...it makes the near-future seem much farther away.

...and when I ask you how I look, you answer with "Perfectly Q-licious tonight, Sir!"

Thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!

It's been a rough year for me since I injured my back... If you have a minute I'd like to share my ordeal.

Turns out I secretly had osteoporosis brought about by a medication I'd been taking on and off for 20+ years. (Prednisone for ulcerative colitis.) Somehow it was robbing my bones of the ability to store calcium in them. I ended up fracturing 5 vertebrae simultaneously when doing something as simple as picking up a box at an odd angle and dropping it and trying to grab it as it fell... I went to the ER and they just gave me a shot and sent me home with a bottle of pain pills. I truly thought is was a badly pulled muscle at first, but it didn't go away even after 3 months. You gather I'm one of those people who hardly ever go to doctors! Eventually x-rays were done revealing the damage. If you can believe it they can actually repair those vertebrae with a procedure called a kyphoplasty. (Look it up one day when you're completely bored...) It basically involves inflating a very small balloon into the vertebrae through a needle. The balloon is deflated and removed leaving a hollow cavity inside the bone. Then, for the lack of a better word, a cement is injected into the cavity filling the hole and now strengthening the vertebrae. The "cement" actually dries in a matter of minutes! Strange stuff indeed. They have repaired 4 of the 5 that were fractured. Basically the bottom 5 vertebrae were damaged. They don't think the 5th will need to be repaired as that one was the least fractured and has in this amount of time just about healed as much as its going to... I'm still plagued with lower back pain that is not constant, but damn persistent!!

Things have gotten better as time goes on but it is still an ongoing process. They believe that my bones have strengthened enough so that I can begin to start on some physical therapy very soon. All the pain that remains is muscular and not skeletal so that is a good thing indeed. When it was reversed, that is when I wasn't sure I was going to make it... Period!! There were a few times that I literally could not get out of bed because the pain was too intense just trying to sit up... Luckily those days are gone I hope and now I'm definitely on the right path to recovery! Luckily I have a great wife and kids who were able to give me the strength to keep going!!

On the plus side I had alot of free time on my hands to watch more DS than usual.

OK---SOAP BOX TIME FOR ONE MINUTE-- People, please please get yearly physicals and make sure to get thorough blood work!! I probably hadn't been checked out for almost 9 years!! Turned out also my hemoglobin level was so low that my heart could've just stopped... I was ordered to the hospital immediately where I received a transfusion of 5 units of blood!!! Thank you to all those who do donate blood... It really makes a difference!!

Thank you again for all the birthday wishes!! It made my day! The good thing is that I'm feeling much better these days and hope to one day put this all behind me and return to a semi-normal life!!

Thanks, God bless and long live DS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...said that bathing daily was incredibly over-rated.

...asked if she could recommend any good tranquilizers.

...1/500th scale model of Collinwood made out of popsicle sticks he'd been saving as a child...

A- "Daniel, you're not supposed to EAT the sandcrabs that crawl out of the seashells... Go spit it out, now!"

...devoid of crust thanks to the rats in the kitchen.

...in the shape of a house, to remind us that we have no home.

I remember the 2nd X-Files movie had a similar problem going up against one of those Batman movies in '08. It still did pretty respectable I think, but it was totally squashed by the hype of that caped-crusader!