As I’ve mentioned before, I’m recovering from cancer surgery and things are going well — I’m basically a walking medical miracle, just with a slightly less reliable plumbing system.

My recent absence was mostly about juggling family stuff and board obligations for a couple of non-profits. Recovering made it more annoying than usual, but the hard part is behind me. The real boss level has been the incontinence. My bladder and I are no longer on speaking terms. It used to give me a polite heads-up. Now it just texts “lol” and starts the countdown.

Sitting down? Easy. Feel it, go. Driving? The moment you get the first little whisper, you take the next exit like your life depends on it – because your dignity does. I’ve managed to avoid any full disasters so far, but I’ve had a few “Depends, you were not built for this timeline” moments.

Now that the healing is further along, I actually have energy and freedom again, which is great except that my bladder is still operating on 2019 software. So I’m easing back into the routine. First Rule 5 post is tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone who kept me in their prayers. I really do believe in the power of prayer (and also the power of a well-timed rest stop).

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming… assuming my bladder signs off on it.

The last few weeks were quite stressful. I’m working on a few projects where things went off-track and required my full attention to bring back. I also endured a bit of a health scare a couple of week ago that took me out of action for a few days. Life is returning to normal.

Rule 5 will resume this evening. I’m hoping to do more than just post pictures of pretty girls, but they always seem to be enough.

Thanks for sticking around.

I have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks: Traveling for work, community service projects, doing some data work for a couple of GOP campaigns around the area, church obligations, etc. This has caused me to readjust my priorities to ensure I can meet my commitments.

It’s also that time of the year when we start talking budgets – the fiscal year begins in the fall and budget planning is generally 6 months out for the non-profit boards I serve on. The struggle is getting all the stakeholders together on the same calendar, even when you’re the President, which I am for a couple of organizations during this term. It’s also the start of fundraising season which means I need to keep the groups motivated to accomplish our aggressive campaigns.

The good news is that I’ve gotten through the thick of things. That doesn’t mean other obligations won’t come up later, but hopefully the contingencies have been accounted for and the right people are in place to minimize the time I need to spend.

So tomorrow, Rule 5 resumes and a slow ramp up of some posts and observations about the upcoming election season. I have spent a lot of time with voters in and around the surrounding communities and it’s becoming more and more clear that our media and left are on a coordinated mission to change the direction of this country, and not in a good way. I’ll share more over the next few weeks.

I appreciate all of you sticking around. Hope you all have a great week ahead!

-MJ