Perspective

I am back and I am in a better place. This means I am back to my ornery self.
The Gators lost and I can't tell you how bad that hurt. I can't remember being this sick over a loss in a long time. I literally had an upset stomach on Sunday, just thinking about that game.
There is a lot of football to be played but...you lose to Ole Miss, LSU and Georgia and FSU, don't look as easy anymore.

I finished the book...The Year of Living Biblically.

It is written by a New York City liberal (and yes this is different than any other type of liberal. I mean Hillary is one of their Senators) and he Jewish by birth.

He is agnostic before he writes the book.

He spends 9 months living out the laws of the Old Testament. Yes, all of the rules. No trimming of your beard. No touching a woman 7 days after her period (so he doesn't touch any women because he doesn't know if they are "unclean") and you can't sit in a seat that an "unclean" woman has sat in, so he brings around his own chair where ever he goes.

He can't eat certain foods. He tithes (and doesn't know who to tithe to, so he gives it to a charity). He observes the Sabboth.

It is funny and sad at the same time. Sad because he is ljust living out the rules, that is it. There is no heart behind the obedience.

The last 3 months he spends adding the New Testament into his life.

He doesn't take a fair assessment of Christians. He visits Pat Robertson's church and visits a Gay man Bible study, among other things.

I would have to say he was fair in all his assessments and took a look at all rules and religions from all sides.

It was depressing in so many ways...

You hear about all these people (scientist, atheists, and the like) go out to prove the Bible wrong and they find so much proof of the existence of God they become "believers".

This guy never did ridicule any religion and talked to alot of people. He even called the Jehovah Witness kingdom hall and asked someone to come over to his house for a talk (needless to say they were shocked).

He said it best close to the end of the book, "I am so much more thankful, but I don't know who to thank."

How stubborn does some have to be?

Well I went to my cousin's daughters Quince this weekend in Miami. A lot of Spanish going on in Miami. So the Gringo Gammichia's roll into Miami Friday morning like the Griswalls.

The party is a fancy so we all brought our nicest clothes.

Hilda had to buy a new dress...Hey what the heck is up with woman and their close? I have 2 suits and I bought both of them over 15 years ago. I wear them to all the wedding, funerals, dental conventions, graduations, Easter, Christman, Baptisms, Confirmations, et al.

But my wife has 36 dresses all worn ONCE.

"I don't have anything to wear." I can't tell you how many times I have heard this.

Now you know I love my wife and I am not picking on her because all woman do this.

What do you mean you don't have anything to wear? I am looking at 20 dresses lined up in a row in our closest?

"Shut up John, you know I can't wear any of those! I wore this one to your dental school graduation. I wore this one at Luke's baptism. I wore this one at Samantha's bat mitzpha.

Sounds like another blog topic.

The dance was pretty great. I drank (but not too much) and I danced. I feel like I represented the white man well. I did a little salsa and merengue and at the end we did a little bootie song dancing (if you are Baptist please pray for me).

Luke my nine year old tried so hard to fit in with his 14 year old cousin. I love that kid, he is truly the apple of my eye.

I won't go into how all the 14 and 15 year old Catholic girls were dressed for this dance. Lets just say I have seen less skin on the cover of FM magazine. Please see my Going to Hell in a Handbasket blog.

Okay, okay the topic.

Perspective

I want to start by telling you about my trip to Mexico.

You all know I went to Mexico on a medical/dental mission trip?

My church organizes this trip every year. We support an organization called Armonia in Mexico City. Armonia has been around for 20 years. So a lot of what you see looks very nice and that is because there has been over 100 mission trips there over the last 20 years.

The people in Mexico take monies raised and make community centers in the poorest of suburbs around Mexico City (so far there is 4).

In these centers, during the non mission trip weeks, they use this place as kind of like a boys and girls club. There are things to do. There is after school programs, there is tutoring. For the mom's there is child care training...and more. But is all centered around having a relationship with God. Sundays is always worship.

But on this weekend it is all medical/dental.

On this trip there is always a pediatrician, an optometrist, a dentist, a pharmacist, and an internal medicine physician, along with about 15 volunteers. Some do hard labor outside of the center and some volunteer to help all the doctors. So it is big to do.

When we get to the center it is bustling with people.

We spend about 8-10 hours a day doing what needs to be done. For me it was treat as many people as I can in the time alotted. If they had 3 cavities I would do them all. If they had a couple bombed out teeth I would take them all out.

I had about a 15-20 break to eat and went back at it.

In this community the dental need is not what you think. It is not as horrible as doing dentistry in the wood or something like that but...

I felt the biggest problem is education. I saw a lot of kids that were not being taken care of "dentally" by their mothers. The mothers simple did not know how to take care of their kids teeth.

The government gives away milk to the poor so they give kids milk all day and all night.

BIG PROBLEM. So I saw a lot of 4 year olds with bombed out teeth.

If you don't know this another name for milk is Lactic acid. Milk if left on teeth will erode teeth faster than candy. It is a NO NO for kids.

So this was a problem.

And in the 8-15 year old I was seeing a lot of decay because of Coca-Cola. All day and all night Coke. This is real bad for teeth. Sugar + Carbonic Acid is a deadly combination for teeth.

This along with not brushing your teeth well is bad.

The problem was I was not able to communicate very well.

So they gave me a 18 year old who was bilingual and we sputtered through the day.

Trying to see as many people as I can while educating each one of them. This turned out to be a problem for me because I was trying to concentrate on the dentistry.

Here is a picture of my first days clinical room. (double click on the image and it will be bigger).

As you can see that it wasn't ideal working conditions. So doing decent dentistry was the primary focus on my mind. As I think about it, I should have spent more time educating. But what I tried to do was educate the people working with me so they can go and tell everyone else.

Lets look at this picture for a minute. What is missing?

No light. I literally had a kid hold a reading light over each patients mouth so I could see.

There was no suction. So we put a bucket by the chair and people just spit in it. EVERYONE USED THE SAME BUCKET AND IT WAS NEVER RINSED.

You just do the best you can.

For all you dentist, I used the same five burs the whole three days I worked. They were out of burs. So I scrounged around and found 5 good ones and used them for three days. (Luckily, one of the burs was a 330 and I wore that thing out).

There was not sterilization. Just wipe them off and use them again. Even my extraction forceps...wipe them off and use them again.

I have to stop here because it is getting long. I will have to continue on Wednesday.

I have lots more photos of the community and the people. I have picture of there homes and how they live.

Talk to you later,

john

ps Tonight is How I Met Your Mother...last week was so good. Watch it...it is funny.

Okay,
I am having a pretty crappy day and I don't want to talk about it.
The ghost writer wrote political blog and I couldn't think of when to publish it.
It has some pretty strong undertones but I guess this is what you get when you talk about politics.
I do think this is a hot topic so no scathing comments. But if you think he/she is being pig headed then tell him/her.
I think some educated open discussion is healthy, but name calling and slander is not.

Lastly, I saw a movie the other night There Will Be Blood. I hated it. I don't think I have disliked a movie this much in a long time. I even hated the score (the music during the movie) and most of the time I don't even hear it.
Remember I am reading this book Living Through the Bible for a Year...it is okay. I am starting to read it faster so I can get through it. This is always a sign that I am not liking it.

With all the political activity, it’s time for me to weigh in. Obviously, I encourage you to vote for whomever you believe is the better candidate, but as a blogger – I have the forum to explain my opinion. I encourage you to use it by commenting on my blog with your opinion.

A couple disclaimers, I was raised Republican and the opinions expressed here are only mine. Ok, so here it comes…

“McCain couldn’t fill Mile high.”
That was the argument for our friend’s decision to vote for Barack Obama.

My brother, an artist, who isn’t much of a reader into politics, sees Obama as a phony from a mile away. He apparently made an effort to change our friend’s mind about McCain but from what I gathered seemed to be ill equipped to give our friend Bob much to consider.

So, for my brother and our liberal buddy I’ve assembled my reasons for why I’ll pull the lever for Senator John McCain come November.

1) I welcome anyone who remains unknowledgeable about the candidates to jump on Wikipedia and learn about who these guys are. If you feel Fox is too Right or the NY Times and CNN are to Left, then inform yourself with a vanilla online encyclopedia. What you’ll learn is that McCain crosses the aisle routinely. Take a look and you’ll see countless bills he introduced with democrats. You’ll also see how often he’s at odds with his own party. To me it means that he carefully considers what is right rather than casually flowing along the current of what is comfortable. Then, check out what Obama has accomplished. Go ahead.
2) I get Time magazine at the office and like to bring it home. The July 28, 2008 issue has an article that is telling of the immense differences between McCain and Bush. Democrats like to lump the two men together and tell their constituents that a vote for McCain is a vote for 4 more years of Bush policies. I encourage anyone to archive the article. It’s astonishing. These guys are far from friends.
3) I personally can understand why so many are disgruntled with W’s administration. The selection of Joe Biden by Barack was very interesting. A point should be made by the McCain staffers to remind Americans that Biden practically begged his friend McCain to switch parties and to run as VP a few years ago against Bush. Funny that he thought enough of McCain to ask this of him and now he’ll pretend Obama is his man.
4) CAGW. Most people have no idea what that is. It stands for the Citizens Against Government Waste. It’s a nonprofit group I belong to who publishes a pamphlet annually that details all the ridiculous crap our government spends money on. They have a series of bills that they watch closely. Then they carefully see how our elected officials vote. I would love my Obamaphile pal to see how his rock star senator rates. That’s right, they rate our politicians. I forget how it works but it’s on a scale of zero to one hundred. One hundred means you are a taxpayer hero. Zero means you are absolute scum and like to spend other people’s money on worthless pork barrel projects. Guess what? Hillary, Biden, and Mr. Stadium filler rate in the sub 20s. McCain’s 2007 rating I believe was 100 while his lifetime average over a twenty year period in congress is above 90. Check it out.
5) $4.00 a gallon for gas has arrived. The natural inclination is to think big oil is taking advantage of Americans. Democrats want us to believe that oil execs are rolling around in piles of dough laughing all the way to the bank thanks to their windfall profits. Sort of true. Cumulatively oil companies profit $1,500 per second. Wow! Those bastards. Well, those bastards also spend $15,000 a second to produce, refine, transfer, drill, research, and find that precious oil. Uncle Sam then takes $4,000 a second in taxes from big oil. Consider that the feds make more per second, almost three times more, than big oil. They also do none of the exploration, refining, transferring etc… Like so many other taxes it is legalized theft. Obama, in what amounts to seemingly communist declaration wants to punish big oil even more. He wants all Americans to receive a $1,000 check from the bullies at big oil. Who’s the real bully?
6) Democrats are coming down on McCain’s VP selection for her inexperience. That’s fair I suppose. But then it’s fair to then admit Obama’s inexperience. They want to label her as someone with no foreign policy experience. What did that matter to liberals when they elected Clinton with zero foreign policy experience versus George Bush Sr.. The elder Bush was an international affairs master to Clinton’s novice. Both Biden and Hillary have openly declared Obama isn’t ready for the presidency. Now they are gushing, publicly anyways, about their darling from Illinois. He’s only been a senator for 4 years of which he has been on the campaign trail for most of the last two. Add to his inexperience his reluctance to be decisive. I was watching a documentary on CNN where they traced his voting record back to the Illinois legislature. He amassed a record 128 “present” votes when asked to decide on bills presented before him. This means he didn’t have the knowledge or conviction to vote yes or no 128 times. What? This kind of wishy washy voting is not what we need in the oval office. Decide and back up why you voted yes or no.
7) “What has Barack Obama accomplished?” This is a question that is never answered. What you’ll hear in response is that Bush’s policies have ruined our standing in the world, we need a new direction in Washington, or Obama brings hope for a better tomorrow. Great, now answer the question, you know, about his accomplishments. They never ever do. Think about that.
8) Back to the Palin experience vs. Obama experience comparison. Consider you are a single voice in 100. Consider you aren’t actually doing your job for half of your term. Consider you could just check “present” when you want to pass on the responsibility that you’ve been elected for. Or, better yet just vote in rhythm with your party and give almost no thought to the ramifications of your decisions. Compare that to someone who can’t simply pass on decisions. Someone who is front and center in her state. Palin fought her own party with conviction to do what was in the best interest of her fellow Alaskans. Her moves were front page stuff while his have been diluted by another 99 votes. Do we really want to compare accomplishments?
9) Character. Let’s briefly go over it. McCain has it oozing from every pore of his body. The whole thing where he refused to be let go from the Hanoi Hilton unless his comrades were set free is something out of fiction. I wonder what Obama would have done. That’s almost not fair considering what most of us would have done. Good luck finding old acquaintances or friends with anything negative to say about him. Even his ex wife has a positive opinion of JM. He’s fought against special interest and lobbyists who were actually freinds. Kicking them out of his office on many accounts. He and is wife Cindy adopted a baby from Bangladesh and raised her. It all smells like a badass, a man of conviction, and an enormous heart. Palin has her own remarkable story where she has demonstrated her unwaivering stance on abortion by having a child with Down’s syndrome. Contrast that with the history on Barack. He surrounded himself with Rev. Wright, Ayres, and some guy named Rescoe. That’s a lot of scumbags to distance yourself from.Who exactly are we voting for?

If you believe that we should be taxed more than we are now and our government needs to be more involved in assisting Americans then clearly Obama or Democrats are for you. If however you find that the government is already overreaching and under performing then McCain and Republicans make sense.

I should mention that I have many liberal friends. I respect their opinions. One friend mentioned fiscal responsibility and social liberalism as how he votes. I told him he was a libertarian. Then he pointed out how the billions we are spending on this war are not fiscally responsible. Guess what? He’s right. This is the best argument I’ve heard. McCain’s stance on immigration, Iraq, and payroll taxes aren’t anywhere close to being in line with my politics or my interests. At least I know who he is and what he stands for. He isn’t Mr. Hollow Promises with no concrete positions from the state of Illinois.

My hope is that we don’t squander the chance to have someone like John McCain while we have the opportunity. Let’s clear get rid of the smoke and mirrors. Let’s ignore the rhetoric and closely study the two men. You know where I stand.

Oh, yeah...we know where you stand.
Just to let you know, he/she wrote this a little bit ago and we had an editing period to tone it down. So yes this is the toned down version.
And just today the Washington Post/ABC poll has Obama ahead by 9 points. (Lord, help us)

Remember, not mean comments.
I don't know if Friday is going to work for me because I will be out of town.
But I will try to talk about Perspective all next week. It is definitely heavy on my mind.
Talk to you later,
john

Perspective

Hey all,


Just to let you know I finished about half of this blog and my computer pooped out. Once you have to reboot you lose it all.
Blogger.com use to save your work automatically but I guess they don't do that anymore.
So here I sit writing it all over again.

I had a pretty good weekend. As you know I don't usually work on Mondays but since I have a commitment on Friday I decided to work.
My family and I are traveling to Miami (my kids use to call it Your-ami. Think about it). Friday is my cousin's child's Quince. This is the Cuban version of a Debutante Ball (with pork).
I love this family and she is a fine young woman and I am looking forward to the dance.

Speaking of dancing, I stink at dancing and ALL Cuban can.
I think all Cubans are double jointed in their hips. They dance with their hips.
My wife took dancing lessons until she went to college soooooo, when we are out on the dance floor I look like a bigger gringo than I already am.
My wife, is so awesome, tells me, "you are doing good", when I know I look like I have a rod up my toosh. And I feel like it too.
One caveat, the more I drink the looser my hips get. So will sober stiff as a board John show up?
Or really buzzing hard dancing like a Cuban John show up?
I will let you know.

Saturday. Gators vs. UT
Wow was that a butt whoopin' or what? The Gators are looking very good. The rest of the season is really going to be exciting.
Ole Miss is next (Sorry Bruce).
I just ordered my season Gator Basketball season tickets on Friday. I am hoping the economy has hit hard everyone that sits in the second level of the O-Dome (Gator basketball facility) so I can move down from nose bleed status.

I have run out of time (considering I am doing this for the second time) but I wanted to leave you with three things. These will lead into Wednesday (and Friday's) blogs.
I went to a funeral last night. I met an American man in Mexico. He is a guy of about 55 years old that goes to another local church in Orlando. He had a son, 28 years old, who was born with some kind of congenital problem. Last Tuesday, my friends son had an operation and never came out of it.
Can you imagine losing your son? Can you imagine having to give the orders to "pull the plug" on your own son?

On Friday, I saw a brain damaged kid, who was 14 years of age, at the office. 6 months ago he was a normal healthy 13 year old that went to his friends house to ride All Terrain Vehicles.
He fell off and hit his head.
His poor mother still looked it was the day after the accident. She looked like she had been crying for 6 months.
As a parent I don't know how to handle these kind of things. I don't even know how to prepare for something like this.
Please Lord do not make me go through this.

Last thing....I don't know how to get my arms around the poverty in Mexico.
So for the next few days I am going to think out loud about these kids and they things I saw in Mexico.
How do I live my life knowing there is so much pain going on? How do I live in the richness of America and live in a way the Bible tells me?

Thoughts to ponder.
Talk to you Wednesday.

No not $300

Hey all,
I hope you are having a good week.

Okay, I feel like I haven't talked about the big white elephant in the room. The economy.
At my office it is really getting bad. Not bad in a sense that we are doing bad. I mean to my patients.
We are slow but that is kind of par for the course when it comes to offering a service that people can put off.
But so many of them are really hurting.
I mean on Wednesday when the market hit the crapper, I had a patient (who is a stock broker) that was like catatonic.
He didn't even want to speak.
I use to think the market is so emotion driven but when people lose 40% of their portfolio in an afternoon, it becomes more reality than emotion.

It all started with the real estate market. Then it was gas. Now it is everything.
Now in the dental business it is like...do we start selective marketing or do we just hunker down and wait it out.
I spoke to another dentist last week and he said this week for him has been "super crappy". He went on to say that lately it has been "crappy" but now it has improved to "super crappy".
He says he doesn't ask dentists any more because he says he knows its bad for them. But he also says that if they don't say it is slow, he knows they are lying.

So what does this mean?
This is the time where all the people that have all their wealth on wrist or on their fingers or in what they drive are crapping in their (designer) pants.
And people that live below their means, are worried but, are not suicidal.

I know people that have sick cars, I mean sick, that are really sweating.
In one sentence they will talk about their new Rolex how they got new earrings for their wife and then tell me they are scared to death over the economy.
Do even hear themselves talking?

I mean I have a $14,000 car (that I bought used) that I have had for over 5 years now, and plan on having it til the wheels fall off.
I know two people that bought new cars this week. THIS WEEK.
Is it that we can't control ourselves?
Are we so programmed to want something and then do whatever it takes to buy it?

I don't know maybe I am just judging people. But if you are driving a $60,000 car the economy has to be pretty bad for you to be complaining about money.
To me if you are paying that kind of money for a car then all the other things are taken care of.
Meaning, you have your mortgage under control, you have no credit card debt, and you make $400,000 a year...sure go crazy with your new car.
I don't think the "$150,000 a year, house poor, maxed out credit cards" guy should be buying a new car. And if he does, he shouldn't be rolling on up to the BMW dealership.
Then they say something like this...
"Oh, don't worry, they gave me this killer deal."

NO THEY DIDN'T!

I saw a man about 2 months ago. He was in his retirement years. Moved to my town about 2 years prior.
He was at my office because he had a crown come out.
I told him that I had to check the tooth first and make sure it was still solid. And if it is we will cement this puppy back on...no problem.
I went to check the tooth and it was moosh. This is not good. Moosh on teeth is bad. So I told him that I thought we could save the crown but I would have to do a bit of work on the tooth.
So I would have to charge him for a build-up and then a cementation. This would cost about $300.
He looked like I had just hit him with a 2x4. ("It hurts right here, not here or here, right here"...Tommy Boy...oh my gosh that was a funny movie).
He sat and pondered for a minute really in agony.
He said, "Just cement it in." and he continued, "I have had a real bad week. I had to replace my washer this week and I just got off the phone with my mechanic and he says I need a new radiator and now this. I just don't have it."

Now I will tell you what I did in a minute, but think about this a minute this is a man who is retired and he doesn't have $1000 to fix three broken things.
Now I am not talking about $20,000 or anything. We all know that if you have a car that the radiator will go out. And we all know that if you wash your clothes the washer is going to breakdown. We all know that if you have teeth there is always a chance that you could break one.
We have to prepare ourselves for things like this. He didn't even have a credit card to put it on. Like, "okay take care of what you need to and I will put it on my credit card and figure out how to pay for it later".
Now you could say, "John, are you so rich you are out of touch with what the regular people go through?"
I hope I am not.
This situation is across the board. People that make $40,000 are living in too big of houses and people that are making $300,000 are living in too big of houses.
People that make $40,000 are buying cars they can't afford and then in three years buying another one.
People that make $200,000 are doing the same thing.

So back to this guy.
I told him I would not cement his crown back on his moosh of a tooth.
But I did tell him I would make him a deal. I told him I would put this thing back on with strong temporary cement.
I told him I understood his money situation and didn't want this to be a burden on him.
I told him I wouldn't charge him for today.
But I told him when things settle down in his life he needs to get this thing fixed and fix it right.
I put this thing back on, I didn't charge him, and I never saw him again.

So how did this man get himself into a position to be 67 years old and likely have nothing in his savings account?
I have told you about the book The Millionaire Next Door, it talks about people that are doing it right are cash poor.
No not like this 67 year old.
They mean, while you are in your money making years, you are putting everything extra you have in savings accounts. 401k's, 529 plans for the kids, and or debt reduction.
But when it comes to buying a new car...you just don't have the money. You have the money but it is where it is suppose to be. Not on your fricking wrist.

Lets say we work for 35 years. For dentists that is to 61 years old. Now lets say you put away 5% of your money. Now you are asking 5% of 35 years to last you about 25 years. Think about it.
No you really need about 20%. But that is 20% of about 39 years. So you work until you are 65. But you have to make sure you are not going to live past 80. So you can ask 20% of 39 years to last you 15 years. Now that sounds better.
But God forbid you live until you are 90. Can you say, "Mother-in-law suite".
But that means we have to save 20% of our money. Anyone doing that?

Last thing...Money.
Have you heard stuff like..."it is the root of all evil", actually as I get older I am beginning to believe this more and more.
How about this one..."you can't serve two masters. Either you will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Lk 16:134)
How about..."It is hard for a rich man to get into heaven" (Mt 19:23)
Does having money, prosperity and success guarantee godliness or moral virtue? No, in fact, it is more of the opposite. It leads to pride, cruelty, and abuse of people.

I have been all over the board today.
I have to write these things between patients sometimes so when I come back to the computer I have different thoughts.
Hence the above.
We talked about the economy, spending more than we have, we talked about getting old and not having any money, then what we need for retirement, then we talked about money and Heaven.
A lot of food for thought.

But I couldn't write this blog without quoting one more thing.
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Mt 16:26)
Oh by the way the Bible talks about money more than any other subject. It has like 2800 verses about money.

Have great weekend.
Go Gators beat the crap out of UT. Is that too much to ask for?
john

"I yam what I a yam"

I know Monday's was long but I have so much to tell you about the weekend that the bio stuff takes time. I know you all want to know what I did over the weekend.

Okay... I watched Pride and Prejudice on Monday night. I finished the movie and I was like, "I wonder what all the fuss was about this movie?" I look over and my wife is balling like a high schooler.
I am sorry to all woman but I didn't think it was that good.
I had to watch the thing with subtitles because I couldn't understand a thing they were saying and they were supposedly speaking English.
But I thought the movie was fairly predictable. Yadda yadda ya...I know it was a love story and very romantic but all the dudes had to say was "I like you" and things would have been over in about 5 minutes.

I have Just Cause waiting for me to watch.

I have thought a lot about Monday's blog and haven't really got my arms around my emotions.

Something happened last week that relates to the blog.
I have this patient that I know likes me.
She is an awful patient.
She is demanding. She doesn't show for her appointments and doesn't do the things I recommend.
You know this one. The one that is always dressed to the nines (diamonds and Rolex) and complains that she can't afford my dentistry.

Well, she came back to the office this week.
She is younger than me and is missing a bunch of molars, like all three on the upper left. I keep recommending implants.
She is a grinder and she never could afford the occlusal splint I kept recommending.
She hasn't been to our office for about 3 years.
And now she comes back in with a broken tooth.

You non dental people need to know that if you don't have molar teeth this puts too much pressure on the other remaining teeth. The forces have less teeth to be distributed to. So when you have less posterior teeth you have a tendency to break anterior teeth. And when you are a grinder...then everything is exponentially worse.

So we talked about fixing the broken tooth.
And she says, "while you are in there I think the crown you did 4 years ago is breaking".
Sure enough a crown that I did (4 years ago) is breaking.
Now here is my philosophy.
EVERYTHING I do should last. I don't care if she has one tooth in her mouth and if I fix it, there is an unwritten law that the stuff I do is guaranteed for 5 years.
My patients don't know this but if I see something I did that is not lasting or is breaking, I fix it for nothing.
So who does the unwritten law apply?
Does it apply only to people I like? Does it apply to only the people that do exactly what I say?
I don't know...it is unwritten.

Granted I think of all the stuff I do, I might have to replace something or redo something once every two years.

I tell her I will replace this crown for nothing. I have to bite my tongue. I refrain from giving her the business and not telling her it would be nice if she came around more often. I refrained from telling her if she had molar teeth things would not break as often. I have to refrain from telling her that if she go a "night guard" things wouldn't break.
The rule is if doesn't last I fix it. I stand behind my product. I can try to justify why I shouldn't do this crown over...but I can't. It should of lasted and it didn't. The honest thing to do would be to do it over and I am going to do it over.

But the real kicker was after we made new appointments she says, "Oh! I have to show you my new baby."
She takes me out to the window where you can see the parking lot and there it was...A HUGE NEW WHITE HUMMER H2.

Now I was steaming mad. I was mad at her for having such a low dental IQ. I was mad at my parents for making me non-confrontational. I was mad at my wife for marrying such a putz. I was mad at my staff for not just going off on her. I was mad at anything and anyone.
But I smiled through the whole thing.
Now I don't want to hear it from you. I know all that is wrong with this situation.
I just like to sit and fume instead of being confrontational.

I wanted to talk to you about something else today but I got a little carried away with this story and now I am mad at myself don't feel like writing anymore.

I will talk to you Friday,
john

ps I am not mad.
I am what I am. I am happy with who I am.
But this stuff is the kind of thing you have to deal with when you are the boss. When it is your reputation people are going to be talking about. When it is your work that is breaking.
Something to ponder.

Oh, pick me! Pick me!

Lots going on at the Gammichia house.

Friday night was Noah's first soccer game.
This is a U-5 league. So the game is a real hoot. It was at 5:30pm and it was a real scorcher.
Noah scored 2 goals. I was so proud.

Saturday I had my run. I was up and Adam at 3:20 and I ran 22 miles. Since my foot deal last Monday I have not run. I have been icing it all week and taking quite a bit of Ibuprofen.
I had not even tested it. So when I got to the run at about 3:50 I gave it about 40 yards to see how it was going to go.
The problem is I only have about 6 weeks to the marathon and this was one of the last long run training days. I run with a group and I wasn't about to take it easy this week and do the 22 on my own next week. So it was kind of, do or die.
I was going to do it whether it was killing me or not. Turns out it was not that bad.
So you are saying OMG why are you running so early. Well two reasons. 1) so we are not ruining the whole day and 2) to avoid the sun.
Problem was it was 78 degrees at 3:40am. Ouch, that is warm.
I am pretty excited about running in this marathon (The Marine Corps Marathon).
It is in Washington DC and you run all through the monuments and by the Capitol Building, the Smithsonian and end up running through Arlington Cemetery and finish at the WWII memorial.
It is going to be great. Remember how emotional I was at Disney Marathon, imagine what is going to be like seeing all this stuff. And I am a pretty patriotic guy as it is.

I started a new book this week. It is called The Year of Living Biblically (One mans humble quest to follow the Bible as literally as possible). This is not a Christian book. It is about a Jewish man (who got a book deal) who decides to read the Bible and write down all the rules in it. Something like 750 of them. And for one year try to live by the law.
It is labeled "Humor" in the back of the book.
I will let you know.

I watched Glory Road with the family this weekend. And I started watching Pride and Prejudice.

Last thing, I weighed in at 192 this afternoon. I am so close. But I want to do it right. I want to lose the weight and keep it off. I want it to be a life change. But if I weigh in at 190 in the morning and I weigh myself at night at and I am 195, I feel defeated.
So the gradual thing, I think is good.
I don't think the other guy is close or he would of told me.
I am hoping.

Okay, today's topic.
I have a dental supply rep. He comes to my office about once every two weeks. He knows what kind of guy I am. I mean we have never talked about spirituality but... I have taken him to a Gator Basketball game. I like him and I think he likes me. I don't know if you can call him just a rep. When the big meeting is coming up we talk about getting together and having a beer. When I get to the meeting I will search him out or call him on the phone to see if he can do it.
I would say he has a vested interest in our office but I still think he likes us (or me).

I was talking to him at the office (We talk about other dentists. We talk about philosophy. We talk about our office. We talk about certain products. We talk about speakers. Sports and family).
Somehow we got on the topic of teeth. We started talking about his wife and how she got some dental work done at so and so office.
Now lets take a step back. He has always, to the best of my knowledge, gone to this Taj Mahal of an office. I went and looked at this office once. It was beautiful. It has 3 dentist, an orthodontist and a periodontist all in the same office (not building). Under the direction of this one dentist. This guy runs three chairs with his eyes closed.
I don't run an office like this but, to each his own.
So when my rep said he went there I could understand. (What I mean is...to a rep this guy must be his biggest account. He is buying three times the supplies anyone else is so he must be good...I get that.
Back to the story...
When he was talking about his wife and that she was getting dental work done, he told me the dentist that she went to.
It was not the Taj Mahal guy.
It didn't matter to me who it was because it wasn't me.
I could understand if she went to the Frank Spear of Orlando. I could understand if he took her to the Pankey Master of Orlando. But it wasn't.
It was just regular ole dentist.

Now you must start to think this guy Gammichia has some big head.
Of all the dentists out there he wants his rep to pick him.
The short answer is YES.
There are so many things that could have gone on in his mind to send his wife to this guy. They may hang out together. This other dentist is a super nice guy (which he is).
The office could be down the street from his house.
On and on...
But to me, all I know is it wasn't me.

I want, in all the things I do, to be great.
I want in all my conversations about dentistry to exude passion for teeth.
I want when people think of me they think that guy is weird about teeth. I want them to say, "I want to love my job like Gammichia loves teeth."

From what I gathered his wife had 6 veneers done.
Then my rep say, "This guy gave my wife a 20% discount"
You know what...I would have done it for less. And it is not to undercut the other guy it is more like an honor to work on friend's wives.

Do you know what I am saying?

I want people to know me and love me.
I want them to know my heart. I want them to see my passion and recognize my ability. I want them to want what I have to offer. I want him to know that I would rather give up practicing than to let them leave my office not thrilled with my product.
It is not about the money.
Its about all the other stuff.

I have pictures of my work all over the office. I have before and after books that have dentistry that I think is Hmm, hmm good.
Never mind that my office is 20 miles from their house.
He did not pick me.

I could say all the things to make myself feel better like...I am a better dentist than that guy. I am for sure more passionate than he is. I would say I would have done it for less money than him. That really isn't the issue.

As I am writing this I keep thinking about the playground in elementary school. When a couple of captain's picked teams. Do you remember this time?
I don't really know how this effected me...I think it effects all of us. I was never the greatest player but I wasn't the worst. But I was well liked.
So it was personal when someone didn't pick me. Even though I might not of been the best kickball player.

So what is it? Is it that I have this competitive thing going on? I don't think so, because I really am not that competitive.
Is it okay that I want to be the best? Is it okay to want everyone to like me and want what I have to offer?
Is it okay to think I am pretty good at what I do and feel insulted when someone doesn't pick me?
Is there any psychiatry residence looking for someone to do a thesis on?
I am available.

This is getting too long,
I will talk to you on Wednesday,
john

Cell phones

I couple of quick antidotes before I get to my topic.

I have a patient who lost #3 and #14 (for all you non-dental people, these are upper 1st Molars).
We did some implants in these areas about 4 years ago. They have been fine ever since.
We have been cleaning her teeth every six months since then. She came in for a cleaning yesterday and she said she has been having some issues with the crown on #3. She says in the morning the crown feels high. So she pushes it up real hard with her thumb and then it is fine.
I took a closer look, the crown was mobile.
Let me explain to the non dental people about an implant.
You have an implant that is placed in the bone. After the initial placement you wait up to 6 months for the implant to "integrate" in the bone. If you have good integration you can not get this implant out. If you want the implant out you have to cut it out.
So now you have this titanium root in the bone. What you do is have something called an abutment. This is the thing that is going to sticks out of the bone (not the tooth looking thing but the piece the crown will cement on to). Now you have the implant and the abutment and they are held together by a screw. You crank the screw down and then you put a crown on top of the abutment.
When you finally do cement the crown, you can do it one of two ways. If you want to be able to take it off you use temporary cement. If you never want to get it off you use permanent.

When a implant crown comes loose you automatically think the screw because it is the weakest link.
So getting the screw can be tricky but all things are not lost. But I went back to this woman's chart and the crown was put on temporarily. So I thought I could take the crown off and then get to the screw.
I started to try to rock the crown off. I thought it was coming so I continued to rock. I started to see metal which I thought was the abutment (meaning the crown was slowly coming off).
Finally the crown gave way and came out....only one problem.
THE IMPLANT WAS STILL ATTACHED TO THE CROWN. I pulled out the whole f!@#$%!-ing thing.
You should have seen my assistants eyes. This was not good.
Now you have to understand. I didn't do anything wrong. I did not pull too hard because like I said if you wanted to get a integrated implant out you would have to cut it out.
The real issue I am having is that we have cleaned her teeth about 8 times since she has had the implant. Did my hygienist not probe the implant? What is up with that?
So this made for a real rough day.

Now to my philosophy on cell phones.

I think all cell phone companies have got the biggest racket going.
I am going to tell you about my story and I know you can relate.
I am an AT&T customer. The practice has a 17 year relationship with AT&T (as our cell phone carrier).
I think of myself as an average guy when it comes to owning a cell phone.
I want my phone to work. I want to be able to call without being dropped. I want a couple of features that are special and I want to have a phone that makes me look cool.
Thats it.
I don't care what contract I have. I don't care how much it is (as long as it is fair).
Being I am probably going to stay with AT&T, why would I care if I had to sign another contract.
The only time I really care about my phone is when it stops working.

Now this is where it gets hairy.
I will tell you about the issues I have had with my phone in the last 6 months.
I was at the table having a drink of water and reading the paper. I spilled the water.
My phone was on the table. As the water was hitting the phone I picked up the phone real fast. I shook it off as well as dried the outside with a paper towel.

Apparently, getting a phone even the least bit wet is a real problem.

It stopped working. I took the phone in.
Did you know there is a wetness indicator on the inside of the phone that will let the salesman know that the phone has gotten wet?
So it is void of warranty if the phone gets wet.

So I had to have the phone repaired and pay for it. (I have a $50 phone that cost $49 to have repaired.)
But since then the phone has been unreliable.
One minute the phone has a full charge and then the next minute it is off.
So I have to do one of these things....Take out the battery and shake it. Then I have to blow on the battery and then blow real hard into the phone (like the old Atari games...if you know what I am talking about you are getting old too).
Then I put the battery back in and do a "cell phone I need you to work" dance.

I know what you are thinking. Why don't you just go get another phone? Well, here is the deal. I apparently signed a 2 year contract and I am not allowed to get another phone for 18 months after I signed the contract. I have the piece of sh!@#$^t RAZOR phone, you know that one that self destructs after 12 months but you have to keep it for 18.
Now I have told you in the past, I am cheap. I pay very little for my phone service, something like $40 a month. So this means AT&T doesn't like me.
They will allow me to get a phone before the 18 month limit if I agree to move up to this phone...the Blackberry 8,000,000, which will only cost you $110 a month.
I look at the guy like he is fricking crazy and leave the store.

But you know that if you call AT&T on the phone they have different rules than the store. But the weirdest thing is that if you go on the computer they roll by different rules also.
This is what is so maddening.
The people on the phone have no idea what the people in the store can offer you. The people in the store have no idea what deals are going on online.

So me the 17 year customer calls up AT&T and tell them I want a new phone. First of all they do NOT give a flying crap that you have been a loyal customer for 17 years.
"No problem Dr. Gammichia. I see you have only had your present phone for 16 months but I am authorized to break those rules for you. What phone can I get for you today?"
"I like those new Blackberry 830's."
"Oh, Dr. Gammichia that is a sweet phone. Nice choice. I can get that to you by Tuesday and it will be $260"
"That's sounds okay but I am looking online right here and they say that the phone is $150."
"Well that is online and if you want to get that you have to do it online."
"Well can't you do it for me?"
"We are not the same."

"Okay, I can get past this but one more thing. My assistant that just signed up with AT&T only paid $100 for her new Blackberry 830."
"I am not authorized to discuss anyone elses deals."
When are they going to invent the phones that you can reach through and strangle the person on the other end?

"One more question, how much is my monthly fee going to be? Well we can put you on the same plan but with the Blackberry there is a data fee of $50 a month. So your bill will be in the area of $100 a month."
"What is the data package?"
"Well this is unlimited internet on your phone."
"Well I don't want internet."

My time has run out but you get the picture.
As I sit here and go and call my wife to tell her I am coming home and my phone is not working.
I guess it is time to to the cell phone dance again.

Have a great weekend,
See you Monday,
john

I started a new book, I can't remember what it is called. I will tell you on Monday.
I saw I movie last night that I liked. Green Street Hooligans.
It has some really bad effects but other than that it was pretty good.
I had Mad Money but my wife watched it with the girls and told me 2 of the four fell asleep while watching it.
She told me, don't waste your time.

My website is up
Apopkadentist.com
or
Asofttouchfamilydental.com

remember it is only $39 a month.

Our society is going to Hell in a Handbasket

Hey guys,

Before I get into how our society is going to Hell in a Handbasket...a quick story.

Have I told you I have been having all sorts of foot issues?
My heel on the left foot has been really killing me. When I say killing me, I mean like I can't walk on my left heel.
I have been running A LOT and it has been uncomfortable but it really hurts after I play basketball.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I have started to play hoops again on Sunday nights.
It hurts while I play and it really hurts the next day.
This past Sunday I had to stop playing in the middle of a game. This is a big deal.
This is only the second time in my life I came out of a game. The first time was when I broke my wrist.
So on Monday morning it was killing me. I could not put any pressure on my heel.
I needed to get help.
I called my assistant who a year earlier was having the same issues. She went to this podiatrist and since then has not had any issues.
I got the referral and called.
I made an appointment for the following week but I was being very nice to her on the phone and told her I had the day off and if they got a cancellation I could be there in about 10 minutes.
She called me back in about 5 minutes and said they had an opening that day.
I went in and the assistant talked to me about Plantar Fasciitis (I suspected that is what I had). The doctor came in and talked to me about 2 minutes before she said lets just do the shot today and go from there. I was all prepared mentally for this because this is what my assistant got (and I wanted relief, NOW).
Don't forget my marathon is in 7 weeks and I need to continue running.
But the next thing I knew, YYYOOOOWWWW, I was getting stuck in my foot with a needle about 3 inches long. It was over before I could get my girl scream out.

But I was happy to get it. I am just hoping it works. It is better but still very tender.
Now lets critique their office.
I don't think they were very thorough. I don't think they were very helpful. For example, they wanted me to do some exercises and they handed me a piece of paper with the exercises illustrated on it.
Do you think they could of taken one minute to show me how to do the exercises properly? Not just,"Do these, it will be helpful"
One last thing. The assistant at the beginning of the appointment suggested inserts. She said there is a $150 options and there is a "take an impression of your foot" $450 option. She didn't push it on me and in fact never closed the deal.
Now after all the talk with the doctor no one ever asked if I was interested in getting the inserts. She never said, "Can I set up an appointment to fit you for the inserts?"
So are they important or not?

But I think it would be good to get some.
Any suggestions? So far I have talked to 3 people that have had the shot and only one of them got the inserts (but he swears by them).

I have not watch anything on TV since I talked to you last.
At the present time I am not reading.

So lets get right to the Hell in a Handbasket thing.

One time I bought some deodorant and it came with some body wash.
My son, who is 9, loved it. So when he went through the whole jug he asked for some more.
Now I am pretty sure he is not trying to impress any girls but he just likes it so I told my wife to surprise him.

So my wife bought some AXE. You know she has seen the commercials. It was on sale so she bought some.
Problem was she didn't know that AXE is a company that uses sex to sell there product.
So we bust open the container and there is an insert to tell you how to use the product.
In the package there is a soap brush that comes with it. It is a two sided brush, one side is a rough and the other is soft.
But on the packaging it has a diagram of the brush and they label them with descriptions on why you should use it.
So the description says, and I quote, "Use this side to wash away a night with your ex-girlfriend" And the other side should be used, and I quote, "To wash away the night with your babysitter, from between your toes."
WHAT?!!
Are you kidding me?

I just went to their website and here are some more quotes...."Tsunami (one of their deodorant sprays), put it on your body and get ready to explore the deep."

How about this one...
"Phoenix, spread your wings and put on this deodorant, and all that is left to do it rise to the occasion."

One more,
"Wear this on your body and teach her how to rub things together to start a fire."

I am not kidding.
This is over the top.
To me this is wrong. This is irresponsible. I am always the one saying, "Well don't let your kids buy the stuff or don't let your kids go one the certain website." or "if you were paying attention to what they are doing you can make sure they don't go to certain sites".
But if I saw him going to the AXE website I wouldn't think it was a big deal.
There is a video on the on their site where a lady is in jail for lude behavior (because she smelled some man with AXE on). So as the reporter is reporting she pipes up from in the jail cell and says, "I going to ride that mustache right off your face"

Okay enough references. But I can't believe this stuff.
So if I put Grannycam, or whatever it is called, to block the dirty websites, it will not block this one. The sex is so subtle.
I don't even know what else to say. I can preach to you about guarding your children. I can talk to you about how if we allow this to continue who know where it will take us.
I can talk to you about how I hate the media and its slow deterioration which brings our society down with it.

I have a real problem with tolerance. I have a real problem with the slow rusting of our society.
Here is my favorite example (I saw this in a lecture about raising children)...the speaker flashed up an old Playboy magazine centerfold from back in the day and then he showed the COVER of a modern day Cosmopolitan magazine. Which one do you think was worse? You guessed it... the Cosmo. So now the cover of Cosmo is worse than the Playboy centerfold.
Things that make you go Hmmm!

Now we can go to the 7-11 and all the "almost" porn magazines are at my 9 year olds eye level. I have to bend down to see them but my kid is looking right at it.
I give the person behind the counter the business but he or she doesn't make any of the decisions.
So I can boycott 7-11?
Where would I take my kids to get their Slurpees?
Trust me if I boycotted 7-11 my kids would boycott me. Slurpees are a very big deal at our house.

Last example.
Okay, I am on my way home yesterday and I am flipping through the radio and I hear a song called, "I kissed a girl" (just in case you are thinking, "What is wrong with that?" Well a woman sings the song).
Lets go over this...
In the 80's, I remember how George Michael's song, "I want your sex" was causing all sorts of problems. Well, now we think this song is lukewarm.
Slow decay.
But you know what? IT SELLS. Controversy sells, especially in music. Just look at that kook Madonna. She has about a billion dollars because she liked to push the envelope. But don't get me started on Madonna.
But this song, "I kissed a girl", in the song it is saying how much she liked it.
Now, I don't care how you spin this song... it is bad, it is just the continuation of decay.

Do you see it? I am I the only one? Do you care, yet? When will you care? When you have kids?
When they take the 10 commandments out of our courthouses? Wait they already did this.
Will you care if they take prayer out of school? Oh wait.
What about if they change the Pledge of Allegiance?
THE FRICKING PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE!!!

I know more and more people feel the same way about things as I do but are silent. Just like I am. We are part of the silent majority. We, as the silent majority, somehow don't know how to stop the YELLING minority.
We just go to work and try to make a good living (maybe go to church) and try to raise good kids. We don't have time to start a petition or call our congressman 150 times a day to push our agenda. We don't have time to picket. We don't have time to yell.

I don't know the answer.
All I know is I don't buy this music. I don't go to stores that condone decay.
Me, I have my own agenda. It is the exact opposite of decaying. It is one of kindness and the straight and narrow. And I am going to try to push it on as many people as I can.
I preach it to whoever will listen (mostly my poor kids).
I know this is not as attractive to teens as sex songs on the radio but...
I do my part. Is it working? I don't know yet.

Hope you are having a great week,
Talk to you on Friday.
john

NPR II

Hi all,

I hope you all had a good weekend.
I had a good 14 mile run.
I went to the Gator game and we won.
Great day a rest yesterday.

I watched a terrible movie yesterday...Meet Bill.
I don't want to hear it from all you ney-sayers. This movie sucked.
It was about a miserable middle aged man. He caught his wife cheating on him. He hated his job. He hated his life.
So he wants to change so he starts hanging around a high school kid.
He starts working out, changing his look, smoking dope, sleeping around.
I thought that he was trying to make things better for himself so he can get his wife and life back together.
At the end of the movie it became evident the wife was contrite, she was interested in getting back together with him and he wanted nothing to do with her.
He wanted the "everything revolves around me...whatever makes me feel good" life.

This is the Hollywood crap that I hate.

But I have a couple of other movies at my house, so I hope they are better.

Today I wanted to talk to you about NPR.
I am all about educating myself. I also hate the radio. I don't hate the content because I love to listen to music and I love to listen to good talk radio.
But I HATE COMMERCIALS.
So many commercials, I mean the shows will come back from a commercial and say something like, "Stayed tuned because you are going to love this next segment" and then back to commercials.
I am in the car about 18 minutes and sometimes there might be 8 minutes of commercials.
So I almost swore off radio.
But I found NPR.
It is a radio station without commercials. Heaven right? Not so fast.
Okay so I have always heard about NPR but never gave it a shot. I have also heard it is a bit left winged.
I started listening and I loved it.
Let me take a step back and tell you that I don't have any problems telling you I am a very conservative guy. I am a Republican (I am sure that if you a reader of this blog you might have guessed that. I am not very political but this year I have gotten into it a little bit. I went as far as going online and making my own political bumper sticker. It says, "Barak Hussien...are you insane?!").

But I was liking the radio station. I liked it because it gave news stories about small town Joe. I reported on how the economy is affecting farmers. It reports on health care.
At first I just listened.
Now I have to admit I am not very worldly. But I am getting there. I think just before I die I might have a grasp of the way things are. In the last 10 years or so of my adulthood (and I use that term very loosely) I am beginning to understand the difference in TV stations and how they can put a spin on something to push their agenda.
But after about a month of listening to NPR I started noticing a liberal bias. It is very subtle and if you are not listening closely you may miss it.
But lately, it has been screaming to the left. I don't know if it is the election or what but I have been finding myself cringing almost every time I hear another story from NPR.

Last week I swore off NPR..
I am never going to listen to the station again. I don't care if they don't have any commercials and I don't care if I have to pay to get XM radio...I am never listening to NPR again and here is why.

You all know the trouble our troops have been having because of the Pakistanis.
This country is trying but is still a mess. They have bad dudes in the mountain regions of their country.
We know this and they know this but they do not want us fighting their battles.
But while they are not able to take care of their problems we must wait.
While we wait their bad dudes are coming into Afghanistan. They are coming into Iraq and laying down road side bombs. They are shooting at our guys and then before we can react they are running back over their countries borders and yelling, "nanny nanny nan na, you can't get us" (said in a spoiled rotten 8 year old kid voice).
This has been going on for a long time. I kind of get sick of hearing reports of when our guys are getting killed and we essentially can't fight back.

So one morning I was going to work and I put on NPR.
They were reporting an offensive that our troops were taking in Pakistan.
We went into a really bad part of town and took out some really bad dudes. We ended up killing some high level al Queida men.
Now they reported that the Defense Department did not release any information about except that it was a success.
So NPR states that they had some people down on the scene and they have some information about the battle.
Their reporters state they have talked to the people in the tribe and they have said that numerous woman and children have been killed.
Now this is where I have the problem.

"They talked to the people in the tribe."

First of all this is a town that harvests some really bad dudes. So maybe the people in the town are low level al Queida people. Maybe the Taliban realized that if they say that woman and children were killed they know they can push their agenda through our very liberal TV media (and obviously one radio station). Maybe the Taliban were using some woman and children as human shields.
The facts are so loose. Your sources are loose. But because someone over there says it doesn't mean it is true.
So do you see how biased this reporting is?
The defense dept. won't report on it because it MAY want to get all its facts but NPR has a beat on it.
They have talked to the bad guys and asked what they thought. Then they report to people that don't want to hear good news about the war. They report everything the left wants to hear.
This was just bad reporting and blatant, in your face, bias.
I read plenty of books about the fundamentalist Muslims and it says all the above. It talks about how bad these dudes are. How they will do anything...they will cheat, lie (what a concept in war),
all in the name of Allah.
This was bad reporting. It was the last straw.

I won't listen to a station that does this anymore.

I promise not to get very political in the next coming months. I wont report on the DNC or the RNC but I had to just get this off my chest. But I heard the ghost writer is working on a political blog as we speak.

Have a great Monday.
john

ps if you are someone that gets the blogs by email...I have made some mistakes in the last week.
You have to understand if you hit Enter instead of a button like, "Save as draft" it will publish your draft.
So twice you got blogs that were accidentally sent out before I was finished.

I'm back.

I’m back. Did you miss me?

No one has stepped up to write while I am away.
So until someone wants to do it there is going to have to be nothing while I am gone. I could just give you a link to an article but this is what other bloggers do and I can’t stand it.
I would rather you read nothing than me do this.

Oh my gosh. I have so much to talk about. I told you I was going on a mission trip to Mexico. There were about 15 blog entries in a 5 day trip.
From the first day of working on teeth with out suction (yes, all my patients were spitting in a bucket) to the dude sitting next to me on the plane home. I can’t keep my head from spinning. But I don’t write these things down so I will probably forget most of the fine details.
I will do my best to remember.

I am almost done with my book. I told you the wrong name before, it is called Because They Hate by Brigette Gabriel.
It is about a woman who was brought up in Lebanon. Her and her Christian family lived in peace for 10 years along side Muslims.
Then all Hell broke loose.
The PLO’s were kicked out of Israel and Lebanon opened up their country to them. The PLO’s were pissed and were not happy about their situation and wanted to raise some hell. Next thing you know there is an all out war between the PLO’s and the Lebanese Muslims against Israel and the Muslim Lebanese.
For the next eight years her and her family lived in a 12x10 bomb shelter. After the war was over she saw the Israeli people that she was brought up to hate help her family and her friends without prejudice. Her eyes were open to some of the brainwashing she lived through. The book though, is about the slow influx of fundamentalist Islam to Lebanon and how she relates it to what is going on in the United States right now.
It is a bit “end of the world” ish but I have to say it really opens your eyes to the subtle things that you might not see.
This is going to be a blog subject soon.
I do want to know if there is a Muslim that reads my blog. I would love for you to write an entry. This is a big deal in our world today and we can speak anonymously if you want. Email me, we can talk.

Movies…I brought my 6’ DVD player on my trip and had some time to watch movies at night. I sat in bed and watched until the wee hours of the morning. I watched Harry and Kumar, Escaping from Guantanamo Bay. It was okay. It is what is is. Smoking pot and doing stupid things. It had some funny parts but pretty average when it comes to funny movies.

I saw To Kill A Mockingbird. Well, I don’t know if it is because I just read the book but I loved this movie. It is definitely up there…at least in my top 20. Does this mean I am getting old, if I loved a black and white movie?

I watched a movie called Eastern Promises. It was very good. I give this one an 8.

I am sorry this is it for the day. I wrote a really long blog but I have decided not to publish it right yet.
It is a sorry about someone but even though I change names and circumstances I do not want to upset the parents. This blog has gotten me is some hot water so the red flags started to go off and I thought best to wait.
I will talk to the mom tomorrow and if she says it is okay then I will post it.
It is not that bad but I don't really have the sensitive gene.

I am glad to be back.
Talk to you Friday, maybe tomorrow.
john

Ps my wife took our four year old to his first day of Pre-K yesterday. She said she was like a blubbering fool. She said she had to be contained she was crying so much.
She knows it is crazy but she is a mom. And moms want to be with their kids.
Today is our four year old's first day of soccer practice. It should be a real hoot.