Today I had to go to the dentist. I go every six months but usually I just have my teeth cleaned and once a year they X-ray the teeth and say all is well. When I went last Monday they said all is not well. They saw a small cavity in one of my teeth . The tooth had been filled about 15 or 20 years ago but they said there was a cavity near the edge of the filling. I have exceptionally sound teeth and have rarely had to have teeth filled.

Well, I hope I won't have to have anymore fillings for the next twenty years. I hate to sound like a wimp but four handed dentistry is not fun. Two hands operating the drill to remove the old filling and the other hands operating the water torture machine. As a matter of fact, I asked if this was a minor version of water boarding. They promptly asked for my name, rank and serial number.

I don't know how familiar some of you are with modern dentistry but they have a massage chair now. They turned it on and it was very unique. I was still very tense but the gentle massage of my back muscles by the "chair" was wonderful. I tried to focus on the massage and put the waterboarding out of my mind but that did not work entirely. I gurgled a few times and they had to stop and suction out the water. Despite the fact that SOME people have referred to me as a "big mouth" they are very much mistaken because I was reminded quite a few times that my mouth is so small that it is hard to work on my teeth.

I could not get over how exhausted I was when it was all over. I came home and had to sit down and rest up from the arduous ordeal to say nothing of the distorted lip and jaw onthe left side of my face. Believe me, I was talking out of one side of my mouth, for sure.

330 days left till we get a new president

Quote of the day: " They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program."

` _President Bush, November 2, 2000