Ken

The very idea of blood clots is one thing that makes me a bit squeamish. This sounds like you were very lucky. Best wishes for no more (and get those pressure socks for your next flight :-)

>A week ago Saturday, I became short of breath and collapsed twice. Both times I came back. Since I felt better afterwards, I did not go to the doctor until last Tuesday. Seems I had a blod clot in my leg (most likely happened while on the flight returning from a mission trip to Panama) and the blod clot partially released and went to my lungs.
>
>Anyway, I am ok now and the stay in the hospital was not all that bad.
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>Thanks for asking.
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>By the way, we met briefly at breakfast at one of the Devcons. My son Alan and I were with you at a table with others including Jim Booth. Sometime later I made a post about Advisor Devcon that some took exception to and you jumped to my defense.
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>At least my memory still works pretty well!
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>Ken
>
>
>>Thank you for the kind words, Ken. My typing seems meaningless compared to your spending a week in the hospital. What were you in for and are you OK? Private is all right if you don't want to blab it to the whole world.
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>>Best wishes for a complete recovery!
>>
>>
>>>Hi Mike,
>>>
>>>A few years ago, I showed one of your more eloquent postings (I cannot remember the topic) to my wife, also an aspiring writer and suggested she emulate you.
>>>
>>>I just spent a week in the hospital and although I had my computer and an internet connection, I did take the time to read a book and, as I read your paragraphs, that authors's name popped into my head.... Dan Brown
>>>
>>>Good luck!!!
>>>
>>>Ken
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>>>
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>>>>I should probably find some writers' group to post this on but I trust the people here. This is more than a bunch of gearheads with a similar technical calling, as came out loud and clear a couple of weeks ago. It's a community in the best sense of the word. I want your honest feedback. Really. Don't be afraid to offend me if you don't like what I am posting. I would rather hear it up front than waste months going down the wrong path.
>>>>
>>>>So here goes. I have mentioned that I have considered a radical career change. I probably didn't mention that the career I have in mind is writing. This is something I have been dabbling with for a while with generally abysmal results. Like a pro golfer's 7 iron onto the green, it's harder than it looks. So here goes. Today I wrote, rewrote, scratched, added, deleted, and wound up with two paragraphs I think are keepers. These are the current opening paragraphs of what I hope to be my first published novel. Please give me your honest feedback, publicly or privately. Thank you for reading!
>>>>
>>>>If you notice more than a passing resemblance to Graham Greene, it is not accidental. I should be so lucky. It happens that one of his best books opens in a graveyard.
>>>>
>>>>Mike
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>On the day Charlie Hess was put in the ground his new widow, Lucinda, dressed in black with a twist. Underneath the trim black Armani suit Charlie bought her after a big score she wore a hot pink garter belt. Per ounce it probably cost more than cocaine. It looked great on her, a view only Charlie had enjoyed. This was the last time she would wear it.
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>>>>A couple hundred yards away George Fisk surveyed the burial as inconspicuously as he could. A cemetery is a good place to go unnoticed. Speaking into a microphone near his shoulder, he took note of who arrived and with whom. Periodically he pretended to pay his respects at the nearest headstone. “Gladys Phillips. 1943 – 2005. Beloved Mother.” He idly wondered who she was and what she meant to those who paid for her gravestone.