Nose Job

Not really, I have no cause to be that vain. I visited my Doctor on the recommendation of my lovely wife for treatment for my snoring. The good Doctor took one look and sent me onward to an Otolaryngologist (big word for ear, nose and throat doctor). Dr Szmula of Lockport, NY was a breath of fresh air. He, like my family doctor speaks unaccented, American English and made his diagnosis in all for 30 seconds after interviewing me about my history. He made my options very clear, snore or have surgery. I have a deviated septum which is the result of several possible causes( former bouncer, former Marine, me nephew's knee). A deviated septum is a crooked septum, the septum is the membrane covered cartilage that separated your nasal passages. This by itself is not really a problem but can cause chronic nasal congestion and lead to other more serious problems like sleep apnea.
Well I did it and had the surgery yesterday. I arrived at the Inter Community Memorial Hospital in Newfane, NY at 6:30 am and got set up and prepped for surgery. By 8:00am I was being sedated and wheeled into surgery. I don't remember anything else until I woke up in recovery and was transported back to the ambulatory care surgical center. The nursing staff was great, truly wonderful and dedicated women. Dr. Szmula told my family after the surgery that I could have a Yugo drive through my nasal passages now.
I cam home about 1:00pm and took some tylenol with codeine. I have been a little uncomfortable but the discomfort is worth it if I can breath through my nose again. This morning I woke up all stuffy but that is normal. I'll be giving more updates as I recover. No diving or working for a couple of weeks so I will have plenty of time to blog. More soon.

Happy Easter morning in Gasport, NY. 20 degrees and 6 inches of snow made it look more like Christmas. Of course this past Christmas it was in the 50's and sunny so who can really know what the effect of global warming is going to be. Anyhow. Happy Easter to all and to all a good night.

Parenting License

I really wonder why there is no mandatory training program for parents. The news today had two stories of outstanding parenting skills. First there was the Mom who thought it was a good idea to prostitute her seven (yes 7) year old daughter. I have a 7 year old and I would personally like to place this wonderful example of motherhood in general population at a men's prison and see how she likes it. The other was this Dad, who's car wasn't big enough to fit all his kids so he put two of them in the trunk of the car and had them riding there for about 20 minutes. I remember putting people into the trunk of my car to go into the drive in theatre years ago. The difference is I was the kid not the parent, it was for only as long as it took to get into the theatre (about 5 minutes), and the trunk on my 1977 Chevy Malibu was a lot bigger. Yes, when I was 16 I would have made a lousy parent, my Dad even told me so, but how big of a moron do you have to be to do this kind of crap as an adult. The scary thing is these people are parents and have already added to the gene pool. What can be done? I am open to comments.

Parenting License

I really wonder why there is no mandatory training program for parents. The news today had two stories of outstanding parenting skills. First there was the Mom who thought it was a good idea to prostitute her seven (yes 7) year old daughter. I have a 7 year old and I would personally like to place this wonderful example of motherhood in general population at a men's prison and see how she likes it. The other was this Dad, who's car wasn't big enough to fit all his kids so he put two of them in the trunk of the car and had them riding there for about 20 minutes. I remember putting people into the trunk of my car to go into the drive in theatre years ago. The difference is I was the kid not the parent, it was for only as long as it took to get into the theatre (about 5 minutes), and the trunk on my 1977 Chevy Malibu was a lot bigger. Yes, when I was 16 I would have made a lousy parent, my Dad even told me so, but how big of a moron do you have to be to do this kind of crap as an adult. The scary thing is these people are parents and have already added to the gene pool. What can be done? I am open to comments.

Heaven and Hell

Well as you can see from the last couple of posts the family and I spent a week in "heaven". The Hawaiian weather was amazing and the people we met really personified the Aloha spirit. The beaches were clean and pristine. The diving was great even if the dive operators kept apologizing for the "poor visibility" (less than 100 feet). We saw sea turtles, octopus, the humuhumunukunukuapuah'a (yes it is all one word). Then reality struck and it was time to go home to Western New York.
We arrived at the airport in Buffalo NY late on Saturday night and were met by 14 degree temperatures (farenheit) and it had snowed everyday while we were gone, and continues to now (with short breakes for freezing rain). Next week we are actually going to see temperatures in the upper 20's, ooh heat wave. I really can't wait until it is summer around here again. 80 and sunny is very welcome right now. It is definitly better diving when you don't need a chain saw to cut a hole in the ice. Well this is were we live so we just have deal with it. "Hey honey, please pass me that Oahu real estate catalog again"

Instructing my Wife

How proud I am of my lovely wife Jenny. While we were in Hawaii she completed 3 of her open water training dives and several skin dives. Now she has been bitten by the bug and wants to dive more. She is already making plans for our next trip to Hawaii (next February) and is actually talking about going diving around home as well. This is a great change from the "I only want to dive if you take me somewhere warm and tropical". I am having a blast instructing Jenny. She is a great student and a quick study. She has amazing bouyancy control for such a new diver, heck I was probably diving almost a year before I had the kind of control she does. It is probably the high quality instruction she is recieving.

Hawaiian Vacatiom

Diver Bob is back from his vacation in Hawaii. The Family went to visit the family of Jack and Jill Army. Jack was home on leave while we were there but has since returned to duty. The pic is my 7 year old daughter. I tend to start them early. We did some snorkeling at Ko'Olina and then the wife and I did some diving as well. There will be many more pics to follow in the next few days. I also have to talk more about the SCUBA Challenge we are doing at Discover Diving in Depew, NY. More soon.

Instructor Bob

Well I did it. I am now a real live scuba instructor for NAUI. I am currently taching for Discover Diving in Depew, NY (www.ddwny.com) and loving it. My veryfirst student is none other than my lovely, wonderful (and very trusting) wife Jenny. She figured that if she could teach me to fly then I could teach her to dive. All is well in this part of the world, we are finall getting some snow. Diving right now is limited to the pool for training but soon we will be diving in beautiful Hawaii. We are all going to see my cousin and her children and hopefully her husband (who would be home on leave from a not very friendly area of the world). I can't wait. More later. Have a great day.