Last Friday, January 20, marked the tenth anniversary of blogging for me. It all began on Live Journal and progressed to the on-line magazine you now read.

I began blogging after reading a number of others. Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds, was and is the premier blogger for the material I enjoyed reading. But the writings of a Long Island mom with close ties to the New York City Fire Department struck a chord in my heart and provoked my brain. Michele Catalano was writing about the things I wanted to write about, and she was good. Really good.

The aftermath of the murders committed on September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that followed, turned me into a blogger. Michele, my “blogmother”, gave me the courage to write. Her pain and anger, and the terrible loss she felt, came through in her work and it pushed me to express myself.

Michele’s blogging has evolved. Her children have grown. Her written work these days is about the things she loves, music, sports and cars. Sites like A Small Victory and Command Post have come and gone, but they affected their times in many ways. Michele is a hero from an era where we badly needed heroes.

As my on-line writing is seen in more venues, this magazine, this blog, will be the core. I hope I can continue to be honest, trustworthy and, most of all, write about what I care about for a long time.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

2011 was a year full of middle age, many of the aches and pains of an active youth without the need to actually play to earn them. Still, the lovely wife and I are grateful for our health and our lives with our kitties.

The lovely wife’s physicians continue to be pleased with her health. The heart specialist and the diabetic eye doc both blessed her for another year. Her primary car MD is also very pleased with all her numbers.

My freelance writing career is slowly improving. With the connection to Yahoo!, I’m seeing a few pieces earn some money. The military connection has brought me an additional writing opportunity that pays well but it’s only an occasional assignment.

Next year is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. There will be a lot of activities in honor of that up and down the East Coast and along the eastern Great Lakes. The Canadians are investing a great deal of money, too, and their side of the lakes will also have some great shows. If you can make one of the events on either side of the border, it should be very entertaining.

Merlin and Arthur are 9 and very mellow these days. Arthur may even find himself transformed into a lap kitty. He’s fighting it but it feels soooo good.

At 7, Pebbles is running the house. It’s a hectic life, running from window to window, defending the house from squirrels and rabbits. She is also busy keeping track of the level of dry food in the cat dish.

Sarah is our lap kitty. Age 5 and about 20 pounds, she is continuing to become more tolerant of the other cats. She still requires grooming by people since she’s too fat to reach everywhere. Occasionally trouble, she melts you with her big blue eyes when she climbs on your lap.

God bless all of you this Christmas and for the New Year.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

2010 was a very uneventful year. Not complaining, though it makes an annual newsletter tough to write.

The lovely wife’s health remains stable. Blood sugar, eye sight, heart all under control with no further deterioration. She keeps busy around the house and we try to get out once a week. The local Chinese buffet is our “date”.

She has the decorations all out and the presents all wrapped. That must mean it’s time for her to make Christmas candy and bake Christmas cookies.

Chuck has continued his budding writing career. Every month a little more income, though still more pin money than salary. One of his outlets was bought by Yahoo so his work is being seen on that major web portal now.

Chuck dug the camera out of the dust and took some senior portraits. An old friend asked and he would not refuse. He had a lot of fun and the pictures turned out great.

The four cats are all well, now. Three of the four had us back and forth to the vet for a while over the last twelve months. Sarah is still fat. A course of antibiotics seems to have fixed part of her “littler training” issues which is a great relief. Arthur is regaining some of his lost weight after some medicine to boost his appetite. And Merlin has recovered from a fighting injury to his eye which got infected but is now better. Only Pebbles has not been to the vet for an emergency, though her nerves are shot from all the ins and outs of the other kitties.

Not much new here. We hope you and yours are all well and happy. God bless all of you this Christmas and for the New Year.

Here are several other sites where we’ve written content. Most of it is unique to that site and all of it helps keep food on the table.

Paid a visit to Dr. Cutie this morning. Noticed late last week that some scratches from yard work seems to be inflamed, as well as a nasty bug bite. Over the weekend they got large, blotchy, red and the itching was nearly unbearable. Got an appointment for this morning.

Click on the image for a larger view.

I have a smaller outbreak on my wrist but this is the big one. The largest of the splotches used to be two tiny, 1-2 mm, scratches that almost looked like a snake bit. The closest blotch to that might have been a bug bits. God knows where the others came from.

I noticed the injuries on my wrist first. Again, two scratches, and a definite bug bite. I slapped the biting insect away while half asleep.

Dr. Cutie sent an Rx in for a cortisone ointment and I’ll grab it later today. Lanicane was no help at all, BTW.

Lost another 2 pounds since I began working out. BP was something like 110/60. That is progress due solely to the treadmill at the YMCA.

I began an exercise routine in mid-March. The stress in my life was far outweighing the activity I was getting. My cholesterol was a little funky and I was limited in the activities I wanted and had to do. I couldn’t bend and stoop and stuff, all necessary when you have cats and a disabled wife.

Renee Cansdale McAfee suggested the YMCA and so I joined. I try to work out three times a week. I’ve been good and only missed one or two times.

My goals are simple, work on my cardio and then on my flexibility. I go over right after I get up and feed the cats. I try to put in fifteen minutes and am beginning to stretch it to 20. It’s mostly treadmill, and I’m cruising along at ¾ of a mile in fifteen minutes.

I have been adding some height to the last few sessions and I can feel the difference in the muscles being used. I’m setting the elevation at 3 or 4 and quitting the elevation when I gain 100 feet in elevation. Pulse rate isn’t doing too bad. 120 beats per minute most of the time and 130 at my hardest level of workout.

I’ve tried the elliptical a few times but it is a killer right now. I can manage about 3 minutes at the base settings before the legs become wobbly. I tried this machine because I have noticed that I tend to “clump” along when I walk on the treadmill. And I have noticed a difference in my left and right leg working, with the right doing lots more. So, my walking mechanics are kinda odd.

I spend some effort to try to walk standing up straight and such. I still seem to sway side to side unless I walk with the backs of my hands touching the sidebars. That kills the arm workout so I’d rather not do that.

Anyway… the elderly are very much in evidence. Thankfully I seem to be working at a higher rate than most of them, though not all. The gym often has exercise classes for those who can only sit or barely stand, and I know the pool has some exercise workouts going, too.

Since this YMCA is in a wealthy “burb”, I also see a few moms. The Y offers programs for the toddlers at the time I’m there, so I think the moms drop off the kids and go do some work.

My plan is to continue to push the treadmill work to 20 minutes, with or without elevation. If that is just too boring by mid-June, I’ll change to 15 minutes on the treadmill and 5 on an elliptical. Sometime over the summer, if I have the cash, I’m going to look in to a Yoga class and perhaps a self-defense class. I want to learn to swim but I have a lot of work to do to build up my legs for that.

Cholesterol did show improvement in the most recent blood work.

In late November 2005, I was hospitalized for an infected appendix. While the imaging was said to be certain, the surgeon decided not to operate. I caught c-dif in the hospital and eventually went home to the next four years.

Off an on I have had pain the the right lower quadrant (lrq) of my abdomen. Tests and scans revealed a number of things, some mutually exclusive, but no solution. The GI doc continued to suggest a colonoscopy. I continued to suggest he go first.

Friday, November 27, after I got home from a second feast at my sister’s, I began to fell the same old symptoms. Bloating and lrq pain. By now, the medical consensus was Crohn’s Disease so I just figured I got into some gluten at her house and went to bed.

Hardly got out of bed that Saturday. Very much a struggle to find a position where I was in no pain.

Sunday was little better. Walking doubled over. No other signs of infection, no fever, no diarrhea.

Monday, got the diarrhea and called my PMD. Dr. Cutie was not available and suggested Urgent Care or the E/D. Since I was headed for the E/D in any event, I picked door number 2.

Irondequoit Ambulance took me across the city to Parkridge/Unity Health. We’ve begun using them as they seem to be cleaner and more patient engaged than the other hospitals.

This was no exception. Two giggling nurses admitted me and got me prepped for imaging. The E/R doc got me pain and nausea meds right away. A polite refusal of rectally introduced medium contrast was allowed and zoom. I was scanned.

And I had a bouncing baby appendix. Saw a surgical PA, the surgeon, and off to be prepped. The anesthesia doc listened to me and gave me something with amnesia properties. If I got sick from the anesthetic, I don’t remember it. That’s the way I like it.

Woke up in the ICU on Tuesday. Felt lousy all day but could eat. Meds worked great. Decided I needed another night, and I very much did. Too unsteady on my feet and very confused.

The staff generously and genially answered all my wife’s questions since she is confined by her health to the house without a great deal of prep.

Wednesday am was the ticket. Ate a surprisingly large breakfast. Ready to go home. Watch surgeon pull an 8 inch drain from my abdomen. Think 8 inches of garden hose stuck in you. Very odd feeling inside and just a brief bit of pain when it came out.

It was laproscopic surgery. 3 holes, no waiting. Holes still smart like the dickens, especially the largest on my left side. Movement is restricted slightly.

I have zero energy. Enough to get up an pee, and eat and go back to bed. Fortunately, that seems to suit the cats who join me in all three pursuits.

Nothing but praise for the people at Parkridge/Unity Health. Quick and efficient diagnosis and provision of definitive care. Concern for patient comfort and loads of good humor and smiles. American medicine at its best.

From arrival at emergency department to definitive diagnosis: 11 am to 3:45 pm.

From diagnosis to surgical intervention: 3:45 pm to 7 pm.

about 1700 yesterday. More tomorrow.

Don’t miss my television interview on the Time Warner local new channel, YNN. I was asked to counterpoint the county medical society president.

Is the Vaccine Production Process Broken?

Halloween 2009 here along America’s North Shore was as cold as I can remember. The temperature fell from 51 degrees around 6 pm. Luckily, the gusty south to south west winds also dropped as it got later.

Still, it was a cold and damp Halloween.

The lovely wife had dug out some decorations that has gotten buried. We had a stuffed vampire sitting in a chaise lounge. We also had a witch, about 3 ft high, that spoke when an electric eye was activated.

We had the usual bowl with the rubber hand and electric eye that many of our visitors look forward to year after year.

We found two giant spiders to hang, about camel spider size, and a plastic skeleton.

We had about 100 trick or treaters. Fewer older teens than usual but they made up for it by grabbing handfuls of candy instead of just a couple pieces.

Not really any one costume seemed popular, other than heavy jackets.

Several of the toddlers were enchanted by the witch. The lovely wife felt it was due to the witch being their size.

It was a fun evening and the cats survived it, too,

25 pound salmon caught in Lake Ontario on Sept 15 2009

Click on the pic for a larger image. Half an hour battle and my brother in law could barely hold the fish after. Sis says it was good eating, milder flavor than Atlantic salmon.

I’m very busy. The lovely wife keeps me hopping at home, with the things she cannot do any longer.

And I am writing up a storm. In each sidebar is a widget that links to a site where my work appears. One goes to Examiner.com and the other to Associated Content.

Helium is not generating a valid RSS feed, so here to read my work at that site.

I’m 54. I’m spending the day at the Finger Lakes Track casino, spending my Ad Sense check from Google.

Click on an ad to help me celebrate.

OK, all you HVAC experts out there. Here are some pictures of the damage to our air conditioning compressor overnight, during the thunderstorms that rocked the Rochester, NY area.

The initial diagnosis is a new wiring harness and new fan wiring. Unknown if the compressor itself is damaged.

Damage to the wiring above the damaaged capacitor. Capacitor already removed.

Damaged capacitor

The entire set of pictures is on Flickr here.