Herpes Is The Least Of My Worries

About 25 years ago my then wife gave me the only gift I would ever get to keep. Until a few weeks ago I'd never told anyone about it. Fact is: until a few weeks ago I remained in denial but the flair-up that prompted me to tell Veronica was enough to force me to admit to myself what I've refused to admit since my late twenties.

That's one of the problems with Herpes. For some of us the symptoms are nothing more than an annoyance, easily passed off as a heat rash, infected pimples or other minor irritation. The incidents are few and often years apart and for many of us so minor it's easy to believe them something else.

To those of you who I might have passed Herpes to you have my apologies. Had I admitted the truth to myself I would have been up front with you. Sadly, the person most easily convinced is too often the person doing the lying.

Fact is: At this point in my life Herpes really is the least of my concerns as last week I suffered two very minor strokes.

My first known stroke was July 26, 2004. While I forget a lot it's easy to remember the date as it is also my mother's birthday. My daddy died from a stroke a few days after I returned from the hospital. Until a few months ago I'd managed to control my blood pressure, get in better shape and drop over 30 pounds. At 198 pounds I'm now the lightest I've been since I was 19. I doubt that most 52 year old men or women can say the same.

But something changed back about April and I again started having problems with my blood pressure rising. My doctors tried several different drugs with the results being wildly up and down swings in blood pressure. Some days it dropped so low I almost died, and on other days my readings were so high I was risking more strokes. Last Sunday and last Friday I suffered two minor strokes.

On Monday I started a new drug called, Aggrenox, and while my blood pressure is again normal the side effects were enough to send me home from work early yesterday and keep me home today. I'm told the side effects, abdominal pain, back pain, diarrhea, dizziness, fatigue, headache, indigestion, joint pain, nausea and all over body pains might go away someday. Thankfully, while I've been close the vomiting and bleeding have yet to happen.

But even the side effects of the new drug aren't my biggest concern. Missing work is a big concern. There have been days when I managed Salvage America alone and there is no waymyself, my boss or anyone else can do it alone. On any day when both of us are unable to be in the office much goes undone inside and outside of the office, mistakes are made, customers lost and tensions build. I've access to all the company books so I know the extent of the damage.

Then there's the expensive tests my doctors want me to take. I don't even know what all of them are but I'm told they will cost thousands even after the 55% discount Cone Hospital is offering me. We're a small, young business that is barely scraping by with debts out the wazoo and never enough of anything. Even my boss, his wife and two babies are without medical insurance.

I don't know why this always happens to me. Every time I begin to get on my feet a medical bill knocks me down. I've still not paid off the medical incident that put me down and caused me to loose my home in 2000 or the stroke in 2004 and now this.

Fact is: If it wasn't for the trickle of ad revenue this blog brings in I wouldn't even be able to tell you this.  So you see, Herpes really is the least of my concerns.

Getting My Ass Kicked And Loving It

The day job is kicking my ass. The hours are long and I'm bringing work home.

That said, don't let anyone tell you that BS about there being more stress at the top. As one who has spent his lifetime on the bottom rungs and has only recently moved from the bottom to the top I'm here to tell you that life at the top is far less stressful than life at the bottom.

You see, while those at the bottom are forced to take it those of us at the top are able to do something about it.

Fortunately for the guys who work for me, a few months ago I was one of those guys so I still remember life at the bottom. Their jobs aren't great but I'll do my best to make their jobs easier. They seem to be warming up to me and are giving it back to me.

And so help me don't you ever threaten one of my employees as I will stand toe to toe with anyone who does. I demand that my employees respect our vendors and customers and expect the same from those with which we're doing business. Ask the last guy who tried it.

Now if you don't mind I need to balance the books.

Recycling Your Junk Car Might Not Be Green

Or The Greenest Way Pays You The Most !

One of my duties at my day job is to supervise the purchasing of junk cars that we send away to metals recyclers who reprocess the old metals into new metals. And while it feels good to be working in a green industry, some of what I see is very disturbing and hardly green.

For starters, most of those guys who go around buying your old cars are doing horrible damage to the environment and many are simply dangerous to themselves and everyone else. Most of those guys DON'T safely dispose of waste oil, transmission fluid, antifreeze and Freon. Most of those guys pollute the air, soil and water with the many dangerous chemicals that are found in modern automobiles with no regards as to the damage their doing to our wildlife, drinking water and the air we breath.

It's against the law to remove insulation from wire by burning the wire but they do it anyway.

It's against the law to dump oil, antifreeze, gasoline and other automotive fluids on the ground, in streams, storm drains or into sewer systems but they do it anyway.

It's illegal to vent Freon into the air we breath but they do it anyway.

It's illegal to dump old tires and trash found in cars but they dump it so they won't have to pay for disposal.

And most of them don't care that I know what they're doing because they know I can't do anything about it.

But you can do something about it by not selling your junk car to disreputable car junkers and by selling your junk car directly to licensed salvage recycler.

In Greensboro, North Carolina, one such licensed salvage dealer is Salvage America. Selling your car directly to a licensed salvage recycler instead of your run of the mill junk man will not only help the environment but will also put more money in your pockets. After all, who do you think the junk man eventually sells your car to?

Greensboro Thieves Caught In The Act

My first task after arriving at work this morning was to catch 3 thieves in the act of committing grand theft and larceny. No, I didn't do a lot but sometimes it doesn't take a lot to catch 3 crooks.

Free Tires For Your Car!

From my day job blog: Free tires for cars and light trucks with no strings attached.

Also, if you know any artists who work with scrap metal please tell them there's now another scrap metal dealer in town-- one who appreciates art and really wants their business.

Free Golf Balls

Over at the day job blog we're giving away free golf balls. No strings, just golf balls.

Is Your Air Conditioner Safe?

At work today I met a man who told me he has paid for repairs on the same central air conditioning unit on the same commercial building located in east Greensboro on no less than 6 occasions and that even though the damage is caused by aluminum and copper theft he doesn't bother to call the Greensboro Police Department because he believes it a waste of time to call them. His lowest repair bill to date was over $1,400.oo.

At my new job I buy scrap metal including copper and aluminum of the kinds thieves steal from air conditioners and plumbing. While I don't want to buy stolen merchandise it is very hard to prove a piece of copper pipe is actually stolen and to make accusations of that nature would be a sure fire way to run sellers to our competition.

In the past we've worked with police to help solve this problem and we always comply with North Carolina state laws requiring photo IDs from everyone we buy scrap metal from, including sellers of aluminum beer and soft drink cans. We will happily work with police in the future giving them access to anything we have without the need for warrants.

On occasion, scrap metals are stolen from us and we've no doubt that at one time or another we have bought scrap metals that were stolen from us. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Over the holiday weekend vandals shot the windows out of our Mack truck. Windows cost over $200.oo each. We always call the police whenever a crime is committed and encourage others to do the same as not reporting crime makes your neighborhood appear to be safer than it really is. That said, I can understand the frustration of the man I met today.

To learn more about my new job visit SalvageAmerica.us.

Greensboro's Bicycle Junkyard

Over at the day job blog is an announcement that Salvage America is opening Greensboro's first bicycle junkyard.

$2.00 A Gallon Gasoline

Blogsboro reader, Hugh, sent me this link so I posted it to my day job blog with the title, Salvage America Reduces The Cost Of Gasoline.

Blogging is one of the many things I do at Salvage America (I'm the guy you're most likely to do business with if you happen by.) and my personal blog is what got me the job in the first place. Maybe I finally managed to do something right.

By the way, next week we'll have several bicycles that we saved from the crusher and repaired, available for sale-- cheap.