When it rains...

...it pours! Well, my father seems to be getting over his breathing distress. We're still quite concerned, since he's not eating. He's sleeping a great deal and growing ever more weak. He'll be in the hospital for a good bit longer.

My sister and my niece (she's 10 years older than me!) came down yesterday to visit dad. Later in the evening we ended up making another trip to the hospital. Kim, my niece started having intense pains in her lateral abdomen. Turns out she has kidney stones.

All this time in hospitals! I should have known. 2004 started out with me with pneumonia in a hospital in upstate New York while visiting my wife's family. Let's just say, it's been an odd year with plenty of adjusting to new experiences.

All the while, my massage practice is going fairly well. I sold a couple business cards to a lad in Maine! His son lives here in Portland and he wanted to get him some bodywork for Christmas. I took his credit card info over the phone and sent the gift certificates via priority mail. Didn't even charge him for the shipping...afterall, it's the holidays!

I must say, having the ability to accept credit cards with a massage therapy practice is a big boost! I've been accepting cards for just a bit over a month now and it's paid for itself without any problems. My merchant account charges a scant $5 a month and a small percentage for each transaction. I don't even need a special machine. I just use my cell phone (or any touch-tone phone) to call in the order, punch in code or two and enter the credit card info. The money is direct-deposited into my business checking in 2-3 business days.



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Hamid LMT - Massage therapist in Portland, Oregon