I've been awake for just over an hour. I'm wondering if my surgeon is awake or asleep. I'm hoping he is still asleep. I want him to be well rested and fresh. Steady and sure!

I'm number two on the chart this morning. That doesn't surprise me. I've always come in second at best. I've got to report to out patient services between seven and seven-thirty. They predict an hour wait, an hour for the procedure, and the type of anesthesia (general or local) will determine whether I walk out the door immediately or enjoy some of the hospital's hospitality.

I really feel pretty un-informed. I know now what the turkey feels like at Thanksgiving before being carved up. About the only thing I do know is that where they excavate the larger cyst (9" x 5 1/2") they will have to leave drain tubes.

I hope they leave multiples. I've always been a fan of dual exhaust!

By the way, should the surgeon get carried away and mistakenly remove my pea brain, thinking it was a small cyst, I appoint Carol as my guardian! If in the event they mistakenly take my heart (for transplant purposes or whatever) prior to my being through with it, I bequest to her all of what little I have! That'll make you wonder if that would be a reward or punishment.

Krl and I have an agreement about what to do in the event something happens to either of us, much to my mother's dismay. I suppose this procedure should make us realize that this needs to be done officially. I guess this is the first serious realization of our own mortality.

What I would give for a Diet Coke about now. (I've been on restriction since midnight).

I've felt somewhat guilty about the timing of this surgery. Right now I could be a benefit to Pepa or Hag as they are trying to get their farming done, cotton planted and wheat harvested. Yet this past week the knots or cysts have bothered me much more than they ever have. So there is no time like the present!

Did I say how bad I want a Diet Coke?

I think I have covered all the bases at work and at home. I hope so anyway. I sort of stepped into the back ground at work this week. Chris does very well working the counter. David is learning but could be very good. David's biggest problem is that he is young, and that is a problem in itself. Often times instead of Chris acting like he is the boss, he reverts to being an over grown teenager and acts like a "bud" instead. I often tell him that you can't be a boss and a buddy. You can be a boss and a friend.

I talked with our computer support in Atlanta yesterday. Each month we receive a new CD/DVD with updated pricing and product. When the May and then the June updates were installed there were glitches. For May they had to go in and do a system repair. Our updates were installed over the weekend, Monday morning when Chris arrived he booted the system up but it didn't. Atlanta came on line and got us going, but later in the day we noticed some abnormalities. We are spoiled to the computer system. We probably don't have all the essential catalogues and I know we don't have paper price lists, so without the computer we are severely handicapped.

Tuesday morning I was doing some parts maintenance in the computer. Changing inventory levels on some parts, adding bar codes for others, adjusting costs and other sundry tasks! All the sudden I put one part number in. 29450, line code BUT.. When I hit enter the part number changed to83-11812 and the line code changed. I blinked and back tracked, re-entering my information. Same result. When I talked with computer support, Gerald told me what I was reporting was not possible. It made no sense. I wanted to tell him I had better things to do than harass him about non-existing problems. I gave him my computer's IP address and he got in my machine to watch and I demonstrated the reported problem. He sounded a lot like a small child. "Do it again!", he said. "Wow, that's weird". He asked me to hold while he talked with someone else. Finally he told me he was kicking this up to programming because I had a legitimate problem.

Thank goodness. I would hate to be illegitimate.

By the way, he said he would call when the problem was fixed. He never did. And by the way, the problem still persisted when I left.

If the anethesist (sp) can't get me to go to sleep it will be because my mind is still worrying about being illegitimate.

Man, what I would give for a big glass of Diet Coke with ice. Ummm!

Well, I'm going to go run me a hot bath and read and soak. After this morning it will be showers only for the next week. Don't ask me why but reading a book in the shower is just not the same as reading a book in the tub!

Have a day!

FATHER, it's in YOUR hands.