Thursday, July 19, 2007
Devera's New "Butterfly"
Here's Devera's first pet...meet Butterfly the beta fish. We told her she could get a fish tank and pick out a fish when she was out of diapers. We'll, it must have motivated her because after just a week I think we are done (except at night, I think that comes later). She's gone a week without an accident now so I think we are good. Anyway, she was super fired up to go pick out a fish. She named her Butterfly, which makes sense when you see the picture above. Since I've had aquariums all my life I think it would be pretty cool if she liked fish....but who knows. Right now she's just excited to feed it in the morning.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Kind of a Boring Weekend but for a Good Cause
We didn't do too much this weekend, a walk down to the candy store, a birthday party for one of Devera's classmates, and a bunch of playing inside the house. All for a good cause though - - Toby and I were both recovering from colds, so neither of us had any energy. We also used this weekend to potty-train Devera. Her school is trying to do all the kids at the same time so we decided we would spend the weekend doing it. To our surprise, Devera is all over it, no accidents all weekend so we think we are just about there. It's kind of cute, she's super proud of herself. I can't believe that my time changing diapers is about to end!
So that's definitely more than you wanted to hear about that I'm sure. On to some fun stuff - - new 3-day Ebay auction starting Monday and ending Thursday morning. Also, another On-Site Auction just for you guys that check in on my site from time to time.
Happy Monday!
So that's definitely more than you wanted to hear about that I'm sure. On to some fun stuff - - new 3-day Ebay auction starting Monday and ending Thursday morning. Also, another On-Site Auction just for you guys that check in on my site from time to time.
Happy Monday!
Monday, July 09, 2007
How Strange is This?
I got into work today and the CEO of my company wrote an email to everyone (and it's a big company across multiple locations in the US and other countries) that said he'd pay for anyone to go see the movie Sicko...how weird is that? I guess people are pretty moved by it. Anyway, what are the odds?
Sunday, July 08, 2007
New Movie Review: Sicko
The last Michael Moore movie was just ok, alittle over the top but generally kind of funny. His new movie, Sicko, is about the health care industry. I have to admit I had low expectations going in, but it was fantastic. As usual, he's a little loose with the facts, and it's pretty one-sided. However, his main push that everyone should have health care in the U.S. seems pretty reasonable. A couple points that I thought were worth repeating if you are interested. The first is that we are the only first-world top industrialized country that doesn't provide it's citizens with free health care. The second thing that was a good point is that we have already socialized some of the other important things, mainly our fire departments, police departments, and education through high school. Here's how it works, even if you don't have a child that is going to go to school, or who's house never ends up burning down, you still have to pay taxes that go for these services. Like most people, I don't have a problem doing that. See, I kind of feel like a somewhat reasonable person - - I'll easily forgo a little extra personal spending so that everyone, not just me and my family, can have health care. Somewhere along the way we as a society have forgotten that our neighbors and neighborhood are also important too....not just us. This is where I always appreciated how my Dad would try to help others, even if there was nothing in it for him. So why don't we demand health care for everyone? How frustrating is it that you can get better health care in Cuba than in the United States. The problem is that everyone thinks they are covered by their HMO but those that actually have to use it for life threatening diseases end up getting the run around. I do know one thing, this coming election I will be looking at all of the candidates and will weight their answer to health care higher than the rest. And I will make this promise, the first one that says there is not a problem or that it requires only minor adjustments to the current system or that not everyone deserves health care is not going to get my vote. Because I do my best to make sure my actions reflect the things I really care about. So here's my idea - - a compromise for the Republicans and Democrats - - universal health care for everyone (Democrats will love that) and HMOs can then try to convince people that they provide better health care than the government and people can pay extra for those companies (Republicans would love this). There - it's a little more complicated than that of course but that's the general idea.
The end of the movie was awesome. Michael Moore finds out that an Anti-Michael Moore website has said it will have to shut down because the guy's wife is really sick and he can't pay for the medical bills unless he gets a different job to pay for them. Michael Moore actually sent in an anonomous payment of $12,000 to the man so that his wife could get the treatment she needed and he could keep writing is anti-Michael Moore retoric. He said health care shouldn't stop people from exercising their freedom of speech, even if it was negatively directed at him. Yes, he did it to make a point I'm sure - - but I still thought it was pretty cool that he could put aside his differences and help someone else. It was a nice touch.
So enough ranting about how we are so selfish that we can't even take care of old and sick people - - go see the movie and see what you think. Hopefully it will at least raise awareness about the issue. And go do something about it - - at minimum vote for the people that share your beliefs.
One last thing - I'd be interested to hear if anyone else saw the movie and if they liked it or not. Feel free to disagree, any comments welcome. If you have and want to post your comments below, I'll send the first person who does it a free bead (a focal and a couple accent beads). All you have to do is make some reference to the movie so that I know you actually saw it.
Have a great Monday everyone!
The end of the movie was awesome. Michael Moore finds out that an Anti-Michael Moore website has said it will have to shut down because the guy's wife is really sick and he can't pay for the medical bills unless he gets a different job to pay for them. Michael Moore actually sent in an anonomous payment of $12,000 to the man so that his wife could get the treatment she needed and he could keep writing is anti-Michael Moore retoric. He said health care shouldn't stop people from exercising their freedom of speech, even if it was negatively directed at him. Yes, he did it to make a point I'm sure - - but I still thought it was pretty cool that he could put aside his differences and help someone else. It was a nice touch.
So enough ranting about how we are so selfish that we can't even take care of old and sick people - - go see the movie and see what you think. Hopefully it will at least raise awareness about the issue. And go do something about it - - at minimum vote for the people that share your beliefs.
One last thing - I'd be interested to hear if anyone else saw the movie and if they liked it or not. Feel free to disagree, any comments welcome. If you have and want to post your comments below, I'll send the first person who does it a free bead (a focal and a couple accent beads). All you have to do is make some reference to the movie so that I know you actually saw it.
Have a great Monday everyone!
Monday, July 02, 2007
Check Out This Flower...
Aren't these flowers crazy? They are called Passion Flowers and they grow on a tall vine. We've had the plant for about 4 years and it hasn't bloomed until this year. I think they take a few years to get established before they can generate enough energy to create these enormous blooms. They're as big as my palm! The colors are awesome, I should probably make a set of beads in these colors. I'm working in some different colors this week but maybe next week if I remember.