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My Brain Exploded!

Explosion of something in my brain... (this may be a little bit dramatic, but it fits the emotional, if not physical) occurred on Friday, February 5, 2010 just before 11:00am.

I had one of the scariest moments of my life yesterday. At first I thought I was going blind or I had inherited my father's macular degeneration. Very quickly! Quickest onset imaginable. Within seconds I went from seeing fine (well, with the aid of contacts) to seeing floaters and blurry spots. Sort of like the what you see if you have a bright light shone in your eyes. But it got bigger.

My first thought was that it was my contact, so I removed it and put on my glasses. Nope, still there. Thinking it was my left eye, I rubbed it and realized my right saw it too. I then covered my right eye and found that it was also in my left. My next thought was this is not an eye problem, but a brain problem. I now was certain that I was having a stroke or an aneurism.

My vision continued to quickly deteriorate. It had been maybe 5 minutes so far. I was beginning to seriously panic. I left my office to speak with Ronnie, the parish receptionist and my friend... she had never heard of such a thing. I decided to call my eye doctor, as I had been speaking with the office so often lately getting my contacts straightened out. Luckily I knew the number, as I would never have been able to look it up.

When I reached the doctor's office, I was immediately put at ease by an incredible office staff and doctor. (Dr. Garfield and Dr. Bradley of Hobe Sound) It seems that I was having an Ocular Migraine / Ophthalmic Migraine. I was not going to die, or go blind. I would have to calm down and wait it out. They told me 15 to 20 minutes is all they last. They told me to come in to be checked if I felt the need or if there were any other vision problems.

Now, before I heard the word migraine, I did not have one... but upon hearing it, I noticed the pain in my head. Was the pain in my head there before and I was too panicked to notice? Was the pain a result of suggestion? I don't know, but I do know at it was the definite start to one of my migraines.

After I hung up the phone, I simply waited. No longer panicked, but still nervous as my vision was becoming more and more distorted. I was losing the ability to see clearly at all. After about 20 minutes of blurred vision, it cleared up pretty much instantly.

Just a rant...

How many zeros in a billion?
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is
spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain... let's take a look at New Orleans. It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division. Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans.

Interesting number... what does it mean?
A. Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.
B. Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets$1,329,787.
C. Or... if you are a family of four... your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington , D. C ~ HELLO! Are all your calculators broken??

Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax (Fed)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes -- Sorry Barrie, my love... no disrespect intended.)

THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago... and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt... We had the largest middle class in the world... and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'