Post Mortem Errands for Latte'

Been a busy two days since Latte' passed away. She has now been cremated, and her ashes returned. The engraving shop has the details for the memorial plate for her urn. Got the photo frame, etc.

Have the bone from her Right Front paw which will be encased in a clear polymer to form a paperweight.

Thank goodness my VA disability arrived on time this month! I am really putting it to good use . . .

Have not had much sleep the past two days. What little I have had - - - was not "good" sleep. Been living on energy drinks for awhile. Ate a Bologna and Cheese sandwich for dinner this evening. Did not feel like eating at all, but forced myself to do it.

Had to get a new cell phone today. The one I was carrying for the last two years became water-logged about six weeks ago - - - and has started acting very mysteriously - - - dropping calls, dialing on its own, losing texts, etc. Did not want to replace the phone until my previous contract had expired. Phone number still the same.

Much more going on, but too tired right now. Going to hopefully get a good nights rest - - - then continue on tomorrow . . .

Goodbye, Brave Heart . . .

Words cannot express what your love has meant to me over the years. I will never forget you.

Goodbye, Brave-Hearted SnuffleChufflePup.

Latte'  07 May 1998 - 26 February 2013 

A Long Night

A long night it has been. Feel like I have gone through a weeks worth of energy in the last six hours. Had to take an opioid tablet at 21:30 last evening in order to secure enough relief from my physical pain in order to be able to fall asleep.

Slept from around 22:30 until 01:00, then was back up. While I never really get "good" sleep - - - my sleeping patterns have been unusually disturbed since mid-January.

Latte' had diarrhea on her futon around 02:55. Seems strange to me that she would have anything to excrete, since she has not eaten for four weeks . . .

Everything is now squared away. Not much sense in trying to get back to sleep, as I need to be awake at 06:00.

Mental Health appointment on Wednesday at 10:00. Got to finish the intake appointment started last week. 

Thinking right now about the work remaining on my Presidential Investigation Package. A few folks have heard my "personal veterans" story, and viewed the document chain that bears out what I have told them thus far. None of them have heard "the rest of the story" as of yet. That story, will have to wait until the White House Investigation is complete. I firmly "believe" that it will be at least as big as the Petraeus sex scandal. But I cannot even think about continuing work on it for the moment.

Erika had her ENT appointment at Kaiser-Moanalua yesterday afternoon. No cancer!!!!

Special Thank You to Tamura-san for providing time and transport to and from. Mahalo, Masa.

Received a nice, hand-written motivational note yesterday from Rob at our storage facility, along with our payment receipt. Helped to ease the stress of the day.

Will (Re)start walking with the Neighborhood Watch group sometime within the next two weeks. Things should settle down by then, I would hope - - - think - - - wish - - - pray.

Also planning on making major dietary changes in the near future. More fruits and vegetables. More live food. Less meat and processed junk. Going to get back to my daily 15 Km walks. Should begin to happen over the next few days. Basically, right now I feel like a physical train wreck. That has to stop stat !!!

It is the Birthday of . . .

It's the birthday of the man who said, "To love another person is to see the face of God." French novelist Victor Hugo, born in Besançon, France, on this day in 1802. He also said, "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."

He wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) when he was in his twenties and became a celebrity. He used his fame to advocate for political causes he believed in, like denouncing the autocratic regime of Napoleon III. He encouraged French people to rise up and revolt. Napoleon III declared Hugo an enemy of the state, but Hugo managed to flee the country in disguise just before soldiers showed up to arrest him at his home. 

He went to Brussels before landing at Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, where he lived in exile for the next twenty years. There, he wrote at a fast pace. And he wrote standing up, at a pulpit, looking out across the water. He had strict minimums for himself: 100 lines of poetry or 20 pages of prose a day. It was during this time that he wrote his masterpiece, Les Misérables (1865), about a poor Parisian man who steals a loaf of bread, spends 19 years in jail for it, and after his release becomes a successful small businessman and small-town mayor — and then is imprisoned once again for a minor crime in his distant past. The book was a hugely popular, and Hugo returned to Paris, was elected to the Senate of the new Third Republic, and when he died in 1885 at the age of 82, two million people showed up to his funeral, a procession through the streets of Paris.

Latte' is still hanging on . . .

I have accepted that Latte' will be leaving this life soon. Spending as much time with her as I possibly can. She is not yet showing signs of pain - - - yet her breathing is becoming labored - - - and all of her bones show much more prominently through her skin.

On January 1st, she was her normal 40 pound (18.18 Kg) self. Bright eyed, waggy-tailed, with quite a bit of energy for an older dog.

Latte', Gordita and I - - - 10 January 2013

Today she is just a boney little creature . . .

Latte' - - - 24 February 2013

While I find it difficult to watch her slowly starve to death, I am very grateful for every second that we have together. She is the first dog I have ever lived "long term" with. We have had 14 years, 9 months, 19 days together.

She has often been referred to as "Miss 697 out of 700" due to the fact that when she was a puppy, I was running a Chinese Astrological Compatibility program on my computer.

Upon inputting approximately 50 data points on each of us, the computer calculated a compatibility score of 697 out of a possible 700. Pretty close to a perfect match!

 I will certainly miss her when she is gone . . .

2013 Honolulu Rubber Duckie Race

Sailor and Priest playing Golf . . .

A sailor and a priest were playing golf. The sailor took his first shot - - - missed and said, "Fuck, I missed."

Surprised, the priest replied, "Don't use that kind of language or god will punish you." The sailor took aim and hit his second shot. Again - - - he missed and under his breath he said, "I fuck'n missed again." 

The priest overheard and replied, "My son - - - please don't use that language or god will punish you."

The sailor took his third shot - - - once again he couldn't help mutter, "Oh, fuck!!!" 

The priest said, "That's it! God will certainly punish you." Suddenly a bolt of lightning came down from the heavens and killed the priest.

In the distance - - - a deep voice said, "FUCK, I Missed."

It is the Birthday of . . .

It's the birthday of composer George Handel, who wrote the great oratorio Messiah, born in Halle, Germany (1685). His dad wanted him to be a lawyer, not a musician, so as a child he waited till his father went to sleep, then snuck up to the attic and secretly practiced his instruments.

A duke who heard Handel, aged seven, play the organ was so impressed that he handed the boy fistfuls of gold coins. Handel's dad repealed the music ban and the boy was able to study with the town's church organist. He was a child prodigy, and his tutor announced when Handel was 11 that it was time to turn professional. So he went to Berlin.

In 1741, he was asked to do a benefit in Dublin. He decided to write a new oratorio for the performance, and he worked on it zealously, often neglecting to eat or sleep. In 25 days, he'd created the score for the Messiah, which was composed of 50 separate pieces. When he was finished he said, "I think God has visited me."

Rescind Monsanto Lobbyist Appointment to Water Commission Nomination Committee

No lobbyist, especially a lobbyist with a multinational corporations should be given the power to nominate members of the body which controls Hawaii water.

That's why I signed a petition to The Hawaii State Senate.

Will you sign this petition? Click here:
http://signon.org/sign/rescind-monsanto-lobbyist?source=s.em.cp&r_by=4032445

Mahalo for your Kokua in helping to keep our Aina water clean.

Mental Health Intake at Spark Matsunaga ACC

Quite the day yesterday. I was scheduled to have a mental health intake, at the Veterans Administration. As my dog is dying, I argued with myself for about two hours regarding canceling the appointment. Decided to keep it, and hope for the best.

When I arrived, the Veterans Administration was running a little bit behind. These intake appointments, generally run between an hour and a half to two hours. Of course, no one at the VA tells you that when they set the appointment  - - - so it is hard to budget your time. In the future, I will make sure to inquire how long they expect every single appointment to take in order to make sure that it fits conveniently into my schedule .

When I met the intake specialist (Name withheld for now), he was polite, professional, and succinct. I, on the other hand was concentrating upon my dog as I really did not want to be sitting in Tripler at that time. She is nothing but a little bag of bones at this point - - - yet she keeps hanging on. Possibly she knows her work here with me is not quite done? Certainly, no human has ever come close to the devotion, love, and kindness she has given me for almost fifteen years. I doubt another creature ever will.

Even though I had filled out a ten page questionnaire prior to my appointment, there were still more (somewhat shorter) questionnaires to fill out. Would it not make more sense for the Veteran to have all the questionnaires to fill out prior to having their appointment?  I also disclosed to him that upon occasion I use prescription opioid drugs(not my prescription) for pain. Good thing I did, because he wanted a urinalysis. He asked where I obtain them from, and I told him flat out that I would not give him any names. Had the VA been giving me the pain medications that I need, I would not have to obtain them from other sources. I have suffered from chronic pain for years. Using the Standard Numerical Scale for Pain - - - my pain level is almost always a 7 or higher. Yet, my Primary Care Provider has very rarely - - - if at all - - - ever offered any medication, nor suggested any Pain Management Clinics, etc. Whenever I require the usage of a pain-killer, I always log the date, time, drug, and dosage into a file on my computer. For monitoring purposes. I offered to send him a copy of the file, but of course that is not something that they would be interested in. Certainly the impression that they give . . .

I am loath to ask my Primary Care Provider for pain medications as they will simply enter into my records that I exhibit drug-seeking behavior. As I requisition my treatment records from the VA at least once yearly - - - I have caught them making false entries before.

I also left the portion of the questionnaire that asked about my military service purposefully blank. The VA already has nearly twenty years of documentation on me already. Maybe they should read what they have in my file rather than continually ask me the same questions over and over, with every new "specialist" up there I come in contact with??? Again, the tactic of Delay, Deny, Hope that I die!!!

At 14:20, I told the young lad that I really would appreciate if we could cut it short as I wanted to get home to be with my dog. He agreed, and we set an appointment for 27 February at 10:00.

I will attempt to remain hopeful, and keep a few more of these appointments prior to making judgment whether to continue treatment with them or not.

It is the Birthday of . . .

It's the birthday of the first president of the United States, George Washington, born in Westmoreland County, Virginia (1732), whose favorite foods were mashed sweet potatoes with coconut, string beans with mushrooms, cream of peanut soup, salt cod, and pineapples. He lost all of his teeth except for one by — according to second president John Adams — cracking Brazilian nuts between his jaws. He got dentures made out of a hippopotamus tusk, designed especially to fit over his one remaining real tooth. But the hippo dentures were constantly rubbing against that real tooth so that he was constantly in pain. He used opium to alleviate the pain.

He snored very loudly, and instead of wearing a powdered wig like other fashionable people, he put powder on his own hair, which was naturally a reddish brown. He was not good at spelling and he had a speech impediment. George Washington's inaugural address was the shortest inaugural address in U.S. history: It was only 133 words long and took him just 90 seconds to deliver.

A "New" Beginning

Today marks a new beginning for me on Blogger. I have become so tired of Facebook constantly making changes, to where my voice software recognition is no longer useful.

So upon the completion of this post, I will be posting a link to my new blog on Facebook. After that, I do not intend to spend much time on Facebook. It is so much easier for me to get things done when I am able to fully utilize my speech recognition software to dictate into the computer. With my infirmities and disabilities, I find it much faster and less painful than typing.

So here's to a fresh start! Where will this all go? I honestly cannot say.