Michael J Fox, 60 Minutes

I am just finishing reading Michael J Fox's new book which deals with his continued struggle with Parkinson's disease. Great book. Michael grew up here in B.C and went to school in Burnaby so when he first revealed that he had Parkinsons I was shocked and saddened. This book reveals that he knew way back in 1991 and hid it for 7 years. That amazing. Took a lot of courage.

Michael always came across as the guy who you could just sit down and talk with if you ran into him on the street. Just a generally great guy and having met his parents years ago briefly I can see why. How I met his parents was that I drove them to the airport. Years ago as a part time job I drove limo. It was a way to make extra money when my kids were young and a really fun job. Well one weekend morning I got a call to pick up at an address and was told that I was taking Michael's mom and dad to the airport. They were flying to Las Angeles to go visit Michael. They were friendly and we chatted all the way out to the airport. They were so proud of him but not in a bragging way. Just really nice people. A couple years later I learned that his dad had passed away.

Reading the book I learned that Billy Graham was another Parkinson's sufferer and of course the most famous of all Muhammad Ali. The book also deals with the ongoing struggle to get more research into stem cells and the moral objection of the religious right wing in the U.S.

Well I understand everyone is entitled to their own views but for the life of me I can't see why they would object to researching something that might bring a cure for so many debilitating diseases like Parkinsons and Alzheimers. My mother died of Alzheimers as did her brother and one of her sisters so anything that can be done to maybe come up with something that will help I am all for. Stem cell research has show promise in helping people who are paralyzed and one can only hope that somewhere down the road they make a break through. So many lives could be helped.

Anyways if you get a chance read the book. Well worth your time.

I saw that 60 Minutes was having another segment about online poker tonight and it was supposed to be a new episode so I eagerly looked forward to watching it. Big disappointment. They basically just rehashed all the information we knew already about Ultimate Bet and the ability of someone to hack into their system and to see everyone cards they were playing against. They also said no one had ever been charged so nothing new. I guess the biggest statement was from one of the guys who lost money when asked if this went on on other sites he said that it was very possible.

There was discussion at All Vegas Poker about someone who won some money at a Freeroll at Pokerstars and then tried to withdraw the money and was unable to. He was pretty choked but I guess you have to make a deposit to withdraw. That seems to be Pokerstars policy. I honestly wasn't aware of that but then again I would never deposit money in the first place. I too have won a bit at a Freeroll and have built it up some so the likely hood of me ever collecting are slim unless I make a deposit. Well if I ever manage to build it up to 100 bucks I will see what happens. It could take me months playing at the 1/2 cent tables. Ha Ha.