Just Ask Alice

Michelle, Helping the Goal Out

http://www.fnchiropractic.com/





Approximately eight years ago, I had to re-up my goals. I have this prayer/goal journal and I realized that most of what I had in it was either outdated and my orientation shifted or I had accomplished what I set out to do. I have to admit that, as of now, I have not kept up with the journal. But I do have goals set in my head. The latest accomplishment has been to bank on this goofy housing market.


(By the way, we keep hearing about how bad things are today in the economy. One thing I don't understand is that things are soooo bad; but why are these abandoned houses off the market with a good buyer in such a short period of time if things are so awful? Corrections are being made by the people and this ain't being covered by your mass media.)

When I revamped my goal settings, I had to decide on personal items/things to procure/conquer and added a twist which I hadn't given much thought before. The twist was simple: Meet people. Meeting people can be intimidating for some. We live in a society today where many of us don't even know our neighbors. Tell you what, your representatives, athletes, movie stars, rockstars are all like you and me.

One guy I had on my list was Alice Cooper. I found out all this stuff about Alice when I moved to the valley. He is extremely charitable, likeable and full of energy. So I began my quest by frequenting his restaurant whenever I got the chance - lunches, dinners, before games. I asked about when he might show and came this close (fingers length) to calling him on his radio show. Just before I got to this breaking point, my girlfriend at the time, Michelle, told me about a book signing with Alice. I was there. I was the only guy dressed up for the occasion. Michelle joked about this and told about my "stalking" him and Alice laughed. He also let me know where his favorite seat is at Cooperstown. Cool.











The meeting people list is so easy. It takes a lot of watching stuff and taking things in to accomplish the goal. Just being observant. I already do this with my work so have some experience but it is so easy to just put your head under a rock as well. Experience can be generated by doing something as simple as going to the mall or sitting on a patio with expectancy in watching things happen. This doesn't cost much, is relaxing and therapeutic even. It brings to mind the Psalm or Proverb, "Be still and know that I am God". Not really sure when much of us are all that still anymore. Always something going on. Maybe missing something important, you know.

The first guy I met who I knew was different and I recorded his name in my journal was Mr. Potter. I was in Vegas at House of Blues in a forty minute line and had to pee. I got this idea and went up to the doorman, shook his hand and asked him, one muscle guy to another, if he would let me in when I got back from the restroom. He said we'll see.


I got back from depositing the golden stream and my friend, doorman Joe, politely refused my premature entrance. It was worth a shot.

I waited in line for about five minutes and saw this guy go up to the doorman. I kind of thought to myself that, "hey, he's doing the same thing I did". So I went to the front and the newbie is shelling out a few hundreds from a wad to the doorman. He was asking, "how much is it going to take?". I looked at Potter, then the doorman and back at Potter. "I'm with him." Mr. Potter looked at me and said he didn't know me. I put out my hand, introduced myself, we shook and I got his name. Now we know each other. About five hundreds later we were escorted past the rose colored velvet rope and down the stairs. If I ever work a door again, I'm doing it in Vegas. Way way way great!


My new friend, it turned out was extremely well known. Before I knew it, we had the red carpet treatment, women surrounding us and an open bar. When Potter went off somewhere in the club, I got to talk to his driver, Frank. Turned out that Mr. Potter was a billionaire and was in Vegas on a whim and a weekend just for kicks and to check on some property. Frank, the driver, was a pretty cool cat and went everywhere with Mr. Potter.


Near the end of our night together, I got to talk to Mr. Potter, one on one. I asked him how to do what he has done. He said he was often in the right place at the right time. That he had the good fortune of being lucky. He asked me some questions: city where I live, do I like my profession, and do I believe in debt making money. Well, he told me to get out of Tulsa should be one of my priorities. And then to learn managing of people and to not let debt scare me from making potential return of investment decisions. To act quickly and boldly. We decided to call it a night, I got Mr. Potter's number and made a new friend.

Getting out of Tulsa needed to be my greatest priority because the city/town lacks a population where chances are slim as far as overall opportunity to be in the right place at the right time to get to know the right people where good luck might rain. I took his advice and made sure to not forget. It took me about seven years to finally act on his advice. After I had built my house in Oklahoma, it was extremely difficult to consider leaving when my practice was in motion and there was nowhere else to go excepting starting again from scratch. But I finally did it. There are some regrets and I live with them. There are more plusses than minuses. Name that book: "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" by Susan Jeffers.

That Vegas weekend I went with friends Fred and Kim. Fred's in restaurant management and Kim has real estate license but waits tables still. I kind of (well, not kind of) ditched them waiting in the forty minute line in order to have my all night meeting with Mr. Potter. I got to see Fred and Kim dance on the floor while I received VIP treatment. I didn't feel bad about ditching them because they just weren't watching.


The next night I ended up at Hard Rock and then at Caesar's. HR was okay and I saw some people I knew were celebs. I only knew this due to witnessing a couple posses. At Caesar's it was way cool. I saw a bunch of guys who looked fun and began chatting with them. It turned out that they were L.A. Dodgers out goofing around. I'm pretty sure it was during a short break in the season. Didn't know, didn't ask. The Dodgers are fun guys to hang out with. Funny thing I noticed in being around them was that they all had the expensive watch and nice/casual clothes but they were wary of sticking more than a nickel or quarter in a slot. When the spare change floating around in the pockets was gone, they were mostly about just hanging tight around the stage and that was actually pretty good to see. Just a bunch of guys like you and me cautious about their hard-earnings.



Wish I were more of a picture-taker sometimes. So it goes.

Patients and Patience and Anitas of the World

http://www.fnchiropractic.com


This is Tritia from my previous posting. She's actually blonde, but experimented for one time in her life. Tritia is blonde again. She's hot.


I have only two shirts with stuff on them. One was a gift and says San Diego with a little surf guy. The other one has my name and info on it. Quite a while ago I decided that no one should go around with all this crap written all over their stuff. My thinking is that these companies who make stuff with all their names and emblems all over your shirt should be paying you to wear their stuff. Or wild discounts should be made on such adornments. I do have a few shirts with small emblems, but that is my limit. I only have these because they fit well otherwise I would prefer no emblem but, rather, my monogram of choice. Preferably my initials. Its my shirt, my initials.



As of now I have treated thousands of people with chiropractic and delivered that many adjusments. There are some chiros out there who take offense when others may call our work "cracking". Often these types want to explain subluxation and specific chiropractic adjustment or possibly CMT. I really don't mind the term cracking and prefer to talk about joint out of place and nervous system interference and what this does to a person's being. It just seems nice and simple to me and more similar to something people understand better. Its easier to relate something as complex as the nervous system to the simplicity of a pinched hose and no water.

Out of all the people I've treated I often try to think of someone I just didn't like. Can't think of one. I care about my people. They are living, breathing, have ups and downs, crawl in and walk out. People like you. People like me. And everyone is truly unique. I strive to make sure that I keep my patients. This doesn't always happen. It can be very difficult to adequately convey to someone the importance in understanding that a weak link will always be a weak link and must be maintained in order to prevent further deterioration. Due to our symptom and pain related culture, usually many wait until the deterioration is too great. Then its patch patch patch. That job is tougher on you and its tougher on me. And it costs more. I offer my patients true value, caring hands and heart and fun atmosphere and relationship. In my opinion these cannot be beat in healthcare as we know it today.

Okay.
She drove up one day and parked outside my office. The car was an old, beat up, light blue Ford Tempo which looked like something might fall off the thing at any moment it was driven on the Tulsa streets. She stepped out of the vehicle and walked into my office. Anita. The sign above the office said "Back Out, Pop In" and had this pain girl/spine picture which looked eerily like my ex-wife. Anita liked the sign, I guess. She wore old ratty dress heels, a vintage seventies dress and smelled like she may actually hold a job at Goodwill as well as shop there. I think Kristen was the assistant then.

Anita 'splained that she drove over from another chiro office which refused her service on some kind of chump-like explanation like they were not taking new patients. I have yet to find an office which will not accept new patients and most are able to see them on the same day. I interviewed Anita. She was legitimately in need. She had Medicare. I don't do government problems like Medicare. Anita had no money. Her son was schizophrenic and autistic.

Anita's full time jobs were taking care of her mother, controlling her son and failing attempts at higher education. She was let go of her last job for some reason or another. I decided to treat the lady. Then I also knew that she required regular ongoing treatment after checking her out. Her body was just kind of all over. I also figured I may be her last ditch since she was already turned away from one place that I knew of. I began treatment after exam/x-ray: roller, stim, adjustment. Most people over 45 yoa you just have to x-ray or else you're pretty much possibly working blind without knowing extent of degeneration and previous elements left from past injury. No one discloses full history and no one remembers much of their physical history. Many do not even know that what they have done to themselves actually caused damage. I don't remember what I ate for breakfast.

To begin with Anita took off her heels. Kind of stinky. Well, not kind of. My work is done in open bay. Take your zapatos off, thats okay, I understand. When it got to be my turn and her arms came down there was hair. And more odiferous delight. The hair was interesting. I couldn't quite tell if she just lapsed at a shave or if she wasn't too hairy. I couldn't get a clear picture from the ankle hairs since that was an obvious lapsed shave. Adjustment was performed.

When I was treating Anita that first time, I was thinking that there had to be some way I could charge this person. I have a belief in no charity and people then place value in a job well done. No fare, I've found, yields minimum commitment and vague appreciation. There are exceptions, but few. One time in a spelling bee my brother, Tommy, misssssspelled the "C" word. Often I joke with patients that if they don't like co-pay, then I like chocolate chip cookies. Well, I didn't really want cookies from Anita. It may sound mean, but I sort of envisioned her as the possible cat-lady you read about in the paper who is ordered by city sanitation to give up her cats and clean the house or be condemned. I couldn't risk the cookie joke for fear that Anita would take it as literal statement and waste her time making me up a fresh batch slaving over something which would go uneaten.

After treatment I got an idear. Dem idears sometimes I has ta write 'em down quick-like ors else I might never ever 'member dem dere thangs. Us'ns 'n' we'ns wouldn't like dat.
My idea went like this. Give Anita homework. So I did. The homework went like this: You do your homework and come back in one week with it complete and we're friends. You don't do the homework then I yell at you and we're not friends until the next week when you complete the new homework. Anita's standing appointment was Wednesdays at 3pm. She kept her appointments and, the few she missed, I refused explanation. She did her homework.

Her chores were something of the following nature: I wrote down the chores on a blank sheet of paper and made a copy for myself which went into her file. The agreement was that she would complete the sheet in writing on what she did and return it on next visit with her signature. I would put the completed sheet in her file and toss my copy. The items needed to be done were constructed by myself. The ideas surrounded building up Anita and, hopefully, lift her shattered self-esteem. On return visits, Anita's spirits were generally rising and there became less poor me stuff. It was really pretty neat.

My demands included three to five items per assignment. An example of duties always included reading two Bible passages which I would pick out. Sometimes I did that open the book and wherever the finger points....and other times I was more specific on what I wanted her to read. I also always included a walk-a-day at least one time around the block. I would sometimes add that she had to smile during her entire exercise time. The other parts of assignment were mish-mash. Like I discovered that Anita enjoyed comedies and so I put in there to watch a comedy at least one time during the week. I would have her write down 25 times on a piece of paper something like "I am a great person and am made in righteousness" or "I have a great life and there is no one like me". Stuff like that. When I found out something new about Anita, it would be applied to her homework. My Anita list grew.

It was kind of funny because I began to look forward to her visits. The homework thing was fun. And I'm a smell/nose/olfactory conscious person. Of course, the second that she left my office I sprayed the place down and the assistant wiped down the tables. Oust is pretty cheap and a good product. I have fun spraying it, too. I often even spray down people's feet if it really is that bad. The last real bad one was this guy who I don't think ever washed his feet and he had an ankle problem I was treating. Spray 'em down. Guy got the name of smelly foot. My previous assistants thought this was kind of hysterical as they never saw their doctors being so forward in spraying down someone. Snickering assistants are fun. A lot of people know if their feet smell; its no mystery.

Okay. Anyway. Anita was a keeper. At the end of her first year, she made somewhere in the area of 20 visits. I had this file on her which was pushing go-for-broke in its girth weighted down by all this completed homework. I gave this some thought and, oh! 'Nother idear. Geez, where do these thar thangs come from? I hole-punched her year's work and placed it in date order in a binder. Labeled it "Anita's Chiropractic Homework". Gave it to her as a christmas present. I think she was pretty proud of that. Shoot, it may have been her only christmas gift that year. I don't really know and didn't ask.

The story is not over. My creative (genius) went on and Anita continued through two assistant changes. One of them, Jackie, worked for a bit and, on about the second Anita visit under Jackie's command, I was asked about the story on this one. Jackie got to know me through her care and a car crash. She came back to me when some hard times, a stalker husband, and divorce with three kids was occurring. I told Jackie that Anita probably had nowhere else to go and was just a broken spirit which required lifting. Anita began to get more attention in the office. And Jackie disappeared after a little bit. Turned out that the husband thing turned pretty bad and Jackie had to hide out and protect her kids. Pretty cool kids, by the way.

I got another assistant. Ads can be so expensive. Every once in a while one of Jackie's kids would come in for care and it was usually her son. He was a pretty tough and top-rated football player. Fast, too. Chiropractic improved his game and he would usually come in when I would have some of the Arena players in getting treated which he thought was pretty neat. I would get a report on the family and move on. Finally a long amount of time passed and Jackie came into the office to say hi. It may have been a year or so. She was always a kind of bright light. Always smiley and these beautiful big brown eyes. We got to sit down and talk and she was dating some guy and all this and that. Cool. And, you know what? Anita rolls into the parking area with her blue bomber Ford Tempo clattering away and she came lumbering through my office door. Jackie lights up and looks at me all amazed and stuff and she just had a good laugh. Time to work. Jackie knew the process well. Get the spray can handy, roller table, stim, adjust, Anita out the door, spray, spray, spray, clean the tables.

Q45 Love Affair

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Distinctly I remember a few things my grandparents directly taught me. My grandma taught me about stocks and benefits of dividends. She also told me to learn Spanish and she taught me the Lord's Prayer in Finnish. She is fluent in Finn and Spanish. My grandpa taught me poker. The one other thing was a statement on dating from my grandpa. He said, "Scott, if she sleeps with you on the first date, dump her". My grandma is alive, grandpa is dead. I used to just really enjoy hanging around them. They were simple and easy and watching them work was inspiring.

Just figured out I can drop pictures on this thing.

A few years ago I purchased a Q45 on ebay. It was one of the best cars I've owned. The car started off in New Jersey as a one owner and I suspect it was a bargain because it was probably a headache. I don't really know as it was never a bad car for me. The Q was always good to me. My cousin, Tritia, now has it and I gave it to her in April of last year. She's angry at me over the car. I've also been told that my favorite uncle Mike is also angry over it, but this was said by my mom who often seems to be losing the cheese off her cracker. So, not sure about his anger as I would think he's sensible enough to know that I thought I was gifting my cousin with what I thought was a totally great vehicle although it was definitely used and a '91 car.

So here's the deal with this Infiniti. I flew out of Tulsa at 9am on a Saturdayand made it to Laguardia by 6pm EST. Long travel day. The planes were way cool. I love those that have around eleven seats across and you can't tell the beginning or end in the length from the inside. Cab drive to Bayonne was twelve miles and took almost an hour and cost a little less than a Ben Franklin. Just stepping into the cab at the airport started the tab at $50.

Dropped at the address of the Q45, I was tired from all day travel, but very excited.

The son of the owner took my cash after showing me the car and this thing was cool and looked as fast as I expected. I asked the guy if there was anything I should know about the vehicle since I intended on driving it about 1200 or so miles to Tulsa. He said it was all good and he then said that we needed to go out and make a receipt copy. I thought this a bit strange since I witnessed the all-in-one on his desktop outside the kitchen. Tell you what, this guy drove like a maniac in my car. He tore up all sorts of streets all over Bayonne and kept making excuses about different places he thought had copiers but ended up not. Finally after about one half hour and the clock nearing 9pm, he called it quits while jamming at 70 down a 25 street and decided he could go with a written copy and signature. I dropped him off at his house and proceeded to the Penn Turnpike/Thruway.

When I made this "miraculous" purchase I decided it was from God. Goofy maybe, but that's how it is. So I started the journey first by praying over my great buy and screaming fast green battleship. I prayed for safe journey and that this car may last a lifetime if I so needed. The trip from Jersey to Tulsa is beautiful. You pass by all these amazing things like the RCA dome, St. Louis arch, the green of Pennsylvania, all sorts of things. The drive is also long especially when you don't speed excepting the number of occasions when you just sort of "test" the pickup. You know, just to make sure that the wind doesn't hold you back and stuff when you know you need that extra speed in a pinch. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if I got up to only about 120 mph a coupla times. It was for safety reasons that I averaged 95 most of the journey. Naturally.

I made it home within 24 (or less) hours. About every hour or so I made it to the garage to make sure the Q was still there. Opening and closing the garage door so I could see it in the light and check out how magnificent it looked against the outside and open background. Wow! A car finally bought outright with no payments and it had everything - right down to the amplified Bose which massaged your back when you turn it up and powered that bass. So cool. Amazing.

I made it to work the next Monday and the car started to cry. At lunch I took the car home to check out where the tears were coming from and then it really started to weep. Anti-freeze saturated the drive and the belt to waterpump was off. I put the thing back on and it just wouldn't stick. Paul came over and we were both perplexed - its just a belt, what the heck. We were able to drive the short 2 or 3 miles to Infiniti dealer and Paul struck a deal with the service guys he was familiar with.

It turned out that the water pump recently installed was an inch shorter than the pump which belongs on the vehicle. I have no idea how the belt ever stayed on as long as it did. I know I prayed over a safe journey and know my prayer was answered. I also figured out why that guy drove like a Nascar driver all over Bayonne, New Jersey. He was testing what he knew was wrong after learning of my loooong trip. Crazier things.

Got the pump fixed and everything was good as new. I continued to make sure and pray over my Q45. I (no kidding) probably prayed over it every time I drove and also thanked God for such a gift. I was influenced in prayer over such objects when I once heard Bob Yandian talk about how he believes in God for prime parking spots, longer wearing tires and better gas mileage.

About one week went by and I left office around dusk (This is November '05, by the way) and got in the beautiful car. Now, I have to tell you this - generally I'm not that stupid, sometimes goofy-stupid and calculated stupid, but not common sense stupid that often. So, yeah, I got in the car and the emergency brake light was on. I must have kicked it or something when I last got out of the seat. I pulled on a few levers and stuff and, after about seven pulls, finally turned off the blaring red light. My routine was to hop on the freeway and skate home the next few miles to 91st from 61st. I entered freeway and hit 70mph in flat time, got a lane over and....bam! Friggin' hood went straight up into the front shield. Geez, I couldn't believe it! I thought this only happened in comedy movies. I was close to laughing, but putting my head out the side window made my teeth chatter and I was in rush hour traffic and I had to act quickly. People slowed down, I pulled over and bent the hood down which put a couple little creases perpendicular to the hood and the latch did seem to still work and the aft edges of the thing were a little bent. Windshield was fine.

Umm...I decided to take sidestreets home and did around 25mph. All these things went through my head. Faulty latch? Any recalls? Bad hood? Driver error? I stuck on driver error. I went through all my actions and also thought about the pump which was just worked over. Between 81st and 91st and Mingo all of a sudden I remembered the levers I pulled in attempt to release E-brake. Ah, I suddenly hit 60 and made it home a minute later and looked for the latch release. Shoot, I must have pulled that thing about six times before I finally got what I was looking for. I figured I'm glad the Q is paid for and had a new adventure on my done list. I really don't advise anyone to intentionally do the hood flip adventure. Its kind of dangerous. But its all good.

When I gave away this car, it was a very sad trip to Vegas for me. Our farewell trip. I did it because I knew Tritia wanted something more dependable, the a/c was not all that great and I didn't want to deal with it and I was juggling three autos. Out of the three cars two had great a/c (in Arizona) and the J was another fabulous deal and the convertible is totally fun. I disclosed to Tritia all the work I had done and, to me, the car was basically new and all set up to run another 100,000 miles or more given the Infiniti reputation. The only thing I forgot to mention was my praying over the car and my constant petting of the vehicle and telling it how nice it is to me and how privileged I am to have been picked to be its owner. I attempted calls and emails to check up on my baby and friend and there was no response. From what I understand, Tritia had problem after problem from the start of her ownership. I feel badly about this but it was pretty much out of my hands. This made me a bit concerned also since my favorite, auntie Pam, said something to the effect that she would kill me if the car didn't work out. At least that's how I took her statement. And I wouldn't ever want to disappoint my auntie Pam.

Before the Q45's great send-off, I changed the oil, added its favorite oil additive (greased lightning), rotated the tires, checked all fluid levels, gave a thorough exterior washing and polish and painstakingly burned many of my favorite cd's for Tritia to listen to on her trip home from Vegas. I didn't drive it on the stay in LV and Elsie and I lost the car in the hotel garage. I looked for about twenty minutes and ended up at a blackjack table. Elsie kept looking and found the vehicle. She was pretty ticked to find me at the tables while she searched for almost two hours. I think she was more angry about my high-fiving the cute Thai lady next to me and I had to hear her say, "We go now". What can I say, I was winning and its Elsie's J-O-B to take care of me. We left and met up down the street with Tritia and her boyfriend and it was farewell. I just about cried watching Tritia's car drive off - without me.

Out on a Limb

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http://www.bionicdoc.com
http://www.85224chiro.com


And you don't know what to do.
Out on a limb.
And He's waiting there for you.

Ha, old song which came to mind.
Another one which brought me to attention was at E3Scottsdale on Sunday.

Celebrate this heartbeat by Stonehill. Randy is the best. I don't know how pastor Brad got me to think about this song, but his preaching has really begun to take life. I'm so thrilled to wake up on Sunday just to get to church. Its a great day. Then, seeing the Cardinals going to the SB is outrageous. Can't wait to watch the next game.

I've been around the sports stuff for quite some time now. When I've treated these guys, there's something I watch for. The IR, how the guys are moving and the logistics surrounding intervals of training/rest. Coach with the Cards got something down. I saw the rest interval and our losses and we just may see a big fat W. That's W for WINNER. Pitt is extremely tough, though. Only thing is that I see the Steelers playing with broken ankles and a whole lot more hurt than what the Cards have. This next game will be interesting dependent upon who has the heart. That's all these guys are playing with now at this point in the season. AZ does have a more healed up team, though, to go along with the heart. I also believe that we have some tricks up our sleeves. In the Cardinal's first two to three games some things were tested. Coach brought a few things out of the bag as testing period and then we didn't see any more as the bag wasn't needed for us to get to playoffs. I saw that this was a real team and we'll see come SB Sunday. If I were to bet, I'm going Arizona. I even visited the training center to entertain my thoughts on the team and I realized that the Cardinals are no party-errrrs and that we are now all business. That's good news considering that I've witnessed other teams where the main guys are up the night before closing down the local shindig bar and expected to "perform" at a higher level the next day. Over ten years ago I witnessed this with Pitt and don't think the core team has changed. I expect that the Steelers will goof around way more than AZ during the next two weeks.

Okay, thats my thought(s) for the SuperBowl. My latest maneuver on stocks is most likely for GE in about one week. Pretty certain I will allocate funds to this location and put a sell staked at 24-25 at time of purchase. In about 4-6 months this will probably go through. It may go longer, but I think the big Obama deal will post winnings at GE. I'm also re-locating the Cuervo to healthier aspects like Marvel as the number one investor has gone dry for well over the past ten months.

P.S. Just another note. I've been out marketing for my office in the Chandler area. A lot of closed offices out there. Three of them are chiropractic offices and its kind of sad. I knew one of the offices and, you know, they really opened up to just close down. Overhead was so high that I didn't know how these people were going to make it. Turns out they didn't. I hope these things will turn for the better.

Lepper and Moller

http://www.fnchiropractic.com/


Well, its been a while. I've been very busy with whatnots and wheretos. Last thing was another pigroast and a whole lotta mushkatka. Really fun stuff and I love the many pigroasts. Great stuff.

I am currently doing quite a lot of stuff with sub-ing at different offices as well as building a great clientele in my own office. My latest patient has a huge roofing business and, if you want his #, its Desert Roofing and he is genuine. When you request his #, I will gladly send it out. Haven't posted for a bit as have been busy acquisitioning foreclosures and I will be moving into a place near to the office. Its pretty cool. Two story place with windows and fireplace and fairly large. I'm not sure, but a cleaning lady is probably in store for the thing. I've always wanted the fairly simple and this monster is a little off my beaten path. But it is worth much for little and thats good.

Lepper and Moller. I was briefly in an office when first moved to the valley. Lincoln Chiropractic owned by John Lepper. A joke I heard was, "Well, we have a Lepper and now there's a Moller." The place was good. It attracted patients like flies and was pretty okay. I really like Dr Lepper and he is very outstanding. When I left after close to two months I had a number of things which I took with me. There were many patients who tracked me down and they are still my patients today. I never "stole" them as I don't do this. They came to me. One said that they felt Dr Lepper was intimidated and thought I was better. I have a difficult time believing that, but anyway, these were reports. Dr Lepper, in my opinion, is tops.

When I started at Lincoln, I began to have people who would make appointments only when I was there and Doc was not. This was a little uncomfortable but I accepted it. One of these guys was actually named George Bernard Shaw just like the Nobel winner. He was white, though, not black. Shared the same name. I figure its okay for me to say the name since its the name of a well-known and many may actually have that name. So, George, I had to ask after seeing him the second time...."how did you land this name?" George is a highly accomplished, exceptionally wealthy, old man. Every visit he would come in and say this, "I suffer from something very very bad. The name of the impairment is......old age." George made his wealth off of land and development of commercial property. Very smart codger. Very much like another of Dr Lepper's guys named Rik. Very smart people.

So, anyway. George B Shaw. It wasn't his real name. In kindergarten his first day, George had to stand up and say his name. He stood up and said his name: Gaylord. The whole class snickered. This was probably in about or around the early 1920's. Even then, I guess, Gaylord was something for kids in kindergarten to snicker about. So the next day of kindergarten, the process was repeated and, you know what Gaylord did? Stand up, name: George. No snickering. George B Shaw never was Gaylord again. He never had a legal name change, but throughout life has signed document after document as George. Everything. The name to his buildings, houses, cars. Younameits. George.

He's a very funny guy. Came in with a walker due to a dystrophic disease and it was always a joy to see him come in. He usually called ahead to make sure I was there. The last Saturday that I ever treated him was almost prophetic. You see, what I did with him was special. I treat everyone with special care, but I made sure that he was exclusive. I could tell with George that something was made of gold and so I took careful attention to involve him with probably a good thirty minutes of talk. So, on our last visit, he told me that he was headed for Sun City. This is Arizona talk of the grand retirement community where old ladies take dogs for walks while riding in golf carts. So here's what George told me. He said that he can't wait for the day that he calls for his appointment and finds that I am no longer working out of Dr Lepper's offices. George said that I am better than the office I was in and he wanted to see me get out. It was something hearing this guy say these things. I'm still not sure if I understand it. You know what? That week I was gone. I really miss George. I really miss a lot of patients I've treated over the years. George never tracked me down the way some others did, but I'm willing to give my left leg if he didn't call at some point and find that I had moved on. I think he was very pleased that morning.

sm

Razors, toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant

http://www.fnchiropractic.com/

Hi.
Today, I decided to be Superman. No kidding. Five new patients scheduled did not motivate me enough to get going out of the sleep phase. I had to do something fun so I put that little curl on my forehead and wore a form-fitting shirt to show my proportions. It was the curl which transformed me. I even pasted it with hairspray so it would glisten. No kidding, I was then Superman. So I "flew" off in my Saab built by jet engineers. Only problem was I couldn't fly too fast because of all the stinking cameras now all over the freeways. I got to fly at 55.

Razors, toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant. I haven't bought any of that for well over one to two years now. Its because I stocked up. I actually have bought some toothpaste, but it hasn't cost much of anything. I buy it at the dollar store.

Deodorant, I found a good Adidas brand made by a major company. It was on sale for a third of the regular price and discontinued by Walgreens and I bought about fifteen of them at the time in three different scents. I bought so many since it was a great buy and good brand and I know I will use it and it doesn't go bad. All just deodorant and no anti-perspirant. I used to have sweaty pits until I figured something out. My pits were chemically reacting to anti-perspirant additives like aluminum and zinc. In 1997, I went to straight deodorant, and, voila, no more sweaty pits and ring around the shoulder. I rotate the three scented deodorants I have and they dominate the bottom of the medicine cabinet.

My toothbrush I purchased about two years ago is an Oral-B sonic brush and it gives me a great clean. Only problem was the extreme cost of brush refills. About the same cost of the wand for two replacement brushes. I couldn't believe that one. I went to ebay and purchased about twenty of the refills for about ten bucks and still have two years to go before another buy. Not too bad. Ebay - my hero.

My toothpaste. I don't like any one paste on the market and most tubes are in the three dollar range. A little over a year ago I got to thinking about this while lazing in the pool. I decided to do my own formula for what I wanted. I got a small container out of the kitchen which is never used. I'm not even sure why Rubbermaid puts those really little tubs in their boxes of 18 sized tubs and lids. I think its for those inclined to mix up their own toothpaste. After that, I went to the dollar store and bought a variety of name brand larger sized pastes and a few boxes of baking soda. I squeezed out one third of the tubes of three different pastes and added a quarter box of baking soda into my Rubbermaid toothpaste holder. Mixed everything up with a Q-Tip and finally enjoyed a great toothpaste. My latest mix turned out purple as I used a red cinnamon tube by Pepsodent. Turned everything purple and now I have a dinosaur paste any kid would love.

Razors. Thats a perplexing one. I remember a discussion I once had with my brother over how quickly the things dull and sometimes get scratchy. I think at the time the consensus was that the metal deteriorates due to banging it against the sink. I think we were wrong. Then I remember reading in the book, Coyotes, how many Mexicans will go over six months with the same razor. I didn't know how a good shave could ever be gotten that way.
My favorite three are the Mach 3 and Quattro and Lady Quattro. You know how much the refills cost? Something like ten to thirteen dollars for four depending on which blades. I used to go through a blade maybe once a week, give or take a few days. Expensive.
So I started looking. I bought four of those Infinity razors. Lame lame lame. Worst blade yet. Before getting them in the mail, I was all excited and I grew a five day beard so I could test the best blade ever. Well, at least the free meat cleaver is comparable to my Henckels.
The different razors got me thinking, though. I finally got a close look at the blades after a few shaves and noticed the clutter inside. It wasn't broken metal and, also, possibly not even dulled. A bunch of hair in there - stuck inside and between. The water pressure out of the sink was not doing the job and violently shaking and tapping in a basin didn't do it. I attempted to rinse the blades out with the kitchen shooter and it does not direct forceful enough flow to clean much.
I went extreme. Purchased a directional flow flexible shower extension. Cleans the blades flawlessly. On ebay I purchased multiples of my favorite blades a while ago and I don't foresee having to ever buy the things again for a long, long, long time.

My first office and ebay mostly

www.fnchiropractic.com

I've been forced by unseen evidence to remember good circumstance in order to avail myself to fight bad circumstance. I have a good list which overpowers a bad list. In this little excerpt I identify the good in my practices.

I started my initial practice in Tulsa with no fortitude. It was luck, graciousness, ebay and reality which fueled what it is I do.

My first office was on Garnett Road. I was gifted by Dr. Smith with equipment. Adjusting tables, intersegmental traction tables, e-stims. That was a start. I already owned therapy tables which I purchased in KC from a deceased chiropractor. I was set for a bit. Had a computer and purchased software on a budget where EZ-Bis took in payments over ten months for a thousand or so. I purchased an ultrasound unit for $1200 from a local company which later went out of business. I moved to an office and had to change. Dr. Kats gifted me with a desk, office chairs and furniture and his time. A dentist friend gifted me with office chairs and file cabinets.
My introduction to ebay was in purchasing an x-ray machine and processor. Went to New York on Long Island to pick up x-ray. Went to Long Island over a weekend with a girl who never seemed to sleep. Got a guy to set up the unit on the side of his brother's business and my total was $1400 for a $10000 project. The x-ray was paid for by my travel and time and I made it up in about two to three days. My first processor, I had to pick up outside San Antonio and the total for that rivaled half the cost of my actual x-ray machine. On ebay I ended up buying another processor from Branson which I picked up and that was about two years after my initial processor. The automatic processor is very important and probably the biggest headache in x-rays. That can get expensive. That second AFP was a total of $400 plus my gas and time to drive to Branson. The first processor was gas, time and about $700. The actual cost was so much because I got auction anxiety and I refused to let someone outbid me. It wasn't a good buy.
Another all-time ebay purchase for me was for therapy equipment. This company in Fort Scott, KS expanded their facility and I banked. They are a non-profit organization and put a bunch of stuff up on ebay. I won on three bids and requested to pick up personally. The items I won were for about $450 and they were two stim units and one combo which were worth new about $15000. When I went to Fort Scott to pick the stuff up, I was in the middle of a fire sale. Everything had to go. I looked at the size of my Chrysler LHS and all the stuff and systemacally loaded up. Couldn't see out the rearview mirror and only spent an additional $150 on things like extra ortho products, med desks, pictures, therapy desks and stim units. That was totally cool. Total bank. My office was transformed.
Ebay got me therapeutic pictures, clinical diagnostic tables and therapy tables at a fraction of the cost. X-ray film? Ebay. Hundreds of films for pennies. I even bought tons of cassettes and then re-sold them. Top quality Kodak, Fuji and AGFA. I brought hundreds of thousands in hard-costs down to less than tens of thousands. I have been so blessed by all of this.
Anyone can do it. The only problem is that it does take time and patience which most do not possess. I even had a candy machine in the office which came from ebay and one of those neon "open" signs. Ebay is crazy and it has made me a living.

I had an assistant in the first office and, when she was irritated with how I handled business at one point, I took her through my process: I pointed out to her everything and where it came from. It was enlightening to me. Our whole argument began out of her disliking my paying for Billy's trip with us to KC for a seminar. I told her that the least I could do for Billy was give him a trip out of town since he has referred well over twenty of the people we see. He contributed probably over twenty thousand dollars to my practice because he is my friend and I saved him from surgery and he knows chiropractic. I really miss Billy. So I showed my assistant how much of the practice was not her and it definitely was not me. It started with the blessings from Dr. Smith, Dr. Kats, the dentist and ebay. None of it was me. I didn't do it. I did pay for some things, but in the end, it was just earning and learning. No big deal and just how it is. I put in sweat and tears but that didn't make what we did. It is just how it is.
I don't think K ever got the picture, but I sure did. And Billy got an enjoyable trip out of town and the best steak dinner ever at Hereford House in KC.

Today I am blessed with a great situation and I only see it as being great and greater. Its just a matter of time when people find that I do more with less, and, much of the time - its not even me doing it - its just being and living and knowing that I know that I know that I know. So simple that it can be complex. This life is sometimes crazy.