Monday Morning Quarterback 1.07

I was just too darn busy last week to get to the Let's Roll article where I usually post the numbers from the previous week. Sales at SkeetzTeez have been sluggish, to say the least, but from what I gather, with the economy the way it has been, I should be lucky to see any kind of traffic.

Top five keywords that resulted in visits to SkeetzTeez or SkeetzTeez Blog:

5. favre

4. jorts

3. urban cougars

2. cubs

1. suck for a buck

Top five designs sold at SkeetzTeez

5. Suck It Trebeck

4. Sweet Sixteen

3. McCain/Palin (McMaverick/Sarahcuda)

2. Slapshot- Charlestown Chiefs

1. Big Brother (Sister)

Here's my notes for the week:

• Too bad the Cubs Fans Wear Jorts T-shirts didn't catch on any quicker. They were bounced so quickly from the payoffs that no one had time to hate them. Oh well-- there's always next year.

• The Urban Cougar lens is getting so much traffic that it past my foundational lens SkeetzTeez in the Squidoo rankings. It is mostly perverts looking for porn but the site is rated G (but may lean towards PG).

• Hey-- the Rams didn't lose this week! I wish our fantasy league would have buys so we could say the same.

• October 2- First sighting of this year's Christmas stuff at the stores (Walgreen's).

• I actually cleared $1.35 from my Squidoo lenses in August-- after contributing to my charity, StrokeNet! I didn't realize I was doing anything to make a dime!

• Now that the economic bailout package has been passed, let's get things fixed with the market and such. It's hard to get anything done with the whole nation in a panic.

• Isn't it bazaar how all QTs are almost exactly alike? From the pattern of taquitos on the little rolly things to the general appearance of the uptight clerks trying not to look uptight is all spookily the same. I sometimes forget which location we are at when I come out from one of the 8-10 weekly trips and have to check the GPS before we get on our way.

• QT does have the best beverages available and the bathrooms are fairly, acceptably clean and easy to find (very important when M3S decides that he does have to go potty even though he was sure that he didn't have to the 17 times I asked him in the half-hour prior to leaving his Mimi's house.)

• Along with thinking about names, I never thought I would be so concerned about poop in my adult life either-- and nobody wants to hear about it so I will stop there. Except...

• Funny: Schwa said he had a poop like sand. (I don't know how that can be so hilarious to me and, at the same time, scar MLW for life.)

• I'm a little worried about my brother. He's turning 40 this week and I'm not sure, but it seems like it is affecting him more than it did the other guys. I sent him a Dr. Porkenheimer's Bonerjuice T-shirt from the shop. I hope it cheers him up! Happy Birthday C-Bear!

Hope everyone has a good week. I am still real busy but plan on having several blog entries after my weekend with my best buddy, including a story on Why I like Mondays, my thoughts on another birthday coming up and the ultrasound where we find out the gender of the baby next week. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

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