Friday Five

This edition of Friday Five is brought to you by Diet Vanilla Coke (hey one has to have some caffeine in the morning and I forgot my coffee at home...it's poured and everything.) Enjoy!

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn't have breakfast, why not?
Quaker Oats Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bar

2. What's your favorite cereal?
It's a three way tie for me. I love Frosted Flakes and Fruit Loops dry...never with milk. With milk and some strawberries my favorite is Special K.

3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change?
Jeff and I eat out a lot. We probably eat out at least once from Monday-Thursday and usually eat out most of the weekend. I don't see the need to change this habit at this time. We enjoy eating out and until we either can't afford it (because we buy a new house, which could happen soon) or we have kids that cause us to be a little more home bound I don't want to change.

4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that?
I have no idea what we're going to have for dinner. If the past few weeks are any indicator we'll probably head out to Old Chicago, drink some beer, eat some pizza and play trivia. If we don't do that I'm sure you'll find us at any one of the other fine dining establishments in the greater Iowa City area!

5. What's your favorite restaurant? Why?
Hmmmm, this one's a hard one because I have favorite restaurants depending on the mood/occasion/type of food. Unfortunately for me, most of my favorite restaurants are 200 miles away in Chicago. For the sake of answering the question, I suppose I'll pick one here in Iowa City and one in Chicago. Here my favorite restaurant has to be Atlas, the menu is features dishes from all over the world (thus the name Atlas), their house salad is a mix of field greens with apples, walnuts and gorgonzola that's served with a champagne vinaigrette dressing. It's outstanding. It's nice to eat there and enjoy food that's not your standard sandwich and fries. In Chicago, I'll pick one with sentimental value (it's truly hard to pick from the vast pool of restaurants that I absolutely love) the restaurant that I'll pick is Luigi's House in Naperville. Jeff and I hosted our rehearsal dinner at Luigi's House almost two years ago and the food is tremendous. Huge bathtub size servings of pasta and all sorts of other Italian goodies. Winning Honorable Mentions for me: Mondo's Tomato Pie (Iowa City), Champs Americana (Lombard), Jake's Corner Tap (never had dinner there, but the Garlic Parmesan Fries are enough to keep me going back) and The Samba Room (outstanding Cuban cuisine in an ear piercingly loud environment.)

Waste of Time

Chicago's 42nd Ward Alderman, Burton Naturus, has proposed to the Chicago City Council that they make right turns on red illegal at all intersections in the City. He's wasting the time of the council to even dicuss this because as anyone who has driven in Chicago knows...traffic rules are virtually unenforceable.

My Deepest Secret:

Apparently, my deepest secret is that "I eat people" Who knew? Click here to find out your deepest secret. It's good for a laugh!

Link via Gleeful Extremist.

College Hoops

A few college hoop notes to start your Thursday morning (before I get into my blabbering about healthcare and politics for another day)...

---The Iowa Hawks won a critical road game last night by routing Penn State 75-55. Hopefully this win will give them the momentum push they need to rack up two more road wins in the next week against UFM and Minnesoooooota. Junior Sean Sonderleiter really gave the Hawks a push last night with his career high 18 points and 11 boards (the first double-double of his career) with Jared Reiner on the bench the Hawks really needed Sondie to step up his game and he answered the call. Brody Boyd and Chauncey Leslie also put some strong numbers on the board, and for playing only 6 men the Hawks looked solid and not exhausted by the end of the game. It also warmed my heart to see the Hawks shoot 70.3% from the line. You've heard me rant about it repeatedly on this blog, but at the Div I level there is no excuse for poor free throw shooting. 70.3% is the low end of what I consider acceptable, but it's a large improvement from the 59.3% we were shooting over the first three conference games. All in all, this team seems to be pulling themselves together and hopefully they'll manage to pound out enough wins to get themselves into the Dance. As Jeff and I talked about last night, we'd love to see them get a 12 seed because everyone knows that 12-seed's can be lethal in the opening rounds.

---In a shocker in Evanston, Northwestern beat Indiana (the same Indiana that played in the National Title game last season) by 10 points. This was the Wildcats first conference W this year (leaving Penn State alone at the bottom of the conference with no wins). After a gut wrenching loss to Louisville on Saturday and now losing to the doormat of the Big-10, one has to wonder if this Indiana team needs to do a little soul searching. I really don't believe that the problem the Hoosiers are having is physical or talent based, I think they are mentally just playing weak basketball right now. That's unacceptable in the basketball crazed state of Indiana.

---Bob Knight won his 800th game as a college coach last night. No matter what you think of him as a man or as a coach, you have to give Knight some credit here, as far as I know, only 4 other coaches have reached this milestone in their career's. That's a sign that he's at the very least one heckuva basketball coach. (I'm sure this only poured salt into Indian's open wound last night)

---Finally, in the best rivalry in sports, Duke pulled out a victory in a nail-biter against North Carolina last night. I really thought that the UNC Tar Heels were going to play "Cameron Kaboshers" last night and upset the Dukies, but thanks to a late game Duke rally lead by Dahntay Jones (23 points and 13 boards) who came off a horrible performance a few nights earlier against Florida State Duke won the game 83-74. Matt Doherty's Tar Heels shouldn't hang their heads too low, they played an intense game of clean basketball. The Tar Heel's weakness? They shot only 9-19 free throws ( [rant] you can't win games shooting 47% from the line like that people! [/rant] ). If UNC can improve that percentage, the March 9th remach in Chapel Hill could have a very different outcome. The rematch won't only be decided at the line, since last night saw Duke go on huge scoring droughts that they don't often go on, but I wouldn't rule out a UNC victory.

Fitting Tribute

On January 29, 1996 the late Mike Royko, columnist extraordinaire for the Chicago Tribune, published the following words about the Challenger disaster. The words are a very fitting tribute not only to the astronauts they were written about but also about the astronauts we lost this past Saturday on the space shuttle Columbia. (To read the entire columnclick here.)

It was a tragedy, yes. But I can't help but think that even in death, maybe they were still among the lucky ones.

I've known so many people, and you probably have, too, who have quietly slipped away after lives of frustration, drudgery, failure, disappointment and sickness. People who never had a chance to climb the mountains of their souls. Or who had no mountains.

The seven people on the spaceship, including the schoolteacher, had all chosen to climb. They wanted to walk the edge, with all the risks it involved. I'm not sure that the risk wasn't worth it. Maybe it wouldn't be for you and me and most of us who prefer to play it safe. But the next time a spaceship is launched, there will be people aboard who believe that what they're doing is more than worth the chance. There will always be such people, and each of them will tell you that they consider themselves lucky, no matter the outcome.

So in feeling grief, remember that the seven were special in what they did with their lives, right up to the end.

As someone once put it: "If I reach for the stars, I might not touch them. But I won't come up with a handful of dirt."

Point Made

Secretary of State Colin Powell made the United States presentation about Iraq's continued defiance to the United Nations Security Council this morning. I had the good fortune of being able to watch the entire 90 minute plus speech live on TV, and I have spent the last hour and a half listening to the individual member countries responses on TV and on NPR.

For the last few weeks American's, and the rest of the world, have been demanding proof of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi's lack of compliance with the UN disarmament resolution. This morning they got what they asked for. Colin Powell's speech was right along the lines of the infamous Adlai Stevenson Bay of Pigs speech in the 1960's: Using satellite photos, eyewitness accounts and taped conversations the evidence was presented.

Before he began his remarks, Powell made a point to let the Security Council know that the information he was going to share with them is not all of the evidence that the US has, but it is everything they can safely make public and that the information we heard today had already been shared with the weapons inspectors to aid them in their searches. The first major point, and this is one that I think is very important to keep in mind, is that resolution 1441 calls for Iraq to voluntarily disarm and it calls for weapons inspectors to oversee this process. Powell makes clear that the weapons inspectors are not detectives, they should not be searching for weapons, they should be shown weapons. This in and of itself puts Iraq in violation of 1441. But, in case you needed further proof, Powell continues. He played a taped conversation between two Iraqi generals, recorded a few weeks ago, discussing the "evacuation" of weapons. (Material Breech right there folks) In another taped conversation the two Iraqi generals discuss a message that was sent to clear a weapons facility and the need to "destroy this message" (because inspectors are on their way) and not to use "wireless" communications (because they know we're listening). Powell illustrated, with satellite photos, the changes in weapons facilities over the last few months. He started naming names lower than Sadaam, within his regime, specifically he talked about how Sadaam's son has ordered the removal of all weapons from Sadaam's palaces.

In the end, we heard about cars that have been filled with weapons and documents and are being driven around the country by intelligence agents, we saw diagrams of mobile chemical labs and learned about the missiles that are hidden in fields of palm trees and are moved every "one to four weeks." We heard that we have "no evidence" that Sadaam Hussein has given up on his mission to build a nuclear weapon. We've heard all of this and we're still only two-thirds of the way through the speech. In the last third of the speech Powell pulled a small vial of "anthrax" out of his sleeve, stating that this was the approximate amount of poison that managed to shut down the entire US Senate and kill two postal workers last year. He used this visual to let the world know that Sadaam Hussein has at least 250,000 liters of anthrax that is unaccounted for. That is "tens of tens of tens of thousands of teaspoons" Powell said. He never directly said that Iraq was involved with the anthrax attack in the US last year, but he wanted you to wonder if they were. He also spent the last few minutes of the speech providing evidence linking Iraq to Al Qaeda.

I know that I have missed points of the speech, but the basic jist is...the proof is there. Iraq is in severe breech of resolution 1441. So now what? Are people convinced that we need to do something about this? Is this enough proof?

From what I heard, the individual representative responses went as expected. England spoke first and it was basically a love-fest for the US. They 100% agreed with everything Powell said, and they said they will support the use of force. Other nations (all of whom started by expressing sympathy to the US for the loss of the space shuttle Columbia) expressed opinions that were mostly in support for Powell and the US. Germany spoke and said we still need to give Iraq time, they said we have not exhausted our diplomatic efforts.

What about the American people? Judging from the callers to a call in radio show, that I heard on my way to work, people still aren't convinced. Three callers in a row claimed that this is all fabricated evidence and this is still "all about oil." My response? You are out of your mind.

Colin Powell, a man of extreme integrity, has been the loudest proponent for peaceful resolution of this crisis in the Bush administration. But this morning, Powell himself illustrated why this is just not an option any more. He gave me more proof than I need to see that this situation is not going to end itself. He said in his closing comments: "We wrote 1441 to try to preserve the peace... but Iraq is not so far taking its one last chance." The use of force seems to be inevitable. I've written on this blog in the past that I didn't want to see us go to war with Iraq. But, I wrote that in November, I was under the Powell way of thinking. See if Iraq will comply, send the inspectors in, let them cook their own goose. The concept of using force in Iraq is frightening. Yes, human lives are going to be lost, yes the US will be at an elevated risk for Iraq sympathetic terrorist attacks, and we risk the war escalating to one that is outside of Iraq (Walter Cronkite has been quoted as saying that by attack Iraq we will be starting World War III) But, if we don't use force, Saddam will someday. He's not creating these weapons just so he can have them. He's creating them with the intent to destroy lives.

The goose is cooked. The time for action is upon us.

It's that time of year!!!!

This week is Rivalry Week!

17 days from now: Bracket Buster Weekend!

32 days from now: Championship Week!

41 days from now: Selection Sunday!

45 days from now: The best day of the year (outside of my birthday, the 4th of July and Christmas of course) Opening Day of the 2003 NCAA Tournament!

(Understanding what all these dates are: Priceless! Sorry I had to do it! )

As if those dates aren't enough to get your blood pumping and your stomach craving a cold beer and some nachos, here's a couple more Hardwood Notes for your Tuesday afternoon....

---Congratulations to Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony for improving your free-throw percentage, you might turn into one of the NCAA's finest yet! (see my previous rant on this percentage!)

---Kansas seniors, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich have proven to be two of the largest recruiting losses for the Iowa program that missed signing these two Iowa natives up. Last week Collison put up 24 points and 23 rebounds in a stellar performance against Texas and last night he ignited a rally, then passed it to Hinrich for the Jay-Hawks nail biter against Mizzou.

---On the tube tomorrow night...Possibly the most traditional rivalry in college basketball: Duke v. Carolina. Why is it so cool? What other schools have inspired their own color of blue? All someone has to do is say "Carolina Blue" and you know exactly what color they are talking about! Seriously...why is it such an important game? Because if Carolina can pull off an upset in Cameron, Matt Doherty find himself employed for another year. If Duke can win they'll silence some critics over their weak season. Either way, it's just good raw basketball anytime these two meet.

---In Andy Katz's article on ESPN.com today he illustrates beautifully how the lovely University of F*** Michigan could potentially make it more difficult for the rest of the Big-10 bubble teams (including my beloved Hawks) to make it into the tournament. Reason number 10,897 to hate Michigan.

Congratulations. You've Won!

This morning, a well groomed gentleman walked into my office dressed in a well-tailored business suit and overcoat carrying five boxes of breakfast pizza, three dozen cinnamon rolls and a case of bottled fruit juice. Much to your surprise, this man was not an overdressed delivery driver. He was a pharmaceutical rep here to educate our physician's about prescribing his product. He brings the food so that he can "get past" the front desk, in other words---it's a bribe. Given that we are treated to these breakfasts or lunches at least three times a week and surprise "snacks" at least twice a week, as well as the fact that we have never purchased post-it's, notepads or pens for our office because we have an infinite supply from the drug reps, I can surmise that these "bribes", or to be fair promotional materials, are extremely pricey to the pharmaceutical industry. The staff here at my office is eternally grateful for all of the "bribes" because for most of us they keep us from starving at our desks and having to share a pen like they do on the Staples commercial. However I have often wondered if they work. I know that they are successful for promoting a new drug, and that if nothing else they keep the name of the drug in the doctor’s thoughts. But when it comes right down to it and a physician has the choice between prescribing 3 different drugs that all do the same thing, or their generic equivalents do the pharmaceutical firms really grab an edge?

I wonder no more...they do. The fact that the drug reps bring expensive food in, just so he can stand in a physician’s office and spend 60 seconds talking to an individual physician about his product pays off because in the end the physicians prescribe the medications. Specifically they prescribe the name brand medication that the rep is "pushing," rather than a generic equivalent. As an industry, physician's claim to be concerned about skyrocketing pharmaceutical costs to their patients. However, doctors often do not know how much prescription drugs cost and how much patients pay for them, leading them to unknowingly prescribe more expensive drugs, often heavily promoted by these visiting pharmaceutical reps, that contribute to increased health care costs or cause patients not to fill prescriptions because of price.

This article in the Long Island Newsday, details a study that researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine conducted about physician awareness of prescription costs. The researchers prepared an eight-page "pocket guide" that outlined average wholesale prices for more than 100 commonly used drugs, handed it out to doctors and gave a 45-minute presentation on drug costs to doctors at four teaching hospitals in New York and northern New Jersey in 1998. Upon follow-up, participating doctors showed "modest" improvements in awareness of prescription drug costs however less than 30% of the physician's admitted to asking patients about their out-of-pocket drug expense prior to prescribing a drug and 77% of the physicians said they still had no knowledge of prescription prices. Newsday reports that, Dr. Ethan Halm, a health policy specialist at Mount Sinai and a study author, said that although cost is not the only issue with prescribing drugs, "it's obviously a very important one." Michael Ernst, a clinical pharmacist and author of a previous study on doctors' awareness of drug costs, said that "at the very minimum" doctors should ask patients what type of insurance they have, and patients also should ask doctors questions about what kind of drug they are receiving and if a generic version is available.

This doesn't happen, I believe, because of the constant presence of the pharmaceutical companies in the physician's daily operations. The loudest voice in the room is the pharmaceutical companies, not the patients, and they are doing what they are supposed to be doing, marketing....selling their product....making money. The drug reps never bring up the cost of each pill while they are educating the physician over a piece of pizza. The post-it’s that they leave behind simply tell the physician all the benefits a patient will gain from the medication, not that the patient might not fill the prescription because they can’t afford it.

The doctor’s listen, they prescribe the medicine and thus, the pharmaceutical firms win! Congratulations.

Another Walkout

Add another one to the list...physicians in New Jersey walked off the job yesterday in response to the malpractice insurance crisis and in support of the $250,000 cap on pain and suffering awards that President Bush has proposed. The governor of New Jersey was quoted on NPR as saying that he is aware of the crisis and that he believes it to be unfair for the physicians and for the patients. He said that he has a solution to the problem in mind and that his solution does not involve capping settlements. I presume this makes him a very unpopular man with the physicians in New Jersey.