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December 2019

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!

2019 will certainly go down as possibly the worst year of my life, but as in all things, there is ALWAYS a silver lining.

Exactly one year ago this week started the plunge into some of the worst health issues I have ever faced, yet one year later I feel like a new man!  I have regained 25 pounds of the 33 I lost in the first 3 months of this year, am able to exercise and lift weights again, and have regained a focus and energy I have not felt since I was forced into retirement because of multiple neck and back surgeries.

And as usual with my life, I have moved into a new hobby/enterprise activity to help keep my mind active and fresh to help weather the storm of becoming a senior citizen.

In November of this year I was issued my Federal Firearms License by the ATF.  It is a GREAT honor for me.  I am an active member of the NRA and have been a shooting enthusiast since I was young.  I hope to have a small online business starting up in 2020, as a way to take my hobby to the next level.

There is VERY controversial area of firearms, as I have learned, that I find myself having to take a stand on (or in my case against) in relation to the Do-It-Yourself gun manufacturing movement that exists in this country.

Most citizens are probably not aware that you are allowed to legally manufacture your own gun for our own personal use.  You may not let anyone else use it and you can not sell it or transfer ownership to anyone else.  Upon the death of the original owner/builder, the gun must be destroyed or surrendered to ATF (and with VERY GOOD REASON).

This topic brought up some heavy debate in my own mind about this policy.  My followng commentary on this is STRICTLY my own opinion, and is in no way meant to criticize the policy or those that choose to embark on making their own guns.  The law states that you can, and as long as it does, I will always support and defend a persons right to make that choice.

HOWEVER!

The other thing that most folks may not realize about this gun building thing is that the law ALSO does not force the gun to be serialized and registered.  This is the area I find most alarming and why I felt it necessary to take a stand and distance myself from this group of shooting enthusiasts.

There are TWO very important aspects on this that I felt compelled to consider and side with.  And BOTH  I feel have a direct relationship to my deep respect and sense of duty to our Law Enforcement community and the difficult challenges they face on a daily basis keeping us safe as best they can.

Number 1:  Even though our Constitution guarantess the right of gun ownership, I view it as more of a priviledge than a right, just like a Driver's License.  We must act RESPONSIBLY as gun owners.  

Number 2:  To me the thought of unregistered guns floating around is VERY disconcerting.  Were these guns to fall into the wrong hands, or be stolen and used in a crime, by the very nature of being untraceable, makes the job our Police Officers face, a VERY daunting task.

Ask yourself a question:  How would you feel if a gun you made, was stolen and used to injure someone?  Not something I could live with!

I have sensed a strong sentiment of the feeling of invasion-of-privacy and anti Law Enforcement in regard to this movement.  And it is a sentiment I DO NOT share!

I am in favor of strong gun control measures. But I also believe it is people who kill people and NOT the fault of the gun itself.  Blame should rest where it belongs.  Banning a gun for it's operational characteristics will NEVER be the answer to the problem.  AR does NOT stand for Assault Rifle folks!  It stands for Armalite Rifle named for the company that invented it.  And it was issued as a civilian gun before it became used in the military.

But back to my initial topic of discussion, I think if you make a gun, you should act responsibly and register it by having a serial number engraved on it, period!

I refuse to own or be in possession of an unregistered gun. I have zero problem with the government and Law Enforcement knowing about the guns I own.

Okay, I will get off my soap-box now!  Thanks for listening!

God Bless the U.S.A.   

]]> Sun, 26 Jan 2020 13:03:00 GMT http://www.thefaegenburgs.com/blog/?what-a-differencwe-a-year-makes- http://www.thefaegenburgs.com/blog/rss/000000004 imblog

June 2019

Here we go again!

Sometime around the beginning of 2019, things really took a downturn. I finally made the break from the prescription medicine called "Lyrica". It nearly cost me my life. Whatever you may have seen on TV or heard about this medication, take it from someone who knows, not only is it a piece of shit medicine with an astronomical pricetag, it is pretty useless for anything other than physically addicting you to it. And once you are on it baby, you may as well forget it. Had I not pushed myself to get in the best physical conditioning I could before I detoxed, I would be dead for sure. And the government thinks there is an opiod crisis, huh? The only crisis going on is at the Big Pharma companies pumping out bullshit like Lyrica, and you just know that is NEVER going to change.

But that just proved to be the tip of the iceberg as they say. The withdrawals were hideous and made opiod withdrawal look like a day on a picnic! By April I was starting to feel somewhat better, but then developed some very unusual flu-like symptoms, but did not have the flu. Night sweats, fatigue, chills, 25 lbs of weight loss, no sleep for 2 months, stomach aches, and unexplainable swelling of my wrists and hands!

God certainly was pissed off at me for sure. One day at the end of April, my wife found me unresponsive at the kitchen table and called 911. But by the time they got there I had regained concisouness. I thanked them for stopping by and kicked them out! 2 weeks later I was at the emergency room because my weird flu-like sysmptoms were only getting worse. They found nothing of course and sent me home. Another two weeks and I was back again because I woke up in the middle of the night with my entire left side of my body paralyzed. Gee whiz! 15 minutes later my body was working again, but I high-tailed it the the E.R. again.

And of course they found NOTHING again, but did admit me overnight for testing. And lo and behold at least they found a ticking time bomb. Seems my left Carotid Artery was over 85 percent blocked. And that is what you see in the above picture: the aftermath of the surgery on June 7th, 2019.

I have had 3 neck surgeries, 2 back surgeries, and 3 hand surgeries, but let me tell you, a cardio-vascular surgery will put a world of hurt on ya! Yowee what a pain in the neck!

But the good news is that I have finally gotten my Primary Care doctor off his dumb ass and getting me to the kind of people who might be able to actually help me! The rest of June and early July are filled with CT scans and Hematology/Oncology visits, topped off with a combo Endoscopy/Colonoscopy on July 5th!

Special Notes

This particular paragraph or two is being added on Father's Day 2019 for a VERY special reason that I NEVER saw coming.

With the slew of problems I have had this year I decided that maybe it was time to give up the motorcycle since riding time has been and is getting more limited for me as the days go by. So I put the bike up for sale on CycleTrader, and have had a few nibbles here and there but nothing really happening.

Then the end of last week I had a call from a guy named Scott, and had a chat about the bike. I think somewhere along the line, I exchanged an e-mail with Scott and it happened to have my website link on it.

Now I know nobody really visits my website, because no one really knows about it for the most part. It was just something I always wanted to do, because it was the culmination of all my years of experience as a Systems Programmer in Information Technology as a career.

One of my most cherished posessions is a very short story that my Adoptive father Merrill Faegenburg put together and composed on the computer when he was around 80+ years old. I was ALWAYS amazed that dad was able to pull that off since half the 80 year olds on the planet have probably never even used a computer. So what does the motorcycle, and Dads story have to do with each other?

Well this morning, Father's Day 2019, I was checking my phone and noticed that this guy Scott, whom I have never met before, had sent me a Text message, saying he had read my Dad's story and was very appreciative that I had shared it on my website.

I always dread Father's Day now, because Dad has been gone for 5 years, but today instead of tears of sorrow, I cried tears of joy, because a total stranger took the time to read something about my personal hero, My Dad, Merrill!

I will now have the treasured memories of my Dad, and just as importantly, the treasured memory that Scott blessed me with today!

Scott, God Bless you and Thank You so very much!

The Corsair Kings

Here is a picture of Dad, he is 2nd from the right standing. That is a Corsair behind them and it is what they taught their students to fly. This picture was taken at Jacksonville Naval Air Station sometime in 1944. One thing I can tell you for certain, while those men were smiling for the picture (sort of), they were VERY unhappy that they had NOT been assigned to combat units in the European or Pacific war zones, because the Navy wanted them to be instructors! (They do that with the BEST pilots!). Talk about men of courage! If I EVER become 1/1000th of the man my Dad was, I will be doing ok!

Final Thoughts

I have done a lot of soul searching this past year and have finally pulled the plug on all the worthless and phony relationships that have been dogging me for years. So called family and friends. I have boiled things down to what finally makes the most sense for me:

1). God

2). Country

3). Me

4). My wonderful and beautiful wife

5). My two awesome daughters

The rest is just fluff. Now I am free to pursue what I REALLY love. I love fast cars, Budweiser and Weapons Systems!

What else does one need!

I Love the Lord, but I HATE organized phony religious bullshit. Read "The History of The Jews" by Paul Johnson. People don't even realize why it is that we believe what we believe today when it comes to religion. This book will open your eyes to the manipulation of mankind, by mankind, for the purpose of furthering agendas concerning the ever present conflict of state vs. church. You will be horrified to learn the truth.

I have no use for religious texts anymore, or religious buildings, or religious ceremony. I know God exists. What I don't know is what is beyond, and I firmly believe we are all wasting our time trying to figure it out. God does NOT play favorites. He gives us free will. Stop praying and asking him for everything. Get your own shit together and be part of humanity. Fuck all the other bullshit. God has no need to reward or punish. He leveled the playing field by putting us all on earth and imposing the death penalty on ALL. Be mindful of the Lord and respectful. Stop believing what everyone else tells you that you are supposed to believe. If you want to believe you are going to someplace called hell just because you don't believe that Jesus was the savior of mankind, that is your right.

I think we are all in for a surprise when we die. God has been very gracious to me throughout my life and I certainly have not deserved it. Just having been fortunate enough to have been born in the USA was number one in my book. Of all the fucked up places you could wind up in as far as this planet goes, to be in the United States of America is to be in the Greatest Country On Earth!

God Bless the U.S.A.   

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June - 2018

Geez Donald!:

You know, there is no winner when you tackle something like this, BUT I just couldn't let this one go! I actually like Donald Trump, but the John McCain comment that is all over the news just hit a nerve. Every single person who wears the uniform of one of our military services ARE heroes in my book! ALL, no one excluded. Add to that list our Police Officers, Emergency Medical Services and Fire Department personnel too!

Nuff said!

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February 2010

You know you're getting old when (a true story):

Monday January 11, 2010 began like any normal workday for me. However, when a young lady Illinois State Trooper pulled me over after clocking me at 83 mph on the Edens Expressway (28 over the limit - oooops!), I was about to be reminded about life's inevitabilities.

At the time, my Driver's License stated my hair color as Brown.

I didn't notice this until I got home that evening and looked at the ticket to find out what I was going to have to do. Well lo and behold when I read the citation, she listed my hair color as GRAY.

Boy oh boy, how cruel can a person be!

But there is a happy ending to this story and a moral too. While there are some things about life you simply can't change, you still have the power to do something about the ones that you can. My Driver's License also stated my weight as 210 lbs. (I had actually reached 218 lbs at one point after the photo was taken, and I am only 5' 9" tall).

My new Illinois Driver's License, while stating my hair color as Gray, now shows my weight at a nice fairly trim 170 lbs (it's no lie) - but I am sorry to say some clown sold me another 15 pounds which I foolishly bought!

Updated:  September 2019

I am happy to report my weight is currently 155 pounds and my new Real-ID Driver's License shows it too (same as I weighed when I graduated high school in 1973)!

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