Monday Morning QB 13.11.1

Wow!

My last blog post was 2.13.09...

There is a whole lot to go over and I am certainly not going to be able to do it all in one day– I have work to do. But I do realize how important writing is on so many levels so I am really determined to get back into it. My plan, going forward, is to publish three original posts per week and a repost on Throwback Thursdays. We will do the old Monday Morning QB (obviously) on Mondays and Things We Like/Let's Roll on Fridays with another cool feature on Tuesday or Wednesday. How does that sound?

I need to explain all the changes that have gone on in our life over the last four years but, as I said, it may take some time to go ever all of it.

• I have gone into business for myself- The biggest single thing and reason for me not having time to post is A Skeetz Production, LLC. It has been a tremendous challenge but a gigantic blessing at the same time. I will write about the experience and so many things that I have learned that I want to make others aware of in the near future but as difficult as it can be, it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

• We have Guy- I have never thought it best for my family to publish the names of my boys but I have two of the best young men that seem to grow up so fast every day. I love them more than I could have ever imagined and if I wasn't so old, I would have a half dozen more. I'm sure that I will have a lot to write about those experiences too.

• Facebook- and such... I was just getting into Facebook, LinkedIn and then Twitter when I stopped writing in the Blog. I actually have a draft with a bunch of notes that I had on the new technology from over four years ago. I have lots to say about social media and how it has become such a huge part of our lives.

• Other Stuff- In addition to the big stuff I have a ton of thoughts on other stuff that I can't wait to share! So much stuff that I can't even think of it all but some if it includes:
• House Guests- I have become an expert on this
• Business Networking- I want to do a weekly feature with guest contributors
• Duck Dynasty- and other hillbillies taking over pop culture
• Plus- my usual stuff: sports, music, God, trivia, movies, TV, T-shirts, friends and fun...

I will quickly try to figure out how to incorporate the Blog with all the other social media that I am involved with. I would like to invite you all to follow this Blog by subscribing at the top of the right column and to check out other articles listed by topic further down in that column.

Peace.

Jonah's Brothers Tour T-shirts

I almost feel bad about my new design on cafepress... almost. 

Do a search for T-shirts on your favorite search engine and count how many times Jonas Brothers comes up. I'd be willing to bet that 12-14 responses out of the first 100 will mention something about them. Most of those will be tween and teen girls asking how they can get their hands on a tee from a concert that they are unable to go to.

I had heard my 18-year old sister-in-law mention the Jonas Brothers (Joe is apparently the hot one) and at that point I had no idea who they were. I am not a Bible scholar, but I don't remember mention of any of Jonah's siblings in the Good Book– and that was the only Jonah I had ever heard of.

I guess I feel a little bad because I am exploiting the popularity of the Jonas Brothers to attract people to: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez and, possibly make a buck or two out of the deal. Its not that there isn't a whole lot of exploitation going on here anyway. Disney is exploiting these young boys from New Jersey to make them all kinds of jack and the whole bunch of them are exploiting all of those tweens and teens.

The kids do have some talent and the message of the design is a scripture from the Bible. I am not intentionally trying to mislead anyone into buying something that they don't want. In fact, I wrote in the first line of the description that "This is not the Jonah that you think!" Although there is some exploitation going on, I don't think anybody is really getting hurt in the long run.

It is kinda a cool design. Check it out at: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5821601

I Survived a Major Brain Injury...

Before I go any further, let me explain myself. I am in know way, trying to make fun of any individual (except, perhaps, myself) and I know first hand that a brain injury is a very serious thing, but that doesn't mean that we can have a little laugh about them.

I suffered a stroke eight months ago yesterday. By God's grace, and a lot of hard work from many people, I have made almost 100% recovery which is pretty incredible in that short amount of time. Through four months of therapy, I met many people with brain injuries and many people trying to help them. I would, in no way, want to make fun of any of those people or the tragic situation that many of them or in, but because the situation is so somber, many of those people can use a good laugh.

I tried to keep a good attitude when going through therapy. This was very hard some of the time (some days it was harder than the therapy) but I am convinced that the good attitude contributed, greatly, to my remarkable recovery. A good sense of humor improved my attitude, as well as the mood of my doctors, therapists and other patients.

There were many funny stories that came about in my group psychological sessions because it was just 6-8 patients (usually all guys) sitting around and talking about their recovery and the challenges that each one faced. I hope I can share some of the other stories in the future but today I want to concentrate on the one that inspired the design above.

The discussion in group that day revolved around getting back to the real world. Most of the patients had been away from their jobs and such for some time and were soon going to be going back in some capacity. I had been in therapy for ten weeks or so and was starting back to work in a couple more. The doctor asked how I felt about that. (That's always their big question: How does that make you feel?)

I thought for a second and then told him I was pissed off. "I mean I am grateful and all that I was able to recover and get back to some of the things that I was doing before the stroke but, overall, I was pissed off."

He, obviously, wasn't expecting that answer out of me so I went on. 

"I have worked at the same job for almost 18 years, never taking more than a week off at a time (and that was for my honeymoon). I had almost three months of vacation saved up that I could always use in case of an emergency, like this one, but I had hoped that I would get to use it for something more satisfying or productive– or both."

"Now its all gone and what have I got to show for it? I had no fun and got absolutely nothing done for 13 weeks! I feel like I should be given a T-shirt that says... I survived a major brain injury and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

The doctor got a good laugh out of my comment. He really liked my idea for the t-shirt, even mentioning it several times in the sessions in the last few weeks. It wasn't until my graduation day that I realized the prophetic meaning of it when my Occupational Therapist gave me my T-shirt and sent me on my way. My doctor was sure to be there to see that.

The shirt didn't say my slogan but it may as well had. I joked and promised them that I was going to produce the design and get it printed on some shirts. This is my fulfillment of that promise. I hope Dr. Gillespie and Liz OT at St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital in West St. Louis County will get to see it because I really don't expect to sell any of them, but if you want to check it out go to http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5779576. I will contribute any profits from sales of this shirt to StrokeNet.

Thanks guys

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