The pursuit of dreams provides meaning to life. Until I married Susan and moved to Costa Rica, dreams were nothing more than dreams. With my ex-wife, only her dreams counted, and I was to finance those dreams. After breaking my leg, I was no longer able to finance the dreams. My ex decides to divorce me, so that she could find someone who could finance her dreams.

» Continue reading “Pursuing Dreams“

Medicare  does not provide coverage in Costa Rica. Except for Mexico, this applies to all countries. Your Medicare Supplement or Advantage plan may cover vacations, but not for actual residence in another country.

» Continue reading “Medicare and Living in Costa Rica“

It started with the credit card companies and has spread to mortgage companies, drug companies, and insurance companies. The message is clear – “If you regulate us, we will raises our prices.” It is unmitigated rape of the consumer by large and powerful companies.

» Continue reading “Rape of the Consumer“

The technical term for the current status of the two breaks in my femur is nonunion. In translation, it means that bone growth appears to have ceased and the bridging of the fractures with new bone growth is not complete.

» Continue reading “New Complication to My Femur Fracture“

After sending out 114 resumes, and receiving only 4 responses, I had to work on a Plan B. The first step was to throw myself into a intense learning phase for Drupal (an Open Source Content Management System for Web design).  I chose Drupal over Joomla!, because the Drupal team takes Web accessibility seriously. I already know CSS, XHTML, CSS, MySQL, and WCAG, so the learning curve was strictly for Drupal.

» Continue reading “Changing Directions“

After the January 21 meeting with Dr. Erpelding, I thought I was on the road to recovery. I was finally to the “testing” stage to see if the breaks were healing. I was having telephone interviews for long term contracts. I was applying submitting applications for full-time or long-term contract work every day. Then, I had the appointment with Dr. Wilson on February 18.

» Continue reading “Twists and Turns – Facing Reality“

I retired at 62 just to have a stable income in a horrible IT job market. The boom days of IT training had ended, and training contracts were few and far between. Health insurance was one of the expenses that didn’t fit in a drastically reduced budget. As I approached 65, the insurance companies wanted $500 a month for a minimal plan.  I applied for VA Healthcare, but I still earned too much under the old rules. We were in a state of virtual middle-class poverty. The energy companies and insurance companies were killing our budget. The only hope was to not get seriously injured or sick until I was eligible for Medicare. » Continue reading “Dealing with Medical Bills“

Since writing”The ‘Oh Shit’ Moment” post, I had another appointment with Dr. Erpelding at the VA Clinic in Billings. This time, I was able to get a CD containing the X-rays from the visit. The CD auto-starts the X-ray viewer used by the doctors to view digital images. It is a really cool tool. When I travel, and hoping that occurs sooner rather than later, I will have the X-rays of my leg should anything happen to re-injure it. » Continue reading “Hanging on by a Thread“

My wife, Monica, and I were building our own house. We were the designers and the workers, except for hiring a people to help with pouring concrete. We built and finished the basement first, and are living in it. In 2008, we started building the main floor. Monica injured her back in December of 2007. On July 23 off last year, she had surgery to relieve the pressure on the nerve. A Montana winter was quickly approaching, and I was trying to get the roof on before it snowed. I did not want to spend another winter shoveling snow out of a partially framed house. » Continue reading “The “Oh Shit” Moment“

In the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …  .” Freedom of religion doesn’t mean that we need to agree with every religion. It does mean that we need to respect the right of an individual to worship in a manner of their choosing. It means respect of other religions. Whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or one of the thousands of other religions, they all deserve respect.

Freedom of religion is one of the freedoms for which every American soldier has fought to preserve, and many have given their all to preserve that freedom. Religious extremism that denies the rights of other to worship as they choose is not acceptable.

The above was prompted by an article in an Egyptian newspaper and reported in Palestinian Media Watch. The Title of the article was “All Pigs Must Die because they descend from Jews: According to an Egyptian Islamic scholar.” The article actually refers to “People of the Book,” which applies to both Jews and Christians. The article was actually a justification for the killing of all pigs owned by the Coptic Christians in Egypt, as a result of the swine flu. The article also give justification for killing all descendents of Moses. This Fatwa illustrates the dangers of extreme religious views that justify the killing of all who do not believe as they do. At about the same time, a Taliban leader made the statement that they only kill those who are not pure. In this case, they define who is pure. This is the basis of all extreme religious groups. The Holocaust is our reminder of the dangers of ideological extremism.

Because of the extreme views of a few, we cannot brand all Muslems as extremists. Every religion has its extremists. It is our duty to insure religious freedom by never letting the extremists of any religion to determine the beliefs of all people. The war we are fighting against terrorism is a war to protect our freedoms.