The Curse of Being Number One - and Other Fun Stuff...

Wednesday, at the 8-ball Tournament, I realized what its like to have the highest handicap. I was playing well and won 4 matches, but got beaten bad by two players that I had to spot way too many points. The first one, is a girlfriend of one of my fishing/pool buddies and is becoming a good player. I had to spot her 18 points and she ended up wining the first game - which put her at 28. I broke and didn't make a ball, and she put in two and won. She ended up wining the whole thing, beating, Steve, the best player in the place in the process. My second loss was to a good player that hadn't played in the tournament, and therefore had a low handicap. I had to spot him 12 balls and ended up loosing by two balls. Gerrrrr...

Then, last night, we had our weekly 9-ball league. Our team won 14 of 18 games. I did really well, wining 5 of my 6 games and had a 'break and table run'. But, then Steve, who is on my team and very good, won all 6 of his games, got a 9-ball on the break, and two table runs. It's really hard to try and keep up with him. He always seems to do better, no matter how well I do. But, he is better and keeps me working hard on my game.

On other fronts, we have been working for a couple of weeks on getting the house and 'estate' ready for visitors. My oldest son, Aaron, his wife, Tara, and their daughter Alana are visiting DaHo, from California, for the first time on Saturday. They will be here over the Forth of July Holiday and it will be great fun.

We have been trying to 'child proof' the house so Alana won't get hurt which has been 'challenging' since that is something we had not had to consider before and there was lots to do. It was also an 'opportunity' to get a lot of stuff done that has been needed to be done for a long while - closets cleaned up, touch-up painting, garage cleanup, weeding, etc. etc. The good news is that it is mostly all done and that is good. The house has never looked better here in DaHo...

What BIG Eyes, er Monitors, You Have...

Pam finally has received some of the fruit of her Award Winning Labors...

Typically, a Dell Gold Support Tech has two 15" CRT monitors on their desk. For the top 5 Gold Techs Worldwide this quarter, Dell awarded them two of their 20" High-Res flat panel monitors that they keep for all time - well at least their Gold Tech Support time. I understand it was a BIG deal with all the Twin Falls Management there to enjoy her success. Here is a picture of them...



The only other Tech in Twin Falls to receive the award is in her group and was trained by her in how to do Dell support right. That's the way she does it at Dell in DaHo...

Good Medical News and I'm Number One...

I finally went to my new ENT doctor yesterday in Boise. He seems real sharp and I feel comfortable with him and his 'style'. He checked me out thoroughly and said that he couldn't find any new tumors or bad stuff, and ordered a Barium Swallow test to checkout my throat issues. I have had that done before and its big fun... You get to 'drink' a couple of large glasses of very thick, chaukly stuff while they x-ray you to see how it is going down the system. With my swallowing issues anyway, it is really difficult to gag that stuff down.

So, anyway, to celebrate, I stopped off at the Boise outlet stores and bought some new pants and shorts. I figured I was going to be around to use them... If you live by outlet stores that have a "VF" store, for Vanity Fair I think, check it out. They have the best prices on clothes for the entire family. They cover 12 national labels like: Hagger, Lee, Bali, Maidenform, etc. Good stuff at great prices.

And, for the "I'm Number One" part, I played in the weekly 8-ball handicap tournament last night and ended up winning 2nd place again. And, in the process, and now have the Number One highest handicap in the whole area - gulp... I am now a 14 which means I have to give a new player 18 points in a 30 point match. It is very challenging to play this way. You cannot allow an opponent to have a good shot or they will run a few balls and you are done. It will sharpen my game and skills and probably totally drive me crazy in the process. The few shots I missed last night, I didn't feel sure I could make, and didn't. Its much harder in the deep end of the pool, here in DaHo...

The World Champion...

Last week, Pam won the title of being the Number One Dell Gold Support Technician in the entire World. This is a big deal and she is getting all sorts of good accolades from the staff and management there at the Dell Hole.

These rankings are all based on a complicated series of 'matrices' spanning such things as: # of calls taken, length of calls, amount of parts dispatched, amount of parts returned or additional parts needed, etc., etc. So, it takes a lot of focused effort to ensure that you do all the 'right stuff' and do it very well to get these types of awards. And, with Pam, do it all right for Dell, AND keep the best interest for her customers in mind - which are sometimes opposing interests...

We are very happy and pleased for her and her great work here in DaHo...

Bike Repair and all that Jazz...

The BMW motorcycle has been sitting for almost two years. It developed a leak from the handlebar mounted brake master cylinder and the front fork seals, which has kept me from riding it for a while. So, after much consideration, I ordered a new rebuild kit for the master cylinder and got it all fixed. The nearest mechanic, that can spell BMW, is in Boise over 2 hours away from here. After I got it fixed, I started it up and drove it for a while. It is still a great ride and I am looking forward to some good rides this summer. Here in DaHo, you don't have to use a helmet. I guess they figure that if you are crazy enough not to use one, that will just help society by thinning down the gene pool. I will continue to always wear one and the usual protective clothing.

The local road folks finally got the road going down into the Snake River Canyon fixed and stopped all the falling rocks - just in time for the big 'Jazz in the Canyon' festival starting today. A couple of the headliners aren't coming though, I guess they were afraid of rocks falling on them or something.

The 9-ball league games went pretty well this week. I ended up winning 4 of my 6 games, which was not that good, but Steve, my really good team mate, only won 2 of his so at least we are tied up again after last week. Not great news for the team, but pretty good new for me personally. We have a bye next week, so you will all just have to wait a week for additional updates.

I worked in the garden yesterday, getting all the weeding done and stringing up all the support lines for the green beans. Finally, all the plants are starting to grow well and so far we have had no successful rodent attacks. We should actually start having stuff visibly growing soon.

I got a new tool chest for Fathers Day last week - it was on sale early... And, I finally got it all installed and all the tools rearranged and organized. It was much more work than I expected, but will be much easier to use from now on.

Life Lessons...

After being very worried about my throat closing up and my TEP valve not working for a couple of days, and not being able to get in to see the new ENT doctors in Boise for a couple of weeks, it all seems to have settled down and I can now speak again - hurray!! I now remember now much I hate the ELs - The hand held neck 'buzzers'... I think most of the internal neck trauma was caused by the scope job by the local ENTs and having too short TEPs. I still go see the new ENTs on June 21st and that will be good.

Then, last night I played in the weekly 8-ball handicap tournament. I was playing well and ended up placing in 3rd place - which earned me a little money and again upped my handicap, ouch. But, the real lesson of the night was that I had to play the two top players in the area in the end - Steve, who is my team mate in 9-ball and Cary. I had put Steve out of the tournament a couple of weeks ago and that had gotten around and they were both ready for me. I now know much more about the difference between really good players and me. I have a long way to go to play consistently in their league. With Steve, I had three breaks an one other shot (losers break in this tournament) and with Cary, I had three breaks and two other shots. I am inspired, and frustrated, yet again to excel...

The weather has been crazy here again. The other night, we had a storm come through with really crazy winds. It first blew to the North West about 50 mph and then after a calm period, blew to the South East about as hard. It took some shingles off of the roof and blew chairs and various outside stuff all over the place.

And, this weekend they are having the annual "Jazz in the Canyon" festival in the Snake River Canyon and the road going down into the canyon to it had a rock slide and is closed. All of the festival folks are all running around in small circles screaming and the road folks are trying to get the road cleared in time. There is always something exciting happening here in DaHo...

Life Beyond the wizard...

Well, I went to Boise to see the only SLPs in DaHo that deal with us Larys and our devices. They are at the St. Lukes Hospital. Its really a very nice place. I was impressed with the whole act there. The main Wizard, Jeff, was on vacation so I ended up seeing his two assistants. Both were quite knowledgeable but lacked some of the tools that would have helped resolve my issues. Mainly, they didn't have a scope so they could look into my throat and checkout what was going on therein. They did size my requirements for a TEP length and we figured out that I had been using 10mm long ones and now need 12mm ones. This could be part of the problem I have been having lately with my TEPs.

I seem to have developed a Zankers 'pouch' in my throat where I swallow. I say 'seem to' becasue it was discovered by the local ENT, and makes logical sense to me, but has not been confirmed be the new ENT, nor do we know that this is the only issue in this area a this point... This is caused by swallowing pressure and ends up developing a little 'pouch' in the lining of my throat that stuff I swallow can get into. The end result is that it can end up blocking off part of my throat. Luckily, being a 'neck breather', I can always breath - even if my throat was totally blocked. But, I am having a problem getting air up from below. I am assuming that the pouch is acting as a block, or plug, in my throat when air comes up from below. This causes me to have no TEP voice, or very difficult TEP voice from time to time.

Now, from what I read about it on the net, if this is the only problem, it can be fixed relatively easy by some type of 'outpatient stapling surgery'. I'm not sure I like the way that 'rolls' off of the tongue, as it were, but the outpatient part sounds good...

But, again without having a scope to see what is happening inside, we don't know for sure what is happening in there. These SLP folks have close ties with the new doctor group I am trying to get into to get this resolved - the South Western Idaho ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) Group and said that they can probably get me an appointment quicker than my current one which is June 21st.

On the way back home, I noticed a fireworks place off of one of the offramps. Its about the size of a supermarket. So, I stopped in to see what they had and was very impressed. We had been getting fireworks on our, more and more, infrequent trips through Nevada and they have lots of good stuff, but this place has a LOT more. When I walked in, the guy behind the counter said, "Over to the left is our Safe and Sane stuff and over to the Right is the Big Boy stuff. So, being a big boy...

I was impressed. It made the Nevada stuff look like toys. If they make it, you can buy it there. Mortars, firecrackers, rockets - you name it and they got it, and they got it in whatever size or configuration you want.

They have lots of various 'displays in one' type of things. They are a block you sit on the ground and light and will shoot up between 20 and 300 motars/rockets as one big display. They have various themes and I think you can even play theme music with them making it a total protechnical experience. I guess that's they way they do it here in DaHo...

Off to See the Wizard...

Well, I finally got an appointment with the Wizard. The Wizard being someone in DaHo that can spell TEP and knows what it means. He is a SLP - Speech Language Pathologist - in Boise. Actually, I am going to see the Wizard's assistants since he is on vacation...

This is one of the few buzz killers of living in DaHo. Having to drive 5 hours, round trip, to see a medical specialist that knows what is happening with me. I sincerely hope that they can figure out what is going on with me and get it all fixed again. You can only have soooo much fun using a buzzer or having a bad fitting and/or leaking TEP.

I did have pool league last night and went, buzzer and all. I still felt like crap - like I had been punched in the neck a few times by a heavyweight boxer. And, my pool results reflected my 'joy'. I only won 2 out of my 6 games, which really helped my attitude. We still won the match, thanks to Steve and Storm, and I didn't play all that bad, but just got all the bad breaks.

Ouch That Feels Really Bad...

A couple of days ago, I was making the bed and banged the back of my hand on the lower sharp edge of the headboard. A few minutes later, my whole arm felt like it had been plugged into a low grade electrical outlet. That all went away and about 2 hours later, I was eating lunch and my whole arm went numb. I couldn't even lift a glass or plate with it. It seemed to be getting worse, so I drove down to the local emergency room and had them check it out. I guess I have heard too many radio commercials about strokes and the such. Anyway, it was nothing except an traumatized nerve from the headboard attack. But, I would rather be safe than sorry since I couldn't even play pool or fish without that arm...

Then, I have been having some 'issues' with my TEPs - the little plastic one way valve devices in my throat that I talk with - for a few weeks, off and on. They would leak frequently and in the process, cause me lots of problems with getting fluids into my lungs. Not a very fun thing to have happen.

So, I got some new TEPs and they weren't working at all. I went into my local ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) specialist yesterday and got beat up pretty good by all their testing and scoping. The only thing that got resolved is that I now know that they are not up to the task of dealing with my care. So, now my throat feels like it has been beat up. I have my TEP replaced with a solid plug so it won't leak, but that means that I have no voice and am back on the old BUZZER, which I haven't used for a couple of years and really hate it. I didn't go to the pool tournaments last night but have league tonight and cannot miss that. Pam tracked down some better doctors in Boise that are going to try and get me in today so I might have to drive up there on a moments notice to try and get this TEP thing resolved. This is one of the down sides of living in a wonderful place like DaHo...

Ouch and That Felt Really Good...

As I reported last week, my 8-ball tournament handicap went up to being a 12. This is the highest handicap for anyone playing so far and ended up being my demise. I had to spot players that are very good and ended up getting put out by a very poor player. I had to spot him 15 points and got beat 27 to 30... Ouch...

I could have won again - and should have, but my concentration just wasn't there. At this point, my 'issue' is my 'mental game'. I got to a point that I didn't think I could do it, and guess what - I didn't.

But, on the good news side, we started our new 9-ball league last night. I am playing with Storm and Steve again. We were playing against one of the better teams in the league and we beat them hard. The final score was 16 to 2. Both Storm and Steve won 5 of their 6 games and I ended up winning all 6 of my games. We shouldn't have done so well, but last night was one of those times when our team got all the breaks and luck our way. That felt really good...

Season Opener and Brokeback Bridge...

The Streams and Rivers fishing season opener on Saturday was great. I was down at my favorite fishing spot at 6:30am and there was already a crowd, as you can see below.



But, the fishing was good. I didn't catch any 'keepers' over 20", but caught lots of very nice fish. Sorry for the 'single handed pics here'... Here is a Golden Trout


And a really nice Brown Trout


And last, here is a large, but blurry, Rainbow Trout


We also checked out a new place called Box Canyon. Its a mile, or so, long canyon that has a very large natural stream (read River) coming out of the rock wall and running down into the Snake River. Its the 11th largest natural stream in the country and has an awesome very wide 20' high water fall along the way. One of the prettiest places I have ever seen. Next time I will take the camera and leave the fishing gear...

We also went down to 'Brokeback Bridge' to check out the fishing action in the Snake. From there, you can see 4 water falls that rival those in Yosemite Park in California. It's an old 'on the river' bridge that was decommissioned many years ago for the 500' high Perrine Bridge - that you see in all the pictures.

The Perrine Bridge is the only 'legal' base jumping bridge in the country, and there are literally hundreds of crazy idiots jumping off of it every week. This week, there was one death, which doesn't happen very often, but also three people hurt. People move here, from all over the country and beyond, just to be close to the bridge so they can jump off of it. Yep, we even have crazies here in DaHo...