Re: Sen. Barack Obama:

On Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:47:36 -0400, Just Judy <SpamFreeJudy@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:19:58 GMT, Dave Head <rally2xs@xxxxxxx> wrote:


Stay well, dood,

Thanks. The particular thing that I had is reputed to not have any symptoms,
but I was fatigued for about the last 2 1/2 years. I just didn't have the
energy to do much of anything, including posting in other than
rec.autos.driving, my favorite. I have some more energy now - maybe I can get
here more often, rather than sitting in this chair and be too "tired" (really
fatigued) to do anything but listen to the TV (its the hated Fox News, so I
don't have to watch), and not have enough energy to really keyboard much. I
sat here and just went catatonic, for hours.

That must have been really scary. I don't know what is worse:
to suffer silently for 2-1/2 years, or to go to the doctors and them
not be able to figure out what was going wrong. In any event, it
sounds as though you are on the mend now. ;)

I thought I was fatigued just because I was getting old (61 as of the day
before yesterday.)

And, of course, there was a whale of a lotta people here that disagreed with
me, that had me killfiled, so posting here and getting no replies also kinda
got to be a drag.

Don't worry about that.

Didn't worry about it, it just wasn't any fun to post here.

Most of the regulars here only
killfile those they consider over the top. In this group, I believe I
only have two killfiles in place. It's fun for me to read even those
posts that annoy me. I find the level of personal insults and name
calling coming from those whose politics are disagreeable to them to be
fruitless. When I want to convince someone that *I know the right
way,* it seems contradictory to tell others they are stupid, wear
blinders, etc. It's common sense-101to avoid insults in those cases,
but there are many who, imo, are clueless in that regard. :(

Plus, sitting around the house, waiting for stuff to heal, I have a lotta time
for this. Might not continue, since I'm going back to work Monday.

So, will a good day at work be better than a bad day at home?
Hmmm.

No...

Gotta go get another test in early July to make sure there's not something else
trying to kill me. The surgeon said he saw scars on my intestines when he was
poking around in there, and thought I had forgot to mention that I had had
appendicitis. I never had appendicities, to my knowledge, but do remember some
time in my life where I remember thinking to myself, "Damn, this is really
sore. I wonder if I have appendicitis. If it doesn't clear up pretty quick,
I'm going to the doctor." But it did clear up. Hey, maybe I _did_ have
appendicitis.

My appendix ruptured in 1974; I don't remember much except that
I'd been complaining of pain for several weeks preceding the event. I
came to in a hospital room, under a plastic *** circulating ice
water, in an attempt to bring down the fever. They found the problem
by doing a laparotomy, back in the days when that procedure meant a cut
from the naval to the you-know-where. <g>

Ouch! That sucks. I had a friend once whose doctor was the same quack that I
had, who kept going back to him several times over a week, for abominal pain,
and then his appendix burst. Damn near killed him. The quack shifted to being
a podiatrists sometime later, which is telling, since I've been told from other
sources that there are a lot of quacks in the foot-doctor field. Maybe so.

Nowadays, I think they remove the appendix by a bandaid
incision. ;)

Yeah, isn't that sort of thing fantastic?

Oh, yeah, I was a little distracted and a bit busy with a 3 month tour in Iraq
last Nov, Dec, and Jan to work counter-IED stuff as a science and tech adviser
in Baghdad. Best job I ever had, except for the rocket attack and the other
near-daily explosions. Didn't realize, tho, that there was nasty stuff going
on in my body trying to kill me...

Nasty stuff inside & outside, dood.

I'm curious: what makes you say it's the best job you ever
had? I've not had contact with anyone who has been to Iraq, so I'd
love your perceptions of the country!

Oh, it was a great job. Just come to work, do the job and do the job and do
the job. No jealous co-workers that want your job, or think that you're not
doing enough, or find out something bad about you and spread it around to the
management if they can while trying to improve their relative position, etc.
etc. And, it was relatively easy compared to what I do - it was writing
requirements documents for counter-IED devices to hopefully detect and/or
defeat IED's and the people that plant them.

Shocking aside - I _never_ expected this - but EVERYONE there, the military
people, the contractors, and the DOD employee civilian volunteers there (like
me) were the NICEST people you'd ever want to meet. I would never have
guessed, and that was not my experience when I was _in_ the AF from '68 to '72.

What do you normally do? Are you in the military, or are you a
civilian employed by the military?

I'm a civilian employed by the Navy at Dahlgren, Va. I just volunteered both
because I though I could help the troops more directly in real time by doing
that, rather than incrementally improving a weapon system that they might not
even see for a couple years, as well as the fact that it will allow me to
retire earlier because of the extra $$$ that came with going there. I can now
retire in 4 years, most likely - when I'm 65. The key is paying off the house.
I could technically retire right now, except for that - I wouldn't have enough
$$$ left over to have a good time if I retired before paying it off. And if
the radical greens get their way and gas goes to $8 a gallon, I'd just have to
go back to work anyway - if I could find any at an age of 60+ Probably have to
work at Radio Shack or something.

Take it easy on yourself once you are back to work. Get plenty
of rest, and post often here. <g>

If I get my way, I'll go back to Iraq at the end of the year - I have to apply
for and get selected for that job, tho. This would be C++ computer programming
with the Marines at Camp Fallujah, more counter-IED stuff. Maybe I can save a
soldier. Might get to convoy around the place a bit - I wouldn't mind seeing
the countryside, as long as I go out with a bunch of Marines that are armed to
the teeth! <G> I was totally behind the wire for the last tour, safe(r), but a
bit boring, too. And if I get this, it'll be 6 months, and I'll retire upon
returning, the very day I return. Gone. Bye. I quit. Etc.
.

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