My cousin about 3 years older dies of stroke

I received word from my Dad that my cousin Dean "Wendell" Miley suddenly died of stroke. More details can be found at the Palestine Herald-Press - Long-time deputy dies suddenly. Last time I saw him he looked good, I thought even healthier than me. I didn't know that, like me, he had high blood pressure. I only saw him at infrequent reunions but he was a good guy and leaves behind a very nice wife and family. Funeral Friday, today I heard one of the old timers on this side of the family also had a stroke. I will try to go for funeral tomorrow.

Other things recently

I tried to update my lower blood pressure, anti-stroke regimen based on the new study I posted earlier that finds baby aspirin and coated ineffective for most people. I went to get normal uncoated aspirin. Surprise, WalMart, the largest retailer in the world, no longer caries uncoated aspirin. Is micro-coat the same as coated? Pretty sure it is.

I have been busy with my brother-in-law Bill emptying my Mother's things out of the house, finally. It took a year. I took the opportunity to also clear up space in my bedroom by getting rid of the spare 20+ year old old mattress and box springs. I moved two small chest of drawers to my bedroom so I may approach having room for all my clothes. I had also wanted to get rid of the bed in my mother's room but Charlene and Bill are opposed to putting it in the garage sale. It probably does make sense for me to keep it as a spare bed. If the weather is good there will be a garage sale this weekend for my mother's stuff. I am supposed to be emptying my rental double storage space today but got off to a real slow start.

Bill is now unemployed, a master mechanic who was out-sourced out of his utility company job. I can also add another Houston computer tech to my list of unemployed, under-employed I know as well.

Other things lately have been my spending the afternoon with my brother including lunch at Fadi's Mediterranean Grill - really middle eastern. I went with fish, a yellow lentil soup, vegetables and baklava. The previous week I was wandering around Rice Village with him and his wife Amy. That time having a Vietnamese lunch at Miss Saigon Cafe. I went vegetarian, good mixed vegetables and tofu. I had wanted to go to Thai Fast Food Monday but couldn't remember where it was. I finally decided I drove past it without noticing.

With my ex-wife Pat, in the last three weeks I have been to Arandas for Mexican seafood twice and Denny's once. Terrific fried catfish with different Mexican sauces and great ceviche at Arandas. Their ceviche tostadas are a better buy than the ceviche cocktails. They are the same as the cocktails but without the glass for a lower price. Their fish tacos use grilled fish, not fried, still good.

The book group actually had a meeting with more females than males in attendance, also had a real good meeting at Cherie's house to watch videos. There has been discussion about starting a central Houston book club with some members of our group as the nucleus. I am considering inviting a couple people to that if it gets off the ground.

I discovered that a classic book of mine, The Magic Goes Away, that had been marked out of circulation in the old database has disappeared - with more room in my bedroom I'll look around for it some more but possibly I did not get it back from someone last year.

School news, the new test was not as bad as some students feared. We still will have a huge increase in kids not passing though. I need to decide either to get a principal to sponsor me for alternative certification or to go back to retail or marketing analysis.