I’m a Believer

Warning: Heavy topic. Move on to the jokes if you’re not into this.

She screamed every time she changed her position because her lower back was killing her.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

This is the first time my wife had this problem so she was skeptical when I said she should go to a chiropractor. She was in a lousy mood as we made our way to Dr. Wendy. She was as stiff as a rusty robot that needed a large dose of Windex (WD40). If you were on the other room you’d think she was giving birth or something. She asked me to get her something to eat so I left to get her a snack. When I came back she was done. The disappointed look on her face told me the treatment didn’t help.

However, maybe about 2 hours later, she was surprised that the pain had subsided. Was it the ibuprofen (pain killer) or was it Dr. Wendy? A few more hours later she was in a good mood. “I’m a believer!” she said. Some of the pain came back the next morning but it wasn’t as acute. Her bones were still adjusting I guess. The same thing happened to me when I had my own back problems. She is looking to her next appointment this Friday morning.

Here’s another testament to the wonders of alternative medicine: I became a “believer” years ago when my right wrist experienced the early stage of carpal tunnel syndrome due to the awkward way I held my computer mouse. I called my nurse friend who said I should get a wrist brace and take Motrin to kill the pain, otherwise, I would need to have an operation. I wore that brace for a week. Motrin helped but the pain never really left.

As I entered a BNI (Business Network International) business meeting, my chiropractor friend, Dr. Mark, stared at my wrist guard and asked me why I was wearing that evil contraption. After I explained, he said that was silly; he took off the brace, massaged my wrist — up and down he went while “oooh, oooh, ahhh, ahhh!” I squirmed. Doctor Masochist tortured me for about 3 minutes and then he said it was done and to never wear that brace again. I thought he was crazy. But the next morning (betcha by golly wow!) the pain was gone. The debilitating meta carpal tunnel thingy never came back.

Another time, I woke up with an excruciating pain in my left shoulder. It was so bad I couldn’t lift my elbow past the height of my shoulder. Again western medical experts said I needed to have an operation. I met this Amazonian lady from Hawaii in the same BNI business meeting. She said she did Deep Tissue Massage and that she could help me. This woman had vise grip fingers. She massaged the veins under my shoulder blade like she was flattening the wrinkles of an aluminum foil. She did it in 3 sessions. Just when the sadomasochist in me began to manifest, the pain all but disappeared. And to this day I can still extend my arm to its full capacity.

WESTERN MEDS
Through the years I’ve learned to balance Western and Eastern medicine. (And of course some doctors are better than others). One of my forever friends, Dr. Manny, is a retired oncologist who helps my friends by giving away his free medical opinion (what a guy!). I’ve learned not to trust the highly politicized and corrupted FDA who have legalized dangerous psychotropic drugs. Same goes with the WHO (World Health Organization) who encouraged vaccination over developing immunity and other alternative medications. I only got my vaccinations so I could fly home to visit my sick Dad. Call me a conspiracy theorist but my suspicious mind wants to know who are getting rich over anything these institutions recommend. Yeah, yeah, Mr. Conspiracy Theorist — that’s my middle name. Aw c’mon don’t tell me you trust everything the government tells you.

An old client was a Compounding Pharmacist and she claimed she knew drugs better than the doctors. Doctors learn what meds to use for certain situations. Pharmacists understand why those meds work.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DILEMMA
During the early years of AI, I had hopes that an IBM program named Watson would modernize medical diagnosis because their database is fed with the latest discoveries that human doctors don’t have time to read about. But I didn’t expect that AI would be weaponized like they are now. Ask Alexa why you should vote for Trump and she says she “cannot provide content for a specific candidate.” But ask Alexa why you should vote for Kamala and she has a long list of reasons. (If you have Alexa, go ahead and try it while they still haven’t fixed this bias.) It’s true — the computer is only as smart and honest as the data and the algorithms you feed it. So the real cure may be suppressed to protect the interests of Big Pharma and the shadow government.

TWITTER: A GAME CHANGER
Tik Tok is for mindless entertainment (I don’t trust these guys) but Twitter is for thinkers (pretty humble, huh?). Thank God for Elon Musk who took over Twitter for the sake of Free Speech. I know some of you may not think so but it truly is a platform for (relatively) free speech. (It’s full of good and bad influencers or people who simply regurgitates an idea … it’s still evolving … just be patient with each other). When you get the hang of it, it’s quite obvious who refuse to listen to opposing ideas in order to preserve a dreamlike unrealistic narrative vs. those who are open to discuss alternatives. Thanks to Twitter, it’s a new era where the mainstream media no longer hold a monopoly of the news. The news comes from eyewitness accounts of the ordinary guy.

LAND OF THE FREE
They say Satan is the father of lies and we live in his world where truth and integrity swim in the same pool as deception and ulterior motives. One can be easily disillusioned. But take heart and remain optimistic because “someone else” is more powerful and everything he said was/is true. It was true then and (thankfully) it’s still true now. And you know how the saying goes … “the truth shall set you free.”

Technology and medicine are still evolving. Hold on to your seats. It’s gonna be an interesting ride.

But this is just me. TGIF people!

“Isn’t it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do ‘practice’?” — George Carlin

“How do you tell the psychiatrists from the patients in the hospital? The patients get better and leave..” —Lisa Scottoline

“A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.” — Aesop

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Thanks to Tom of Pasadena, CA

Original art by Raoul Pascual.

Parting Shots

Thanks to Tom of Pasadena, CA

Thanks to Sharon of Connecticut

Thanks to Colleen of Washington State

Thanks to Jane of San Diego, CA

–
Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

Thanks to Drew of Anaheim, CA

Thanks to Benny of Detroit

I found these:

My good friend (and jokester) Terry and I came up with this.

SUBSCRIBE

The post Senior Thinking appeared first on Traveling Archive.

I’m Back!

Hello stranger.

How long has it been? A month? Many subscribers got withdrawal symptoms from not having their Friday emails. I apologize. I did send out my TGIF emails but only a few people received it. I was so busy that I couldn’t spend enough time developing my own personal email program. To view the past issues you can always go to Travelingboy.com.

Isn’t it funny how our friendship has developed just through my TGIF emails? So what have I been up to? Allow me to be silly. Besides work, I’ve been thinking of writing a comic book about our corgis.

My wife has been away visiting her Mom for a week now so I’ve been taking care of Tonka and Tinker. Every night they wait patiently beside the front door for my wife’s return. After all, she is their real master. I’m just the babysitter. If only I could explain that their Mama won’t be coming home for a while.

I’ve gotten to know them a little more now. They love to play but they don’t know how. They want me to chase them but when I do they turn around and confront me and bark like they want to eat me up. They don’t know how to fetch. They just don’t get it (literally). They do know how to catch food, so that’s fun. Sometimes I’d be watching TV and when the most important dialogue comes up, they decide to bark so loud my tinnitus starts acting up. Tonka is the older of the two and he acts like it too. He’s the cool one … the introspective one and he chooses his battles. Tinker is the spunky one — always ready for the next adventure. Tinker never runs out of energy.

Their favorite part of the day is when I take them out to poop and pee. That’s when their super hero personalities come out. When they hit the pavement they’re like John Travolta pacing down the streets of New York with his disco shoes. They’re like the Jets in West Side Story. “Play it cool boy! Where’s the action? Who’s making all that racket? Move over buste! Batdog and Twitter are here!”

Yes. I’d like to write a comic book about them — Batdog and Twitter! — and their amazing adventures walking around the neighborhood.

I’m sure you have your own stories to tell about your pet. Tell me about it. Share your pictures with the rest of us.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to.

Come on, say it — Thank God it’s Friday! TGIF people!

Raoul
P.S.
In case you haven’t seen it, I made a video of Tonka and Tinker. CLICK HERE.

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Wyne of Manila, Philippines

Parting Shots

Thanks to Richard of New Manila, Philippines

Thanks to Maling of New Manila, Philippines

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

I found these

My good friend (and jokester) Terry and I came up with these.

The post State of Mind appeared first on Traveling Archive.

WARNING: Political Thought. Skip to the jokes if you aren’t into this.

The big news nowadays is Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. The gregarious billionaire claimed he needed to do it to advance freedom of speech which he believes has been suppressed by big media for years. He encourages a free discourse among people from all sectors of the political landscape including people who disagree with him. Sounds fair, doesn’t it? That should be a good thing, right? So why are there so many upset beyond words? What’s really going on here?

NICODEMUS
Nicodemus was a Pharisee who had been witnessing the many miracles of Jesus. Under the cover of night he visits Jesus to question him about teachings that did not jive with his world view. That was very mature of Nicodemus — to be open to the possibility that his beliefs were faulty. Technically, this passage describes Jesus as the light in a world of darkness but there seems to be a parallel application with TRUTH in a world of lies. 

“… Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” — John 3:19-20

WHO ARE YOU?
Where you stand with this issue about Twitter reveals a lot about you. If you think it isn’t fair for everyone to share their opinion, then you don’t really believe in fairness and equality. If you disrupt speeches or prevent further discussions just because you don’t agree with the direction of the conversation, then you’re not very mature are you? Are you afraid of the truth?

Scripture doesn’t say that Nicodemus changed his mind that fateful evening. Eventually however, I believe he was mature enough to move over to “the other side.” in Chapter 7:50 we see the egotistical Pharisees cursing Jesus because His teachings did not carry their seal of approval. Then in comes old Nick to the rescue who defends Jesus. Ata boy Nick!  Then in John 19:39 we see Nick again. This time he is helping the women prepare Jesus’ broken body for burial. In both instances this Pharisee was showing his allegiance to Jesus in broad daylight. What a beautiful progression from dark to light.

HOPE
I hope Elon Musk indeed opens the floodgate of free ideas … good or bad. I hope we all have meaningful discussions. I hope the great divide between political parties start to narrow and begin to heal our country. I hope we learn to give grace to each other’s opinion. I hope for TRUTH and common sense to be obvious in the light of day for only then will truth set us free.

But this is just me.

TGIF people!

Raoul

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Peter Paul of S Pasadena, CA

Videos of the week

FUNNY: A cute video of 2 naughty brothers caught red handed by their Dad.

FUNNY: Tom of Pasadena, shared this classic video about 2 very strange cops.

Parting Shots

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

Thanks to Rodney of Manitoba, B.C.

Thanks to Diego of Mexico City

The post Strange Dinner appeared first on Traveling Archive.