One year ago...

...I was in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Carmel East hospital in Columbus. The day before I'd had a third of my left kidney removed because it was cancerous, small-cell renal carcinoma being the correct term for it, an aggressive form that shows no symptoms until it spreads to the liver and lungs. I started bleeding pretty badly during surgery, to the point that I received six units of blood to replace what I lost.

I was lucky.

They'd caught it early, while it was still totally inside that section of the organ. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be writing this right now.

There IS a silver lining, though, in the form of 'lessons learned'; I don't take life for granted anymore. Family and friends are more important. I don't let small things bother me nearly as much. The sky is bluer, my wife's touch is cherished even more than before. People, no matter how small a space they have in your life, matter. I appreciate what I've been blessed with, though I'm not wealthy. I have all I need to get me through this journey I'm on.

Today matters, too. Do something with it, something positive and uplifting.

My First Story Has Been Published!

You can read it here: http://narrative.ly/i-was-a-cop-for-31-years-this-is-the-one-night-that-still-haunts-me/

Technology

How lazy has our society become when we need our refrigerator to connect with our smart phone so we can see what’s inside?

Apparently the Samsung Corporation, headquartered in South Korea, thinks today’s kitchen appliance consumer is a pretty shiftless bunch, because they’ve sunk enough cash into their ‘Family Hub’ refrigerator to pay off the national debt of Bolivia.

We can’t put our Galaxy 7s down long enough to walk to the refrigerator; instead we can decide between yesterday’s meat loaf or those three slices of pizza from the comfort of the recliner, thanks to those wonderful cameras Samsung installed inside its glorified icebox/laptop combo.

However, due to the smart interface and screen monitor Samsung slapped on the outside of the upper right door, you can stream music, watch videos, shop or just surf the ‘net while waiting for your toaster to eject its crispy, hot bread for breakfast. And get this … now you can tell if you’re out of butter or jelly without opening the ‘fridge door!

We ARE becoming the Jetsons.

Samsung has created a Fridge Too Far.

Next we’ll have cameras inside the cupboard doors to tell us if we need more Rice Krispies or we’re out of sugar. Then someone will figure out how to hack our bathroom cabinets; the last thing I need is for some guy living in his Mom’s basement outside of Prague knowing that I’m almost out of Q-Tips.

Our toilets will have under-the-rim sensors, interfaced with the new RollHub dispenser, so that we don’t use too much toilet paper…and you’ll be able to check the toilet paper roll status via your smart phone.

I mean, after all, we now have smart beds to tell us via our smart phone just how well we really slept, don’t we?

I’m living in a world I don’t understand… and yes I DO want the 70s back.