Stogie Commentary: Quitting is the Big Difference

By mikedaddy | June 17, 2008

Good quick editorial on cigar smoking over at StogieGuys. Check out the Link below to read the full commentary.

Stogie Commentary: Quitting is the Big Difference
With so much anti-tobacco effort devoted to stopping under-age smoking so that young people won’t become addicted, it seems worthwhile to point out that cigars don’t present that problem. Cigar smokers light up because they want to, not because they need to.

Topics: Cigars, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Dominican Republic

By mikedaddy | June 9, 2008

Well I’m back from my trip to the Dominican Republic. I plan on writing up a big photo essay on the trip, I’ve just been backed up with work moving in the next 30 days! I’ll get to it soon!

In the mean time my quick flickr set from the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikedaddy/sets/72157605441066207/

Thanks Gene Arganese for being a wonderful host and a pure pleasure to be around!

Topics: Cigars, Photography | No Comments »

San Antonio day two

By mikedaddy | May 25, 2008

The wedding went great! I took about 1000 pictures! Can’t wait to get home and check them out. It’s going to be a big job to get them all sorted and edited. I’m thinking about writing a shopping cart application with PayPal API to allow people to purchase and print online. I’ll write about what I come up with.

Topics: Family, Photography | No Comments »

In San Antonio

By mikedaddy | May 23, 2008

Four o’clock Houston traffic on I-10 really sucked… We arrived in San Antonio at about 8pm, about an hour late.

Ate dinner with the family and I busted out the camera with the new Stroboframe flash bracket. From the looks of the LCD screen the pics should be good. I forgot my flash reader so I wont be able to check out the pics until I get home.

Breakfast is at 9:30am tomorrow, will probably be getting up for that, since I am shooting Sammi’s Uncle’s wedding tomorrow. Need to eat well so I can be on my toes for good shots. Hopefully I’ll get mass quantities of caffeine so I won’t drag my feet.

Topics: Family, Life, Photography | No Comments »

Dominican Republic

By mikedaddy | May 7, 2008

I’m heading off to the Dominican Republic for a few days at the end of the month. Should be some fun! Plan on taking tons of pics!!

Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Happy Holidays

By mikedaddy | December 19, 2007

With the holidays around, everyone is soo busy! If anyone is in town over the holidays hit me up email or cellphone I’ll make an effort to catch up with you!

So when you have a bunch of friends and you get one a Christmas present, then what do you do to keep all your friends happy. What if I don’t want to get all my friends gifts, only one or two friends… It’s troublesome.

Topics: Family, Life | No Comments »

My life this year.

By mikedaddy | November 19, 2007

Lets see, its almost time for the holidays and I really haven’t said much in a while. I guess just the business of day to day life and the fact that I sometimes forget I even have a blog. The darn thing has been around since 2003! Man where has time gone… I’m getting old. Time is going by faster and faster.

I’m sitting here in the garage on the laptop, relaxing with a cold Dogfish Head 60-Minute IPA paired with an excellent full bodied cigar. I’ve been spending time relaxing lately due to a number of reasons.

Since about late March I’ve had a pain in my chest around my breastplate area, it moves day to day, sometimes it’s worse than other days, some days I don’t even notice it. Every day it has been on my mind.. is it heart problems… something aweful… am I going to die?? I went to the doctor when I first noticed this, he ran some test, took some blood. It came back that overall, I’m pretty healthy, my cholesterol, heart rate, blood pressure, blood cell counts were all fine, there should be nothing wrong with me. He gave me some anti-inflammatory medication, told me to change my diet, get more exercise and sent me on my way.

So I cut out fast food. Almost completely, I go from daily lunches at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Whataburger to bringing my lunch to work, every day. I eat a sandwich on whole grain bread most days, with fruit or wheat pretzels. I started eating breakfast, fruit, nuts, milk, my fiber intake now is probably around 30g a day! I control my portions, I’ve lost only about 10 pounds, but I wouldn’t have said I was that overweight even 10 pounds heavier. I don’t sit as much, I ride my mountain bike when time permits, I keep myself very conscious of my health now.

Months go by, the problem is still there.. Only worse, some nights I get so stressed out about it I lay awake, heart pounding, wondering if I’m having a heart attack. The next day I’m fine, some days even better, I think to myself, well it’s gone, I’m getting better, I don’t need to go back to the doctor.

Two weeks ago I finally go back to the doctor, enough is enough, I’ve done all this stuff to change and yet the problems are still around. The doctor checks me out again, says everything is fine, I seem well. He asks me to fill out some questioners. I tell him fine, anything to find out what this is. The questioners are all about depression, and anxiety. Then it hits me as I’m reading these questions.. Maybe I am depressed, I never noticed sadness, but I do feel some of these symptoms described in the pages in which I’m filling out. No.. I can’t be depressed, I have a good job, no stresses about money, or family life, things are pretty peachy right now, maybe I’m just stuck in this circle of “whats wrong with me”..

The doctor looks over the three surveys…

“Yep. Mild depression, with anxiety and OCD.” he says.

Wow… I mean I never would have thought I would be depressed. He explained to me it may just be stress about health and life, and sometimes with change, the brain can do things to manage. He prescribes some anti-anxiety, anti-depressant to start on and sends me on my way, with a “Let’s see you again in two weeks.”

So it’s been two weeks. My chest pains are gone. My anxiety is gone. I sleep better than I have all year. I’m feeling good about myself. Time to slow life down a bit. Relax a little more. Stop worrying so much about the future. Take it day by day.

Time to start the next chapter in my life. Get back into the things I love to do. Spend more time with friends, and family. Re-connect with old friends I’ve somehow lost touch with. I love you guys, even though we may not talk much anymore, you are all still in my heart.

Topics: Family, Life | 1 Comment »

Wow time flys!

By mikedaddy | November 7, 2007

Man I just thought to look at the blog, and realized its been a whole month already!

Time is going way to fast.. I’ve been lazy lately. Even my flickr is lagging behind.

Topics: Blabber, Life | No Comments »

3 Rings Cabernet

By mikedaddy | October 6, 2007

Had “3 Rings Cabernet Sauvignon 2004″ last night, it was the best cabernet I’ve ever tasted. It’s an Australian wine from the “Barossa Valley”. I’ve done extensive google searching on it, and cannot find anything, not even a mention of it. Although their 2004 Shiraz has a lot of attention. Maybe I’ll try and find that, Shiraz and Cab. are very close wines, possible I’ll get the same wonderful experience? Perhaps not, this was a “id buy a case if I could find it” kind of wine.

Topics: Food | No Comments »