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Bella’s injury Sept-14

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When I started my KevinNeal.com blog in 2009 I made a personal commitment to share my life.  The Good, The Bad and some of The Ugly.

While I’ve shared many of ‘The Goods’ there must be balance so I would like to share a recent scary recent experience with our cat (aka ‘daughter’), Bella Neal.

bella scratch on head with stiches

First of all, I would like to announce that she seems well on her way to recovery so this information is all past-tense.  Brandee described the situation in a Facebook post well so I will let her words describe Bella’s status:

I am recovering from an abscess due to a fight I had couple of weeks ago. Gotta protect my family from pirates and scourge!

Mom and Dad trimmed my nails and agreed to remove that torturous cone from my neck so I could sleep. My stitches come out on the 30th.

Mom and Dad have been taking excellent care of me! They feed me clams, tuna and chicken! They give me my meds around the clock and they sit outside with me several times a day to protect me while I get some sun.” Love and pity paws, Isabella Annamarie Neal — with Bella Neal and Kevin Neal.

Bella’s injury Sept-14 (Update Sept-30-14) —

bellas injury healing

Here is an update on Bella’s status to close-the-loop on this situation.  In summary, she is doing well and fully recovered.  We thank everyone for their well-wishes.  Once again I would like to share Brandee’s Facebook post verbatim as she summarized everything extremely well:

Pussface is back from getting her stitches removed. Doc says it looks perfect and she may not have a scar at all. The salve I have been putting on it really did the trick, he said.

Bacitracin; I swear by it for all wounds. It’s really great for diabetics, too. You buy it over the counter at Walgreens or any pharmacy.

Grateful for my kids (Jack and Bella)

Below are a few supplemental photos of some of the past few weeks animal-antics!  Any animal lover knows that they have a sixth-sense that humans certainly cannot comprehend.  While it was heart breaking to see my children go through these pains, it was remarkable to witness the close bonding between Jack and Bella that was clear, although not spoken (in English at least).  When Bella hurt;  Jack knew it and was there to comfort her.  I assure you that this was not typical behavior.  Vice-versa; when Jack hurt recently, Bella was right there for him.  It was absolutely amazing.  Here are a few of the photos:

jack and bella hurting bella and jack

A trip down Elementary and High School lane

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A celebrity post by Brandee —

Kevin and I had a wonderful day. We drove all over and he showed me where he went to school from preschool up to graduation; his entire newspaper route, which was totally impressive; friends homes and the neighborhood he grew up in.

We stopped and grabbed a little bite then headed for the barn. Perfect day in my book.

gunderson high school sign

James Harrison (Pittsburgh Steeler great linebacker) retires

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One of my all-time modern day (2014) Pittsburgh Steelers players announced his retirement today, August 30, 2014.

He did it in-class just as he had done his entire career.  He played hard, loved his team and teammates.  However, it was clearly obvious that he loved the Steelers fans the most and the feeling is certainly reciprocated.

His own words are more perfect than anything I can write so here is his Facebook post from this morning officially announcing his retirement from the NFL:

james harrison retirement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I have made the difficult decision to retire as of today. My love for my family and the need to be there for them outweighs my desire to play the game. I have missed too many experiences with them because I devoted SO much time to my career. My love for the game isn’t strong enough to make up for missing one more birthday or first day of school. I am retiring as a man who is truly grateful for all of his blessings. I am sincerely thankful to the people who have supported me over the years, first and foremost my family, the Rooney family and my Steeler family, also Mr. Brown, the Bengals organization and fans, and last but FAR from least, Steeler Nation. Thank you.”

 

Summer Breeze in Japan

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Japan in the summer

jal001When it takes half-a-day of travel (~12 hours) to get somewhere, and half-a-day of travel back (~10 hours because of a nice tail-wind) there must be lessons-learned and experiences to share.  Taking into account the obvious items such as the travel itself and those experiences, there is always something particularly special when traveling to Japan.  This week I was fortunate to travel to the great country of Japan again, and in particular the Yokohama area.  The fantastic Japanese spirit is so infectious that I wish to share with everyone reading this message.

My Colleagues

handshake-iconFirst, and foremost, I should acknowledge my fantastic co-workers.  They are simply the best; period!  They make every trip to Japan work so smoothly and they are the team the truly makes everything successful.  The cooperation and teamwork among the team is fantastic.  I am so grateful to work with such a talented and gracious team.

Lesson Learned
The weather.  The Lesson Learned is that in the summer time period in Japan make sure “Cool Biz” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Biz_campaign) is acceptable.  It basically means that in hot weather, shirts with short-sleeves or other comfortable clothing is acceptable in these conditions.  Cool Biz serves a few important purposes.  First, it allows workers to be comfortable during their work.  Second, Cool Biz helps conserve energy due to less demand on air conditioning in the aggregate of all businesses.

Food

g311206ps3It’s unbelievable but every visit to Japan is a culinary delight because of the incredibly diverse food items available in Japan.  It might be assumed that every Japanese meal might be Sushi but that is really not the case.  With nearly all meals you have a choice of conservative food, moderate food, or extreme food.

I enjoyed two especially memorable dinners for this quick trip and one was to Korean BBQ and the other was to Yakitori.  For Korean BBQ it’s basically a do-it-yourself type dining.  They bring various meat and vegetable items and you BBQ them yourself.  It’s quite fun even though you do a majority of the work!  We had a great time and these types of experiences always produce great memories.

Also, for this particular trip we were treated to Yakitori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakitori) which is everything Chicken!  It was so delicious and such a fabulous experience.  Again, there were many great memories created at this dinner while we consumed everything Chicken!gdr1600ps1

Summary

Of all the segments of Food, Lesson Learned and My Colleagues in my most recent trip to Japan there is a clear winner.  That is My Colleagues.  Clearly, without a doubt.

Arigato,

Kevin