Best Birthday Present

Wow! I got the best birthday present today! I had an afternoon appointment with my surgeon and got the "all clear" results from my latest CT Scan. Hallelujah! What a great relief! I had the scan two weeks ago and have been waiting patiently. Always a bit of a challenge! This is the second clear scan since my RFA procedure in March. Looking good! Interestingly... my liver resection surgery was three years ago on my 47th birthday. Must be my lucky day!

So much to be thankful for this week...

Blessings... Rob; in Vancouver

"Just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy." Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Turning 50!!

I was born Friday, October 4, 1957 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

On the day that I was born... international history was made by the Russian launch of Sputnik I and the beginning of the “space age”. Sputnik I was the first artificial satellite to be put into geocentric orbit. Sputnik I traveled 60 million kilometers before burning up on re-entry on January 4, 1958. Not bad for a little fella!!
On the day that I was born... Arkansas was embroiled in a great civil rights conflict over the integration of Central High School in nearby Little Rock. In early September of 1957 Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National guard to prevent nine African American high school students from attending Central High. President Dwight Eisenhower subsequently “federalized” the National Guard and deployed the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army to escort the students, now known as the “Little Rock Nine”, to their classes.
The desegregation of Central High was one of the pivotal battles in the American Civil Rights Movement. Opposition to desegregation was so strong in Arkansas that the State Legislature cancelled the whole 58/59 school year at Little Rock High Schools. I guess they figured that “no school” was preferable to “integrated schools”.

On the day that I was born... the very first episode of “Leave it to Beaver” aired on CBS Television. Baby Boomer kids are now well identified as a TV “market” by the major networks. Wow! How cool is that!

Wow… what a wonderful world!! And what a wonderful life I’ve had… so far…

Turning 50… Rob; in Vancouver

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” Abe Lincoln

Sputnik Surprise!

More 1957 Highlights

Dr. Seuss publishes “The Cat in the Hat”

Jack Keroac writes “On the Road”

Ford launches the “Edsel”

Canada launches the “Avro Arrow”

Paul McCartney and John Lennon meet for the first time at St. Peters Church in Woolton, Liverpool… 3 years before the Beatles are formed.

Hit songs in the autumn of 1957 included…

• “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley,
• “Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers, and
• “Honeycomb” by Jimmie Rodgers.

The Academy Award winning Best Film of 1957 was “The Bridge on the River Kwai” starring Alec Guinness.