Anyone who has ever seen my desk, Scott, Ashley, Wendy, others, better sit down and make sure their breathing is regular.  I have an announcement of major proportions.  Stay calm, now.  Okay, everybody, I finally did it.  I cleaned my desk.  *Loud, shocked gasps from the peanut gallery.*  Oh, don't worry.  It wasn't of my own will.  No.  What happened was my monitor had just about given up the ghost, like the rest of my computer (If you suddenly don't hear from me for a long period of time it will be because my computer died) so I borrowed one from Ben.  Of course seeing the beautiful, adorable, intelligent, wonderful, sweet-when-she-wants-to-be, darling, five pound twelve ounce (exactly four pounds over her birth weight) Savannah Melody had nothing to do with my going over there.

I brought the monitor home, an elderly IBM 9527 which weighs a mere 5,497 pounds (well it feels like it) and proceeded to remove the old one.  As I started to set the "new" monitor on the desk, I had to scoot some of the junk and dust that had accumulated behind there to make room.  Well just then Margaret walked around the corner and I began the process of settling the behemoth.

"You're not going to just set that thing on there like that, are you?"

"Yep."

"But this is the perfect opportunity to clean your desk."

"Oh, I didn't have any intention of doing that, I was just scooting some of this stuff out of the way..."

"Set that on the couch for a minute."

"But..."

"Set that thing on the couch.  The dust back here is so thick you can write your name in it.  And what is all that stuff back there?"

"Oh, I don't know.  Just some stuff.  Look, I've got to..."

"Set that down and sit right here."

"But..."

"Here, sit there and go through this pile of stuff while I see what I can do here.  When you get done with that pile, let me know so I can give you more."

For those of you who don't know Margaret, she likes things clean.  She has her certain way things ought to be done in her domain.  She likes things clean and neat and orderly and it makes for a nice environment, but usually it's the kids that are her vict...er, the objects of her attention that way.  Anyway, it is clean and neat and I have every intention of keeping it like this.  It really is a nice piece of furniture, solid oak roll top desk, which I now can close!

Savannah went to church for the first time and even though it was said over and over (I was in Sunday School so I don't know if there was an announcement, except of course for Pastor "Poppy" J welcoming her as a first-time visitor) that she has a low immune system and would you please refrain from touching her, there was at least one person that should have known better that just could not get it.  Oh well.  For the most part things went very well and she was, of course, very popular.  It is still amazing that she was only one pound twelve ounces and everyone at church recognizes her as a miracle baby.

Sunday School was fun.  I got to beat up Micah.  Well, okay, I pretended to.  We were talking about the story of the good Samaritan.  It is always amazing to me how the religious rulers and leaders were always trying to catch him in his words never realizing that he was The Word.  The story of the Good Samaritan was in answer to a lawyer's trick question attempting to justify himself.  There is a lot between the lines on what is going on.  The story is typical of today's headlines, "Gang of thieves robs man of everything, even clothes, and leaves him by roadside for dead."  People go out of there way to help, crossing to the other side of the road until a Samaritan, whom the Jews of the time hated and called and treated like dogs, stopped to help.  The lawyer was forced to say something good about a Samaritan, even though he wouldn't even say the word "Samaritan."

I am running late this morning since we were out last night until late; I didn't get up until after 4:00, so I have to get going.

Remember, the Good Book says, "Don't try to catch the Author in his own words..."

Savannah is 5 and a half pounds now and has been doing well at home.  She has been doing well and her monitor has only gone off a couple of times and that was because she moved wrong.  I will be posting pix in a couple of days of her new digs.

I have a feeling this entry will be as disjointed as many of the rest of them often seem to be.

* Attention aspiring writers! *  There is a contest going on at Writer's Digest magazine.  You don't have to be a subscriber to enter but there is a reading fee.  You can check out the details at:  http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/annual/74th/.  Yes, it is my intention to enter at least one piece, possibly more.  If you blog regularly about specific subjects or problems, this may be for you as well as the poets and story-tellers in my audience.

Ashley is now a Blogdrive blogger!  Her new link is http://ashleylintner.blogdrive.com/ She has been blogging over on Xanga and I think she may be going to do what I refuse to do, copying and pasting to both so you can catch what she has to say on either.

My friend James is a Warrant officer in the Army who fixes helicopters for the 3rd ACR and is heading back to Iraq.  He is normally one of the most soft-spoken gentlemen you ever want to meet and it takes a lot to get him riled.  I have never seen him get angry or raise his voice and I know him well.  He has a wife and 2 little children that are exceptionally polite and well-behaved who are 3 & 5.  If you would make it a special favor to me and pray for him and his family whenever you are praying, I would appreciate it.  He does not cringe or back off from his duty, but no one likes to leave his wife and children behind.

I said he never gets riled or angry, but he was telling me that he had a specialist do it the other day.  "Because I'm an officer and I said so."  Wasn't good enough and the guy's dunderheaded sergeant (This would never have happened in Carter's unit, he knows how to deal with guys like this and would have taken care of it before it ever got to this) just stood there and watched, so James dropped the guy.  (This means he made him do pushups, like in Basic Training)  "How many sir?"  "You just keep doing 'em until I tell you to stop."  Thus said James and continued on with his business.  I said he should have dropped the guy's sarge, but he didn't.  He told me afterward, "Bro.  The old NCO just came out of me.  I had to help that young soldier."  Which is true, he was helping him.  I guess he finally let the guy up after he had done enough pushups to make a hole in the floor.

It was my birthday and so many people wished me well, and I appreciate it.  James and his family bought me a nice present, which was a stainless steel thermos.  They also know I like ties that are different.  I believe a male Sunday School Teacher should always wear a tie to class and wearing a tie to church is a minimal amount of respect to show for the house of God.  This does not mean that ties have to be boring, however.  I have all manner of ties, Winnie-The-Pooh, Snoopy (One of my Snoopy ties I gave to Ben because it had all different kinds of WWI planes on it and he could identify every one!), Mr. Potato-head, just all different types that kids find interesting.  I am just a big kid, and can still, not only pop my cheek, but I can also wiggle my ears.  Sometimes if you have something just slightly odd about you (no comments needed) kids will pay attention better because they are trying to figure it out.

Anyway, the card that they found for me was a blank one with a little cloth tie glued to the front.  It was so cool.  I am really missing my digital camera now, otherwise I would put photos of my tie collection up in my gallery.

Diet update.  I weighed myself exactly one week after I started, which would have been Tuesday if you are following, and the needle wavered between 239 and 240, so I lost 2 lbs the first week.  I had expected more, but really they claim that is just about the right amount to lose.

Remember, The Good Book says, "...There is a time of war and a time of peace..."

I wasn't going to post an entry until later and normally I don't just post an entry without trying to proof it, etc. as you all know but as I was blog-surfing this A.M. I came across something that just made my American blood boil and wanted to say my piece.

I read blogs from all over the world and there are people that love Americans or hate us along with a large number of people that don't really feel too strongly one way or another about us.  Okay.  This person's blog usually has nothing to do with us good or bad and has both kinds of comments over time.  It wasn't his blog entry that made me mad, it was a link he had found and it was THAT site that made me mad.  There is a site out there that apologizes to the world for our election!  They claim that "half" of Americans are sorry the election went as it did.  I guess they can't count, although, theirs is the party that, when the Electoral College meant they would lose, they wanted to abolish it but when they thought it would help them win, they wanted to keep it.  Theirs is the party that has been hijacked by a bunch of leftist socialist conspirators who want to, not establish a dialogue of bi-partisanship, but take power.  They already have Holllyweird and Mad Avenue in their pocket.

Anyway, I am NOT sorry!  I am PROUD to be an American and am PROUD of our president, George W. Bush, who won both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote.  The only president in recent years to actually win the popular vote by over 50% and had the largest voter turnout in history and won by 3,000,000 votes.  That's the majority, this is a Democracy, get over it, you bunch of crybaby losers!

I wasn't going to post the link here, but I guess I will.  I won't post the person's blog entry here because it is really irrelevant to what made me mad and I am not angry at the person, I am angry that someone would presume to be "half" of our population and make such a statement.  You can say they have the right to dissent and speak out against the government and you are right.  Just don't do it in my name and try to pretend that you are even close to speaking for me or people I know.  The link to this sorry bunch of losers is http://www.sorryeverybody.com

Remember, my dad always says, "There's nothing God hates worse than a liar and a thief!"

I just wanted to leave you guys a note to tell you that I will be back very soon and to thank you all for your prayers and kind words and thoughts and thanks for stopping by and reading my blog(s).  You are the greatest.

Yes, I mean you too.

*Comes tripping lightly onto scene, endless smiles, grins, etc.*  Today's the day!  *does a little jig.*  Today is really the day that Savannah is supposed to come home from the hospital!  Woo-hoo!  It's supposed to be late this afternoon.  Isabel and Ben had training yesterday on using the heart monitor and oxygen, so it looks like this is going to be the real thing.  At last.  This is a great day.  What a Valentine!

So we give thanks to God.  And thanks to all of you who have been praying for her and following her adventures.  Don't stop praying for her.  That's all I have to say today, so give thanks and rejoice with me.  I was going to try to write something special for all of my single friends that are bothered or annoyed or depressed or agitated or even at peace about today being Valentines Day, but sorry gang.  You guys are invited to join in the reveling and merrymaking and joy here today.

As my friend James, whom you will likely read about soon, would say, "Weeeelllllll Glory!"

Ben and Isabel were here and Savannah has a new doctor.  He was (maybe still is) the partner of the one we had for all of our kids.  He went up there and started talking to the nurses.

"Why is this baby still here?"

"She has been de-statting and her oxygen is low."

"If that’s the only problem, why not just give them a monitor and oxygen and send her home with them?"

"Well, there is the anemia..."

"If she needs an operation or a transfusion or whatever, why isn’t it being done?"

"Ummm, er, ah..."

And Ben got to bring up an assortment of issues about the whole situation.  All-in-all a very productive meeting, but without tangible results.  Still around 5 lbs, 1 oz.

It’s no secret that I am not really a fan of the other blogging websites.  I now have accounts at myspace, blogspot and xanga simply because I wanted to leave a comment on a friend’s blog.  They are all the same, my picture and the first entry saying, "visit my real blog at http://herbthiel.blogdrive.com/."  I may have left one out and might have to add more, but you get the picture.  I suppose it’s all what you’re used to and like, also, but it seems slightly arrogant to me to think that just because I visit one person’s blog on your server that I automatically will want to join and think you are so wonderful.

I say all that, but there is a feature available to me on my paid subscription to Blogdrive which I am going to use soon.  It is called "My Favorites" and what it does is list all of your favorite blogs in order of the newest entries.  All of your favorite Blogdrive blogs, that is.  This is really kind of minor irritant but just shows how fair and unbiased my point of view is on this matter.  Stop the gagging noises now.  Anyway, I am going to start using it and put up blogs, besides the list of friends I read every day that I may check occasionally as well.  You have the option of putting up Blogdrive’s favorites also, but you can go to the main Blogdrive page if you want that.  I am telling you all this on the outside chance that some readers are more sensitive and I am only responsible (as responsible as I ever am) for my own content.

I got on my little rant there again because I had deleted all my cookies and cleared all my saved passwords, which I do regularly and every blog I visited and wanted to leave a comment on, I had to sign back in.  One of the blogs I visit regularly that is on a site I find confusing (whom I have neglected to mention because of this) and did not put in my previous entries is Donica's at (I hope this link works.  Let me know if it doesn’t) http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog&friendID=1805241.  The link is really long and I am not sure I am doing it right.  Anyway, I worked with Donica at Borders and she was always a lot of fun and almost always the "up" person.  I needed help with a situation that came up in the Café and she bailed me out.  She was always a good person to have in your corner.  She is going to college to be one of those people that study the pictures that children draw and interpret them psychologically.  She is taking many art classes which seems to me to be her passion.

My new poll has to do with the funnies in the newspaper.  Please answer it and leave a comment on the poll itself.  I get really aggravated sometimes with the content of modern "funnies."

Aaaarrrggghhh!  I tried to send myself an e-mail from a couple of other blogs so I could copy links for you but the e-mails never came through!

If you liked the evolution entry I linked from Sam’s blog, try the link he suggests in the comments at http://www.ncseweb.org/icons/index.htm.  It gets a little more in-depth into the science-falsely-so-called of the issue.

Also, Carter's rant about poor people in the U.S. called "On Relative Wealth and Poverty" is really a good quick read.  I expected it to be something humorous about a rich uncle but it was more serious.  http://carterking.blogspot.com/2005/02/on-relative-wealth-and-poverty.html Remember I am especially not responsible for Carter.

Oh, Ben got a new Ruger 10/22 and took his youngest sister, Abigail out shooting with it.  We had called Carter to get some info and while we were at it he suggested it may not be as important to know how many are going, but how many are coming back. ;-)  They both came back and had a blast.  They were going to play a joke and Ben came in and said, "Only one of us made it back" and Margaret just looked at him and said, "If that were true it probably wouldn't be you."  Which was good for a laugh all around.

While they were out having fun I was trying to put together one of those pre-fab bookcases.  The worthless instructions don't show anything in the pictures and the writing, where you can make it out, is horribly translated to english.  I was ready to take a hammer to it and take out my frustrations, but fortunately Isabel was here and helped me not only figure out the instructions but also put it together.  I guess the matches kind of pushed her over the edge.

The Good Book says, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."  Oh.  Well, it says that somewhere...

I read Sam's Blog all the time and since today I have nothing new to report and don't really feel like doing anything I would really like every one to read Sam's entry dated Saturday, Feb 12, 2005 entitled Why I Don't Believe In Darwin http://samsam.blogdrive.com/archive/242.html.

The Good Book Says,  "Where were you when I created the earth?"

First of all, Savannah is 5 lbs 1 oz!  Hooah!  Except that now she has a cold and is anemic.  The cold will definitely keep her in the hospital until Friday and the anemia may provoke the need for a blood transfusion.  I would say, "Aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh" but Ben and Isabel have been saying it enough.  She was healthy when we went up to see her and really she does look good, but...

A couple of years ago I went in for a physical and the doc sent me to a nutritionist to get set up on a diet plan.  Well, guess who’s back on the diet wagon.  Not that I don’t need it, of course.  I do, but it is hard to stick with it sometimes, but my wife and children want me to do this for my own good.  Last time I did it I lost 35 lbs in 3 months.  Much of it was just changing some of my basic habits.  I am telling you guys about it because along with Savannah updates I will give you updates on how I am doing.  This will keep me having to stick with it.

My doctor was no big fan of Dr. Atkins or any other fad that was going around, let me tell you that.  He sent me to a nutritionist and she turned out to be really cool.  I was all prepared for a lecture but it was much more pleasant than I had anticipated.  The first week we talked about fat and fiber and empty calories.  I got an education, which I had let slip, but now must recall and so I will recall it for you.  Much of it was paying attention and learning to count.

As we talked about things I normally ate, it came up that it was nothing for me to eat 2 or 3 donuts for breakfast, 2 Whoppers for lunch, a couple of portions of whatever for supper and a snack at bedtime.  Well, she says the average person should really limit the amount of grams of fat they get to <50.  I knew how to read labels, but then she asked me, in the most innocent way, if I had any idea of how many grams of fat were in a Whopper.  50!  I was eating double my whole day’s fat grams at one sitting.  Not counting Humongo-fries and Gargantu-coke.  This was an eye-opener for me.

I was also getting no fiber.  In order not to lose the more genteel members of my audience I will just say that one of the many benefits of getting a lot of fiber is that it helps moves the fat out of the system.  One of the great things is also does is makes you feel full.  I was getting almost 0 grams of fiber and she wanted me to get up to no less than 20, the target being 35+.

Another thing was, as much as I love certain carbonated sugar water beverages, there is nothing in them.  Oh, by the way, I had always hated any artificial sweeteners of any brand because they left an aftertaste in my mouth, but Splenda doesn’t.  It may be a little pricey, but it is good.

I also had to start paying attention to serving and portion sizes.  I guess that fell under label reading.

She talked to me (Margaret was there with me, since she was the one who would have to live with me and help me make this lifestyle change and put up with my whining.) about the benefits of that would come form all of this, but I have to say that she was slick.  She never got preachy and anytime I would say something like, "I’m NEVER going to give up my whole milk," very adamant like that, she would say, "Oh you don’t have to give that up.  Just make sure you add it in to your total daily count.  You don’t have to give anything up, really, just make sure you add it up."  I kept a spreadsheet that I would fill in each night showing what all I had eaten and what the totals of what were.  This helped me visualize what I was doing.  During the day I would jot a note on a 3x5 card in my pocket.

I lost 8 lbs the very first week!  This felt good and when I went back to her I was pretty proud and she was really excited.  Most people don’t really do what she tells them the first time and their results show it.  I had something to be proud of here.  (You guys can see how she just totally psyched me out, right?  I mean she was just so unassuming and un-preachy.)  The next week we talked about cholesterol but not much.  She was not as concerned with my getting it from food as she was about it building up from the fat.  Then she got me walking.  I was to get a pedometer and start out with a half-mile and increase over time.

After that I lost that insurance and never got to go back, but she did give me good, solid information.  There were other things, too, like one I can remember she said I should eat a tin of sardines in oil now and then because even though it was high in fat it had other things I should get.  I could also cheat.  I could go to the all-you-can-eat buffet or a wedding or anything I wanted to, really.  Just not all the time.  And what I would do is just go right back on the diet immediately afterward.  This made life bearable, because I could have pretty much anything I wanted.

Why’d I quit?  Well, it was sort of a gradual process, really.  I don’t know how exactly.  Anyway, I know what to do, I just need to do it.  This is where my family has jumped in and pretty much we are all going to be eating the same foods.  I know that it is supposed to be good for my heart and blood pressure and other things.  It puts my family’s mind at ease when I do it.  Personally I don’t worry too much about the health part of it.  I know that when my time comes, my time comes.  I can eat all these healthy things and be all "heart-smart" and get hit by a stray bolt of lightning or run over by a truck or whatever.  When the time of my appointment gets here, I won’t have any choice whether to keep it or not.  But it makes my family happy and, well, er, I am forced to begrudgingly admit that, um, well, I did feel pretty good when I did it.

So, the magic formula is:

20 -35 grams of fiber, the more the better

< 50 grams of fat, less is better

No useless calories

Walk more

That’s it.

I have debated the whole way through on whether to give you my starting weight, or not, but I have decided to tell you because just reporting "5 lbs" is not as dramatic.

I am starting at 242 lbs (248 in boots and hat!).  I don’t have an exact goal in mind, but last time I had started at around 240 and went down to around 207, so I guess that with the help of all my fans, friends and fiends I would like to at least get below the 200 mark.

The Good Book says, "Everyone has an appointment with death and there is no discharge in that war."  And, "Don’t you know your body is the temple and building of God?"

So go figure.

Here is how my birthday went yesterday.  As you may have been able to tell from yesterday’s entry, I was feeling a little down in the mouth.  By the end of the day I was feeling much better.

I guess I will start with my Sunday School class.  We were learning about forgiveness and how shocked Peter was to hear what Jesus had to say.  I like Peter.  Even more that the Sons of Thunder, he was not afraid to just up and say what is on his mind, even when he should keep quiet.  Jesus had just finished teaching about prayer and forgiveness. 

Peter, even though he was a disciple, was still a man, and a manly one at that.  Those pictures of Jesus and the disciples where they all look so beatific and have the halos and were painted by homosexual artists in the renaissance, which are the only pictures we have, are wrong.  These were all manly men.  Galilean fishermen, scoundrel tax collectors called publicans (not to be confused with Republicans), ruffians of other sorts, daydreamers, all led by a carpenter.  All good sturdy blue collar men.  Think construction crew, except with clean jokes because their leader was not only a carpenter, but God manifest in flesh.

My point in recalling all that being that these were men who understood what to do when someone smites you on your right cheek.  When Jesus said, "turn to him the other also", this was a hard teaching for these men to take.  After a while Peter finally couldn’t take it anymore and said, "Lord.  How many times shall I forgive my brother, till 7 times in one day?"  He was probably thinking he had finally gotten it and Jesus said, "No, until 70 x 7."

We are instructed to forgive someone for the exact same offense 490 times in one day.  A different offense equals a new count.  I brought in 490 pennies and while I was talking I started counting them out.  Here’s a mote on using props.  A cardinal rule I learned long ago and forgot.  ALWAYS practice with your props first.  I had planned to count out stacks of 10 pennies each while I was talking, but if you use this idea, have them somewhat pre-sorted or pre-counted out.  It takes a long time to count out 490.  I finally had to have one of my high-energy boys, Connor, take over sitting and counting while I went on with the rest of the story, which is a parable Jesus taught to illustrate what our attitude about forgiveness is versus what it should be.

There was a ruler who took account of what people owed him and found one guy that owed him 10,000 talents of gold, the equivalent of several million dollars.  The guy had no way to pay it back and was going to be sold, along with his wife and kids and everything he had.  He begged the guy for more time and please don’t sell my kids, etc.  The ruler had compassion on the guy and frankly (interesting word choice by The Author) forgave him all the debt.  Modern bill-collectors should read this story, eh?

This guy goes and finds a guy that owes him 100 pence, which is a couple of dollars, maybe a five at most.  That guy didn’t have it and begged forgiveness using the exact same words but our man threw him into debtor’s prison!  For a few bucks after he had been forgiven millions!  Well, when the ruler found out about this, he called our man back and gave him to the tormentors.

When someone does us wrong, it is never as wrong as what Jesus suffered.  We ought to forgive the way the guy that was owed only a few dollars ought to have forgiven.  It took until the end of the lesson to finish counting out the pennies.  It all worked out.

Then we went to the Country Buffet.  Not my whole Sunday School class, just my family.  Can Herb spell "Oink!"  Mmmm-hmmm!  I love all-you-can-eat places.  It’s like a personal challenge.  Ben and Isabel got me some Coca-Cola plates and bowls, which was really cool.

There is a law that was passed a while ago called the (I think) Health Information Privacy Act.  Isabel was up at the hospital looking over Savannah’s (Who is 4 lbs 13 oz) records and was accosted by a nurse who told her she hadn’t filled out the proper form to do that.  Isabel explained that she was the baby’s mother.  The law requires that she fill out a consent form, giving herself permission to look at the records!  Margaret said she had a client who had had to do basically the same thing.  This is stupid.

Naptime.

Went to church early to get Abby there in time for choir practice.  During prayer meeting before church one of the ushers came and got me because I had a huge puddle of transmission fluid under the car.  Happy Birthday!  Oh well.  It still runs if I pour a few quarts of Tranny fluid in her every couple of days.

While the Choir was practicing (this out of sequence for a purpose, so you can see the happy ending, rather than the aggravation), Sister Webb, an older German lady in our church came up and told me she had something for me, which was an apple cake!  Oh boy!  Sister Webb has a reputation for her cooking.  Yum!

Also while the choir was practicing Nicole’s mom came up to me and said I had to come out to their car.  Nicole was in the choir, so she couldn’t come.  Well, I go out there and it wasn’t brownies but it was Brownie Pudding!  Nicole had made a pan of brownie pudding for me for my birthday!  The choir was letting out and I rounded up Scott W and we rounded up a dish for him to take some.  I had invited him over but he couldn’t come, and I did not want to hog them all because I didn’t know if Scott knew about the forgiveness story!  Well, I know he does, he knows a LOT about the Bible, but that doesn’t mean that if I would have hogged all the brownie pudding that he would have cared to remember it.

Well, he saved his piece for later because after church he has work to do helping count.  Our church by-laws don’t allow only one person to count money, there has to be two and he needs a snack.

I waited until I got home so I could use some utensils since it was chocolate pudding on the bottom and brownie on the top!  I got home, poured a tall cold glass of milk and took a generous portion for myself and quoted Carter and said, "Oh Boy!  Is this gonna be great!"  and commence to dig in.  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hoo-Ah!  Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were good, if you couldn't guess that by now.

As The Good Book says, "Rejoice with him whose mouth is full of brownie pudding for verily he is too busy stuffing his face to rejoiceth his own self."  (Er, um, don’t ask me for chapter and verse on that, I am just sure that it’s in there...somewhere...um, I think...)

My 45th Birthday today.  Thanks.  It is depressing sometimes to think that Poe had done his copious body of work along with editing magazines and writing articles on poetry that are still read today and been dead 5 years by my age.

Savannah is 4 lbs 11 oz.  She may be staying in her vacation suite a little longer.  Nothing new to report on that front, just business as usual.

Today, I do not even feel like writing, but I have to share this with you.

Since I don’t know how many of you get or read the "Parade" magazine in your Sunday newspapers and in fact I don’t even know what sort of papers there are in some parts of my worldwide readership (That is so much fun to say.  It is a start anyway.)  So I decided to give you all a link to this article by Norman Mailer.  I agree with it wholeheartedly, except perhaps that he does not go far enough.  I think that 3 of our biggest problems are Hollyweird, Madison Avenue and the 5-second sound bite.  Here is the link.  Please give it a read and some thought. 

http://archive.parade.com/2005/0123/0123_one_idea.html

As the Good Book says, "...being a fool makes you a blabbermouth."