D.T.F. = "Don't... tempt... fate...! "

...12/22/02: the Lord of the Rings sequel dominated in its debut weekend, taking in $61.5 million - 30% better than its predecessor did last year, according to studio estimates Sunday...altogether, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has grossed $101.5 million since opening Wednesday, compared to $75.1 million by The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in the same period and $47.2 million in its first weekend...Director Peter Jackson's middle chapter in his mammoth adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy trilogy, The Two Towers also took in about $85 million overseas in the 26 countries where it has opened since Wednesday...with nearly $190 million in the bank in just five days, distributor New Line Cinema expects The Two Towers to surpass the $860 million total worldwide gross of Fellowship of the Ring by 20-25%, said Rolf Mittweg, the studio's head of worldwide marketing and distribution...if that comes to pass, it would be only the second movie after Titanic to top $1 billion at the box office...Titanic leads the worldwide charts with $1.8 billion, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at No. 2 with $968 million...

...12/21/02: in a fit of depression, Brad saying he may not be alive to see the final movie in the LOTR trilogy...

...in order to provide an incentive not to leave, UNM Admins. will get an increase ranging from 5% to 20% of their salary, after the staff was told in July that there was not enough money for raises...obviously, little is thought about the workers in the university...if we leave, who cares!...

...12/20/02: free holiday lunch for hospital employees (that includes UPA)...Cassandra went early; when she left there was a very long line...12/22/02: the fat lady has finally sung for the Patriots...they lost the game with the NY Jets, 30-17...oh, well, there was last year!...Brad made tea eggs...very good!...12/23/02: 34 degrees @5AM...I-40 closed from Gallup to the AZ border and into that state...too many accidents...heavy snow in the S & E...Lake Tahoe has between 12-13 feet of snow!...body hit by truck in TX, dragged across NM & falls off in AZ, very decomposed!...

...12/21/02: ran from 5th & Gold to 5th & Copper to get Lomas bus; then ran from 3rd & Copper to 5th & Copper to get the Central bus!...12/23/02: Mike ran again from 3rd to 5th on Copper...12/24/02: Brad & Mike ran from 4th & Gold to the cinemas @1st & Central...started running, but gave up chasing the westbound Central bus later that day...12/27/02: more running for the Menual (east & west)...12/28/02: another run for Mike from 3rd to 5th on Copper...to reduce stress, eat food with protein...now, by 12/25/02, the Powerball lottery could be worth $300 million!...12/26/02: and it peaked at $315 million, won by a person from WV...another $100,000 winner in NM!...and our pension plan benefits have been delayed for 4-6 weeks!...

...Frist will replace Lott as the Senate Majority leader...12/23/02: received a holiday card from Hope, who wished me Christmas greetings as she was leaving...a good day to get stuff done...Dr. Lattimore replaced Dr. Anaya 2 days earlier than expected, and will continue until the end of the year...the day continued, and still no snow in ABQ...it was cold & windy when leaving work...received a holiday card from Phyllis & Isaac...12/23/02: Brad got the P/T job at NMAS...he will travel to various locations...but he wanted the other position, so we will not talk about this subject...he will work various hours per week, which will give him a chance to rest...it's money!...Brad has an orientation meeting 1/18/03 from 11-2 @NMAS, lunch provided...1/3/03: this has been rescheduled to 2/1/03 (not surprising!)...

...12/24/02: a tiny amount of snow fell in ABQ...but the problem was ice on the roads, which shut down various parts of the interstates in NM & AZ...in ABQ, there were 4 rollovers on I-25, near Rio Bravo, Broadway, AVE de Cesar Chavez & in Bernalilo...there was one death from these accidents...Sandia Peak ski area got 11 inches of snow; Ruidoso, 9"; Taos, 5"; and 18" in the Sacramento MTNs...next storm nearing CA, will be here by early next week?...heavy snow in OK & MO...tornadoes in TX & GA...severe storms in the Carolinas...ice & snow in the mid-Atlantic, turning into a cold rain...10-20 inches of snow in NY & New England, some places had 2-3 feet...again, this is all caused by El Nino!...

...N Korea reopening their nuclear reactor for operation...this is an action of brinkmanship...UN nuclear & weapons inspectors will be out of N Korea by 12/31/02...US says it could beat that country in a war, even while they are fighting Iraq (I wonder what would happen to Pinocchio's nose if he said that!)...N Korea wants a peaceful solution to this problem...it does state that the US is trying to threaten, blackmail and destroy us with nuclear weapons, gripped by the Cold War way of thinking...Sandia Labs will test a plutonium bomb blast...a human clone is created in FL?...

...12/24/02: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was very good...it is a darker type of movie, but the crux of the action was a battle to maintain control of an area...the special effects were excellent...in some scenes there appeared to be a cast of tens of thousands!...the actors played second fiddle to the action, the story & the trees (you have to see it to know what I mean!)...the time (3+ hours) sped fast...Prelude: Mike was searching through the Internet to locate all movies playing at the downtown cinema...at 11:10, he discovered that the first showing was @11:50, not 12:50...so we wolfed down a meal, got on a bus, and had 20 minues to spare when they arrived at the theater...

...12/24/02: after the movie, Mike & Brad helped place luminarias on the penthouse stairs & porch...we had a chance to meet & talk with the other tenants...James Bond movies are a way to trace the changes in styles, cars, fashions, trends, fads & socio-political events...I can fit in 29" waist Levi 501 jeans!...in the end, holidays sales were the worst in 30 years!...

...12/24/02: we had some homemade food made by Nancy, which may not have set well in Brad's stomach...maybe it should have been nuked...12/25/02: Brad probably had a fast-acting bug; but it exhausted him...so he relaxed & rested during the day...he let Captain go out the front door in the early AM...the cat did want to come back inside; so Brad, naked, had to dress up and persuade him to do so...however, during the afternoon, Captain has been guarding Brad, laying very close to him on the bed...but it was a forced quiet, slightly unnerving at times...12/26/02: after many bouts of diarrhea during Christmas, Brad appears to be slowly gettng better, but very tired (my poor baby)...by the end of the day, he had heaved and had sore bowels...he just wants to pass some gas (usually a very easy thing for him to do!)...this event made me remember that Brad is a cranky sick person!...12/27/02: Brad's health improves, as he eats eggs in the AM, goes to the drug store, and fixes pasta for supper...12/28/02: Brad is hungry, and releasing gas; these are good indicators that he is getting better...through all this, Brad lost 6 lbs!...

...12/25/02: 21 degrees @7 AM...the city of Bethlehem is under Israeli occupation, something not seen since 1994...in the end, the armies pulled back from the city...but, Arafat still could not travel there to celebrate the holidays, or he would be arrested...the ABC news station has flat screen PC monitors...there will be flight restrictions over NYC & LA until 1/2/03...planes will fly at higher altitudes over these cities, especially during the parades & bowl games...the Spanish lady w/cats on the Central bus told me she saw a manger scene with cats replacing people...while I am not a very religious person, I expressed my disapproval on the subject...the holiest person of Christianity is a human in form, not an animal!...

...12/26/02: the Lobos lost to UCLA, 27-13, on Christmas...12/27/02: but the team was on Good Morning, America!...most states will have a hard time balancing their budgets unless they raise taxes or cut services...the closet door in Mike's office no longer sticks, thanks to a slight tinkering with the roller...there was an E-mail from Pat, our big boss...in it she stated that Dr. Cordova E-mailed Pat & Dr. Katz...it appears that doctors were hearing about delays in coding for up to 2-3 months!...I explained, in detail, the series of events with Dr. Cordova on 12/20/02...as of now, any green or orange billing forms from Pulmonary will be coded, and to hell with the necessary documentation!...a copy of my reply went to Cassandra, Rosanne & Geri...this continues below...what should be done is that we should code any charge, with the proviso that somewhere there is documentation to support & substantiate the visit...

...12/26/02: not a good day for Cassandra, either...he mother-in-law was supposed to babysit Miguel, because Patrick was working...when leaving on Christmas, the M-law said she was going to a doctor's visit because she heard that Cassandra had taken the day off!...well, Cassandra arrived at noon to read & heard about the E-mail from Pat...on the brighter side, Cassandra's mother made it to OK City on 12/24 & returned on 12/25 with no problems...all the snow had been plowed to the side of the roads...this year, 12/30/02 & 12/31/02 will be the busiest travel days, as people extend their holiday vacations...12/26/02: more people are buying than returning gifts!...but in the end, it was a less than expected shopping season...when there may be a war on the horizon, one has to take care of one's self & family...

...12/27/02: neither Mike nor Cassandra were awake...Mike forgot to pick up billing sheets at NICU...12/28/02: Mike worked for 2 hours...the PEDS Clinic never delivered charges for the audit...this fact was E-mailed to the necessary people...12/28/02: 21 degrees at 7AM; 12/29, 31 degrees, same time...alcohol check points will be in force until 1/5/03...

...12/27/02: a small ray of hope for Coders...I wrote to our big boss, Pat, telling her how this whole matter should have been easily solved but has now caused us great stress...she told us we have nothing to worry about, and that we were doing a good job...she also thanked me for the well thought E-mail I sent her on 12/26/02...we wondered why Dr. Cordova wrote to Pat first, then came to us for an explanation, which she received & of which she was satisfied...and, the doctor's E-mail was CC'd to Dr. Katz, the head of PEDS...Pat then E-mailed to both Drs. Katz & Cordova explaining our work environment, providing numbers & facts, especially the fact that only 17 charges were past the filing limit for the entire year!...this should cause waves when everyone returns from their Winter Break!...Dr. Rose said that we had done a good job in reducing the backlog...Hope showed us pictures of her daughter...

...thousands of troops are heading to the Persian Gulf...Saudi Arabia agrees that US military can use their airspace...and in N Korea, troops are being moved into the DMZ...gas prices may rise up to $2/gal due to the spectre of war, economic problems in Venezuela & the cold winter across America...800,000 people will lose unemployment benefits on 1/1/03...the President says this should be the first item on Congress' agenda, who return to work on 1/6/03...however, they did try & failed to enact legislation in 2002, why should one expect quicker action in 2003!...Sony pictures had the most box offices successes in 2002, including Spider Man & MIB 2...Bridgeville, CA, purchased for $1.77 million on Ebay...

...12/29/02: an odd assortment of ingredients came together in Brad's Aunt Jojo's Politically Incorrect Potato & Sausage Soup, such as smoked sausage, celery, heavy cream, balsamic vinegar & vanilla; but the final result was a very tasty soup...the Hooters Airline [yes, as in the restaurant!] will start soon...the restaurant itself will begin serving airplane wings!...X-rated pictures were found in a BARNEY's children book!...

"The Curse of the Owl Cafe!" 3 lunches, 3 fights afterwards!

...12/29/02: the Patriots still have a very tiny chance to be in the playoffs...the fat lady had to hold her breath as the New England Patriots & the Miami Dolphins were in a 24-24 tie at the end of the regular game...this is the last division to determine its champion!...