Phil's notes and goofy (hopefully) ideas...

 Not really an idea, but rather my telling of an experience I had yesterday. Copied and pasted from my facebook page. Something I really hadn't really revealed here yet, recently I had a colonoscopy done at my local hospital.  The doctor found something he didn't like, had it tested and it turned out to be cancerous.  According to official forms at the hospital I now have rectal cancer. Yesterday, I had an MRI done which I talk about below.  Today I am having a CT scan done, and around 48 hours from now I get to meet with a doctor to talk about the results.  What follows is my experience with the MRI. So I had that MRI thing yesterday... No spoilers here. You are on a table which is pushed into a tube. Arms at your side, there is almost no room to move them. Maybe a few inches exist between your face and the top of the tube above you. As I mentioned yesterday, if you're claustrophobic this is not an exam for you but you probably still have to take one anyway...

 So I had yet another idea, let's eat at another restaurant my first for the year.  So I did. Restaurant - Wheeler's Restaurant... Location - Standish, Michigan (Where I-75 and US-23 separate near northeast Michigan. Date: Jan. 8, 2023 So a friend of mine was in Standish on business the week before my visit and she stopped here before headed home.  She recommended this place to me, so I stopped here on a quiet Sunday afternoon (actually it was almost evening when I got here).  BTW, note the sign above the door.  This is also a Cops & Doughnuts substation (see previous blog). Outside had a plain Jane look and as these pictures show the inside had an ordinary yet classic look. I should note that this is a look that you can not duplicate at the modern chain restaurants even if you tried.  This is why I like the local mom&pop owned restaurants, because even if restaurants like this had several stores none of them would look totally the same. The salad b...

  I'm reading this new book, the one pictured at left. For the uninitiated, let me tell you about this place. In, I believe, 2009 the city bakery in Clare, Michigan was about to permanently close.  Members of the local police department caught wind of the impending closure, pooled their money and resources, and bought the place renaming it "Cops & Doughnuts".   Those of you familiar with the song "Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangles probably recognize the line in the song about the cops hanging out in the doughnut shop.  In this case, the cops own the doughnut shop. It was an instant success, even surviving a bad business decision in the mid to late 2010's and covid in 2020.  Thanks in part to the stereotype of cops and doughnuts, this place probably has the best business plan of any place I've ever been to, restaurant or not. This book is their story. Disclaimer:  I knew I had to come to buy the book because I can no longer come and eat here....

Hi!  Or as I like to say, "Greetings and Hallucinations". Seems like a good day to start this up.  Fresh start on a blog on the first day of a new year.   Anyway, my name is Phil and that's me in the photo to the left.  This blog is about to be filled with my various thoughts, ideas, and adventures travelling through this year of 2023 and beyond. Do I know exactly what this blog is going to look like yet?  Nope.  As I wrote on my facebook page this morning, the future hasn't been written yet.  Let's make this fun and exciting.   Welcome, and hope you come along with me for the ride.  See you out there! Note:  the above photo was taken Nov. 5, 2022 in Frankenmuth, Michigan on the occasion of my sister's wedding there that day.  Most of the time, you will see me more informal.