Vince Pravato Blog

Organ Donor I hopped into the doctor's office. The waiting room was empty. What a relief. I signed in and I was immediately escorted back. Wow. They took a few X-rays of my left foot. I asked the tech to see the results and snapped a couple of pictures on my iPhone. One X-ray clearly looked like trouble. The heel bone looked like something was ripped off the back of it. I self diagnosed that the Achilles tendon had been ripped from the bone, taking some bone with it. Was I correct? The tech wouldn't say. As I was being walked to a room, I told the nurse that I was so impressed with how fast they were treating me. She said, "Oh honey, you got lucky. It ain't never like this. We just open for a couple hours today and didn't really book no one." I said, "Can you please give me a list of the coming days where you have the same kind of schedule? I like it like this." She said, "I guess you ain't never com'en back." She put me

Ouch! I was feeling pretty good. I thought I could finally win a game. I stretched, warmed up and got myself psyched out. I felt even a little cocky. I had swagger. I looked hard at my 14 year old daughter Jordan  and said, "today, I am going to beat you 21-0." Jordan smiled ear to ear and gazed at me as if I was a little tipsy or something. She simply replied,"ok." She took an early lead 6-0, by hitting 3 three point shots in a row. I know, you are saying three 3s should be 9 points. Well, at home, our games are by 1s and 2s for the 3s. I decided it was time to up my defense and close out on her. No more 3s I swore. I was in her face denying the three point shot. She drove past me, I ran to follow and then Jordan did a quick and sneaky back step, popping behind the line and hitting another three pointer. I almost tripped and fell down trying to snap back at her. It's called "breaking the ankles." She got me good and laughed out loud. I was d

A Diagnosis My mother, soon to be 83, was remarkably healthy. She never had high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems, or anything else I could possible name. She was thin, ate extremely healthy food, didn't drink except for a wine once every 6 months. Recently, spinal pain, from a fall years ago and a surgery, were progressing and evetually became unbearable. Therapy, injections and a non-invasive back surgery seemed to only make things worse. Day by day, the pain level intensified. We ended up in the emergency room after several nights of screaming and crying. A strong dose of morphine finally eased some of the pain and I could see my mom's face release most of the horrific tension that plagued her for too long. A CT scan, an MRI and x-rays would hopefully reveal some the problematic pain producer in her back which a steady handed spinal surgeon could finally fix and return my mom to her normal life. After the testing, they moved us up to the fourth floor. A regular

Tipping I was at lunch today. It was a Chipotle type of place where you order your base, slid down pick a protein and then vegetables. To add cheese, guac and other fatteners at the very end is always a big decision, but I digress. At these type of places, the norm is a big, clearly labeled and in your face tip bucket. If you opt for a credit card purchased, the TIP line is twice the size of the total amount line. I grew up pretty much poor. I also worked as a waiter, bartender and whatever else to make money. I understand the need for tipping. Employers refuse to pay a living wage, so they pass the literal buck on to the public to foot the bill. I just read today how Amazon has a huge amount of employees on Food Stamps. That disgusts me. Well, I do realize that people working in these fast-ish food places, which pretend to be a healthier option as long as you don't get stuck with e coli, really do need the tips to survive. I always tip. Probably too much. Even though I am a

First Blog Post Being this is my first blog post, I must make this one very funny, or at least interesting. I need a point of view. What can I say that isn't being said, with so many people, all saying so much all the time. I just checked, there are more than 440 million blogs going on right now. Hasn't everything been said? Maybe there aren't really enough blogs; everyone should have one, so there should be 7 billion. Obviously, we are short on blogs. If everyone had one, you could do more than just look up their Facebook or Instagram pictures. The viewer has to read into the pictures, which are often doctored to tell a misleading story of happiness or success. A blog makes you lie in black and white. And it takes work.