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is a FAMILY FRIENDLY web publication featuring an eclectic mix of (hopefully) humorous stories, answers to (mostly children's) questions, interesting news topics and odd or eccentric viewpoints and opinions. Basically we cover anything that interests me (aka Grandpa Oddball). If you have a question or topic you'd like to see covered click on our ask or suggest links. If you have a news item you'd like to share or if you have alternate viewpoints or opposing views to our opinion pieces that you'd like to submit click on our submit link. We're not proud and will consider any family friendly inquiry.
Hope you're all doing well and will enjoy GetOddNews. Unfortunately due to my medical problems (multiple sclerosis and necrotizing pancreatitis) I'm forced to build this web site with limited resources and in order to continue I need some help. Besides, we can use the money.
Why? Well, my medical condition requires upwards of $500./day when I have to stay in nursing homes, $100./day for home health care, better than $600./month for medicine plus expenses incurred during my frequent surgeries and hospital recoveries. Of course, our insurance helps out as long as we can afford it but it's still a strain.
So if you like my web site please consider donating. Just click the mouse while this message is visible for more information.
Sudden and unpredictable death from a deadly bleedout of my portal vein. That’s the unexpected prospect that I now apparently face. I’ve tried to keep my medical reports upbeat. In fact attached is the start of an initial draft of this medical update but I guess I have to be a little more serious this time around. Here’s the current situation:
When we were younger grandma oddball and I spent a lot of time relaxing by camping and hiking. At the time we naively assumed that official maps and literature describing forest service and national park trails and campgrounds were somewhat descriptive of the areas we planned on visiting. Unfortunately Read the rest of this entry » [ Click while this excerpt is visible to read the entire article ] |
Yup. A trillion dollars here and a trillion dollars there; first thing you know we’ll be talking about real money. Read the rest of this entry » [ Click while this excerpt is visible to read the entire article ] |
 More hiking and camping surprises. |  Yup. A trillion dollars here and a trillion dollars there; first thing you know we'll be talking about real money. |
Sometimes you see or read things that just make you wonder. Not too long ago I read an article in our local paper about a bag lady in a nearby town that was found dead. Apparently she was a well know figure in the town and the paper had a short biography of her life that struck a tragic cord in me. [ Click while this excerpt is visible to read the entire article ] |
Lost! I felt terrible. I’d looked long and hard for the perfect toy for our son and now it was lost. How, I wondered, could my wife be so calm, so unconcerned, so almost satisfied in the face of this misfortune? [ Click while this excerpt is visible to read the entire article ] |
Sometimes you see or read things that just make you wonder. | 
The perfect toy and it got lost! |
2010 is upon us and it’s an exciting start to a new year. What will the year bring? Using history as our guide we’ll get a new beginning full of promise, hope and certainly the unexpected as well as the crazy, bizarre and demented behavior of those around us. In past years others have documented this type of behavior (e.g., the Darwin Awards) and, of course, you have to ask, “What were they thinking?”. The usual response?” It seemed like a good idea at the time!“ [ Click while this excerpt is visible to read the entire article ] |
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody (I was out of commission for a few days recovering from an allergic reaction to the contrast dye used in Cat scans). Hopes, promises, and dreams dance inside me to celebrate the promise of another new year and I wish the same to you all. As those of you who read my medical updates know this past year has been filled with some of life’s highs and lows before finally ending on a relative high. The family’s healthy and I only spent one day in the hospital last week (consider this my latest medical update). I’d wish you more good fortune but Grandma Oddball has had enough of me for awhile and I have to cut this greeting short …….. I’m alone now as Grandma has decided to run away; at least until dinner time. Just because I wouldn’t tell her the outcome of the TV program we were watching before she left shopping she got annoyed and started choking me. Some people. Just can’t take a little teasing! I guess it’s just the mental trials of a care giver! Oh well, as I started to write earlier, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and best wishes. Hopefully with your encouragement I’ll continue on the road to recovery and be able to continue this blog. With love and humor and high hopes for 2010
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2010 is upon us and it's an exciting start to a new year. What will the year bring? Using history as our guide we'll get a new beginning full of promise, hope and certainly the unexpected as well as the crazy, bizarre and demented behavior of those around us. Already the nuts are out in force. |
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody (I was out of commission for a few days recovering from an allergic reaction to the contrast dye used in Cat scans). Hopes, promises, and dreams dance inside me to celebrate the promise of another new year and I wish the same to you all. [...] |
Devastation. Destruction. Extinction. Oblivious to the end the human plague marches boldly forward covering the planet and consuming all that stands before it. Rising from near extermination it’s a powerful epic struggle for survival whose heroic success has unfortunately sown the seeds of our own demise. As Pogo has astutely observed, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” [ Click while this excerpt is visible to read the entire article ] |
Or perhaps it’s a Christmas devil that’s been stealing my memories. Since I’ve returned home from the nursing home I can’t seem to find very many but I have dredged up a few. Some good, some humorous and a few scary but all precious. One of my favorites is Read the rest of this entry » [ Click while this excerpt is visible to read the entire article ] |
 Devastation. Destruction. Extinction. Oblivious to the end the human plague marches boldly forward covering the planet and consuming ... |  Or perhaps it's a Christmas devil that's been stealing my memories. Since I've returned home from the nursing home I can't seem to find very many but I have dredged up a few. Some good, some humorous and a few scary but all precious. One of my favorites is |
