The New Chapter: Nashville

Howdy.

I’m writing this partially to keep everyone in the loop (that wants to be) on what’s going on with me, but also, to help me wrap my head around everything that is going on. Things are moving so fast right now.

First, surgery recovery.

I am recovering well from surgery. The swelling has gone down, pain is slowly going down, the tumor is obviously gone now, the jaw reconstruction is working well, and my neck is healing well from where they had to cut me open to finish the surgery. They said 4-6 weeks to recover. It’s been a little over a week.

I still cannot feel anything on the bottom right lip or chin, and I never will again. I’ve been retraining myself to talk and eat correctly again, I’ve been pretty successful so far. The strangest thing is shaving my chin without feeling it. That tripped me out a lot.

I haven’t needed much help in the recovery, but what little help I have needed, I’ve had all of the support I could ever ask for. And I’ve never been more thankful to friends and family. Thank you.

So after my surgery, on the 16th, I came into my work at SSI and picked up my paycheck, asked them where my schedule was, so I could resume work. The said to take all of the time I need to recover, feel better, and contact them when I am ready to come back. Where as I was able to work, I was not ready to truly come back.

A few days prior to that, since I was doing some job hunting during my recovery, (yes, I never give myself a break) I received a job offer in Nashville. After getting my paycheck, and not having a schedule, I contacted them and told them that I could be out by Wednesday the 18th for an interview.

Late night on the 16th I packed up and left. By the evening of the 17th I was where I am now, in southern Kentucky, staying with a special friend of mine. She’s been generous enough to let me stay here until I get everything settled in. I went to the job interview, and acquired the job. Basically, what I will be doing, is high-end tech support for the military. I cannot get into any more details, except that it’s requires a top secret clearance to do the work. The pay is generous, and it’s right up my alley. I’ve been needing this change for a long time now. There was a narrow window of opportunity to grab this position, so I did, and pending paperwork, I should be starting sometime in December. I’m definitely looking forward to this.

In the meantime, I have been relaxing and recovering. The pace of things out here is very laid back, and I like it a lot. It’s nice to just be able to chill once in a while, and it’s definitely something that feels new and refreshing to me. Starting next week though, things are going to start ramping back up.

Later today, Holly and I are going to go into Nashville, kinda just check out the town and see what all it has to offer. Tomorrow I will be filling out the extensive paperwork for the job, maybe visit one of my old friends, that now lives in Bowling Green, KY.

Monday I am going to run some errands in town here, meet up and talk with the local emergency operations center here and discuss what I could do to help out here, like I did in Wichita, get a hold of some Ham Radio operators here, get into the Skywarn stuff out here, maybe even look for a second part time job in case something falls through with the first one. Turns out, they have a news radio station in town here that has the same programming as KNSS did in Wichita, so I could do production and on-air work for them, without any training. Although the on-air part, might be a little tricky, after the surgery and all.

Tuesday I have to go back down to Nashville and fill out paperwork, get fingerprinted, and all of that for the job, so I will be busy then too. Wednesday I plan on tying up any loose ends here, doing various things, and confirming dates and times on things here. Thursday I am having cable TV installed here just before I leave back for Kansas. Leaving for Kansas around 6p to be back in the Wichita area by around 6am Thanksgiving Day. I will sleep, spend time with family and friends. Then, from the 27th and the first week or so in December, I will be in town to tie up loose ends there, pick up paychecks, pack up more things, get a few doctor appointments in, say goodbye to friends and family, etc. By December 8th, I plan to be back here again in the KY/TN area. Predicted start date of this job is on or around December 11th, and if it starts later, I will want to be working another job by then anyways, to bring in more money.

If you want to see me while I am in town, you should get a hold of me soon, so I can get a time slot for you. I will be very busy once I am there, but I want to see as many of you as possible. Use my links on the right side of this blog to get a hold of me. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. My phone number, most people have, but if not, it’s on my Facebook. Contact me and we’ll hook up.

I also will have a few photo shoots that I will be doing when I get back into town, and have room for a few more, so look me up for that as well.

So anyways, I’ll come back up here to the Nashville area, start working, start saving up for my own place, and get everything ramped up out here. Provided that finances allow, I will be trying to fly back again to the Wichita area around whatever Christmas break I can get, to spend time with family and friends for Christmas, and then be taking my Oldsmobile packed up with whatever I had forgotten or couldn’t fit into the Celica, back with me to Nashville. The Olds is in great shape, practically brand new, no miles and works perfect, and nobody seems to want to buy it from me for what it’s really worth, so I am going to just take it with me. It’ll be nice to have a backup ride in case something were to ever happen with the Celica.

The goal is to then again, get back here to the Nashville area before New Years, and start 2010 here in Nashville, new chapter in my life. =]

So last night I was online catching up with friends of mine and stuff and some weird shit has been going down out there in Wichita. Like, I guess one of my idiot officers at SSI (that I couldn’t stand) pulled someone else’s gun on another officer. Yeah, couldn’t believe it either. The idiot officer obviously doesn’t work there anymore. But the guy that has the business end of the gun pointed at him, disabled the idiot, and let it go. Better man than I. I would have killed him where he stood. And I would have been legally allowed to as well. There’s no way that someone is going to pull a gun on me, and live to see another day. If you plan on putting a gun into my stomach like that, you’d better make plans to pull the trigger a few times, because it’ll be the last thing that you do, if you don’t. I respect the officer that disabled the tard officer that thought that something like that would be funny, and commend him for doing nothing further. After talking to him, he basically said that his family flashed before his eyes and wasn’t worried so much that the tard would actually kill him on purpose, but more so that his stupidity would get him accidentally killed. Needless to say, the tard officer, Logan Hertel is his name, was caught on tape doing all of this, and no longer works there. But if you hear or see this stupid kid, don’t hire him, he’s just dumb enough to do this type of thing again, and it’s disgusting that he’s still alive.

So the gun wasn’t Logan’s. It was someone else’s. One of the new dispatchers that works up there now actually. I guess he felt the need to bring his personal weapon up there. He’s brought it up there a few times, and there’s nothing wrong with that, until the owner of the company tells you not to bring it up there. Then you don’t. But he brought it up there anyways, Logan took it, and did the above. Jeremy, the new dispatcher, gets fired for having the gun up there, understandably. He was told not to have it up there. Simple. Logan was obviously fired too, and the officer that handled everything well, the good friend of mine, is being backed by all of his other officers, as well as the company owner 110%.

Jeremy, the new dispatcher, goes home to his girlfriend, to tell her that he lost his job because of this idiot (as well as himself for having the gun up there) – his girlfriend is pissed that he lost his job (tough job market and all), Jeremy gets pissed and goes looking for Logan for like 3-4 days I guess, and doesn’t find him (which is a damn shame).

After having nowhere to live, after getting fired from his job for having the gun up there, after losing his girlfriend, after looking for Logan and not finding him, Jeremy shoots himself in the chest, and dies.

Yeah. Told ya I was having a hard time wrapping my head around everything that has been going on, maybe now it’s more clear as to why.

So I am filing my resignation there when I get back, was going to before I found out about all of this happening, but especially now.

They are missing me as a dispatcher, new guy no longer there now, Tracy is leaving, our most experienced dispatcher. That leaves one person. And me, if I were to stay there. I appreciated my job there, don’t get me wrong, but all of this shit happening, and more to probably happen, at $8 an hour, having to pick and choose which bills to pay, or come to Nashville and work for double the pay doing half as much with none of the drama.

Which one would you choose?

Crazy times. Tis’ the season I guess.

That’s all I have for now. I would appreciate any and all comments.
Thanks for listening/reading.

Surgery.

I am home from surgery, recovery will be a long one. Here’s what happened.

I had a tumor on my lower right jaw. This thing was huge. They tried to remove it out thru my mouth, and could not. So they cut my neck open to pull the rest of it out that way. They broke my jaw in the process, something that was expected, and had to do reconstructive surgery on the jaw. They were going to try to do a bone grafting on it, but other complications came up that prevented the grafting for now. That will happen later.
They severed a nerve in the process of all of this, so I cannot feel part of my chin and lips. They are saying that it is permanent damage. It definitely feels that way. They also extracted all of my teeth, and put in my top implants in. But I cannot talk correctly anymore. No more radio DJ work for me.

I have a lot of work yet to do. I have a lot of retraining to do. Ever tried to eat with a numb mouth? LOL – I have to design a way to make that happen permanently.

Next steps after this, implant adjustments, follow ups on everything, stitches out of my neck, learning how to eat and talk again, more adjustments, then the bone grafting in about three months, if all goes well, then, letting that heal, then my lower implants and adjustments. Then let that heal.

My best guess is that by the end of 2010, everything will be as close to back to normal as they can be.

I’ll save the financial, emotional, personal, professional, bullshit that I am dealing with for another blog.

Thank you to everyone that helped and supported me through this crazy time, nothing can replace people that are close to you that really care. Not even the best of pain killers.

Kentucky Inspired.

You know, I’m realizing over and over that this life has much more to offer than the average eye will see. If you look at life through a big scope lens, it’s easier to see what life could be as opposed to what it is right now. There is so much potential within you, me, us, we. Just let it flow out of your fingertips, mouth, brain. Let it flow out and watch what it/you can become.

I don’t think there’s any time for regret, because the evolution of a life/an individual is much more valuable than money, steadiness, or certainty. At the end of the day, we all want joy, and if there is only stagnancy, the joy starts to fade. Let’s be honest, we all know that money brings this happiness that is somewhat comforting, but very much fake and temporary.

Please don’t be afraid to spice your life up a little. I mean it. What’s so terrible if you fail? What’s so terrible if you move away, struggle to find work, then finally start a new job, and it doesn’t work out? Nothing! You start again! Nothing is wrong about taking a step back from a decision (no matter how BIG!) you have made that you felt would work out. Nothing is wrong with taking a break from life and really re-evaluating your options; your(e) everything.

I should know. My life has been one big experiment with a whole lot of mistakes.

Just let yourself do it. It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you are in life. This is about more than growth and I’m forever on a mission.

Wisdom is learning to like the flavor of your own toe jam.

Birds of a feather flock together and then crap on your car.

A penny saved is a government oversight.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are XL.’

If you think there is good in everybody, you
haven’t met everybody.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child’s middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble.

There’s always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don’t hurt.

Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words ‘The’ and ‘IRS’ together it spells ‘Theirs….’

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know ‘why’ I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of Algebra.

Courtesy: Robin Sawyer

Why?

Why?

As I endure physical pain and mental confusion in my life, I often wonder where it is that I am truly supposed to be.

I don’t want to be with someone because it’s convenient. I want to be with them because we were meant to be together.

I don’t want to be located in the wrong place. I want to be where I truly belong.

I don’t want to work somewhere for the money. I want to work somewhere where I can be of best use to them, where I can help out the most with my skill set. Where I can save the most lives when the shit hits the fan.

But most of all, in it’s simplest form, I just want to be happy. And I want my family to be proud of me.

You’d think, that by age 30, I’d have the answers to these questions by now.

It Must Have Been Love…

Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it?

It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up these defenses, you build this whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life.

You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask for it.

They do something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own any more.
Love takes hostages. It gets inside you.

It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, working its way into your heart.

It hurts.
Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind.
It’s a soul hurt, a body hurt, a real gets inside you and rips you apart pain.
I hate love.

The Audacity of Unawareness

The Audacity of Unawareness

Barack Obama , through his spokesman, claimed that he was unaware of the tax day tea parties. Granted, the main stream media has done a good job in suppressing any sort of coverage ahead of time (and the little coverage they did provide was derisive at best)… but how out of touch is the Community Organizer in Chief, really?

This much.
- He was unaware that he was attending a church (for 20 years) with a racist pastor who hates America.

- He was unaware that he was family friends with, and started his political career in the living room of, a domestic terrorist.

- He was unaware that he had invested in two speculative companies backed by some of his top donors right after taking office in 2005.

- He was unaware that his own aunt was living in the US illegally.

- He was unaware that his own brother lives on pennies a day in a hut in Kenya.

- He was unaware of the AIG bonuses that he and his administration approved and signed into a bill.

- He was unaware that the man he nominated to be his Secretary of Commerce was under investigation in a bribery scandal.

- He was unaware that the man he nominated to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services was a tax cheat.

- He was unaware that the man he nominated to be his Secretary of the Treasury was a tax cheat.

- He was unaware that the man he nominated to be the U.S. Trade Representative was a tax cheat.

- He was unaware that the woman he nominated to be his Chief Performance Officer was a tax cheat.

- He was unaware that the man he nominated to be #2 at the Environmental Protection Agency was under investigation for mismanaging $25 million in EPA grants.

For the love of God, there are people in comas that are more aware of world affairs than this guy.

Rest in Peace Adam…

“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” Congrats Adam, you did it well.

He was one of us.

Slow Dance

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain

Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.

Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

When you ask “How are you?”

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done

Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through your head?

You’d better slow down

Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,

We’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,

Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time

To call and say,’Hi’

You’d better slow down.

Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift….

Thrown away.

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

Skywarn, an answer to who I storm chase for (besides the radio station)

What is SKYWARN®?

The effects of severe weather are felt every year by many Americans. To obtain critical weather information, NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established SKYWARN® with partner organizations. SKYWARN® is a volunteer program with nearly 290,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.

Although SKYWARN® spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN® spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms. In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States. These events threatened lives and property.

Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN® spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

SKYWARN® storm spotters are part of the ranks of citizens who form the Nation’s first line of defense against severe weather. There can be no finer reward than to know that their efforts have given communities the precious gift of time–seconds and minutes that can help save lives.

Who is Eligible?

NWS encourages anyone with an interest in public service and access to communication, such HAM radio, to join the SKYWARN® program. Volunteers include police and fire personnel, dispatchers, EMS workers, public utility workers and other concerned private citizens. Individuals affiliated with hospitals, schools, churches, nursing homes or who have a responsibility for protecting others are also encouraged to become a spotter.

How Can I Get Involved?

NWS has 122 local Weather Forecast Offices, each with a Warning Coordination Meteorologist, who is responsible for administering the SKYWARN® program in their local area. Training is conducted at these local offices and covers:

• Basics of thunderstorm development
• Fundamentals of storm structure
• Identifying potential severe weather features
• Information to report
• How to report information
• Basic severe weather safety

Classes are free and typically are about two hours long. To find out when a SKYWARN® class will be conducted in local your area, contact your local Warning Coordination Meteorologist at: http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/contact.htm

SKYWARN® is a registered trademark of NOAA’s National Weather Service.  Rules for the usage of the SKYWARN® name and logo are available here.