Journal 09/12/00  A vision in  prayer.

We, me, Christ and the throne, proceed down the back of the golden pyramid and spiraled out on to the plain again. I look to the left and see sheep grazing. We proceed across the plain past the sheep and head for a tent. When we get to the tent, there is no one around but there is a pot with meat and vegetables sitting on the fire. We help ourselves to the food, putting it on some plates that are next to it. We then go and sit in the shade of the tent reclining on a rug. While we are eating, we see a caravan coming towards us.

In a recently published book, a 40ish single mom describes how she screwed up her life by looking for Mr. Perfect. During her 20s and 30s, she dated a lot of good men but none were to her perfect standard. Now, she realizes that Mr. Perfect never existed and that all of the good men are gone.

In her book, she emphasizes that instead of looking for Mr. Perfect, you should look for Mr. Goodenough. Mr. Goodenough is not perfect but he is… well… good enough.

Of course, her book has drawn the ire of some women who don’t believe that they should “settle” just for the sake of it. And, if these women don’t want to “settle”, that is fine. It is their choice. Her point is that if you want to find a husband and raise a family, then maybe you shouldn’t be looking for Mr. Perfect because he doesn’t exist.

A group of pole dancers are petitioning the Olympic Commission to make pole dancing an Olympic sport in 2012.  I never considered pole dancing to be a sport but I suppose that there are those who would disagree with me.

While I am sure that these women are very talented, I am not sure how this would all work.  First of all, there is the equipment. They would need to standardize on the length, height and width of the pole. Next would be the duration of the performance. And the moves would have to be graded as to difficulty and creativity. And would the judges rate the dancer using numbered card like in gymnastics or would they stuff money in the dancers underwear.

Well, while there are many unanswered questions, I am sure that if it is allowed as a sport, the ratings of the Olympics would spike on dance nights.

A 77 year old Italian TV cooking show chef recently been suspended after he praised the flavor of “kitty stew”. Thats right, the stew is made with cat meat.

After WWII, the chef, who was living in northern Italy, discovered that some of the locals were making stew with stray cats. The first time he tried it, he fell in love with the flavor and has craved it ever since.

Of course, discussing the recipe on national television, earned him a whole lot of hate mail.

I guess his recipe was absolutely purrrrrfect.

Back before Thanksgiving, doctors discovered a tumor in my wife’s bladder. The tumor was removed in December and biopsied. On Christmas Eve, the biopsy report came back as Melanoma.

A visit with the Oncologist in January suggested that the bladder, uterus, part of the vagina and intestines should be removed. The bladder would then be replaced with an external bag. Needless to say, neither of us were keen on that suggestion, so we decided to get a second opinion.

Since the first biopsy went to two different labs and took almost a month, we suspected that maybe something wasn’t quite right. So, we had the biopsy sent to Indiana University. Sure enough, when we got the lab results back, it was not Melanoma. Instead, it was Perivascular Epithelioid Cells or PEComa.

PEComa was first identified back in 1991. Since then, there have been only about 100 documented cases of this condition and only about a half dozen involving the bladder. It is generally not considered malignant but because there are so few cases, the doctors don’t really know for sure. And while it is probably more prevalent, it is often just misdiagnosed as melanoma.

Our problem at the present is how to treat this condition. Our Oncologist said that he has never seen a case like this before now. And, even though it is new to him, he would still remove the bladder and associated parts. (We refer to him as Dr. Hackenslash. He apparently subscribes to the philosophy of “if in doubt, take it out.”)

What we have been able to determine from our reading is that no one really seems to know how to treat it. Some doctors suggest radiation. Some, chemo. While others suggest leaving it alone. And, of course there’s “take it all out.”

So, at this point in time, we are not inclined to do anything radical. After all, before they got the new lab results, they were going to schedule my wife for surgery this month.

How quickly things can change. If we had listened to our Oncologist, my wife would be sporting a bag right now.

Never trust a doctor with your life.

A credit card company is offering a credit card with an interest rate of 79.9%! Of course, at those rates, I doubt that they will get many takers. But still, there must be a market for the card otherwise, no one would use it.

I suspect that this card is targeted at the poor and financially strapped people who need money but can least afford the interest rates.

It appears that organized crime has gone legit.  Sad.

Journal 07/19/00.  A vision in prayer.

Today, when I visited the Throne Room, I asked to go back to the cave again. I wanted to see the Ark of the Covenant as yesterdays discovery totally blew me away. So, I found myself back before the Ark of the Covenant. It was still there so I decided to ask Mr. Skeleton what to do next.

He pointed to the Ark. I told him that I wasn’t going to touch it because people can die from touching it. The lid to the Ark opened up and there was a bright light shining in side of it. I looked into the Ark and I saw the tablets, the rod and the jar, just as I had expected.

But then, I noticed a medallion. It was large and round. It appeared to be made of gold with a large red jewel in the center. I asked what it was for. Christ in now there and he says that it is for me and that it is a sign of my priesthood.

I said that the priest usually wore the ephod. He said that only the High Priest wore the ephod and that I was a priest and a prince. He told me to wear the medallion around my neck as a sign of my office. Then, He put the medallion around my neck. Suddenly, we are back in the Throne Room.

Burger King is advertising a new sandwich called the Cilantro Lime Big Fish. It is essentially their Big Fish sandwich with a Cilantro Lime sauce.

Every now and then, I get the craving for a good fish sandwich. So, I decided to give it a try.

Well, it didn’t taste bad. In fact, it didn’t taste like anything except bread. I was disappointed. I won’t buy another.

The Who attempted to entertain us during the Super Bowl half time show. The music was good, the band was good and the stage show was good. It’s too bad that it had to be ruined by two old guys trying to sing.

Pete. Roger. Come on guys, it’s time to give it up. Look around you. The rest of the band is half your age.

It would have been better to remember you in your prime. Instead, we are now left with the image of two old men who should be spending their time sharpening their shuffle board game.

The other night, we watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. All and all, it was a stunning event even though it had a few flaws. And for the most part, it all seemed to flow well except for the opera singer.

For what ever reason, the Olympic officials decided that they needed to have an opera singer in the event. So, just before the lighting of the torch, this opera singer preformed.

I don’t know what she was singing about or even what language she was sing in because the vibrato was too intense. All I know is that she seemed very out of place.

I assumed she was a Canadian star of some sort and that she was there representing Canada. I am surprised that they didn’t have Alex Trebek. ” I would like to buy an eh.”