Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe.I am a fairly patient man, generally. However, I do not take well to being lied to, at all. Hang on, let me back up a bit. First; a deep and heartfelt “Thank you!” to all my funders. I would be in a terrible pickle if it were not for your kindness and support. Second; I have been reading a little about ‘crowd-funding’. I have discovered that I just might have made a heck of a lot more if I had used anyone but Indiegogo. Today, I found out WHY.
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Today is August 30, 2013. According to the Indiegogo web site, my campaign’s page. The money was “distributed August 26th, 2013” said so on the web page, said so in an email I have kept a copy of. However, it is the 30th of August and neither myself or my bank have seen the money. I am pretty freaked out, I have to tell you.
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First, I was totally planning on trying to move this weekend. Good thing I couldn’t find a place by now. See, this is the problem I have researched and found out about Indiegogo. They hang on to the money far too long, and make excuses. After lodging a complaint I get another email today saying that the FIRST email was a LIE.
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They had the stones to send me an email telling me “your payment was triggered on the 29th…” So, that makes every other statement, IN WIRITING a complete and total LIE, correct? Am I missing anything?
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I live ‘hand-to-mouth’ in a poor’ish part of town. Me, and my life, have already ‘slipped though the cracks’ ENOUGH for several lifetimes. Therefore, come Monday morning I am lodging a complaint against Indiegogo with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. I really do not take to being lied to at ALL.
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Sorry to put a damper on everyone’s holiday…. If I have, at that. Just rubs me the wrong way when they are taking HUNDREDS of dollars and not keeping honest in the process.
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Hope you all have a wonderful holiday (it is Labor Day here in the States). Bloody hell if I know what that is all about anymore when people are getting paid $7.25 an hour or less. Labor, in America, right now = slavery plain and simple. I have no problem talking about that, what are they going to take from me? The rest of my health? ROFLMAO
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As always, it is a great honor that you come here and read my words. I hope you have a very pleasant weekend..
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Thank YOU!
Friday, August 30, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Homage to Dr. King
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to a Very Special Article here @ The Other Shoe . We here in America are celebrating and looking back Fifty years. We are looking back on the life of a great man, and on a great time of turmoil and eventual change in our great nation. The great man is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and today we celebrate his ‘March on Washington’ and one of the greatest speeches every given in our capital Washington, D.C. The speech is remembered by one line; “I have a DREAM!”
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“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state, sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.” [1]
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[caption id="attachment_1607" align="aligncenter" width="400"]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March On Washington[/caption]
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Today, we pay homage to the man, to the speech to the dream. A dream that lives on, but has changed with the times. Today our African American citizens have the right to vote. They have all the rights of citizenship any other American has, except for one. Equality.
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Here, in the twenty-first Century, the dream of EQAULITY still escapes our nation. Equality regardless of race, color or creed… is still just a DREAM.
“A dream differed is a dream denied.”[2]Langston Hughes
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There is still great injustice in our nation, great inequality. The dream is still denied. However, it is obtainable. EQUALITY is still just a dream. Racial, financial, societal our nation is still plagued with inequality. Our inner cities are rife with strife and poverty. When President Johnson started ‘The War On Poverty’ the poverty rate sat at 19%.[3]Today our nation is gripped by poverty, still, as it sits at 17%. Fifty years and only TWO POINTS we have shaved off of poverty? What do we have to be proud of?
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Let us not forget, the ‘March on Washington’ was not just for voting equality… for freedom. It was also a march for JOBS. Financial equality is what we are fighting for, today. Each and every man has a right to work to feed his family, and himself. Today there is great financial inequality in our great nation. It runs rife in our inner cities and in our towns and townships.
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This inequality… this enslavement will just not fade away with good feelings nor with “good intent’. The only way we can fight this great inequality is by giving. Giving of ourselves, of our prosperity, of ourselves. To not let your mind be poisoned with the thoughts of self, of greed. Remember, My Dear Readers, that greed is a sin. When did we forget this fact and allow ourselves and our children to wallow in sin? When did it become ‘OK” for some to have so much, while millions each and every day go to bed hungry… scared? When did greed replace our God? That is what I ask of all My Dear Readers.
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We all know that what I say is true. Nobody can deny that our nation is rife with financial inequality and that inequality is based in greed. Dr. King not only marched for political equality for just his race. Dr, King marched FOR US, ALL OF US for financial equality!
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[caption id="attachment_1606" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[/caption]
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That is the remainder for the dream, unmet…
“The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty. The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for "the least of these". Deeply etched in the fiber of our religious tradition is the conviction that men are made in the image of God and that they are souls of infinite metaphysical value, the heirs of a legacy of dignity and worth. If we feel this as a profound moral fact, we cannot be content to see men hungry, to see men victimized with starvation and ill health when we have the means to help them. The wealthy nations must go all out to bridge the gulf between the rich minority and the poor majority.”[4] Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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As always, My Dear Readers, it is a great honor that you come to read my words… and today the words of Dr. King. Please, be kind to “The least among us…”
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Thank You!
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“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state, sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.” [1]
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[caption id="attachment_1607" align="aligncenter" width="400"]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March On Washington[/caption].
Today, we pay homage to the man, to the speech to the dream. A dream that lives on, but has changed with the times. Today our African American citizens have the right to vote. They have all the rights of citizenship any other American has, except for one. Equality.
.
Here, in the twenty-first Century, the dream of EQAULITY still escapes our nation. Equality regardless of race, color or creed… is still just a DREAM.
“A dream differed is a dream denied.”[2]Langston Hughes
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There is still great injustice in our nation, great inequality. The dream is still denied. However, it is obtainable. EQUALITY is still just a dream. Racial, financial, societal our nation is still plagued with inequality. Our inner cities are rife with strife and poverty. When President Johnson started ‘The War On Poverty’ the poverty rate sat at 19%.[3]Today our nation is gripped by poverty, still, as it sits at 17%. Fifty years and only TWO POINTS we have shaved off of poverty? What do we have to be proud of?
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Let us not forget, the ‘March on Washington’ was not just for voting equality… for freedom. It was also a march for JOBS. Financial equality is what we are fighting for, today. Each and every man has a right to work to feed his family, and himself. Today there is great financial inequality in our great nation. It runs rife in our inner cities and in our towns and townships.
.
This inequality… this enslavement will just not fade away with good feelings nor with “good intent’. The only way we can fight this great inequality is by giving. Giving of ourselves, of our prosperity, of ourselves. To not let your mind be poisoned with the thoughts of self, of greed. Remember, My Dear Readers, that greed is a sin. When did we forget this fact and allow ourselves and our children to wallow in sin? When did it become ‘OK” for some to have so much, while millions each and every day go to bed hungry… scared? When did greed replace our God? That is what I ask of all My Dear Readers.
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We all know that what I say is true. Nobody can deny that our nation is rife with financial inequality and that inequality is based in greed. Dr. King not only marched for political equality for just his race. Dr, King marched FOR US, ALL OF US for financial equality!
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[caption id="attachment_1606" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[/caption].
That is the remainder for the dream, unmet…
“The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty. The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for "the least of these". Deeply etched in the fiber of our religious tradition is the conviction that men are made in the image of God and that they are souls of infinite metaphysical value, the heirs of a legacy of dignity and worth. If we feel this as a profound moral fact, we cannot be content to see men hungry, to see men victimized with starvation and ill health when we have the means to help them. The wealthy nations must go all out to bridge the gulf between the rich minority and the poor majority.”[4] Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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As always, My Dear Readers, it is a great honor that you come to read my words… and today the words of Dr. King. Please, be kind to “The least among us…”
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Thank You!
Working Through Pain and Loss
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. The adventure of finding a new place to live continues. Yesterday, Allen and I went out, again, in the neighborhood looking for places we can afford. What we found were quite expensive apartments, and a lot of them, too. That I will never understand, how it is better to have a building 70% occupied with extremely high rents, rather than a building 97% occupied with reasonable rents. I worked in property management from 1981 until my disability took me out of work in 2003.
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I always fought with upper level management to keep rents “reasonable” and I always managed to keep the buildings I managed at 93%-97%. Example; yesterday we found very old single story building apartments. All were 2bdr/2bth renting for $1,600.00 a month. Just down the street from where we live. Not the greatest neighborhood, by far, with no parks near by and homeless people at the grocery store it is more like old Hollywood Blvd @ Highland than Orange county you see in ‘Weeds’.
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I am going through Craigslist every day. I have yet to do that today, it is 7:30AM right now as I am trying to get my writing done early. I apologize for yesterday, I was just so very tired and sun burnt to write. I really want to take some time off, from writing every day. However, every time I do that… I loose a big chunk of my audience each and every time.
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Writing is getting more difficult, physically, each and every day. Getting the fingers to make the right moves is becoming a rarity. However, with spell check and the like I do manage to write a few paragraphs before my pain gets too bad. This week I am going to buy a new headset, with which to dictate my articles again. I am just waiting for the donations to make it to my bank.
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I hope that nobody is upset by me using some of the money for a new headset, so that I can continue to communicate with you, My Dear Readers. It is just that between the growing pain and the diminishing fine motor skills, it is a new headset or far less writing. And, as if by some cosmic que, my hands are failing terribly. I am going to post this and get to work looking for my new home.
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I just wanted to touch base with all of you. Let you know how much I appreciate everything you have done, and that I am still alive, kicking, fighting and working to get a new place to live.
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As always, My Dear Readers, it is an honor that you come here and read my words. An honor that I hope I do justice. My heart is hear with you every day. Even if my words are absent. I will do my level best to keep in touch daily. Just know that IF I am not here, I am working to find a new place to live… or just in so much pain and discomfort I cannot write at all.
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Thank YOU!
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I always fought with upper level management to keep rents “reasonable” and I always managed to keep the buildings I managed at 93%-97%. Example; yesterday we found very old single story building apartments. All were 2bdr/2bth renting for $1,600.00 a month. Just down the street from where we live. Not the greatest neighborhood, by far, with no parks near by and homeless people at the grocery store it is more like old Hollywood Blvd @ Highland than Orange county you see in ‘Weeds’.
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I am going through Craigslist every day. I have yet to do that today, it is 7:30AM right now as I am trying to get my writing done early. I apologize for yesterday, I was just so very tired and sun burnt to write. I really want to take some time off, from writing every day. However, every time I do that… I loose a big chunk of my audience each and every time.
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Writing is getting more difficult, physically, each and every day. Getting the fingers to make the right moves is becoming a rarity. However, with spell check and the like I do manage to write a few paragraphs before my pain gets too bad. This week I am going to buy a new headset, with which to dictate my articles again. I am just waiting for the donations to make it to my bank.
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I hope that nobody is upset by me using some of the money for a new headset, so that I can continue to communicate with you, My Dear Readers. It is just that between the growing pain and the diminishing fine motor skills, it is a new headset or far less writing. And, as if by some cosmic que, my hands are failing terribly. I am going to post this and get to work looking for my new home.
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I just wanted to touch base with all of you. Let you know how much I appreciate everything you have done, and that I am still alive, kicking, fighting and working to get a new place to live.
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As always, My Dear Readers, it is an honor that you come here and read my words. An honor that I hope I do justice. My heart is hear with you every day. Even if my words are absent. I will do my level best to keep in touch daily. Just know that IF I am not here, I am working to find a new place to live… or just in so much pain and discomfort I cannot write at all.
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Thank YOU!
Monday, August 26, 2013
Campaign FINALE Danny's Update
Dear Family, Friends and Followers at Facebook and at @ The Other Shoe,
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My apologies for not writing sooner. Today was Laundry Day, so that started at 5AM. By 10Am I was wrapping up the laundry and heading back home, with Glen Gay’s help. Once laundry was put away, and my bed was back together. We had to go and do some shopping… another trip, another return home.
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Once we were done with; laundry and grocery shopping. We started cleaning Alexander’s cage, and he got a bath with me. Once the cage was complete? We realized it was ‘Patch day’ (every two days I replace my Fentanyl pain medication patch). So, into the bath I go, with Alexander following me.
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Now, my bed is clean. My clothes are clean. I am clean. Alexander’s cage is clean. Alexander is clean. We are finally done! … and done.,
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Next?
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T H A N K Y O U!!!!!! To everyone that helped my campaign! Thank you to the people how took the time and effort (and financial effort) TO DONATE! Thank YOU very much!
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To everyone that ‘Liked’ and ‘Shared’ THANK YOU VERY MUCH! To everyone that helped in any way THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
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We reached TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRWED DOLLARS!!!! I just could not be happier.
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I am very tired, My Dear Readers, I simply must rest. However, I could not rest until I talked to you all. Thank you all profusely, and touched based with the people I love so much!
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Off to rest… I will be back tomorrow! Again, “THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!
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Daniel Hanning
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My apologies for not writing sooner. Today was Laundry Day, so that started at 5AM. By 10Am I was wrapping up the laundry and heading back home, with Glen Gay’s help. Once laundry was put away, and my bed was back together. We had to go and do some shopping… another trip, another return home.
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Once we were done with; laundry and grocery shopping. We started cleaning Alexander’s cage, and he got a bath with me. Once the cage was complete? We realized it was ‘Patch day’ (every two days I replace my Fentanyl pain medication patch). So, into the bath I go, with Alexander following me.
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Now, my bed is clean. My clothes are clean. I am clean. Alexander’s cage is clean. Alexander is clean. We are finally done! … and done.,
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Next?
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T H A N K Y O U!!!!!! To everyone that helped my campaign! Thank you to the people how took the time and effort (and financial effort) TO DONATE! Thank YOU very much!
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To everyone that ‘Liked’ and ‘Shared’ THANK YOU VERY MUCH! To everyone that helped in any way THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
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We reached TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRWED DOLLARS!!!! I just could not be happier.
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I am very tired, My Dear Readers, I simply must rest. However, I could not rest until I talked to you all. Thank you all profusely, and touched based with the people I love so much!
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Off to rest… I will be back tomorrow! Again, “THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!
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Daniel Hanning
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Sunday Funnies - August 25th, 2013
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. If it is Sunday then it is time for ‘Sunday Funnies’! Today is the very end of my Indiegogo campaign to raise the funds I need to move. I am going to work, today, on the campaign… but I have to tell you… I am very very tired. I am going to get this video posted, then I am going to rest a little. I have huge bags, under my eyes, and my neck is plagued with pain.
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This is a video of Alexander playing with a pecan pie box. I got the pecan pie at the local Wal-Mart grocery store. I found it while we were out looking for a place to live. I didn’t even know they had started making just grocery stores. It was a nice store, and the strip mall it was in was nice, too.
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I am still looking, still working to garner your support. I have been very fortunate to reach the $2,000.00 mark, in my campaign. I couldn’t have done it without you, My Dear Readers. I will never forget the charity and generosity you all have shared with me. I am going to work the rest of today. Hoping to gather just a little more support.
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Now, without further Adieu I bring you Alexander and the Pecan Pie!
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Enjoy!
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This is a video of Alexander playing with a pecan pie box. I got the pecan pie at the local Wal-Mart grocery store. I found it while we were out looking for a place to live. I didn’t even know they had started making just grocery stores. It was a nice store, and the strip mall it was in was nice, too.
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I am still looking, still working to garner your support. I have been very fortunate to reach the $2,000.00 mark, in my campaign. I couldn’t have done it without you, My Dear Readers. I will never forget the charity and generosity you all have shared with me. I am going to work the rest of today. Hoping to gather just a little more support.
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Now, without further Adieu I bring you Alexander and the Pecan Pie!
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Enjoy!
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Please Share & HELP?!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
A Week In Review - August 24th, 2013
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. If it is Saturday then it is time for ‘A Week In Review’! What ‘A Week In Review’ this is, with THIRTEEN (13) articles in just seven days (14 counting this one)... Well, I have out done myself. I have to say. If I am not very much mistaken that would bring the total, for the length of the campaign, to about FIFTY (50) articles just since July 11th, 2013. I am nothing, if not prolific.
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[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Danny and Darrell in 1959, I am the Blonde Driving[/caption]
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Now, for the past several days… maybe even as many as seven, I have been writing and publishing… without ‘editing’ as much as I would like or as usual. For this you have my apology. This campaign is over tomorrow. Once I have rested, I plan on going back and checking each and every article I have posted. I will check for; typos, spelling error and poor grammar. I can tell you, they will not be perfect, but I will fix what I am able. Again, I deeply apologize for publishing with errors. Your time is valuable to me. I apologize for… a poorer product that you are accustomed.
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Finally, if it is still Saturday, August 24th, 2013? Would you, please, take a single moment and look at my campaign? The link is at the bottom of this article. I am not asking that you… go there ready to give. I am asking, would you please take a look, read a little and consider donating… and helping me out? Thank you. Thank you very much.
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Now, without further Adieu I bring to you ‘A Week In Review’!
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That brings us to the end of one of the longest editions of ‘A Week In Review’ and one of the single most productive weeks in my short writing life. I enjoy writing for you, My Dear Readers, and it brings me joy (And takes my mind off of my pain… some) to know you are enjoying my work. I know this by looking at the Facebook ‘Shares’ and ‘Likes’. Now, I also know it by seeing extremely generous people from other nations make donations. I will say it once more, my father would be so proud… not of me seeking assistance… but that my work, my words, are read outside America.
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[caption id="attachment_300" align="aligncenter" width="199"]
Danny[/caption]
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As always, My Dear Readers, it is an honor to have wonderful people like you read my work. Soon, I will be moved. I will feel safe once again. In large part because of YOUR generosity. This, I will never forget. I know when I am moved and. Alexander and I are settled in our new home. When the bills are all paid and I see that we can ‘make ends meet’. I have a ‘Good Feeling’. I have a feeling that I will write for fun, again.
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I have a feeling that Princess Nadia, Nakita, Alexander, Alice, and all of my fury friends will come out to play, in my mind, again. When they do, I will capture their antics and I will write the novels that I know live inside me. I will share, too.
Thank you, ALL of you, for your support your kindness and your understanding and generosity.
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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224"] PLEASE DONATE TO Daniel's Relocation and General Assistance Fiunding Canpaign[/caption]
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[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Danny and Darrell in 1959, I am the Blonde Driving[/caption].
Now, for the past several days… maybe even as many as seven, I have been writing and publishing… without ‘editing’ as much as I would like or as usual. For this you have my apology. This campaign is over tomorrow. Once I have rested, I plan on going back and checking each and every article I have posted. I will check for; typos, spelling error and poor grammar. I can tell you, they will not be perfect, but I will fix what I am able. Again, I deeply apologize for publishing with errors. Your time is valuable to me. I apologize for… a poorer product that you are accustomed.
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Finally, if it is still Saturday, August 24th, 2013? Would you, please, take a single moment and look at my campaign? The link is at the bottom of this article. I am not asking that you… go there ready to give. I am asking, would you please take a look, read a little and consider donating… and helping me out? Thank you. Thank you very much.
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Now, without further Adieu I bring to you ‘A Week In Review’!
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- · ‘The Future Of Mankind’: “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Today I come to speak with you not about things. Not about oil, or gas. Not about cars or clothes. Not about money or gold. I come to speak on the most important. I come to speak to you about that which endures. That which nurtures. That which binds us all. That which, form which, we all came, and will eventually return.” This article was a bit of a miracle, in that I had no idea what I was about to write, when I sat down to write this article. I had the intent of doing my best to write about ‘Climate Change’. I had it all worked out, how to talk about the science, all of it, and not make any conclusions. I knew that I might offend some of my audience, and I had in my heart a deep desire not to offend anyone’s ideas of beliefs. This article is what ended up coming out at the keyboard. I, and writing, is that way sometimes.
- · ‘August 19th Update From Danny’ : “Dear Family, Friends and Followers here at Facebook and at @ The Other Shoe, First I would like to express my deep and heartfelt “Thanks!” to all of you that have given, to my campaign to help me move. This weekend We moved forward to the tune of $50! I am extremely grateful to everyone that helped!” I do not think at this point, yet, it shows? However, I was gravely concerned about the failure of the campaign. I put that wrong; not failure but lack of sufficent support. See, that has been one of my biggest problems. I use the wrong words d it appears s though I am grinding on my supporters. When, in actuality, I am grinding on myself. It is my FAILURE… not anyone else.
- · ‘FACEBOOK CHANGES!’ : “I have just been made aware of a recent change to Facebook. Seems, from NOW ON you will ONLY see; Status Updates, Comments, Pictures etc… from ONLY ‘Show In Feeds’ or by selecting ’Close Friends’. Otherwise, you will see NOTHING all DAY! I wondered WHY my Facebook feed was BLANK the past couple of days!” You would think I understood Facebook better. I now know that there are several settings for friends. I now understand there is; ‘Get Notifications’, ‘Show in Feed’, and ‘se Friends’ settings. I hope I did not give out wrong information. I was just doing my best to talk about the changes that occurred, right at the end of my campaign. I am still convinced… that these changes cost me thousands. Guess I am just not that bright.
- · ‘TODAY With Danny Hanning!’ : “Dear Friends Family and Followers here at Facebook and at The Other Shoe, It has been a VERY busy day, for me. I JUST NOW got home from; blood tests, hematology doctor visit and getting prescriptions filled. I got some ‘none so good’ news, today. I will write about that at a later time, as it is still just sinking in for me. (Hint… I saw a doctor of hematology…)”I apologize for not following up on these test results. Fact is? I have not heard anything back, myself. I saw a hematologist because my doctor has some concerns about my fevers and weight loss. Just as soon as anyone gets back to me, I will post it here @ The Other Shoe. I do not intentionally keep you, My Dear Readers, in the dark… anymore than they do me. Right? I have my opinion about the reasons for the; fever, weight loss, heavy feeling in my arms, headaches. Funny, that… those are the very same symptoms for… a herniated disc. I, and the radiologist, are in a bit of a discussion. I am hiring another radiologist to look at the films. The fact of the matter is just this; my final MRI prior to surgery (just one week prior), according to the radiologist, did not show any herniated discs. However, once Dr. Anker cut into me? He found two ‘herniated discs’. See a herniated disc is difficult to read on an MRI… without contrast. It is difficult to discern. I will keep you informed. I will bet you a nickel to a dollar donut that I do have a herniated disc @ C7-T1.
- · Sunday Funnies – Tuesday August 20th, 2013 : “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and a very tardy edition of ‘Sunday Funnies’. Sunday I was terribly depressed… well, I started being terribly depressed. So, I just wasn’t of the mind to publish last week’s edition of this fine series. To all my regular readers, I sincerely apologize.”Alexander ‘Construction Rat’! I love this boy so much! I now have severalvideos of my building/remodeling his ‘Second Home’. He has a cage(A large aquarium with; running wheel, nice cottage house, water bottle and shiny chrome food dish. That is his ‘Primary Residence’, but that was not enough for Alexander. Alexander (and no other rat has done this) has turned the side arm storage area to my computer ‘Bed Desk’ into his ‘Second Home’. He spends most of the day, right there in bed with me. Rats, the ‘Fancy Rat’ breed, are very social animals. Believe it or not… they feel love. He feels safe in bed with me. Hence, creating a place to sleep right on the bed with Daddy. Did I say just how much I love Alexander? A lot.
- · The Story of Daniel… Flashback! Part One: “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Today… this article will be, well, out of the norm. I am not sure just who from Pearland or PHS. That might be reading this, remembers me back this far. However, here goes. Before I became involved in choir and drama, I had another great love. SCIENCE!” Desperate to increase donations, I struggled to try and create content that might increase traffic and people’s innate generous nature. I remembered that during my power chair campaign. The articles that received the most ‘Likes’, at @ The Other Shoe, were those based on ‘The Story of Daniel’. I, by no stretch of the imagination, have a checkered or entertaining past. (At least the parts I am willing to write about, now. Wait… when I get closer… there is a LOT of weird… twisted and shocking stuff I have NEVER written about.. I WILL)! I figured just reposting would be a cop-out, and not at all what you My Dear Readers would expect from me. In a moment of clarity, and lesser pain, I created the first of the new ‘Flashback’ series. There is some the same, but there is so mouch more in this series. I am flushing out the setting and sharing more details… and my impressions, too. I really hope that you, My Dear Readers, get.. well, at least some enjoyment from reading these articles. Thank you for all your ‘Likes’.
- · August 21st, 2013 Danny/Campaign Update : “iWelcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Today was another busy day, and I finally got some sun. I have been looking on Craigslist for a studio apartment or like accommodation. It is something you need to do every day, and keep current th the listings. However, not many viable leads. That is why, today, I had my caregiver go out into this neighborhood to look for available rentals. First, I learned a lot about looking through Craigslist. The first of which, ‘if it looks too good, it is too good.’ A 2brd/2bth for $500 a month? RFOLOL. I am still looking everywhere I can think. I go out, in my wheelchair (I refuse to wear out my beautiful Power Chair with these long journeys to look for a new place to live. I am not… discouraged… but, also. Not having any luck. I hold out hope that I will find a new place. One that I can afford, and that once I tell my story they will overlook by lack of credit history and any negative reporting. I know that a very old and good friend, Cheryl Banks, owns a trailer that she rents out. It is up by Austin… It would be better than ending up on the street in a wheelchair. See, IF I have to put my belongings in storage and live in a shelter… or worse. I will not take the power chair; to the shelter or to live on the streets. In that very nice and facny looking power chair… well, I may as well wear a sign saying ‘Rob ME!’
- · SPECIAL August 23rd, 2013 Update: “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and a very special edition of UPDATE! In just the past thee days I have been very generous contributions to Daniel’s Relocation & General Relief. I do truly hope that, by doing this, I am not stepping on anyone’s toes. The last thing I want to do is to upset any current contributor, or anyone still considering donating to my Indiegogo campaign. These contributions… well, they really stuck out”! ENGLAND! Never in a million years did I ever imagine I would be the recipient of donations from England! Now, don’t get me wrong, this did not come out of left field. I, on several occasions, saw ‘hits’ from England on my traffic reports from Google Analytics. I have seen hits from; Hong Kong, Cyprus, and France. Each and every time I see hits from outside the United States… well, I get this big smile on my face. I mean no disrespect to any/all of my American readers. I value all of you, My Dear Readers, equally. You are all very special to me. However, in my wildest dreams I never imagined my work reaching the United Kingdom. Further, to have these fine citizens of England enjoy my work, or be touched by my words or videos, enough to contribute. I wear; I am blushing right now as I write these words. My father would be so very proud that, without a Ham Radio, I am still following in his footsteps and communicating with people from around the world. My mother would be very proud, too. I say that about my father because he talked with many Ham Radio operators in England and Ireland. I hope I do honor to their patronage.
- · Part TWO – Flashback to TSOD : “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. I was writing my ‘Special Update’ for today. As well, my apologies for how tardy this ‘Part Two’ of my Flashback of ‘The Story of Daniel’. Today has been hectic and I am really trying to get as much accomplished every day as my pain and time allows. I am very happy to announce that, as of the time I wrote this article, that my Indiegogo Campaign has raised $1,400.00! As well, my last two contributions came from (Drum Roll… … …) ENGLAND!” Guess I got a little carried away. I see that, now. Past the first paragraph, I do get back to the past. My father took a great deal o f pride in his hobby. He built most everything from scratch. Scratch and used equipment. See, I remember him talking to me, late one night in the garage, about the cost of his hobby. He did not want his sons thinking that he was taking away from the family, just to play with his hobby. First, I saw how he worked after he got home, in the garage repairing electronics. I understood that most of the money we used for vacations? Actually came from the business he ran out of our garage. My father worked a full time job, drove from Herman Hospital and back each day, then when he got home he spent more hours working to make more money. When he was finished working to repair electronics. He then spent the rest of the night reaching out to the larger world (he taught me in that garage about the world. He had world maps in the garage…. He put push pins in the places he had contacted). He helped connect parents with their sons and daughters in Vietnam. My father worked 18 hour days… until the day cancer took him from us.
- · The Mars Report – One Year!: “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. I have made it my goal, here at The Other Shoe, to share in the science and wonder of Mars. Specifically, the awe and wonder that the rover Curiosity brings to us humans here on Earth. I am rather ashamed that I have, until today, missed the One Year Anniversary of the landing of Curiosity on Mars. August 5th, 2013 was that anniversary… and I was just too busy… too focused on my goal… my head down, my eyes like lasers… that not until right now, today did I realize how late I am in celebrating.” This article was my return, just in time, to a series of articles I very much enjoyed bringing to you. My Dear Readers. My love for spaceflight began as soon as I could read and write. I clearly remember the Mercury-Redstone-Freedom 7[1]project. Even though I was only four, at the time, I have memories of these first flights. My father was enthralled with the gauntlet thrown down by President John F. Kennedy when he uttered these words; "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth… by the end of this decade”[2]. I found writing about the Curiosity mission to Mars reminded me of his passion, A passion that he and I shared from the Redstone project all the way through to the Apollo project that projected man to the moon, and America into the technological forefront of the twentieth century.
- SIXTY Hours and Counting: “Dear Family, Friends and Followers of Facebook and at @ The Other Shoe, With, roughly, Sixty hours left for me to raise sufficient funds to move. I am working with the worst fever yet. However, I will redouble my efforts to garner the needed remaining support. Everyone has been so supportive, so helpful and kind. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone that has helped. To everyone that has donated, a very special ‘Thanks!” Here, I am beginning to really feel the heat. The pressure of the campaign ending and the fact I was not achieving my goal. I had many goals, over the past two months. Find a new place to live, which is in progress and I am devoting more time and focus to this goal. Get to the hospital for a new MRI, done. Raise money to help finance the move to a new apartment/room. Get blood tests done to help eliminate ‘other causes’ of; fevers, weight loss, increased fatigue and acute pain, done. I was getting things done, the things I have some control. The clock was ticking, and I was getting ‘blue’. So, I keep myself busy while keeping you, My Dear Readers, informed. As well, it helps to write about the tension. I apologize if I have made anyone uncomfortable.
- Part Three – Flashback – TSoD: “Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Let’s see where we left of, yesterday. That’s right, learning; electronics, geography, and social history in my father’s garage. I know I was not supposed tp speak of this, way back when it happened. However, now that it is 2013 I think it is safe to tell. I told you about how my father talked to people from all over the world. Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom and… China. I am kind of fuzzy as to when this actually happened. It happened before the landing on the moon. I think it was in the late 60’s” This is more like it! I enjoy writing about my father and the years we spent together. In this edition I talk more about our mutual experience in; Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. I haven’t put this into words (here or anywhere) YET. I, now, realize that scouting was a good segway from being a child working every evening in the garage with his father to, the divorce. I had never really put that together prior to writing these articles. Funny thing? That very thought process was happening as I wrote just now, today. Wow, talk about ‘self-therapy’! Anyway, in this edition I talk about my father having a copy of ‘The Little red Book’ when I was a very young boy, about five or six and our time scouting together. It was shortly after this article was up twelve hours I realized that ‘The Story of Daniel’ was raking in the ‘Likes’ once again.
- August 24th, 2013 Update on Danny : “Dear Family, Friends and Followers at Facebook and at @ The Other Shoe, Welcome, My Dear Readers, I’ve promised you to keep you informed. Told you I will ‘keep you in the loop’. Well, there’s a ‘Good’ to that and a ‘Bad’. I’ll let you decide on this one. Most of you know I am a gamer. Back in the early 90’s I kicked ass on Quake. There was time, during the first F.E.A.R. PC Game… well, I was #1 or a few weeks… ended #10 in the USA in a Worldwide Gamespy Tournament. For F.E.A.R..” This article uses my favorite mouse’s brush with death an analogy for my declining health and disease state. Granted, it was my favorite mouse, my most recently purchased mouse (seven years ago), the most expensive mouse I have ever owned (a Razer… for a gamer they are one of the very best. Prior to this mouse, even during my F.E.A.R. competition days I used a Logitech), and the segway mouse from FPS gaming to MMORPG gaming. Loosing it… well, paralleled my physical loss that has resulted in me hardly ever gaming, anymore. Oh, FYI I used the title ‘Dominator Dann’ back in the day on H.E.A.T. (IF you remember HEAT… well that certainly dates us) and Gamespy I used that handle. More recently I game(d) under the handle Enzo Matirx (from the Canadian CGI Cartoon Reboot[3]). I am going to try playing later today. Once I have this article posted for You, My Dear Readers. The mouse is currently drying, and once I am done here I am going to check and see if I have managed to save my favorite mouse.
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That brings us to the end of one of the longest editions of ‘A Week In Review’ and one of the single most productive weeks in my short writing life. I enjoy writing for you, My Dear Readers, and it brings me joy (And takes my mind off of my pain… some) to know you are enjoying my work. I know this by looking at the Facebook ‘Shares’ and ‘Likes’. Now, I also know it by seeing extremely generous people from other nations make donations. I will say it once more, my father would be so proud… not of me seeking assistance… but that my work, my words, are read outside America.
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[caption id="attachment_300" align="aligncenter" width="199"]
Danny[/caption].
As always, My Dear Readers, it is an honor to have wonderful people like you read my work. Soon, I will be moved. I will feel safe once again. In large part because of YOUR generosity. This, I will never forget. I know when I am moved and. Alexander and I are settled in our new home. When the bills are all paid and I see that we can ‘make ends meet’. I have a ‘Good Feeling’. I have a feeling that I will write for fun, again.
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I have a feeling that Princess Nadia, Nakita, Alexander, Alice, and all of my fury friends will come out to play, in my mind, again. When they do, I will capture their antics and I will write the novels that I know live inside me. I will share, too.
Thank you, ALL of you, for your support your kindness and your understanding and generosity.
THANK YOU!
.
Please Share & HELP?!
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224"]
PLEASE DONATE TO Daniel's Relocation and General Assistance Fiunding Canpaign[/caption]
August 24th, 2013 Update on Danny
Dear Family, Friends and Followers at Facebook and at @ The Other Shoe,
Welcome, My Dear Readers, I’ve promised you to keep you informed. Told you I will ‘keep you in the loop’. Well, there’s a ‘Good’ to that and a ‘Bad’. I’ll let you decide on this one. Most of you know I am a gamer. Back in the early 90’s I kicked ass on Quake. There was time, during the first F.E.A.R. PC Game… well, I was #1 or a few weeks… ended #10 in the USA in a Worldwide Gamespy Tournament. For F.E.A.R..
.
During my prime I had one hellishly good trigger finer. I could clean out a whole server of players in a matter of minutes. As you might to be able to deduce, I am not the same gamer I used to be. We get old. Hell, everything gets old. So, I moved on to MMORPGs.
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They still need coordination, and a good eye… and a very good mouse. My choice, for the better part of ten years, is a Razer Naga MMORPG mouse. I haven’t used my Razer Naga for some time. I has been sitting up on my computer table, gathering dust… and something else.
.Evidently, Alexander had taken to urinating on my mouse. Well, for whatever reason, he has been… I saw it a couple of times, wiped of the mouse.. thought nothing of it. Until, that is, today.
.
I decide to play a game… so I took out my Naga. Mind you I have logged thousands of hours playing on this mouse. Killed thousands of gamers… is a dozen different games. That Naga and I blazed a trail of death and destruction across the internet… for nearly a decade.
.
Well, I went to use the Naga. The left fire button is dead. Everything else, seems to work… I took it apart… I am trying to breathe life back into it…
.
The whole incident. The loss of my favorite gaming mouse… that I haven’t played in months. Today, it just hit home. What all my condition is taking away from me.
.
Damn neurological disease… bit by bit… piece by piece… it is taking away all there was of me. Now, I am powerful upset, right now. Without my favorite gaming mouse… I must now live. Loosing my home… no where to go…. Hello depression… I didn’t miss you.
.
Welcome, My Dear Readers, I’ve promised you to keep you informed. Told you I will ‘keep you in the loop’. Well, there’s a ‘Good’ to that and a ‘Bad’. I’ll let you decide on this one. Most of you know I am a gamer. Back in the early 90’s I kicked ass on Quake. There was time, during the first F.E.A.R. PC Game… well, I was #1 or a few weeks… ended #10 in the USA in a Worldwide Gamespy Tournament. For F.E.A.R..
.
During my prime I had one hellishly good trigger finer. I could clean out a whole server of players in a matter of minutes. As you might to be able to deduce, I am not the same gamer I used to be. We get old. Hell, everything gets old. So, I moved on to MMORPGs.
.
They still need coordination, and a good eye… and a very good mouse. My choice, for the better part of ten years, is a Razer Naga MMORPG mouse. I haven’t used my Razer Naga for some time. I has been sitting up on my computer table, gathering dust… and something else.
.Evidently, Alexander had taken to urinating on my mouse. Well, for whatever reason, he has been… I saw it a couple of times, wiped of the mouse.. thought nothing of it. Until, that is, today.
.
I decide to play a game… so I took out my Naga. Mind you I have logged thousands of hours playing on this mouse. Killed thousands of gamers… is a dozen different games. That Naga and I blazed a trail of death and destruction across the internet… for nearly a decade.
.
Well, I went to use the Naga. The left fire button is dead. Everything else, seems to work… I took it apart… I am trying to breathe life back into it…
.
The whole incident. The loss of my favorite gaming mouse… that I haven’t played in months. Today, it just hit home. What all my condition is taking away from me.
.
Damn neurological disease… bit by bit… piece by piece… it is taking away all there was of me. Now, I am powerful upset, right now. Without my favorite gaming mouse… I must now live. Loosing my home… no where to go…. Hello depression… I didn’t miss you.
.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Part Three - Flashback - TSoD
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Let’s see where we left of, yesterday. That’s right, learning; electronics, geography, and social history in my father’s garage. I know I was not supposed tp speak of this, way back when it happened. However, now that it is 2013 I think it is safe to tell. I told you about how my father talked to people from all over the world. Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom and… China. I am kind of fuzzy as to when this actually happened. It happened before the landing on the moon. I think it was in the late 60’s.
.
My father had talked to an English speaking Ham Radio operator in China. They had a good talk, and (of course) exchanged ‘Cq Cards’. They were like business cards for Ham Radio Operators. Some put pictures of their rigs on the cards (I remember the CQ card my Dad got from Ronald Reagan… boy, I WISH I had kept that one. It showed Mr. Reagan’s Ham Radio rig… it was basically a whole WALL of equipment). When my father got the Cq card from the gentleman from China, included was (what was in America) a BANNED BOOK! It was called, just what it looked like. My father had received ‘The Little Red Book’[1]!
.
[caption id="attachment_1557" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
The Little Red Book[/caption]
My father was a very patriotic American. He worked, here stateside, during the Second World War. He was conflicted by receiving the book. His education told him ‘books are not harmful, in and of themselves’. Yet, he knew that this book was, in the United States) banned. My father kept the book. He kept it hidden away and rarely showed it to anyone, except he did show it to me. I remember it was made from, like, plastic. The cover was, at least. The same kind of plastic as the deck of plastic cards my father gave to me. I glanced through the book. Nothing came out and bit me… or anything like that. It did not have objectionable images, mostly of this Fat Chinese Man I now know to be Mao Tse-Tung. There were pictures of people farming, people working in the fields. Honestly, as a boy of eight or nine? I simply could not see why this book should be banned. I was stumped. Especially when I looked at it… I was probably 13 or 14, and it occurred to me; If the people in this book were American… it looks like a grade school textbook.
.
It wasn’t until later in life, that I understood that it was not the book that was bad. It was the words written in the book that caused people fear. Can I tell you something? When my father left the house, more than once I took this book out and read through it. Now, I know the book was published by The People’s Republic of China Printing Office and was the textbook for the People’s Republic of China. If Americans, today, were to look at this book, read it’s quotations. I really do think that a lot of the hatred towards Chinese we see… well, it would fade. I was amazed, then, it was banned. I am amazed now, it was banned. Don’t the people who make decisions, like banning books, understand? The very nature of banning acts to create demand.
.
Anyway, I have never talked of my father’s copy of ‘The Little Red Book’ but this seemed to be an appropriate time. See, my father being a Ham Radio Operator exposed me to a wider world. Oh, I am going to write this down, I mean no disrespect to either of my brothers. I know that someone out there has already noticed. Yes, Danny was the only one, out of three sons, that took the same interest in our father’s garage. I as the only son (of three) to join; Cub Scouts, become a Webelo and later a Boy Scout. My mother was a Cub Scout Den Mother. My father later became the Treasurer of our Boy Scout Troop in Pearland.
.
[caption id="attachment_1558" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
Daniel Webelo's Uniform[/caption]
.
I have no idea why I was the only son that took interest in these activities. I mean no disrespect to you Darrell. Honestly, I always wondered ‘Why isn’t Darrell here?’ Mom simply loved being a Den Mother. And my father couldn’t have been more proud to be appointed Treasurer for my Boy Scout Troop. Scouts were a good experience, for me. I had no problem getting badges or moving through the ranks. If I am not very much mistaken, I was working on Star Scout when my father left… our family. Without him, at my side, during the meetings and the like… I just didn’t feel right. It was like he had abandoned the troop as well as me.
.
Anyway, I just LOVED The Scouts. I loved going out on camping trips (We, the Family had been camping for YEARS and YEARS). I loved learning outside of school! Hell, I just loved learning…. Period. My first year in college… I thought to myself ‘Self, you could be a Lifelong STUDENT… if only we had the money)
.
Boy (scout) I didn’t get that far, today. I apologize. However, I am at the limit of my pharmaceuticals. I am in screaming pain right now… and I do not get another pain medication for another hour. I am going to call this issue, done.
.
As always, My Dear Readers, it is my honor to have you read my work. I am deeply flattered that anyone would come to read what I write. It is a very special honor to have guests from England. Honest, if/when I get my novel published… if it does well enough. I plan to make a trip to England. I just might stay for awhile.
J
.
I hope that everyone everywhere has a great weekend. Time for fun and family and bar-b-que. I just hate to even mention… but to myself I must be responsible. Please, if you haven’t… Please… consider donating? I am busy working to find the new home. That I can afford. I have priced; the truck, the insurance, the dolly and some pads… and the labor for a day. The $1,500.00 is a God Send! And I thank him every day. Hence, me really not liking having to ask. You see the box below… and the words. You know what to do.
.
Thank you!
.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224"] PLEASE HELP AND DONATE TO Daniel's Relocation and General Assistance Fiunding Canpaign[/caption]
.
My father had talked to an English speaking Ham Radio operator in China. They had a good talk, and (of course) exchanged ‘Cq Cards’. They were like business cards for Ham Radio Operators. Some put pictures of their rigs on the cards (I remember the CQ card my Dad got from Ronald Reagan… boy, I WISH I had kept that one. It showed Mr. Reagan’s Ham Radio rig… it was basically a whole WALL of equipment). When my father got the Cq card from the gentleman from China, included was (what was in America) a BANNED BOOK! It was called, just what it looked like. My father had received ‘The Little Red Book’[1]!
.
[caption id="attachment_1557" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
The Little Red Book[/caption](The Little Red Book – Exactly like the one my father received)
My father was a very patriotic American. He worked, here stateside, during the Second World War. He was conflicted by receiving the book. His education told him ‘books are not harmful, in and of themselves’. Yet, he knew that this book was, in the United States) banned. My father kept the book. He kept it hidden away and rarely showed it to anyone, except he did show it to me. I remember it was made from, like, plastic. The cover was, at least. The same kind of plastic as the deck of plastic cards my father gave to me. I glanced through the book. Nothing came out and bit me… or anything like that. It did not have objectionable images, mostly of this Fat Chinese Man I now know to be Mao Tse-Tung. There were pictures of people farming, people working in the fields. Honestly, as a boy of eight or nine? I simply could not see why this book should be banned. I was stumped. Especially when I looked at it… I was probably 13 or 14, and it occurred to me; If the people in this book were American… it looks like a grade school textbook.
.
It wasn’t until later in life, that I understood that it was not the book that was bad. It was the words written in the book that caused people fear. Can I tell you something? When my father left the house, more than once I took this book out and read through it. Now, I know the book was published by The People’s Republic of China Printing Office and was the textbook for the People’s Republic of China. If Americans, today, were to look at this book, read it’s quotations. I really do think that a lot of the hatred towards Chinese we see… well, it would fade. I was amazed, then, it was banned. I am amazed now, it was banned. Don’t the people who make decisions, like banning books, understand? The very nature of banning acts to create demand.
.
Anyway, I have never talked of my father’s copy of ‘The Little Red Book’ but this seemed to be an appropriate time. See, my father being a Ham Radio Operator exposed me to a wider world. Oh, I am going to write this down, I mean no disrespect to either of my brothers. I know that someone out there has already noticed. Yes, Danny was the only one, out of three sons, that took the same interest in our father’s garage. I as the only son (of three) to join; Cub Scouts, become a Webelo and later a Boy Scout. My mother was a Cub Scout Den Mother. My father later became the Treasurer of our Boy Scout Troop in Pearland.
.
[caption id="attachment_1558" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
Daniel Webelo's Uniform[/caption].
I have no idea why I was the only son that took interest in these activities. I mean no disrespect to you Darrell. Honestly, I always wondered ‘Why isn’t Darrell here?’ Mom simply loved being a Den Mother. And my father couldn’t have been more proud to be appointed Treasurer for my Boy Scout Troop. Scouts were a good experience, for me. I had no problem getting badges or moving through the ranks. If I am not very much mistaken, I was working on Star Scout when my father left… our family. Without him, at my side, during the meetings and the like… I just didn’t feel right. It was like he had abandoned the troop as well as me.
.
Anyway, I just LOVED The Scouts. I loved going out on camping trips (We, the Family had been camping for YEARS and YEARS). I loved learning outside of school! Hell, I just loved learning…. Period. My first year in college… I thought to myself ‘Self, you could be a Lifelong STUDENT… if only we had the money)
.
Boy (scout) I didn’t get that far, today. I apologize. However, I am at the limit of my pharmaceuticals. I am in screaming pain right now… and I do not get another pain medication for another hour. I am going to call this issue, done.
.
As always, My Dear Readers, it is my honor to have you read my work. I am deeply flattered that anyone would come to read what I write. It is a very special honor to have guests from England. Honest, if/when I get my novel published… if it does well enough. I plan to make a trip to England. I just might stay for awhile.
J
.
I hope that everyone everywhere has a great weekend. Time for fun and family and bar-b-que. I just hate to even mention… but to myself I must be responsible. Please, if you haven’t… Please… consider donating? I am busy working to find the new home. That I can afford. I have priced; the truck, the insurance, the dolly and some pads… and the labor for a day. The $1,500.00 is a God Send! And I thank him every day. Hence, me really not liking having to ask. You see the box below… and the words. You know what to do.
.
Thank you!
.
Please Share & HELP?!
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224"]
PLEASE HELP AND DONATE TO Daniel's Relocation and General Assistance Fiunding Canpaign[/caption]SIXTY Hours and Counting
Dear Family, Friends and Followers of Facebook and at @ The Other Shoe,
.
With, roughly, Sixty hours left for me to raise sufficient funds to move. I am working with the worst fever yet. However, I will redouble my efforts to garner the needed remaining support. Everyone has been so supportive, so helpful and kind. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone that has helped. To everyone that has donated, a very special ‘Thanks!”
.
I am not feeling well, at all. I am afraid I have to cut this short. (There’s that opening for the ‘short joke’again) PLEASE everyone out there… Please? Step up to the plate? I am so very close to my goal. If I could get just to $,2500.00 (HALF my original goal) I feel certain I could make that work!
.
I feel so bad… both the fever and my neck… but also… inside, asking for your continued support….just makes me sad. This is the final stretch, My Dear Readers, Family and Friends. It has been a very long journey since the beginning July 11th, 2013. I have done my very best to keep you entertained, informed and up-to-date every single day.
.
Now, with the end of this long journey within our sights I start the final push. The pressure is mounting, I can feel it in my bones. I reach out to ask for your support. I have faith that the help I need, will be forthcoming. Funny, though, that does not remove the stress I feel or the burden that weighs on my back.
.
“Thank You ALL!” For everything you have done these weeks. Without your; kindness, charity and support I would be left with no choices. I would be destitute. I am getting kind of dizzy, so I will wrap this up. I hope that, in the months and years to come, I repay your kindness with my works. That is my goal.
.
Thank you.
.
With, roughly, Sixty hours left for me to raise sufficient funds to move. I am working with the worst fever yet. However, I will redouble my efforts to garner the needed remaining support. Everyone has been so supportive, so helpful and kind. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone that has helped. To everyone that has donated, a very special ‘Thanks!”
.
I am not feeling well, at all. I am afraid I have to cut this short. (There’s that opening for the ‘short joke’again) PLEASE everyone out there… Please? Step up to the plate? I am so very close to my goal. If I could get just to $,2500.00 (HALF my original goal) I feel certain I could make that work!
.
I feel so bad… both the fever and my neck… but also… inside, asking for your continued support….just makes me sad. This is the final stretch, My Dear Readers, Family and Friends. It has been a very long journey since the beginning July 11th, 2013. I have done my very best to keep you entertained, informed and up-to-date every single day.
.
Now, with the end of this long journey within our sights I start the final push. The pressure is mounting, I can feel it in my bones. I reach out to ask for your support. I have faith that the help I need, will be forthcoming. Funny, though, that does not remove the stress I feel or the burden that weighs on my back.
.
“Thank You ALL!” For everything you have done these weeks. Without your; kindness, charity and support I would be left with no choices. I would be destitute. I am getting kind of dizzy, so I will wrap this up. I hope that, in the months and years to come, I repay your kindness with my works. That is my goal.
.
Thank you.
Please Share & HELP?!
The Mars Report - One Year!
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. I have made it my goal, here at The Other Shoe, to share in the science and wonder of Mars. Specifically, the awe and wonder that the rover Curiosity brings to us humans here on Earth. I am rather ashamed that I have, until today, missed the One Year Anniversary of the landing of Curiosity on Mars. August 5th, 2013 was that anniversary… and I was just too busy… too focused on my goal… my head down, my eyes like lasers… that not until right now, today did I realize how late I am in celebrating.
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Right now, it is 1:42AM PST and I am in too much pain (the reason I am awake @ nearly 2AM) to due this anniversary justice. Therefore, I will at this time share with you, My Dear Readers, the video NASA/JPL put together to celebrate this rover’s first year on Mars. However, when this campaign is over. When moving is behind me. Once I am settled, and have the time and mind. I promise you. I, too, shall make a tribute edition of ‘The Mars Report’ to celebrate this auspicious anniversary.
.
SO, without further Adieu, I give you
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224"] PLEASE HELP AND DONATE TO Daniel's Relocation and General Assistance Fiunding Canpaign[/caption]
.
Right now, it is 1:42AM PST and I am in too much pain (the reason I am awake @ nearly 2AM) to due this anniversary justice. Therefore, I will at this time share with you, My Dear Readers, the video NASA/JPL put together to celebrate this rover’s first year on Mars. However, when this campaign is over. When moving is behind me. Once I am settled, and have the time and mind. I promise you. I, too, shall make a tribute edition of ‘The Mars Report’ to celebrate this auspicious anniversary.
.
SO, without further Adieu, I give you
‘Curiosity’s First year On Mars’
.
Please Share & HELP?!
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224"]
PLEASE HELP AND DONATE TO Daniel's Relocation and General Assistance Fiunding Canpaign[/caption]
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Part TWO - Flashback to TSOD
TSOD = The Story of Daniel :)
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Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. I was writing my ‘Special Update’for today. As well, my apologies for how tardy this ‘Part Two’ of my Flashback of ‘The Story of Daniel’. Today has been hectic and I am really trying to get as much accomplished every day as my pain and time allows. I am very happy to announce that, as of the time I wrote this article, that my Indiegogo Campaignhas raised $1,400.00! As well, my last two contributions came from (Drum Roll… … …) ENGLAND! I am so deeply touched (watch it! I did not mean mentally)… so moved by their generosity. I knew that I had readers in England, I kept seeing their hits showing up in my traffic reports. Ian and John, if you are reading this? “Thank you very much for your kindness and support.” It is not often that a Texan gets a donation from someone in England.
.
Now, where was I? Oh, yes! I was talking about the time I spent in the garage with my Father. This time period started on Thrush Street, in Houston. That was when I first started becoming interested in what my father did every evening in his garage-workshop. I knew that he fixed televisions for friends and neighbors. I knew that he talked to people all over the world on his radios. He proudly displayed the CQ cards that he received on the wall in the garage over his radios. I listened, from inside the house at first, to him call “CQ, CQ CQ… This is WA5NJB calling from Southeast Texas… CQ, CQ, CQ” He would go on for hours. Moving from one frequency to another, often for hours on end with no answer.
.
[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
Danny in 1965[/caption]
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When they did answer? They answered from all over the U.S. and when we moved to Pearland and I helped him upgrade his rig? He could talk to; Southeast Asia, the U.S.S.R., CHINA and Vietnam. I kind of glossed over it, last night, but I will never forget how my father connected boys in uniform in Vietnam with their concerned and war weary parents here in America. It was no small feat, either. Dad would receive requests from families. Most of them were other Ham Radio operators, but did not have rigs powerful enough to transmit and receive all the way from Vietnam.
.
I know that it did not make the families around us too happy, but my father erected a sixty foot aluminum tower in our back yard. You could see the darn thing as far away as the First Baptist Church by the railroad tracks. I know, because I sued to walk home every day… staring at that tower. It was, like, my beacon guiding me home. You could even see the darn thing at night. At the very top, above the transmission elements was a very bright light bulb in a red glass bubble. Every night, at dusk, the light would kick on and stay on all night long.
.
[caption id="attachment_189" align="aligncenter" width="311"]
Danny in The Third Grade[/caption]
.
Coming home, late from work or rehearsals, I would frequently look up at my father’s beacon. No other kid, I knew had a beacon to guide them home every night.
.
As I was saying, I started getting involved in my father’s garage workshop when I was very young and we lived on Thrush street in Houston. We left Houston when I was in the third grade. Once we moved, well, Dad had a whole side of a two car garage to work in, and got himself a fifteen foot long work bench. It had, previously, been used in one of laboratories at the Herman Professional Building (by Baylor University). Some lab remodeled… and late one evening? Dad brought it home hanging out of the back of our station wagon.
.
Once Dad had this new work bench, things got very busy in our families garage workshop/business. Yes, my father ran his own business out of our garage. The name was ‘K&M Electronics’ (For Ken and Margaret). Dad repaired; televisions (first black/white then color), entertainment consoles (the kind with the HUGE TV, and a turntable, and AM/FM Stereo), radios, electronic appliances and even the radios of other ‘Ham Radio Operators’. He also built most of his radio equipment. Either he built it from schematics and parts from the (then about RADIOS) ‘Radio Shack’. He had Heathkit, Hammarlund, and a sideband adapter that was all Hanning Electronics.
.
That garage was, also, more than just his workshop and second source of income. It was a school house. Especially in Pearland but starting in Houston. In that garage my father taught me; Morse code, resistance (and how it was measure in Ohms), ‘Ohms Law’, how to read an electronic schematic and how to use all the tools and electronic testing equipment he owned. Learning, in my father’s workshop, was not like learning anywhere else. My father made learning fun! When I did well, and got things right, he beamed with pride. When I made mistakes and got things wrong? He didn’t get mad, and he never called me stupid. See, the things is? In school, science, mathematics and history were just subjects in books. In my father’s garage? They came to life.
.
Mathematics and science turned into Phone Patches that connected frightened young American boys in Vietnam to their frightened and older parents here in America. Numbers and little icons turned into a television, or a radio. Geography in school was memorizing states and capitals. In my father’s garage, geography turned into people with different accents talking from; Maine, Massachusetts. Boston wasn’t just a city, it was a person that my father talked to last night. My father is THE reason (I feel) that I did as well as I did in school. He brought the subjects to life.
.
Well, it is getting kind of late. I am very tired and my neck is just throbbing in pain… shooting into my hands and (now) my face and jaw. I really want to write more… Oh, I was using Dragon Naturally Speaking speech to text software to write my posts. Until, well, about two weeks ago. Alexander does not like it when I spend hours and hours writing and posting. He really likes his father’s love and attention. He gets jealous.
.
He has started… this I simply have to get on video. He will take a running start and jump into my lap. STOP dead stop, look up and smile. He LOVES getting my attention from the computer. I guess, sometime two weeks ago, I did not respond… quickly enough. Get THIS! He chewed through the wire connecting the headset to my computer. ONLY THE MICROPHONE connection. I can still use the headset for listening to music, or the like (like Netflix movies). However, I can no longer use this headset for dictating my articles. SMART RAT, ALEXANDER! Once I get moved… and all the money is sorted out. I am hoping that I have enough left to purchase a nice headset with mic that will be compatible with the software. It says, in the instructions, it has to be high quality (lower dBS) so that there isn’t any background noise. I simply cannot afford a new headset now… SO everything you see… everything I post… is all back to hand typed. This is much more painful… .and much slower. Anyway, he meant no harm… or did he?
.
As always it is a great honor that YOU, My Dear Readers, come here to The Other Shoe to read my work. From the bottom of my heart, “Thank YOU!” \.
I am still quite shy on my campaign (linked below with the picture). I have enough for, most likely, the first month’s rent and a reasonable deposit. I still have to raise enough to; rent a truck to move, pay for insurance( I do NNOT have a car… so they will likely ask for a large deposit to rent to me), some packing materials… a few high quality boxes for the computer and HDTV… and… two or three people to help Glen actually MOVE.
.
I am so very sorry to have to keep asking for help. I very much appreciate EVERYTHING people have odne so far. EVERYBODY has been just GREAT!
.
Please, if you haven’t? Please consider donating. If you have and know people who might.. and can afford to help? Please… PLEASE share my campaign. Tell them I am worthy of their help.
.
“THANK YOU!”
.
.
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. I was writing my ‘Special Update’for today. As well, my apologies for how tardy this ‘Part Two’ of my Flashback of ‘The Story of Daniel’. Today has been hectic and I am really trying to get as much accomplished every day as my pain and time allows. I am very happy to announce that, as of the time I wrote this article, that my Indiegogo Campaignhas raised $1,400.00! As well, my last two contributions came from (Drum Roll… … …) ENGLAND! I am so deeply touched (watch it! I did not mean mentally)… so moved by their generosity. I knew that I had readers in England, I kept seeing their hits showing up in my traffic reports. Ian and John, if you are reading this? “Thank you very much for your kindness and support.” It is not often that a Texan gets a donation from someone in England.
.
Now, where was I? Oh, yes! I was talking about the time I spent in the garage with my Father. This time period started on Thrush Street, in Houston. That was when I first started becoming interested in what my father did every evening in his garage-workshop. I knew that he fixed televisions for friends and neighbors. I knew that he talked to people all over the world on his radios. He proudly displayed the CQ cards that he received on the wall in the garage over his radios. I listened, from inside the house at first, to him call “CQ, CQ CQ… This is WA5NJB calling from Southeast Texas… CQ, CQ, CQ” He would go on for hours. Moving from one frequency to another, often for hours on end with no answer.
.
[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="630"]
Danny in 1965[/caption].
When they did answer? They answered from all over the U.S. and when we moved to Pearland and I helped him upgrade his rig? He could talk to; Southeast Asia, the U.S.S.R., CHINA and Vietnam. I kind of glossed over it, last night, but I will never forget how my father connected boys in uniform in Vietnam with their concerned and war weary parents here in America. It was no small feat, either. Dad would receive requests from families. Most of them were other Ham Radio operators, but did not have rigs powerful enough to transmit and receive all the way from Vietnam.
.
I know that it did not make the families around us too happy, but my father erected a sixty foot aluminum tower in our back yard. You could see the darn thing as far away as the First Baptist Church by the railroad tracks. I know, because I sued to walk home every day… staring at that tower. It was, like, my beacon guiding me home. You could even see the darn thing at night. At the very top, above the transmission elements was a very bright light bulb in a red glass bubble. Every night, at dusk, the light would kick on and stay on all night long.
.
[caption id="attachment_189" align="aligncenter" width="311"]
Danny in The Third Grade[/caption].
Coming home, late from work or rehearsals, I would frequently look up at my father’s beacon. No other kid, I knew had a beacon to guide them home every night.
.
As I was saying, I started getting involved in my father’s garage workshop when I was very young and we lived on Thrush street in Houston. We left Houston when I was in the third grade. Once we moved, well, Dad had a whole side of a two car garage to work in, and got himself a fifteen foot long work bench. It had, previously, been used in one of laboratories at the Herman Professional Building (by Baylor University). Some lab remodeled… and late one evening? Dad brought it home hanging out of the back of our station wagon.
.
Once Dad had this new work bench, things got very busy in our families garage workshop/business. Yes, my father ran his own business out of our garage. The name was ‘K&M Electronics’ (For Ken and Margaret). Dad repaired; televisions (first black/white then color), entertainment consoles (the kind with the HUGE TV, and a turntable, and AM/FM Stereo), radios, electronic appliances and even the radios of other ‘Ham Radio Operators’. He also built most of his radio equipment. Either he built it from schematics and parts from the (then about RADIOS) ‘Radio Shack’. He had Heathkit, Hammarlund, and a sideband adapter that was all Hanning Electronics.
.
That garage was, also, more than just his workshop and second source of income. It was a school house. Especially in Pearland but starting in Houston. In that garage my father taught me; Morse code, resistance (and how it was measure in Ohms), ‘Ohms Law’, how to read an electronic schematic and how to use all the tools and electronic testing equipment he owned. Learning, in my father’s workshop, was not like learning anywhere else. My father made learning fun! When I did well, and got things right, he beamed with pride. When I made mistakes and got things wrong? He didn’t get mad, and he never called me stupid. See, the things is? In school, science, mathematics and history were just subjects in books. In my father’s garage? They came to life.
.
Mathematics and science turned into Phone Patches that connected frightened young American boys in Vietnam to their frightened and older parents here in America. Numbers and little icons turned into a television, or a radio. Geography in school was memorizing states and capitals. In my father’s garage, geography turned into people with different accents talking from; Maine, Massachusetts. Boston wasn’t just a city, it was a person that my father talked to last night. My father is THE reason (I feel) that I did as well as I did in school. He brought the subjects to life.
.
Well, it is getting kind of late. I am very tired and my neck is just throbbing in pain… shooting into my hands and (now) my face and jaw. I really want to write more… Oh, I was using Dragon Naturally Speaking speech to text software to write my posts. Until, well, about two weeks ago. Alexander does not like it when I spend hours and hours writing and posting. He really likes his father’s love and attention. He gets jealous.
.
He has started… this I simply have to get on video. He will take a running start and jump into my lap. STOP dead stop, look up and smile. He LOVES getting my attention from the computer. I guess, sometime two weeks ago, I did not respond… quickly enough. Get THIS! He chewed through the wire connecting the headset to my computer. ONLY THE MICROPHONE connection. I can still use the headset for listening to music, or the like (like Netflix movies). However, I can no longer use this headset for dictating my articles. SMART RAT, ALEXANDER! Once I get moved… and all the money is sorted out. I am hoping that I have enough left to purchase a nice headset with mic that will be compatible with the software. It says, in the instructions, it has to be high quality (lower dBS) so that there isn’t any background noise. I simply cannot afford a new headset now… SO everything you see… everything I post… is all back to hand typed. This is much more painful… .and much slower. Anyway, he meant no harm… or did he?
.
As always it is a great honor that YOU, My Dear Readers, come here to The Other Shoe to read my work. From the bottom of my heart, “Thank YOU!” \.
I am still quite shy on my campaign (linked below with the picture). I have enough for, most likely, the first month’s rent and a reasonable deposit. I still have to raise enough to; rent a truck to move, pay for insurance( I do NNOT have a car… so they will likely ask for a large deposit to rent to me), some packing materials… a few high quality boxes for the computer and HDTV… and… two or three people to help Glen actually MOVE.
.
I am so very sorry to have to keep asking for help. I very much appreciate EVERYTHING people have odne so far. EVERYBODY has been just GREAT!
.
Please, if you haven’t? Please consider donating. If you have and know people who might.. and can afford to help? Please… PLEASE share my campaign. Tell them I am worthy of their help.
.
“THANK YOU!”
.
Please Share and HELP!?!?
SPECIAL August 23rd, 2013 Update on Danny & The Campaign
Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe and a very special edition of UPDATE! In just the past thee days I have been very generous contributions to Daniel's Relocation & General Relief. I do truly hope that, by doing this, I am not stepping on anyone’s toes. The last thing I want to do is to upset any current contributor, or anyone still considering donating to my Indiegogo campaign. These contributions… well, they really stuck out!
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Most of my donations have come from my friends back in Pearland, Texas. I am extremely grateful for all of their contributions. Every time I have reached out for help, these great Texans have stepped up to the plate and helped. I could write for hours… expressing my deep and heartfelt thanks in all of those in Texas, which I grew up with and performed with or for. I hope that they all know just how much their generosity means to me.
.
However, these last two contributions? They have been different. [Dear Ian and John, I do not know you gentlemen in RL… so, I can only assume you have heard about me via my blog The Other Shoe. Neither of you claimed the “Daniel’s Angel” perk… but I do hope that you do not mind me mentioning you in this blog post. Please, I apologize if this article offends.]
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My last two contributions CAME FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM. I am so very extremely flattered and totally stoked! I mean… really… ENGLAND! Anyone that knows me from Pearland knows the deep respect I have for the United Kingdom. Their history, their literature… ‘The British Invasion’! [1] [The British Invasion was a phenomenon that occurred in the mid-1960s when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom, as well as other aspects of British culture, became popular in the US, and then throughout the world. Bands such as The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, and The Who would get their start during this time and go on to make a lasting impact on the US music scene]
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I got on that bus back in the late 60’s with The Beatles and The Who… and I never got off. So, that my campaign has garnered support from ‘Across the Pond’… make my heart go pitter-patter. Ian and John you made very generous contributions to my campaign. For that I would like to express my deep and heartfelt “Thank you!” I hope that I, in writing this article… and gushing over the fact I have received donations from England. I hope I have not caused offense or embarrassment.
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Just… boy form Southeast Texas… (was) little town named Pearland. Writes and starts a blog… get noticed… and helped by tow gentlemen in England. Well, gentlemen… it was a story that just had to be told.
.
I am flabbergasted, plain and simple. I really wish I knew England better, because I honestly gave a great deal of thought of making England the site for ‘The Adventures of Princess Nadia’ series of books. Our current day Fancy Rats were breed for fighting dogs (terriers) in either England or Ireland while America was divided in Civil War.
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If not for the work on the modern day rat, done in England/Ireland, my story could not be told. It just seemed appropriate to make the home of Rattus Superiorous and the D&A rats in England, too. Novel is still not set in stone… nor the location. However, I do not know England well enough… it would show through.
.
Now, on with today’s Update on my; campaign, health and move. I am extremely happy to announce Daniel's Relocation & General Relief has raised, to this day, $1,400.00! I have three days left to do my best to raise enough. First, I am in no way trying to undermine the overwhelming generosity I have received so far. I am deeply honored, by all of the contributions, and touched by everyone’s generosity. However, I know that I am still a little short (insert appropriate joke about me being 5’9” here ___________).
.
The cheapest room I have found… that will accept me… with limited credit and income will cost me $1,240.00. Aye, there’s the rub. Living in Orange County, California and staying in the same place for a decade. I was ill prepared for just how much the price of rent has gone up in that decade. I am still looking.
.
Today I went out with my caregiver, again, and looked in a totally different location. We dropped in on a Lutheran Evangelical Church and A Church of Christ both here in Cypress. I asked about a community board, and to se if they might know of; people that are renting or subletting and if there were people we might be able to get to help us move. No help; on the room/apartment. However, they did take my name and phone number if they found people who might be able to help with the move.
.
We stopped at two properties. The only real occupancies were both 2Bdrm/2Bth ranging in price form $1,600 to $23,00.00. Just as soon as I am through posting this update? I will go to Craigslist to repost my Home/Apartment Wanted ad there, and to look for new vacancy postings. Every single day I am; looking in my area, checking and posting on Craigslist and talking to local shop owners and the like. Oh, and laundry mats. We check those for personal listings and owner listings.
.
I am applying all my skills to this task. I wanted everyone to know and understand. I have myself quite the sun… tan/burn, but that should take care of my Vitamin D deficiency.
.
My health. Have not received the radiologist report, yet. I have talked with Dr, Gorlick and I have looked at the MRI images. It appears that yes the disc between C7-T1 had herniated. A herniated disc would go well with my symptoms of; low grade fevers for weeks, weight loss, expansion of area where I have electrical shooting pains. Now including; my face, my left jaw, my left eye and most of the left side of my face.
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Even two years ago my last exam from a neurosurgeon showed my left eye.. was ‘lazy’. Did not follow the doctor’s hand well, and kind of looks down when I am not focused on something. The degenerative disc disease continues to degenerate. If it wasn’t me, it was happening too, that would have made me laugh.
.
As always, it is a great honor that you came to The Other Shoe and read my work. I can assure you that as soon as this is all over. The finding a new home, the moving, getting settled. It is my deep desire and my hope to get back to writing; ‘The Adventures of Princess Nadia’, ‘The Mars Report’, and basically anything that is not this.
.
I really do look forward to that time. The time we spend together exploring together. Exploring Mars and science. I miss it so much. “Thank You, My Dear Readers, for sticking with me. Standing by my side. Supporting me, and even donating to help me!
Quite simply? YOU, My Dear Readers, R O C K!
.
Thank YOU!
.
Please Share & HELP?!?
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