Walking Under Chandeliers

2003-03-03T13:21:00.000-06:00

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Last week, Jeff and I purchased our very own domain and webspace so...let this serve as your notice that...

Our BLOGS Have Moved!

You can find Walking Under Chandeliers (Katie's Blog) at http://kathleen.theutechs.com/blog/ or http://theutechs.com/kathleen/blog

You can find A Stranger in a Strange Land (Jeff's Blog) at http://jeffrey.theutechs.com/blog orhttp://www.theutechs.com/jeffrey/blog/

Please update your links or blogrolls with our new sites!! See you there!

2003-03-02T22:03:00.000-06:00

Bottle Deposit

While watching the Iowa Basketball disaster last night from our local Old Chicago, I was struck by an interesting question. I posed the question to my drinking mates, and we didn't come up with an answer, so I thought I'd pose it here on my blog.

In the state of Iowa, we pay a 5-cent bottle deposit on all aluminum cans and glass bottles.

Therefore, when you go to a bar and buy a can or bottle of beer, shouldn't you be able to take the bottle with you, regardless of the amount of liquid left in it, because the case could be made that in purchasing the bottle of beer you are the one paying the bottle deposit and therefore should be able to return it to the store for your 5-cent refund?

2003-02-28T08:13:00.000-06:00

Friday Five!

Happy Weekend!

1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
It's hard to pick a favorite, honestly. I read anything I can. Jeff and I have almost 20 magazine subscriptions that we get every month, and I read them every month. So, I obviously enjoy reading magazines. But, that's not necessarily my favorite. For leisure reading, I enjoy novels and I read on average of two novels a month. I would have to say that newspapers and poetry fall to the bottom of my list. Newspapers would rate higher on my list if I lived somewhere where we could get a quality daily delivered every morning. Such is not the case in North Liberty.

2. What is your favorite novel?
Again...hard to pick a favorite. I would have to say that my first favorite novel was Jeffrey Archer's Kane and Abel, I read it when I was in 7th grade, it's a fantastic novel. Another one that I enjoyed recently and I am currently recommending to people is Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner. Other books near the top of my list: The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts, Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain) and any of the Harry Potter books.

3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
I'm not a big poetry buff anymore (in my youth I was--ha ha!). I enjoy Maya Angelou and I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Shel Silverstein.

4. What is one thing you've always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
One thing? How about half of Barnes and Noble? Seriously, my "Book Backlog" is currently at 9 books. They're all sitting on the shelf waiting for me to read them. It's funny, because the backlog never seems to decline...

5. What are you currently reading?
Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer

2003-02-27T20:16:00.000-06:00

A Legend

As I am sure you know, today, Mr. Fred Rogers died after a short battle with stomach cancer. I had avoided posting about his death today because, I didn't know exactly what to say about it, and because it's been widely covered on the net and I didn't want to be repetitious.

But...I got to thinking, and I do have a few things that I think need to be said about Mr. Rogers.

Everyone is talking about Mr. Rogers today. It happens frequently when a celebrity dies, their popularity spikes in the days following their death. Mr. Rogers is no different. I am sure that many of us in the Gen X generation haven't had a conscious thought about Mr. Rogers in years, yet today we're all talking about him. In fact I even heard a caller on Talk of the Nation on NPR who said that his company has dedicated tomorrow as "Cardigan Day" as a small way to honor Mr. Rogers. The mere fact that every newscast, radio call-in show, workplace and private conversation is dominated by the death of this man really got me thinking.

Mr. Rogers gave all of us a gift that we may not have realized until now. In giving us the gift of himself, he gave us the gift of ourselves. Let me explain. Mr. Rogers taught us to be genuine, to be accepting and to be an individual. I remember, as I'm sure many of you do, a particular episode when Mr. Rogers was trying to make a rainbow with water mist and a flashlight. He couldn't do it. He was obviously getting frustrated until eventually his neighbor came over with a prism and helped him make the rainbow. Mr. Rogers was frustrated on a children's program. They aired his frustrations, teaching us that it's ok to be frustrated, it's ok not to succeed at first, you should keep trying.

In a world where we are all worried about how we look, how much money we make, what kind of car we drive, how big our houses are and what our job title is. We could probably stand to remember some of the lessons we learned from a man who wasn't afraid to wear an uncool cardigan, sing off key, and care about his neighbors. Fred Rogers was a very special man.

2003-02-27T16:26:00.000-06:00

And you wonder why there are so many Drunk Catholic Jokes...

A priest in Germany, needing to stretch his limited church budget, has started brewing beer in his washing machine.

I'm not kidding...check this out.

2003-02-27T11:48:00.000-06:00

From the Covering of The Derriere Department

State Farm is cautioning their insured drivers to drive carefully, because it won't cover auto damage caused by nuclear blasts or radioactive fallout. All policyholders are expected to receive the notices by mid-2004.

Can't wait to get that one...

2003-02-27T09:33:00.000-06:00

Do you Really Need to Be an Expert to Figure this Out?

The headline on Kaiser Network this morning reads:

Health Policy Experts, Officials Say Medicare Must Be Restructured To Focus on Chronic Disease Prevention

Seriously? Do you need to be an "expert" or an "official" to know that if you reformed Medicare to allow better preventative health care and disease management you would save yourself money by reducing hospital stays? This just seems to be common sense to me, but apparently it isn't to the House Ways and Means Committee. They had to hold hearings Tuesday to help them to make this recommendation.

All kidding aside...
Reforming Medicare to include increased benefits and coverage for preventative care is critical to the health of the program. Given the influx of baby boom enrollees Medicare is going to see in the next few years they need to do everything they can to keep these people healthy and out of the hospital. Spending a little money up front can potentially save thousands of dollars in hospital and surgical charges. It looks like, after hearing the testimonies of chronically ill patients, the message has been heard. Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) said that Medicare "must change soon" to prepare for the aging baby boom population, adding that without reforms, "Medicare cannot adopt ... advances" in chronic disease management.

I wonder how long it's going to take for these reforms to be realized.

2003-02-27T08:55:00.000-06:00

Oh Where Oh Where...
Has my Comment Feature gone?

(thank goodness I'm working on that new MT template...soon...very soon...I won't have to worry about things like this anymore....)

UPDATE: Apperantly if you want something to stop slacking...Call it Out!! As soon as I posted this...voila...comments were back! (Good to see "Calling Out" works on things other than basketball players and washing machines)

2003-02-27T08:40:00.000-06:00

Maybe the Curse is Broken

Jeff and I are a Curse. We are a curse on Televison shows, rest assured that as soon as we fall madly in love with a TV show, that we will do anything not to miss every week...remember, we don't watch much TV at all, so the shows we fall in love with really have to meet high standards...it will get CANCELED! Such has been the case with Once and Again and Gideon's Crossing. However, it looks like the curse is either broken, or at least weakening. Because...

ABC has jumped the gun and issued early renewal notices for the Fall season for some of their programs. These programs include Alias! Huzzah!

2003-02-27T08:25:00.000-06:00

Adding to the Ole' Blogroll

I am always on the hunt for new blogs to read, I enjoy all of the ones on my blogroll right now, and I read most of the ones that Jeff links to, but I'm always looking for new perspectives and therefore new blogs. Much to my surprise I stumbled on a blog this morning authored by an author. Specifically it's Jennifer Weiner's blog. Weiner is the author of the fantastic, side-splittingly-funny, book Good In Bed, as well as the book In Her Shoes.

Ladies, (and men I suppose), if you haven't read Good In Bed yet...it's a must-read. It's a quick read (I tore threw it in less than a week) and gives you a whole new perspective on your love life! Very Good Stuff!

So...in short, even though I have just stumbled on her blog, I'm going to add Jennifer to my Blogroll on the presumption that if she writes great books, her blog's going to be top notch as well!

2003-02-26T17:06:00.000-06:00

Go Away Already...

Why won't Jesse Jackson just go away? He tries to make himself an expert on everything...his latest? He's going to make friends with Saddam, and together they'll save the world, or something like that.

2003-02-26T16:59:00.000-06:00

Virtual March on Washington!

In a perfect illustration of our dependence on technology in this New Millenium....Today, there is a Virtual March on Washington going on. People are being urged to email their congressmen and the White House and show their support for the anti-war movement.

While I don't agree with the anit-war movement, I do agree with the idea of a Virtual March on Washington. With all of the junk that floats around on the internet, all the emails claiming to enlarge your sex organs or make you rich while you work part time, we've finally stumbled on a good use of email. This is a perfect way for every American to participate in the democratic system. Make your voice heard, email your representative whether you are for the war or against it.....This is the beautiful part of being an American!

UPDATE:
I have just been listening to the news on my way home from work and on the radio now that I'm home. While I agree that this was a good idea, an EMAIL march on Washington was a good idea, what apparently happened was that people jammed the phone lines and shut down the circuts because of overload. I don't think that's a good set-up. Emailing is one thing, email can be read afterhours, deleted if they aren't interested, or saved for later. Simply calling with the goal of shutting down the phone system of Congress, now that's just idiotic.

2003-02-25T08:27:00.000-06:00

A Debate?

Debates over the impending war in Iraq have become a virtual hobby for most American's and Europeans in the past few months. Everyone has an opinion that they want to debate with anyone who doesn't agree. Well, the level of war debates has been taken to a new level this morning.

Yesterday, CBS News' veteran anchorman Dan Rather conducted the first face to face interview between an American reporter and Saddam Hussein in over 10 years. During this interview Saddam declared : "We do not have missiles that go beyond the proscribed range." He thereby strongly indicated Iraq would resist efforts to begin the destruction of the missiles. On top of that, Saddam has decided that he needs to debate, in traditional American Election style, Dubya on live television/radio, about the need to go to war. This is what CBS reports about the challenge:

"Saddam also challenged the president of the United States to join him in a live radio and television satellite linkup and debate the need for war before the entire world. "I am ready," said the Iraqi president, "to conduct a direct dialogue with your president. I will say what I want and he will say what he wants." "This will be an opportunity for him, if he's committed to war, this will be an opportunity to convince the world." "This is something proposed in earnest," Saddam said, "out of my respect for the people of the United States and my respect for the people of Iraq and the people of the world. I call for this because war is not a joke." "As leaders," the Iraqi president said to his American counterpart, "why don't we use this opportunity?"

Are you kidding me? This guy is a genius, he thinks he can come off looking like the kid being bullied here, but we're not going to buy the charade. After 12 years of out rightly defying UN sanctions you can't just suddenly ask to debate the need for a war that's purpose is to enforce the sanctions. In addition, I find it incredibly interesting that one of the worst dictators of all time is willing to subject himself to one of the most democratic processes in existence. Obviously, Dubya isn't going to take him up on the challenge, Ari Fleischer said last night that the White House views the request as a dramatic stalling tactic by Saddam. No matter what, it amuses me that Saddam would request this.

Another note about the interview: I had originally heard last night that portions of the interview would air on the CBS Morning Show this morning, those segments did not air. According to the CBS News Website the Iraqi authorities held up transmission of the tapes while they were being translated and instead Rather will have more on the interview on Tuesday's CBS Evening News, and on a special edition of 60 Minutes II on Wednesday night.

2003-02-21T13:53:00.000-06:00

Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please Shine Down on, Won’t you Shine Down On, Please Shine Down on Me!

This is your PSA for today:

Never underestimate the power of the Sun!

Here is why: I have been feeling a little under the weather lately, fighting a small cold (given to me by my loving husband, I'm sure) , feeling quite lethargic, and finding myself a little crankier than usual. I was discussing my out-of-sort feeling with Jeff the other day and he suggested that I might be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I brushed it off as nothing. But, ladies and gentlemen, I think he was right. I just drove home from work and I was feeling awful on the way home from work, I had a horrible stomach ache and I was all sorts of crabby. I got home and stood at the kitchen cabinets wondering what to eat for lunch, the south sun was beating in the sliding doors and hitting me. The warmth felt unusually good, so I did what any normal person would do, I grabbed a pillow off the couch and laid down on the kitchen floor with the sun beating on me for 30 minutes...and now...you guessed it...I feel incredible.

Amazing. Just wanted to share!

2003-02-21T08:50:00.000-06:00

Kinda Like Loosing a Family Friend

Cruising the blogosphere this morning, I stopped in at Interrobang, where I read Dave's post from yesterday about the approaching end of the comic strip For Better For Worse. FBFW is Lyn Johnston's 24-year old strip about the Patterson family and it has always been near and dear to my family's heart (being that we are Patterson's and all.) Over the years the strip and it's characters have had terrifyingly realistic parallels to the life of my family, for example Michael, the oldest child in the strip went to college when I did, was a Journalism major and got married the same year that I did. We've always chuckled that someone was spying on our family for the material Johnston uses in the strip.

It's going to be sad to see it end, at least we have a four-year warning.

2003-02-21T08:05:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday!

It's that time of the week again...Friday Five! Happy Weekend everyone!

1. What is your most prized material possession?
That's tough, right off the cuff I don't think there is one thing that I value more than any other. I tired to think of it in terms of, if my house was burning what would I grab...the answer to that would be pictures, as many as I can carry. I don't think that really answers the question.

2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest?
My teddy bear. I have had Quillan (aka Q-Bear) since I was in 4th grade (that's almost 18 years), he is a very well loved bear, with a tear or two here and there. But that bear is full of secrets that I've told him over the years, he's well traveled and still sleeps in our bed every night. Him and Jeff even have conversations sometimes. No I'm not crazy.

3. Are you a packrat?
ABSOULTELY!

4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum?
Prefer? A spic-and-span clean house. Notice I say prefer, that's not always how the house is, but if I would like it to be.

5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there?
Our house is full of themes...I love themes! Our living room and kitchen have a beach house/seaside theme, the office is done up in Iowa stuff, our bedroom has a rustic/autumn theme going and the entire lower level of our house is dedicated to my love for our country and decorated in stars and stripes complete with red walls in the family room.

2003-02-20T13:22:00.000-06:00

Another Sign that the World is Ending

A lot of people have been bantering back and forth for the last few weeks about whether or not the end of the world is upon us. I had been firmly planted on the logical side that it's not ending, and these people proclaiming it was were out of their noogins.

That was until I read this headline on Chicago Tribune.com:

Wheaton College eases alcohol, dancing ban

Having grown up in Wheaton, a town that was completely dry until the early 1980's and didn't allow dances at the highschool until around the same time, I can assure you that this is a sign of something and I think it might just be armagedon. Your duct tape and plastic aren't going to help you with this one!

Read the story here.

2003-02-19T17:30:00.000-06:00

Movies Times

Miriam Frisch, a high school teacher in Evanston has filed a class action law suit against Lowes Cineplex Entertainment Group for breach of contract. Frisch claims that when a movie theatre sells you a ticket for a 7:00pm movie, you are under the impression that the movie will start at 7:00. Rather the movie starts at 7:10 or 7:20, after 10-20 minutes of advertising. Frisch claims this is breech of contract.

So....for my own blog poll...here is my question:
First, do you think that this is breech of contract? Second, would you rather pay $7.00 for a movie and sit through 10 minutes of ads or pay $10 for a movie without ads? Comment away...

2003-02-19T16:01:00.000-06:00

Marriage in America: Reality TV's Influence and the Legality of Homosexual Marriage

I have frequently used this blog as an outlet for my disgust with reality television, so for those of you who are my regular readers go ahead and say to yourself..."Here we go again!"

As a general rule of thumb I watch very little TV. I watch Alias, West Wing, Friends and Will and Grace just about every week, but outside of that the only TV that I watch is either news or sports programming. However, Monday night, I had some extra time on my hands and found myself sitting in front of the tube flipping channels at about 8pm. Realizing that I had my choice between Michael Jackson documentaries on ABC and NBC, sitcoms on CBS or the Joe Millionaire finale on FOX I decided to bite the bullet and watch the Millionaire finale. I had never seen the show before and I quickly found myself in a fit of disgust, not because of the show itself but because of the commercials for FOX's newest reality TV show: Married BY America that ran at just about every commercial break.

If you're keeping score at home so far America has witnessed Darva Conger marry Rick Rockwell on a game show in which she was basically awarded as his prize. We've seen two men select women to be their finance's on the Bachelor and tonight a woman will select her own fiancé the same way on the Bachelorette. But this newest show stoops to a new low...the two people getting married will not have ever even seen each other until after the knot is tied. That's right, America will call in and select two complete strangers who will marry each other on the show. The ratings are predicted to be huge! And we wonder why America has a divorce rate over 50%.

Seriously people, what happened to the sanctity, the insolubility and the respect of the union of marriage? I believe that Marriage is a sacrament. It is a covenant between two people that is blessed by God. It is the creation of one entity from two....you know that whole "What God has joined let no man break apart" line? What do you think it means? No man can break it, as long as you weren't married on a TV show or that you didn't find someone that you think would be more fun to be married to? Wrong! It means, it's unbreakable. Period. Marriage is not about ratings or entertainment. It is about love, commitment and the understanding that what you are doing it FOREVER...that's a long time folks!

Jeff and I have discussed at length how American's view marriage and we are both disgusted. We are both 26 years old and we'll have been married for 2 years next month. We're at the time of our life when most of our friends are getting married and in the last four years we've been to almost 30 weddings together. It's hard to believe that statistically half of those couples will end up divorced. When we were preparing for our wedding we both took the time to think to ourselves and talk about with each other what we were doing. I understood when I stood at the alter on March 31, 2001 in front of 350 of my closest friends and family that I was making a commitment that I would take Jeff as my husband for the rest of my life. I had thought about all the "what if's"..."what if I get bored of him?", "what if he cheats on me?", "what if...(there were hundreds of scenarios)" and I knew in my heart that the commitment I was making was one that I could be true to regardless of the what if question. I admitted to myself that no matter what the "what if" was, no matter how angry I would get or how much pain could be brought to me, I was going to be with this man forever. Luckily, I know that Jeff and I love each other enough that we weren't going to have a lot of the major issues that couples face in loveless marriages. Still, I was still ready to face whatever was thrown my way. My guess is that a good majority of people don't think about these things before they get married, if they did, we wouldn't have the divorce rate that we do. (And we certainly wouldn't have complete strangers marrying each other on TV for ratings or money. These shows let people think that marriage is a game. I disagree with them one hundred percent.)

On to the second part of my rant: All of that said, I understand that not everyone has the spiritual belief in marriage that I do and that is perfectly fine, everyone is allowed their own opinion. A lot of people believe that marriage is a legal union approved by the state rather than God. Jeff's youngest brother, Doug, is getting married next February and he and his fiancé have chosen to have a secular wedding ceremony which I am really looking forward to. Doug and Alberta both believe in the unbreakable bond that marriage is, even though they don't believe in the spiritual sacrament. What has amazed me about their wedding is the research that Doug has done about how to get married. Specifically, Doug has discovered that in the state of Colorado anyone can perform a marriage ceremony for anyone else. You don't need to be certified by the state as a minister or judge. I presume that Doug and Allie will have to file for an official marriage certificate from the state in order to have their marriage recognized by the state, but that's it. It's going to be easier than getting a drivers license.

Here's what I don't understand: If the legal part of marriage has become nothing more than filing for a license and it is increasingly easier to end that marriage, then why don't we expand the limits on marriage in this country? Seriously, if legally (in the eyes of the government, not in the eyes of any church) marriage is simply a certificate that allows two people to share the same last name, make decisions for each other when one is incapacitated and pay higher taxes, then why don't we let anyone marry anyone? Specifically why are homosexual marriages illegal? I understand that the reason the legislation has never been passed to allow homosexuals to marry is because of the spiritual opposition of the law makers . But that seems silly to me because these same people who oppose homosexuals marrying, citing that the bible says it's wrong, should be opposing marriage in it's current disrespected state, period, no matter who's marrying who and opposing the ease of divorce.

Thanks to the separation of church and state, the government is not a spiritual entity and they don't have the right to make laws that promote religious teachings. Therefore, the government allows divorce, they allow people to marry in any type of ceremony presided over by anyone, they allow complete strangers to marry, and I don't understand why they don't allow homosexual marriage. (Note: I am in no way shape or form saying that homosexual marriage is ok from a religious/spiritual perspective, rather simply from the legal perspective.) The laws the way they stand seem like a double standard.

2003-02-17T16:28:00.000-06:00

Worst Living Dictator

In yesterday's edition of the Parade Magazine that is published in Sunday newspapers across the country the cover story is "The 10 Worst Living Dictators." The list of course includes, Sadaam Hussein, Kim Jong Il and Fidel Castro. The seven others are equaly oppressive and horrible to their people. My question is: Next week are they going to publish the 10 BEST living dictators? Is it possible to have a good dictator? This just seems like a waste of a story to me.

2003-02-17T08:03:00.000-06:00

21 Dead

At least 21 people are confirmed dead at a Chicago Nightclub, due to a stampede of humans trying to exit the building after a fight broke out inside and a security guard sprayed pepper spray in the building to break up the distrubance.

2003-02-13T12:46:00.000-06:00

Critics unglued by government's advice to buy duct tape

Everyone knows that for the last week, American's have been urged to stock up on emergency supplies, such as bottled water, batteries and food. And everyone knows that in addition to the emergency kit supplies, the government has been suggesting that we buy plastic and duct tape to seal our homes in the case of a chemical attack. Mind you, I've been one of the first to laugh about everyone rushing out to buy duct tape and plastic, mostly because I live in the middle of Iowa and the idea that there would be an attack here in the middle of the country seems a little far fetched to me. None the less, there have been higher than usual sales of duct tape and plastic in and around Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. At the same time, I've also wondered whether or not said plastic would really cut the mustard in the face of a serious chemical or radiological attack, and the answer is probably not.

However, despite my own criticisms, I think it's ok that the government is encouraging us to at least do this much preparation. In the end there is probably very little that we can do to protect ourselves from the rumored attacks, so why not do what we can that will make us feel at least a little better about the situation. The amount of preparations people have to do to feel comfortable are going to be different for everyone. For instance, Jeff and I haven't done anything. However, if we lived in a bigger city we probably would have at least bought batteries for the radio and a little extra food. (even though our friends think our fridge is ready for a nuclear winter every day of the week.) On the other hand, a coworker of mine received a phone call this morning from her ex-husband in Salt Lake City. He wanted to make sure they had spoken and were on civil terms should the world end this weekend.

What's irritating me is that there are so many experts running to the media discounting the governments advice because they believe it's not going to be effective. As Harold Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters said : "I mean, duct tape and plastic? Where's the good air coming from? How's it going to be recirculated? Beyond the fact that we already know, for nerve gas and other elements, the plastic is totally ineffective. I think it was done just to give people a sense of `Everything will be OK,' and to give them a sense of confidence." Seriously folks, We all know that the whole buying plastic thing really isn't going to save your life in a major attack. But isn't peace of mind worth something?

Other than buying plastic and duct tape there really isn't anything that most American's can do to protect themselves, so what's the issue with the government at least encouraging an action that could make you feel a little more comfortable, maybe allow you to sleep a little better at night.

2003-02-13T11:08:00.000-06:00

North Korea

The Onion, the satirical newspaper, published the following headline in their latest issue:

"N. Korea Wondering What It Has To Do To Attract U.S. Military Attention."

The Onion is not known for the journalistic accuracy, however this headline seems to ring frighteningly true. Given that yesterday CIA director George Tenet and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby reported to Congress that a still-untested North Korean missile could carry a small nuclear warhead to the West Coast. In addition to that report, The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency officially found North Korea in breach of its nonproliferation commitments on Wednesday.

To calm fears the Chicago Tribune included these statements in their report on the directors' testimony:

"Some experts on nuclear proliferation said the missiles are rudimentary and highly inaccurate, adding that the officials' statements Wednesday make their capability appear far greater than it may actually be. The intelligence officials "were putting out the worst-case scenario," said Jon Wolfsthal, a proliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. He said the missiles were so inaccurate that "if they aimed for the United States, they might hit South America."

Either way. I have a hard time finding comfort with the fact that even if they launch a strike against us they have a large chance of hitting South America instead. They still would have launched a nuclear warhead at the United States. That's more than a little unsettling to me. I also have to wonder, if North Korea was crazy enough to send their Nuclear Warheads in our direction, what would the United States do? The knee jerk response is that we'd bomb them back to the stone age. While we might want that to be the response, it probably won't be. But what will? It's an interesting question to ponder.

2003-02-13T09:57:00.000-06:00

Enough Already!

A certain someone filed a complaint last night about my lack of blogging this week. To which I responded "bite me" and she was forced to recind from her attack.

Seriously, I have been under a load of stress this week at work because of an impending deadline, that I am now well past and still not close to meeting. Thus my blog has fallen off my radar almost completely. However, I have a couple things on my mind this morning that I hope to get up here at somepoint today.

So, friends and foes, stay tuned...hopefully by lunchtime I'll be able to compose a few sentences about something other than the piles of medical codes that are all over my desk.

2003-02-10T17:44:00.000-06:00

My Newest Brain Child

I have an idea. (well, I actually have lots of ideas, but I have this one that is on my mind a lot lately...so bear with me) This specific idea is to start a local charity. I am always looking for ways to help other people and ways to serve my community, and this idea I have for a charity is one that I believe could not only help people but it could also, in a small way, make a difference in a few people's lives.

My idea for a charity is to create an organization that collects the gently used prom and bridesmaid dresses that are hanging in every woman's closet and makes them available to underprivileged girls whose families cannot afford to buy them a new dress to wear to their high school prom.

My idea is not an original one by any means, there are organizations like this all over the country (for example the one in Chicago is The Glass Slipper Project, on the east coast a lot of them are called Fairy Godmothers, in Florida there's Sequin Dreams and on the west coast there's Cinderella's Closet...to name a few), but as far as I can tell, there isn't an organization like this in Iowa. (If anyone knows of one...please tell me!)

Obviously this is still an idea in my head and I haven't ironed out all of the details. The essential idea is that women will donate their used dresses/formalwear and a girl would be given a prom dress, shoes, accessories and makeup (sample sizes) for free from the donated items. I haven't decided on the distribution specifics, there are two ways the items can be distributed. The first option is to help girls on a case by case basis (school guidance counselors and social workers would call and request the service for a specific student). The other popular distribution process is to set up a boutique and the girls can come "shop" for their dress on specific days. Which ever way we do it, I will certainly limit the participants to underprivileged high school junior and senior girl.(Maybe eventually we can work in a program for guys...that'll come down the road.)

The inital setup of this project is going to take a lot of time and work, but I am more than willing to invest myself in it. However, since it's February, I think this year's program will be limited in size, with the hopes that by next prom season I can have this thing off the ground and flying. I am currently researching how to organize the charity such that it's a "recognized charity" for tax purposes (I know nothing about doing this, I think it has something to do with becoming a 501(c) organization, but I need to do more research...if anyone knows about this and can save me the research time please speak up!).

I blog about this today because I need your help! A big key in the set up of this organization will be naming it, and thus I'm seeking the input of my fellow bloggers. Any ideas? Obviously the names I've mentioned above are taken, but they are all very catchy and appropriate, so basically I'm looking for something along the same lines as those other names without directly stealing a name from another organization. Please use my comment button to leave your name ideas or thoughts on the project. (Don't hesitate to tell me if this is a crazy idea, sometimes I need to hear that before I go head first into something!) Thanks for your help!

2003-02-10T10:20:00.000-06:00

Busy Day

Today, being a Monday in the middle of flu season, is going to be a crazy day for me so my blogging will be slow until later this afternoon or this evening. I did want to share this link with you that I found via Vodka Pundit. This story is one that should be shared with everyone you know. Stories like this one are the reason why I get teary eyed when I hear patriotic songs. This is one amazing country we live in.

2003-02-07T08:14:00.000-06:00

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.)

2003-02-06T11:21:00.000-06:00

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.

2003-02-06T11:11:00.000-06:00

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.

2003-02-06T09:49:00.000-06:00

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.

2003-02-05T15:29:00.000-06:00

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."

2003-02-05T14:02:00.000-06:00

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.

2003-02-04T15:12:00.000-06:00

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.

2003-02-04T13:39:00.000-06:00

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.

2003-02-04T09:27:00.000-06:00

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.

2003-02-01T14:26:00.000-06:00

In Memoriam

"In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."

The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth, yet we can pray that all are safely home.

May God bless the grieving families, and may God continue to bless America. "
---- President George W. Bush

God Bless the departed crew and the surviving families and friends of The Space Shuttle Columbia.

2003-01-31T13:51:00.000-06:00

Further Proof

As if further proof was needed that Former Gov. George Ryan is highly undeserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, I present you with the Chicago Tribune story about the 555 page laundry list of political favors handed out by Ryan as Secretary of State and Governor. It's a virtual Who's Who of organized crime and rich campaign contributors!

2003-01-31T11:34:00.000-06:00

The French

I have long been amazed at how The French think that they are a superior culture to rest of the world and at just how rude they can be to everyone who is not French.

This amazement has only been fueled in the last few weeks with their loud opposition to impending war with Iraq. The blogosphere has been filled with commentary on the "Axis of Weasel" nickname that France has earned and I read last night in The National Review that Jonah Goldberg has made "cheese-eating surrender monkeys"—a line from an episode of The Simpsons—the rallying cry of Francophobes everywhere.

Needless to say that I was intrigued when the MSN homepage (the annoying page that it is) linked to this Slate article about exactly why considering the fact that we have bailed them out of TWO world wars, already, they hate the American's so much.

As of late this week, a lot of people have taken a stab at explaining the rocky relationship. On last night's installment of Crossfire on CNN, a viewer blasted Tucker Carlson during the fireback segment for claiming on a previous episode that the French were "ungrateful" for the assistance that we have given them over the years. The cover story in this weeks edition of The Nation claims that the French don't dislike the US in it's entirety they just dislike President Bush and his unilateral vision. As the Slate article points out, this is not completely true because the French "never really liked the Clinton administration, either. In June 2000, during President Clinton's last year in office, France was the only one (talk about unilateralism) of 107 countries to refuse to sign a U.S. initiative aimed at encouraging democracy around the world." The Slate article continues to describe the relationship by pointing this out: "The French are so concerned by the dominance of American power—militarily, economically, culturally, and technologically—that a former French foreign minister felt the need to coin a new word to describe it: hyperpuissance, or "hyperpower." Think of it this way: France thinks the United States has so much power that the French language didn't have a word for it." (That's extreme...the French language is extensive!)

It is my basic understanding of the situation that France views the American's as the young hotshot in the office, willing to do anything to prove we're in charge. They think we're power hungry and they aren't willing to fade into the background of "old" Europe (according the Rumsfeld) and give us the stage. Another quote from the Slate article: "French identity is similar to American identity—France sees itself as a great nation worthy of power, the birthplace of democracy, and a culture and system of government that the world would be wise to emulate" American's think the French are whiny and old.

Personally, I think they're just jealous that our language is easier to speak.

2003-01-31T07:58:00.000-06:00

Friday Five!!

Kinda hard to believe that it's Friday Five time again, but here we go! Hope everyone had a good week and Happy Weekend!

1. As a child, who was your favorite superhero/heroine? Why?
I never really had a favorite superhero, I liked UnderDog, Mighty Mouse and Captain Caveman cartoons, but I don't think they really count. I can tell you who it wasn't: Spiderman. I was terrified of Spiderman!

2. What was one thing you always wanted as a child but never got?
A horse, clichéd I know, but it's true. I was, and still am, in love with riding horses. But, I am allergic to them and can't care for one. Not that that's the reason I didn't have one, but it's at least part of why I'll never own one.

3. What's the furthest from home you've been?
Umm, California?

4. What's one thing you've always wanted to learn but haven't yet?
There are so many things out there to learn, that it’s hard to pick from my lengthy list. I guess for the sake of an answer I’ll say that I want to learn how to ski, to Jeff’s pleasure I’m sure! I’d also love to learn a little more about photography. And I’d love to learn more exotic cooking skills.

5. What are your plans for the weekend?
Tonight: Something "fun"...I keep telling Jeff that we need to get out and DO something this evening, since we usually spend our Friday nights on the couch. But, we'll see. My guess, we'll go out to dinner, maybe stop by our official Blog sponsor, Old Chicago, and knock off a few more brews from the tour and possibly go bowling, to a movie, or to see some live Jazz if there's any in town. Tomorrow night is Jeff's Christmas Party for work (I know it's February, but that's ok) and Sunday I presume we'll go to church and spend the rest of the day being lazy.

2003-01-30T20:27:00.000-06:00

Too Much Government Intervention

Being married to a Libertarian, I often find myself in the middle of discussions at the dinner table about how our government is too involved in our daily lives. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't. But the following, from the WSJ Opinion Journal is one story of excessive intervention that I think most people will agree with:

The Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader has its dander up over a proposed bill that "would require shampoo assistants to be licensed by the state":

The bill defines a shampoo assistant as anyone licensed by the state board of barbering, cosmetology, and esthetics "who performs any of the following functions: (a) Shampooing. (b) Rinsing and pulling rods. (c) Rinsing treated or untreated hair. (d) Other cleaning or sink-related functions as determined by the board."

To obtain a shampoo assistant's license, an applicant would have to ". . . have completed either 300 hours in a barbering or cosmetology school as defined by the board, or a shampooing program acceptable to the board. . . ."

Do you really need 300 hours of school to learn how to rinse hair? The Union Leader is right: This bill deserves to dye.

2003-01-30T20:08:00.000-06:00

Sweet Success

So....This is what happens when you finally have a successful football team. It might just be me, but this seems a little bit like overkill.

2003-01-30T19:59:00.000-06:00

Speaking of Ludacrious News

Today, the Norwegian committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize confirmed that former Illinois Governor George Ryan has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. (This site claims to exist as a support for the peace prize campaign) The grounds for nomination: the 11th hour commutation of the sentences of Illinois' death row inmates.

There are so many things that are wrong with this I don't even know where to start...so I won't. To nominate the most crooked politician, outside of the Daley family, that the state of Illinois has ever seen is just plain ludacrious if you ask me!

2003-01-30T19:46:00.000-06:00

Nelson Mandela: Al Sharpton's Running Mate?

This afternoon, Nelson Mandela, former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and according to Reuters a towering statesman respected the world over, spoke at the International Women's Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa. In his speech Mandela said "if there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America." He continued by saying that President George W. Bush covets the oil in Iraq "because Iraq produces 64 percent of the oil in the world. What Bush wants is to get hold of that oil." In fact Iraq contributes to only 5 percent of world oil exports. As if these comments weren't enough, Mandela went on to prove his brotherhood with Al Sharpton by claiming that the US is willing to "step above" the UN because of Secretary General, Kofi Annen. Mandela asserted that the US and England are willing to ignore the pastwork of the UN because "They do not care. Is it because the secretary-general of the United Nations is now a black man? They never did this when the Secretary was white." IS IT BEACUSE HE'S A BLACK MAN??? Are you kidding me? Have you noticed, Mr. Mandela, that the Secretary of State of the United States, a man who is currently traveling the world to rally Allied support for the war, IS BLACK! Even with the limited proof that Bush has provided about Hussein's noncompliance, Hans Blix's reports to the UN about the mediocrity of the Iraqi cooperation with weapons inspections and the simple fact that Hussein has ignored UN sanctions for 12 years, Mandela thinks that this is all about the fact that Kofi Annen is a black man?!

On top of that Mandela said that Bush is willingly leading the world into a Holocaust because he has no foresight and cannot think clearly. But according to Reuters, Mandela also "said he would support without reservation any action agreed upon by the United Nations against Iraq." So it seems Mandela is all for a "holocaust"--provided the French and Germans approve.

2003-01-30T13:50:00.000-06:00

It's one of those CRAZY days at the office, so my posting is suffering. Hopefully I'll have a chance to post some things when I get home tonight!

2003-01-30T12:24:00.000-06:00

Quote of the Day
"Are we going in a direction that's going to siphon off a lot of money for one threat instead of building a system capable of responding to multiple bioterror threats? We need some clearheaded thinking on this." -- Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), on President Bush's national smallpox vaccination plan.

The esteemed Senator Harkin has spoken! Now let's see if he can come up with and fund a different plan. Don't call for clear headed thinking Mr. Harkin if you can't provide some yourself.

2003-01-29T12:45:00.000-06:00

Extreme Driving

On my way to work I was was driving down the highway, listening to my tunes and all of sudden, I look up and there's some granny driving in my lane, coming towards me. Mind you we're driving on a SIX LANE DIVIDED HIGHWAY and she's heading straight towards me, I figured she'd at least pull over. realize that she was on the wrong side of the road when she noticed me and the five other cars coming at her...NOPE, she just kept coming. I had to change lanes so that she wouldn't hit me...and she wasn't phased! It is humorous because she turned off the road just after passing me, and she turned in to Walmart. Jeff and I are convinced that our Walmart is an idiot magnet...I think this is further proof!

2003-01-28T12:46:00.000-06:00

Great Minds...

Cruising the blogosphere on my lunch, and I ran across this post on Mike Krempansky's blog (which has a hip new design) about whether or not we'll be treated to a Cuban Missle-esque presentation during the SOTU tonight. It's funny because Jeff and I were just talking about this same thing this morning as we were getting ready for work. I was telling Jeff, that if not tonight then at somepoint in the next few weeks, I would LOVE to see Dubya whip out the Adlai Stevenson memorial A/V presentation and show not only the US but the entire world the proof we have that Iraq is up to no good. Now the idea that this could be done on a Lite Bright never crossed my mind, but it would make for some interesting commentary!

2003-01-28T12:29:00.000-06:00

Maybe you can relate

The fact that the following paragraph excites me is further proof that I need to find a social life:

The White House web site will unveil its State of the Union page today at 3pm (ET). The page will include: web site exclusive video of officials discussing the President's speech, web site exclusive photos of State of the Union preparation, a history section and other State of the Union information.

2003-01-28T11:06:00.000-06:00

And you thought we forgot....

Just you case you were starting to think that the US military had abandoned our war in Afghanistan, we haven't. Today, U.S. and Afghan forces battled rebels aligned with a renegade leader in the largest-scale fighting in Afghanistan since Operation Anaconda. Read more about it here.

2003-01-28T08:42:00.000-06:00

A Moment in Time

Today marks the 17th Anniversary of the Challenger explosion. It is one of the defining moments for our generation, one of the moments that you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard/saw the explosion. To think it was 17 years ago is absolutely amazing. May peace be with the families of the astronauts.

2003-01-28T08:35:00.000-06:00

State of the Union Drinking Game

Take one drink everytime Dubya mentions these words:
"Tax Cut"
"Regiem Change"
"Axis of Evil"
"Healthcare"

Take five drinks everytime Dubya mentions "Affirmative Action"

Finish your drink when Dubya mentions "Trent Lott" and "Affirmative Action" in the same sentence!

Happy State of the Union Day everyone!

2003-01-27T22:29:00.000-06:00

The Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiatives

In the continuing crusade to give away his entire fortune, Bill Gates announced today that his foundation (The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) will be challenging researchers with $200 million to fuel research into the leading cause of death in developing countries (specifically, but not limited to, AIDS). Gates commented that he felt compelled to issue this challenge because of the gross inequity of medical research: Only 10% of medical research examines the diseases that constitute 90% of the world's health burden. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Gates writes there needs to be a "world-wide call to action" to study and cure the diseases of the developing world, including HIV/AIDS. He continues that "[h]ere, the role of philanthropy, in the best sense, is its ability to place a value on things that the market does not."

Legal Healthcare

I had just calmed down from my rant on healthcare last week when I picked up today’s Wall Street Journal and flipped to the opinion page where the opening statement of an editorial entitled Legal Malpractice , declares that “American health care is falling into pieces before our very eyes.” That pretty much sums it up, folks. I’ve said it here before, and I’ll say it again: The American health care system is in the ICU, and the prognosis is grim.

What is killing American Healthcare? A viscous legal circle.

I blogged a few weeks ago about the horrendous malpractice insurance crisis that is crippling US Healthcare, particularly on the East Coast. As horrible as the malpractice crisis is, with the outrageous insurance premiums being required of physicians due to obscene malpractice jury awards, it is only one part of a system that is increasingly weak.

Here’s the circle: Trial lawyers have successfully carved out a niche in the American courts for excessive jury awards in malpractice cases. Therefore, the cost of healthcare is skyrocketing because physicians are forced to practice defensive medicine: they are forced to order unnecessary tests for patients in the attempt to “cover their bases” should a malpractice suit be brought against them, or should they be called to a trial for any reason. The cost of this part of the circle? A gut wrenching ten times more…yes $100 billion total…than the entire expense of the malpractice premiums and subsequent costs paid each year. Add this defensive medicine cost to skyrocketing prescription drug prices (caused in part by the legal barriers placed on generic drugs) and the natural increase in costs that occurs with breakthrough technologies and you’re faced with health costs that will total $1.4 trillion this year (do the math, that’s more than $5000 PER PERSON.) That’s $1.4 trillion that health insurance companies are expected to foot the bill for subsequently forcing them into offering higher priced highly limited HMO products to employers. Employers, crippled by a struggling economy, are forced to pass on the increased premiums and out of pocket expenses to their employees. Employees who cannot necessarily afford the increase and who opt to drop their health insurance coverage, leaving the United States with 41 million people without health insurance.

Got that? From outrageous malpractice awards, to unacceptable uninsured rates, the American health care system is being murdered by the legal system. The aforementioned editorial does an excellent job of calling out the legal system…”Healthcare is falling apart, like a car wreck in slow motion, because no one is at the wheel. Law is supposed to provide deliberate judgments of right and wrong, so people know where they stand. America’s legal system today is more like a free-for-all. Want to sue for $2 million? Why not add a zero and make it $20 million?…Without red lights and green lights, people start to creep through the day fearful of being blindsided.”

If something isn’t done to resuscitate the healthcare system soon, we’re going to find ourselves in a catastrophic crisis. It is rumored that President Bush will speak briefly in his State of the Union address tomorrow night about the crisis. Reportedly he will call on Congress to cap “pain and suffering” damages. But is this enough? The author of the WSJ editorial suggests that we need a separate medical court system, is that the answer? Is a separate medical court system really constitutional and is it American?

I certainly don’t know what the answer is, but it seems like prognosis of our current system is down graded weekly, making me think that we need to make some extreme changes extremely quickly.

2003-01-27T20:57:00.000-06:00

Further Proof that there is always Someone to love Everything

Here it is, Monday night at 8:45pm. Jeff is at class this evening, so I worked late and I just sat down to eat my dinner and watch a little TV. After minimal channel surfing, I settled on watching the Food Network. Unwrapped, a show t hatuncovers behind-the-scenes details on how classic American foods are made,(like Russell Stovers Candies for example) on. Tonight's episode is called Bizarro...I should've changed the channel when I heard that, but I was focused on eating my own bizzare dinner (coca-cola chicken...it's really good, contrary to what Jeff might tell you.) and so I sat here and watched this episode. The opening segment of the show showed us how a woman in Charleston, South Carolina makes chocolate roaches in molds that were actually sculpted using dead roaches. The following segments included a man who is a podiatrist by day, and candy-maker by night. He owns a candy company called Toe-Food which specialzes in making chocolate feet and toes. ICK. But, the thing that proved to me that not only is this episode living up to it's name, but that everything in the world has someone who is passionate about it, is the segment that they ran about a woman who runs the Burnt Food Museum. Burnt Food? Now that's one that I don't think I could've made up if I tried!

2003-01-24T10:12:00.000-06:00

Weekly News Quiz!

I might try to do this every week....I might not, hopefully I'll be able to write my own questions, but this week, I am posting the Weekly News Quiz from The Chicago Tribune, with a question of my own added. Post your answers in comments and let's see how many people out there have been paying attention to the world this week! I'll post the answers over the weekend!

Here we go...
1. Why did a Florida college professor sue "American Idol"?

A. He argues that royalties should be paid to songwriters for all the pieces used by contestants in their auditions -- no matter how badly they sing
B. He asserted that the concept of the show was stolen from a short story he wrote in 1982 entitled "Singing Beyond the Shower"
C. He alleged that nasty "Idol" judge Simon Cowell was "negatively impacting the self-esteem of a generation of American singers"
D. The 50-year-old alleged age discrimination when he was not allowed to audition for the show

2. Which of the following names does NOT appear in Norway's current telephone book?

A. Donald Duck
B. Osama bin Laden
C. James Bond
D. Harry Potter
E. All these names are listed

3. According to the annual Lemelson-MIT Invention Index Survey, which of the following gadgets did more people say they could not live without?
A. Car
B. Cell phone
C. Computer
D. Microwave oven
E. Toothbrush

4. With the opening of a section of the Boston's Big Dig tunnel, motorists can now drive on what road from Boston's Logan International Airport to Seattle, Wash., without leaving the highway?
A. Route 66
B. Interstate 90
C. Interstate 80
D. Interstate 10
E. It is still not possible to make this trip

5. Millions of Cubans voted Jan. 19 in elections where all 609 candidates ran uncontested. Who was NOT a candidate?
A. Elian Gonzalez's father, Juan Miguel
B. Track star Ana Fidelia Quirot
C. President Fidel Castro
D. Folk singer Silvio Rodriguez
E. All these candidates ran and won

6. The U.N. Human Rights Commission, the organization's human rights watchdog, elected a diplomat from what country as president, despite concern about the country's poor record on civil liberties?
A. Libya
B. Iraq
C. North Korea
D. China

7. What large city became the first to outlaw the Segway (that little scooter "IT" thing) on its sidewalks?
A. Detroit
B. San Francisco
C. New York
D. Seattle

8. British police continue their investigation into an armed Algerian group suspected of planning an attack in England using what deadly poison, which was found in a London apartment Jan. 5?
A. Ricin
B. Anthrax
C. Smallpox
D. Plague

9. Which is the nation's largest minority group for the first time ever, according to a Census Bureau report released on Jan. 21?
A. Hispanics
B. Blacks
C. Asians
D. American Indians
E. Native Hawaiians

10. Who won the women's U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Jan. 18?
A. Jennifer Kirk
B. Ann Patrice McDonough
C. Sarah Hughes
D. Michelle Kwan
E. Sasha Cohen

11. Super Bowl Sunday has become one of the nation's biggest days for avocado consumption. But the NFL championship ranks only third in avocado-eating events overall. What event is first?
A. Memorial Day weekend
B. Cinco de Mayo
C. 4th of July
D. Labor Day weekend
E. No one keeps track of this type of thing

12. On the avocado theme, if you were to cover a football field, end zone to end zone, with the amount of avocados that are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday, how deep would the pile be?

A. 1 foot
B. 5 feet
C. 7.5 feet
D. 15 feet
E. 50 feet

13. According to 74 Italian weight loss experts interviewed for an article in an Italian health magazine, what is the best way to shed pounds?
A. Eat only candy and cake
B. Exercise at least four times a week
C. Diet
D. Drink red wine daily
E. Fall in love

2003-01-24T08:06:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday!

Here's the answers to a fairly revealing Friday Five for ya this week...

1. What is one thing you don't like about your body?
I have short wrinkly fingers. The reason I pick this as the one this about my body that I don't like is because there is absolutely nothing I can do, no amount of exercise or diet, will change the way my hands look.

2. What are two things you love about your body?
I love my hair and my eyes.

3. What are three things you want to change about your home?
It's location, the number of bedrooms and the lack of a basement! (I don't think that's what they're getting at here) Seriously...I love my house, it just needs a little more storage since I am a great collector of stuff!

4. What are four books you want to read this year?
Just four? As we speak, I have a shelf of 11 books that I bought and haven't read yet. I finished a book last night, so this evening I'll probably start Jeffrey Archer's new book, I'll follow it with The Blessings by Anna Quindlan, I would like to read David Frum's book The Right Man (about Dubya), and as soon as Jeff's done with the book he's reading right now, The Bureau and the Mole, I'd like to read it.

5. What are five promises you have kept to yourself?
Marry only for love.
Never lose touch with the important people in my life.
Keep my faith.
Go to college.
Never give up on my dreams.

2003-01-23T11:48:00.000-06:00

I can think of a MILLION things to do with this money...

From Reuters

Heartbroken by Divorce, Man Burns Family Assets

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish man, desolate after his wife filed for divorce, converted the family's shares and mutual funds into cash and burned the money -- $81,300, a newspaper reported Thursday.
"Bitterness is not uncommon in connection with divorces but it is almost unique that one of the spouses puts fire to all their wealth," Bengt Svensson, public prosecutor in the town of Jonkoping in southern Sweden, told the daily Aftonbladet.

2003-01-23T10:20:00.000-06:00

DNA Music

Think you don't have a musical bone in your body? Well, you might not, but at the very least, you could have your DNA set to music. Check this out. Further proof that there is someone interested in everything...

2003-01-23T09:27:00.000-06:00

The Process

I'm going to let you in on a secret...I am a geek. I am married to a geek. We talk about geek things, we enjoy doing geeky activities and we are proud to be geeks. I let you on this secret because the following information is further proof that I am a geek.

Like the majority of the people who author blogs, I am extremely interested in politics. However, where my interest really leads me is to a fascination with the political process. I spend hours scouring the web for information on how our government works. Not the stuff we all learned in civics class or from School House Rocks about how a bill becomes a law, and the checks and balances. But exactly how the gears of Washington work. For example, a few weeks ago I was fascinated by the the process of setting up a new Senator's office, the hiring of the staff, the office selection process, the orientation week in November for the freshman, the seminars on security that spouses have to attend, and on and on and on.

My newest fascination? The process of crafting the State of the Union Address. The process that the President's staff goes through to write any speech is interesting, but when we're talking about (allegedly) the most important speech a President makes in a year the process is extensive. I found this article on CNN.com that does a good job of summarizing a lot of what I've read around the web about the process. It talks about how in December, the President meets with his speechwriting team to decide on the major themes and basic construction of the speech. The President doesn't actually get his hands on the speech until it's fully written, when last weekend the speech was delivered to him at Camp David. So, Bush sits down with his sharpie marker and goes to town. From there he has been working with the speech writers very closely the last few days and the hope is that the final revisions will be completed in the next day or so, to give Dubya four or five days to rehearse the speech.

I have high expectations for this years State of the Union. Ari Fleischer is quoted as saying, in reference to the address and it's timing "A lot of history has to be made in the next few days." The State of the Union address comes one day after United Nations inspectors report their initial findings from Iraq. The White House considers that a crucial milestone as Bush tries to rally allies against Saddam and brace the public for war that could begin within weeks.

2003-01-22T13:22:00.000-06:00

A Solemn Day

Today, as everyone knows, marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade legalize abortion in the United States. The abortion issue is probably the single most debated topic in our country, and today the blogosphere is full of commentary about the anniversary. (Jeff has a well thought out piece on his blog and Jaime McDonald comments on the protests in Washington today, he also links this column that brought tears to my eyes. )

When I start to think about abortion, about the numbers of helpless infants who have been taken from this world because their parents were too scared to take responsibility for them, the number of people who were conceived all whom had an individual personality, a individual fate, friends to meet, soccer games to play and children of their own to give conceive but who instead were murdered, makes me feel physically ill.

Every day on my way to work I drive past an abortion clinic, often there are protestors or supporters picketing outside exercising their beautiful American right to make their voices heard. I pray for all of them, protestors and supporters alike. I pray for the women I see going into the clinic, the choice they have made is one that they will have to deal with one day when it's their turn to face their Father.

I have friends who have had abortions, I have friends who vehemently support a woman's right to chose, and friends who agree with me that life is not a choice. All of these people are my friends. I will never berate a woman, stranger of friends, for choosing an abortion, because it is not my place to judge, it is my place to love everyone as I have been loved. It is Someone much more important than me who will judge these women. I pray for them when that time comes.

2003-01-21T15:59:00.000-06:00

Ever Had One of THOSE Days...

You know the ones...
...when everything you try to do takes twice as long as it should...
...when you feel like you look like a dishelved mess...
...when every thought or idea that comes in your head somehow turns negative...
...and everyone around you just grates on your nerves...
...One when you wish you could just go to bed and get up again on a different day, in a different place, or as a different person, just so that something was different???

Yep...having one of those myself today....

2003-01-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

My Weather Pixie Lies

If my Weather Pixie were to tell you the actual temperature of where I am, she would be shown wearing a bikini, because it is currently 3 degrees cooler than the surface of the sun in my office. AND MY COWORKERS JUST TURNED THE HEAT UP AGAIN! The thermostat is now set at 82 friggin degrees.....Seriously people I can not work under these conditions!

2003-01-20T10:04:00.000-06:00

Official TLC Statement:

Saturday night, after a lovely evening of good food and great company with our friends Mr and Mrs Steele, Jeff and I came home and watched the late night showing of the Trading Spaces Live Reveal from Las Vegas! We watched the entire episode and we were fairly excited to see the Reveal because both designers finally designed cool rooms (in the same show...that never happens) when much to our dismay the "reveal" portion of the show was HORRIBLE. It kept rewinding and playing again, the crew was on screen talking rather than the homeowners and we never actually saw a reveal. I kept hoping that this wasn't the way the original airing of the reveal came off because for a network like TLC to have a live segment go this poorly would be such an embarassment. Alas, it was not the way the actual "live" reveal went. This morning on the TLC website they issued the following statement regarding the midnight showing:

"TLC experienced a technical failure during the midnight (late night) repeat airing of the Trading Spaces live reveal on Saturday, January 18th. The problem occurred out of TLC's originating facility and interrupted the final segment of the program during the east coast feed. We sincerely apologize to all of our viewers who were inconvenienced by this interruption. TLC will reair the program in its entirety at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Sunday, January 26th, 2003 (tentative). We hope you will check the website to confirm the date and time later this week."

Whew....I can rest easier at night now that I know that!

2003-01-20T08:33:00.000-06:00

A Fresh Look at the Tax Cuts

Come one, Come all, and listen to a tale made simple. A tale of tax cuts, put into terms that everyone can understand!

John Williams, the drivehome jock on the greatest radio station in the country (Chicago's WGN radio) read the following story on the air Friday night. Every American should read this, it's lengthy, but stick with it, it brings the proposed tax cuts, the ones that "benefit the rich," into a perspective that anyone who's split a dinner tab between a group can understand! If I were Dubya I would use some of my budget to print this out and mail it to every single American... Happy reading and please pass this on!

Let's put the proposed tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to
$100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something
like this.

The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1,
the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the
tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every
day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until one day, the owner threw
them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost
of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what
about the other six -- the paying customers? How could They divvy up the $20
windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and
The sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner
suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same
amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5,
the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52
instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the
first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only
got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man,then, pointing to the
tenth. "But he got $7!". "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only
saved a dollar, too, ........It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!".

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man," why should he get $7 back when I got
only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!".

Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at
all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate
without him.

But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was
very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine
that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax
system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a
tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just
may not show up at the table anymore. They might just take their business
offshore, or something; they're getting beaten up no matter what they do.
Where would that leave the rest?

2003-01-20T08:23:00.000-06:00

A little Monday morning Humor

Jay Leno is quoted in the dead tree version of the National Review this week talking about the Peace demonstration in California a few days ago. He's talking about the demonsration where 50 women stripped their clothes off and shaped themselves into the word PEACE on an open field. Leno's comment "Right Idea, Wrong President!"....I thought that was hysterical! Happy Monday!

2003-01-17T12:21:00.000-06:00

Update: I am feeling a little better, so I'll be working late and then cleaning my house this afternoon. Just in case anyone was worried about me! :)

2003-01-17T09:38:00.000-06:00

An interesting way to "raise" taxes

Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) of Illinois was sworn into office on Monday, but the honeymoon for him is already over. Blago (as the Chicago radio station WGN is calling him) comes into office in the middle of the worst budget crisis in Illinois' history. He's facing a $5 billon shortage.

Blago said yesterday that every single part of the Illinois state budget, except education, healtcare and police protection, faces serious cuts in the next few weeks as his administration tries to close the crater. However, these cuts still aren't going to be enough dirt in the hole. That means that the new governor is going to face a dilemna that many other politicians have faced, he campaigned on the promise that he would not raise income or sales tax.

One solution that is in the media today is that Blago is suggesting that he could expand, not raise, the state sales tax. Meaning that the state would start to tax nearly 200 personal services from those offered by doctors and lawyers to plumbers, dry cleaners and hair stylists that are currently tax exempt. The Chicago Tribune reports that "Blagojevich said the service tax is only one of 100 options under review, adding that the budget team will look at borrowing on the state's tobacco settlement, spurring development of the state's 10th casino and ending sales tax exemptions on manufacturing equipment."

So, in the political world I suppose that expanding taxes, even though people will ultimately pay more in tax money, isn't the same thing as raising taxes, huh?

2003-01-17T08:36:00.000-06:00

Being Sick

I am not good at being sick. I do not slow down well...I am one of those people who has to be doing something all the time. I can't just sit and watch TV, I have to be doing something while I watch TV. So, needless to say when I'm getting sick I'm not the best at taking care of myself. So here I am, I know I'm getting sick. I ache from head to toe, I am in a fairly crappy mood and I can't stay out of the bathroom. It sucks...yet I am at work, I can't go home because I have a vendor meeting me at 10:30 for a delivery, I am off at noon and while going home and getting some sleep before I'm full blown sick and my weekend sucks would make the most sense, I know I will struggle to do that. I just wish I could turn off the voice in my head that keeps nagging "do the laundry, clean the house, do your homework, do some consulting work..."

I'm going to try...I really am. I think if I can sleep for a few hours this afternoon maybe I can lick this thing before I'm under full blown seige.

2003-01-17T07:57:00.000-06:00

Friday Five!

Happy Friday everybody! Here's this week's Friday Five!

1. Where do you currently work?
I currently work at a large Pediatric Clinic in Iowa City.

2. How many other jobs have you had and where?
This is my first "real" job, I've been here for seven years. Before Peds I worked summers in high school and college, my first job was as a camp counselor, after that I worked as a page at the public library and I worked as a receptionist/clerk at a medical office.

3. What do you like best about your job?
It's challenging. Healthcare is an everchanging industry and It's a real challenge to navigate eleven physicians through it, in a way that they will make money and still provide quality care to their patients.

4. What do you like least about your job?
My coworkers and some of the office politics/procedures. It's an everpresent theme on this blog that I work with some uneducated people (not all of them here are) who are interested in working here because it's a job, not because it's a career. On top of that, from an employee stand point our office is often mismanaged, rules change for each person in the office, we hire unqualified people, etc. It gets frustrating.

5. What is your dream job?
Healthcare Lobbyist.

2003-01-16T13:02:00.000-06:00

Gender Roles

I think it's funny just how engrained in us gender roles are. Specifically what brought this to mind today is that I was exploring the White House website and on the First Lady's side of the site you can find out all about Laura, what her agenda is, and....get some of her recipes!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm always on the prowl for a new recipe, I just thought it was funny that this was included on the government site.

2003-01-16T12:35:00.000-06:00

The "Real Beverly Hillbillies"

I've blogged at length about my disgust with reality TV. And I realize that most of you probably think that I need to loosen up and enjoy something mindless for a change. To you, I will admit, once in a while when I'm flipping channels a reality show will catch my interest, but quickly loses it again. But, all is not lost on me, I am a big fan of Trading Space (reality based...) and for some reason I really like Fear Factor...anyways...I digress, back to my disgust. I am absolutely amazed that CBS is going forth with their plans for a show called "The Real Beverly Hillbillies" where they take a hill country family and drop them in LA to see what happens. What I think amazes me most is that people who actually thing this project is a good idea (the network, advertisers, etc.)

Well, I'm not alone in thinking that maybe this is a little far fetched even for the low levels that TV has taken itself to. Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass has a great column today about the proposed TV show.

I know I won't be watching "The Real Beverly Hillbillies" I'm still holding out for "The American Candidate!!!"

2003-01-16T12:24:00.000-06:00

As if the incresased risk of cardiac failure, diabetes and premature deathe weren't enough...

There's another reason to keep bad self slim and trim.....doctors leave surgery tools inside 1500 people every year, most of whom are fat. YIKES!

2003-01-16T12:02:00.000-06:00

Medical Malpractice Reform

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that President Bush will make a speech today (update: he already gave the speech, for a good review of it click here) at a hospital in Scranton outlining his proposal for medical malpractice reform. Bush's recommendations are in direct response the malpractice insurance crisis (see below for background on the crisis) that has struck the East Coast and is quickly spreading across the country. The high cost of malpractice insurance premiums is causing the crisis that has resulted in nationwide physician work stoppages, most notably earlier this month more than 18 general, orthopedic and heart surgeons in northern West Virginia began to take leaves of absence to protest the state's high malpractice insurance rates. Pennsylvania averted a devastating strike this month as well when state officials agreed to help negotiate lower premiums for their physicians. Presumably Bush's proposal will call for a reduction in medical malpractice insurance premiums for physicians by limiting the amount of damages that juries can award in malpractice cases. Last year, The White House made public comments (and I believe Bush made a speech about them as well) that they supported "strict limits" on malpractice jury awards that would save "tens of billions of dollars" and force a reduction in premiums. (Bush made these comments in response to the Greenwood Bill that limited the time someone had to file a malpractice suit and set limits for the potential award. The Bill passed the House, but was defeated in the Senate.)

The article in the Philadelphia Inquirer points out that:

"By helping to make malpractice a household word, Bush is focusing on a potent issue for Republicans, one that casts trial lawyers as the cause for physicians' and patients' anguish. The stand harmonizes well with the views of the Republicans' new Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, the only senator who is a physician. The issue also sets Bush apart from a major challenger in 2004, Sen. John Edwards (D., N.C.), a millionaire trial lawyer who has won malpractice cases and sees his work as standing up for the poor.

This is going to become an interesting debate between the Republican and Democratic parties as they begin to position themselves for the 2004 election. Already yesterday, several Democratic lawmakers have spoken out against Bush's proposal. Their position is that the solution to the crisis is tougher regulation of the insurance industry. John Edwards, the aforementioned Presidential candidate, has gone on record saying that malpractice insurers have raised premiums to help recoup stock market losses and they are trying to recover their losses by raising the price for the doctors they insure.

For those who don't know, here's a little synopsis of the current malpractice insurance crisis. The bottom line is that the malpractice insurance premiums for certain medical procedures have risen so high that physicians are being forced to close the doors of their clinic, and/or not provide necessary treatment to patients, because they can't pay the insurance premiums necessary to protect themselves. It has been widely publicized in the last few months that doctor's are referring their critically ill patients to other often larger hospitals (such as Johns Hopkins), that are farther away, for necessary surgeries. In fact, so many surgeries were canceled that Mercy Hospital of Scranton (where Bush is speaking) lost $1 million in December alone. Couple these losses with the falling health insurance reimbursements and the healthcare industry is facing a true crisis.

2003-01-16T09:50:00.000-06:00

YEAH....My new glasses are in!!!

Now I'll be able to see what I'm blogging...what a unique concept!

2003-01-16T09:10:00.000-06:00

How 'bout them Hawks???

It's hard to believe it...but in two consecutive games, the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team (yes the same scandal riddled team that is playing with 7 players) has managed to beat Michigan State and #8 Illinois. It's unbelievable!!!

A couple very brief notes about the game...

~Jeff Horner....what a player! I can't wait to watch this guy play for the next four years. As a freshman, he was the leading scorer for the Iowa team last night. Horner had five assists, was 9-of-11 from the free throw line, scored 16 points and had 11 boards (hello double-double!)

~ The Hawks won by forcing 17 turnovers and grabbing every missed Illini shot in the final 10 minutes of the game.

~ESPN comments that this might win the Hawks some respect finally this season. Even though this team says they don't want it. I think it's good that the team says they don't need to respect because, they aren't getting it. In the same article that ESPN says we deserve respect they rip it away from us by publishing this caption under the video footage link

"Unranked Iowa upsets No. 8 Illinois in Ames."

There is not a bigger insult that can be bestowed upon an Iowa team than to suggest that we are from AMES!

2003-01-15T16:38:00.000-06:00

Thank Goodness!!!

Kirk Ferentz is STAYING at Iowa, as the Head Football Coach! That makes a cold crazy day a little bit better!

2003-01-15T16:04:00.000-06:00

Life in a Nutshell

Again, I've been guilty of blog neglect for the last 36 hours, but life at my job has started to spiral out of control for me, so I've had a hard time finding time to have a personal thought much less have time to blog. But...this afternoon I am going to try to post some thoughts because I have a lot to talk about, hopefully this goes smoothly.

First, on a very light note, I discovered last night why they invented the children's game OPERATION. It teaches children a real life skill....how to get things out of a drawer with wet fingernail polish! I know, guys, most of you (except Brandon) can't relate but believe me, the skills you learned in OPERATION are the exact skills needed to obtain something from a drawer and not wreck your fresh manicure.

On another light female related note, Tiffany, of Beltway Bloggers fame, has an insightful humorous post on her blog this afternoon about exactly what horror women go through every 28 days. It's a good read, check it out!

On to other definitely more important things...

Jeff and I had an interesting talk last night about the pending military conflict in Iraq. Jeff believes that Bush is really just calling Sadaam's bluff right now. He commented that he thinks Bush doesn't intend to actually fight a war with Sadaam, he just needs to look like he does in order to force Sadaam to allow the weapons inspectors access to Iraq. It's an interesting thought. It lead me to bring up my thoughts on why Americans are so against a war. I wanted to post my hypothesis here and see if anyone else had a thought about it. I think that it's possible that the Vietnam war changed the American public's outlook on war in general. Vietnam was a horrible war, it was not only the only war that America has lost but there were extraordinary numbers of human casualties. During the Vietnam war, for the first time, that I am aware of (please correct me if I'm wrong) in American history, there were widespread anti-war protests to the war (for the aforementioned justifiable reasons) and the peace movement was truly born. I think that this changed the American prospective on war. First, it proved to us that we are invincible. But, more importantly I think it really threw open the door for American's to protest future wars/government actions. Possibly, because large numbers of kids of my generation grew up with parents who still harbor a large wound from Vietnam (not a physical wound mind you) it has created some sense of doubt/fear/resentment over the prospect of war in general. I think that subconsciously the American's view of their government and the government's actions, including this impending war in Iraq, was changed forever. Mind you, this does not mean that every American has a different view now, but I believe that there was a residual effect that might be rearing it's head right now in the anti-war mantra people have taken on.

Additionally (caution...), I am amazed at how little people actually know about current events these days. Everyday, I come to work and I have to regurgitate the nightly news for my coworkers. It's not that they don't watch the news, they do, but they either don't understand it or they take the "headline" from it and begin panicking. As someone who watches news every morning and every night (and I'm not talking about the poor excuse for news that our local 10pm newscast is...sorry Willie...) and I read at least 4 magazines cover to cover every week, it amazes me that people don't yearn to understand what's going on. Understanding doesn't make the news easier to swallow, as there are some fairly scary things going on in the world today, but at least you know what it is that you are scared of or protesting. I run into so many people who can't even begin to explain to you the difference between the crisis with Iraq and the crisis with North Korea, it's amazing. In fact I had someone ask me today if because of Iraq and North Korea if the American government was just forgetting about our war in PAKISTAN!!??!! To which I said..."you mean Afghanistan?" This person has a college degree....she's no dummy, but seriously. WATCH THE NEWS! READ A NEWSPAPER....be involved in your own life people. Everything going on in the world effects each one of us in some way. It's just amazing to me.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get on such a tangent there, sometimes my blood starts to boil and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Thanks for bearing with me.

I have one more subject to bring up today and then it's back to the piles on my desk....
I promised a rant about Illinois' now former Governor George Ryan and his blanket clemency of Illinois' death row. I'm not in the mood to rant right now, but I did want to mention a couple thoughts. First, while I in no way shape or form agree with Ryan's actions, I do agree that the capital punishment system in Illinois has some flaws and that putting a freeze on executions (which he did in 2000) while the system is reviewed and each case examined is the right move. Blanket clemency is not the right move. I think this was a Clinton-esque approach at leaving a last minute legacy after a term filled with controversy. And I think that's just plan crappy.

2003-01-13T09:31:00.000-06:00

Judge Judy?

I read a little news clip in the latest issue of Fortune last night, that Judge Judy has inked a deal with her sydication network to make $25 Million a year. That's more than any news caster on TV right now, including Katie Couric and her monster contract with NBC. It's also...15 times the COMBINED yearly salary of all the US Supreme Court Justices. Does a smart-alec TV Judge, with her tough judical decisions ("Who keyed whose car?" for example) really deserve to make this kind of dough?

2003-01-13T09:18:00.000-06:00

An Important Day in Illinois

At 12 Noon today, Rod Blagojevich will be sworn in as the first Democratic governor for the state of Illinois since 1977. It dissapoints me that a Democrat won in my home state, but I am breathing a sigh of relief that the crooked George Ryan era is over....finally! (more rants on George Ryan, and his lovely parting gifts to the state of Illinois will be posted soon...)

2003-01-13T09:04:00.000-06:00

Army of One?

Jeff and I were watching Alias last night, and one of the new Army commercials came on. I've seen these ads frequently as of late and I've been perplexed by their new ad slogan... "Army of One." Isn't the purpose of joining the Army to be a part of a bigger entity? I would imagine that individualism is not the first quality you need in someone who needs to work as part of the larger picture. The ads just seem a little strange to me.

2003-01-09T12:46:00.000-06:00

Battle of The Unbeatens

Sunday night. ESPN. Duke vs. Wake Forest. The only two undefeated teams in the country...someone has to lose.

Sounds like a great night of Basketball to me!

2003-01-09T09:22:00.000-06:00

Wash Your Hands, Eat an Apple a Day, and Get some REST!

All of that will help you avoid the flu, and you have good reason to be concerned about getting the flu. A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that flu deaths are on the rise in the United States. Fatalities related to influenza increased from about 20,000 per year in the 1970s to about 36,000 per year in the 1990s. In fact, one analyst says that this data proves that you are more likely to die from the flu than from AIDS. Kinda makes you think twice about taking care of yourself doesn't it?

2003-01-09T09:11:00.000-06:00

Another Good Thing Comes to an End

HBO announced today that Sex and the City will end early next year after their 6th season.

More sadness...

2003-01-09T08:53:00.000-06:00

I helped bomb a Nightclub

I was driving down the highway this morning in my 15 mpg SUV when I was informed of the above statement. Until that moment I didn't realize that I was involved with the bombing, but that's what a grassroots group called the Detroit Project is alleging. You see, they are saying that because I drive an SUV that guzzles gas/oil I am putting money in the pockets of the terrorists who are bombing nightclubs and hijacking planes. According to a report on NPR this morning, this group formed shortly after the September 11th attacks and says that they are the answer to all the American's asking "What can I do to help protect our Country?" What you can do, they say, is give up your SUV. To help promote their anti-SUV message they have filmed TV commercials that will be debuting this weekend during Meet The Press and various other morning news programs. One of the groups arguments is that America has become too dependent on oil, they sight the example of the oil rations during WWII which limited American's to 3 gallons of gas per week. (This group claims that an American driving an SUV uses 3 gallons of gas in 3 trips to Starbucks a week...)

First, I am not sure that giving up SUV's is the solution to the national security problems. While I agree that there might be an overabundance of SUV's on the US roads these days, the core function of SUV's, to assist people with the hauling of large groups of people or large amounts of cargo, proves the necessity of the SUV in today’s world. Yes, there are people like myself, who do not utilize their SUV for these functions very often (I only haul large amount of cargo after weekends in Chicago) but if I chose to trade in my SUV for a car with a little better fuel efficiency the slight reduction in the amount of fuel I would purchase would hardly stop terrorists from bombing nightclubs. They will find a way to fund their organizations no matter how much oil America guzzles.

Second, I think comparing the oil rations during WWII to the world situations today is a little like comparing apples to oranges. America during WWII and America now are two completely different places. There were far fewer people using oil during WWII, there were fewer cars on the road and fewer planes in the air. To use this example and only apply it to SUV's is ridiculous. I will have to do some research, but it's my guess that cars during the WWII era were not getting the best gas mileage either, there were just fewer of them. In fact, I would go so far as to allege that the WWII cars got worse gas mileage than the current SUV's. (again I don't have hard facts for this, it's just my hunch) People's lives were much more centered around their individual towns and they were able to avoid having multiple cars in a family and driving them lengthy distances.

In short, I am all for the idea of helping protect our country. I just don't know that this is the most effective solution.

2003-01-08T13:26:00.000-06:00

Sadness

Roll Call, one of my favorite sites for political "inside" news. Is going to be a subscription only service as of Monday, January 13th. A subscription costs $199 per year...YIKES. No more roll call news for me.

2003-01-06T20:58:00.000-06:00

Clone might be a Hoax...

Does this really surprise anyone??? I mean is it really shocking that people who believe that we are descendents from ET would pull a stunt like this for media attention?

I didn't think so.

2003-01-06T08:32:00.000-06:00

Didn't you just KNOW this was going to happen?

In a familer turn of events, Sadaam is claiming that the UN inspectors are spies. Haven't we heard this song and dance before?

2003-01-06T08:31:00.000-06:00

Vacation Recap (edited)

It happens to all good things at some point or another...they end...and the end of my vacation has come. After two trips in two weeks, the time has come to work rather than play, however, I'll take just a minute to share with you the highlights of the latest chapter of The Utech's Travel Diary.

On Monday night, December 30, Jeff and I loaded up my car and headed to Chicago to begin our trek to Florida for the 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl and what we hoped would be an Iowa victory. We spent Monday night in Chicago where we shared a hotel room at the airport with our friend Chad. All three of us had to be at the airport to fly out super early on Tuesday morning, unfortunately Chad wasn't joining us in Florida, he was flying home to California, but it worked out nicely that we could spend a few hours together Monday night before heading to opposite coasts.

Tuesday morning we boarded a plane at 6:40am for Orlando. My fear of flying was ever present and the flight felt like it took forever, but eventually we landed safely in Orlando and headed out to ring in the New Year at Walt Disney World. We arrived at Disney's Beach Club at around 1:00pm, I was so excited to be there (kid you not, Disney turns me into a 7 year old...) I could hardly stand it, the hotel is magnificent any day of the year, but decorated for Christmas it was even more spectacular. While my Dad checked us into the hotel I marveled at the GIANT gingerbread carousel set up in the lobby, it stood about 8 feet high and had at least 5 carousel horses on it. It was massive, I can only imagine how long it took to create! After waiting for the bellman to bring our luggage to the room, we exchanged our winter clothes for summer clothes and headed to EPCOT to begin our New Years festivites. The rest of New Years Eve feels like it was two different days. We spent the afternoon in the park, wearing our shorts and sandals and around 6pm headed back to the room to put pants on and gussy up a little for New Years. That part feels like it was one day, the rest of the evening felt like it was a completely different day because as soon as we arrived back in the park all gussied up, it started to rain. And it didn't just sprinkle, it RAINED...5 inches. By the end of the night we had made another pilgramage back to the hotel to exchange our cute sparkely clothes for Gore-Tex jackets and running pants. We were wet to the bone. Thank goodness that the good folks at Disney were handing out New Years Hats to everyone in the parks because the plastic top hat kept my head dry for the evening. The park emptied out fairly quickly once people realized that the rain was not going to end, but we stuck it out and witnessed the laser/fireworks/fog creation that occured at Midnight.

Wednesday morning we hopped in the car and drove 4 hours south to Miami for the Orange Bowl Festivities. Wednesday night was the Hawkeye Huddle...and it was out of control. They estimated that there would be approx. 15,000 people at the Huddle and I think there was every last bit of 18,000 people there. The place was packed with people in Black and Gold and the energy was amazing. The HMB played, the parents of the team talked, the Governor was there. It was awesome. At the Huddle we were lucky to run into a bunch of friends from college who we don't get to see very often. After the rally we took our group of friends back to our hotel, where either Jeff or Scott had the brillant idea to forgo the bar scene and do something that we can't do at home....sit and drink on the Beach. So, we visited the cafe in the hotel, ordered a slew of appetizers and frozen drinks and headed out to the oceanfront. We spent the next 2 hours, catching up, laughing, and enjoying the sounds of the surf. It was a wonderful evening.

Thursday....GAME DAY! Jeff was so excited when he woke up he was wishing everyone "Happy Orange Bowl Day." We didn't do anything during the day on Thursday except lay in the sun....and that's exactly what I wanted to do. We ate breakfast, put on our swim suits and all headed to the pool. The entire group of 11 of us sat at the pool, again drinking our frozen drinks and soaking up the sun. Around 2:00pm we decided that we better start getting ready for the game. After a considerable traffic delay we finally made it to Pro-Player Stadium, found our friends and headed into the game. The rest of the evening was fairly anticlimatic. After all the anticipation, all the predictions, all the analyzing our Hawks did something no one thought they were capable of...they forgot how to play football. It was not the team that we had watched all season playing in that football team, and unfortunately, our band was overshadowed and our fans were outclassed. It was a very disappointing evening for Jeff and I. Congrats to USC...you have an outstadning football team, an incredible band and very respectful fans. It was a pleasure to play you. After the game, we decided to gather around the pool at the hotel again and drown some of our sorrows. We sat under a shelter as rain poured on us....we all griped about the game and felt better before we went to bed.

Friday forced us to take a deep breath and put our sorrows aside...it was time to go back to Disney World for a night. This time we took Dave and Sheila with us. The weather in Orlando was a little shocking, the high Friday and Saturday was in the upper 50's, we were freezing, but we spent Friday night and Saturday morning giving Dave a brief tour of my favorite place on earth before we boarded a plane and headed home again.

So here we are....all in all it was a wonderful vacation, a little disappointing (Iowa lost) and stressful (try moving 11 people in the same direction at the same time), but the bottom line is that it was time spent with people I love, most that I don't get to see very often and all of whom just make me feel happy. Another trip is a must! Here's to the Hawks...thanks for the memories of this unbelievable football season and HELLO Basketball season!

2002-12-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

When a Parent goes insane....

At the clinic I work at, I register all of our newborn babies after they are discharged from the hospital. I see a lot of strange names, but the one I got this morning takes the cake. Two parents actually named their little girl....CHARLIE ANGEL! Are they crazy? The poor kid is going to be so embarassed everytime they have to tell someone their full name for the rest of their life.

2002-12-30T09:16:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year

Since this is the last day that I work before Year End, I need to focus on work and not blogging today. But...I did want to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year! We're headed to the Orange Bowl tonight. To that all I have to say is ....ON IOWA! GO HAWKS!

Have a great New Years!

2002-12-27T13:45:00.000-06:00

New Blog Discovery

The Red Kitchen

I am always looking for new blogs to waste my time on. I found this one today and I think it's pretty cool. I haven't had a chance to dig through it, but anytime people want to take time to post their favorite recipes I presume they must know what they're talking about and these will be pretty good.

2002-12-27T11:16:00.000-06:00

Human Cloned?

A group called Clonaid is claiming that they have successfully cloned a human. The cloned human is reportedly a baby, named Eve, born in an undisclosed location (hopefully a different UNDL than the one that Dick Cheney hangs out in.) No immediate proof of the claim was available to the media, but the scientific director of Clonaid, Brigitte Boisselier, did arrange for a physicist named Michael Guillen, former science correspondent for ABC News, to independently verify the claim. To read the complete story visit CNN here.

I am not sure whether or not to believe the claim of the cloning. To me, it seems like Clonaid is made up of, for lack of a better term, a bunch of quacks. Clonaid is a division of a group known as The Raelian Movement. The Raelian Movement is basically a cult founded in 1973 on the premise that life on Earth was created by extraterrestrials. The Raelian's created Clonaid because, according to Claude Vorilhon, who founded the Raelians, the long-term goal for human cloning is to live forever. According to CNN, Vorilhon says "cloning a baby is only the first step: Eventually the group wants to learn how to clone an adult, then "transfer the brain to the clone."

Regardless of whether or not the baby is truly a human clone, I HONESTLY BELIEVE THIS IS THE MOST TERRIFYING NEWS I HAVE READ IN A LONG TIME! I am so angry I'm not sure I can form it into words.

I am 100% against human cloning. The idea that a cult who believes that we are all descendents of ET could be the first people to successfully clone a human makes me almost physically ill. I believe that there are certain things in nature that God never intended us to mess with, cloning humans is one of them. The beauty of humanity is that we are all different and that in the great "Choose Your Own Adventure Book" of life we don't know what is going to happen to us next and that we can make mistakes, get sick with diseases, and die eventually. The idea of cloning myself so that I can live forever, or so that I would be able to improve my life because I'd have "back-up" parts in the case of a medical emergency is not even remotely appealing to me and frankly frightens me for the future of humanity.

I believe that we need to stop meddling with the process of life. Science is one thing when we are using it to improve life, but when we start using it to make duplicate human beings, we have some serious problems.

2002-12-27T10:29:00.000-06:00

Christmas Recap

So here I am, I'm working my second day this week, and the second of three days that I work in a period of two weeks. So I suppose that I should spend less time blogging and more time working, but we'll see.

I did want to make a few notes about the holidays:

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas. I absolutely love this holiday, spending time with my family is always more special on Christmas and the quick trip to Chicago was fantastic! There was tons of good food, some snow, a few major announcements and happy memories made....it was everything I wanted Christmas to be. The Christmas spririt amazes me every year, the warmth I feel doing things for other people. I vow every Christmas to try to carry this spirit with me all year, I do my best, and this year will be no different.

One of the major announcements that was made is that Jeff's youngest brother asked his girlfriend to marry him. Aside of the "It's about freaking time" comments I can honestly say that Jeff and I couldn't be happier for Doug and Alberta. We first met Alberta at our wedding in March of 2001. They had recently started dating and Doug called us a few weeks before the wedding to tell us that he was bringing his new girlfriend. I have to admit, we were skeptical. Doug did not have the best track record with the girls that he brought to family events. When we met Alberta we were amazed. She was wonderful, beautiful and seemed to really care for Doug. Over the last 18 months it has been a joy for us to see their relationship mature, through their moving in together process and now their working together process. And it has been a joy to get to know Alberta herself. The Utech family is a better group of people because Alberta is going to be a member of it. It is going to be an honor to have her in our family.

The other major announcement from the holiday weekend is that my cousin Doug and his finace Michelle are pregnant. They are expecting a baby in late May/early June. And on top of that they are talking about moving up their wedding plans to this February. Yes...6 weeks from now! Doug and Michelle granted the extreme honor of Godparenting to Jeff and I. I just about fell off the couch when they asked us, I was so stunned....but I am truely honored and I am very excited for them. I know that this baby was not exactly planned by Doug and Michelle, but they are truely excited about their little one and I believe that they will be good parents.

It's going to be an exciting year for my family....it looks like on the Patterson side we'll have two weddings, a birth, two baptisms, a baby shower and at least two bridal showers. In the Utech family we'll have wedding plans and the first Anniversary of Art's 59th birthday to celebrate. For Jeff and I the year is even more exciting as we look forward to all of the events in our families and to the wedding of two of our best friends in November!

2002-12-27T09:18:00.000-06:00

FRIDAY FIVE!!!!
Friday Five is Alive! I have a lot to blog about the holidays today, but I will go ahead and start my Friday blog in traditional style with this weeks installment of the Friday Five! Enjoy!!!!

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
Wow...my biggst accomplishment, hard to choose one when there are so many to choose from!! HA! Seriously, I think my biggest accomplishment this year was the healthcare consulting work that I do. It's a broad accomplishment, but I am very proud of myself for the strides that I have made.

2. What was your biggest disappointment?
Personally, I don't have any disappointments that I can think of. It's been a good year. I'm disappointed I didn't win Powerball, but I didn't really think I was going to. If I think of anything, I will amend this post.

3. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions?
Yes. Will I be keeping them? The jury is still out.

4. Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else?
It sounds like I will be at Walt Disney World at Midnight with my husband and my family. I could think of worse places to be. But, I can also think of someplace I'd rather be....PASADENA.....

5. Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other New Year's traditions?
I don't have any formal New Year's traditions, celebrating with Friends is the extent for me. We could be starting a tradition of always celebrating the New Year at an Iowa Bowl game, since that's where we were last year and this year...but that tradition is really out of our control!

2002-12-23T16:15:00.000-06:00

A Few More Friends

It was announced today that NBC and the Cast of their wildly successful sitcom Friends have struck a deal to bring the show back for a 10th season in the fall of 2003. NBC is so desperate to keep the show on the air that this deal will cost them $10 million for each 30-minute episode, and they are going to lose money on every episode. Reportedly the cast will not get pay raises as part of the deal, currently they make $1 million each, per episode. NBC also compromised on the number of shows they will order so as to accomdate Jennifer Aniston's wishes to start a family with her husband Brad Pitt. The 10th (and final?) season will include 18 new shows, rather than the standard 22.

My question to NBC..."WHY?" Dont get me wrong, I am as big of a Friends fan as the next gal, and I will happily watch the 10th season next fall, but I am not sure that I understand the necessity for NBC to go to these extremes to keep Friends on the air. Obviously they are doing it because the show is the lifeline of their sagging "Must-See-TV" lineup, but shouldn't they be pouring a little of this money into developing a new show to replace Friends? Otherwise before you know it we'll be watching the Ross use his AARP discount at Central Perk, see Rachel at her Denture fitting and there will certainly be an episode about Chandler's need for Viagra. Seriously, if your network is in such dire straits that your only hope to win ratings is to lose money on a show, that is a problem. Friends is the number one TV show on the airwaves for a reason, it's a good show, but at some point it's going to over stay it's welcome. I hope that NBC doesn't let that happen.

2002-12-20T12:58:00.000-06:00

Lott steps down.

I just saw this article...announcing that Lott is going to step down as Majority Leader. I don't have time to expound, but I wanted to share the news.

2002-12-20T10:14:00.000-06:00

One more note about the Iowa Hawkeyes

Ok, I admit it folks. I am obsessed right now. I have been a diehard Hawk fan through the bad years, and now that we are having a successful year I think I may need to enter a 12-step program or something. The entire upper Midwest seems to have Hawk fever right now, and I have been known in the last few months to do my fair share of bitching about all of these bandwagon fans that have emerged from the woodwork...."Where were you when we sat in the cold during the 1-10 season?" I've been exclaiming all over town, "Where were you on that fine Homecoming when we finally won a Big-10 game under Kirk Ferentz?". And now "For the love of God why do you all have to pile into the Hawk Shop at one time?" (I stood in line there to buy an Orange Bowl shirt for 35 minutes last week...I seriously think the place was in violation of the occupancy fire codes!)

This morning I found this article on Hawkeye Football.com that explains at least this author's renewed passion (bandwagon) for the Hawks. I think he makes some great points about why people love this Iowa football team for example:

"Over this dreadful autumn that marked the one-year anniversary of 9/11, saw us prep for war in Iraq, saw our retirement funds turn to ether, the Hawkeyes were the right team to emerge at the right time." "...who can't like a local team that goes 11-1? Iowa's brilliant turnaround from 1-10 goat to 11-1 thoroughbred is a great story, impossible to resist, and nobody embodies that story like head coach Kirk Ferentz, who himself had to endure the goat-like indignity of following a coaching legend."

It's a great article. It's great to be in a position to have bandwagon fans (even if I bitch about it.) And as always...It's great to be a Hawk! On Iowa! Go Hawks!

2002-12-20T09:52:00.000-06:00

Blue Chip Recruits

Due to the amazing success of the Iowa football program. There are a number of high profile recruits looking at wearing the black and gold next year. If you follow the Blue Chip Diaries on ESPN.com, you'll be familiar with the fact that Chris Leak and Tom Zombrowski are both considering Iowa for their collegiate homes.

Zombrowski was here last week, and in this week's edition of his diary he summarizes his visit. From what he says, it sounds like it went extremely well, however, he does explain that he loves every place that he visits. I love the quote that he writes from Brian Ferentz, after Ferentz finally got his picture in the paper because of going to the Iowa Basketball game with Zombrowski. Ferentz said: "I'm here for two years, the coach's son and I never get my picture in the paper. You're here for one day and you've already done it." It sounds like in typical Iowa fashion (remember the "Pep Rally" we wanted to throw for Luke Recker’s campus visit??), we managed to portray ourselves as completely star struck and obnoxious. That image is not completely inaccurate however, in this state we tend to idolize the Hawkeye football players more than other states do because of our lack of professional sports teams and the fact that we have nothing better to do. I can imagine that it could scare a timid player away, but it could also attract someone in search of fame.

Either way, I can't wait to see our final recruiting class for next fall. There should be some great players in it. However, it does need to be mentioned, that the beauty of this Iowa program is that we don't need super-star recruits (not that they aren't appreciated) to be good. We believe in taking hard working kids, and teaching them to play the game and play the game very well. It's indescribable, how exciting it is to watch this program mature.

2002-12-20T09:05:00.000-06:00

I've given into the Blogosphere's pressure and I've jumped on the Weather Pixie bandwagon. Enjoy!

2002-12-20T08:27:00.000-06:00

Where there's a passion there's a site!

Ok, sometimes I have way to much time on my hands (not this week) and I run across weird websites that make me think "Who has time to program these things?" But...it just proves that if something exists, someone is passionate about it and has posted a website about it.

Here are two that I stumbled on this morning that just amaze me!
The Utah Baby Namer

Ellen Feiss Fan Site....in case you don't know who she is (as I did not) she stars in on eof the Apple "switch" ads. And people actually made a fan site dedicated to her??? For serious folks, get a job!

Anybody else stumble on crazy sites they would like to share with us? Comment away!

2002-12-20T08:01:00.000-06:00

Whew...blogger looks like it's back to normal.

Time permitting, I have some thoughts brewing in my head that I will blog about. It's just been crazy at work prepping for year end financial reports and all...

Walking Under Chandeliers

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Our BLOGS Have Moved!

You can find Walking Under Chandeliers (Katie's Blog) at http://kathleen.theutechs.com/blog/ or http://theutechs.com/kathleen/blog You can find A Stranger in a Strange Land (Jeff's Blog) at http://jeffrey.theutechs.com/blog orhttp://www.theutechs.com/jeffrey/blog/

You can find Walking Under Chandeliers (Katie's Blog) at http://kathleen.theutechs.com/blog/ or http://theutechs.com/kathleen/blog

You can find A Stranger in a Strange Land (Jeff's Blog) at http://jeffrey.theutechs.com/blog orhttp://www.theutechs.com/jeffrey/blog/