Troubles McSteans

Short post today. Just got back from a cleaning at the dentist. Cleanings can be a bit pokey sometimes, but way gentler than a 14 gauge needle in your arm so I can't complain. Also your mouth feels groovy afterwards. I seriously don't want to eat or drink anything the rest of the day for fear I'll mess up the hygienist's work. This morning my mom came 'round to help me with some cleaning and totally re-grouted our gross shower. She is my hero. What an awful job, but it looks 110% better now. Thanks, Mom! Two of my friends had kiddies born this week. Jen Shaw gave birth to a girl - Sloane Julianne - Sunday, June 7. My hat's off to the Shaws for going old school and giving the kid a rad name like Sloane. Yesterday was also Jen's birthday so Happy Birthday to Jen and Sloane! Letty and Juan had a little boy named Noah yesterday afternoon. I'm sure Noah will in no time at all be making delicious deserts along side his talented mother. Congratula...

So there was this article on CNN.com this morning about using your pet to help you exercise. I assumed this was a "yeah no kidding" piece on how walking your dog is good for you. A portion of the article did, in fact, discuss this revolutionary idea. I have to admit, I'm currently getting more out of my Lucy walks than I'd ever imagined. We go for about 2 miles on this nice woodsy trail that circles the neighborhood, 4 times a week (dialysis days I don't make any promises). Walking Lucy is like trying to walk a steam train. For being such a runty little Lab, she's a little powerhouse. We gave up about a year ago trying to train her to walk properly so I'm using this to my advantage and getting great resistance training for my arms out of it. I know, I know, the Dog Whisperer would be appalled. Whatever, Cesar, it's great exercise. The other half of the article was focused on using your cat in your workout. I'd definitely seen this before,...

I got my first migraine when I was 18 right before heading off to Trinity U. It was triggered by what I considered a traumatic event, in this case a trip to the dermatologist's office. At the time I had these warts on my hand so the doctor advised a thorough spraying of liquid nitrogen. I don't know if you've ever had cryotherapy, but for even a small area of skin it's not pleasant. This was the entire top of my hand. It took forever and hurt like a b@#%^. By the time he had finished I didn't know if I wanted to pass out or hurl. I went for option B. By the time I got home I was yacking about once every 20 minutes. About 10:00 that night we decided a trip to the ER was in order. I got a little morphine, a good night's rest, and problem solved. I had just survived my first migraine. Over the next year I had maybe three or four more. By about the fifth one I had been prescribed what migraine sufferers consider a miracle drug - Imitrex. Imitrex was at t...

Anyone who knows me pretty well is aware of the fact that I sometimes have issues with making decisions. I say "sometimes" because there are miraculous occasions where a choice becomes very clear to me. Thankfully, these are usually decisions that carry some sort of importance, like choosing a house, car, or even my wedding dress. My problem occurs when faced with an endless array of options and my ultimate decision matters zilch in the grand scheme of things. Examples include: Choosing a paint colors for rooms , forcing the application of said paint to be pushed back months or even years. Shopping for anything in a department store . The sensory overload makes me uncomfortable and panicky. This is also why I try to avoid malls at all possible. Choosing a blog topic . Crikey is this a problem for me. I can't tell you how many different ideas I've discarded in just the past week. The most common advice of course is write what you know. Well, honestly my life...

Today is my friend Nathan's birthday. Nathan is a fellow Trinity Tiger alum (rawr) who also knows Ryan from high school. He still lives in the great city of San Antonio with his lovely wife Renata and their adorable kids Samantha and Maximilian. We don't get to see him very often these days but we still keep in touch and we hope to make a trip down I-35 soon to see the Cone clan and visit San Antonio. Fun fact, apropo of nothing: Nathan was once a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and won a nice chunk of change. Sadly I don't think he and Renata danced in a train station afterwards, Bollywood style, but I could be wrong . Happy Birthday Nathan! CORN!

I've known the honorable Heather 'Daredevil' Wagner for over 10 years and for most of that, she's been pursuing some form of higher education. Heather and I met at Human Code where we both worked starting in 1998 and she's been one of my best friends ever since. She was nice enough to agree to be my maid of honor at my wedding in 2000 and has since gone above and beyond the friendship call of duty. When I was waiting in the hospital for my second kidney to arrive, she was there all afternoon and evening until someone finally made her go home around midnight. She also flew out to San Diego to help me celebrate my 30th birthday and made more than one trip to the desert wasteland of Chandler, AZ to visit (if that's not true friendship, I don't know what is). There was also the time she had to rush me to the hospital for a kidney biopsy and then sat with me all night while I rode the high of my vicodin/valium/morphine coctail and babbled incoherently. Most ...