Today we hit 89 degrees, no, not the temperature but 89 degrees north. We are now a little less than one degree away from the North Pole. We have traveled over 60 miles north from our start point. Keep in mind, this does not include any traveling we did moving every other direction to get around open leads, ice boulder fields, or pressure ridges, needless to say we have accomplished alot in the past 6 days (or was it 7 days? Hard to keep track). We are expecting one resupply to get us more fuel and food for the dogs, but we have a great team and everyone is motivated to push hard and get to ...continued...

The Qualities of Someone I Admire: My Grandfather             Although I admire several people in my world, there is one man that stands out above all the rest and shines bright in my eyes. I have known him all my life and he was always a constant for me. His nickname for years was Smiley. You may think that was because he smiled all the time, but this was not the case. In fact, he rarely had a smile on his face for as long as I can remember. This man had a very hard life. He was born in 1918 to a very poor family. His mother died when he was a young boy and he had to help ra ...continued...

FIRST CHRISTMAS ©2014 By Rolland Love rtl@kc.rr.com The last sound I heard as I drifted off to sleep was the howling wind. In the middle of the night I was awakened by a scream from the back bedroom. My dog Trouser came over and licked my face. I sat up and draped a wool blanket around my shoulders. Then slid out of bed and walked across a cold hardwood floor. I found myself standing at the bedroom door. The scene was strange and scary, like something in a dream. Sitting on white wicker tables, one on each side of my mother and father’s bed, were ke ...continued...

Primary Care for Underserved Populations: Navigating Policy to Incorporate Occupational Therapy Into Federally Qualified Health Centers. Murphy, A. et al. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 71, Jan 2017. http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=2599871 This article provided information about how people belonging to underserved populations, including minority groups and low-income people, have limited access to much needed occupational therapy services. Using a case example of a federally qualified health center serving American Indian/Alaska Native popul ...continued...

Affirmations Morning thoughts are very important because it establishes our attitudes for the day. What do you think about when you first wake up. Are you irritated? Are you unmotivated? Do you hit the snooze over and over. Remember, the top don’t act like this. Neither do you. Nothing changes overnight, and for that matter over a week. Commit to the following exercise. What do you have to loose? The majority of people are not doing mental programming. The majority of people are not successful. As (??) said &ldquo ...continued...

Fact can often appear to be well written fiction. How many times have we heard the expression “You couldn’t make this stuff up.” A few years ago I experienced one of these wonderful moments. It occurred in “Iggy’s” pub in Kincasslagh, on the west coast of Donegal. This remote place has two famous sons, Daniel O’Donnell (a very popular country and western crooner) and Packie Bonner (a famous and long serving Irish International soccer player). This is a beautiful and magical part of the world. The road to Kincasslagh is narrow and undulating. This ...continued...

Start Writing! How To Write A Novel ...continued...

This chapter was written years ago. I'm in a better place now but still fight the on going battle of SPS.... In 2002 I first noticed how my back and legs were getting stiff more often and lasted longer. A few years before this, I did suffer a accident to my tailbone causing it to break. It took 6 months for a full recuperation. I attributed a lot of what I had the numbness, tingling and burning sensation to this for years. In 2003 I started to get full numbness and tingling in the arms, hands, head and partial face. None of this occurred all at once but intervals but occu ...continued...

North Pole ...continued...

It's my Birthday...But we are so wet due to heavy rain... But still I enjoy the night with him... on the contrary I argue with someone there inside the disco area... I feel like stupid and those guard are also stupid... hahaha... But the memories with him will last... Kiss here Kiss there and that's it... We don't come to the point to make sex because that is the stupid things I don't want to do.. Life is to short to ignore but we need to face that love is good enough for some reasons... I want to thank him for being a good kisser and being a nice guy l ...continued...

Every single day we have to setup our camp and get the dogs settled. Every day we look forward to sitting in our cold tent for some degree of warmth and relative relaxation warming water for drinking and mixing with our dehydrated meals. We realize it is still below zero in our tent (our water will freeze overnight if left in something uninsulated), but warmth at this point is relative, funny how that works. To create our little slice of the tropics here we of course need a tent, and to set our tents up, we have to use an evil little device called an ice screw. See, we cannot use ...continued...

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I vividly remember writing a story about a Strawberry Queen, just before my 11+ exam (I had just read Alice in Wonderland). I was rather proud of my surreal composition but my headmistress, who for unkown reasons was taking our class, told me that if I wrote rubbish like that in the exam I didn't have a hope of passing. Beware of throwing me down a gauntlet! I was only one of two in my class who did pass the 11+. Not that it did me much good. With parents that never stayed in one place very long and this being during the period when w ...continued...

The way I see it is if I am so unhappy with how I look on the outside then I need to seriously buckle down and deal with it, only I am so addicted to the chips and the pop that I feel it is my crutch. I end up at the store buying things I dont need without even giving The big blow out! Mom entered my room, I can only imagine after grilling my sibling about her weight, spending habits and other things. She was on the war path and it just so happened that I was the nect victim. I heard a knock which lead to her helping herself into my room as though she owned it. To be honest, she pays the ...continued...

I was born, I saw, and I was conquered. Trying to unconquer myself. Thank you. Tommy H. Birk. In Jasper, INDIANA! ...continued...