Hey there boys and girls! I'm back.

I don't know if it is possible to be creative when you feel like you've just been ran over by a herd of goats, but I'm going to give it a shot.

I spent most of today in a walk in visit at the Jackson VA. Wish I could say I enjoyed the visit, except I didn't. I have an ear and throat infection that is making me miserable.

Guess this is where I should tell ya'll I am an Army Veteran. Stayed in four years way back in the 80's. I will be the first to tell you I didn't make a very good soldier because I really hate people telling me what to do and I have this annoying tendency to question authority. Not skills needed for a life in the military. It was a good starter career. Gave me lots of perspective, and more than anything else, gave me the uncanny ability to tell a lie from the truth the second it comes out of some one's mouth. Had some good times, made some good friends. Learned many novel and exciting ways of blowing stuff up and doing people in. Those are a couple of skills I really haven't had a chance to use in civilian life, however if the occasion does arise, I'm ready.

So, back to the VA. The VA, while making great strides in health care for women veterans, still has a few kinks to work out of the system. Take, for instance, mammograms. At today's walk in visit my health care provider reminded me of tomorrows appointment for a mammogram. Would have been nice if they had told me about it a bit sooner.

Two years ago I got my notice from the VA for my mammogram. The test is not done at the VA hospital, but offsite. Mine was suppose to be done at the Mississippi Cancer Center, just two blocks down from the VA hospital. I got up there in plenty of time for the appointment, which was probably a good thing, because I was informed that the MCC no longer did mammograms for the VA. Then who did? They really didn't know, I'd have to contact the VA. Get in my little car, go back to the VA, find a customer service rep who wasn't filing her nails or checking her myspace page, gave her the appointment slip, and ask where I was suppose to be. Turns out it's at a hospital clear across town in a very very questionable neighborhood. Jackson, Mississippi has one of the highest murder rates for a city its size in the country, and this hospital is right in the middle of gang central. Still haven't figured out why the VA, in all it's infinite wisdom, sends women to one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Jackson for mammograms. And they're still doing it. I made sure my this years appointment was in the morning, as that is not a neighborhood you want to be caught in after dark.

The VA has put up a picture of our new commander in chief in the lobby. I think they could have got a better picture. This one makes him look like a total dweeb. When I walked by I saluted my commander in chief. Just a habit I've had since the Regan administration. He gets the same salute the rest of them got, and it doesn't involve all the fingers of my right hand. It was sort of an automatic gesture. It seems that the only thing that ever happens at the VA are budget cuts. Not a good thing at best of times and certainly not during a time of war, when we have kids coming back from overseas wounded and missing body parts. When the commander in chief makes VA health care a priority, instead of spending billions of dollars to bail out a bunch of corporate raiders, then maybe, just maybe, I'll change my salute.

It's been a week since Obama took office. So far I haven't seen any unicorns, or fairies, or pixies spreading pixie dust around. I was expecting an immediate plethora of sunshine and rainbows and money falling from the sky. It's cold and grey and foggy and the only thing that's fell out of the sky so far has been rain and pigeon poop. If there are any stars rising in the East, it's been too cloudy to see them. I can't wait for the day this news media lovefest is over, and all the journalists and pundits come to the startling conclusion that Obama is only human, just like everyone else, and is going to make mistakes. I only hope that when he does, it won't cost the lives of any American soldiers or civilians.