Dr. Henry Ford M.D.

My morning starts like many other average Americans. I'm pulled out of bed by the piercing shriek of the alarm clock. Weak hands rub tired eyes as I try to navigate myself to the bathroom in near pitch black hallways. The refreshing blast of cold water wipes off the dried liquids that form to my face overnight. I'm able to throw on some clothes and strap up my boots to make the short walk to my frozen car. After a few coughs and moans it wakes up with a mild roar. The commute takes a little over a half our to get to the office, where my designated parking spot is waiting patiently. I receive good mornings from my colleagues as I make my way to the locker room to change to my worn out work scrubs. Everything is emptied from my pockets in my jeans to my solid navy blue pants, and my matching buttoned up shirt where I am labeled as Henry. I stand in front of my boss as I wait for my first patient. "Your first patient is right this way" says Matt as he walks me to where Mrs. Mercedes is resting. "It says here that you stepped on a nail" I say to the mid-thirty woman, she replies, "yeah" with a wincing expression on her face. I reach into a chest where all of my polished stainless steel tool reside. With my pliers tightly gripping the nail, I tell Mrs. Mercedes, "This might hurt" and I yank the nail from her foot. Blood begins to pour out but I manage to clean up the hole and patch it up. I clean up my tools and let my boss understand what was done to the patient and everything was fine and she was in good condition to leave. Next up is an older man that says to me "It feels like I'm not firing on all of my cylinders a times". I tell Mr. Regal that it seems like his filtering devices aren't working properly. "Your lungs and kidneys are not filtering correctly", the man looks at me with a blank look on his face, I try to explain it to him in a simpler fashion. "You see, your body is like a car, the air filter acts like your lungs and the fuel filter acts like your kidneys". A little spark in his head goes off as he begins to understand me, "There is a process that we can clean out your lungs and replace one of your kidneys with an artificial one". He consults with his family and agrees to do the operation. Three hours later the operation is over and Mr. Regal is recovering just fine in another room. I spoke with him about an hour after the operation and he said he was indeed "firing on all cylinders now" with a smile on his face. 3:30 rolls around and it looks like my last patient is being rolled in. A mid-forty aged Asian man named Mr. Avalon tells me he is suffering from severe abdominal pains and constipation. I tell him to lay still as I examine him, I am able to find a restriction in his digestive system. I tell Mr. Avalon that we must take him to a digestive specialist because we are not trained in that field. I call our ambulance driver Dr. Ball and explain that this patient needs emergency exhaust work done to him. We are able to get the pinch out of his exhaust system and the constipation and pains were gone. I find it to be a very special feeling to be able to find a problem in something as complicated as an automobile and then being able to repair it. I am not a Doctor for humans, but a Doctor for cars. Just call me Dr. Ford.

.....not another ear bleed!

I found myself thinking back to elementary school, I felt as though my classmates thought I must have been a little strange. Not for the clothes I chose to wear or the people I socialized with, but for the music I listened to. I admit there were always those certain songs on the radio in my childhood that I couldn't live without. No matter what song was "hot" at that particular time, I always saw myself running back to the classics. Back to Musicians that were born, created the best music of all time and had passed before I was even a thought in either of my parents minds. I'm talking about REAL music, music that has soul, it has meaning, it was the type of music that can change people.
Realizing that it's February, made me think of elementary school again. Every February we had to do a report on an African-American that did something in this Country that had an impact on us. The regulars were taken without question, people like Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Michael Jordan. I have nothing against any of these men and what they have done and are still doing are amazing things. I wanted it to be a little more personal, a little closer to my heart. All of my suggestions were turned down as if they weren't good enough, they weren't as influential or something. So for this African-American Month I would like to showcase three of the greatest Artist to ever grace the stage (in my mind).
First up is Mr. Marvin Gaye. One of the Kings of Motown. Marvin Gaye like many other great musicians has passed way too early. Marvin had one of the most beautiful, powerful, and soulful voices in the world. Some of the most iconic love songs have been sung by him, 'To Busy Thinking About My Baby', 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', and 'How Sweet It Is(to Be Loved By You). Come on, he's the man, really. There are those songs when you hear the first 3 seconds, you stop what you are doing and turn the volume way up. Like 'Let's Get It On'. When those first 4 notes play, I almost melt, this is going to be another awesome four minutes and fifty three seconds of my life. There was a week when all I listened to was his album "What's Going On". In my opinion, it sits somewhere within the 5 greatest albums ever recorded. You may not know, but you played at our wedding, Thank You Mr. Gaye.
Next up is the incredible Stevie Wonder. Where do I start with you, Stevie you have been a part of my life longer than I can remember. It brings me back to childhood, singing along with the radio driving along with my parents. People say that when you lose one of your senses, your others are boosted. In Stevie's case, his ears were boosted by ten. How someone can record an album by themselves is unbelievable. The album "Innervisions" was created by this one man, the keyboard, drums, horns, everything you hear he had to play the instrument by itself, then go back and mix each instrument together. For someone to hear a song in their mind start to finish, than know how to play each instrument for that song separately, is truly amazing. Another album that's in my top 5 is "Hotter Than July". This record is filled with some of the best music ever recorded, like 'All I Do', 'Master Blaster (Jammin')', and 'Do Like You'. Stevie Wonder has always played a big part in my life. If I'm ever feeling down at work or wherever, I can play some Stevie and hear my troubles fade away. You Sir also played at my wedding, Thank You Stevie.
Last and by no means least, the greatest, Jimi Hendrix. What can I say about Jimi that hasn't been said before? The first ever LP that I purchased was "Are You Experienced?". I think I was 13 or 14 years old and I must have worn that thing down so much it disintegrated. Maybe why I can't find it now. I could listen to that record all day and night. In my mind, it's the greatest album ever recorded. For someone to release an album at the same age I am now and have such an impact on this Country the way it did, is truly a work of art. 'Purple Haze', 'Foxy Lady', 'Fire', 'Hey Joe', his music sounded like absolutely no other artist back then. For someone to dedicate as much time and love for music as Jimi did, he deserves all the credit in the world. The only reason I attempted to pick up a guitar and try to learn at least one of his songs is because of him. A musical genius, we can see what was created in his short life, I would have loved to see what could have come of him if he was still alive. So Thanks to you Jimi Hendrix, I can't turn the volume up loud enough, I wish it went up to 12.

Love and Marriage (First for Everything)

My wife and I had been together for more than 7 years before we finally got married. Being married for a little over 4 months has made me think. 7 years is a long time, not just to be involved with one particular person, but a third of my life has past by and she's been along for the ride. This is very interesting to me because of the things we have introduced to each other, or the things neither of us have done before and discovering them together. My wife has grown up in Chicago, that's why I was surprised to hear she has never been to the top floor of our city's tallest building (Sears Tower). Being raised in a big city I found exploring the city and visiting all of it's landmarks common place in my household. Knowing that she had never seen the view from the top floor, I felt that it was my duty to have her experience an amazing view of a city that she loves as much as I do. An even better example is very similar, I think I found out that evening while staring 110 stories down, was that she has never been to the top of the John Hancock building, the second tallest in the city at the time. So for her Birthday I decided to take her there, from what I heard they have an awesome restaurant at one of the top floors. We take what feels like a rocket propelled elevator ride to the dining room. What we found out when we finally were seated, was we couldn't see anything out of the huge windows we sat next to. Our heads were literally in the clouds. The steak and lobster seemed make up for the fact we were surrounded by a thunderstorm 95 stories high. Somewhere during the end of our dinner the clouds seemed to vanish and we were left with a beautiful view of night time downtown Chicago. Now if anyone reading this has never been to either of those places, let me recommend both of them, very cool.
In my wife's defense, there were places that I haven't been and she thought I was crazy for not visited before. When she was growing up, her parents took her on road trips across the country. She tells me about seeing the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and swimming in the ocean. I have never visited a state outside of the Midwest, my wife on the other hand has just about been everywhere in the U.S. So for Thanksgiving last year we decided to join her Mom and Step-Father on there trip to Florida to spend the holidays with her Grandparents. To drive down through some of those Southern states to get to Florida was something she seemed used to. Me on the other hand didn't want to sleep thinking I would miss some landmark in one of these states. Granted it was too cold to swim in the ocean (yeah sounds weird) she was standing next to me when I walked into the warm salt water for the first time. The next example is again very similar, this past summer we took another trip, again with her Mom and Step-Father. This time it was up to Minnesota for an annual fishing trip. Let me add a little side note here, she has never been fishing before, so this falls into the "new for both of us" category, but for different reasons. Anyway, we drove up there and enjoyed a week of fishing. During the trip we took a boat ride even farther North and ended up in Canada. Wow, not just a new state, but a whole new Country.
Now lastly I'd like to give a couple of examples of how we have done a couple of things together for the first time. A couple of years ago we won a trip to a place called the Marlboro Ranch. Both of us thought there had to be some sort of catch considering everything was paid for. With everything being paid for, that includes air fare, yeah, that's where this is going. My wife and I have never been on a plane before. Let me rephrase that, we have never been on a plane that left the ground before. Me, I love airplanes and almost everything about them, my wife on the other hand was a little weary of the whole flying thing. It's a pretty amazing feeling being up in the air like that, it's a sense that I really can't describe. I'm not sure how my wife felt through the whole thing, but she has gotten over her fear of flying in some sense. I would like to explain the one thing that we did together for the first time and never planning on doing again. That thing is getting married, I can't think of a more surreal day in my life than the day I got married. It reminded me of playing with dominoes. You take all this time, patience, and work to get everything wonderfully set up, you invite people to witness the event, and before you know it...it's over, and everyone's gone.
It is very fun to explore this world, and to be able to have someone special and close to your heart to do it with, it makes the experience that much better. I'm glad I found my partner in crime, I wouldn't have it any other way. Maybe we'll try skydiving!

I'd like to thank the Academy.

During the 24 years of my life, there has been a handful of people that have influenced me enough to actually go out and do something. I seem to have a lot of these "great" ideas stuck in the back of my head. Getting up and having the courage, time, or the willpower to do something that interests me is a different story. There has been something that I have always wondered about, more so in the past few months. With the introduction to my iPod, accompanied with my love for technology and wanting to learn about new technology, conveniently turned me to the podcasting/blogging community. One blogger in particular has lovingly pestered me enough to subscribe to their blog. Now when I say "pester" I mean it in the kindest, most respectful way. This blogger that I'm writing about is Ca-joh. Ca-joh is my step-father, and the person that whenever we see each other there's always a "Have you read my new blog post yet?" What he didn't know, was that the question he noted to make a conversation at all family gatherings, was the spark that got my brain working. So here's to Ca-joh and my first official blog post. Happy reading!