Hey I know it's been a long time. I need to update my picture also it's like 15 years old. Anyway things are going very well for me for the most part. Since the last time I updated alot of things have happened. First of all I had a great thanksgiving and I hope you all did as well. I brought like to big bags of food and drinks back with me.lol My dad as most of you know was baptized earlier this year and he's doing really well. I got to see him wait on the table and it was something I'll always remember.

My dad had surgery on his stomach in late August. He had some torn cartilage that they had to get but he's doing just fine now. I got to fly in an airplane. It was really cool, one of the elders at the church flies them and he flew me one Saturday mornig and we had breakfast. My car died on me while going back down to Alabama. It happened at the worst time. I was 2 hrs away from Murfreesboro but also 2 hours away from my parents house. Luckily I was able to get to my parents house. I had to get a new car.

It's a 2008 5 speed Toyota Corolla and I really like it. It is weird how I now take random trips. I woke up at like 5 in the morning a couple weeks ago, couldn't sleep and just decided to drive to Indy to see my family members. In the last few months I've driven to KY a few times(don't know why there's nothing there) Alabama a few times, Illinois once and Indiana. I'm not sure where I'll go next. I just bought a house that I'm moving into on Dec. 21, right before Christmas, so that means I'm not moving back to Bama, at least not for now.

It's out in the country and I like the house alot. To show you how country it is you can look out the front window and get a good look at the cows.lol I really only have one rule for my house and I don't think it's that bad. All eating and drinking must be done in the kitchen, unless it's a clear liquid. So remember that guys.lol I'm also thinking of going back to school. My employer will pay for me to go back to school so I'm thinking of going back and getting a certificate or degree in Information Technology or Information Systems.

I'm really happy right now, with the exception of all the drama (those of you who live here know what I'm saying) that's going on around here my life couldn't be better. Well I hope everyone is doing well!

Your brother,

Carl

P.S. "The bcs is the most ridiculous thing I've seen in my life and after experiencing some crazy customers calling in from Iowa on my job I've come to the conclusion that Iowa stands for Idiots Out Wandering Around."

Hey everyone, hope everyone is doing well. I've decided I'm moving back to Alabama, hopefully the Birmingham area. I'll probably be moving in late August or sometime in September. I'm moving back for different reasons, one being that I need to be closer to my family. I have a couple of funny stories that happened recently.

We had this woman called us one day and at the end of the call she's like I think my husband has a question hold on. He screams out in the background there's a woodpecker on the side of the house, like it's a big emergency.lol I think the guy was serious. She's like nevermind and hangs up the phone.

One night a group of us were spending the night over someone's house and I get this big bucket of water and pour it on this guy while he's sleep.lol The guy doesn't even move, it makes no sense for someone to sleep that hard.lol He wakes up 10 minutes later and he's like have I been sweating.lol

Well I g2g, hope everyone is having a great summer. I have to go now but I will post on your blogs later.

In Him,

Carl Devell Martin Jr.

P.S. I was thinking can you give a homeless kid homework?

Hey! I know it's hard to believe but I'm actually updating. I'm in Sweet Home Alabama. I miss home and it's good to be back for a couple of days. TN is ok, I like it ok so far but I'm not sure if I'll want to spend the rest of my life there. It's funny how Bama gets such a bad rap and people make fun of it when they find out that's where I'm from. Honestly it's one of the better states I've been to, especially when you count the "important" things, not saying that we don't have our issues.

My apartment is coming along nicely. I'm getting more and more furniture little by little. My bedroom is complete, I have a kitchen table, couch, coffee table. I have a t.v. now if I can get one more t.v. I should be good to go, for a while at least. My job is going well so far, and oh yea if your not a Verizon Wireless customer you should become one. lol We get a lot of funny calls from people like, "I just dropped my phone in the swimming pool and I was wondering if I could put it in the dryer and dry it off." lol Or someone will dial in to me just to ask me how to dial from that phone. lol The cool thing about work is that they actually have a gym, so lately I've really been working out a lot trying to get stronger and more into shape.

Since moving to TN the church members up there have gotten me into playing tennis. Talk about an adventure.lol We play at this tennis court that is fenced in. The problem is it sets right by a main road. Everytime we play tennis someone ends up hitting a tennis ball over the fence, onto the street and into all that traffic. The other night we probably hit like 4 maybe 5 tennis balls over the fence into traffic. lol I'm afraid we're going to cause an accident or another road rage episode one of these days or something.

We actually have this girl that attends church in TN, and she's tall like 6'0. Anyway she plays college b-ball and me and her kind of got into a little trash talking incident Sunday evening over who was the better basketball player. So now we're playing 1 on 1 against each other on June 17 at a park. All the young people from church are coming to watch and cheer for whomever they decide to cheer for. It was hilarious, there were people in church picking sides and predicting who was going to win. I better start practicing, honestly I'm a little scared I might lose, although I'd never admit it to her, so don't tell her that. lol

That's enough for now, hopefully I'll be able to update soon. My parents just got a new computer and I'm taking the old one back with me so hopefully I can update on here more often. After all I know u all just set anxiously at your desk waiting for my updates.lol Well my dad is in the process of cooking me my first home cooked meal in over a month so I'm about to go check on the food, and then go out for a little while. Talk to you soon, love you all!

Carl Devell Martin Jr.
aka MasterShake (long story)

Well I've found a job. It's in Murfreesboro, TN. My first day is Monday and the first six weeks is training. It's a decent paying job with really good benefits. I moved all my things into my apartment yesterday and I'll be up there for good on Saturday. I didn't realize Murfreesboro had so many mexicans. Da boro is a nice place, the only down side that I noticed was that traffic can get pretty thick at times. My apartments is within 5 1/2 miles of my job, a shopping mall a faithful church, a few banks, a couple hospitals, and a couple of grocery stores, yep very gas sufficient and conveinent. I had to make sure to get the bachelor things, since I am a bachelor. Microwave, George Foreman Grill, Toaster, you know all that stuff.lol I see what my farther means about good credit. My electricity deposit got cut in half because I had good credit. With all this great news there is some bad. My uncle passed away this week and his funeral is this Saturday. He truly was a nice man. Everyone wish me luck on my new job, and the great thing is that it's only like 3 1/2 to 4 hours away from home. Talk to you soon

In Christ,

Carl Devell Martin Jr.

I've been diagnosed with a mild case of atrial fibrillation or afib. It's just a medical term referring to the illregular rhythm or heartbeat of the heart. It's where the upper part of the heart beats faster than the lower part. This past Sunday was very scary for me. I got home from Sunday morning services and got a bite to eat and then took a nap. Upon waking up from my nap that evening to get ready for the evening service I took a sip of water and the water was hot. So I then said I'm going to walk up to the kitchen to get a fresh, cold cup of water out the frig.

So while I'm in the kitchen all of a sudden I start to get really warm and my heart starts beating really fast, like it was about to pop out my chest, and I started getting very dizzy. Feeling as if I'm about to faint I say forget the water I'm just going to try to make it to the couch. The last thing I remember is me trying to make it to the couch. The next thing I know my dad is waking me up off the floor, I don't even remember passing out. For this reason my sister wanted me to name this blog "Help I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up."lol When I first regained consciousness I was still dizzy so my dad told me to lay there on the floor for a second. After I was able to get up my dad took me to Med South while my mom and sister went to the evening church service.

They called me back there and they did this heart test on me called an ecogram(ecg) or something like that. Well that test showed that I had an illregular heartbeat which totally shooked me up, I wasn't expecting that, especially since I'm only 23. They told us to go immediately to DCH hospital and that they'll already have a room ready for me. I stayed at DCH hospital from Sunday night until yesterday evening when they released me. During that time they ran several test on me. I had blood taken from me 5 times and had an IV in my arm the entire time. They had me hooked up to a heart monitor the entire time and made me drink this potassium stuff since my postassium was a little low. They kept an eye on my bloodpressure as well, which was borderline basically the entire time I was at the hospital. The hosptial said that I didn't have an illregular heartbeat the time that I was there but that I did have one Sunday evening when I past out.

They concluded that I have a mild case of Afib. The doctor told me to stay away from caffine or high energy drinks, exercise without equipment, don't overexert myself, and be weary of taking certain kind of cold medicines that may have too much caffine. I also have these prescription pills called cardizem that I have to take indefinitely. There's only two ways to cure Afib. You can do this precedure where they put a hole in your groin area and insert a wire from there up to your heart and do some things to your heart.

The doctor said I'll have to go to Birmingham if I want that or we could try the medication. We opted for the medication in hopes that that'll keep my illregullar heartbeat under control. The doctor said that as long as I take that medicine and stay away from the things he told me I should be fine since it's only a mild case. I have to go back in two weeks to see if it's working.

Before yesterday I had never heard of afib but after this I'll never forget it. The doctor said that the good thing for me is that it's only a mild case and we discovered it while I was very young. Had it never been discovered then when I got up in my 50's it could've led to strokes or even heartattacks. People with afib are 5 to 6 times more likely to have a stroke.

The doctor said that I can live a long, normal life as long as I do those few things that he said so it's no big deal. I honestly wouldn't even call it a condition or problem. I can still do what I've been doing and no one can tell unless I tell them. Alhtough Afib can be serious it's not in my case because I don't have a severe case of it, praise the lord for that. The doctor isn't sure what caused me to have afib but he said more than likely I probably have some cells in my heart that has been damaged and at this point the cells are just scar tissue.

Since I don't drink or do drugs he said the damaged cells may have been hereditary or some virus that I had that went undetected that may have damaged the cells. Sometimes when we're young we have the habit of taking life for granite. The funny thing is this past Sunday morning I told my boss that I didn't need medical insurance because, well I was on my dad's, but also because I was so young and my health was fine and then that evening I passed out. I just want to encourage everyone to thank the lord for each day he gives us, for our health, and take advantage of the opportunity while we can to do good to others. It's funny how I was thinking, while laying in the hospital bed, of the people I had had arguments with in the past or those I didn't get along with so well and how trivial those things seemed at that time. So tell people that you love them, do good to others and let Christ shine through you while it is still today!

Hope everyone has a blest day! I love you all!

In Christ,

Carl Devell Martin Jr.