope were once thought important enough to kill for. The most uplifting part was the testimony of the saints, who maintained confidence and steadfastness in their beliefs, who joined the ones that an ancient writer declared “faced jeers and flogging, …were chained and put in prison, …stoned, …sawed in two, … put to death by the sword…went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated.” For all of these received something better, planned by God.

Is this book a keeper? I’m not sure at this point. It is almost source material for other writing. But I think probably not. Should you read it? The language is archaic, as is the organization (lack of subheadings, extremely long paragraphs), so it is a difficult read. But, yes, if you have an opportunity, read it and be enlightened.

Suite 101, Writing

Good News to Counter the Bad

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Well, my arthritis in my fingers is still bad this morning. Saw the doctor yesterday. They x-rayed my right hand and found no trauma. His conclusion is a severe rheumatoid arthritis attack. He prescribed me a steroid and a strong pain killer. Went to the pharmacy later that evening and they had the painkiller but not the steroid. Seems something was unclear about what the doc wanted, and they wouldn’t fill it until he returned their call. Since the doc’s office is closed today (a special day off, it appears) I may not get that medicine till Monday. The painkiller is helping a little, I guess.

And I got my pickup back yesterday. New engine, rebuilt clutch, new warranty. I’m considerably poorer, though I’m glad to have this friend back who has carried me for over thirteen years now. Looks like I’ll have to take it back in tomorrow morning, for they failed to properly fasten the boot in the cab at the bottom of the gear stick. It’s kind of flopping around and I can hear all kinds of strange noises coming from below somewhere.

But the real good news is last night I had an e-mail from the Suite101 editor-in-chief. My article on homemade turkey soup was chosen as one of the winners in the Best of the Holidays contest. The announcement hasn’t been made publicly yet, but I imagine it will be today. The prise is $101, which comes at an opportune time, both in terms needing the money and needing the confidence boost.

Author | Engineer