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Below are the 25 most recent journal entries.
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2009.12.31 19.52 Happy New Year, Happy New Decade!! Let's sage the country and get to some serious work!! Cheers!! Mood:  contemplative
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2009.12.09 09.44 Just sent to Obama... My small business NEEDS the Public Option. We spend almost $1000/month for wretched, scammy coverage from Blue Shield. We have huge deductibles, and they deny services and prescriptions constantly. It is EVIL, and I worked very hard on your campaign because I had faith you'd follow through. I am 42 years old -- and I am SMART enough to know that insurance companies are a scam and needlessly skim profits by denying care. I can't afford to wait 13 years for relief. PLEASE FIX THIS - you are destroying your legacy and failing your base. Mood:  frustrated
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sad
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2009.12.08 09.21 Interesting "Adult Diagnosis" AS podcast I found I found this yesterday while looking for resources for my paternal uncle, who is finally starting to catch on that AS runs in the family (and yeah, he's clearly one of us, just didn't want to accept that!). Anyway, he's in Nova Scotia, and I am looking for an adult support group to suggest to him (so far without luck), but I did find this podcast, and it's really interesting. http://citizenshift.org/learning-late-a |
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2009.12.03 11.01 Inauspicious start to the day! Recovering from the flu. Made myself grocery shop so there'd be food for Bolt's lunch and not just scrounged scraps, which is basically what he got today, but by the time I was done, was exhausted. Came home, and slowly unloaded groceries, stopping to play with Spooky between loads. She likes me to get a stick then drag it around the grass and she pounces. Well, I was looking for a better stick, found one, and when I bent over to grab it, I lost my balance and cut my finger on a piece of broken floodlight that the gardeners broke then LEFT there when they took out some bushes. Argh. Finally got all the groceries in, and needed room in the fridge, so I thought I'd eat the extra freezer pancakes (gentle and I hoped wouldn't upset my tummy). Made some, but then my maple syrup was gone from the fridge. So I went to the cupboard where I knew I had a NEW one from TJs, and lo and behold, it had been opened and then put back in the cupboard, instead of in the fridge! So I have to toss a NEW $15 maple syrup! AND there's nothing for my stupid pancakes, which I don't even REALLY want to eat anyway! (I guess that part's good.) :-) THEN, on my way to collapse on the couch, I decided to play back the 28 messages left during my illness, which happen to include one for MTB that sounds potentially important, and I ACCIDENTALLY ERASED THEM ALL. I am so done with this day, and it's not even 11 yet!! Mood: frustrated
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2009.11.06 14.19 Going to Berlin for a conference... We are going to Berlin on Sunday. Was supposed to be tomorrow, but NWA/Delta, in their glorious merger, screwed up our booking (despite the fact that we booked it 4 months ago!), and we couldn't get seats together! WTF, right? I am sure we booked ages before many others on the flight, yet they said no seats were being reserved UNTIL check-in (this morning), so then how did ALL THE SEATS GET FILLED before MTB checked in at 7:30am, the very earliest MOMENT check-in was permitted? I'm just saying. I don't believe it for a second. Anyway, as usual, I am anxious about flying overseas, but also very excited about the trip. I will have a chance to see friends I've not seen for years. Mood:  busy
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2009.09.02 23.17 I suck! I have been incredibly busy, mostly working hard on other social networks to promote logic and facts on the healthcare reform issue, and try to dissuage otherwise intelligent enough people from going off the deep end with utter nonsensical and fear-based idiocies. I miss LJ, but haven't enough time lately to do it all!! I'll be back, though! Mood: busy
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2009.05.27 10.05 And a good thing: Hummingbird love! Just had a PROFOUND encounter with a hummingbird. It hung out with me for about 2 minutes while I was watering the patch of lawn by the front curb. It literally hung right in front of my face and looked me in the eye. It was gorgeous! Mood:  pleased
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2009.05.27 10.00 I know most of my friends are not in CA... http://tinyurl.com/WhatIfWeCouldVot But I wanted to share this anyway. It's weird, how these things are coming in oddly juxtaposed "one step forward, two back" kind of combos. We get Obama (yay!) the same day we get Prop 8 (BOO). We get the Sotomayor nomination (yay!) the SAME DAY the CA court upholds terribly discriminatory Prop 8 (BOO). Obviously the first combo was the same election, so of course happened the same day, but yesterday's 1-2 punch was utterly random and weird... Mood:  awake
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2009.05.08 22.25 Happy Birthday to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rainbow_goddess!!Sorry I'm so late - just got home from a loooong day! I loved the Bionic Woman. I even had the doll when I was a kid! |
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2009.04.29 15.32 Obama's 1st 100 Days, as seen from his Facebook Feed!! Dead funny 100-days coverage from Slate. Read with care, because it's brilliant! President Obama's Facebook Feed!! Mood:  amused
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2009.04.25 01.02 Happy Belated Birthday. Maelorin! Hope you had a good time. Have not been on in a few days. Trying to be better, though! :-) Mood: cheerful
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2009.04.20 00.05 Coachella So, I am keeping myself awake so I can go collect my son at his friend's house. They are leaving Coachella now (midnight!), and I realized a couple of hours ago that the friend would be driving a round-trip of about 2 hrs extra if she brought Bolt home for me. SO, I offered to pick him up at her house, so that she'd be able to avoid the extra driving. I will be doing extra driving, but really, it seems totally reasonable considering she took my kid to a desert music festival for 3 days! I have to say that my ambitions for him to get to school tomorrow are waning. I think we'll be lucky if we get home by 3am... But holy crap, he got to see Paul McCartney play a 3-hour live set on Friday night! Awesome. Mood:  tired
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2009.04.19 23.58 Awesome Word of the Day! perendinate PRONUNCIATION: (puh-REN-di-nayt) MEANING: verb tr. : To put off until the day after tomorrow. verb intr.: To stay at a college for an extended time. ETYMOLOGY: From Latin perendinare (to defer until the day after tomorrow), from perendie (on the day after tomorrow), from dies (day). NOTES: The word procrastinate is from Latin cras (tomorrow). So when you procrastinate, literally speaking, you are putting something off till tomorrow. Mark Twain once said, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." In other words, why procrastinate when you can perendinate? Mood: amused
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2009.04.19 23.41 My son's school's research center's new book!!! http://tinyurl.com/FrostigSuccessFactor "The Six Success Factors for Children with Learning Disabilities: Ready-to-Use Activities to Help Kids with LD Succeed in School and in Life (Paperback)" Hooray!!!! Mood: pleased
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2009.04.19 21.03 Never seen this on Yahoo Mail before Interesting... Can't talk now. System's down. Sorry for the holdup. Looks like a temporary glitch in our network has part of Yahoo! mail down, so you're briefly without service. Rest assured the alarms are blaring in the basement and our team is working frantically to get you up and running ASAP. Again, the snag is on our end — so there's no need for you to do a thing. Back to it, Yahoo! Mail Team Mood: curious
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2009.04.18 10.33 NoMyths.org FTW!!!! Please take a moment to go watch the new PSA from the Dan Marino Foundation and ASAN, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. It's remarkable and moving and enlightening. April is, after all, Autism-awareness Month, and this is the best way to start becoming aware that I've seen in a long time. And if, like me, you yourself are on the spectrum, you may find it a relieving change from the endless mantra of FAIL usually identified with being Autistic.
Mood: impressed
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2009.04.14 17.27 "30 percent" [From moveOn.org] - American-centric, since most other developed countries are smarter. I, for one, am ready to shed my near-$1000/mo. dumbass evil American insurance premium that covers very little of our meds (and one med we need they simply refuse to cover!) and requires co-pays for everything AND has a HUGE fucking deductible before any benefits even start. Fuckers. I hope Americans wake up to how lame this all is and how there's an extra layer of administrative paperwork that should be eliminated. Stupid, stupid, stupid. ********************************* Get this: If Congress passes Obama's plan and Americans are given the choice of a public health insurance option similar to Medicare, we could all save up to 30% on our health care premiums.1 That's a huge savings, and we'd still get high-quality coverage and be able to choose our doctors. And even if you choose to keep your current insurance, you'd save anyway. You see, HMOs and big insurance companies are the only game in town right now—so they overcharge us to boost profits and pay out CEO bonuses. If Obama's plan passes, they'd have to compete with it, and their prices would have to be more honest. Lower premiums for us means lower profits for them, so insurance companies are putting extreme pressure on Congress to drop the public health insurance option. But Americans deserve to have this choice—and it's necessary to help rein in out-of-control health care costs. Imagine how different things would be if we all had quality health care that costs up to 30% less than what we're paying now. Would you use the money toward college for a child? A safe retirement? Or maybe you'll finally be able to afford the treatment or medicines you need. Can you click the link below to tell Congress how Obama's public health insurance option would change your life? We'll send all the answers to Congress, as part of our campaign to make sure we get real health care reform this year. http://pol.moveon.org/public_option/ The simple truth is that having the choice of a public health insurance option would make all of our lives better. Here's why: Health care costs are spiraling out of control. From 2000 to 2008, health insurance premiums increased five times faster than wages.2 A public health insurance option would provide an affordable, quality alternative. Two new studies show that Americans could save 25% or more off of a traditional private plan.3 The New York Times says this would "keep the private plans honest."4 They'll have to lower rates and offer better value to compete. Plus, a public health insurance option would be reliable coverage for all. Private insurers are notorious for dumping people with little notice.5 A public option would allow consumers who've been dropped—or just don't like their current coverage—to switch to a steady public choice. Thankfully, the public health insurance option is gaining steam in Congress. The 77-member Progressive Caucus recently endorsed the policy.6 And the chairmen of five critical congressional committees came out in support.7 Now we need to get the rest of Washington on board. Can you help by telling Congress how the choice would help you? http://pol.moveon.org/public_option/ Thanks for all you do. –Patrick S., Wes, Matt, Tanya and the rest of the team Sources: 1."The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System," The Commonwealth Fund, February 19, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51221&id=15917-10710709-2Hy5q9x&t=5 2. "Health Insurance Costs Outpace Wages," WebMD, October 23, 2008 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51311&id=15917-10710709-2Hy5q9x&t=6 3."The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System," The Commonwealth Fund, February 19, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51221&id=15917-10710709-2Hy5q9x&t=7 "The Cost and Coverage Impacts of a Public Plan: Alternative Design Options," The Lewin Group, April 6, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51315&id=15917-10710709-2Hy5q9x&t=8 4."A Public Plan for Health Insurance?" The New York Times, April 6, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/opini 5. "Obama Should Offer Public Health Insurance to All," The Progressive, March 13, 2009 http://www.progressive.org/mag/mpcastel 6. "Progressive Caucus Draws a Line on Health Care," Open Left, April 2, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51313&id=15917-10710709-2Hy5q9x&t=9 7. "Democrats Agree on a Health Plan: Now Comes the Hard Part," New York Times, March 31, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51314&id=15917-10710709-2Hy5q9x&t=10 Mood: irate
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2009.04.13 15.41 WRT tagging "adult" products... Found this particular discussion extremely interesting! http://tehdely.livejournal.com/88823.htm Mood: contemplative
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2009.04.12 12.37 #amazonfail consuming my entire day thus far, apparently. Not what I had planned! However, this atrocious censorship perpetrated by amazon, whether intentionally, nefariously, or merely stupidly, cannot stand. Some linkage: Amazon Rank Follow Twitter topic: amazonfail An author shares his correspondence with amazon.com Mood: annoyed
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2009.04.05 01.28 I'm an Aunt! Wonderful news! :-) Mood: excited
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2009.04.01 16.11 The Guardian goes all-Twitter. Heh. :-) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/ap And Expedia has seats to Mars, starting at $99! http://www.expedia.com/daily/mars/fligh And there's always the wonderful ThinkGeek April 1 edition... http://www.thinkgeek.com/edm/20090401.s Mood: amused
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2009.03.31 16.08 Three Notes Walk into a Bar ... Three Notes Walk into a Bar ... A C, an E-flat, and a G go into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve minors." So the E-flat leaves, and the C and the G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished and the G is out flat. An F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. A D comes into the bar and heads straight for the bathroom saying, "Excuse me. I'll just be a second." Then an A comes into the bar, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor. Then the bartender notices a B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and exclaims, "Get out now. You're the seventh minor I've found in this bar tonight." The E-flat, not easily deflated, comes back to the bar the next night in a 3-piece suit with nicely shined shoes. The bartender (who used to have a nice corporate job until his company downsized) says, "You're looking sharp tonight, come on in! This could be a major development." This proves to be the case, as the E-flat takes off the suit, and everything else, and stands there au natural. Eventually, the C sobers up, and realizes in horror that he's under a rest. The C is brought to trial, is found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an upscale correctional facility. On appeal, however, the C is found innocent of any wrongdoing, even accidental, and that all accusations to the contrary are bassless. The bartender decides, however, that since he's only had tenor so patrons, and the sopranout in the bathroom, everything has become altoo much treble; he needs a rest, and closes the bar. Mood: amused
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2009.03.27 23.11 Interesting site... B'TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel. B'Tselem in Hebrew literally means "in the image of," and is also used as a synonym for human dignity. The word is taken from Genesis 1:27 "And God created humans in his image. In the image of God did He create him." It is in this spirit that the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "All human beings are born equal in dignity and rights." http://www.btselem.org/English/About_BT Mood: sleepy
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2009.03.27 10.58 Obama Rally Begins? Perhaps... Which brings to mind the conversation I had yesterday with our payroll representative, in which she exclaimed, "You'll be getting more in your check starting this month!". I asked if that was my stimulus money, and she said yes. I asked if it would be just enough for a few Starbucks runs and maybe a pedicure, and she excitedly said "Yes!". "So", I replied, "this means the stimulus is doing exactly the right thing - giving me a little boost that I will WANT to spend at local businesses, but not enough to make me want to pay off a credit card bill?" And she confirmed this was the case, and we both chatted about how it's great that the THING THEY SAID THEY'D DO IS THE THING THEY ARE DOING! I had assumed that a payroll agency would be stacked with short-sighted GOPers, but apparently MY payroll service employs people who think. Pleasant surprise!! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stew Mood: pleased
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