At it again

Whew the first week of the semester has past and things feel pretty good. My classes are in all new areas of study and it could make for an interesting semester. The good thing is that my classes are mostly 50 minutes long and that helps my attention span greatly :-)

My favorite class will definitely be American Government. Politics has always been a love of mine and with the election season upon us I can't think of a better time to take this class. The only bad thing is with two books to get through for this class, there will be tons of reading.

After American Government we have to hustle across campus to be in attendance for my Geology lecture class. I really didn't have an itching desire to take this one but I need a natural science to get into the Journalism school. The professor seems funny and we are going to be trying out some new technology to communicate as a class. You can check out ICLICKER.com for more info.

Then after Geology it's off to Macroeconomics to finish out the afternoon. Macro isn't too bad except for learning a good deal of new terminology. Math plays a part in this class and hopefully it won't be so bad if I can learn the formulas.

I'm taking my math class on the days when I'm not on the main campus. Math isn't bad so far and we have a really good professor which helps. The only problem I've had is that when my math book was scanned onto CD, they only scanned the odd pages :-) That will be remedied tomorrow when they give me the entire book.

That's spring semester in a nutshell and I'm trying to keep my blogging on track for weekly updates. We'll see how that goes as the semester progresses.

Peace,

Mark

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright

Sensational Saturday

Brad Paisley Missoula MT 1/19/08

The Adams Center was rockin' Saturday night as Brad Paisley dazzled those of us in attendance. The show was fantastic and he definitely is one of the top entertainers in all of music. Chuck Wicks & Rodney Adkins opened the show for Brad and they were really good as well. A great way to end my winter break from school. Enjoy the pics!

Life gets back to routine again as I start my spring semester. Math is on the agenda tomorrow and I'm not really excited about that but it must be done. I'm thinking my favorite classes this spring will be Macroeconomics and Intro to American Government. Another step on the path :-)

That's it for now but I'll be back this weekend with a recap of the start of school.

Peace,

Mark

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

A better week

I'm feeling better this week and hopefully the antibiotics were all that was needed. I visit my primary doc on Thursday and I'm sure x-rays will be taken to see what my lungs are up to. The only thing I'm noticing is being a little more tired than usual but I can deal with that. At least my Coumadin levels are finally back in their normal range after being in flux.

Classes resume for me on next Tuesday and I'm feeling ready. Yesterday I ran around and finalized a few school things. I purchased my textbooks and ran them over to Disability Services so they could be scanned onto CD. There will be much more reading this semester but that's fine with me. My Poli-sci class has two books but I'm sure we won't be covering it all. The best part of this semester is no morning classes :-)

I'm looking forward to the final weekend of my break. On Saturday I'm going to see Brad Paisley in concert at the sold out Adams Center. I'm not a really big country music fan but Brad is someone who I really like. Should be an awesome show and if cameras are allowed I'll have picture next week.

I was finally able to download my pics from my camera and I decided to put a few here. They are from Christmas and I had to include one of Dustin's little cousin Trent. It was his first Christmas and he had a good time. The last one is of our sweet Ugga after we put her in a doggie Seahawks jersey. Was a bit snug and it gave her a few extra rolls....LOL

That's it for this week but before I go I want to wish my sister (1/2) and mom (1/18) a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Geez you guys are getting old :-)

Peace,

Mark

Small bump in the road

Life is funny how it seems to sail along just fine for awhile and then wham it grabs your full attention. This attention grabbing moment happened Monday morning when I awoke with a very sore chest. I have the everyday aches and pains but something told me this was something different.

We piled into the van Monday afternoon and drove out to the Community Hospital ER to get checked out. While Theresa parked the van, Dustin and I rolled inside. There were two of the flight nurses at the reception desk and their eyes got a little wide when they saw two guys on ventilators come inside. It kinda cracked me up but hey we got really quick service.

We went over my recent health history and they were concerned that my symptoms were similar to last year when I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung). They took me back to a trauma room and did the usual assessments and my vitals were fine. The doc came in and she said we needed a CT scan to rule out a blood clot.

Last January when I needed a CT, I ended up with a central line because my vein blew out when they tried injecting the dye for the CT. Needless to say I was nervous about a repeat of that. The flight nurse was able to get an IV started in my arm, which is no easy feat. We ended up waiting awhile getting into CT because they had a few more severe traumas come in.

As I was wheeled into CT I was hoping that the IV would hold up for the test. After several nervous moments they were able to inject the dye and the images turned out great. I was really happy and all that was left was waiting for the doc to give us the results.

After about 45 minutes the doctor came into the room and gave us the results. The good news was there wasn’t any sign of a blood clot but the CT showed that I had definite case of pneumonia. My oxygen saturations were really good so at least I wouldn’t have a hospital stay in my future. They gave me some antibiotics and sent me home. I go back next week I believe for a checkup.

Oh well that was the start of my week but at least I feel a bit better. I guess I couldn’t go through winter break without a little excitement. The Pugs have kept close to me and it’s amazing how they can sense when something is up. That’s it for now but I’ll be back after the weekend with another update.

Peace,

Mark

Happy New Year!

On Thursday night we were downtown at a Forward Montana function watching the Iowa caucus returns. I was thrilled that Obama was able to secure a well deserved victory. Hopefully it will be the start of a journey that will take him to the White House. This country needs to head in a positive direction after too many years of arrogant, corrupt, and criminal leadership.

2007 has been very memorable and I’m optimistic to see what 2008 holds. The big highlight of the year gone by was the start of my quest towards a college degree. College is a great place to be when you consider that 16 months ago I was incarcerated in a nursing home. Other highlights included visits from my family, attending the legislature in Helena, seeing my friend Lori leave a ND institution, getting my new chair, going the fair, and seeing my first Griz football game.

2008 will keep me hopping and there’s some great things on the horizon. In the next few months I’ll be seeing Brad Paisley and Elton John in concert. I’m also planning to return to North Dakota for a visit this summer. Hopefully I can be home for Jamestown’s 125th celebration but we’ll have to see how things work out.

I continue to enjoy my vacation and this weekend I’ll be watching the football playoffs. Seattle is up 13-0 in the 3rd and that is our team to watch in this household. Well it is for me unless Minnesota is there but once again they blew it. I’ve also been reading Tom Brokaw’s new book along with one on the history on the US Supreme Court. There’s two more weeks to enjoy and then back to the grind.

I’ve got a few pictures to post but I can’t locate my camera cable. They will be up one of these days when I get a new one. Well that’s all for now and I’d like to wish everyone a Healthy and Happy New Year!

Peace,

Mark