There are many things I would like to draw your attention to that have been happening lately. Let me first start by sharing with you a joy from this morning.

2222
That's right the old Scooter hit 2222 miles this morning! I would like to say I turned off the road to take this picture, but I did not. I took it at the red light I was stopped at this morning. There are only 3 lights in town and 2 of them were red on my way to work at 6:48, but that did not bother me because my Scooter turned 2222. I have had it about a year and a half and it already has enough miles on it to go to the moon and back. I am so proud of the little guy!!

Next on the list of exciting news to tell you is that I am now officially a school bus driver. That is right, I took my first official drive in a school bus yesterday! It was a noon and evening route for a driver who had a funeral to go to. There were a total of 4 kids on my bus (2 and noon and 2 after school). They all said that I was cooler then the normal driver. Well truth be told one student had some support needs and was nonverbal, one was too scared to say a word, one kid was in 6th grade and the other kid pretty much ignored me. But I consider all of those to be a success.

Last but by no means least, and something that goes along with driving the bus is that I now have PMS. Well again I might of changed the facts. I have MPS. Which means I have motorcycle, passenger and school bus endorsements on my class B Commercial Drivers License. I know it is kinda a big deal, but I am not letting it go to my head. I also got the "A" restriction taken off because I no longer need glasses or contacts.

On another note, I had my every two year physical yesterday. Although that is never fun I am glad I am not a woman or over the age of 50 yet. The nurse did comment that I had great vision! 20/15 in each eye and 20/13 together. I told her I just had LASIK and she said I cheated.

Well till next time,

Keep up the fight

Going Under the Laser

That is right folks, I will be going under the laser Friday, September 10th, at about 9:45. I will be getting LASIK done on both of my eyes to hopefully end my dependence on glasses and contacts.I have been wanting to get LASIK for several years now, but it has always been to expensive, but thanks to a new medical study, I can afford it. LASIK cost about $5,000 and there are also fees for the initial screening, vision test, eye drops, medications and follow up appointments. All in all it is not uncommon for the whole package to be closer to $6,000.

Over the years I have been watching my Health Savings Account grow to a modest amount of just under $3,000, so how is it that I am able to afford LASIK? Great question, let me explain.

So I was listing to the radio when I heard an ad to call for more information about a LASIK study. I will save you some of the details and tell you that instead of $5,000, I will pay $2,000, get all my meds and drops for free, follow ups for free and at the end of the study get a check for $500.

So what is the catch? Here's the deal. The FDA is doing a study on the eye drops that are used after the surgery. They are already on the market and commonly used in the %1 solution. The drug maker wants to know if the drug would work better in the %5 solution. So they are giving the study participants drops that are either %1, %5 or just a natural re-wetting drop (placebo). I have no idea which one I am on and I just take the drop like normal.

What they are hoping will happen is that those participants with the %5 will heal faster. Those who get the placebo will still heal, just slower. So, once a month for 6 months I have to go back and the run a bunch of test on me to see how I am doing. They poke my eye with this fine hair about 100 times. I'm not kidding there are 9 zones on each eye they test and you have to feel 3 pokes in a row before they will move on to the next zone. The other test is a reading test where they are trying to see how quickly your eyes can recover and focus on small print to be able to read faster.

Well keep me in your prayers and I will let you all know how it goes.

Keep up the fight

Me and "The Hoff"

David Hasselhoff is German, I am German. David Hasselhoff played a lifeguard on TV, I am a lifeguard in real life. David Hasselhoff has tons of money, I am poor. As you can see David and I have a lot of common.

While on the set of the both Emmy and Grammy winning show "Baywatch," Mr. Hasselhoff's character, Mitch Buchannon, guarded the lives of many young and healthy men and women. If you have ever been to your local Y or other indoor pool then you know that from 7-10 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings that the swimmers are not exactly young and not always healthy.

But that is the shift I have been work the last few weeks and even though the swimmers might not be right out of Baywatch, I am glad I am there. The morning starts with me getting to work at about 6:50 and clocking in for the morning. I ten go and grab the radio and tune it into the local NPR station and begin to soak up 2 hours of world, national, state and local news. After the radio is ready to go I sit back down in the chair and eat my granola bar for breakfast. I kind of feel bad because the sign reads no food or drink in the pool area, but I don't really care that much.

After breakfast it is off the the equipment closet so I can get a yoga mat out and spend about 15-20min stretching out my legs for the day. This helps so much with the running on the other days. After I am nice and loose it is time to walk laps around the pool. 19 laps around the pool is a mile and I try to get about 3-4 miles in a morning. It takes about an hour, which is perfect because by now it is 9:00 and NPR is switching over to classical music so it is time to turn the radio off and put it away anyhow.

With the radio off I spend another 10-15 stretching and then hop back up into the chair for the last half an hour of the day. Don't worry I generally keep my eyes on those who are swimming, but typically there is almost a whole hour in there when nobody is in the pool, so I don't have to worry about anything. I know it sounds like a tough job, but it is important.

Keep up the fight

The Sun is Setting

It has come to that time of the year again. The sun is setting on yet another summer of camp. We have one last week left, and it started today. While I have by no means processed this summer in all of it's entirety, I have been spending some time thinking back already.

Maybe thinking back is not a fair way to say it as much as looking forward, which focuses me backwards? What on God's green earth am I trying to say? Let me explain.

I have some exciting things coming up this fall:
1) I am going to be driving a bus for the local school. I will not be an every day driver with a route but a part time driver. This means I will do things like athletic trips and sub when they need me. The transportation director, Roger Cline, said I would be able to get a lot of shifts if I want them, so I said sure. This means I have to go to bus drivers training school. It is a 3 day class and I am sure it will be really interactive and super fun. Maybe not, but the $80.00 for a night of driving some kids around and watching a football game is ok by me.

2) I am also going to lifeguard at the Young Man's Christian Association one or two days a week. This is not really all that exciting, but my $30 a month membership will turn into a $30 a week paycheck and that is nice.

3) I started training for a half marathon today. Well, kinda. Today is day number one and I am supposed to stretch and do strength training. Once I get into the program my long runs will be on Saturdays so Sundays are recovery days. Not much of a workout today, but they will be coming.

So with these three things and one other (maybe more on that other later) I have been looking forward to this fall. What is interesting about this is that for the first time 100% of my attention in the summer was not focused on camp. I found myself going home at 7 not 9 or 10 at night. I came in at 8:45 not 8:00. Now I was not skipping out on my duties, I was just taking more time for myself and other things in my life. It feels odd to not have summer camp control all of my time. In some ways I have felt guilty about this, but in the end I think it is a healthy transition.

So I am in no way wishing the last week of summer camp away. Every day I am reminded of why I love my job, and tonight when I tell the campfire story I will once again be reminded of how much I love being with campers. Maybe it is because after 10+ summers of doing camp I know that great sunrises don't come without the sunset.

Keep up the fight

Dear Private Investigator

Dear Private Investigator,

Can you please help me find my friend Pat Andera? He goes by many names: Big Slick, SPA, Sexy Beast, Heart Breaker and Big Sloppy. He really likes sloppy food and typically this time of year is in the Lake Delton area of Wisconsin.

The last time I had any contact with him was late April. I did receive a text message from him a few weeks ago, but since he does not respond to voice messages and his mailbox is now full I am concerned that someone took his phone and used it to throw me off the trail.

I have also heard a rumor that he took a vacation to South Dakota with a man named Tim. I find this hard to believe because surly if he was in the car for 18hours he would of found 20min to call me back.

He also used to have a blog, "Spa's Sports" but May 12th, was his last update and again, I question if this was another phantom writer using Pat's name to throw me off the trail.

So, Mr. PI, all I am asking for is prof that Mr. Spa is in fact alive. I would accept a recent photo as prof. Maybe if you track him down you can let him borrow your phone and he can call me. I might be willing to offer a cash prize to any person who can find him... dead or alive.

Thank you,
Andy Miller

Keep up the fight

Day 1 and 2

It is that time of year. Summer camp is now here. We spend 9 months preparing for summer camp and then much like a mother, give birth to a monster.

After a few weeks of a very good pre-camp it was time for campers to arrive. It only takes me about 1 minute after seeing that first camper to remember why we work so hard for the rest of the year. The questions they ask are so funny. The creativity is so amazing. The way they look at everything like it is so fresh and new just makes me smile.

Then the second day of summer camp comes. The bus breaks down, the phone system goes crazy, a volunteer nurse backs out and the medical supply company tell you that you owe them $200 when you really paid that bill months ago. Then I remember why sometimes I pray for August.

Keep up the fight

Take Note

See what I was talking about?

• Paul (T) knocked off Grayson (R) in Kentucky
• Specter lost in Pennsylvania

Anti-Incumbent fever and far right Tea party candidates are taking over the ballots.