http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/ en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:09:13 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/images/insignia/misc/rss.jpg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/ http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3970-my-latest-crush.html Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:21:27 GMT His name is Spacey.

He's 7 but acts like 2. His owner had to give him up when her parents decided to move to a place that doesn't allow pets. We work together, so it's an "open adoption".
He's adorable. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3970-my-latest-crush.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3957-i-cant-drive-55.html Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:50:34 GMT ...Unless the SL is 25 or so....

So, we are finally getting a dog! He's a 7 year old Jack Russell that needed a home. A girl I work with lives with her parents, who are moving where pets are not allowed. It's an "open adoption"-she can visit and I told her next lay-off I will bring him to the office for a visit.
Spouse mumbled "I don't think we need a dog", which was as close to an OK as he'd allow; son doesn't want one verbally, but I think he, like the spouse, will melt; daughter is totally stoked and has already laid claim to him on her Facebook.
There's a site that you can order b-day greetings from your favorite celebrities and D got me Michael Waltrip. It was very well done-not one of those obvious "insert greeting here" deals-the little speech was smooth and personal, as personal as a mass-produced message could be. Perhaps they just say the same things over and over 200 times. Ain't technology grand?
Double nickels....damn. I feel it when I walk because of the ankle, but I look in the mirror and, comparing myself to friends my age, I'm holding my own pretty good. Only 4 white hairs in the front, no wrinkles yet...neither of my parents looked their age although Mom was catching up at the end. Nurses used to say "your son is here" announcing my dad. LOL Pissed her off to no end(dad's a year older). Oh well....it's a bittersweet day but I'm so thankful for good friends and acquiescing spouses who know better than to argue when I want something. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3957-i-cant-drive-55.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3714-a.html Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:11:49 GMT On Saturday, September 12, 2009, my mom, Rose King, passed away. On Saturday, September 12, 2009, my mom, Rose King, passed away. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3714-a.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3694-speed-life.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:12:31 GMT Cliche's....it comes down to cliches..."In the blink of an eye". "Time heals all wounds". Think of one, I'll live up to it at some point, as we all will.

The ankle is, "for all intents and purposes", healed. The foot attached to it, on the other hand, is taking its sweet ass time getting back to normal. It swells, it hurts, I lose my balance standing. Yesterday, a loud pop followed by a sudden burst of "YEEOUCH!!" struck the outer joint of the ankle and probably set me back a day or two. And all I was doing was sitting and waiting for...
News on my mom. She went into the hospital to have her mitral valve replaced. Dr. came out to us after over 4 hours in the OR to tell us (me, dad, my siblings), that everything went very well and they were just cleaning her up and bringing her to ICU. My sister's and I went down to greet mom's siblings who'd just arrived. In that short time, mom coded. They revived her, brought her back to the OR and re-opened her chest, checked everything and rechecked and found no organic reason for her, as they called it, "event".
Six hours later, we were told we could see her in a few minutes. Dad, not wanting to wait for a nurse to escort him, went to see mom. It was the first time in 29 years I saw him break down crying. Unprepared for what he was about to see, the shock of reality's cruelty hit him. "You can't tell her from the sheets, she's hooked up to all these machines...." and he walked out sobbing.
We got her nurse to come in and talk to us all, to explain to dad that it is "normal" to see what mom now is. I had discussed this with my sisters and brother before, having been warned by someone whose parent also went through it, but dad wasn't prepared.
It was our turn to go in. Mom looked "dead", but there was steady breathing, aided by machines. The monitors, 4 of them, all had smooth rhythmic rainbows of lines, her life functions simply broken down to colors moving in waves. Tubes attached to every corner of her frail body helped her, helped the nurses. My sister and I stroked her hair, talked to her loudly to reach her innermost subconscious; I teased that she needed her eyebrows pencilled in, but "Ya look good, Mom. Hair looks fine". Mom always stressed about her hair. "Critical, but stable" they called her.
I went up to her doctor, still there from the morning's surgery 11 hours ago and shook his hand. "I want to tell you a quick story about my mom" I said.
"A few years ago, while taking Pacerone, on a cruise she caught a virus and lost the use of her legs and fingers. She was told that with intense rehab, she "Might" get them back in 2 years. It took her 15 months. She is stubborn and that is who you have in there."
"Good", he replied. "I like them to be stubborn." We left and had dinner, but Dad went straight home.
This morning, my sister called. Mom had a good night and can open her eyes when told to.
In the blink of an eye..... ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3694-speed-life.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3613-wtf.html Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:51:11 GMT When did tfp become pg??? Do i have to say "friggin" now or "garshdernitall?"
Must I be afraid my kid is gonna be here now seeing as how he's a forum freak?

Jeez, I can't leave you kids alone for a second....:eek: ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3613-wtf.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3388-updates.html Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:58:48 GMT In 9 days, I find out how my ankle healed. Feels pretty good. This cast is a pain in the ass-I can't sleep well. I can completely understand the Heath Ledger syndrome-taking stuff just to sleep and overdoing it, so I just suffer along. One tylenol PM or a Benadryl is the most I'll take. I'd like to be able to wake up at some point. I'll sleep when the cast comes off.
********
Columns are doing pretty good.
Newark Motorcycle Examiner
Spoke to Spoke
********
Don't know if I will have a job when I'm healed. Might be time to rediscover myself yet again. Life is good. Friends are my heart. In two months from tomorrow I will be 55. My brain tells me otherwise. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3388-updates.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3243-lately.html Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:07:16 GMT My column has been paying off in ways other than monetary. Two different book authors have contacted me as a result of my columns in Cycle Connections. One wanted more information on the women I covered in writing about women in the history of motorcycling. A second wants me to review her... My column has been paying off in ways other than monetary. Two different book authors have contacted me as a result of my columns in Cycle Connections. One wanted more information on the women I covered in writing about women in the history of motorcycling. A second wants me to review her manuscript, Chicks on Bikes, set to be published in the fall.
It's gratifying to know that I am being not only read, but read and noticed as someone with "clout".

On the homefront, the ankle is healing well, I think. Today is the first day of the second half of the recovery period. I go back to the ortho in 16 days and hope I can start walking on two feet once they see their xrays. I have to keep stretching the hamstring as it tends to get sore; the bruising is dissipating well, giving me a visual of the healing within. I have so little pain-a few twinges-that I haven't been taking anything and indeed wish I could just take this cast off as most times it feels unnecessary. Of course, that is not reality-it is necessary. Weirdly, most of any discomfort is the back of my heel and my instep, possibly both due to lack of use. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3243-lately.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3224-haha.html Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:03:17 GMT http://www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer/ http://www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer/ ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3224-haha.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3152-not-squeamish-part-deux.html Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:12:31 GMT Cast coming off Image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/3723904363_83dbd2633c.jpg More bruising: Image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/3723904239_10a1f5b2c0.jpg Stitches: Image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2673/3723904283_87b8e941f3.jpg More stitches and a lot of swelling:... Cast coming off

More bruising:

Stitches:

More stitches and a lot of swelling:

What was once lusted after is now gross:

Gonna be a while before I can reclaim ZZTop's "Legs" as my theme song :(

They put on a boot cast that makes me look like the bride of frankenstein or very very goth. While it's made to be removable, it is not to be removed so I have to contend with it 24/7 for the next four weeks at least.
I still suck on crutches, so hope it's a very fast 4 weeks. Considering it's already been 11 days since the accident, I assume it will be. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3152-not-squeamish-part-deux.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3128-funny-shit.html Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:01:28 GMT Image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2572/3719178416_d98bf9fbd3_o.jpg ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3128-funny-shit.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3113-ugh.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 05:22:41 GMT Have I mentioned this sucks? Sucks hairy monkey balls. The leg won't stop aching. Sometimes something, maybe the stitches, maybe the screws, feels like it's ripping.
I can't walk with crutches well. I try, but I can't. I've damn near fallen-did last year while on them-so my brain is putting fear where steps should be.
Summer weather has been freakin gorgeous and all I get of it is a breeze through the window and a view of my neighbor's roof.
I'm wallowing, I know it.
I pick up the drawing pad, go at it for a few minutes then stop. Same with reading. Confining someone who can't usually sit still for more than 5 minutes is torture.
My bosses are assholes. Not one communication of "How are you?" Nothing. Shitheads.
One stupid brain fart and I'm fucked. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3113-ugh.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3079-narcotics.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:24:00 GMT The first night in the hospital, I was given Morphine in my iV about every two hours. I could feel it go through me, relaxing each part of me until I drifted off to sleep. It wouldn't allow me to stay awake. I didn't notice any side effects, really and was glad they were pretty lenient about my requests.
After surgery, instead of Morphine, I would be given 2 Percosets about every 4 hours. These, too, had me drifting off to a deep slumber, awaking when it began to wear off. Needles to say, I slept a lot those three days.
On Sunday, I was told I should stay one more day, but ...hey, this is me we're talking about....I went home Sunday afternoon, prescription for Percoset in hand.
By Sunday night, I was nauseous, irritable and in pain. The pharmacy closed, the best I could do was take Advil and try to sleep. The nagging feeling in my stomach, the aches in my leg, the miserable situation I found myself in all conspired to keep me restless and depressed.
I returned a call to my sister, a former nurse. Telling her of my sick feeling, not unlike seasickness, she said it was the residual drugs and would take a day or two to leave. Oh, great.
Spousal unit took Monday off and got the Percoset. I decided I would not take two as they had prescribed, only one as needed. By midday, that became the case and I soon drifted off to sleep.
Perhaps this was the reason they gave me two at a time. No sooner had I fallen asleep that the hallucinatory dreaming began. Vividly colored, I was speeding along in a car driven by my boss though mazes of industrial complexes, Toonville scenes and brightly lit caves. I was terrified as we went.
Whoa dude....
Didn't have that going on in the hospital.
I immediately deduced it had to be the pill that gave me that dream and avoided it all day Tuesday, being satisfied taking Advil. But Tuesday turned into Wednesday, it was 2am and, while tired, I could not fall asleep. I took a Percoset. Another vivid dream began, this one just as odd as the other. I was walking thru a town and spotted an old friend at a bar. We talked and I wandered on to my "home", an enclave of misfits and odd houses. My house was moved to make room for new construction and walking about barking orders was someone resembling Hellboy in overalls. It was the spouse. Then, to amuse himself, he took shallow cans and placed them on a table in our empty house, filling them with paper and lit matches and calling them "candles." I pleaded with him to stop but he laughed and kept lighting fires. I walked out and saw a flaming piece of wall fall from a window and looked up to see the walls glowing. I then looked to the sky and the moon and clouds were all in flames, melting away. I turned to a woman who I knew to be a widow and asked "is this what happened?" She nodded yes and I ran to the house, screaming for the spouse. Now he was this small devilish character, yellow and red and talking like Danny DeVito in the Batman movie. (wtf??) Then he disappeared into the inferno. I tossed my cell phone to a dimwitted man and yelled "Call 911!" but they were too late. Walking into the burned shell, I found my spouse lying there, dead, looking as he really did.
I walked away, whispering I had to tell his mother her son was gone. I walked through town, going through bits of life-an ice cream parlor where I grabbed a man bullying the counter girl and told him to knock it off; an office full of antiques where a well dressed black man was talking investments on the phone, a stage production being put together with colorful ropes and a collection of baby grand pianos and finally, a barber shop where I saw my brother in law getting a haircut. I rescued a tiny horse stuck in a fence. Arriving at his mother's house, I saw his sister crying hysterically on the phone. His mother came out and I hugged her and fell to my knees in sobs. "I nver realized how much I loved him", I sobbed, now lying on her stoop.

My mind knew to awaken me at that point and I sat up in bed crying. It was now 3:30am and I sat there crying until sometime after 4. My ankle was telling me it needed more. I won't be listening.

There is nothing in the pamphlet about vivid dreams or nightmares. I sat there in my crying state wondering how and why would anyone get themselves hooked on this shit?
My ankle doesn't hurt as much today, which is fine by me. Before leaving for work this morning, the spouse brought up a glass of juice and put my cell phone on the table next me. I mumbled to him what a great nurse he's been. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3079-narcotics.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3077-not-squeamish.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:49:16 GMT Want to know what stupidity looks like? I decided to photo journal the leg. Next week I will hopefully photograph the stitches and new cast. Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3700868821_14892a350b.jpg Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3521/3700868725_e4ed686646.jpg Image:... Want to know what stupidity looks like? I decided to photo journal the leg. Next week I will hopefully photograph the stitches and new cast.




]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3077-not-squeamish.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3057-bored-out-my-skull.html Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:32:50 GMT Lying in bed is THE most boring thing in the world. Period.
How many of us wish to ourselves "if I could spend one whole day in bed doing nothing..."
The cast on my leg has metal plates on the sides and one across the bottom of my foot. It is so tight that as soon as I put my foot to the floor, aching takes over.
I have no tv. There's nothing to do, If I read, I fall asleep. Taking a shower was so exhausting, I napped for an hour after.
I live in a two story house with the only bathroom next to my bedroom, so here I sit....
Tonight I'll make my way to the daughter's room to watch This Week in NASCAR.
Good times... ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3057-bored-out-my-skull.html http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3048-so-much-learning.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:45:01 GMT On Friday afternoon, we went out for what was to be my third time learning to ride. I got the bike going pretty good. Since I seemed to be having a hard time making right turns, we decided I should try some light weaving. Did ok there and made it back to where Don was standing by my car. For... On Friday afternoon, we went out for what was to be my third time learning to ride. I got the bike going pretty good. Since I seemed to be having a hard time making right turns, we decided I should try some light weaving. Did ok there and made it back to where Don was standing by my car. For some stupid reason I did not put the bike into neutral; my hands were holding in the clutch and brake. I inexplicably let go of the clutch, the bike lurched, fell over.....
My left ankle shattered in three places. I had surgery Saturday to put in screws, pins and a plate.
I will be incapacitated for 8 to 10 weeks.
I have never experienced such excrutiating pain-not even labor was that bad.My trip to Bristol is probably cancelled and I can't ride at all until I've healed.

Stupid, stupid. ]]> ngdawg http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/blogs/ngdawg/3048-so-much-learning.html