The Coburn Blog

The CCFA finally posted a news article about The Specific Carbohydrate Diet the other day.. Of course, I have a couple of gripes about this:

http://www.ccfa.org/about/news/scd

First off, I know people with Crohns Disease, who eat nothing but froot loops all day, because they don’t think they can tollerate anything else. You mean to tell me, Ms Gordon, that you can find a doctor that would tell me a bowl of froot loops, is more nutritous then fresh fruits and vegetables?? I DON’T think so!!

Secondly, I highly doubt eating some fresh fruit, like a banana or some cantelope or watermelon, is going to make me any worse then I already am. common, I don’t believe that for a second either!

I mean, do you know how many people there are on Atkins out there in the world? who aren’t getting ANY carbohydrates at all just to loose weight? You can’t tell me SCD is any less-safe then Atkins, you can’t tell me that for a second. SCD is much different then Atkins, I get my carbohydrates by eating nutt flours, fruits, and vegetables. If I start loosing weight, all I have to do, is eat a bowl of apples, honey, and butter mixture, and that one dish alone has over 1,000 calories in it per serving, so don’t tell me SCD don’t have enough calories in it, I don’t believe that for a second either. Thats more calories then a chocolate bar.

The one thing I do agree with in that article though, is about the need for research. It would be nice to have clinical trials, proving what Elaine spent her life doing since the 1950’s. I would be willing to participate my time in these clinical trials, because thanks to SCD, I haven’t had diarrhea ONCE in 4 years, so I’d be willing to prove my testimony!

My story, however, is similar to the guy who has improved, but still suffers with Fistulas every now and then. That wasn’t me who she was talking about, but that has been my experience with it also. I think about it this way; if it wasn’t for SCD, it would be MUCH worse then a couple of Fistulas. If it wasn’t for SCD, I would have had my gall bladder removed along time ago. I know that for a fact, because before I started SCD, I was scheduled to have it removed, and then after I started SCD for the initial 3 weeks, my gall bladder problems went away. I mean, the x-ray tech at KCH even confirmed I had a bad gall bladder, but after I went on SCD, not only did my gall bladder clear up completely, but I haven’t had any problems with it since, and that was almost 5 years ago, so you can’t tell me SCD isn’t doing me some good.

Sure, I still have Fistulas, and I still have 9 areas within my colon that are still infected, but like my GI said, they aren’t any worse, or better, then they were 10 years ago, so what harm has SCD been on me, I ask? I don’t see any. Remicade and imuran haven’t done any better I can guarantee you that much, so I don’t see the harm.

One thing is for certain though, its not making me any worse.. I’ve been continuing to take my Imuran 50mg 2/day every day just as my doctor prescribes. I took Remicade for a year, and asside from a slight gain in weight, I saw no improvement.. So, their saying SCD could make that worse? I don’t buy it for a second! The only thing that could make me worse, is if I wasn’t getting my 5 major food groups in everyday, which I am, probably more so then most americans in the world today. How many people do you know who actually get all their 5 food groups in everyday? not many that I know of.

Take my step-daughter Angie for example, all she eats is fast food, chocolate, ummm romain noodles, mac-n-cheese, junk food like that, so, if I understand this article right, there saying SCD could be more harmful then a diet like that? LOL I don’t think so.. lol Thats what I think is most funny about this article. Why don’t they just come right out and say what their really trying to say there, that doctors get a portion of money from the pharmaceutical companies every time they write a prescription to a patient, so there not going to recommend anything that takes money away from their own pockets…

I mean, doctors are people too, don’t get me wrong, we all have our own opinion, and each of us has a right to our own opinion, doctors and patients alike, I am not disputing that. My doctors have been great, and they have more education and experience then I do, thats for sure, and they have been great friends of mine since the very beginning, but what I am saying, is this article is not entirely true, and SCD could only improve a persons condition, not worsen, I do not agree with that at all, and I don’t think I should be criticized, for having a sound, justified opinion on this issue. After all, she is right, there are much worse diets to worry about out there. So what if SCD doesn’t cure me, medicine hasn’t either, that isn’t the point. The point is, to “try”. Better to be passionate about something then sitting around doing nothing at all about it.

Reading this article makes me want to go to the fridge now and have some yummy almond flour bread, yummmieee!!!!

This is a funny book we found on Amazon

The Gas we Pass: The story of Farts

I found this article interesting today, as I was reading Chapter 11 of my A+ Essentials book

A look at the EU Ruling against Microsoft

Personally, while I do not entirely agree on how this ruling is being implemented, I am glad to see someone finally stepped up to the plate, in doing something about Microsoft’s monopoly.

I mean, really, who uses WMP anymore? I use Winamp or iTunes pretty much exclusively, so it is nice to see that programs like WMP and IE, may no longer be included in Future Windows Operating Systems. I say, its about time!..

While I do understand why IE is included in Windows, most people use Firefox anymore. About the only time I ever use Internet Explorer anymore, is for going to Windows Update, or using some other ASP.NET application that specifically requires IE. I don’t see what the big deal is though. I mean, if a user prefers IE, they can always download it just like they would firefox, so I don’t see why it HAS to be included. Like I said, the only time I ever use IE anyway, is for Windows Update, and thats only because the web designers require IE specific activex like instructions, so its not like Microsoft couldn’t make it a separate package and allow windows update to work in Firefox, it would just be a website design change on their part, so I just don’t see what the big deal is.

What I think is interesting, this article talks about Windows N products. I think the only reason products like that haven’t sold, is because you don’t see them in stores, or advertised anywhere. I mean, most people obtain Windows XP or Vista thru either 1 of 2 ways; either purchasing it at a retail outlet (like best buy or Staples), online thru system builder licensing agreements, or bundled with a new computer. I’ve yet to see Windows N advertised anywhere, have any of you? honestly, you have to advertise for stuff to be sold I mean common.

I know alot of people are Mac OS X fans now though. In this house, there is a reason why we don’t have Mac machines. When my wife and I got married, one of the first decisions we made, was to keep separate checking accounts, instead of joint like most married couples do nowadays. Basically, my wife and I do not agree on how to keep track of the finances. She prefers to write everything down in her little checkbook, consolidating with the statement at the end of the month, so on and so forth.. Well, me being a “computer” guy, I’m not into carrying a checkbook around with me, nor can I see well enough to write in one, so I do my checkbook differently. I carry around a portable recorder in my pocket, and when I make a purchase, I make a voice recording of it into my little recorder. Then, when I get home, I plug those numbers into my Excel Spreadsheet. Then I look at my online bank statement and compare it to the Excel spreadsheet at the end of the month. I also have an Excel spreadsheet, of my bills, my income sources, and at the bottom I have a calculation adding up all my expenses, subtracting from income, which tells me how much I have left.. With this spreadsheet, I can see at a quick glance, how much money I need for all my bills, and how much I have to play with, which isn’t much, but I do that for every month of the year, Jan-Dec, I’ve done that since we were married, and works out rather well for me. My wifes manual method works for her, so what we do is we each keep separate checking/savings accounts, with our own set of bills.. Mine mostly include the rent, utilities, groceries, hospital bills for myself that type thing, while my wifes expenses include the Car, Car insurance, groceries for her and her daughter, and loan payments she’s been paying on since she don’t have dental insurance..

When her and I both were working at KMC, making identical salaries, we were just barely getting by every month. Our incomes were about equal, right around $1,000 a month before taxes. My expenses total up around the $800 a month range, and hers slightly higher then that around $900-1000 every month, Part of this is because she leases her car, which is $310 a month, plus she has to buy food for not only herself, but her daughter as well..

Keeping track of our finances separately, gave us a method to budget our money separately, so like, if one of us wanted Computer parts, for example, we would take what was left over after the end of the month budget, and use that, which worked out well for the computers we have in this house, but as many bills as we have, with the low amount of income we have to work with, none of us had a space $1,000+ to work with, so we couldn’t just go out and buy a Mac, for example, we had to find a cheaper alternative.. What we ended up doing, since even $400 was asking too much for an HP or Compaq PC, was going the custom built route. One month, I’d buy a $50 processor, next month a $50 motherboard, next month a $50 case and power supply combo, next month a monitor, so on and so forth.. Once we had the whole computer purchased, we’d start building it, part by part. Thats a generic example of what we did odiously, since my server PC was built from using spare parts I had lying around, and my wife and step-daughters computers they purchased, but some parts were “hand me downs” from old stuff I had lying around, but thats basically what we did.

Unfortunately, because we went that route, we had to find a way to hook everybody up to the internet at the same time, since my wife had no desire to wait for me to get off (since my wife spends as much time on the computer as I do, if you guys can believe that. LOL) and odviously, hooking 5 computers up to the internet, was not an easy task in the beginning, back when Warsaw only had dialup, but when Warsaw came out with Broadband a couple years ago, it solved that problem. First we had ISDN, which was costing us over $200 a month easy, then when DSL came into town, the price we paid dropped to about half that. Then when Comcast came into town, that was real heaven sent for us. With Comcast, we were able to get that VOIP thing, so we don’t have a long distance telephone bill, which cut our expenses down dramatically, about half of what we were paying with DSL, so I think going to broadband really saved us money in the long run. I mean, think about it, 5 separate phone lines, plus 5 dialup accounts from a provider, would cost us over $400 alone, so we save alot by sticking to Cable Internet. Right now we pay $140 for cable TV + internet + telephone with unlimited long distance, which is pretty good I think.. We could probably cut that price down even more if Vonage came to this area of the state, but they haven’t as of yet, and even if they did we wouldn’t save a whole lot. It would be $88 for cable+ internet + 24.95 for Vonage, which I suppose would be about $20 cheaper, every litle bit helps I know so we have been waiting for vonage to come here, but not as of yet..

Anyway, my point in all this, building computers from scratch like this, only come in the IBM PC Platform. You can’t just custom build a Mac Computer. I mean you can but the price of parts is much more expensive, so we went the cheapest route we could, and thus, have to stick with the Windows platform, at least for now until Apple decides to make Mac OS X compatible with the AMD platform. Up until 2005, there was no way of accomplishing this, but I was reading in my A+ book about how Apple went to Intel / AMD in 2006, so this may change in the future, but from what I understand, we’re still restricted to the Windows and linux platform. The thing is though, even if Mac OS X does go over to the Windows platform, I would have to dual-boot between XP and OS X, to be able to continue learning about both platforms, since I plan on finding employment in the IT field someday, I have to continue familiarizing myself with the latest OS’s and platforms, as best I can anyway. A person can only learn so much as home, and not having a job where I’m working with Computers all day, home exposure is all I got for now. The good news though, having to find a way of setting up all these computers here at home for my family, and maintaining them, has given me plenty of Networking and Sever experience, that I can use in the future to gain employment in the field.  At least thats the plan so far anyway.   Of course, I’d love to get a job hooking up 200+ computers to the internet, similarly to what I do at home with these 5,  or working for a datacenter with clusters of computers,  but all these things are just far off dreams for me right now. My goal anymore, isn’t to go for what I want,  but will put food on the table for my wife and family, so that was why I decided, instead of just going for an associates in Networking, go for a bachelors, aiming for a salary position, so that my wife and family are well taken care of in the future, so when I graduate close to being the time my wife retires,  we will no longer have to worry about money, in the long run anyway, so even though I may be without a job now,   I figure its only a temporary solution until those college degrees are in my hand, where I can really start job hunting,  not just some job working at walmart or mcdonalds that would keep me from concentrating on my schoolwork,  that I probably would have a stressful time doing anyway with my vision as low as its gotten.

With routers becoming so popular on home computers nowadays, with built in NAT, is a software firewall really necessary?

Well, Fall semester starts in 12 days. I got my books ordered this morning, so that part is done.I am taking:

CIS210-11B A+ Essentials
CIS211-11B A+ Technician
CIS279-11B Capstone

Well, good news, final grades for the Summer came out. I received an “A” in my Access 2003 class. Who knows, I may be more like my little sister after all. hehe. I always assumed the reason I got such low grades in school, was because of blackboard issues, so far that theiry is holding true.

boy I tell yah, I think I’ve been busier not working, then I was when I was working, hehe.

Well, Susan, Mom, and I had an appointment Friday afternoon, with a lady who deals with Social Security.

Hey guys, check this out.

Crohns Academic Scholarship

UBC is offering 30, one-time scholarships for those diagnosed with Crohns Disease. 30, $10,000 scholarships, will be awarded to qualified applicants, who show an egar intrest who are entering college. Applications must be postmarked by May 18th, 2007, and must be signed up for spring or fall classes. I’m gonna try for this…

Only thing is, I need letters of recommendation from either college professors, friends, or family, explaining why I would be a good candidate for the program.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day, about attending IPFW. Her only concern about IPFW, is the cost, because I guess she was saying its very expensive to live in the dorm. If the cost is too much, I won’t do it, but anyway, she was going to talk to a lady she knows at Ivy Tech, because my mom was saying I may only have to take a couple classes there to get my associates… I don’t know, I’d still like to get my bachelors, that way I can get any job I wanted, and I’m not too partial about Ivy Tech after the crap they put me thru the last time, but then again, there’s also ITT Technical Institute, International Business College, Indiana Tech, Purdue up in Lafayette, a plethora of choices.. I guess it would really help if I knew for sure how much I was going to be getting between FAFSA and VR..

but if worse comes to worse, if I don’t get the scholarship, then VR will pay for my schooling, along with any transportation needs that I may have.. They’ll pay Susan 40 cents a mile to transport me to school and back, but like Susan was saying, I’ll have to be full-time in order to get FAFSA government aid, and she won’t be able to take me to school and back most of the time. She has a hard enough time driving up there once a week, because she wakes up so early in the morning and all, but I figure, if Susan can’t take me, then its VR’s responsibility to arrange transporation for me, so either way I won’t have to worry about transporation, OR the blackboard, because if I need someone to enter class with me, which I do, then VR will pay for someone to take that class with me, if thats what it takes.

I just know from past experiences with Ivy Tech, that they are real buttholes about letting u do that.. My mom ended up having to pay tuition costs to take accounting 101 with me so I could pass that course, because I failed that course 5 times because I couldn’t see the blackboard, and from what I understand, things have not changed that much on that. but anyways, my old counselor from Ft Wayne, Tom, kept recommending I attend IPFW back when I was in my early 20’s, because he knew from personal experiences working at the disabled department of IPFW, that IPFW is really good about providing a notetaker for you, from one of the volinteers, which personally I think ALL schools should do, but anyway he told me, that IPFW is really good about that, and tried to push me to goto IPFW back when I was in my 20’s, so I keep thinking, ya know, maybe I should this time, ya know?

My mom just keeps saying that jobs are scarce today no matter if you have a degree or not, but like I was telling her….”thats true, BUT, if VR is going to be funding my college anyway for the next 2-3 years, why not just go for it all..” ya know what I mean? She kept asking me why VR was so interested in sending me back to school for.. well duh mom, because I’m trying to find full-time employment in CIS, and a person can’t exactally do that without a degree.

I applied for hundreds of jobs thru Anthony Wayne Services, all here in Warsaw, and all were in the Computer Science field, so I know for a fact the jobs are out there, but while I was applying, every company I applied for, told me I had no chance of getting hired without either a Degree, or a Certification in something, which neither one I have, so, what did she expect VR to say about that?

My mom just wants me to quit my job and live on Social Security the rest of my life, thats what alot of it is, and she means well, but what she doesn’t seem to understand, is Susan is approaching retirement age, and once she retires, we won’t have any income. How does she expect us to live?

I can’t get Social Security, because Susan and I combined have more then $3,000 in 401k, which alone makes us uneligible. Even Stat Blind status, total household income has to be under $1,400 a month, before taxes, which Susan and I now make more then that… not much more, its like right on the border line, but still too much, so I don’t even qualify for that, even if I were to loose my job I still wouldn’t qualify for any of that because of Susans income. Social Security is determined by “total household income”, not just mine, so either Susan and I would have to get a divorce, or we don’t qualify, so I can’t go that route. Besides, who wants to live off the government if yer very much capible of working a full time job..

That’s the whole reason the state of Indiana appointed VR services to begin with, to get people OFF social security.. The State of Indiana, funds all this stuff, to get the disabled off social security and into full-time stable emplyment, thats what they do, and thats why I’m involved in it… VR stands for Vocational Rehabilitation, its entirely State funded, so they pay for things that I need to achieve full-time employment… Things like schooling, glasses, living skills training for the blind and disabled, mobility training to teach you how to get aound by yourself, things like that. Its very cool, and I’ve been working with VR on this finding me stable full-time employment for over 13 years now.. They even have job placement services, to assist me in getting placed in a job that best fits me, so I don’t even have to hunt thru the newspaper for jobs, they do that for me too.. Its the coolest thing.

I don’t know, I just don’t see what the big deal is in trying to get my college diploma is all.. My mom is flat out against it, and my dad and everyone else encourages it..

I just feel like this is another one of those tests that God is putting me thru, to see how I will react. I can tell you guys right now how I’m reacting to it. I WILL get my degree, no mater what anyone says, not even my mom. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom with all my heart, and I know she means well, but she just doesn’t understand how much we are struggling as it is, and without a degree, I have absolutely no chance at all at bettering my situation. Since I’m the only one that can do something about it, its my decision, and I say, I’m going….:)

Its gonna be hard, esp if I have to take English or macoecon or some other weird class, but there are always tutors, readers for the blackboard, there are tons of options, esp for the visually impaired, but I know I can do it… I guess I just get tired of being put down about it, when all I’m trying to do is better myself and my situation the only way I know how… If I don’t, at least, try, then I’ve already failed before I even start.. Even if I don’t find a job with it, my chances are better with it, then without. Least this way I have a chance…

I can’t let myself fail this time.. I made the worse decision of my life back when I was in High school, to not accept that Scholarship to Cuninary Arts in Rhoad Island. Then, I let my mom talk me out of going to DeVry, or Purdue, and going to Ivy Tech instead, and look where it got me? no degree, crappy job I absolutely hate with a passion, and a bad credit rating that I can’t get out of without a better job. This time, Its MY decision…. and I’m NOT going to fail this time.

Besides, it wasn’t just me, my Blind training instructor was the one who pushed VR to give me a chance at going back to school, it was her opinion that sending me back to school would benefit me and my current life situation, I know there are people with Bachlers and Masters degrees out of work too, but if a computer position opens up somewhere, and I apply with no degree at all, and someone else with an associates or bachlers, who do you think there going to interview first?? exactally, the person with the degree.. and there going to send me packing, without even an interview at all, because I have no degree, and thats whats been happening to me now.. I’ve applied for hundreds of jobs, so I know the jobs are out there, rather a person gets the job or not depends on if they like what you say in the interview, or like your appearance and all that, so I know its not all about the degree, but the degree is what gets you either the interview, or at least a second loon, is my point… without a degree, the resume just gets thrown right in the trash… but ya know moms, always overprotective, esp with me, cuz she knows how hard of a time I have keeping jobs, which is just another good reason why i need a degree, because otherwise, I’ll be hopping thru jobs the rest of my life, and living on Social Security the rest of yer life is not an acceptable alternative. Social Security only pays $600 a month, or if your stat blind it slightly higher but not much.. Who do you know who can live on $600 a month? even without kids, nobody can live on that, not even a single person… I dunno about family sometimes, they mean well, and I value my moms opinion greatly,  but I am not helpless!! I am fully capible of doing anything I put my mind to, and I think thats the lesson that God is trying to teach me, to remind me what my great-grandma used to say to me before she died, about not letting people walk all over you, and don’t let other people tell you what you can and cannot do..  I may not have a very well spoken voice, but I am most certainly capible of getting a college degree,  bachlers, masters, even Doctrine if I so desire,  but I’m not letting nobody tell me what I am and am not capible of doing, esp when they don’t see me everyday 24 hours a day, they don’t know how much I’ve learned already, and what all I am capible of learning for the future.

Well, last week, I tried calling around to IPFW, Ivy Tech, Indiana Tech, and Grace, and they were out for spring break, so I will have to wait until this week to get ahold of somebody from each school.