Guns & Alcohol

One of the best things I've ever seen. I didn't even know it happened.

Conan O'Brien - Hunter S Thompson

The New Doctor

Yesterday I went to a new doctor out in Eagle Point. Lori's parents has wanted me to get a second opinion for awhile. Thankfully, I went out and talked to her about my lump under my arm and my possibly inflamed liver. Dr. Sprangel and I talked for a fairly long time and then she proceeded to start checking my lump and liver and comparing and whatnot. It was a total change to what I was used to at the Medford Medical Center. At the MMC they would check the lump, but for all of 10 seconds. I figured they knew what they were doing. Dr. Sprangel took her time and asked a lot more questions. By the end of it all, she gave me some antibiotics (samples of expensive ones), took some blood to check the liver numbers again, and has now scheduled me for a biopsy. We're still not sure what this lump really is. If she gets in there and finds that she can remove it, she will. Otherwise they're taking a chunk of it to help determine what it is. Either way, I'm getting cut. It probably will not be fun. She gave me a prescription for Vicoprofin, which is Vicodin but with ibuprofen instead of Tylenol; and a refill... I'm hoping we are closer to getting a solution for getting rid of this stupid lump. Hopefully some news on Tuesday when I go in for the biopsy.

Investments and Purchases

So on Monday I had finally grown tired of using my Motorolla Razor phone. Within the last few months the frequency of my text messaging had escalated. Typing out words on a standard number pad was starting to get to me. On top of that, my phone was starting to feel a little dated. Sure it worked, but it was 2 years old and cell phones were a lot better. Don't get me wrong, the Motorolla Razor is a damn fine phone. It's the best phone I've owned thus far. That is until I stopped by AT&T and picked up the Apple 3G 16GB iPhone.

I had spent the afternoon looking at different phones on the AT&T website, and had picked a few that might be what I wanted for an upgrade. I called my brother to see if he knew anything about the phones I had picked from the website. After talking about a few of them, it led to this.

Marc: Dude, you just need to get an iPhone.
Me: Really? You think I actually need one?
Marc: (Not even waiting a second) Yes.

There was some more talk about what it can do and some features, on top of my boss had already been telling me all about his. They convinced me I needed one. I talked to Lori about it expecting an immediate no from her. But then she talked about what card I could put it on. She really wanted me to upgrade my phone.

So I head down to the AT&T and start poking around at a display one until a guy comes to help me. Asks me some questions, one in particular I thought was a good point.

Ken (Sales guy): So where you looking for the 8gb or the 16gb?
Me: Well probably the 8gb. I don't really see myself needing that much space...
Ken: Okay. I know the 8gb is $199 but the 16gb is obviously twice that and for only $100 more. I'm running low on the 8gb, but I have 16s.

I can already see what's happening here...

Ken: But let me ask you this... The contract when you get an iPhone has to be for 2 years.
Me: Ok.
Ken: Where do you see yourself in two years?

I take a moment to think about the possibilities of where and what I'll be doing in 2 years. I convince myself that it is actually possible that I may end up needing the space. What if I need apps that will take up space? What if I get into personal editing and can get stuff and store stuff and have it mobile? It doubles as an iPod, granted I have one, but I don't bring it everywhere...

Me: Well you make a good point. Let me call my wife and talk to her about it.
Ken: Alright. Let me know.


I call Lori and give her the information I had just assimilated.

Ken: (He walks over, quietly) I just checked, I'm out of the 8gb.
Me: (still on the phone) Okay. (Hmmm, "out")

The short version is that she agreed that we should look at the phone as investment, especially for two years.

I left the store a little bit after that conversation, new iPhone in hand, somewhat dumbfounded by what just took place.

Lori and I are fairly god about money. But sometimes we aren't. We convince ourselves that we need something and we get it. Fortunately, I get paid tomorrow. And it will probably be more than I made the during the month of July this year while working at a movie theater, and it's for a partial pay period.

Despite my mind thinking about money, I start to play with the phone. I must say that so far, it's pretty sweet. There are a lot of things I never thought I'd want r need that I'm finding on this phone to be useful. I made a doctors appointment while writing this, and decided, I should add that to my iCalendar. I mean why not, it's there. Why not make use of it? Sure my life isn't that hectic that I need a day planner, but why not try and use something like that? The internet is done really well on the phone, and the contacts list is done really well; to the point that you can add notes and nicknames about each one. and you can add multiple phones to each entry instead of having multiple entries for the same person, i.e. Brian, Brian's cell, etc...

It wasn't until later that I kinda felt bad. Lori's parents have been helping me with medical bills. And it dawned on me that I'm came strolling in with a new phone, after buying Star Wars: The Force Unleashed the previous week. Lori and I had talked about getting that game already. I've been waiting for it for a few years now. I've certainly been a money spender in my time, but I try not to when I owe people money. In my mind, I don't owe people money right now. Her parents have never asked us to pay them back for anything they've helped us on. I've asked a few different times about paying stuff back. They all but push me out of the way at the doctor's office lately. I... well we (Lori & Brian) really appreciate everything they've done for us. So with this, Lori said, that I really needed to upgrade my phone. This was going to be a useful item. Something I needed. Sure I could have picked up a cheaper, less gadgety phone, but it was, as we said, an investment. I need to let Lori's parents know how much we appreciate them, and that Lori and I will start paying them back when we get a little more stable. Maybe not just me bringing in checks, but when we to where ever we're going to end up. They'll probably say don't worry about it, but it's starting to rack up with all these doctor visits, and I don't them to feel like Lori and I are taking advantage of them.

With that said, I leave. The iPhone is actually pretty sweet. I wasn't sure, but now that I have one, it would be hard to ever go back to something like the Razor.

It's time to do a magic trick.

Okay, so I've never been one to blog... About anything.  I've never thought it would be very useful.  But as I get older and I have more and more things on my mind, I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't help to jot down some things every now and then.  So this magic trick won't be about making a pencil disappear, but to see if I can and/or will do this.  

I'll start with my attempt at my current life situation in a nut shell...

I'm currently 30 years old, I've been married to the loveliest woman Lori for 6 years as of two days ago, I have a Bachelor of Science in Film, I have 2 cats, and I'm... scratch that...  My wife and I are currently in one of the hardest times of lives.  We've decided that Los Angeles is no longer where we want to be; although, I think it's mostly me; and we're living in separate cities trying to make money to make our future work.  On top of that, I've developed a strange and sometimes painful lump under my right arm, on the backside on my armpit; which may have led to an inflamed liver.  In addition, the doctors I've seen can't really spread too much light on the subject as I do not have health insurance right now and can not afford the tests they'd like to run.  The good thing is that they don't seem to be too worried about it yet.  I think if it was life threatening they would push or just flat out tell me I need to do them.  Woo Hoo!  Wait, no, that sucks rat balls.  

That pretty much sums up the current situation.  The good things I have going for me is that I do have Lori, regardless of the fact that she is nearly 700 miles away.  I know she is always with me.  I'm also back where I spent most of my life; in Southern Oregon.  I've been living with Lori's parent's, David and Danna Lee Gustafson.  They have been ridiculously great to me.  They treat me like I am their own son.  They've never made me feel like just some guy that married their daughter.  On top of that, many of my old friends are here.  For the most part I've been spending my time with Curtis; a friend since high school, and my friend Ginger; my friend since 1997.  They're both really great about giving support and just being my friend while I am away from my other half.  My immediate family is here as well.  And while I'm sure they wished they saw me more often, I just don't make the time.  Most of them are busy with their own lives but they try their best to spend time.  They try harder than I do.  I've always been closer to my friends then my family, and I always make time for my friends; despite being slapped in the face for it on more than one occasion.

I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up.  I could probably drone on and on about whatever once I get started.  I think this is a good start.  Let's see when I write again.