New Layout

Check it out a new layout. Clicking on the "customize template" button at 10:30 on Sunday night is not a good idea. Now I have to figure out how to get my Google search bar back. Hey how 'bout some Rocky colors.

Wood Cutting Party

By golly when my Mom's neighbor throws a wood cutting party she throws a wood cutting party. There was 5 or six chain saws and two trucks running pretty steady for 7 or 8 hours. I only caught the last 5 hours or so, but all told there was about 19 loads and there is still more left. Unfortunately I don't use wood, but my mom does so I was glad to help out. Happy Birthday Mom.

Note: I really don't know if you should call that a party or not. I also had an epiphany there: You really shouldn't bring an axe to a wood cutting party where everyone has chain saws.

The Red Suks

Well if you saw game 7 you know that I am now rooting for the Rockies to win the World Series. And I swear that if Bill Simmons, "the sports guy" writes one thing about the red sox come back from 3-1 I'll quit reading my ESPN the magazine. Seriously. I hope the Rockies get up 3-0 and there is all kind of media about how they have come back from 3-0 and 3-1 deficits in a 7 game series and then the lose the fourth game.

Is it just me or are the Red Sox over taking the Yankees as the most hated franchise in Sports. I mean the only way a franchise from that area can win is either trade away all their youth, buy players or cheat. I hope the Sox get Swept. IT'S ROCKY TIME NOW!

I guess I can let Peach out of her room now... unless it will help the Rockies....

Shout Box

I'm going to add the shout box to my blog. It should appear on the left hand side. You might have to scroll down a little to see it, but go ahead and give me a little shout out. I saw it on the 60minuteartist blog and thought it was a must have. But if you think it is really cool go ahead and give one of the old adds the clickety click click.

Game 7

OK it's 3-1 Red Sox but Peach has been put in her room for the night and she is OFFICIALLY in time out until the end of the game. Even if she fell asleep early it is still time out.

Universal Health Care

It really sounds like a great idea on the surface, "everyone can go to the Dr. whenever they want and they'll get treated and not have to pay anything." Which would be great except someone has to pay for it at some point, meaning tax payers. Now if you don't pay taxes or just enjoy the heck out of paying taxes then this poses no problems. But of the proposals brought forth by the presidential candidates on this issue the most conservative of estimates is $90 billion dollars. Now divide that by 300 million people and the average cost is $300 dollars per person. Hey that doesn't sound so bad, but kids can't pay for that, people already on gov't assistant aren't going to pay, and seniors won't pay because they already have medicare. So let's say half of the people will foot the bill, then the cost only goes up to $600. Well that's still not that bad especially if you can drop your family coverage at work.

Let's look at a socialistic system that is already in place in the UK. The UK's system is one of the most nationalistic available, meaning that everyone in the general population can go to a state run hospital and see a state sponsored physician at no additional costs than what they pay in taxes. The annual costs in 2000 was 104 billion pounds which would convert roughly (and I mean very roughly considering the dollar's current weak position) to US$147 billion. OK so that is a little more than $90 billion but still less than double so that would be like $980 per person. Well that isn't that great, but if you were spending over $100 /month in premiums then it would still be better than $1200 per year. But wait the UK only services 60 million people not 300 million so you need to multiply that number by 5 to get a closer approximation to what the service would cost in the US, $4900. What?!? Yeah that is a little bit of sticker shock but probably more closely approximates what the actual cost would be to individuals here in the US. Plus the US would have to set up an entire infastructure to support and track the new system, which would take some additional up front money. The US currently spends, on average, $7,000+ per person and that is with "limited" health care coverage. The United States spends more per person based on gross domestic product (GDP) than any other country in the world and the health care that people receive is on the top end as far as quickness to get seen and quality. The problems with the US system are 1) that the bottom 1/4 of the population has very limited access which will bring down the average when compared to other countries, 2) Prescription drugs are out of sight and it seems like the more "medicines" someone takes then they have to take another "medicine" to counter act the deficiency created by the primary medicine. My mom, Rose, takes a water pill for her congestive heart failure, but then also takes a potassium pill because the water pill cause her to lose too much potassium. 3) Little or no regulation in what hospital's or physicians can charge for services, $5,000 for a PET scan or $1,000 for an MRI sure that sounds reasonable. 4) Even if you have insurance, if your doctor or the insurance won't go along with a certain procedure or test that they feel you don't need, which is rare, your only option is to pay for the entire thing out of pocket and the free market hasn't caught up with the hospitals when offering diagnostic tests, like a PET scan.

The solution - Socially there should be an obligation to help the bottom of the scale, but where exactly does that solution start. If a plan is put in place to help the lowest people on the income scale then it will have to be subsidized by people on the upper end of the scale, which would not make the plan beneficial to them because there would be no benefit. So here is what needs to happen 1) Give Hospitals and health centers and any other facility that does something in the health field a total break on property tax, and other local city charges like water, sewer and trash under the agreement that they will lower their prices by a similar amount that way their bottom line won't be affected. 2) Put a waiver in on taxes for employees at these facilities. Not for the total tax but some percentage so they don't have as much taken out, then have the facility adjust their wage so that their take home pay is unaffected (i.e. they still clear the same amount), but the hospital will improve their bottom line and in turn will lower prices. 3) Impose regulations and set a target for prices on services to be reached in the next 5 years and 10 years. This will force the industry to become more stream line and look for the most cost effect solutions to treating patients. If new technologies are to be tried they will be done at the hospital's expense or the company with new technology not insurance. 4) End frivolous law suits against doctors. Only in cases where there is severe negligence can a person be sued, you know like operating on the wrong leg or arm or something. As long as the doctor was trying his or her best to help someone they shouldn't be liable, after all we are looking to them for help. 5) Limit the amount of money that can be spent on advertising prescription drugs. Any amount that is spent over the limit is treated like a luxury tax in sports and the company will be responsible for paying additional taxes to the government. Take this access and set up a fund for the poorest 1/4 of Americans so that they can get treatment.

OK, well thanks for reading all that and I hope that your eyes don't need any treatment after reading it.

Child Punishment

Is it wrong to extend the punishment of your child (i.e. timeout) because the Indians are scoring runs like crazy and rather than curtail the punishment and risk stopping the runs I had to let the punishment persist until the end of the inning just to make sure?

I didn't think so either.

Oh she hit her brother in the face with a play dough container.

You know your having a bad day when...

This post is inspired by my aunt Georgia and uncle Luke who recently made a trip back to Ohio from Colorado.

You know you are having a bad day when your plane starts making noise and you tell your wife to start looking for places to land. Then you land and find out that your plane needs parts, but you can't fly to get the parts, now you have to drive about oh 700 miles round trip. Then you get the parts back and realize that you left wallet back where you got the parts. You go pick up the wallet, but now the plane is making noise again. You land in Illinois to get the plane fixed and then decide to drive the rest of the way about 550 miles. That takes another day, but hey it was all worth it in the end right. Right? I mean you did get mentioned in my blog. That should be worth at least one click on the old ads. Anyway, sorry, hope the trip back is less eventful.

Presidential Candidates 2008

Check out the link below to see which presidential candidates most closely match your views on the issues. You may be surprised.

htttp://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

Sophie found out that some of her ideals didn't line up with the candidates she thought she liked. Rudy being pro-choice did not set well, also we like us some tax breaks. Sophie says she'll vote for Tom Tancredo if he gives a tax credit for stay at home moms. Nothing wrong with that, Hillary wants to give away $5,000 for any 'new' babies. Kind of like what Russia did when they handed out 10 grand, and gave people the day off to go home and ... well you know. Nothing though if you already have the kids. Hmmm, I wonder if

Whoo Hoo the Indians win game 3 4-2 thanks to Sophie's Shirt.
Me and the kids were waving out shirts for the final out, not Sophie though she's not allowed to take the shirt off until after the game is over.
IT'S TRIBE TIME NOW!

Sports Predictions

So I have been reading my Sporting News about a week late and it really is interesting to see how the "experts" picked games versus how they actually turned out. In the last two weeks Matt Hayes has correctly predicted 14 games out of 24. A svelte 58%. Not bad for someone who gets paid to watch sports all day and then write about sports. Oh and in this week's article he all but crowned the Cal Golden Bears the national champs, which they then promptly lost to Oregon State. The bad thing is he picked USC twice to win (Actually 1-1), Notre Dame twice to Lose (1-1), and Cal to beat an unranked team. News flash, I want the games between top 25 teams picked and any top 25 teams that are going to be upset. That's it, I don't really want to know if you think Kansas can hold off Baylor, or Boston College can pound Notre Dame, that is pathetic. But what is really pathetic is picking USC to beat Stanford by 41 and they actual lost by 1. But the most pathetic thing is that someone can actually get paid the same amount without any repercussions for a terrible job. I guess the real pathetic thing though is that I am still reading sporting news... for now (see the Browns' record).

Early Season Rules for Browns' Victories

Well the football season is under way and even though I am not superstitious, I have developed a few ground rules on who is allowed to wear what on game day so as to assure the Browns the best possible chance for victory.

Rule 1: Sophie is not allowed to wear any official Browns clothing. None, nada, zip, not even a T-shirt. Although she can wear clothing with brown in it, but no orange.
#2: I must have a Jersey on before kick off and can not take it off until after the game is over. Also I can not take off said Jersey if a NASCAR race has started. The race must be finished before the Jersey can be taken off, otherwise I will put Tony Stewart at risk, see blog on Kansas race.
#3: If the game is going to be watched, the children must have their Jersey's on BEFORE kick off. If the Jersey's are not on them when the game starts then the children must not be allowed to put their Jersey's on.
#4: If the game is not going to be watched or is not televised locally the children do not have to wear their Jerseys.
#5: Jerseys must be clean. We don't do lucky stink.
#6: Sophie must wear an Indian's T-shirt for every other Home game during the baseball playoffs. There is currently no evidence that this will effect the Browns, however this phenomena will be studied more closely during the ALCS.

Well that's it for now I will update this as needed. Currently the Browns are 3-3, so according to "The Sporting News" they will lose their next 10 games. If not the "The Sporting News" will lose one subscriber.

An Apology

Let me begin by offering an apology to Peach who I earlier accused of tossing my remote in the trash. Recently the remote has resurfaced in the house, so I can no longer accuse her throwing it away. However, the remote only resurfaced after some work was done on the television, so it is entirely possible that the repairman had a remote with him and accidentally left it. Even though I can neither confirm nor deny that is what happened, either way I feel obligated to apologize.

Sorry Peach. . . for now.

Because the next thing that shows up missing you will definitely be blamed. Count on it.

The worst race in NASCAR history

Yesterday's Kansas race was pathetic for a multitude of reasons. First Tony should have won the race on a gamble for fuel and rain which had him leading when the race was red flagged. But 2 hours later the geniuses decided to try and finish the race, only now it was going to get dark before they finished so they shortened the race to 210 laps. Which begs the question why not just leave the race a rain out? Idiots! Then after the race restarted there was a big wreck (surprise), in which Tony got caught up in other people's junk and knocked in the left front of the car, consequently causing a tire rub that would flatten his left front tire just at the right time for Kurt Busch to come up and nail him into the wall. In the process of crashing Tony took out Carl, who seemed to understand the situation pretty well. Tony had to try and stay out and at one point I thought he could drive the car and keep it together, but no. Then at the end of the race Greg Biffle was leading and Juan Montoya Montoyaed himself with four laps left, but rather than even attempt a green white checker, NASCAR lets the race end under caution. Not only that but Greg's car runs out of fuel near the start/finish line and a couple of cars pass him, but the field was already "frozen" when the caution came out. Terrible NASCAR, terrible.

Turning 30

Well a lot has happened since I last blogged, both good and bad. I turned 30 (bad, although hardly noticeable) and Sophie through me a surprise party (good). She got me pretty good with that one. I was in such a zone concentrating on work and she told me that we were going to go to a movie and when I got home my mom and neighbors, in-laws, and Bo and Ashley (my bro and sister in-law) were there. I was completely surprised. I actually didn't turn 30 though until Saturday and on Sunday when I am usually tired I actually felt pretty good. Until Sunday night at about 11:00 when I got sick and threw up, and then I threw up again at about 5:00 in the morning. Needless to say I was a little late for work, but I did finally make it in about 2:00 P.M. That started 12 days straight of meeting with corporate people and started the first cut over for the DCS. Everything with the cut-over went surprisingly well (good) and I keep expecting something to happen. We may have found something today with the flare stack, but we should have an opportunity to fix it. Sophie also lost her uncle Tom to a heart attack. It was very sudden and unexpected, he was 58, and died while at work on a Sunday (very bad). The funeral was one of the saddest I have every been to and I felt extremely bad for the family. There was over 250 people at the funeral and it was to hard to not cry. Sorry Uncle Tom you will be missed.