Do you have gas?

First things first. Stacey is doing much better. Pneumonia is gone, the inflammation is getting better. She had the week off in between her two rotations which worked out really well. I mandated her to the couch for the whole week, playing nurse. I believe that helped her recovery a good bit. She is still on pain medication but weaning herself off of it. Its been a trying week for her and me though. I've spent the week running errands for her on top of doing the things I needed to do anyway. I'll be glad when she is back to her normal self. Her birthday this week was rather pathetic considering she celebrated while sitting on the couch for the entire day. Her surprise was a new Jade necklace from China. I bought that while I was over in Beijing and had kept it a secret until her birthday. It even came with an authenticity certificate. She loved it. The hardest thing about picking it out was that the Chinese jewelers make most of the jade into little buddha shapes. I was pretty confident Stacey wouldn't want a little green buddha around her neck, so it took a while to convince the sales people that I wanted something that was smaller and more discreet.

This week in Atlanta we have no gas. Literally, you can't find gas at 90 percent of the gas stations. You have to go online and check the news websites to find where gas stations actually have a supply. Let's just say our Costco membership paid for itself this week. Instead of waiting in line for over an hour like most, I was able to fill both cars up this weekend at the Costco right around the corner. I waited in line for minutes and paid the cheapest amount in the city. This just goes to show how much Atlanta needs to cut down on cars and improve public transportation. If I wanted to get to work without a car, it would take me over 2 and a half hours. Atlanta is a big enough city that it needs to have a much better system in place.

Next Saturday Stacey and I will be attending a big time college football game. Our good friend Johnny Myers was at a charity event this week and got us two tickets to the Georgia Tech vs. Duke game. That's right big time football. Duke is 3-1 and Georgia Tech is 3-1. Its a clash of titans in the ACC. Its a noon kickoff, so we'll do it up right, by going for a pre-game meal at the world famous Varsity and then head over for the game.

We got a Wii when I got back from China. We added a Wii Fit a week ago. Talk about entertainment. The Fit doesn't pull any punches in telling you what it thinks from the measurements it takes. The first time I stepped on it, I was in Durham at my parents house. By the way my parents have a Wii and a Fit to got with it as well, so make sure you ask them about how they like it. So when I got on it and it did its initial measurements it gave me a Wii Fit Age of 40. Not good. The first time I used it, I had some major balance issues. In fact it called me unbalanced for most of the evening. I was considered a bodybuilder by the strength programs, and a calorie roaster by the aerobic. I was impressed by the technology. It has enough variety and incentive programs to keep you coming back and trying to challenge yourself. On Friday night with Stacey as my audience I tried it again, setting up ours for the first time. My Fit Age: 23. Yeah, much better. I still am trying to get the hang of the balance games though. They are tough. And after going through all the strength activities I had been on it for an hour and had gotten a pretty good workout. I was impressed. However, the funniest story of the Fit is my dad. He attempted to use my aunt's this summer, except that she set it up backwards. No matter what he did it was wrong. His Fit age was 70. Apparently, everybody in the room had a pretty good time at his expense. I couldn't convince him to get on it when I was visiting. I think he was hiding behind the backwards setup excuse. My mom tried it. She got the hang of the aerobics after a couple of tries. Thanksgiving will be a Wii kind of Holiday in Durham.

Hope everybody has a good week.

Unforeseen complications

That title is very medical to me. Its fitting based on the week we're having at the Cobb residence. Stacey and I have been apart for three months and we were reunited the two of us on Sunday plus an uninvited guest: pneumonia. Stacey contracted a form of pneumonia that sent us to the emergency room Sunday night for a rather unpleasant stay until 7:30 in the morning. She had trouble breathing and was pretty panicked so I gathered her into the car an headed down the road to a small hospital around the corner. I couldn't find the emergency entrance right away and parked near the back ambulance entrance. I got her out of the car and a worker told me the entrance was towards the front. Stacey at this point was just about done, and the look on her face told me she was not getting back into the car. Luckily, a nurse came through the door and said "Do you need some help?" I said "Yes!" The nurse got out a wheelchair and took over. Now a young woman clutching her chest, laboring to breath causes a bit of panic and a visit straight to the EKG room. That came back fine. Next blood work, and x-rays and a CT scan. Then the news of fluid on her lungs, despite no cough or fever. Strange to have pneumonia but none of the normal symptoms. They sent us home with three prescriptions and Stacey has since been able to rest pretty well, and her breathing is getting much better. I had a pretty rough go of it. I was up 26 hours, not able to sleep at the hospital, and then had to get her to a doctor's appointment later in the morning. When I don't get sleep, it really messes with my stomach, so I was in bad shape by Monday night. We were in a sorry state. Luckily, Tuesday morning came and I was much better and she was improving.

The blessing is that she had the week off being in between rotations. So she is able to rest this week with no problems. It certainly hasn't been the reuniting we were planning or hoping for, and it really stinks that her birthday will be spent on her back recovering. She turns 27 on Wednesday. I'm totally bummed for her.

In other news, my business partner Johnny Myers and I spent the weekend with Family Health Ministries in Durham, NC. We had a great time their board helping them work through issues to make their organizations better. We are looking forward to working with them in the future and they do amazing work. www.familyhm.org Check out their work in Haiti, they are changing lives and doing incredible ministry.

I apologize for the brevity of the message, but I'm in between playing nurse, doing laundry, keeping the kitchen clean, and catching up on work. We appreciate your prayers for Stacey to heal quickly.

Uh Houston we have a problem

So the big news this week is still happening. My wife Stacey is currently doing a visiting rotation at Texas Children's Medical Center which is located in the currently not-so-desirable-vacation spot of Houston, Texas. I have spoken with her today a couple of times and she is safe and sound along with the family she is staying with. They are in a townhome on the "high side" of Houston, so they remained hunkered down for the duration of the storm. I had suggested to Stacey that she might want to move her car (my car actually) to the medical center's parking garage so that it wasn't out in the open for trees and floods to impact. We think it was a smart move, because an Oak tree fell about ten feet away from where it was parked. The house sustained some minor room damage which has cause a little bit of leaking, but it sounds like it faired pretty well.

I have been somewhat limited in my knowledge of just how bad things are in that area due to the fact that we still haven't hooked our cable back up. Its on days like this that CNN's 24 hour coverage is the best thing on TV. So instead I've followed the storm news via the internet and grainy network updates. I will say this though: you watch a lot less tv when the picture has high levels of snow involved. I've gotten a lot more done around the house than I typically would, because I really like to watch TV. I mean lot. But being limited I'm forced to do things like read and clean. Probably good for me.

Because I've been reading more I have come across some good reading material. If you don't remember anything else I say in this entry remember this. You must read "The Same Kind of Different as Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Its by Thomas Nelson Publishing. The most amazing story I've ever read. I read it in two days, which is miraculous for me. Its a story about God and he relationships and friendships that occur between a homeless man and a high end art dealer. Amazing story that is still unfolding. The book was published this year and these guys are still going strong. Trust me its worth reading and its a NY Times Bestseller, so you won't have any trouble finding it.

Finally, how about a round of applause for the Duke football team. They won a second game today beating Navy. Those guys have endured such lousy seasons you can't help but feel good for those upperclassmen on the team that are now finally getting to experience the feeling of victory when they go to bed on Saturday night. So long the butt of countless jokes, we're going to have to find some new football punchlines.

Next weekend Stacey comes home from Houston, and it will be our first time together since early July. I'm looking forward to it. I'm done with single life. I'm done with my pitiful attempts at well rounded meals. I stink at side dishes. For the good of my health I need my wife back.

Post Beijing

As promised, I've committed to continue writing, even if its for only my mother and aunt to read. I've finally gotten most of my Olympic stuff put away and most of the souvenirs handed out. I gave away some torch themed chopsticks, which seem to be a hit with the sushi lovers in my life. The souvenir though that wins the award was one I never told anybody about in the blog because it would have ruined the surprise. Remember how I went and visited the Today Show as one of my final activities? The Today Show that day had on as a guest, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team who had just won the gold medal the night before. My sister has just finished up a great career as a soccer player at King College earlier last fall. Being the media savy guy that I am, I had a hunch the women's team might be at the show. I had bought her a hat earlier in my time, and I had a sharpie I'd brought to Beijing, and the idea hit me. If I could somehow get close to the girls, I might be able to get a few signatures.

So after staking out my place along the back fence, just as the girls were being interviewed they were actually standing about three feet in front of me. I had watched a lot of women's soccer the previous week because, well what else is there to do when you're working for 9 hours at night in front of all the event feeds. You watch the sports. I knew all the starters faces and names, and most of the usual subs. So during a few commercial breaks I called over a couple of players to sign my sister's hat. Shannon Box first, Lauren Cheney second, Andrea Huckles, then Aly Wagner. Mission accomplished.

Last weekend our family all came together in Dalton, Georgia at my brother's house. My sister drove over from Memphis and my parents from Durham, NC. So when it came time to distribute their souvenirs from Beijing, I handed out shirts, mugs, and then simply gave my sister a hat with no mention. She then began to realize the who had signed it. Needless to say, it was a fun reaction. I think my Christmas present might get upgraded this year.

On another family front, Stacey and I have still not been reunited yet. She is on a visiting rotation in Houston, TX at the Baylor Medical School. She comes back to Atlanta later this month. It will be very good to have my wife back. She actually gets back in town right in time for her birthday on September 24th. Good timing on her part. There will be much to celebrate.

Finally, my best story line for the week is "Phil versus the Ford Taurus" We have a 1999 Ford Taurus which is usually driven by Stacey to school. We typically don't take it out of town. Stacey took my Honda Civic to Houston and it was a good thing. The Taurus has been acting a little funny lately. Mainly the speedometer has been cutting out while driving the car. Typically not a good sign. Then the transmission started acting funny, as the car would really jerk when shifting gears. Finally the straw that broke the camels back: the cruise control wouldn't stay on. Now I can take the speedometer not working, and I can tolerate a badly shifting transmission, but don't go messin' with the cruise control! The car never stranded me anywhere, but it certainly added some stress this week, and it seemed to act up most when I had the AC on. So here I am driving around in Atlanta in 90 weather with the windows rolled down. Needless to say I scheduled a service appointment. I took the car in and they diagnosed a faulty speed sensor. One sensor was causing a lot of issues. Its located in the transmission and it basically tells your car how fast its going. You can imagine the potential problems if your car doesn't know how fast its going. Changing gears for an automatic transmission gets exponentially more difficult. The service department fixed the problem and I was rocking and rolling again by the afternoon. Now Stacey will come back to a smoothly running car and life can go on.

Until next week, this has been the first PB (Post Beijing) edition of Straight From The Cobb