Sophie's Story

A few days ago while I was at work, I started to crave a Diet Coke. It was in the middle of the afternoon and we had been busy for most of the day. I thought about how good a nice,room temp Diet Coke would taste. (When your in my line of business, you learn to drink everything at room temp.) It would taste so good and I was really thirsty. It would be so easy. All I had to do was walk up to where the cash registers are and get one. I had some money in my drawer to pay for it. I would be gone from the pharmacy for less than five minutes. There really wasn't any reason why I couldn't satisfy this craving. Actually, there is. There are a couple of reasons. The first one is that caffeine and I don't get along. One of the cardinal rules for someone who has chronic insomnia is no caffeine after noon. I also have a tremor in my hands that gets worse with caffeine. The second reason is that soda ( or pop or soft drinks) are flat out not good for you. It's bad for your teeth and...

I need your help. I've decided that I need to start giving speeches at Toastmasters again. I think the last speech I gave was a target speech for a contest two years ago. That's much too large a gap. I'm afraid that my skills are getting a bit rusty. I've decided to work on project from an advanced manual on humorous speech. The first project I want to do is give a funny speech. This is where I need the help of any of you that read this. I am going to write the first draft of the speech I plan to do. If you have any comments, suggestions or smart remarks please let me know. Thank you. Five Yards of Mosquito Netting At the beginning of June in 2003 my life was changed. C and I were enjoying a drink and conversation at a local coffee shop. We were talking about the "M" word. Marriage. He started on a five minute monologue about love, partnership and others things and ended it with a question. "Will you marry me?" I wish I could say that I said somethin...

We have a busy day planned. C is working until noon and then we are going to take Carrie and Sherry Rae out to lunch. The we are going to shop. We aren't going to be shopping for clothes, shoes or anything really glamorous. We are going to buy groceries and cleaning supplies. The ladies have moved into an apartment of their own and we agreed to help them out. This is something we have done before. Last year when Carrie moved out we took her grocery shopping about once a month. The first visit was the major stock up. After that we had a budget of about $100. This was to make her think about what she was getting and how much it would cost. A little rudimentary lesson in budgeting if you will. This is one of my favourite things to do. Both of them are struggling college students and in the acting program at the U of M. It sounds a little crazy , but I think back to medieval times when artists had benefactors that helped them out while they painted or wrote music. I feel a little like ...

Mike Clement M.D. (not his real name) of the Mayo Clinic was off on a sudden,indefinite leave. I knew this because we have a shared patient and his staff had told me when I called them. Since I am a bit of a chronic worrier, I spent a couple of minutes worrying about him. Whatever it was it had to be pretty serious. I assumed that it was a family matter most likely illness, since the staff didn't know when he'd be back. I didn't know Dr. Clement and had never spoken to him. I had been dealing with his staff for a year or so. They were kind, through and got back to me in a timely fashion whenever I had a question, so I assumed that he shared the attitude of his staff. On the whole a pleasure to deal with and well liked by our mutual patient. A few days ago the patient's husband brought in a new prescription. There was a note on the bottom in red ink. The first line said, "Dr. Mike Clement passed away." My jaw almost hit the counter. I looked up at the man who b...

Last Sunday when I went to church with C we stayed for all three hours of church. (Yes, church is three hours long.) The last hour is when men, women and children break up into various groups to meet for a lesson. Since it is the beginning of the year, we got new books from which lessons will be taught. One of the new books I got was 'Teachings of the Presidents of the Church George Albert Smith'. After reading a bit in the book and listening to the lesson that was taught that Sunday, I have decided that George Albert Smith is someone that I wish I could meet. For those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, he was the eighth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was born in 4 April 1870 and died on that same day 81 years later. There are three reasons why I'd like to meet President Smith. The first reason, at the risk of offending my LDS readers, is that he simply seems to good to be true. Are the things I read about him true or fla...

Hi! This is Skamp. Kolbie and I have been discussing the new year around the water dishes. We have been discussing the various jobs that need to be done by us around the house and the best way to go about those tasks. We have also been thinking a lot about what talents we each have and how to best use those talents. Everyone should do this. I have been the Chief House Cat for about three years. I like the job and the importance of keeping my humans safe and informed of things they should be aware of. However, I'm not sure if it is the best job for me. It involves getting you fur messed up, being constantly watchful and intimidating intruders. I don't mind being watchful, but I hate getting my fur messed up. It takes so long to groom back into place. I'm also having a bit of trouble with the whole intimidation thing. I am a big cat, but I am also very beautiful. People don't take me seriously when I hiss and growl. They think it's cute. I've been giving serious t...

The Sacrament Meeting on the first Sunday of the month at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is called Fast and Testimony meeting. Members of the Church fast for two meals and donate the money to the church. The Fast Offering,as it is called, is used to provide help for needy throughout the world. Instead of the usual meeting with prepared talks given by members,the lectern is left empty and members who feel moved to do so can give their testimonies. A lot of the time this takes the form of personal experiences by members that have given them increased faith in certain church principles like faith, tithing, etc. Attending a Fast and Testimony meeting can be a bit odd if you are not used to it, but it is moving and spiritual experience. This past Sunday should have been a Fast Sunday meeting. I'm assuming since it was also a holiday, it was not. Bishop Campbell had decided to have a "Music Testimony" meeting. There would be no prepared talks and members could ...