Carben's Blog

Drugs, Immunity, Health, Chiropractic

2011-10-04T22:37:00.000-05:00

This blog was an inspired response to my brother-in-law's latest blog. Check out his post at http://mattandrachaelbecker.blogspot.com

Ibelieve you are on to something Matt.....chiropractic!! :) Drugs are meant tobe a quick fix but like you said they cover up the symptom you are taking themfor and cause another symptom that you need another drug to fix. You are better off to let the body doit’s work and heal itself. We areamazing and complicated creatures created by God. He in fact created our bodies so amazing that we have anatural response to react and then recover from outside organisms that createdisease in our body. In the caseof ear infections, it hurts our heart to see our babies in pain and sufferinghowever, this is just the body doing it's work. In fact, science has shown that if you allow the power ofthe body to heal itself, you will recover in a faster time on a cellular leveland at the same time will be building antibodies to this disease to preventfewer, if any, outbreaks in the future. Studies show that kids who are treated with antibiotics for otitis media(ear infections) suffered 2-6 times more recurrence than children withouttreatment. A study was performedon the recovery from ear infections in children without treatment ofantibiotics. The conclusion wasthat "nearly 2/3 of children with uncomplicated acute otitis mediarecovered from pain and fever within 24 hours of diagnosis and withouttreatment by antibiotics, and that over 80% of children had complete resolutionwithin 1-7 days." (1) Another study showed that amoxycillin is very little help in treating otitismedia. A fever is a normalresponse of the body to fight off infection. Scientists have proven that babies who have regular feversin the first year have stronger immune systems and are at less risk ofallergies, asthma, and eczema than those kids who were treated withantibiotics. Fevers 104 degreesand higher should seek medical care. Below that let the body do it’s work.

Aredrugs making us healthier? No! According to the book Death By Medicine, by Drs. Gary Null,Carolyn Dean, Martin Feldman, Debora Rasio and Dorothy Smith, nearly 800,000people are killed every year from pharmaceuticals and iatrogenic causes. This is equivalent to 6 jumbo jetscrashing full of people every day for 1 year. However, this is not considered a tragedy (2). Although, the 9/11 attacks byterrorists killed nearly 3,000 people in 1 day (4 jumbo jets full) and this isa tragedy that has consumed our nation's dollars. Maybe we should be putting our money towards a health reformto include chiropractic, nutrition, exercise, acupuncture and other sources ofhealth care that allow the body to heal the body rather than thepharmaceuticals and their researchthat are creating disease and death in our bodies.

So you ask what can I do toavoid providing more ammunition for these drug companies and start to sootheour babies and ourselves? Well asI stated earlier, Matt you’re catching on to something, chiropractic. Science has proven that the nervoussystem is that master system of the body. When we have interference on this nervous system our body is functioningat less than it’s potential. A chiropracticadjustment will remove the interference or pressure off this system relievingour bodies of this dis-ease that has created disease.

Inthe case of ear infections specifically, a chiropractic adjustment each day, ifnecessary, will provide the body all it needs to fight the infection. A study published in the Journal ofManipulative Physiological Therapeutics looked at the effectiveness ofchiropractic care on ear infections. This study consisted of 46 children 5 years and under receiving adjustments. The results were that 93% of the casesimproved within 1-10 days. We canalso make sure that our babies are getting plenty of sleep, avoid dairyincluding bananas and soy products and keep the ear dry. Natural remedies include a few drops ofwarm garlic and olive oil mixture (using an eye dropper) into the ear, or a2-3% dilution hydrogen peroxide. Also, make sure they are getting lots of vitamin C (antioxidant,anti-inflammatory, and decreases histamine levels), garlic (antibioticactivity, lowers blood cholesterol levels, and blood pressure), zinc(antioxidant, strengthen our joints and protector against cellular damage),and, or a good children’s multi-vitamin (1,3) (not Flinstones or other dyed vitamins). Taking a probioticdaily will help build immunity to bacteria infection. In the event you have to take an antibiotic you should definitelytake a probiotic to restore the good bacteria the antibiotic destroys.

Chiropractorsalso sit down and at minimum do an extended history and examination on everypatient’s first visit and regular re-exams to follow through out care. Any questions and concerns brought upat anytime can most the time be answered on any visit. Typically a chiropractic patientbecomes a healthier individual all around and over time spends a fraction onmedical bills than the non-chiropractic individual. This is due to the power of the adjustment removinginterference and allowing the body to heal itself.

Chiropractic care will helpbuild immunity and has long-term health benefits much greater thanover-the-counter and prescription drugs. This could be the best gift you could give to yourselfand your family.

For more information checkout the following books:

1. Well Adjusted Babies byDr. Jennifer Barham-Floreani, 2009.

2. Our Daily Meds, by MelodyPeterson, 2008.

3. Natural Alternatives toOver-the-Counter and Prescription Drugs by Michael Murry, 1994.

The Order Effect

2010-11-01T16:46:00.000-05:00

Finally!! Someone with the capacity to do legitimate testing has proven my theory correct. The below video is a must watch for anyone who has bought one of those hologram wrist bands that are supposed to improve balance, flexibility, and strength. There are several companies now making these products, but they are all pretty similar in theory. The "Power Balance" is probably the most well known. Please watch.

I've always been of the opinion these don't work. I would tell people to try the test two times in a row without the bracelet and the result would be an improvement on the second try...hence the order effect. So in reality these do not work...unless you believe it works. If that is the case, what is really helping you is the psychological impact of thinking you are going to perform better, or a placebo effect. So maybe it really does work...unless you just watched that video, now it won't work anymore...sorry.

Ben's Burn - Independance Day

2010-11-01T16:43:00.000-05:00

Wow, this was meant to be published...well in July, I guess i just forgot to post it and I haven't been on here since. Anyway, I still think it's worth the read.

Here is what I'm burning on...Texas. Eat your heart out Jim Rome.

You know how they say everything is bigger in Texas...not true? As you all know it was recently the 4th of July. Carley and I were on our way home from a friends house when we saw a fireworks show at the Ballpark in Arlington. "The Ballpark" is where the Ranges play baseball and it sits right next to Cowboys Stadium. We decided to drive closer to get a better view. However I noticed that the fireworks seemed to lack the captivating quality I have come to feel every Independence day. Its because the fireworks were probably comparable to what I could buy at a fireworks stand. How is it that a state, where everyone says "everything is bigger in Texas", can't put on a show that is comparable to Lincoln Nebraska? The grand finale lasted about 15 seconds, most of which I couldn't see due to small trees being in the way. There are 6 million people here, you have a public show next to a 400 million and a 2 billion dollar stadium that seats over 100K people and the fireworks you use to celebrate our nation's Independence compares to a box of assorted fire crackers 12 year old kids can buy on the corner? Texas is more concerned with there own Independence. The only thing bigger in Texas is the size of its arrogance. If you had Independence day the size of the arrogance you'd blow up the entire state.

Now THAT was close

2010-07-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, this story is about an incident that could potentially be more regrettable than the last story...in fact, this story results in a regrettable incident that fulfilled its potential. I thought I would share with you what I consider a near death experience.

I consider myself handy. I like to build things, make things, and fix some things. I like to work on my own vehicles, one to save the money, and two...well that's really the only reason. In May, I replaced the rear drums, brake cylinders, and shoes on Carley's SUV. I intended to replace the front brakes as well. However, upon further inspection, I concluded the brakes where fine, but something in the suspension was off. Her steering wheel would shimmy when the brakes were applied. I first thought this was the tie-rods, but after driving the vehicle a couple more weeks, I started to hear a grinding sound from the wheel. I took the vehicle to a mechanic to confirm my suspicion; the hub bearing was going out. If this gets bad enough the wheel could fall off...it would have to get really bad I might add. Supposedly, this is causing the shimmy. Well, I decided to replace it myself (something I have done before) because the mechanic would charge me $500, and the part is only $150 (something close to that, I can't recall exactly).

The Sunday I decided to do this (last Sunday) Carley was on her way back from a short Nebraska trip. I had a friend, Alvin, over to help me. He is a classmate of Carley's at Parker. So we got started, I jacked up the vehicle, removed the tire, rotor, and brake caliper and started loosening the hub bolts. Those of you who know the story or have any common sense know one thing I forgot (this only means no one is perfect, we all know I have more common sense than most people put together do). Meanwhile, I was loosening the hub bolts; one was giving me particular grief. The pneumatic wrench I was using just didn't seem to have the muscle to turn it. I decided to use my own muscle. I proceeded to lie on my left side in the wheel well, with my head about even with the back of the hub, two-hand grip on the ratchet. What happened next was so unexpected and shocking I couldn't believe it. Remember the thing I said I forgot...well it was jack stands. In my futile effort to turn the stuck bolt I inadvertently side loaded the crappy jack and it buckled. The SUV came crashing down on top of me. It was almost like slow motion, but so fast I didn’t realize what happened until it was too late. The rear part of the wheel well was close enough to scrape against my back on the way down. My head was just inside the wheel well opening and to the rear of the hub assembly as to not be crushed when everything fell. Although later I found a scrape on the top of my forehead. The lower ball joint on the lower frame assembly pinned my arm and forearm to the ground. The resulting injuries sustained were a deep puncture wound to the anterior aspect of my left brachium, a laceration to the posterior aspect of the left ante brachium, a skin abrasion on my right posterior from the spine of the scapula to the right humerus, a skin abrasion medial to the medial border of the scapula, and several lacerations to both left and right hands. (That’s medical school jargon)… my left bicep was stabbed, my left forearm was cut, my back had two large scrapes and both my hands had cuts and scrapes.

The weight of the SUV landed on my bicep and forearm, scraping my hands and back along the way. Now, I don’t really remember my initial verbal reaction, but my instant physical reaction, once I realized (in about .002 seconds) the car was on top of me was to try and lift it off. Thankfully Alvin and his much deserved superman tattoo helped lift the car off me. I put my leg up under the wheel well and pushed while Alvin gripped the wheel well with his hands and lifted. I was expectantly watching the contact point to see if we could get clearance to slide my arm out. We did, and it all probably only took all of about 5 seconds. As I scrambled out from under the vehicle, my fist thought was “(expletive) I hope I don’t lose my arm”. Which in hindsight was a bit hysterical nevertheless, that is what I thought. There was minimal blood, but maximum shock and pain. I had the car parked in a way where you couldn’t shut the garage, so I yelled at my neighbors across the street (who heard all the commotion and crashing) to watch my garage. Then I yelled at Alvin to take me to the hospital. I made a beeline for his car and sat in the front seat. After a moment I said “screw it, call an ambulance” and I went and laid down (I was feeling a little lightheaded). I was a bit scatter brained, mostly because I was in shock, but I had enough clarity to tell the EMT not to take me to Parkland Hospital (Parkland is notorious for long waits, and people literally dying in the emergency waiting room, no joke). I was taken by ambulance (not really needed, but suggested by the EMT) to the hospital where Alvin hung out with me for a few hours until they x-rayed me and stitched me up.

Here is a funny side note and another lesson (besides the obvious about jack stands). Using tact: When calling a friends wife who is in another state to let her know a car just fell on her husband, don’t start the conversation by saying “Ben’s going to the hospital” and then pause. HAHA.

Okay, so somehow by the shear grace of God I broke no bones. I was thanking Him immediately after exiting the underside of the SUV for not letting it fall on my head. There is no other explanation I did not get hurt worse other than God limited the damage. I guess I have some other purpose in life still.

After the incident Alvin and I looked at the SUV specs. The Gross vehicle weight is over 5,000 lbs. The weight distributed on the front two wheels is about 2,500 lbs. Assuming the 2,500 lbs is evenly distributed between the left and right wheel, about 1,250 lbs landed on my arm, and 1,250 lbs we had to lift up to allow my egress. Split between the two of us, neither one of us could go out right now and lift 625 lbs (him by hang cleaning it and me by one leg pressing it.) I think that is also amazing.

Anyway, that is my near death experience, and I truly believe God saved my life, and enlisted the help of my friend Alvin. I attached pictures below…I also had enough clarity to take some pictures before the EMTs wrapped me up, and some at the hospital.

I took this as the EMT was bandaging me up in my garage

Only precautionary

Shirt sleeve at impact

Close Up

Another close up

This was just to send to Carley so she would know I was okay

Just barley got my back

This is the only picture I could get from Alvin with his tat....facebook

Political Foul

2010-05-12T22:58:00.001-05:00

I am sure everyone is well aware of the prosed illegal immigration law that is proposed in Arizona. I thought I would weigh in on the issue. Although the topic hasn't dominated the radio waves this week, thanks to NBA playoffs and Lebron James' choke job. I basically only listen to sports talk radio. Nevertheless the political issue has crossed many borders and everyone is talking about it, pun intended. Major sporting events and owners are being pressured into taking events out of Arizona because of this proposed law.

Okay, so basically this law is going to make it mandatory for Arizona police officers to ask for identification and papers if they "suspect" the person is here illegally. I might point out that it is already a federal requirement that you keep your papers on you...if you are an immigrant.

Most people I hear talking about this disagree with the bill, call it racist, and say it will encourage racial profiling. Initially I disagreed with them. Illegal immigrants are just that ILLEGAL, they are breaking our laws by being here without going through the steps set forth to become a citizen or LEGAL resident. If you think illegal immigrants should be given immunity or just made citizens it would be like me saying I think that it should be okay for me to steal because I can provide a better life for my family that way. Of course not, if you agreed with that, you are an idiot. It is still illegal, I don't know why it is so hard for some of these people to grasp such a simple concept, it is mind numbingly frustrating. I have a big problem with illegal immigrants, not legal immigrants. A lot of the immigrants qualify for lower income assistance programs, for instance insurance. Some of the employees that I work with received free health insurance until they turned 18 or got a job...and their parents did not have to pay for it...you did. Here is another example...my employer uses E-file. It's a program that is supposed to prevent illegals from working here. All new hires are required to be run through this government agency. The catch is the employees who worked here before it was implemented are "grandfathered" in. We have already had one employee try to get his relative, who was illegal, a job. The E-verify caught it, but then he went and "got" another social security number and a different name!!! Luckily the secretary who processes the applicants has some level of character and wouldn't process him, but could have easily circumvented the system. There are numerous benefits funded by tax paying citizens to immigrants who are here illegally. There is no good quality control on recognizing who is illegal and who isn't, so a lot of illegal immigrants are getting these benefits. The real problem is many illegals get tax dollars paid by you and me but they do not contribute. Some illegal immigrants don't pay any income tax, yet are allowed to file a return!

On the surface the bill sounds like a good idea, getting rid of the illegal immigration problem in Arizona. There is actually an illegal immigration problem all across the United States. But, after talking to a friend of mine who is a Phoenix police officer, I have tentatively reconsidered my stance. While this law has good intentions the primary reason to oppose it is the negative repercussions it could have on the police. There already has been increased hostility toward the police. They are even getting harassed about racism when asking for I.D. on routine traffic stops. Here is how he put it to me: if the a police officer doesn't ask for a suspicious immigrant's identification and then the immigrant, who winds up being illegal, commits a crime; the police have assumed that liability because they were required by this law to ask for verification. He even told me other states(i guess just California, no surprise) are filing sanctions against Arizona because of the proposed law. Anyway, the law which isn't even a law yet is already doing what it is designed to do, its causing illegal immigrants to leave Arizona. The only problem is they are going to places like California, not back to Mexico.

I definitely think we need to fix the ILLEGAL immigration problem, but I am not convinced this will work...and I'm not totally convinced it won't. What do you think?

Close Call

2010-04-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

So we have had a couple close calls the past few weeks. The first close call was with Cash. Yes, Cash our dog with a capital C. I was working, as is natural for a weekday morning, Carley was just getting home from a short day at school. We had been keeping the dog outside due to the nice weather, this way he could roam the yard and pee freely. Carley went out back to retrieve him and he was gone. Paniced, she immediately called to tell me. The first thing I thought was that someone went in our backyard and took him. We called animal control to inquire about reports or pick ups but they didn't have him. I was working and couldn't leave to help Carley look so she scoured the neighborhood in the car calling his name. I have become fairly attached to Cash already and was getting sick to my stomach thinking about some thoughtless thugs mistreating him for the rest of his life. To make matters more hopeless we didn't have our contact information on his tags. Eventually, after 2 hours of looking, the Vet called Carley and asked if we were missing our dog. I guess Cash's tag had the vets number and the man that found him called the vet. The guy (Bob) found Cash running up and down our street and took him in. He had spent the day with Bob's two dogs playing in their pool. He was sleeping when car went to pick him up. I was very relieved to say the least.

The second close call happened just about a week later. I got a phone call at work from a number I didn't recognize, so I answered. The man on the other said something but all I could make out was "are you okay?"
I said: yes
Then I paused and asked: ...wait, what? who is this?
mans response: Hawk security (my heart dropped in my chest) your home alarm in going off, are you home, is everything okay?
Hawk security is our home security system, we had it activated after our two other home invasions. At this point I knew Carley was done with school so she wasn't there. I also knew she was hanging out with her friends so I knew she wasn't at home.
So I said: it shouldn't be going off please send the police over there.
He asked me my password and I told him, and he assured me the police where on the way. So now I'm thinking, crap now we are being robbed, I know about it, but there is nothing I can do. I was pissed off, and worried again about the dog being stolen. I decided to leave work to go home and see what happened for myself. On my way home I still had not heard from the police or Hawk Security again. It takes about 30 minutes to get home so I knew when I got there the place could be empty and the cops probably took too long to get there. I finally called Hawk security a few minutes before I got home and they told me how things generally work. If the cops show up and there are signs of breaking and entering then they call and have you come home to open it up. If there are no signs of a break in they just leave without calling you, and your alarm will eventually reset. So, at this point I'm staring to feel a little better because I had not heard from the police. When I got home the cops were no where in site. I walked around the house and everything seemed fine. Cash was also secured in his kennel outside. The alarm was on, it had reset itself just like Hawk security told me it would. I went in the garage, grabbed a hammer and searched the house. You can never be to cautious. If I had a pistol there would have been a round in the chamber and my finger on the trigger.

Well, everything ended up okay in both instances and Carley and I were both relieved. But I don't what is worse, getting a call from your security company telling you, you are being robbed right now, and you cant do squat...or getting home and finding you have been robbed.

On a lighter note...
Carley finished her second trimester at Parker successfully. Next tri she starts learning diversified technique. I am excited because she will start adjusting me...well, she'll start practicing on me. That's it for now.

Ferngully Reimagined: Movie Review

2010-02-15T17:49:00.019-06:00

For all of my life I have told people the story of the worst movie I've ever seen. That movie is Ferngully. Ferngully is an animated movie that came out in 1992. Its about fairies who live in a rain forest that is about to be destroyed by loggers. I was 8 years old and I am pretty sure its the first movie I saw in theatres. I remember seeing a preview which sparked my interest; the scene was a bat getting hit or flying into a tree and temporarily loses his eye sight, it was quite hysterical at the time. Anyway, the whole movie was a bunch of tree hugging hippie PETA like radical propaganda. I didn't quite realize it at the time, but as I looked back it became more clear to me what it really was. I do remember that the only funny scene in the movie was the one preview with the bat.

I recently saw the movie Avatar in 3D at an IMAX theatre here in Dallas. Let me just start with saying, it basically has the same sort of underlying theme of Ferngully, just set far into the future with actual killing and explosions and fighting. The movie is basically about a group of marines, a group of scientists, and a group of rich financial persuasive types all on another planet. Its actually a moon of another planet called Pandora. Pandora is inhabited by locals called Navi, which have a lot of similarities with humans. They are about as advanced technologically as 19th century native Americans but they can connect with nature on level that seems impossible. The scientists have developed this way to connect with the Navi. They combined DNA of the Navi with a specific human who will operate a Navi "avatar" by connecting to this Navi body neurologically from a remote location. They basically operate the body of the Navi laying in a capsule connected to it. The Navi is the avatar. Only one person can connect with their avatar because it was designed with their DNA. The main character is a ex-marine named Jake whose twin brother died. The dead twin brother is a scientist and has an avatar and it just so happens that because their DNA is the same he can operate this very expensive avatar. The marines are basically mercenaries for a group who is trying to harvest an incredibly valuable resource found on Pandora. The Navi's sacred home is sitting on top of the largest deposit of this valuable resource and will fight to save their land. Jake is living with the scientists who don't want to harm the Navi, but he is secretly giving the crazy marine Colonel tips on how to destroy the Navi "home tree". He takes the avatar out and convinces the Navi people to teach him their ways and live amongst them. His personal teacher is the daughter of the Navi leader and they eventually fall in love. The movie climaxes with the marines getting into a intense battle with the Navi tribe and results in, well you could probably guess but I wont spoil everything for those who haven't seen it. So their are a lot of parallels to Ferngully...

With all that said it is far and away the most incredible visual experience I have ever had (besides looking into my wife's beautiful eyes) in my life. Most of you have probably seen it, being has how it has made the most revenue of any movie ever...over 1.8 billion dollars, but if you haven't seen it in IMAX 3D, go watch it. This isn't your grandmother's 3D with the red and blue glasses. This is a whole new kind of 3D experience. You feel like you are in the movie. Multiple times I caught myself reaching out to try and swat a bug, or move a leaf. In the fight scenes I felt like I needed to take cover because I was afraid of being hit with a stray bullet. It has technology I've only imagined, intense action and the special effects are so real. You cannot tell the difference between digital graphics and actual props. This is the next stage in visual theatre and entertainment. In my opinion this 3D is a more significant step than standard def to high def. It is really that real. Of course the directing plays a big part in it as this movie was extremely well done. Its no surprise that it was over 5 years in the making. Avatar is awesome, if you haven't seen it, go see it..in IMAX, its 10x better than the theatre. Its funny because it has the same type of message as Ferngully (the movie I dislike the most) but I would put this movie in top 10 movies I've ever seen. I'll go with you if you'd like.

Official Avatar Movie

Snow Day

2010-02-11T17:16:00.006-06:00

Carley and I awoke this morning to a familiar surprise...the ground was covered in snow! Keep in mind we are in Dallas, and while it does snow down here, it typically doesn't snow the amount has today. According to the National Weather Service Dallas gets an average of 1" of snowfall in February, and an average of 2.6" annually. In the last 24 hours we have accumulated over 7" of snow, and its still coming down. That's over 150% more snow in one day than we get in a whole year combined. Anyway, the temperature hovered around 32-33 all day so most of it did accumulate. The main roads were just slush and wet, only the arterioles and bridges froze during the day.

Carley's school got canceled at noon so she came home and studied. She was glad to get extra time to study for her Bio Mechanics test tomorrow...but we just found out school is canceled tomorrow too. Just so you know if we had this exact snow in Lincoln nothing would change...we would continue on with life as normal. Well, we sent the guys at work home around 2:30 to try to beat traffic and ice. The only real threat is when it does freeze and the water on the hi-way doesn't dry up. 6 million people trying to drive on slick roads inevitably ends badly. Most people had the same idea we did and started heading home early. I still got home around 4 o'clock with a little more time than normal to enjoy the evening. Can you guess how I might have done that? I built a snowman...and Cash helped. When it snows like this in Texas you gotta act fast if you want to act like a kid again. On the news they showed some kids trying to sled, the only problem is there wasnt a decent hill no use. They were trying to sled with a cardboard box on a hill with about a 1% grade. Anyway, below are the pictures. Enjoy, because we did

Last few months

2009-09-12T20:55:00.019-05:00

Well, we decided it was time for another update. So lets see, where to start... Carley has started her first trimester at Parker, and so far is really enjoying it. The rest of her class has joined with the students who took undergrad classes there. There is about 150 people in her class, and she will be with them for the next three years. They are starting them off easy with only 22.5 credit hours. Some of her classes include: Anatomy, and Palpation, Diagnostic Imaging, Biochemistry, Biology and Embryology, and a Foundations of Chiropractic Business and Research. Truthfully, I'm probably just as excited as she is for this adventure. I hope all of you who read this learn, if you haven't already, that Chiropractic can change lives. I would actually argue that it is more advantageous to ones well being to make your primary care provider a chiropractor. Something to think about.

I have been working...that's about it. I've moved to a couple different job sites to get a little more diversified experience. The city of Dallas did finally give Archer Western (my employer) an official award for the contract of Bachman Water Treatment Plant (the project for which I was hired). I have started working on things for that project. Its gonna be a interesting experience for me, a lot of stuff I haven't d

one before. It will be a challenge.

--------

Okay, I started that post about 3 months ago a

nd now there has been so much stuff going on that I really need to give people an update. I'm gonna give as much detail as I can in as few of words as I can to keep this relatively short.

Currently, Car has started taking finals and is in the last week of her first Trimester. She has 12 exams/practicals in 8 days. There really isn't a whole lot of time to study for each one individually so its very stressful for her. Luckily she married me as I do not need puppy like attention...

I am working at Bachman WTP, we have started some of the demolition of one of the old buildings. This particular building was a high service pump station, meaning it was used to distribute water from and throughout the plant in high volumes using massive pumps. The building was built in 1929 and around that time most large equipment ran on steam and electricity wasn't actually "trusted" to

keep something like a large pump running. These pumps we are removing actually had the ability to run on steam and electricity and now they are extremely outdated and inefficient compared to what we have now. hind sight is 20/20.

Okay, that's our work life....which is basically everything but we have had other experiences which I will share with you.

We had our first visitors to our ho

me, other than our parents, over Labor Day. Brandon and Michaela (friends from our life group in Lincoln) came down to celebrate their anniversary. Carley and I had the pleasure of hosting them and hanging out with them over the long weekend. We went to Med

ieval Times for dinner one night which was really fun. For those of you who don't know its a large oval arena with sand, approximately 60 yards long. people sit in rows around the arena and have dinner while watching a medieval play.

The actors ride horses,sword fight, joust and ine

vitably save a princess... its very intense and very exciting.

Our food was served without silverware to make it more authentic and we were all given paper crowns color coordinated to the knight who we were to cheer for.

Our knight, the black and white

knight, ended up winning.

We really enjoyed having them down, an

d can't wait to have more fri

ends stay at our place. The Carben Hotel is always open and we never charge for a room.

We have actually had a good number of visitors since Brandon and Michaela came through...although not all invited. Our house was actually broken into October 6th. The thief/s kicked our front door in, destroying the door, frame, and the rough opening. They stole Carley's iMac (referenced in last post) from the office and fled. No body was home, it was during the day, and there where no witnesses. Carley came home from studying late, and I was still at work. She entered through the garage and didn't notice the damage at first. The door had been "closed" upon the thief's exit, really the bent door was just wedged up against the frame because it couldn't be closed. She was in the kitchen and she could hear traffic outside surprisingly well, so she walked over to the front and discovered it. The police came and went and like any other similar event the chances of getting the computer back are slim to none.

We did have a couple more times when people stayed with us that were fun. Carley's parents came down for the Nebraska vs Baylor game. It was basically a home game for Nebraska, there were more NU fans in the stadium than BU fans. It was a lot of fun.

Shortly after that Our good friend Tenisha and her new Fiance John came to visit. We watched a husker game at a husker bar with them and took them to a pre-season Dallas Maverick game.

We also made them do P90X with us (an intense work out). They actually participated in good sport and I think now Tenisha is doing the whole program on her own.

Carley and I have since stopped doing P90X for a number of reasons. We first took a break around the first weekend in November when we went to visit Daniel and Susan (more life group friends) in Florida. We love Florida, we have cavalierly discussed moving to FL once Car graduates from Parker. Archer Western has an office in Jacksonville but is relocating it to Tampa, it seems like a win win. Anyway, the FL trip was very convenient because Car was participating in Chiro Games, an athletic event of many of the Chiropractic Colleges around the country. Its like the Olympics for chiropractic students, if you will. Carley played basketball, but there were many sports like: flag football boys and girls basketball, coed softball, swimming, track and field, beach volleyball, soccer, and even ice hockey. We stayed with Daniel and Susan who lived just 30 minutes or so from the place Carley was playing. It was a lot of fun, I learned to surf, even though it wasn't the ideal conditions for surfing. Car wants her hobby to be surfing and she had done it once before but she was totally stoked to surf again. Well, Carley's team got 2nd in basketball and Parker got 2nd overall, which was a huge upset as they had gotten first the last 4 years in a row. I was just glad to spend some time with Daniel, Susan, and Carley in such beautiful weather. I love FL, granted it was November so the humidity wasn't debilitating.

Anyway, our FL excursion was the first reason we stopped doing P90X, but it was originally only meant to be a temporary break. The real reason is because we had more visitors come to our home...and if my fantastically logical brain is correct (which is usually is) it was probably the same visitors from before....the one that broke into our house. Yes, we were robbed again. ...Side note, we have an alarm installed in our house, although we had not been having it monitored by the alarm company, which therefore the alarm will not sound when doors/etc. are kicked in...end of side note. The upsetting thing is, we had the alarm company scheduled to turn on our alarm the next day (the day after our second break in), so the crooks beat us to the punch. This time they took there time going through our house. See, the think is we have all these decals and signs saying we have an alarm, so the first time we were robbed, we think they came in and out as quick as possible do avoid being around when the cops show up. But I think they realized the alarm never went off so they decided to come back for the rest of our stuff. The second time they trashes our house. The went through our closets and tore clothes off the hangers and threw everything on the floor, they went through our storage closets and tore everything our and went through boxes, they even took the cushions off the couch and were looking for stuff under the seats! they went through every room in our house and ransacked it...except the room that had been robbed the first time, the office. That just seems a little out of place to me, I think they must have been here before. This time they took my PS3, Wii, MacBook Pro (also mentioned in last post) all the accessories to those systems, my power tools, and last but not least, our wedding video. This time I found the disaster when I came home from work, and like last time, there is a slim chance anything will ever turn up. Oh, they broke a window this time, thankfully, its much cheaper to replace a window than a door. So far that has been the last of our uninvited visitors, although if this schedule stays on track we should be robbed again very soon!

We have our alarm on now, being monitored, so hopefully they don't come back, but if they do they wont get very far before getting caught, although there is nothing left they want so, its a moot point.

...oh, since my PS3 was stolen we can't do P90X, it is a DVD program, there now you know.

After the latest home invasion we celebrated Thanksgiving in Austin, we still have a lot to be thankful for, like our health and we still actually have a home and a job. Matt and Rachael (my brother in law and my sister) live in Austin and they hosted our family. It was very fun, a lot of people from my side of the family came down and we all hung out. Matt and Rachael invited 3 foreign exchange students over to share in our tradition, it was very cool. Everything seemed to go as planned, except the timing of when Rachael wanted to tell us that she was pregnant. You can't hide things like that very easily, but that was very exciting news. I will be an uncle for the 12th time, including Carley's family.

Well, after Thanksgiving the next event was the Big 12 championship game.

Carley's brother Devin is a freshman this year, he is red shirting, so Carley's mom has been transformed into this college like husker fan, which worked out great for us because the Big 12 game was about 5 miles from our house.

Her family came down and they treated us to the game...which I will not talk about because I'm so frustrated.

We tailgated with Mike Zeleski (brother to Joan, who is married to my dad) and had fun...until the unmentionable happened. One bright spot is that we upgraded our security system to include a guard dog.

Well, not really a guard dog, at least not yet. We got a puppy. Its an 8 week old pure bread boxer we named Cassius Clay. We just call him Cash though. I'm hoping we will eventually becomes a great guard dog, that is if he doesn't get stolen before he gets bigger. He has a gorgeous flashy brindle coat.He is very boisterous and very playful, but he also love to cuddle. Its hard to get him to sleep unless you are holding him. We have started to crate train him and he has been doing very well in his potty training. We'll bring him with us to Christmas so everyone can get a chance to play with him. So Cash pretty much demands our attention, but it is hard, as Carley has a lot of studying to for finals, but she'll have 3 weeks off very soon so she can spend all sorts of time training our pup. now I try to keep the dog occupied when I come home from work so Car can study (how is that for foreshadowing). We really like him and are excited about him so we will keep updates on him as well.

Well, that about gets us up to date on our lives, its been busy in our first 6 months in Texas, but we have been hanging in there. We look forward to seeing as many of you as we can over Christmas. Leave comments if you'd like.

P.S.

Oh, when both of our computers were stolen we lost all of our photots...everything that isnt on facebook, so I know its a pain but if any of you could send us copies of photos (digital of course, or if you want to make us a CD, I can pay for the CD) that we are in or events we were at with you we would much appreciate it.

Bad Apple

2009-08-07T18:48:00.007-05:00

Okay, for all of you out there who own a Macintosh Computer this is for you...for those who don't, you may still read this in regret. If you've owned a computer you know they seem to age rather prematurely, they get slow and unresponsive and start breaking down.

I purchased a MacBook Pro in February of 2006. I was a fraction or the way complete with college and I wanted a computer I could use for school. Before this purchase I never in a million years thought I would be a Mac"euphemism". I actually made fun of people who used Macs. Although, before the beginning of the 21st century Apple was relatively un-her

alded and few people used them.

Anyway, I was trying to figure out what type of laptop to get. I was asking people what their

suggestion was, since I knew relatively little about computers and their inner workings. I think it was actually my brother in law Matt(who does NOT own a Mac) who suggested looking into Apple computers. UNL was using them in the computer labs, along with PC's so I had used them on occasion. It was always strange, I felt like I was lost and the work I was doing on them wasn't gonna be right. It just felt backwards. But then I decided to use the computers in the campus lab for a while before I made my purchase to see if I could get used to it. I did, obviously, and went ahead and purchased a MacBook Pro. Now I swear by Apple and would never in a million years buy a PC. This blog however, isn't intended to list the reasons I like Apple better than PC.

After 3 1/2 years I notice that my computer was slowing down. I knew it didn't have any viruses (Macs typically don't get many viruses...but it is possible) so I set out to find a way to reverse this aging. I found a great website with 17 reasons your Mac might be running slow. Now these are things you'll find on a Mac, most of these wont work on a PC (or at least you wont find them in the same place as a Mac). After going through the list, in about 30 minutes of following the directions, I reset my computer to take affect of the changes I had made.

Now, I am happy to say it feels as if my computer is running 100% faster than before. There are some very clever

tips to help your Mac run faster that I would have never known about. Check out that website and your Mac will run like new.

By the way, Carley and I liked Mac so much we bought her an iMac. Also below I posted a poll about Macs. Vote and leave a comment if you'd like.

Where Are We?

2009-08-03T11:48:00.029-05:00

Welcome everyone to our blog. We decided to start a blog being as how we are now fairly disconnected with most people in our life with whom we are used to spending time with...as disconnected as you can get with skype, facebook, and ichat. Some of our friends and family (Matt and Rachael Becker) have started blogs and I have recently visited their sites, and it was pretty cool, so Carley and I thought this would be a good way to keep everyone up to date with our lives and share random irrelevant information as we see fit.

I guess I will start off by letting everyone know whats going on in our lives. After getting married in June of 07 our primary goal was to finish college/undergraduate school and move. I finished school and Carley finished her undergrads (except the one class she is taking now) and we set off into the next phase of life. We have recently moved to the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) area metroplex. We moved down here June 1, 2009 and stayed in an extended stay hotel for a couple weeks, while we were closing on our new home. The reason we moved, many of you know but some of you reading this may not, was because Carley has a significant passion for Chiropractic. She has worked as a Chiropractic Assistant for the last two years, roughly, and in that time was inspired to make that her career. The Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) Program she chose was Parker School of Chiropractic...located in Dallas, Texas. The time she decided Parker was where she wanted to study I was still at UNL as was she. Luckily for me I had time to pursue a job in DFW. I applied to and got a job with a large construction firm (Archer Western Contractors) in Dallas. I felt, and still do that I was very very fortunate to be given this opportunity. I had actually accepted the position of Project Engineer before I started my last semester at UNL. I know this is what we where supposed to do, God has been providing and making it clear that this is where we need to be right now.

The timing with everything has been amazing. For example: Carley didn't start out in pre-med or pre-chiropractic studies, so there were certain pre-requisites that were required of her before she could start her DC program. The DC program is scheduled to start in the beginning of September of 09, but Carley still needed several classes...I was graduating in May of 09. So there is an obvious break between my graduation and her school beginning, and she was taking classes in Lincoln...at two schools. This was a concern to us, I needed to start working fairly soon after graduation and she needed to finish several classes before she could start at Parker. We also didn't want to live separately, her in Lincoln at school, while I'm in Dallas working. We learned however that she could take some of her undergraduate classes at Parker before starting the DC program. So, somehow I was blessed to get a job with plenty of time in Dallas and Carley somehow figured out her class schedule from two universities in Lincoln (with no advisor to help being at two school simultaneously) and scheduled one undergrad class at Parker, all of which to align perfectly so we could move within a month of me graduating. She is currently weeks from being done with Organic Chemistry 2, her last class of undergrads, and I have almost complete 2 months of my new job. On top of that, we got a lot of help with moving our stuff. Carley's dad Lance, even drove our uhaul down to us once we closed on our house. That saved us considerable costs with rental and storage (we were still at the hotel). Basically the point I am trying to get across here is God is the only one who could have figured out how all of this would work together and we could move down here with relative ease. This is why I have such a good feeling about being here, it seems as if things worked out so well it was obvious.

Currently, we have been spending our time on the weekends manicuring our home. The house we purchased was built in 2007, it is a 4 bedroom single story home, approx 1880 sqft. We really like it. They space and the layout is more than enough so there wasn't really intensive re-construction needed. The home was a foreclosure so it did need some TLC to make it sanitary. We cleaned the whole house and carpets professionally, and even set off some sort of gas bug bomb to get rid any lingering bugs. The walls needed some new paint so we have up to this point painted our kitchen, living room, dining room, hallway and office. Our next room will be the master bed and bath. I've put a few pictures up here so you can see before and after shots. In the office we thought it would be fun to try something different, so we went with stripes. Carley picked the shades of gray and I came up with the pattern, it was something I haven't seen before, we just wanted to be creative. We really liked how it turned out.

Well, I think that about does it for our first blog, let me know what you think and any other comments you might have or want to add.

PS click the links to learn a few things, you'll be glad you did.

Have you seen Avatar?
	Yes in 3D IMAX
	Yes in 3D in Theatre
	Yes in "standard view"
	No, but I will
	No, and I wont

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How much do you like snow
	So much, I'd live in NE forever
	I like it for the winter season
	Its just okay
	I secretly talk bad behind its back
	I can't stand it

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Macs
	I want one
	I Love mine
	I Hate mine
	I'll never buy one
	I could care less

pollcode.com free polls