July 30th Song: "Somebody Told Me" by the Killers

Hello,Friday's song is by the Killers and is Somebody Told Me, listen for the repetitive line about the boyfriend who looks like his girlfriend. View ad:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gjlNn0mG8Y&feature=relatedalso I think we have our care givers situation taking care of-we now have some great people to provide care from 9 AM to 11 PM.Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 30th Song: "Into The Ocean" by Blue October

Hello, Bad news today I got a wireless microphone which lets me dictate with my breathing machin on so I don't get so breathy-this means I can send out much more e-mail and clog up cyberspace with more useless drivel. Today even though it was raining went out in my new conversion van as a trial run. Everything worked fine of course I had to use my own power wheelchair which is not truly fitted to me. As we approached the driveway it was raining cats and dogs and my driver asked "should we go into the garage". I said no lets park out here in the driveway so we can get our bath before we get in the house.Thursday song is Into the Ocean by Blue October. View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Fl2yWalH4Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 29th Song: "Shattered" by OAR

Hello, we had a little problem today because one of our caregivers failed to show up but luckily Barbara of our new caregivers was able to fill in. I'm going out in my new van tomorrow so the song I've selected for Wednesday is Shattered (Turn the Car Around) by OAR.View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_NfBqD_2iIBest regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 27th Song: "Letters from the Sky" by Civil Twilight

Hello,Monday song was picked by home health aide, Kristin. The song is by Civil Twilight and is entitled Letters from the Sky. View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uREQbFYhJ8&feature=channelplease remember to sell any tickets that you received from me for the August 5 Salem Red Sox game.Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 26 Song: Viva La Vida - Coldplay

Hello, Sundays song is by Coldplay and is entitled Viva La Vida. View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44xirQ55IgA also congratulations to Mike Morris for finishing third in his age group today at the New York City triathlon among 7500 competitors.Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

Nap Marathon Results

Hello,After disqualification of Six participants for drug use, the final results have been tabulated. The results are as follows:1. A. Contader2. A . Schleck3. L. Armstrong4. B. Wiggins5. F. SchleckDisqualified:L.Leipheimer-Crashed out of bedA. Hitler-Wet his bedJ.Stalin-SleepwalkingG. Bush-Talking in his sleepM. Kelley-Barking in his sleepBest regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 24th Song: "We've Come" by Matchbox 20

Hello, I have been off the air because I've been watching theTour De France. Now it appears Lance Armstrong will finish third unless he attacks tomorrow and moons Andy Schleck. So the song for tomorrow is How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20. This celebrates the over 2000 miles the race has come.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB_F11EuBL4&feature=relatedBest regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 22 Song - Dashboard

Hello, I am celebrating today since I got my new conversion van-my lovely wife and beautiful granddaughter picked it up around noon. George then drove it home. So on Thursday I plan on taking it to the movies. I may even let my friend Don drive it to the drive-in theater in Moneta with me. So the song for Wednesday is my Modest Mouse and is entitled Dashboard. view at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erc40wCxRZoby the way I was off the air Saturday and Sunday since my son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were here. Jessica is still here and helping me and her grandmother.Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

ALS Olympics Rocked by Drug Scandal!

Hello, The ALS Olympics was disrupted today with the report of a widespread drug doping operation that occurred during the nap marathon. Six of the nap marathon contestants were found to have the drug Ambien CR in their urine samples. So far only six contestants have tested positive, but the head of the ALS Olympic committee indicated that a number of test on other contestants were underway but had not yet been concluded. It is ALS Olympic policy that contestants exhibiting a positive drug test be suspended for a minimum of two years from competition. Unfortunately this scandal comes on the heels of a another controversy from the last Olympics, when a contestant was found not to have ALS but only a minor muscle disorder. As a result of the drug scandal the results for the nap marathon are under further review.Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 21st Song: Dream Catch Me

Hello, well I am getting my new conversion van tomorrow. I had a good visit with the doctor today, when I went in his office my blood pressure was 150 but at the end of the visit it at going down two 110.The results for Saturday's ALS Olympics nap marathon are still being tallied. One of the judges, Don, fell asleep during the event and were having to reconstruct the contestants a time using a stop motion video. Look for the results by tomorrow evening.Tuesday song is a Dream Catch Me by Newton Faulkner. View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiISAo-k74sBest regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 16th Song Runaway Train

Hello, enjoyed my visit last night with Tim and, would like to see more people come by and watch a movie or run my trains. So the song for today is by Soul Asylum and is Runaway Train.View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNre5neZ6QIBest regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

June 15th Song: It's Not Over

Hello,
my e-mail today is late because was watching the finish of the Tour de France. Yesterday I visited the veterans administration hospital to see a lung Dr. I must have scared her with my shortness of breath because she wanted to check me in to the hospital. She said I would have to undergo a blood gas test if I wanted to avoid an overnight stay. The blood gas test is very painful because they have to take blood from an artery not a vein. But the respiratory technician was excellent and it didn't hurt any worse than a normal vain type blood sample. About five minutes after completing the test the technician said my results were excellent-my blood gases or normal and my blood I should level was 96% the average is around 95%. So I got to go home but I think it's just a matter that disease causes me to appear breathless because my diaphragm does not work involuntarily. My other doctor said my years of physical conditioning was helping to keep my blood gases at a normal level.
The song for Wednesday is It's Not Over by Daughtry. View at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6s8C2DvfGo
Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.=

July 14 Song - Numb by Linkin Park

Hello,Tuesday's Song Is Numb by Linkin Park. Sorry That's All I Have For Today-I Am Busy Getting Ready For the ALS Olympics. View At:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQCE2iK6tG4Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

July 12 Song - Triathlon Update

Hello, the trip to the scenic mountain triathlon was fairly uneventful. We left the house at 6 AM and did have a little problem with the connection to my breathing machine which we had to stop and fix. On the way to the triathlon, my driver only got confused three or four times as to where we were going. We got to the triathlon about 9 AM and the race started at 10 AAM. My good friends Jeff Armstrong and Donna Williams did the race in my honor. Jeremy the director of the race was great and introduced me to the participants and told them the race was in my honor. I talked for about four minutes about ALS and living each day to its fullest. The weather was overcast and rainy but I managed to stay for most of the swim before it started to rain really hard. We couldn't leave for the visitor center where the transition area for the bike to run was until the last swimmer left the transition area on their bike Well the last swimmer came out of the water at about 1030 but it took him almost 20 minutes to get onto his bike. I have never seen anyone in transition not only to tie his shoes put a not in them. He then couldn't get on his bike without assistance and someone to put his feet in the toe clips. So one we finally got out of the road there were about 30 cars in front of us behind the last bicycle. Now you are allowed to pass the cyclist on the road for some reason a little old lady would not pass them it took us an hour and 30 minutes to go 15 miles which is where the finish line was and the barbecue. By the time we got there we had missed the finish of most of the field including Jeff and Donna. Donna finished second overall in the female division while Jeff just missed out in placing in his highly competitive age group. But we had an excellent lunch and were joined by my good friend Ed who would come over from Durban on his sport bike. I was getting pretty tired so we had to leave before the awards ceremony-unfortunately on the way home the battery on my breathing machine ran out so I had to use oxygen for the remainder of the trip. We did stop in West Virginia for some gas and while there got to see some local color three West Virginia natives and their four dogs pulled in to the gas station in an old truck. They look like they just come from making some moonshine and were getting ready to party. We got back to Roanoke about 430 and I immediately crashed into bed and didn't move until 7 AM this morning. Special thanks to the Richwood, West Virginia Chamber of Commerce for a great race.The song for Monday is by Bruce Springsteen in titled Radio Nowhere sense I kept on losing my XM radio channels in West Virginia. View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmLt6kcZ72Qalso special recognition to Mike Morris for winning a slot in the national triathlon championship in Florida in November based on his race result in a half Ironman in Rhode Island this weekend.Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Lake Norman Triathlon, Cornelius, North Carolina, August 22.

Sunday Song: Take Me Home, Country Roads

Hello, George, Jeff, Donna, and I are on our way early Sunday morning to the Scenic Mountain Triathlon near Ricuwood, West Virginia. This is a great little triathlon that has been going on for 24 years. They have an especially good barbecue at the finish and the triathlon itself is completely within the national forest but the bike and run are on hard surface roads. There are some interesting spectators in the past. In 2004 a contingent of Hells Angels was taking a tour through that part of West Virginia and stopped to watch the infamous 9% climb on Route 39. One of the Hells Angels was offering free tows up the mountain to bicyclists. The following year the rainbow coalition was camped out along the run course which is through the cranberry glades a nature area. There were approximately 200 rainbow coalition people watching the race of which at least 75 were in the buff-the only race I've ever been to where the spectators had less clothes on than the participants. The forest service had set up a temporary jail at the cranberry glades visitor center for the rainbow coalition people who violated forest regulations. Furthermore the town of Richwood shut its doors while the rainbow coalition was there because of all the shoplifting. But the quarter carwash in town did a big business with the rainbow coalition people taking showers at the quarter carwash.So the song for Sunday is the West Virginia national anthem by John Denver entitled Take Me Home Country Roads. View at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eaaR1Ay5P0&feature=relatedBest regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.Twitter At: FRE2TRINext ALS Event: Scenic Mountain Triathlon, Richwood, West Virginia,
John Denver: Take Me Home, Country Roads

Wild Party at Sam M.'s

Hello, last night I went to a great party at Sam M's house not any relation to my neighbor Sam. The party started at 630 but we even get their until seven because my wife's potato dish was still in the oven and we had to take a detour around Jefferson Street while they demolished the old flour mill. When we got there a couple of large males came out to assist me and getting me out of the car. But LaToya my home health aide surprised them because she weighs only about 120 pounds and dead lifted my hundred and 50 pounds right out of the car into my wheelchair while the males watched in amazement. so my wife and I went into the party and proceeded to start to enjoy the hors d'oeuvres. My good friend Ron then started to force-feed me some of his great homemade wine. To force feed me he had a large flexible straw from a glass into my throat and kept on pouring more and more wine into the glass. We then sat down to an excellent dinner of course Latoya had to feed me my hand to mouth. The wine had not hit me yet. We then after dinner went back out to the porch and that's when the wine took over. You know the term falling down drunk, but that's hard to do in a wheelchair so let's just say I was sliding down drunk in a wheelchair. So I to ramble on and discuss movies with my friends Wil and Bob. Now you have to realize that Wil and Bob are workaholics so they don't get much exposure to entertainment. That led to a discussion of movies and they admitted the last movies they had seen were in black and white. In order to help them understand the real world, I suggested they come over and visit me and I would bring them up to date on the latest movie releases.Now it's getting close to my bedtime so I have to leave but Bob offers me some lemon squares for dessert-I eat one and take six or seven more home with me four a late-night snack. Again my aid impresses the group by dead lifting me into the car. We drive home and for some reason my wife wants to turn left when I say turn right but we get it home alright. I get home and realize it's too late to eat the lemon squares because of the pill I have to take. I go to bed and dream of a lemon squares all night. I wake up at seven and ask my wife to get me a lemon square and a Coke for breakfast. I enjoy it and then go back to sleep in till my real breakfast at 9 AM. So ALS does give you some strange eating habits.Best regards,DickStrength and HonorWhat We Do In This Life

Saturday's Song - July 11th

Time to slowdown things a bit with Saturday's song from Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney entitled "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

Invisible Man

Hello,
I find it both a frustrating and interesting almost every time I go
out I have unique experiences. Today I first went to the mobility
dealer in Salem to order my conversion van. My wife and I had all the
paperwork from the VA but the VA official had signed the letter but
not the form required to actually pay for the vehicle. So now we have
to go back to the VA on Monday to get the forms signed and then back
to the dealer to order the van. But the van is reserved for us at the
manufacturer and it should only take a week to get it once we get the
paperwork straightened out.
So next my attendant driver (who will not be named to protect his
credibility) proceeded to Best Buy to purchase a new larger TV for my
bedroom is so I can better use the computer with a larger screen. So
we are going into the parking lot at the mall and a driver says
should we park in these handicap spots-the handicap spot is talking
about is a good 100 yards from the Best Buy store in front of a
target store. I suggested we might want park a little closer and I
said if you go down to Best Buy you might find a better spot, of
course you know we did find a spot right in front of Best Buy. Next
we go into Best Buy and it appears that every time I go in the store
I become the invisible Man. Meaning that clerks and customers do not
acknowledge my existence. We go back to the TV section and no clerks
are to be found, but we do find a person who's not a clerk going back
into the stock room and she says she will call somebody. So we wait,
wait, wait, wait and still no salesperson appears in the TV section
which takes up a good one third of the store. We then start to leave
the TV department and the two clerks with name tags and Best Buy
shirts in the next apartment. I asked my attendant to see if they can
help us and he says, "do they work here?". I say no they are actually
Wal-Mart employees wearing Best Buy shirts were trying to hijack
customers from Best Buy to go to Wal-Mart. Of course neither one of
these clerks can help us since all they are assigned somewhere else.
We continue to wander around the fringes of the TV department and the
attendant sees a woman with Obama T-shirt. He says to her that he
stop wearing his presidential T-shirt because of some disagreement
with the president's policies. So I now can see a lengthy political
discussion while I'm trying to buy a TV set. so I say shut up and let
shop.
We finally find a clerk and gave him to ring up the TV set. But now
it won't accept my credit card for Best Buy so we have to go to the
front of the store to get it straightened out. once we get there we
find out we had to fill out a new credit application. Since I can't
write the attendant I asked to fill out the form for me. But he
doesn't have its glasses with him so I have to read the form to him
and point out where to print the information. Once we complete a form
we find out we need my drivers license which I've never carry since I
can't drive. So I call home and get my license number from a wife. We
then submit the application but their computer system only except it.
Finally after three tries we get to the purchase completed. I then a
small item and take it to check out and try to a conversation with
the cashier well but he doesn't respond since he I guess doesn't like
talking to people in wheelchairs or their invisible to him.
When we get home and have a telephone call from the Best Buy
department a trying to see why I was making a purchase on my old
credit card-I guess they thought it was a fraudulent purchase. But
now I have two Best Buy credit cards one old one and one new one. So
that's my story for today.
Best regards,
Dick
Strength and Honor
What We Do In This Life Echoes Through Eternity!
Website: http://web.alsa.org/goto/richardkelley.