Keystone XL

KILGORE, TX
January 29, 2012

The U.S. imports both crude oil and other petroleum products from many countries, but this article focuses only on crude oil imports. The numbers used were average barrels imported per day from Jan 2011 through Sep 2011, because these are the last available statistics, and 2010’s numbers are so similar that they don’t affect the averages significantly. See the numbers here: http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

Based on these numbers, the crude imports from the top 15 countries supplying the U.S. account for over 95% of all imports. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Oman are the only four middle-east countries to make the Top-15 list. Canada alone supplies 16% more crude oil per day than the four middle-east countries combined. Canada and Mexico together account for almost 40% of our crude imports.

After extraction and preparing for export, Canadian oil is very clean, meaning the vast majority of all solids, salts, water, sulfur, coke, and other materials have been removed. This makes it very desirable for refining into finished products, because some of the processing needed to convert the crude into finished products is already done. Cleaner, simpler, smaller refineries can handle the Canadian crude, turning it quickly into gasoline, jet fuel, and other products needed here in the states.

Crude oil from Venezuela and most areas in the middle-east is very heavy, and has less BTU potential than light, sweet oil from places such as North Sea, West Texas, and Canada. The process to refine this heavy oil requires more energy input, and creates more waste product than lighter crudes.

Earlier this month, President Obama sided with the environmentalist when he decided against building a major pipeline that would bring massive quantities of this quality Canadian crude to our major high-volume refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Whatever his reasoning, it can’t be because the proposed path crosses pristine, sensitive areas previously untouched by the industry.

If a person looks at the current U.S. petroleum product pipeline system, they will see major long-haul pipelines already crossing the very same areas as the path for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
http://www.theodora.com/pipelines/united_states_pipelines_map.jpg

The map at the link above shows only the major long-haul main lines. There are thousands of smaller feeder and spur lines also in the same areas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_us_ng_pipelines.gif

So, why haven’t we broken ground on the Keystone XL? Because our own government has turned the project into a game of political ping-pong.

Democrats always have both labor and environmentalists on their side, but they’ve sided with the greenies on this one, even though the unions have a solid 4-1 majority over environment. Logic dictates that a politician who sides with both should always pick labor when the two sides disagree. It’s strictly a numbers game.

Republicans have spent way too much time the last three years telling us how the man currently in the White House is the cause for our pain and suffering, even though the problem was already all over us before the election. The Republicans screwed up the economy with bad banking regulations, and are now trying to insure we stay angry about the Democrats not fixing a problem they created.

I suppose it’s too much to expect for the politicians on both sides to take a break from flinging crap at each other to get something done that actually needs doing. There is a real opportunity in front of us to reduce our dependency on crude oil from the middle-east and South America, but only if we can get it from the oil sands of northern Alberta to our high-volume refineries on the Gulf Coast. It’s time for our politicians to quit worrying about what’s in it for them, and do something that will benefit us all.

NCAA Division I Football - The Time Has Come

Jan 15, 2012

Tim Cowlishaw with the Dallas Morning News is not only one of my favorite sports writers, he’s also my favorite on ESPN’s show “Around The Horn.” So how awesome was it when I picked up this morning’s Sunday sports section of the paper and saw Tim’s column on page 1, top dead center. The topic was the same as a good friend’s recent blog that dealt with the poor TV ratings of all the NCAA football bowl games, and the beginnings of the dreaded "playoff" discussion.

Just like my friend Chip, Cowlishaw was happy enough that the NCAA and conference commissioners were at least “discussing possible changes to the postseason model.” Tim said the immediate probable changes would be “baby steps”, which really means the NCAA and commissioners are looking at every conceivable angle of this to make sure they squeeze the absolute last drop of blood out of this and any future deals on playoffs.

I love being the “Ron Paul” on this deal, meaning my message and plan for a Division I playoff haven’t changed since before the old bowl coalition days, before the first day the plan for the BCS was ever announced. The plan insures that we never again end up with one (or more) deserving teams on the outside looking in.

In a nutshell, here it is...

At the end of the regular football season, including any conference championships, use all three major polls – AP, USA Today, BCS – to establish the consensus top 8 Division I football teams in the country regardless of conference. Let the players take final exams and spend some time with family, prohibiting practice and other team-related activities until after December 15^th.

Use the seven bowl games below to go from eight teams to a champion in three rounds of play. Scheduling the three rounds can be set up so that the final game is played between Jan 2-5 every year. The seven games would rotate through the three levels of the playoffs so that each bowl game would spend four years at round 1, two years at round 2, and one year as the championship game.

Sugar Bowl, Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Cotton Bowl, Cowboy Stadium, Arlington, TX
Chick-fil-A Bowl, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
Orange Bowl, Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
Meineke Bowl, Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX
Fiesta Bowl, U. of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ
Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA

If these seven games don’t suit your sensibilities, build something like it around the big 4 (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange). Just remember to keep all the games in warm weather climates.

Of course, under this system there will be years when people will clamor about who should be 8 versus 9. An argument of who is 8 versus 9 interests me much less than an undefeated number 3 being left out of the mix.

To those who say bowls generate money for schools, that money won’t be there if TV advertisers start pulling ads due to poor ratings. And revenue sharing between all the schools in represented conferences is a must.

To summarize: four are too few, sixteen are too many. Let the discussion begin.

P.S. – To Roger Goodell and the NFL owners...we DO NOT want an 18-game NFL season with a Super Bowl in March. It gets in the way of the last few weeks of the regular NCAA basketball season, which is the second best part. If the NFL also wants a television ratings problem, just get in the way of March Madness.

Just Two Parties?

Thank you Judge Napolitano, the only voice of reason on Fox News

I continue to be amazed by friends, relatives, and people in general regarding the frenzy known as our presidential election. It’s as if people actually believe a new president will make there lives better. For people who claim to love freedom, that sure is a lot of power to give one person over your personal autonomy.

Voting in this country is participation in a process that validates an establishment that never meaningfully changes, because the establishment neither wants or has the consent of the governed.

The two-party system is a mechanism used to limit public opinion. Big issues are more than just two sided, but the two parties want to box us into a corner; one of their corners.

There is no such thing as public opinion, because every thinking person has opinions that are uniquely his or her own. Public opinion is just a manufactured narrative that makes it easier to convince people that if their views are different, then there’s something wrong with that, or something wrong with them.

The whole purpose of the Democratic and Republican parties is not to expand voters’ choices, but to limit them, because those widely perceived differences between the two parties is just an illusion. The heart of government policy remains the same no matter who is in the White House, or what the people want.

Those hugely vaunted differences between Democrat and Republican are just minor disagreements about things that are toward the bottom of most people’s priority list. Both parties just want power, and are willing to have young people fight meaningless wars in order to enhance that power. Both parties continue to fight the war on drugs, just to give bureaucrats and cops bigger budgets and more jobs.

Government policy doesn’t change when government leaders do, because no matter who wins an election, government stays the same. Government is really a revolving door for political hacks bent on exploiting the people once they’re in charge. Both parties support welfare, war, debt, bailouts, and big government.

When a politician asks the question, “Are you better off now than four years ago?”, the most important part of the answer is why. What is the real reason you are better or worse than four years ago? I doubt seriously the government had much, if anything, to do with it.

The rhetoric political candidates display on the campaign trail is dumped after electoral victory. You have to make promises to get elected; you don’t have to keep them.

Barack Obama campaigned as an anti-war, pro civil liberties candidate, but has waged senseless wars while also assaulting our rights that the constitution is supposed to protect. Nothing has changed at Guantanamo Bay, and the trials initiated by George W. Bush were re-started. Obama courted both labor and environmentalists to get elected, but how does he reconcile the two when it comes to big-ticket items like the Keystone XL pipeline project?

George W. Bush campaigned on a platform of non-intervention and small government, and then waged a foreign policy of muscular military intervention, and a domestic policy of vast government borrowing and growth, signing the $700 billion Wall Street bailout into law one month before the 2008 presidential election.

Bill Clinton declared that the era of big government was over, but actually just convinced Republicans like Newt Gingrich that they could get what they want out of big government too. Of course, the Republicans went along with it.

George H.W. Bush was swept into office on the good-feeling coat tails of Ronald Reagan. His 80%-plus approval ratings came crashing down when he compromised with Democrats to try to lower Federal deficits, reneging on his promise not to raise taxes, dropping his approval rating to 40%, and costing him a second term.

Ronald Reagan spent six years running for president, promising to shrink the government, but then the national debt grew from $907 billion to $3.25 trillion dollars during his eight years in office. Notwithstanding his ideas, cheerfulness, and libertarian rhetoric, there really was no “Reagan Revolution" at all.

And now all this is happening again as the empty political rhetoric is being shuffled around and repackaged. But instead of one year out of every four, the campaign for the next one starts the day after inauguration.

Rick Santorum is being embraced by voters who want small government, even though Senator Santorum voted for the Patriotic Act, an expansion of Medicare, and raising the debt ceiling by trillions of dollars.

Mitt Romney is being embraced by voters who want anyone but Barack Obama, but other than skin color, they don’t realize that Mitt Romney might as well be Barack Obama on everything from warfare to welfare.

Ron Paul is being ignored by the media, not because, as they claim, he’s unappealing or unelectable, but because he doesn’t fit into the pre-manufactured public opinion mold used by the establishment to pigeon-hole the electorate, and create the so-called narrative that drives the media coverage of elections.

The biggest difference between most candidates is not substance but style. These stylistic differences are packaged as substantive ones to reinforce the illusion of a difference between Democrats and Republicans. If Mitt Romney wins and continues the same policies Barack Obama promoted, which are merely extensions from George W. Bush, we are left with more of the same.

What if a government that manipulates us, and lacks the true and knowing consent of the governed could be dismissed?

What if it were possible to have a real game changer?

What if we need someone like Ron Paul to preserve and protect our freedoms from the government?

What if we could make elections matter again?

Don't Blame Our Leaders

Don’t Blame The Leaders
from Napalm & Silly Putty
by George Carlin
Copyright © 2001 Comedy Concepts, Inc.

You, the People

In the midst of all my bitching, you might have noticed that I never complain about politicians. I leave that to others. And there’s no shortage of volunteers; everyone complains about politicians. Everyone says they suck.

But where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky; they don’t pass through a membrane from a separate reality. They come from American homes, American families, American schools, American churches, and American businesses. And they’re elected by American voters. This is what our system produces. This is the best we can do. In our defense, we have very little to work with. Garbage in, garbage out.

Ignorant citizens elect ignorant leaders, it’s as simple as that. And term limits don’t help. All you get is a brand new bunch of ignorant leaders.

So maybe it’s not the politicians who suck; maybe it’s something else. Like the public. That would be a nice realistic campaign slogan for somebody: “The public sucks. Elect me.” Put the blame where it belongs: on the people.

Because if everything is really the fault of politicians, where are all the bright, honest, intelligent Americans who are ready to step in and replace them? Where are these people hiding? The truth is, we don’t have people like that. Everyone’s at the mall or trying to get on reality TV. And complaining about the politicians.


Me, Vote? No!

For myself, I’ve solved this political dilemma in a very direct way. On Election Day, I stay home. Two reasons why:

First of all, voting is meaningless; this country was bought and paid for a long time ago. That empty shit they shuffle around and repackage every four years doesn’t mean a thing. And it doesn’t matter which party’s man is living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, nothing will change until Joe Six Pack starts caring more about his fellow citizens that he cares about himself.

Second, I don’t vote, because I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. I know people like to twist that around and say, “If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain.” But where is the logic in that? Think it through: if you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they screw things up, then you are responsible for what they’ve done because you voted them in. You caused the problem. and you have no right to complain.

I, on the other hand, who did not vote –– who, in fact, did not even leave the house on Election Day –– am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done, and have every right to complain about the mess you created. Which I had nothing to do with. Why can’t people see that?

Now, I realize next year you folks will have another one of those really swell presidential elections you treasure so much. I’m sure you will all have a great time, and believe your life will improve once your candidate wins.

But I’m happy to tell you that on Election Day I will stay home. And I’ll essentially do what you’ll do. The only difference is when I get finished masturbating, I’ll have something to show for it.

Baseball and the 2011 World Series

Today, Jeff Passan and Yahoo! Sports published one of the most intelligent pieces of journalism I’ve ever read, and I felt obliged to include a link to it below. Read it first, then my page to get the full picture of what's happening in baseball.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AjOrXnD5adc_rxJJaLyQSBYRvLYF?slug=jp-passan_world_series_ratings_baseball_health_102511

As an insanely rabid baseball fan, I believe the sport has four major problems to overcome. The first two have existed since the sport began, the second since television began, and the third since 1992.

Item One – It Takes Work ‘Cause You Gotta Want It

Baseball is a very complex sport that requires much from its’ fans because often there are dozens of things happening when it appears nothing is happening at all. It is a subtle game that requires a certain elegance of thinking to understand and love, and involves hundreds of statistics when managers complete lineup cards or make personnel changes during the game.

Americans today have the same problem with baseball they have with everything: the vast majority of them have short attention spans when it comes to things that don’t provide instant gratification. Besides a three-run homer or well-turned double-play, baseball will never provide instant gratification.

Item Two – New York City? Get A Rope!

The media center of this country is New York City. As a result, everything in our national broadcast and print media has a New York bias built in.

An example of this is the recession. There are and have been lots of good-paying jobs in this country during the recession. Manufacturing and financial jobs have disappeared from the east coast and near mid-west, but other sectors are booming in Texas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, and other locations with very low costs of living, and little or no state income taxes. But you don’t hear much about these jobs because the people who write and report the news are urban and east coast based.

The point is this: millions of people are Yankee fans, but not many of them are baseball fans. They’re Yankee fans because the Yankees receive the most air time on SportsCenter. They’re Yankee fans because it’s easy to be a Yankee fan. Since 1900 the Yankees have spent the most in players’ salaries to insure they would win the most championships which always builds a fan base, because America loves a winner. Had a salary cap been in effect for the last 100-plus years, I doubt the Yankees would have done as well.

Item Three – Television; Boob Tube or Groove Tube?

The rectangular shape of NFL gridirons and NBA hardwood floors fit the television screen much better than the quarter-round of a baseball diamond. There isn’t much going on behind the scenes in either basketball or football, so fans don’t have to think much to enjoy the action.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am not implying football and basketball fans aren’t intelligent, just that they like checking their intellect at the door when it comes to watching sports. This doesn’t make them right or wrong, just different from baseball fans.

Item Four – Can I Interest You In A Barely Used Baseball Team With Low Miles?

I remember baseball when the commissioner was elected by the owners for life and had ultimate power to act in the best interests of baseball even when the owners didn’t like it. Having a real commissioner was the only thing that kept both the owners and players in line.

Having a real commissioner ended in 1992 when Faye Vincent resigned after a no-confidence vote by the owners. This was the result of an owner’s coup against Vincent after he agreed with the players and their arbitrators that the owners colluded against the players in 1985, 1986, and 1987 to fix prices on free agents. It cost the owners $280 million to settle, and angered the main architects of the collusion, owners Jerry Reinsdorf of the White Sox and Bud Selig of the Brewers, to the point of asking the owners to vote on Vincent remaining as commissioner.

It figures that a used car dealer like Selig and a Brooklyn lawyer like Reinsdorf would try something like this. They got caught and paid up, then decided it was time to have a commissioner that would take care of the owners rather than “the best interests of baseball.”

Selig and the owners had an opportunity to fix a huge problem during the strike that cancelled the end of the season and the World Series in 1994. But in the standoff the owners blinked first when they agreed to revoke the salary cap and return to the old agreement. What were the owners afraid of? They were already the most hated and vilified people in America, if they would have just stuck to their guns, the cap would have stayed, and fans in places like Pittsburgh and Kansas City would now have the same money as the Yankees to spend on players’ salaries.

Bud Selig has done nothing to promote or help baseball and I am counting the days until he leaves. Any fan who follows the game sees him for what he is – a slimy used car salesman with only his own interests in mind. For a guy successful in marketing, and after all the years as an owner and commissioner, he still doesn’t understand the game, the players, or its’ fans He’s too busy wringing his hands worrying about the television ratings of Cardinals/Rangers compared to an NFL game or his dream World Series matchup of Yankees/Dodgers.

Epilogue – What If We Had A World Series And Nobody Came?

Intelligent sports fans and writers realize that you don’t compare sports to each other in terms of television ratings. I guarantee you that real baseball fans everywhere are watching the 2011 World Series, which has given us many, many great moments. All I can say is thank you to Jeff Passan for reminding me of what I already knew, and to the baseball gods for allowing me to watch.

I'm In Charge Now

Attention everyone, I am in charge now, and the following will happen immediately:

The federal tax structure is changed to a FLAT TAX system based on GROSS INCOME for everyone. That's right, EVERYONE including low income folks and corporations, with no write offs. This will fix a lot of revenue issues while systematically dismantling the IRS. If you want benefits from a system, you must contribute to the system. Oh, and the top limit on social security and medicare wages is removed, which should fix the problems with those programs.

Income    -    Tax Rate
$0 - 25 K   -   2.35%
$25 K - $50 K   -   6.35%
$50 K - $100 K   -   8.35%
$100 K - $250 K   -   12.35%
$250 K - Unlimited   - 17.35%

Moving forward, our country will only spend what we take in, just like real American households. The income should be pretty good though, because ALL foreign aid stops today. Revenue generated in our country from taxing our citizens or other means stays within our borders.

Welfare programs are changed to mirror unemployment, meaning there are well-defined limits. You want something? Work for it. No jobs in your community or state? Move where the jobs are. Believe it or not, it’s what your forefathers did. If you think work is not for you and decide to take what you need from others, there are very efficient methods of accurately delivering small pieces of lead at very high velocities.

Contrary to what the east coast based media continues to tell us, there are jobs in this country folks. But they are jobs that most people don't want because they either aren't what they always dreamed of doing, or the job involves sweat and dirt. Most manufacturing and financial jobs have disappeared, but other sectors are doing well. There are good-paying jobs in Texas, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska, with very low costs of living, and no state income taxes.

Speaking of jobs and business, anything sold in this country that wasn't made in this country gets an automatic 200% tariff imposed. That includes parts imported to assemble things and raw materials that are available here as well. Anything, and I mean anything, not physically manufactured in THIS country is subject to a 200% tariff. I am tired of U.S. companies outsourcing overseas to increase some CEO's bonus from 4 million to 6 million a year.

Labor unions are going back to doing what they were designed to do before organized crime got their hands in the pie. They should prevent workers from being disposable parts, insure quality training of their craftsmen, and administer how craftsmen are promoted. Of course, "craftsmen" is a genderless term, because I refuse to use twisted, tortured, politically correct terms just so one or two overly sensitive persons don't get their feelings hurt.

Hey butthead. Yeah, you. The guy who borrowed $160,000 to attend some small, private liberal arts college and get a degree in art history and Russian literature. Did you really think you would find a job using your degree? Really? If so, you are either delusional or stupid, and should be removed from the gene pool immediately. I don't care if it's been your life long dream. My life long dream was to be a professional baseball player. Do the same thing I did: get over it. You could have gone to welding school for 18-24 months and been making six figures a year before turning 30. Of course, you’d actually have to do some physical work for the money.

We're dismantling several cabinet level agencies: The departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Labor, Energy, and Education are gone effective immediately. They cost a bunch of money and no one seems to know what the tangible benefits of having these agencies. We're keeping a few pieces of the department of Agriculture, but it's mostly going away as well. Farm subsidies? Gone. The government is no longer in the business of paying someone for not growing something.

Our involvement in all wars outside of our borders ends today, and we are bringing our military home to defend our country and our laws. Within thirty days, every American military person is coming home to their family and friends with our deepest gratitude and respect for their service. I’m tired of old, privileged, upper-class white guys sending the middle and lower class to do their fighting. Seems a little medieval, don’t you think?

My promise is that we will NEVER again meddle in any country's affairs but our own, because we have more than enough to fix here. However, you also have my promise that if you kill one of us, we will kill 1,000 of you. Fly another plane into one of our buildings, and we will level your country, killing every man, woman, child, goat, and chicken in the process. You want Jihad? You got it.

People currently in our country illegally who have legitimate ties to the U.S., here is your green card and social security card. Welcome to America; you are now a tax payer. Your path to citizenship begins now and includes learning English and American history, and assimilating to our society. If you want to fly a flag of your home country at your home or business and don't want to learn English, go back where you came from. You came here because we do things differently here and have opportunities you did not have back home. Don't come here to live and work expecting us to change who we are for you.

Our national motto is changed to “Live and Let Live,” which means mind your own damn business. If another citizen’s actions ruffle your precious sensibilities but don’t impinge upon your rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then get over it and move on. Notice I said "pursuit of happiness," not actual happiness.

Gay marriage? Approved. But, if someone doesn't want to bake a cake for your wedding, find another baker.

Abortion? Approved, but not paid for with public money. We don't care how poor you are. Condoms are cheap and so are oral contraceptives.

Marijuana? Legalized, and taxed at 200%, which gives users a serious price reduction while generating some serious revenue.

Death Penalty? Absolutely; imposed within 12 months of conviction in the county where the capital offense occurred. Public hangings on the courthouse lawn will show our children what happens when you do wrong.

You are allowed to tell people, "I can't do that, it's against my religion." You are not allowed to tell people, "You can't do that, it's against my religion." Your religion is your religion, not mine. Your belief system is your own, not mine. Telling each other how we should live our lives is how we ended up at each others throats in the first place.

You want to build a mosque in my neighborhood? Awesome, because houses of worship are always welcome. Just remember we have noise ordinances when the calls to prayer go out. And no, that doesn’t impinge on your religious freedom. I don’t practice Islam, and I don’t care when you pray, just as you shouldn’t care when I pray. But I do believe in prayer, so rock on.

Summer Health Issues (Reprise for 2010)

Well, I haven't written anything in a while, but many people have asked me to tell the story of the health problems I've experienced over the past couple of weeks.

As Mark Twain said the rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated (but not by much).

I left for Beaumont on Sunday, July 25th, with my wife and daughter behind me in my wife’s car. It had been a normal work week and weekend for me, but Shelley had just finished a long, hard, stressful week of pre-training with the Rangerettes, and she and Ryan wanted to spend some quality time with me in Beaumont. We left Kilgore about 4:45, and about nine miles south of my home something happened that made me pull my truck over and put it in Park, but I left the motor running.

Shelley pulled over in front of me because I had not called to her say I was stopping. Her assumption was that I had forgotten something at home, and I was going to tell her in person what was going on when she pulled up next to me.

However, I was slumped back in the seat of my truck, and my doors were locked. My locks were not set to unlock when the truck was placed in park, an issue which is now corrected.

Upon seeing my condition (which was unconscious) Shelley began beating on the door glass and screaming to try and make me wake up; no response. While this was going on, a Good Samaritan pulled up and Shelley began screaming for him to call 911; he did.

Being the awesomely strong, sensible, and sometimes purely insane women my wife is, she climbed into the bed of my truck, got a loose 2x4, and use it cave in my back window with one mighty swing. Shelley climbed through the back window, unlocked the doors, and killed the motor. She checked my pulse which was very weak and thready at best. The Good Samaritan climbed in the truck, and had 911 on the phone while Shelley was administering CPR.

Two other men and a woman pulled over to help. It took all five of them to get my big dead-weight self out of the truck. They lay me down on the ground in front of my truck and began to administer CPR. Within a minute or two, a DPS trooper arrived to assist.

The DPS trooper assumed CPR duties because Shelley was hysterical (her words, not mine). A nurse showed up shortly after the trooper, and they began alternating CPR. An EMS ambulance arrived shortly after the nurse, and the EMS technicians began CPR and use of an electronic defibrillator

The EMS techs shocked me into a normal sinus rhythm, and I was transported to the hospital in Henderson. I remained in the Henderson hospital for three hours then was transferred to Longview Regional via Life-Flight helicopter. The doctors, nurses, and techs in Henderson, on the Life-Flight, and in Longview thought my odds were less than 10% that I’d actually make it all the way back.

I have absolutely NO memory of anything late Saturday evening, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and almost all of Wednesday.

But, here is the good news…
• I AM ALIVE
• I DID NOT have a heart attack
• I STILL DO NOT have any coronary artery issues

The problem I have was fixed with a 45-minute surgery late Monday (8/2) afternoon to install a small auto-defibrillator just under the skin of my chest. I was released from the hospital early Tuesday (8/3) afternoon and I am convalescing well at home. Still sore as can be, but starting to realize that most of the soreness is from lying around so long. Been up some today, and I am starting to feel better.

This is two summers in a row that a cardiac emergency cancelled my Sturgis vacation. Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.

Thanks to the DOZENS who came to visit me, and the HUNDREDS who sent (and continue to send) well wishes via e-mail, Facebook, and text message.

Love you all,
Michael