Monday, February 27, 2012

Awesome Blog Contest Award

 

I am excited and humbled to accept an award for my work on Tenorboy Journal. In the spirit of the Awesome Blog Contest Award, here are the ABCs of a man called Tenorboy ...

A = Autoharp
B = Barbecue 
C =  Christian
D = Dad
E = Example
F = Frustrated
G = God
H = Home
I = Intimacy
J = Jesus
K = Known
L = Lazy
M = Musician
N = Noisy
O = Obstinate
P = Piano
Q = Quirk
R = Relax
S = Shy
T = Teacher
U = Unworthy
V = Vacation
W = Wanderer
X = Xylophone
Y = Yearning
Z = Zig-zag

I plan to nominate some of my fellow bloggers for this award, after I've had some time to contemplate.



... Later!


Monday, February 20, 2012

Doctors ... What do They Know? (Part 2)

4 weeks.  That's how long I've had bronchitis.  4 weeks.  I went to the clinic, had the chest x-ray, blood work. I went to the pharmacy for the z-packs, the inhalers, the cough syrup. 

All in all this bronchitis cost me about $150.  I'm not sure how much it cost the health insurance company (don't care, really). 

Still, I felt like crap (with a capital f). 

It all began to change this weekend. 

You see, for a few years my wife (she's into herbs, ya know) has been telling me about the benefits of natural medicine.  Well, since I was going to have a few days off and I wouldn't have to be around people very much, I decided to try the garlic cure.

1 clove of garlic every four hours for three days.

(*SIDE NOTE:  My wife said it was a bit difficult to sleep next to me, as I was emitting a "certain aroma." - hehe)

The first day everything seemed the same, but I remained faithful to the regimen. 

Yesterday morning everything felt different - looser and more productive.  The congestion moved from the back of my throat to my nose, where I was able to blow it out all day long.

This morning, my chest was slightly tight, but not anywhere near the sensation of the past four weeks.  The cough was very productive, and the sinuses, though full, were quite manageable and breathable.  I kept up the regimen.

This evening I am very comfortable, breathing normally, with a slight cough, as though I am in the final stages of the common cold.  I will take one more dose of garlic before bedtime, and see what happens in the morning. 

A four week case of acute bronchitis / borderline pneumonia. 

Cured with a dollar's worth of garlic. Thanks, Honey!

Doctors ... What do they know??

... Later!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Google Anyone?


Google Analytics.  The indispensable tool that helps bloggers like myself understand their readership.  With Google Analytics, I have access to statistics about my page that I can use to fine tune things like content and writing skills. 

Google analytics provides equal amounts of useful and useless information (who cares how many visitors use Firefox as their browser?).  The weekly report tells me which towns are reading which posts, how long they remain on the page and on the site, which other posts they read, if any, as well as whether they came to the blog directly or used a search engine. 

At the very least, it is fun to know which topics are popular and unpopular, and which ones will draw the most ire from folks.  And, although it isn’t very useful, it’s interesting to know who reads and who just clicks around.

I’ve been using Google analytics for about 6 months and I’ve discovered some astonishing (and not so) information about Tenorboy Journal.

  • My most popular posts are about pain and suffering.  Are my readers really into watching me suffer?  Apparently so.  Rock on, my friends.
  • Second most popular posts are holiday-related stuff, you know the “what-we-did-on-Christmas” posts.
  • The least popular posts are the informational articles.  When I demonstrate my expertise on any given subject on any given day, y’all don’t like it.  Too bad for you, no? 
  • Monday is a bad day to post.  Items that are posted on Mondays get little to no attention.  But, I didn’t start blogging to get attention. (I didn’t??) No, I didn’t.  Regardless, the lack of interest in  Monday is in itself … interesting.
  • People from my hometown are regular readers.  People from my current town don’t read it at all.  Oh, sure they click on it and click off, just to be polite, but how much can you actually read when you spend an average of 5 seconds on a page?  Oh, well.   
  • I have a large readership overseas.  Maybe I should apply for a job in Japan.  Are they hiring bloggers???
  • No one reads the posts in which I keep a close guard on my attitude and vocabulary.  The more “me” I am, the more popular the post (more readers), and the longer people stay on the blog before they exit.  Unfortunately, I am not always able to unleash the full “me.”   Some people would be offended (*GASP!*).  Perhaps I could be me in Japan??

What, then, should I do with this information?

Darned if I know

… Later.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Doctors ... What Do They Know?

The common cold.  For many people it comes a few times a year.  The sniffling, sneezing, watery eyes, post-nasal drip, and of course, the cough, cough, cough. 

My latest cold had all the earmarks of the normal affair, to a point.  The difference was in the cough.  It wouldn't quit - it just kept going and going and going ... for two weeks.

I must digress for a moment and tell you when I caught colds in the past, the doctor would invariably tell me that my ailment was viral in nature, and therefore no prescription was available to help me get better.  I always had to "wait it out" and make the best of it. 

So, you can understand my reluctance to see the doctor about my two-week old cough. 

Finally, I could take it no longer, and I went to the doctor.

Well, after a swab and a chest x-ray it was determined that I was well on my way to pneumonia.  Thankfully the infection didn't get that far.  It confined itself to the bronchial region. 

Acute bronchitis.

What does it mean?

At least 10 days of antibiotics, disgusting cough syrup (with codeine), and an inhaler.  Plus lots of rest and fluids (OK, so I got the fluid thing figured out, but I'm not so sure about the rest).

Anyway, I'm somewhat out of commission for now, but I'll spring back.  I always do.



... Later.
 

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Random Saturday Morning Thoughts

It's Saturday morning, and as I sit in my recliner with a cup of coffee and the laptop, I find myself strangely calm in light of several tempests that are stirring in and around my life.  It's funny how the anxiety caused by trials and the helplessness caused by the "There's-absolutely-nothing-you-can-do-about-it" factor seemingly balance out one another, creating an over all "ahhhhh."

Or it could be that I've finally gotten to the point where I just don't give a rat's ass.

Some thoughts on this week

* * *
SLO (Student Learning Objectives) - NYS has adopted this idea hook, line, and sinker.  It stinks.  It comes with more paperwork than a ten-year IRS audit, and I predict that it will implode under it's own weight before it gets off the ground.  That said, we STILL have to go through it and produce an SLO (part of our annual performance review) before September.

"No, we're not making you teach to a test."  Yeah.  What ever.

* * *
Insurance companies cooperate ONLY after they are threatened with viable legal action.  Unfortunately that is what it took for ours to come through with a check - a check that was written to us AND our mortgage company.  Nice - just keep jumping through those hoops.

* * *
When grown-up siblings fight with each other, it is U-G-L-Y.  That is all.

* * *
When I grow up I want to be a beach bum.  But without the beach (I hate the beach.  LOVE the water, hate the beach).  I'd like to just hang out and have fun for the rest of my life.  I've tried it and found that I'm quite good at it.  I think, nay, I am sure that I would be stunning in that career.

* * *
The longer I live in this big, beautiful, drafty, old historic house,  the more I appreciate the beauty of our little house with its postage stamp garden and quaint picket fence.  It isn't that I don't appreciate the beauty of this place, or the convenience of living downtown, or the fact that our family is together.  It's just that enough is enough already.  I want to go home.


That's all for now.  You may return to your regularly scheduled lives.


...Later.
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