07.29.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:40 am by livefood
It’s a sad day when you are so afraid of the word “no” that you have to do everything yourself.
Why is it that folks can’t ask for help?
I suppose that sometimes it’s because you are in situation you just simply don’t want anyone else to know about…that must be “special.” But I think that a fair number of folks are just too afraid of having the person they are asking say “no” to the request…whatever the request might be.
My Dad’s that way. He says that everyone is too busy or that he doesn’t want to bother them…but I think he’s just uncomfortable asking and maybe…just maybe (but probably not) hearing “no.”
Of course, he might need to ask for a ride somewhere and the person could tell him that they can’t at the time because they have another something-or-another to do…but he will here “no” and no amount of reasoning will make it less painful.
He takes “no” personally.
I have a friend who tends to take on huge projects by himself and can’t ask for help…becomes overwhelmed…wears himself (and his family) out to the point of exhaustion…afterwards going into seclusion and along the way alienates just enough folks who wanted to help and volunteered to help, that there is some avoidance (and lost opportunities)…all because his self esteem is just low enough that he can’t take that “no” any other way except personally…as if he’s a bad person for needing help.
I have learned that I need to ask for help…early and often…I can’t do it all myself. When I approach a situation where it’s a bit uncomfortable to ask for the help I just slip on the big boy panties and ask. “No” is easier to take (assuming that you don’t get a “yes” on the first quest) than the alienation and perhaps project failure.
What if the answer is “yes?” Ya know…it could be…but you have to ask.
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07.28.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:23 am by livefood
Wehn you read articles like this and the examples of horrific practices like it outlines, it’s no wonder that healthcare reform is in order and many MANY people are pushing for reform…
…and while I might pound my little fist on the desktop (I mean really, who listens to me anyway)…I still don’t want Congress to rush into a bad bill and create bad policy and not address the real problems of the healthcare industry.
A couple of issues that continue to haunt me, and I suspect that going forward any plan that doesn’t address the issues will struggle. First tort laws need to be consttucted to allow reasonable settlements but give physicians some assurrances that they can practice medicine and not practice courtroom testimony. Second, a definition of “affordable” should be discussed before the plan gets too far down the track…what’s affordable to some is unimaginably expenses for others.
My younger friend who thought affordable was 5% of the wage might be on the right track, but with an $8M bonus year, the $400K healthcare tab might be a tad bit high for “affordable.”
Earlier, a poster in a blog wrote that affordable was $150 for a family of four and should cover EVERYTHING…mental, dental, vision, major, and on and on. The writer wasn’t kidding either…EVERYTHING.
Someone has got to work on the definition…how can you write a bill and not know that definition.
Of course, when you have the “Cadillac” of healthcare as a legislator…it’s a bit like wearing sunglasses at night as you look at other’s situations…really don’t see anything that well with those glasses on.
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07.27.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:34 pm by livefood
What an interesting weekend…Ricky Henderson was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame. Watching the commentary on a local station brough back a lot of great memories of watching him play…or play with the visiting team. What a ball guy. Man could that dude launch into a base steal…launched on one end and diving on the other. Just fun to watch.
…The Brickyard 400 was run…I think it would be more interesting if they repaved the road surface with bricks…or better yet, cobblestones. If the drivers could only qualify with the medical proof that they had an extremely small bladder perhaps (or maybe not)…we could have the basis for a new “reality show.” They could build “mini pits” at a number of locations around the track and equip them with porta potties. Sponsors could put their branding all of the stalls…maybe paint them to look like the cars they sponsor…hey, put wheels on the pottapots…even could have a pre-race exhibition (not exhibitionist) race of the pots…not race TO the pots…OF the pots. You could get some wild and crazy toga wearing fraternity nerds to push the pots around the track (cobbles and all)…for the grand prize of a glass of milk (or a jar of shine…hey it’s NASCAR)…just don’t let the pots dribble on the bricks of the finish line…the drivers all kiss that.
One thing I liked about hearing Ricky talk and others talk about him…he didn’t step onto the field “to do his best”…he stepped on the field to win. What an uncommon notion…our Congress (and here in CA, our legislature) could improve their performance if they cared less about face time with the camera and the way they looked…going beyond just doing a good job…but went to work every day to “win” for their constituents…as it is, they just seem content to play the game well. Playing the game well is not good enough…got to be in it to win it.
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07.24.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:43 am by livefood
Closing in on 200 posts. Sometime towards the end of August I’m going to post my 200th blog posting…some sort of feat for me…I didn’t think I’d see 100. I thought I might run out of things to talk about. But the Universe continue to churn and I see crazy stuff that irks me all the time.
Running out of things to talk about just can’t happen. Jerry Seinfeld made a great show out of talking about nothing. Now that show was funny.
Somehow I still believe that the Seinfelf show would kick the butt of the “real housecreep” series…do folks really like to sit and watch people get set up so that they can yell at each other? I’m telling ya, society just doesn’t need another screemy show. It’s killing us. We’re starting to call them “reality shows” ha ha ha.
Reality…like the one commercial says…when the average woman in the US wears at 14-16 dress and the average “reality show” actress (and we should use the term actress rather loosly…most of them are…rather loose) wears a size 2…where’s the reality in that?
So what do we watch instead…a show about fluffy boys and girls hooking up…
Reality is watching Congress pace nervously back and forth, unable to come to grips with the healthcare reform bill…I think we want them to do their job and then worry about the elections in Novembers to come…focus please. If you don’t…I’m sure you will be remembered on a cold and wet November Tuesday in something other than the brightest of terms…we’ll come together and throw the bums out.
But I still like watching them squirm like the worms they are.
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07.22.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:56 pm by livefood
I once attended a planning commission meeting where one of the commissioners went on and on with the bla bla bla, asking questions about details regarding the issue before them. Finally, after about 45 minutes of his blathering, one of his fellow commissioners leaned into the microphone and said, “John, that’s answered pretty clearing in the staff report.” John (and this is not his real name) then said, “Oh, I didn’t read the report.”
I was taken back by the public admission that he did read the report. As I looked back at his other meetings and long winded baloney, I suspect he didn’t read many of the reports.
I also suspect that the new healthcare programs being tossed back and forth in Congress will not be read by many of the Congress, mend and women.
The public dis not served well when the servants who really REALLY wanted the job…when they don’t fully DO the job by not reading the bills before they vote on them. Rushing the healthcare bill through the system, like the stimulicious money package…well that’s not working all that well either.
But if you like the stimulicious package you’re sure to like the healtcare package…and it might be a hybrid between the Canadian model and the Massachusetts program…both don’t work well and one (the MA one) is threatening to drive the state in a California-like poorhouse.
While I do want to see some movement on the healtcare issues, I also think that I would like to let the congress folks have enough time to at least (AT LEAST) read the bill before they decide to vote one way or another…I say “at least” because I would also like them to ask enough quesitons of enough people that they UNDERSTAND what they are reading and voting on.
Is this to much to ask? Really they craved the job and now don’t want to leave it…can’t we expect them to do it?
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07.21.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:42 pm by livefood
Ripley’s could note have scripted anything better…just odd…
…and the lesson is to not over-indulge in alcohol or not to fall asleep, one or the other, I’ll have ponder that oer a drink…but I don’t drink…oh great, does that mean I can’t sleep now?…
speaking of odd…Joe Jackson claims he never abused Michael or the others. Also claims he is not separated from his wife (which might be true from a technical standpoint)…and that he didn’t make any mistakes bringing up the kids (a claim any other mere mortal parent can’t make).
Lance is number two in the French Bike Extravaganza…but a fine number two he is. All great number ones have a fabulous number two…Lance can ride with me anytime…but my tricycle still has training wheels.
Really proud of the folks in Hailey, ID…not talking to the media about their kid in Afghanistan…captured by the Taliban. I know the media wants to sink their teeth into the story, but if the family wants to keep this internal that should be a hint for the rest of us…but our thoughts and prayers are still in order.
There are plenty of stories for the news folks…Big Joe for one…Octomom is another…Sarah Babe Palin is good for laughs…the poor Bolivian drunk.
Tomorrow is a huge day in the eclipse followers lives…perhaps the longest shadow path of the century.
Maybe the darkened skies will trick Mr. Jackson into speaking truthfully…at least to the mirror.
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07.20.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:26 pm by livefood
We’ll be departing for our annual trip to Montana…soon, but never soon enough. I’ll be sitting in a little cabin next to a lake. I don’t care if it’s pouring down rain and lightening and thunder are flashing and blasting all over the sky…it’s going to be a wonderful trip. It always it. Cold, hot, windy or rain…it could be just perfect weather and none of that really matters…it’s just a great place we like to go to. We think about it all year and plan for the trip for a couple of months…now it’s down to the wire…change the oil in the truck time…pack the totes with stuff…check the totes for the staples. Load it up and leave…and don’t forget the puppy.
I should let the dog drive. She knows the way. This will be her fourth trip. The squirrel and the chipmunks are cowering…the bear might not be. Montana (the dog) is big on barking at the bears, but they’re not so keen on the game. With any luck we won’t see any bears this year…let’s stick with the squirrel sized critters.
So as I sit here taking a short break from “real work” to type a bit, I’m thinking of Montana (the location) as Montana (the dog) is napping. We’re almost ready to go.
Once upon a time when we would go up to the cabin, we would not be connected to the outside world very well and often would come back to reality and a whole new “world order”…but now we stay fairly connected with the cellular technology. I’m not sure that I didn’t like the “old days” without all the connections…but I don’t think I want to go back either. The technology is a mixed blessing.
That “old days” was also a time when you picked your vegetables from the grocery store on the day they were delivered or the selection was pretty grim…and you never saw a Kiwi…now, the same sorts of technology that gives us connections gives us other things too…like being able to use the ATM in the middle of no-where, a place that Kiwis have finally come of age.
In some strange way, cell phones and Kiwi’s seem to be bundled in a plan.
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07.17.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:14 pm by livefood
You might have missed this very important bit of International news. Jeff Goldburg write in his blog posted in The Atlantic, that this gum is from the 1997 era…of course that would make sense…to someone…I guess.
He asks at the end of his post for someone who might have information, to let him know if it comes in a sugar less variety. Jeff…are you kidding me? If this gum works…let me know if it’s sugarless or pure sugare…and really…if it has pictures of the hot chick from Pokeehauntus…well shuckee darn, I’m all over that for sure.
But I have to agree with Mr. Jeff that the Israeli army really needs to come up with something better…well maybe at least keep the secret a tad bit better…they might have blown a huge opportunity for an income stream that could have funded the army for decades…I mean now everybody will be wanting the gum and big pharmas will be reverse engineering it…the patent offices will be inundated with new variations and for men too…people all over the world will be working on making babies while at the same time chewing gum (and some will fail at the multitasking and have to put the gum down for a bit). People are going to be so busy gumming together that nobody is going to go to work.
You think we’re in a bit of a recession now? If this stuff hits the market soon…well we could be in a depression within a month. Nobody will be working except the dentists who might be late jumping on this bandwagon…unlike the Christmas/Valentines Day, Easter and Halloween…all of those sugar fix days that dentists probably fund.
Who knew that your local dentist was converting his office to family planning centers because of a simple stick of gum.
How the Universe turns.
I’m just amazed.
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07.16.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:12 pm by livefood
Banks don’t screw up that often when you think about the numbers of transactions that they process on a daily, hourly or by the minute basis. But apparently when they screw it up they don’t hold back.
Glitch hits Visa users with more than $23 quadrillion charge
I laughed when I saw this and laughed more when I shared it. The number is so big I had to think about it as I read it…quadrillion, trillion, billion, million, thousands and then just plain old money in hundreds…of course then you get down to my type of money…the fives, tens and occassional twenty.
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07.15.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:22 pm by livefood
Hmmmm…I picked this up on Histalk. It’s a blog about what is happening in Healthcare across the nation. The owner/author is not fond of high priced “C Level” folks…it show in this bit…
“Hospitals in New York State have readmission rates that are much worse than average. The local hospital association (trade group) blames poverty, but didn’t offer an explanation of why Harlem Hospital Center excels and IT-loaded and $3 million CEO-led Montefiore Medical Center lagged.(I noticed while snooping around Montefiore’s federal records that even its chairman of dentistry makes $1.7 million a year, which seems absurd).”
…and you wonder why Healthcare is expensive. Geeze…1.7M
On a few blogs there was some banter about lowering healtcare costs by forcing pharma to bring product to market faster and for the Feds to allow it…and to develop proceedures faster or let the Drs. perform more proceedures like in Europe and Asia.
These ideas might work IF the liablilty for the deaths and “other” issues could be taken care of. I would hate to be the firm that brought something new to the market quickly and then something went wrong and the law suit folks came to town (or went to town). Heck in today’s litigeous society, the drug or proceedure won’t even have to do any physical harm…frivilous is easy to get around…just the discomfort of how your friends and neighbors might look at you could create grounds to suit a pharma company or a unfortunate Doctor. Tort has to be addressed.
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