November « 2008 « 77th Place

November 29, 2008

NO HOOPS!!!!!!!

Filed under: Austin's Daily View — otisg @ 6:58 AM

Originally uploaded by 7thson

This is Austin again!

I haven’t blogged in a while but this is what’s been going on with me.

I started middle school which is freakin’ awsome by the way, but most importantly, I had surgery. You might be feeling sorry for me right now, but it wasn’t that bad . I got to lay in a tricked out bed for a long time. It was adjustable and oh so comfortable ! I fell asleep several times on it while the doctor was telling my mom about all the surgical stuff, and not just because it was boring enough to put your hands and feet to sleep.

I wasn’t too crazy about the televison set though. The sound came from the remote which had me dumbfounded at first. After a while I got pretty sick of it. The remote kept slipping under my butt which made everything all silent and stuff. After I was just about ready to go crazy on the thing, the docter walked in. They told me that they were moving me to another room, my room and out of the emergency room.

Afterwards, as they rolled me to my new room, I felt the wind flowing through my magnificent hair. When I finally saw my new room I wanted to kick back and relax but something about that room made my bowels move around…a lot. So I rushed out like the Giants’ running back. In an hour or two I had gotten out of the bathroom and in my room sleeping like a baby.

I woke up the next day looked around and noticed that I was moving. The doctor told me that I was going into surgery . So I said cool and went back to sleep. The doctor woke me up and said,”We’re going to put a needle into you okay”. Once I was in the operating room, they stuck the needle into me. It didn’t hurt much. Then he told me that he was putting anesthesia into me. Once they had started the doctor told me that my hand was going to get warm and it did. So I thought that he was a physic or something. Then he said that my hand would start hurting a little..and it did! Then I fell asleep and woke up in my bed…hurting a little from my hip surgery.

My mom and I waited for about five hours after my surgery then this lady came in to make sure I remembered how to use my crutches and get me out of bed to walk down the hall. She said that I was good with them and after that we were ready to go home. Oh and another good thing that happened is that me and my mom were in my hospital room the night we found out that Obama was President (elect) of the United States of America. We were really happy, especially my mom. The nurse came in my room to watch TV with us and she was happy too!

Now one of the worst things about having this surgery is that I can’t play basketball until about June and I have to stay on my crutches for about 6 wks. It was hard at first but since this is my second time having surgery I’m used to using my crutches and getting around pretty fast. I have just 2 weeks left on them and I can’t wait. I went to the doctor and he told me the screws in my hip is healing good. This was good news because I’m ready to throw those crutches away and I’m ready to shoot hoops! I’ll have to watch my friends play ball until the traveling season starts for my team and I’m going to be ready.

This is about it for me until the next time!

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November 26, 2008

Practicing What I Preach

Filed under: The 7thson — otisg @ 7:23 AM

TruckNMojave1037

Originally uploaded by 7thson

A couple of mornings ago my truck had been broken into and some of my tools had been stolen, and to make matters worse my ignition had to be replace since the thieves tried to take the truck also.

I found this out as I was about to leave Sat. Morning for a breakfast meeting with an attorney friend of mine that was in town for a few days. Of course I had to cancel breakfast because I could not start my truck.

This was one of those times I had to “Practice what I Preach”. I always tell my kids to do what they need to do (NOW) regardless of what comes up because things always happen to side track us from completing our mission.

I could have just left my truck as it was and sulked about the situation for the remainder of that day, which would have meant that I’d have to wait until Monday to have it repaired. If I had done that I would have missed a job assignment I had scheduled for that day.

Waiting was not an option, so I rounded up some tools that were in the house to start taking apart the steering column. All of the tools I would have used for this task were taken the night before so it was not as easy as I thought it would be. It took a while but I found a few screw drivers and proceeded to take the cover off the steering column.

Since I needed a few more tools that were missing I was not able to get the ignition off the steering column. As a last resort I used my grinder to take it off. After I finished with it I had fine shards of aluminum all over the interior, which meant I’d have to clean the interior when I finished the repairs, something else that would take more of my time.

It’s around 11:00 A.M. now. I just called to get another ignition switch for my truck. The parts place stayed open on Saturdays, until 3:00. I still have time, even though I have to get there and my truck won’t start until I get the part.

I could either ride my mountain bike, take the bus to the train station, or walk. I was in the process of taking my bike off it’s hook in the garage when I remember that it needed air, then I thought about the air device, (it was in the tool bag that was taken). I put the bike back on the hook and decided that I would walk the three miles to the train station since I needed the exercise anyway. ( I haven’t been to the gym in a few weeks so I was due for some exercise).

I grabbed by I-pod and a book (Ephren W. Taylor “Creating Success From the Inside out”.) I had been reading and started walking in the direction of the train station. On the way I took a few side streets just in case I saw something I wanted to photograph. (I always travel with my point and shoot (FujiFilm FinePix F40 FD) digital camera) It seems that there is always something that I want to photograph while I’m out. On this particular outing I walked down an alley and photographed an abandoned sofa.

The remainder of the walk was rather uneventful; I arrived at the train station paid my fare and walked up the two flights of stars to wait for the train.

Once in Long Beach I called a friend to drive me the remainder of the distance to the parts store, after which I was dropped off at the train station to reverse the process.

Back at home I installed the ignition switch cleaned the aluminum shavings created by the grinder and put the steering column back together.

I inserted the key turned it and the engine fired up without a hitch.

It’s now a little after 4:00 P.M. and I’m rolling again. It took most of the day, but it’s all done. I won’t have to miss an assignment on Monday in order to take care of the truck and, I Practiced What I Preach, by handling the situation right away instead of waiting, and also I didn’t let the fact that I didn’t have transportation stop me for getting the part I needed to repair the truck.

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