Welcome to Dodging the Bullet

Welcome.

I've been thinking about blogging for a while. I'm a successful guy, with a couple of master's degrees and a doctorate. I have a great wife and daughter, a small but dedicated and fun-loving group of friends, and a job I love at a two-year college. So why start blogging, and why the title of this blog? Therein lies a tale, my friends.

In mid-April, I was in Chicago for the annual meeting of our regional accreditor (you education types will know all about that stuff, for the rest of you it won't matter). While rushing down the Magnificent Mile, I found myself very short of breath. A pause, for just a minute, and I was just fine.

Now, once I could have passed off on any number of things: It was cold and rainy, it was after dark and I was in the big city, I missed my own bed, et cetera ad nauseum ad infinitum. But it wasn't just once: It happened the next day, and the next. I drove home after the meeting thinking about it; five hours is a long time to be left to yourself, mulling scenarios over in your brain.

At dinner that night with my wife Beth, I did what I like to think most dorky introverted husbands would do: I botched it.

Me: Honey, do you promise not to freak out if I tell you something?

Beth: (Panic-stricken look on her face, smoke pouring from her ears as I hear the gears working so quickly in her head) WHAT?

You see, three graduate degrees does not a genius make.

So, I told her about the pain, and asked her if she thought I should see the doctor. The final vote: Yes, 2. No, 0.

I called the doctor on Wednesday morning; my regular doctor was off, so I visited another. This blog will be about what I found out, what I learned, and what changes are going on in my life. My hope is that others out there in similar situations will learn from my experience. Stay tuned for more.