Archive for September, 2010

GPS Is The Perfect Automobile Accessory

Honey, are we lost? Just maybe, with the right GPS system, you will never have to question for directions again or hear the dreaded question. Your male ego might just stay intact and save your marriage at the same time.

Does this scenario seem familiar to you? Have you entered the twilight zone? It is time to handbook to a new destination and all too many times you find out your map is outdated, the roads are torn up by construction, or you find your self seeing some new parts of the country that is no way correlated to where you are infer to be going. Again, I question, does this scenario seem familiar to you when you have had to handbook to a new destination? Take heart, new knowledge is here to help us destination challenge individuals. Having the right Garmin GPS Navigation System, getting from point A to point B (and beyond) no longer has to be an exercise in frustration. No more “going where no one has gone before”.

What does GPS stands for? Comprehensive Positioning System is a worldwide radio-navigation system of 24 satellites and their earth stations on earth. Airplanes, astronauts, hikers are using this fantastic GPS devices. The satellites are used as orientation points for locations on earth. By measuring the distance from three satellites, GPS devices can triangulate a location anywhere on earth. That is pretty cool if you reckon about it.

Where did GPS come from? GPS is funded by and controlled by the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD). Can you believe that? While there are many thousands of civil users of GPS world-wide, the system was intended for and is operated by the U. S. military. GPS provides specifically coded satellite signals that can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time. Four GPS satellite signals are used to compute positions in three dimensions and the time offset in the receiver clock. This is really a very clean product that provides an exceptional reliable service.

GPS is speedily becoming an integral component of the up-and-coming Comprehensive Information Infrastructure, with applications ranging from mapping and surveying to international air traffic management and comprehensive change study. The growing demand from military, civil, commercial, and scientific users has generated a U.S. commercial GPS equipment and service industry that leads the world. Augmentations to enhance basic GPS services could further enlarge these civil and commercial markets.

GPS is managed by the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee, supported by the PNT Executive Secretariat. The PNT manages GPS and U.S. Regime augmentations to GPS, reliable with national policy, to sustain and augment U.S. economic competitiveness and productivity while shielding national security and foreign policy interests.

The essential GPS is defined as the assemblage of satellites, the navigation payloads which generate the GPS signals, ground stations, data links, and associated command and control facilities which are operated and maintained by the Department of Defense; the Ordinary Positioning Service (SPS) as the civil and commercial service provided by the basic GPS; and augmentations as persons systems founded on the GPS that provide real-time accuracy better than the SPS. GPS permits land, sea, and above ground users to determine their three dimensional point, speed, and point in time, 24 hours a day in all weather, the world over in the world.

Mom and Dads are putting in GPS vehicle tracking systems in their children cars so they can make sure they are staying away from places they shouldn’t be visiting. Trucking companies are installing GPS fleet tracking systems to resolve where there trucks are at all times. Naturally some privacy issues can occur with this capability to keep an eye on movement but the payback certainly over shadow the concerns. Hiking out in the wilderness is much simpler and now safer with the GPS handheld units.

Where can you find GPS systems? A excellent place to start is the internet. Not only is the internet a excellent source to start where but also you can learn more about GPS and how it works. All the major retail stores carry the major brands such as Magellan, Garmin GPS Navigational System, TomTom, DeLorme, and Lowrance. There are handheld GPS units, dash mounted automotive GPS units, fish finders GPS, and even GPS for PDA’s and cell phones.

The United States Regime has acknowledged that GPS plays a key role around the world as part of the comprehensive information infrastructure and takes from the bottom of your heart their accountability to provide the best possible service to civil and commercial users worldwide. This is as right in times of conflict as it is in times of peace.

The U.S. Regime also upholds the capability to prevent hostile use of GPS and its augmentations while preserving a military advantage in a theater of operations without disrupting or degrading civilian uses outside the theater of operations. The believe they can ensure that GPS continues to be available as an invaluable comprehensive helpfulness at all times, while at the same time, protecting U.S. and coalition security requirements. Who said the U.S. Regime didn’t care?

Convenience…More Than Enough Reason To Own a Set of Wireless Headphones

Looking for a gift for the business person in your life? Look no further than wireless headphones as the perfect gift…even for the person who has everything. These brilliant music accessories make a fantastic gift to give, whether as a business gift or as a personal gift to someone vital to you. What makes these listening devices such a excellent gift? It says that you value their time, safety, and happiness because of what these type of head phones offer.

Professionals can use these for a number of uses. In the office, they allow them to listen to music on their computer, or to take e-learning training or webinars without bothering the broadcast around them and without having cords to get the way of their work.

These same professionals can answer phone calls with wireless headphones and attached microphones, allowing them to converse and participate in talks calls while at the same time doing work that needs to get done (typing, filing, filling out reports, cleaning up their desk, etc.). If the signal sending unit is located close enough, they may even be able to wander around their office while they talk, allowing them to stay engaged in the conversation without getting sleepy or bored by sitting down the entire time. Many units have signal distances of up to 300′ away.

While on the road, they allow the professional user to make calls without taking their hands off of the wheel or their eyes off the road. It’s a fantastic way to help the busy professional stay in control of the car even during a business call. (But, many broadcast suggest that you should still pull over to the side of the road while taking a call because your mind may not be on the road).

Roving for business sometimes means working in airplanes, airports, and staying in hotels. Having wireless headphones allow the professional to plug into their laptop and do their work without having to untangle the cords.

Expect to spend $100 or more for a decent set of wireless head phones. You may also want to get batteries for them so the person can use them straight away out of the box. There are a number of excellent brands out there. Some of the top names contain: Koss, Logitech, Panasonic, Sennheiser, Iawa, and Shure, bluetooth, AKG, Audio-technica, Etymotic Investigate, JVC, Skullcandy, Philips, although there are many others.

There are a range of prices and styles. Some of the things you’ll want to look for contain noise canceling features (to keep out background noise) but persons are often (not everlastingly), larger and bulkier than the smaller ones available. One of the best kinds are canalbuds, which fit right into the ear (but don’t mix them up with earbuds which are cheaper versions that may be of a slightly lower quality). Canalbuds offer noise dampening and fantastic signal, and are very high quality, but can also be pricey.

Wireless headphones are the ultimate in convenience and safety because of their hands-free use and lack of cords. The professional you’re buying a gift for will thank you for making their life far more convenient and enjoyable.

Motorcycle GPS Devices – Make Riding in the Saddle an Adventure

The Comprehensive Positioning System (GPS) consists of a number of satellites which are used to track the position of an object, person or item to which a GPS receiver is attached to.

GPS devices are the new face of navigation technology, in view of the fact that they have all the relevant geographical information of the world neatly fed into their data systems. The information is readily available for reference when they are showed on a GPS device.

Motorcycle GPS units are gadgets that are attached to motorcycles and cross-country riders to trace where they are and where they are going. The motorcycle GPS devices are like microcomputers with internet, in view of the fact that you can even download maps of innumerable places while you are out learning.

Advantages of Motorcycle GPS Devices

Motorcycle GPS units have a number of uses besides navigation. The units can help in tracking colleagues when you are out on an adventure or on a scouting experience. They are also used as an antitheft system whereby a bike that is stolen and which has the GPS system is able to be tracked. It even helps in tracing accidents deep in forests, sand or ice.

They act as guides and in case you are lost they can retrace the route you followed. They even calculate the distance to your destination and the amount of fuel you use to get there. This is an incredible doohickey to use, in view of the fact that it has an easily designed power system where it has a battery which is easily rechargeable. Many motorcycle GPS systems are Bluetooth enabled and thus they can hear information from long distances without necessarily being wired. This means you can even use your cell phone with a motorcycle GPS.

The motorcycle GPS systems can easily be fed new data, like the nearest regime offices or other places of broadcast interest like hospitals and cash machines. Some motorcycle GPS come equipped with music players and games to make you delight in outdoor adventures even more.

Most GPS systems are very are affordable. They can range from $100 to over $300 and their prices rise in ratio to their functions and features. Typically, the cheaper models are usually handheld devices that are attached to the motorcycle using specific mounts or devices used for mountain biking. The more pricey models are specifically designed for motorcycles and are trembling resistant.

The Garmin Zumo 550 and TomTom Rider

There are two first types of motorcycle GPS units, which are the Garmin Zumo 550 and the TomTom rider. Both are resistant to trembling which means they are very robust and will not be effected by the reverberation from your bike. They have a touch screen which you can use, even with your gloves on. They are also able to give voice commands through a special wireless Bluetooth earpiece that fits inside the helmet.

Motorcycle GPS devices make riding in the saddle an even more exciting and worthwhile experience. It is advisable that all bikers whether scouts, researchers or racers should get these GPS systems, in view of the fact that learning new locations and journeys is an experience like no other.

Sonim XP3 ? An Amazing Gadget

When broadcast thought there cannot be better than it, ‘Sonim’ comes up with a new incredible gizmo. Sonim XP3 is another astonishing mobile phone introduced by the company. It is a real resistant tool, and you can check it by dropping the doohickey from fifth floor, or simply dipping in water.

It has earned an ‘IP 67′ rating, which means that the mobile phone can endure any worst situation. It will come with no dents, even if you hammer nail into screen, or place it under the temperature of 10 to 150 degree, thanks to its ‘Gorilla Glass’ that proffers additional protection. Even if the handset is broken, it can be replaced as per the warranty provided by the company.

As persons are precise regarding handling their mobile phones on many outdoor events just because these may be smashed, but this gizmo provides a sight of official pardon with its permanent show screen. It is no doubt attractive to audiences with its remarkable features. The gizmo with compatibility with T networks and At and T networks are also made available in the marketplace. The best thing is that it is reasonable priced, and no one will want to miss this product at such a fascinating price rate.

An fascinating thing about the handset is that it is available with three year unconditional guarantee time period, which shows the company’s confidence level in its product line. It comes equipped with extra loud speakers that make its possible for you to attend calls even in noisy backgrounds. This new handset runs on the platform of Philips Nexperia 5210 Platform, ARM 9 processor. It can support around twelve languages with SMS capacity of more than one thousand messages. The EDGE technology support many frequency bands including 1900 MHz, 1800, 900, 850 MHZ.

GPS System ? Locate Anything Even yourself by Space and Time

GPS System is one of the wonders of this modern where. Through this system we can get the most accurate information regarding the exact position of any object and its local and universal time. GPS stands Comprehensive Positioning System, which is radio-navigation system developed under the supervision of United States Department of Defense. This Comprehensive Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is the only functional system of its type which acts completely. Its timing services for the civilian users on worldwide basis are quite perfect. The data that the system provides are available for an unlimited number of broadcast. Time zones, daylight, night, weather conditions do not affect this system to perform poorly.

Applications of GPS System contain Timing, Space, Background, Marine, Rail, Aviation, Roads & Highways, Surveying & Mapping, Agriculture, Broadcast Safety & Catastrophe Relief and Recreation. This system makes use of a constellation with the help of the transmission of specific microwave signals. The GPS receivers possessed by users, the control and monitoring stations located on Earth and satellites orbiting the Earth are the three parts that the GPS System is consisted of. Signals are broadcasted from space by satellites and GPS receivers are used to pick persons up and identify. Three dimensional locations along with time are then provided by individual GPS receiver. Three dimensions contain liberty, longitude and altitude. In the GPS system, date is written as a week number and a day-of-week number.

Monitoring of the location and navigation of the destination places can easily be determined by the GPS users. The transportation system in any form has got a giant leap worldwide with advent of this system. Life-saving missions, catastrophe relief and many other emergency services are getting the worth of this revolutionary system. Cell phone activities, banking system are all being operated with greatest efficiency. These economical services have also become helpful for the farmers, geologists, mariners and pilots, too. Uses of this system are completely safe and have no hazards.

The United States Air Break down 50th Space Wing manages the GPS satellite constellation. Conceived with the cause of the commoners’ excellent, this GPS System helps in complex calculations and predictions that take place in investigate works like scientific study of earthquakes. A GPS System receiver has the ability to calculate its position by keeping timing of the signals carefully. GPS satellites located high above the Earth send these signals. There are many GPS applications that have the system to hide the accurately computed time and to show only the computed locations.

Till Development 2008, there had been 31 actively broadcasting satellites present in the GPS constellation. Two GPS developers Ivan Getting and Bradford Parkinson were awarded the National Academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper Prize for 2003. GPS System is undergoing many developments at constant pace to improve our living to a fantastic extent.

GPS and Your PDA ? GPS in the Palm of Your Hand

GPS systems used to be the domain of the military and companies that could afford this relatively young technology. Used to accurately pin-point locations on the earths surface these devices have gravitated into the consumer market and are now more then affordable for just about anyone. The technology has advanced so much in the last few years that many GPS providers have plug-ins that allow you to turn your PDA into a GPS unit.

In layman’s terms a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is a pocket computer that basically fits in the palm of your hand. Reckon Blackberry and you get the general thought and in fact many of these PDA’s have developed into cell phones, giving you communication and computing capabilities that we could only dream of only 10 years ago.

There are a few things you need to reckon about when it comes to PDAs and GPS. First off many of the newer PDA/Cell Phone devices come with GPS capability by now built in. In some cases you may have to pay extra for this feature but it takes much of the estimate work out of deciding which GPS system will work best for you.

On the other end of the spectrum are PDAs that do not have any GPS capability built in. This does not mean that you cannot take advantage of all that GPS has to offer because you can buy additional hardware and software that will do just this. For instance if you own a Palm m500 the Magellan GPS Companion system is the perfect plug-in for you. It will turn your palm into a fully functional GPS receiver.

There are also hybrid type PDA/GPS units that are a joint effort between PDA makers and GPS makers. An example of this type of unit is the Garmin iQue300 which was the first PDA device to contain GPS technology built in. Its operating system is the Palm OS 5 while Garmin provided the GPS functionality. This device went so far as to be able to respond to voice commands.

There are a variety of choices when it comes to PDA style GPS devices. Which works best for your needs is a touch that you will need to determine. The best way to figure this out is through thorough investigate of the different units and deciding which GPS unit will do what you need it to.

Free Ringtones – Do they really exsit?

Ringtones is now a multi-billion dollar industry and our appetite for ringtones shows no abatement. As with anything in life why pay for a touch when you get it for free?

The search for free ringtones grows everyday but do they really exist. We all see the ads “Free Ringtones” but where is the catch? Usually this a get 1 free ringtone by subscribing for premium services which can end up costing you 10’s of dollars before you realise it.

As the market has grown so have the ringtones. In the ancient days of beep beep phones free ringtones were readily available and still are as keypress ringtones which you could just enter into your phone by your phones composer module. They were most ordinary with Nokia and Motorola phones but free ringtone converters are available to change the keypress codes needed to enter into different manufactures composers.

Then came polyphonic ringtones. Polyphonic ringtones are made up of manifold channels to give a more realistic signal. Ultimately they are just midi files which are freely available on the internet in their thousands. A quick search on Google for Free Midi Files produces over 4,000,000 results so finding your favourite shouldn’t be too much of a problem. All you need do then is upload to your phone with a datacable, infra-red or bluetooth connection. If that’s not possible then there are also sites which allow you to upload files to their WAP servers and you download your chosen free polyphonic ringtones direct to your cell phone.

Next came MP3 ringtones also commonly know as right tone or real signal ringtones. With the explosion of mp3 files and the use of mp3 players the chances are you may by now have the sounds you want on your mobile phone as your ringtone. Fortunately there is software available on the internet that will help you do this and adds the advantage of being able to edit your mp3 files so it sounds exactly like you want it to. If you just want to hear the chorus, or the intro it lets you cut out the sections you don’t want leaving you with only the bits you do want to hear. An added bonus is also the ability to increase the volume of the ringtone if you need to. If you can cut and paste a text file you can edit your own free mp3 ringtones.

Sat Nav Buying Guide

Car Satellite Navigation devices used to be quite pricey but in the past couple of years prices have dropped dramatically. Today, there are devices for every budget and every lifestyle regardless of the tax bracket you may fall under. 

There are things consumers should be aware of when spending their hard earned money to ensure they are making an informed choice.  The latest feature on your sat nav should have blue tooth to sync to sync with your mobile phone and get live traffic updates so you have the option of rerouting when things get cramped on the M1. 

You can also get sat nav on you mobile phone like the TomTom iPhone app, which is available for £99 at the TomTom store.  Another option is the Google app for the Android phone which is completely free.  Recently Google came out with Google Maps 4.2 where biking routes are being included as part of the GPS package. 

The latest sat navs also have been incorporating speed cameras which help to dodge traffic offenses.  If that is an issue of yours, it might be worth the extra money to invest in a device with one, because you would save money in the long run if you were avoiding tickets.  

TomTom is the number one name in sat nav manufacturer in the UK, followed by Garmin and Mio respectively. Generally you will not be disappointed if you stick with these names and get the updated versions. Everlastingly shop around for deals and certainly don’t be worried to look online. Prices generally start at £79 and go up to £300 for the feature packed models.

How to Start your Qwn Business

There are ordinary steps which should be followed when we start our own business. Thus, the general course of action includes choosing your business thought, learning legal requirements, finding fiscal resource, choosing appropriate location, launching marketing battle and hiring employees (How to Start your Own Business 1). I believe that the most vital tasks in this course of action are choosing the right business thought and finding money for business startup.

Promising start-ups bear a remarkable resemblance to the ordinary new businesses, both in the ordinariness of their concepts and in the limited experience and credentials of their founders (Acs and Audretsch 88). As we might expect, the many new businesses started every year in cleaning services, real estate brokerage, lawn maintenance, and so on, do not involve any material innovations. The human hub needed to start such businesses is also limited. Starting a beauty salon or acquiring a real estate broker’s license may require a modest amount of prior training or apprenticeship; the skills required for lawn maintenance, home cleaning, or painting can be bought in days. The limited innovation and investment in human hub needed to start such ordinary businesses is only to be expected. The ease of entry makes the businesses popularand limits their profitability. It is surprising, but, that most successful businesses also do not start with innovative concepts or founders with much significant prior experience or training (Baumol 97).

There are several examples which prove everything that was mentioned above. Robert Grosshandler and two partners started the Softa Group because they saw opportunities for “a simple software product.” (Baumol 103). Their first product, Total Recall, gave the partners “market knowledge” but was otherwise not a fantastic success. On the side the Softa Group operated another mundane businessselling hardware and peripheralsto generate cash flow.

Philip Cramer founded Compuclassics, a software mail order company, in 1984. In his previous job at a music company, Cramer had telephoned a mail order company to buy a database package: “It took me about ten calls to get through, so I thought that any they can’t handle the demand or they have a lousy phone system!” (Baumol 89). Cramer had a brother-in-law who was a software distributor. “I was tired of the music business, so I questioned him about mail order. He thought it was a excellent thought, but he couldn’t do it because he didn’t want to compete against the broadcast he was selling to.”(Baumol 90) Cramer then chose to enter the business himself. “We weren’t contravention new groundwe were in the second wave. But, we had examples that told us that if we did it right, we’d be okay. Our philosophy was that we’d charge a small more and go out of our way to service.” (Baumol 93).

Karen Kirsch founded Best Mailing Lists, a broker of mailing lists for the direct mail industry, after working for another company in the same business. “My service and product were not unique, but I offered service to which no one could compare.” (Baumol 134).

The widespread lack of innovative thoughts often accompanied by limited business or industry experience, preclude typical entrepreneurs from raising much hub from investors. To issue equity in a start-up that does not have an ongoing stream of cash flow, an entrepreneur has to convince investors that the enterprise has assets that can generate cash flow in the possibility. Investors have to believe that the start-up merits a positive “pre-money” appraisal deriving from some intellectual property or human hub that the entrepreneur has contributed to the venture (Dixit and Pindy 56). Most start-ups, but, don’t have the assets that an objective investor would consider valuable. The founders, therefore, have to rely on their own resources or raise funds from relatives or friends who are willing to overlook the founder’s me-too strategies and inexperience.

Many entrepreneurs don’t have significant personal means (or rich and trusting friends), so ventures that turn out to be out-of-the-ordinary successes often start with the same limited means as the typical lawn care or painting business. As we might expect, most of the hundreds of thousands of businesses launched in the United States every year start with small hub (Kelly 80). Most of the founders of companies started their businesses with meager personal savings and borrowings or funds raised from families and friends (Kelly 98).

In many start-ups the founders have small to offer investors besides their hopes and dreams. The entrepreneurs believe that they can somehow make a profit, but investors do not. Their hub constraint derives from the absence of objective information about their ability to make a profit, rather than their inability to accurately communicate this information. Even with utterly trustworthy entrepreneurs, investors can only find out after the fact who has the innate capacity to succeed. If the average entrepreneur cannot earn a profit, investors will not back any of them.

Access to funding depends on whether the expected income are large enough to take in the expenditure of investigation and ongoing oversight (Kirzner 144). These expenditure can be substantial compared to the degree of the expected payoffs. Therefore, very often entrepreneurs with novel thoughts cannot raise outside hub to start their ventures.

The other question to be answered while starting a new business is whether to serve the local market or the large well-established market. Generally it is simpler to serve local markets or a small number of customers with specialized needs (Kirzner 98). In some cases new businesses are designed to serve customers who were both local and had special needs. The first client for Inter-Ad, a manufacturer of broadcast access computer information systems, was the city of Rochester. InterAd’s founder, James Odorczyk, recalled: “The city was about to celebrate its 150th birthday, and they needed a system to place in City Hall to talk about Rochester. We were offering touch screens and high-resolution graphics, which attracted a lot of broadcast. And the city wanted someone local and they had budgets and timelines, which didn’t allow them to do a lot of shopping. We were the only game in town then, and we did a complete system, with custom programming included, for $25,000.” (Dixit and Pindy 55).

By serving local or specialized customers, new businesses dodge struggle from large, well-established companies.

In some cases entrepreneurs pick niche markets where they do not expect large profits because they want to establish a springboard or base for more ambitious subsequent initiatives.

Hub and other constraints, we have seen, usually break down the founders of promising ventures to pursue small-scale opportunities. But small-scale by itself cannot clarify the scarce profitability of such start-ups; after all, the ordinary marginal ventures also operate in small, localized markets (Baumol 148). The distinguishing characteristic of promising niches is uncertainty (Kelly 159). Uncertainty does not, of course, assure attractive income, but it does allow entrepreneurs with small early resources a better chance of making a profit than the typical ordinary business with predictably poor income. Although promising businesses have the same low most likely payoff, they come with a valuable option or lottery ticket attached.

One vital source of uncertainty derives from unsettled market conditionsfor example, new technology, dictatorial regime, fashion, or other such external change. Starting a profitable business in a stable market, where competitive forces have long shaken out weak technologies and firms, requires a significantly better approach or new “combination” (Kirzner 43). In highly competitive fields such as household painting or lawn care, providing the same products or services as everyone else can yield only low average income. In businesses where long-standing relationships, reputations, and other such barriers to entry generate high profits for the incumbents, imitation or small modification of existing products and technologies leads to income that are greater than average (Kirzner 83).

In a new or changing market, but, entrepreneurs often do not require a significant innovation or insight to make a profit. Customers and suppliers lack information about their alternatives, so many firms, all offering the same products and using the same technologies, can make a profit. We commonly attribute such profits to “shortages” or an “excess of demand over supply”; in fact, entrepreneurs do not need the foresight or the luck to buy a excellent that later becomes scarce (Kelly 90). They can exploit the lack of information, buying inputs low-cost from uninformed suppliers and selling them dear to uninformed customers. They do not even need to find out the opportunity themselves or realize they are engaging in a form of arbitrage. As long as buyers and sellers remain ill-informed, they can simply stay on the example of others.

New markets have other attractive features for start-ups. Incentives to compete on price are limited, especially if demand is expanding, because all the players are profitable. Inexperience makes customers more tolerant and trusting. They don’t have well-formed expectations about product quality and knowledge of what could go incorrect. The playing field is level. The start-up does not have to displace rivals who have established reputations, and cost advantages deriving from their accumulated experience, and customers locked in because of inertia or switching expenditure. In mature markets entrants have to take their share away from persons businesses which have by now entered the market. Some researchers propose to start a database of segments which you consider for starting your business (Finding a Niche 1). This database will help to gather all information about the market and choose the most suitable option.

Therefore, starting your own business involves firmness and strong to desire. As it was by now mentioned, it is not necessarily to have first thoughts, experience, and hub; it really depends on the entrepreneur’s personal ability to satisfy fuzzy customer wants. It is, also, vital to remember that ordinary fields for start-ups such as beauty care salons and lawn maintenance, struggle between businesses of roughly equal capabilities forces all businesses to subsist at a very similar and low level of profitability. Competing in small, uncertain niches also allows the entrepreneur to dodge competing against well-capitalized rivals.

Get Your Butt Checked

Get Your Butt Checked
Back in 1965 or 1966 our family packed the 1960 Ford Falcon station wagon with Daddy, Mama and six children and headed for sunny California from a very small town in north Alabama. Daddy was a preacher and in persons days it wasn’t uncommon for a preacher to go every one or two years.

The trip took us nearly a week as we bunged along the way to rest. Daddy was the only driver in the family then. The station wagon was a ordinary shift, three on the tree, and didn’t have air condition. Daddy chose to go during the summer so the kids wouldn’t have to change schools in the middle of a school year.

When we got to the real tall mountains out West, sometimes I reckon we could have walked quicker than the car would pull up the slopes. Even the semis seemed to be quicker. What mountains! I remember looking out the window of the station wagon and only being able to see thousands of feet down, down the side of the mountain to utter abyss. I would beg Daddy to let me out so I could walk.

We made it to Clovis, California without falling off the mountain. The broadcast there sure talked amusing compared to a country boy from Alabama. I remember being corrected in the way I said “mirrow”. It seems the word is really “mirror” and we didn’t even know it!

The first year in Clovis was one of the best years of my life. I really did like the climate, the country, the broadcast in school and church…everything about California was excellent. The second summer we were there, we celebrated the 4th of July just like everlastingly. We had a excellent picnic dine with homemade ice cream and watermelon.

My experience in the past was for watermelon to cause my stomach to “act up” some, so I wasn’t really worried when I had a small case of diarrhea. I still got up around 3 or 4 in the morning to ride my bicycle on the paper route. If I needed to stop, the church building was just down the road and it had excellent bathrooms.

Well, as time kept going on, my watermelon didn’t stop aggravating my insides. Everything seemed to get worse. Usually I could find a restroom when I needed it or I could tighten my stomach muscles until the “urge’ went away. Then I started school at Clovis High School. It was a huge school, not like Sierra Vista Elementary, where I went the year before…before getting sick.

My illness finally got so terrible I couldn’t hide it any more. I had an “accident” while at school and had to walk all the way home to change clothes and wash clothes. It finally got so I couldn’t even get out of bed and go to school. My 9th grade school year had only begun, but seemed to be over.

My parents took me to a doctor to find out what was going on. Boy, things were terrible then! Back in persons days, they didn’t use anesthesia. I had to get on the doctor’s examination bench, place my face on it and my behind up in the air, having my knees drawn up as close to my head as possible.
Then…again, I say, then, the doctor took a 1inch PVC pipe and shoved it as far up my behind as he could. I reckon he took a flashlight and used it to look down the pipe to see whatever it was he was looking for. I never looked; the pain was so fantastic, I just closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, waiting for him to remove the pipe.

My parents were told to get me to the hospital right then. If not, I did not have the chance to live for another few days. I spent the next 6 weeks in the hospital. I had to see the head shrinkers because, at that time, it was thought what I had (ulcerous colitis) was caused by worrying too much. At my age, I had nothing to worry about. In the ‘60s we didn’t have cell phones, computers, computer games, not even boom boxes. Shoot, we didn’t even have television dishes or cable TV. What was there to worry about?

My blood count was wacky. For a couple of weeks they said I had leukemia. I was wedged every day with needles for one reason or another. I don’t reckon I was supposed to leave the hospital alive. One day, though, after being a human pincushion, everything came back from the lab OK and the “leukemia” was gone. I got to go home for Thanksgiving, but had to return the next day.

I finally went home. The next 20 years was spent knowing where every restroom in every store, mall, ball park, church, etc. was. My life was ruled by my illness, importance if I did not know where the nearest restroom was, I was going to be embarrassed one more time. I had regular check-ups with my doctor. I got married, had two gorgeous daughters, became a cop and seemed to be living a normal life.

My normal life was still ruled by the colitis. In 1984, during one of my check-ups (by this time doctors place me under anesthesia), I woke to find I had a growth the size of an egg in my colon. Tests proved it to be cancerous. I underwent surgery to remove the tumor and large intestine. The small intestine was attached to the rectum and I returned to my “normal” life.

Every 6 months I had to the E.R. and have another colonoscopy done to be sure nothing was going on that may be terrible. Five years after the tumor was found, I started to have polyps in the small intestine. I had to go to surgery again to have them removed.

The plot was to undergo a surgery for about one hour, wake up with an ostomy pouch and after the polyps healed, go back and have the intestine reattached to the rectum. Well, as my luck would go, the surgeon found another cancerous tumor at the top of the rectum that was not found during the colonoscopy because the scope started beyond that point.

Now my wife (at that time) had a choice to make. I had signed for one course of action and now there was a problem. When she questioned the surgeon what would be the chances, she was told I would not be around within the year unless they took the rectum out. She told him to go ahead with the surgery that would keep me alive for a while. The surgery lasted for over 8 hours and I woke up with an ostomy pouch. The only difference was that it was a permanent fixture, not temporary.
When you seem to be having distress, whether it be constant constipation, diarrhea, or maybe gastric reflux, remember to get checked. Know your children, too. It may be that you can prevent years of pain, embarrassment, and tears just by having your regular check-ups. I am one of the fortunate ones. I’m still alive with a wonderful wife and family.
Colitis is not fun, nor is drinking the barium, taking magnesia afterwards then having to handbook to the household, just waiting for all that chalk to come out…the world over…at any time…even when driving!

Get your butt checked!
Philip R. Fudge, M.S.
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