Toby the Pin Cushion! UPDATED! (scroll down)

Over the course of today I will feel like a voodoo doll. I am gonna be poked, prodded, x-rayed and have enough blood drawn to hold a Dracula Family Picnic. I just hope the lady who draws my blood has had a lovely day up to that point. Drawing blood... point...I made a funny. The medical powers that be are going to run eight different tests on me to see what's up with the root causes of my migrating rheumatoid arthritis (hey, it's legal migrating RA, not illegal migrating RA!). I also have fibromyalgia. My understanding is that I may have sort of immune system deficiency that adds to this problem, but I will know more when the test results are in. Besides the pain of the RA and the muscle weakness from the fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue is also a result of all this bullshit.

I am normally a one man ant hill, scurrying through life at a full tilt boogie, but Mother Nature and Middle Age have conspired to slow me down a little. I am by no means complaining. I know that there are millions of people far worse off than I am, and many of them live life with gusto and a smile, so I figure I can at least do the same without bitchin' about a little RA and the other stuff. I have a lot of life left to enjoy with my grown up sons, my two little girls and my grand kids, I just have to do it a little more deliberately. Like Waylon Jennings once sang, "I may be used, but baby I ain't used up."

Instead of a regular post today, I wanted to put up links for some of my favorite websites. They cover various subjects, from politics to sports to technology, and some may use salty language, but they are cool sites to visit.

 The List:

Politics
Ace of Spades HQ - This is the first blog I ever visited a few years ago and is without a doubt my favorite. It's mostly about politics, but Ace covers other stuff as well. Pick out a post and go to the comment section. The "Morons" (Ace's readers) are flat ass funny and damn smart people. I love this blog.
JammieWearingFool - Jammie is a Jersey guy who covers politics and current events with a conservative slant. He's built this blog up to one of the top blogs in the country in just a few years. I visit it daily.
Nuke Gingrich - Fellow Texan no2liberals has a great take on current events and other topics at his blog. He takes no prisoners! Be sure to stop by!

Technology
 Gizmodo   
Lifehacker
These are two blogs about general technology stuff, but both have something for all level of computer user to appreciate. The also have very good comment sections and are quite helpful with new readers who have questions about the subject at hand.

Sports
 Texas Sports - All things Longhorn Sports. Enuff said.
The Smoakhouse Forums - If you want to know anything about sports - pro, college, high school - David Smoak is The Man. I know David and he's the shit when it comes to sports. He hosts a radio show on KTBB AM in Tyler. The station streams its programming online at this link. Just click on the "Listen Live" button. Smoak is on in the afternoon from 3 - 7, I think. It's been a while.


Pay these sites a visit. They are all top-notch in their fields of interest. I'll try to post a summary of the day's events when I get home, but I am not sure what to expect as far as any medication I'll be administered during my hospital visit. Make it a great day, y'all!


Adios,
Toby

UPDATE: I "donated"  twelve(!) vials of blood for tests whose names sounded like alphabet soup. These tests will hopefully give the doctors some information on what is going on. I guess, we'll see. I also had about 10 or 12 x-rays taken in some body positions that I won't discuss in mixed company. Let's just say I'm glad they won't be on the internet. :)