Support Ron Paul!

I present this gem from a recent letter to the editor in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

“[Ron Paul] has five more delegates than rambunctious Rudy”.

Which would make 6 total delegates for Ron Paul to Rudy Giuliani's 1, and 6 total delegates against Giuliani's 2 at the time of Giuliani's withdrawal from the Republican primary.

Hee.

Apparently, I'm a Crazed Former Television Sidekick

According to this quiz:

Which Character on The Simpsons Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

Musings

One : Hockey on Versus sucks. West scored on East within the first 30 seconds of the game's start because Rick DiPietro, who graciously agreed to allow Versus to wire him with a microphone, was distracted by questions and forgot that he was supposed to be tending goal.

Two: Am I the only person who thinks the Whopper Freakout commercials reveal more about how violently self-entitled some of the “victims” are as opposed to the popularity of the sandwich?

Three: The Pittsburgh Penguins will be opening the 2008/2009 season against the Ottawa Senators in Stockholm, Sweden. J and I are still debating on whether to go to Munich for Oktoberfest, which conveniently ends on October 5th, one of the two days the Penguins are playing in Stockholm. I'm trying to convince J that a couple of days in Munich and a Penguins/Ottawa game would be an excellent vacation.

Four: What is it about male nude sculptures, that every single blessed last one of them in the Carnegie Museum of Art has a fig leaf covering their genitals? There were two exceptions, but both pieces had lost their penis at some point. I asked J, as representative of men everywhere, if seeing a full set (so to speak) would make him feel inferior.

J rolled his eyes.

I Don't Know Why...

... I love this story, but I do.

In England, a farmer built a mock-Tudor castle, complete with turrets and a cannon. And concealed the structure with hay bales for four years to get around a zoning law which restricted the land to agricultural use.

It is the little details, such as the couple keeping their son from attending school on the day he was supposed to draw a picture of his house, for fear that he would draw a building made of hay, that capture my imagination.

How did this couple, with their young children, manage to keep a secret for so many years? How did they receive mail or packages? How did they keep friends or family members from dropping by? What address did they use to do such things are file their taxes? The logistics are astonishing.

I can't help but admire the couple for trying to do an end run around the zoning laws to build such a complicated and large structure. I mourn a little bit that they will have to tear it down.

Change of Pace

Vosges Mo Bacon Bar. Chocolate with pieces of Applewood smoked bacon.

A most interesting taste experience. My tongue loved it. The rest of me could not quite accept the combination of chocolate and bacon at the same time. Half of the candy bar is sitting in the cupboard, waiting for another trial.

Crap

Heath Ledger has died, at the ripe old age of 28.

For some reason, this one hurts.

Health - Part I

I've had some time over the past several days to meditate on what it would be like to be genuinely poor, sick and missing even one of the resources I have available in order to obtain medical treatment. I have not experienced an epiphany during my mediations, just a re-realization of how difficult the health care system can be to navigate.

My first appointment was scheduled for 1:45 PM on a weekday afternoon. I have at least two follow-up appointments, also on weekday afternoons during working hours. In total I will be missing around 8 hours of work over a two week period, just to see my doctor.

I am not a salaried employee. I work for an hourly wage and taking time out of my required 40 hours is an inconvenience. However, I have options. I can take half a sick day or work longer on other days to make up the time. I can also elect to work fewer hours as my wage is high enough to offset the missing time in my paycheck. I will still be able to meet my bills.

My doctor works out of a clinic in a lower income neighborhood located outside the Pittsburgh city limits. She came highly recommended and makes seeing a physician a pleasant experience. She spends the first twenty minutes of every exam just talking. She is also half an hour away, no matter which form of transportation I elect to take, whether it is a bus, my car or a cab.

If I take the bus, I have to spend time studying the schedules, hope it shows up on time, hope that I don't arrive too early, hope that I don't wait too long, hope that I calculated correctly to miss the minimum amount of work. If I drive, I have to add in the cost of paying to park. If I take a cab, I have to calculate the cost of the trip. With any of these options I lose – either time or money. But it is my choice to make.

In addition to the prescriptions and the previously anticipated shoulder x-ray, my doctor order a chest x-ray, a blood draw and a TB test. More time spent, trying to get to a lab to get the blood work done, trying to find a location with decent hours to get the x-rays completed. Calculating how late I can arrive at work, how early can I leave, when can I make up those hours?

Filling prescriptions. First I am told that my doctor would have to call and authorize my allergy/asthma drug as “medically necessary”. Twenty-four hours later, via a phone call by the pharmacist, I am told that the doctor will have to file paperwork stating I have a formal diagnosis of allergies/asthma before the company will pay for the medication. Which will take at least two weeks, probably longer. If I want to start it right away I am going to need to ask my doctor for samples. Which means going across town again. For a medication that was unrestricted the last time I had the prescription filled.

What if I worked at a lower pay rate? What if my boss was not as sympathetic or flexible? What if the only option I had was the bus? What if I did not have a choice of doctor? Or labs? Or hospitals? Or pharmacy? What if I did not have enough money to pay for all those office visits? What would I do then?

Dreadful Things to Come

My shoulder, the left one, the one that I did not abuse by hanging 25 pounds of textbooks off of all the way through high school and college, appears to be falling apart. It hurts when I sleep on it. It hurts to wrap a towel around me. It hurts when I swim. It hurts when I gesture.

I have an appointment with my GP on Thursday for a checkup. Partially to beg for drug renewals – Imitrex, Serevent and whatever prescription allergy medication my insurance will allow me to purchase which will not make me sleepy. Partially to have my skin checked, as I am a fair creature who burns easily and sport one scar from the removal of a melanoma on my arm. And partially to receive confirmation that my left shoulder will have to submit to the rigors of an x-ray, an MRI and a surgeon's knife in the near future.

I know I should have seen someone when it started acting up over a year ago. Over a year ago being the the fall of 2006. But I put it off. Because I knew that there would be x-rays and MRI's and a surgeon. And surgeons mean needles, needles to draw blood, needles to inject medication, needles placed temporarily under my skin into a vein to pump drugs and saline through my body.

I hate needles. Really hate needles. Hate enough that I refuse to give blood. Enough that, at the age of 16, I threw a tantrum when I was forced to return to the hospital so the tech could draw more blood to test for what turned out to be strep pneumonia. Enough that I waited a year longer than any sane person to see a doctor about my aching shoulder.

It does not help that I have come close to passing out multiple times. Or that the last time I had blood drawn my arm turned black and blue from my wrist to my elbow. Or that J has the same phobia but has managed to conquer it enough to give blood. I take comfort in the fact that he is a universal donor, so if I'm desperate he will provide.

You might think it was because I spent a fair amount of time in hospitals when I was a child. I had typical childhood ailments – removal of my tonsils, polyps removed from my adenoids (twice), tubes placed in my ears (three times). Except that I remember each of those trips and as far back as my memory can recall, I was all ready asleep when they inserted the I.V.

This time I will be awake and not sedated. Not a good combination.

Tell Me Again...

How good the people of Afghanistan have it now?

Because banning male tailors from measuring woman and calling for the return of public executions does not sound all that progressive.

Neither is naming a man acting police chief, but withholding the rank, authority, ammunition and money necessary to do the job properly.

As a contrast, this article and video on the return of big wedding celebrations, banned under the reign of the Taliban.

A List of Things that are Going to Make my Head Explode

Any more comments bashing the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates on the following qualities:

1. Gender
2. Race
3. Looks
4. Lack of or Excessive Display of Emotions
5. Age
6. Type of Laugh

I think I may need to take a break from following the primaries. I'm interested because I sincerely believe that there is an abundance of goodness this time around, but the last week has made me long for the days I could, in good conscience, put my fingers in my ears and bury my head in the sand.

The NHL Winter Classic

I had a well organized, interesting post planned on our recent adventures in Toronto and Buffalo. Then I came down with the flu, courtesy of our one of our fellow travelers.

A Summary

• The Hockey Hall of Fame – in which fans are permitted to kiss the Stanley Cup if they so desire and Bob Johnson's ring resides in the vault with the pieces of the old cup. Coolest statue was a giant bronze of this classic Ken Dryden pose.

• Dinner at Fran's Bistro – Funky, comforting home cooking. Excellent 5 cheese macaroni and cheese, adult shakes spiked with your liquor of choice and chili made with carrots.

• World's Biggest Bookstore – Huge. Located inside a fire engine red building on Edward Street. I walked out much poorer from the visit with every intention of returning again, with several hundred Canadian dollars in my pockets. Has everything plus some things I did not know I wanted and carries British publishers.
  
• The Steam Whistle Brewery & The Distillery – The brewery reminded me of Rolling Rock. The distillery was defunct, but the old buildings were amazing.

• The Border Crossing – In which our party demonstrates that the easiest way to distract a U.S. Custom's Agent is to mention that you are attending a major sporting event in the area, thus provoking the guard to ask “Really? How did you get tickets?” instead of the routine litany of questions.
• Wings at the Anchor Bar – A Buffalo institution and the home of the hot wing. The mild wing sauce was excellent.
• The Game – Seventy-one thousand plus screaming fans. Thirty degrees and snowing. It seemed as if sixty thousand of them were cheering for the Sabres. My first experience in hostile territory. The Capitals do not count as the Verizon Center is Mellon Arena southeast.

• The Win – In which Sidney, “...is a girl's name” Crosby manages to close the mouths and empty the stadium of sixty thousand Sabres fans by scoring the winning goal in a shootout.
• Lake Effect Snow – Seven hours from Buffalo to Pittsburgh. Six hours spent on unplowed, unsalted roads.
• The Flu – Inevitable.