Life is Good (Part 47)!!!

Hello again, blogfans!

Today's entry is a generic rambling about a lot of stuff; have patience!

The day before yesterday, I went in and had "Moh's" surgery on my nose. For those who don't follow along very often, I had a basal cell carcinoma discovered there about a month ago, so the surgery was scheduled to have it removed. Now, I'm told this form of cancer is not particularly virulent and seldom if ever spreads, so no one was very worked up about it one way or the other. Anyway, the worst part so far has been explaining to E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y why I have a bandage across my nose and why my eye is black! I almost just did up a sign to wear that explains it so I wouldn't have to anymore, but I decided against it. In any case, they said that they "got" all of the cancer and it shouldn't return (but I have to get checked out again in 3-6 months just to be sure; translation - we need to charge you for another office visit so be sure to come in so we can do that!). On that afternoon, I had a follow-up with the Proctologist (if you need to know why I had a follow-up scheduled, read the "translation" above!), who said that the type of Polyp they found during my colonoscopy is the kind that tends to become cancerous over time, so they suggested that I increase my calcium and my fiber intake. Toward that end, I started eating a bran cereal with a cup of milk in the morning instead of the Atkins "Morning Start" that I had been eating, so I hope that does the trick!

MDB has stayed home the last couple of days to work on her hurricane book. Every year, the Weather Service puts on this big hurricane conference. It's attended by all of the emergency managers in the area, safety directors of large companies, governmental officials of all sorts, emergency medical people, fire department personnel, etc., so it's a really big deal! Part of the preparation is the annual "hurricane book" that all of the above buy for their people. It's got all sorts of hurricane-related stuff in it and it's really very well done. In any case, MDB is the one who puts it all together and arranges for publication every year. She says it's her favorite part of her job, which makes me glad that her job is HERS and not mine! I would go crazy trying to put something like that together! Anyway, she does a really good job with it and the book is really very well done! I'm VERY proud of her! She's AWESOME!!!

Something happened the other day that doesn't happen very often. We were talking about species adaptation and one of the kids asked me if I believed that we had monkeys for ancestors. I said, "no, all of my ancestors were human; sometimes I wonder about the ancestry of OTHER people, but mine were all homo sapiens!" To that, he replied "I don't think I came from monkeys either, coach! You must believe in God!" I said, "well, as a matter of fact, I DO believe in God!" and several of the other kids in the room chimed in and indicated their approval. I don't get opportunities to voice my faith in school very often, so this was an unexpected and welcome surprise! As you may or may not know, INTRODUCING religion as a topic is a big time no-no! However, if asked, we CAN state our own beliefs without fear of reprisal, so it was good to get asked!

That leads me to another "burr in my saddle;" A "moment of silence."

What is supposed to be the purpose of THAT? Oh, I KNOW what it's supposed to be for; you're supposed to take the time to offer prayer to whatever deity you choose or NOT pray to whatever deity you choose to disbelieve in, but how many of us actually use it that way? You know, in muslim nations, everything stops twice a day and every person in the country throws down a prayer rug, kneels toward Mecca, and offers a public prayer to Allah. If anyone says anything, they're dealt with in the harshest of terms! Yet, here in this country, supposedly a Christian nation, we cower behind "moments of silence" for fear of offending someone who doesn't believe the same things we do. Uhhh.....what?! Whatever happened to "majority rules?" When did it become the right of the minority to dictate policy to the majority? I think we ought to operate a little more like the muslims in this case. "Hey! We're going to offer a prayer now! If you don't like it, or if you'd rather pray to the grass or your dead Great Aunt or whatever, that's fine, just don't do it around here!" How do you think that would play out?

Exactly!

It's fine if it's my rights that are being trampled, but I'd sure better not infringe upon someone else's rights!

Somehow, I don't think that "freedom FROM religion" is what the Founding Fathers had in mind!

Anyhow, I'd like to thank God right now for all of His blessings - continued good health, a WONDERFUL wife, a great job and salvation through my belief in Jesus! Praise God forever!

(sorry if that offended you!) - Dan