Fatblogging

Weight: 221.6
Pants size: 40

You may be aware that since the second week of January, all three of us have been attending Weight Watchers meetings. I started out at 231 lbs and size 42 waist.

I'm thinking of blogging my continued efforts. I'd have to say that, in addition to the normal things like tracking what I'm eating better and exercising more, attending regular meetings and having our entire family involved has been really helpful.

There's a whole fatblogging movement going on already here, so I think blogging about my efforts here will help.

Feel free to join the conversation!

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Uncle Walt Update

My Mom posted an update at her blog

Update on Uncle Walt - not good

Just got this from my Mom. Janet was Uncle Walt's wife, who passed away about 4 years ago.

Ken just called with terrible news.
Walt is in full septic shock. his white blood count is extremely high and he has a high fever. They are giving him megadoses of every possible antibiotic they can. They also have him on full blown diaysis.They are willing to risk his kidneys to save his life.

We are being told to prepare for the worst.

I still believe in miracles and he will have one if that is God's will.

If not I pray for a peaceful passing to the other side where I know Janet, Mom and Dad will be waiting for him.

I still believe anything's possible, and God definitely has a plan. Please pray also for my cousins Ken and Julie, and their families. They've been going through this with their Dad.

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Uncle Walt Update - We Could Use A Miracle

Yesterday I updated Journey Inside My Mind with some urgent news about my Uncle Walt Mitchell, who has been having complications related to his recent heart transplant. I mentioned I'd update again once I've heard anything else.

Here's an update my Mom emailed last night at 9 PM Eastern to friends and family:

Ken just called and said they opened Walt up, and his chest cavity was filled with blood. They presently have his chest cavity packed and have basically left his chest wall open and covered with a dressing.

They know they have to go back in but are hoping they can hold off until sometime Friday to give his body some chance to recover. Today he has received 20 litres of blood.

He has spiked a 102 F fever now too.

He did come to at one point and was able to shake his head and mouthed "I love you" to the kids.

They are keeping him heavily sedated, of course.

The docs told the kids with all the technology, all the medications, and all the skill, it has pretty much come down to a crap shoot.

Ken said it's pretty much coming down to a miracle, and I told him my God is in the miracle-making business.

Keep praying. Prayer has brought him this far, and it can bring him through this.

I love all of you and want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Maybe we will get better news tommorow.

I continue to be amazed at how much something like this brings people together. Our family is so encouraged and inspired to know that you are praying. Please keep it up.

I'll be sure to post back when I get any news.

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Uncle Walt Update - Heart Transplant with Complications

Mom sent an email last night with the following update on my Uncle Walt:

Ken just called. The new heart is in, but Walt is bleeding profusely. And he is filled with infection. They just now are taking him back in to surgery again to try to stop the bleeding and figure out what to do about the infection. The doctors are not optimistic but as we have learned The Great Physician can do anything.

Please keep praying.

I was just chatting with her, and she added:

The doctors have taken him back to the OR to try to stop the bleeding. This was in the past hour. If ever Walt needed prayer this is it. I haven't slept all night. People all over are praying.

Ken said he'd call tonight (around 7 PM Eastern) with an update unless something worse has happened. So let's hope I don't hear from him until after 7.

Thank you all so much for having remembered my Uncle Walt in prayer; please keep praying. I'll be sure to post an update here when I get news.

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Update on My Uncle Walt - Please keep praying

My Uncle Walt Mitchell has been in a Cleveland Hospital for complications related to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. His Mom died from this when she was about his age. His brother and son also have this condition. More background info can be found at Update on My Uncle Walt - Prayer request. He was recently placed on a mechanical heart.

I got this update from my Mom, his sister, a couple days ago:

Ken just called. Walt had to have another surgery today. Apparently he had a lot of fluid building up in his chest again.

When they opened him up they discovered he has some kind of fungus growing. This is supposed to be the worst side effect of the artificial heart. They aren't sure they are going to be able treat the fungus effectively. One doc has hopes and others don't.

As long as he has the fungus, he won't be put back on the list for a donor heart. If he can't get rid of the fungus, he will be doomed to live out what is left of his life attached to the artificial heart, and eventually the other organs will be compromised by the fungus.

Ken is going to ask him tomorrow in a discreet way if that is the case what would his Dad want.

From the sibling viewpoint after we went through what we did with Mom, I told him we would not want him to suffer or just waste away or be in pain.

Ken put what life has been like for Walt the last few months in perspective. He said, "For the last 3 1/2 months my Dad hasn't peed in a toilet, taken a shower, washed his own hair, ate a meal at a table, smelled fresh air, or felt the sunshine. When he went into the hospital it was summer; now it's fall."

Anyone who sent him a card - Ken wanted those to know they meant a lot to Walt and did cheer him up.

I told Ken when he is out of ICU and back in a regular room, to let me know his new room #, and we can continue to send cards.

Please keep up the prayers. If Walt ever needed them he needs them now.

I don't want to think that God brought him this far, and he won't leave the hospital with a new heart; yet I know it's all in His hands.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Related tags: journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm daniel+johnson+jr hypertrophic+cardiomyopathy mechanical+heart artificial+heart

Updates on my Uncle Walt and other family news

It's been a little while since I shared updates about my Uncle Walt Mitchell, who for the past month or so has been in a Cleveland hospital for serious complications related to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (illustration of normal heart vs heart with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). Below is the text of recent emails my Mom sent out with updates she received from my cousin.

The first one is from September 25, 2007:

Ken just called. Walt is going back in for surgery tommorow. He has fluid building up around the artificial device they have to drain. His blood pressure is low, his white blood cell count is high, and he has a fever. His kidney output has decreased again.

Ken said the surgeon said they think he may have something called cardiac capanoid (not sure I'm spelling it right). I don't know what it is or what is done if you have it. Before he could say much more about it he got a call and had to go.

Ken said he just doesn't have a good feeling about this. He is really scared for his Dad. This is the first time he has ever sounded less than upbeat about his Dad's condition so I am concerned.

He said something really nice about his Dad. He said his Dad is his hero for all he has gone through and has never felt sorry for himself and given the best fight he could. Makes me proud of my brother too and I know he has what I've always called "the Mitchell determination".

Continue to pray and when I hear more I will let all of you know.

This update came in just last night (September 26, 2007):

Ken just called. Walt is out of surgery. The surgery took about 3 1/2 hrs.

He had about a litre of blood pooled behind his artificial heart, and they found the source of bleeding and tied it off. Ken said he was already out of recovery, back in his room and tubes removed but was still asleep.

Keep the prayes going, it looks like they are working.

If things continue to do well for him, he may have the transplant within 2 months.

Love,

Margie

PS- I talked to [my oldest sister] Pat and she had talked to [our sister] Mary, so Pat updated me on [Mary's husband,] Uncle Dave. Dave had surgery last week, and he is healing.

This has been going on with him for some time now, and it was important this was successful, because if not, it would have affected his quality of life for his future.

Let's hope he continues to do well and life gets back to normal for him.

Amen. Thank you so much for keeping my family in your thoughts and prayers. As you can see, it's helping.

In a related e-mail from this past Sunday, my Mom asked if I could help start a Mitchell family blog, as a way for all of us to provide updates on stuff. I'm looking into that as well as setting up a private call for everyone over at TalkShoe.com.

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Todd Van Hoosear and Ryan Stiles - Twins Separated at Birth?

ToddOrRyan
Originally uploaded by tvanhoosear

You be the judge.

It's so funny how we get to certain places on the web.

1. Yesterday on Twitter, C.C. Chapman encouraged people to take pictures of themselves at work, upload them to Flickr, and tag them with "slackershots". He even registered www.slackershots.com to point to the tag page for it.
2. One of our fellow Twitter friends, Todd Van Hoosear, uploaded a picture of himself.
3. I browsed the gallery and remarked on Twitter that his picture resembled Ryan Stiles of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
4. Todd then posted the picture you see in this post and mentioned it on Twitter.

Todd and I have never met in person, but I sure hope we get to at some point.
What's that? You want to know what picture I submitted? I didn't have my camera with me yesterday, so I resubmitted my picture as a Home Fry Speed Demon.

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VSP - Very Special Post - 0707070707

I'm typing this post and setting the date to 07/07/07 at 07:07. Because I can.

The new media playground is like jazz

Mood: upbeat
Listening to: Managing the Gray: Every Day is a Good Day
Reading: Learning XML, Second Edition
Eating: an apple

I checked my Bloglines and noticed that C.C. Chapman mentioned my name on his latest episode and the Journey Inside My Mind Blog in the shownotes, specifically with an audio comment about how the new media playground is a lot like jazz:

"Do not fear mistakes; there are none." - Miles Davis.

A lot of jazz music usually involves improvisation within the boundaries of a chord progression. The song starts off, usually with the melody. Then different instruments take their solos, which usually fall within the same chord progression as the melody. Eventually everyone comes back together to wrap up the song.

I'm probably grossly oversimplifying things with that description, especially when you consider trendsetters like Miles Davis, who through constantly reinventing himself, created new boundaries and genres of jazz music (Check out this post from 2003 for more information: Paving the Milestones).

I like to think that's what it's like with what we're doing with new media.

ABOUT DANIEL JOHNSON, JR.

I suppose I should share a bit more about me, in case this is your first time here.

I've been blogging since January 2002 and podcasting since August 2005. I now have more blogs than I care to count. Here is more of me, in case you're interested:

• Daniel Johnson, Jr. - my portfolio blog
• Journey Inside My Mind Podcast - the podcast spin-off of this blog
• Get That Job! for job-hunting, career development, toolkits, success stories, and the like
• QuotesBlog quotations collected from various places over the years
• Follow danieljohnsonjr on Twitter - more frequent updates of stuff going on. By the way, if you add me as a friend, please contact me via email or leave a comment here so that I know how you found me.

And of course you can find me on MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social media networks. I'm always open to connect; just let me know how you found me.

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More frequent posting now on Twitter

I've realized that my enthusiastic use of Twitter has meant infrequent posting over here. Who knew that I could limit myself to 140 characters or less?

This is all to say that I don't mean to neglect you. If you want to see what's going on with me more frequently, follow me on Twitter. I will still post things back here and my other blogs from time to time; namely

• Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
• Get That Job!
• QuotesBlog
• Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Breaking Technology Addictions

Mike Schaffner points us to an eWeek report on a recent poll by Reuters that discussed how Blackberrys and laptops are blurring the distinction between home and work life.

He recommends the following useful techniques:

1. Take action to reduce the number of unnecessary emails that you receive
2. Prioritize your actions - take control of when you check and respond to email

He also recommends going into your Blackberry and turning the new email notification off so that you're not tempted to check it every time a new one arrives. The key to remember is that laptops and Blackberrys are not your jobs; instead they are tools to help you do your jobs.

Here are the comments I left:

You hit a nerve in me with this one, Mike, on a couple of levels.

1. I am totally for getting information when it's convenient for me. I consume most of my media on-demand these days. The idea of watching a program at a specific time is something I'm growing out of. The same with online media (blogs, podcasting, and the like). I'm learning to consume it on my schedule.
2. Having said that, I'm also a guy who checks every email that comes in and who also spends so much of my time lately watching what's going on with Twitter (http://twitter.com).

I have recently found out how to change the notifications for Outlook and GMail, but I could do a lot better with Twitter.

What about you?

What's a Meme?

I didn't really understand what a meme was until about a year ago. Jason asked me what it meant, and that forced me to look it up at Dictionary.com, who defines meme:

A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

In my early days of blogging, I participated in a number of quizzes, personality tests, etc., most of which I've included in this blog (Journey Inside My Mind Blog: memes).

As I look at what we're doing on the internet five years later, I'm beginning to think that anything we share can become a meme.

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Brands, Sub-brands, and stuff

I've been thinking a lot about branding lately, both on a personal level as well as on a company and employer level. I have often thought about reorganizing my blogs under one domain and making them subdomains. I do, after all, have many of them.

Today I read this article on Ask Pud saying that sub-brands haven't been that successful. He's got a good point.

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New Look for the Journey Inside My Mind Blog

Howdy. Last night I upgraded the Journey Inside My Mind Blog layout to better make use of the good stuff from the latest version of Blogger. I'm not finished, as I need to get my Twitter stuff on here, and I want to present the labels in a cloud, instead of the alphabetical list you see now.

Update: I have implemented label clouds on all my upgraded blogs; namely

• Daniel Johnson, Jr.
• Journey Inside My Mind Blog
• Get That Job!
• QuotesBlog
• Jazzmania Productions
• Homeschooler Podcast
  
• Me, Myself, and I (Mom's blog)

Look for more warm, juicy goodness in the near future.

Blog Makeover for the Official Mom

I recently gave the Official Mom's blog a makeover. Check it out and let her know what you think!

Blog Makeovers, cont'd

I've just updated the layout for QuotesBlog. It had been almost an entire year since the site had been updated, according to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine page. Below is the recent layout:



Incidentally, here's what it looked like in one of its earliest forms, way back in November 2002:



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Blog Makeovers

You may or may not have noticed some changes recently to this blogs and others I produce since I migrated them over to the new Blogger; namely that posts have categories/labels associated with them, so that you can see what else I've posted in the related categories.

Well, I up and redid the way Get That Job! looks. I completely redid the template and layout, and I must say, the change looks better. I hope to freshen up the look of all my blogs in the near future.

I recently found out that the Internet Archive has a Wayback Machine, where you can see how websites have changed over time. For example, you can see various incarnations of journeyinsidemymind.com since September 2002. Check it out.



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Daniel Johnson, Jr. - The Blog

I have updated my Blogger Profile to further delineate my super powers. In addition, I have decided to start a new blog (I know, yet another one) where I describe my professional exploits. It's designed to be more of an online portfolio, and I write about specific projects I have worked on, with more technical details than you would find over here:Daniel Johnson, Jr.

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The 2006 Superblessed Christian Blog Awards

A great big welcome to all of you visiting from the 2006 Superblessed Christian Blog Awards page!

For those that are not familiar, Ganns Deen, aka the Official Superblessed Blogger of Journey Inside My Mind, has just released the results of the 2006 Superblessed Christian Blog Awards:

I skipped the nominees this year because I have to mail that medicine box to Project Miracle this weekend. As I mentioned in a previous post, I would like to honor the winners of the Superblessed Christian Blog Awards 2006 by donating medicines to Typhoon Reming’s victims in Bicol in the names of the winners.

The winners of the Superblessed Christian Blog Awards 2006 are selected by sheer virtue of their having blessed me. Regardless of whether their blogs are explicitly Christian in nature or whether they ‘live the life,’ if you will, I wish to honor these phenomenal men and women of Christ, and pray their stars continue to shine brightly as they blog for Jesus. Be superblessed!

Imagine my surprise when, further down, I see this:

The Blog On! Most Superblessed Christian Blog of 2006.
Journey Inside My Mind. This year, I have seen Dan Johnson live his faith out in so many ways, it makes my head spin. When I look at him and see how his joy comes from God, despite things that would have felled lesser men, I am reminded of God’s power and greatness. No man deserves this award better than Dan Johnson, because in everything he does - as he takes us through a journey through his mind, if you will - you can see how Christ fills it up and leads him on. For being his brother in Christ, one of his prayer partners, and his friend, I am superblessed, honored, and privileged to give the Blog On! Superblessed Christian Blog Award 2006 to my friend, Dan Johnson.

How encouraging is that! Here's this young man, who lives literally 12 hours away from me, never having met me in person, saying these nice words about me! Not only that, but he's chosen to honor me and all the other award recipients with a donation to help those whose lives have been turned upside down by Typhoon Reming, which hit the Philippines a couple months ago.

I'm blown away. Here are the comments I left:

Wow. I don't know what to say. I'm blushing. What great company to be among, especially given the history of these awards.

I want to thank the Academy... oh, wait. Wrong speech.

Seriously, though. Thank YOU, Ganns Deen, for being the Official Superblessed Blogger of Journey Inside My Mind! Thank YOU for blessing MY life as well.

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. -- Proverbs 11:25

• 2006 Superblessed Christian Blog Awards
• 2005 Superblessed Christian Blog Awards

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journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm dan+johnson superblessed ganns+deen blog+awards christian+blogs typhoon+reming project+miracle bicol superblessed+christian+blog+awards