2011
Thursday, January 13
One Night in Bangkok
Chorus to the tune of "One Night in Bangkok"
Regarding table tennis tournaments...
One tournament at Weslyean makes a Ponger humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One Tourney in Houston and the best choppers stumble
Can't be too careful, don't make your serves too spinny
Or you will feel the loop kill blowing right past ye
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Cyclocross mornin'
2011
Saturday, January 8
Cyclocross mornin'
One hour on the bike trainer this morning. Then Bob's Red Mill gluten free Hot cereal. If you know anything about cyclocross then you know...
Thanks
Last week, the day before our oldest was to leave to go back to college we were getting ready to have a special family meal. We often do special meals for birthdays or occasions (graduations, etc) and either go out to eat or have something really good (i.e. expensive) at home. This time we were having boiled snow crab legs and shrimp-something Matt and others (except Sarah) really like.
Anyway things were the usual around here, so after we all sat down I said, "We are going to do something different today. Instead of praying and thanking God for the food, we are going to complain to Him. Then when we are done doing that we will eat and be thankful the rest of the day." I received a few "say what?" looks.
But wouldn't God prefer that we are ungrateful to Him for 5 minutes each day then grateful to those around us the other 23 hours and 55 minutes?
When I said this the kids all looked at me weird. Maybe Barb did to. I did not end up offering a prayer of grumbling to God. But maybe I should have. How can we complain every waking moment, then thank God for our food three times a day. Often both before and after the prayer I hear "You KNOW I don't like beans (or this or that)."
What is this source of ungratefulness? Generally I believe I am grateful. Maybe I am blind to my ungratefulness. My wife also is usually grateful-well except with certain cyclical exceptions.
This may be my last post on this blog. Mainly due to a change in emails and an inability to shift this over to my mail gmail account. The "new" blog is called "and counting" and a link will be posted on my facebook info page.
Anyway things were the usual around here, so after we all sat down I said, "We are going to do something different today. Instead of praying and thanking God for the food, we are going to complain to Him. Then when we are done doing that we will eat and be thankful the rest of the day." I received a few "say what?" looks.
But wouldn't God prefer that we are ungrateful to Him for 5 minutes each day then grateful to those around us the other 23 hours and 55 minutes?
When I said this the kids all looked at me weird. Maybe Barb did to. I did not end up offering a prayer of grumbling to God. But maybe I should have. How can we complain every waking moment, then thank God for our food three times a day. Often both before and after the prayer I hear "You KNOW I don't like beans (or this or that)."
What is this source of ungratefulness? Generally I believe I am grateful. Maybe I am blind to my ungratefulness. My wife also is usually grateful-well except with certain cyclical exceptions.
This may be my last post on this blog. Mainly due to a change in emails and an inability to shift this over to my mail gmail account. The "new" blog is called "and counting" and a link will be posted on my facebook info page.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Adoption and Trauma
2011
Thursday, January 6
We worked really hard to adopt. However parenting skills appear to be totally lacking. Almost all the kids are unhappy, frustrated, rude, and totally self focused. Maybe the accident was what we had to have before we went any further?
Teeth and running
2010
Tuesday, October 12
Between brushing my teeth and getting in a run each day I am torn. Both seem necessary in some fundamental way.
just one a day?
Just one run or bike or something. Too much to ask? That is less often than I brush my teeth.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Health Care
Lots of talk about health care these days. Large numbers of the US population hate the new laws relating to health care. Others think the new laws are too little and not comprehensive enough. What both "sides" do not seem to understand is that we already have a hybrid system.
Medicaid/medicare/CHIP/etc. already make it a non-free market system. Prices are set and this affects everything-how much private pay is charged, how much insurances are charged, etc. Do not think for a second we have a free market. Additionally the US policies of the mid 20th century led to employer based insurance. Not a free insurance market. I pretty much "have to" buy my employers choices. These choices are based on what is financially best first for an insurance company and secondly what is best for the company/employer. The least and last consideration is often the one who buys the policy-even when the employer "pays" the insurance, they do it in exchange for your employment. So free market is not even close to describing our system. Its partial government mandates combined with government restraint.
So do we have a true "one payer system"? Of course not-there is money to be made-and not on delivering health care-but in administration and denial as such. Obviously many are denied care/coverage for treatable diseases and injury. Also many receive therapy that has no basis in medical literature or poor underlying information or outright quackery.
I am not sure what will be the best system. I am sure that this hybrid monster is not the best solution. A true free market system would be politically impossible. Complete one payer system in the US would be worse than Canada and the UK by several orders of magnitude for reasons that I do not want to get into now but primarily have to do with our lifestyle choices and our lack of accountability or responsibility. Answer-more flailing-and keep everybody unhappy.
Medicaid/medicare/CHIP/etc. already make it a non-free market system. Prices are set and this affects everything-how much private pay is charged, how much insurances are charged, etc. Do not think for a second we have a free market. Additionally the US policies of the mid 20th century led to employer based insurance. Not a free insurance market. I pretty much "have to" buy my employers choices. These choices are based on what is financially best first for an insurance company and secondly what is best for the company/employer. The least and last consideration is often the one who buys the policy-even when the employer "pays" the insurance, they do it in exchange for your employment. So free market is not even close to describing our system. Its partial government mandates combined with government restraint.
So do we have a true "one payer system"? Of course not-there is money to be made-and not on delivering health care-but in administration and denial as such. Obviously many are denied care/coverage for treatable diseases and injury. Also many receive therapy that has no basis in medical literature or poor underlying information or outright quackery.
I am not sure what will be the best system. I am sure that this hybrid monster is not the best solution. A true free market system would be politically impossible. Complete one payer system in the US would be worse than Canada and the UK by several orders of magnitude for reasons that I do not want to get into now but primarily have to do with our lifestyle choices and our lack of accountability or responsibility. Answer-more flailing-and keep everybody unhappy.
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