N, AS IN I DO NOT HAVE IT.

Nope. I had an x-ray today and no pneumonia, not a speck, nada.

I went to a different doctor today. There was a world of difference in the attention I got from this doctor compared to the last! With the last one I didn't find out I had pneumonia until a month after I had my x-ray done. Today, the doctor left me a message about my x-ray results before I even drove the ten miles from her office back to my office.

That's not all. She was very thorough in her evaluation of my symptoms. She asked plenty of questions. She thought of some possible reasons for the breathing problems I have been experiencing (maybe asthma, maybe allergies). She even thought to ask if I've been having any problems with heartburn. As a matter of fact, I was. She explained that acid reflux can aggravate the breathing troubles and interfere with treatment of them. So she gave me a prescription for heartburn medicine. She also gave me an inhaler to use three times a day for this week. At the end of the week she wants to see me again to do further asthma testing.

Receiving the phone message that I don't have pneumonia was a mixed blessing. It's a relief to know that my lungs are not filling up with all kinds of gunk that could potentially kill me. However, the prospect of having asthma isn't very thrilling. Some say it's highly unlikely for someone my age (29) to develop asthma. But I read on webmd.com that a person can develop asthma at any time.

So that's the latest from the health and wellness department.

Since we are flirting with the letter N this time, how about some other news?

Yes, that is a Nine Inch Nails logo in the photo above. No, I am not listening to Nine Inch Nails while writing this. I am listening to... nothing actually.

My daughters are here. They arrived on Saturday. It's amazing how much a child grows in two months when you don't see them. Of course, it is always so much fun to have them here. Since we don't see each other for extended periods of time, I think we appreciate being together more. There is a little more intensity involved. Certain shared experiences seem to be ingrained in our minds deeper and remember more vividly than if we spent each and every day together. We have no definite set plans for this summer. We do want to go back to Crater Lake. The girls suggested that we make that a yearly tradition. We might go to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in New York State for a weekend with my mom and sister. You know, folk music, camping out for the weekend, drum circles at night, vegan hippies smoking marijuana. I'm sure we will also go to the beach a few times.

While we were on our way to pick up Tim from work around 8:30, Madeline said something funny. We were driving through back country roads past several farms. There were cows in a field, close to the fence by the road. As we drove past, Madeline exclaimed, "Wow! Look at that thing's GUTTERS!" I laughed so hard I nearly crashed the car! Maybe she thought the utters were called gutters because they look like the cow's gut. I don't know.

I think I will keep this as a nice nifty journal entry, not a novel. Let me end on this bit of trivia. This is entry number Ninety-Nine of this journal.

"Ninety-nine writings of Sam on the web, ninety-nine writings of Sam. Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight writings of Sam on the web."

"Ninety-eight writings of..."

Oh! Come on! Sing! Sing!

No? You're NOT going to sing?

You're No fun. I'm going home.