Pumpkin thoughts

Ba Humbug. I don't know if I've ever been to a Halloween party that was worth it. Another excuse for mayhem, except this time with masks and costumes. I seemed to have missed the crazy days in Madison, it mostly having dissipated prior to my college years. I've also been to the Castro Street in San Francisco one year. I guess it was cool to walk around and see what kind of costumes people dared to wear, but that was about it. It was just about seeing and being seen. It got really crowded, really really crowded and that seemed to put a damper on things.

This year the city is encouraging people to stay home for Halloween. They're closing the bars on Castro and trying to tell everyone there is no party. A fair result considering about 9 people got shot last year.

No one in the office dressed up this year. I'm okay with that. At least I don't look like the only bum without holiday spirit.

Goodbye Lucky

People had worries since the Pope was an alter boy.
People had worries since the dead sea was only critical.

That's a line from a Lucky Dube song. I realize most of you have probably never heard of Lucky Dube, or if you have it's only because I forced you to listen to a CD on a long car ride somewhere. He was a prominent South African musician, probably their all time greatest hits machine. He followed Marley in that raggae was his music and music was a way to get a message across. He had a lot of music about social injustice.

He was shot down in a robbery attempt about a week ago. Like too many musicians too early. I've been listening to his music all day today.

Typical Diaper Change Monologue

"Was this a stinky one? Did you really do that to your daddy? No. That's good. Poo next time when it's Mommy's turn. Hold still monster. So who do you want to catch your poo this time? Cookie Monster or Ernie? Let's go with Cookie Monster. He's sort of getting a bad rap for not being the healthiest eater, but he's a good guy. So listen, your dad's been at this for a year now. Day in and day out putting you on the table and doing the dirty work. You're a big girl now. You should really consider potty training. I know toilets can look a little scary, but it's not so bad. Really it isn't. And the sooner you get there, the sooner we stop going through this routine. I said, hold still. Then Daddy doesn't have to worry about how to handle the code red poos. It'll be a simple flush. What do you say? Hmmn. I really can't wait until you can talk too."

Happy One.

When Little J hears the story of her birth, she's going to associate it with spicy Korean food, the frantic pursuit of laundry, a late night trip to the hospital, and a missed Wynton Marsalis concert. I think the whole theme of the story will be you owe your parents a lot, so be very very good to them.

At the one year mark she checks in at 21.5 or roughly a 350% increase since birth weight and 33 inches or roughly a 33% increase. By my calculations if she continues to gain at 350% a year, she'll be about 3200 lbs by the time she's five. Absolutely amazing.

Here's another interesting baby physics fact. Even though she's only 21.5 lbs. She displaces roughly 40 gallons of water when she takes a bath. I don't know how that happens either.

Fast Food thoughts

After a McD visit at Logan in Boston, I now have a dark purple, a light blue and a yellow monopoly game pieces. If anybody wants to combine their McD pieces, just let me know and I'll split the prize with you. I'll even split the free fries I've already won.

I heard a story about someone in the area who had one of those new engines powered by used cooking oil for her car. She went to Crispy Creme seeking their surplus oil for her car. "What surplus oil?" she was asked. It all goes in the donut.

Think about that a little.

Bawstun in October

Boston is a great city and would be very livable if not infested with Red Sox fans and their ilk. I felt like asking every cab to turn the radio station when I got in, but I guess the more important thing was them getting me to my destination safely. Maybe the playoffs are still a novelty act for them seeing as their usually all at home and done with their season by this time of year.

I spent the last couple days there seeing the sights with Wifey and Baby. Due to the unsteady weather and other calls of nature we ended up seeing the Freedom Trail in 3 different segments over three different days. I won't tell you all the places where we had to do diaper changes, but one of my big complaints would have to be the lack of changing tables in Bawstun and Hahvahd. The self guiding freedom trail is always nice. I especially like the Charleston side with the Bunker Hill Memorial on Breed's Hill and Old Ironside. Boston also had good eats, and we managed to hit a few places on my wife's list. Legal Seafood is worth it. And Pizza Regina (or was it Regina's Pizza)near North End and the Garden was good.

So the real purpose of going to Boston now was to attend a wedding. The guy getting married was a childhood friend which meant there had been a time when I saw him all the time and I knew what he and his brothers were up to. Those days have long faded away, but it was still great to be able to share this special moment with him and his family. Weddings are about looking forward, but it was also time to catch up on what everyone's been doing the last few years. It's especially nice when everyone seems happy with what they're doing even as we all get old. It was a great little wedding.

Yet another reason to be pissed at Junior

You should be able to believe a President of the United States when he stands up and says the United States of America does not torture people. That should be a given, but in this day and age, with this particular President, no one can believe him. His innumerable lies have made what should be a simple re-assertion of respect for human dignity and truth a wimpish denial that no one can be. I wonder if Junior understands that our trust has been eroded over time and we have long lost the ability to give him the benefit of the doubt. If the citizens of this country can't believe him, who can? We've all seen the pictures. We know his statements are boldfaced lies. If this was all on the up and up, why the secret DOJ memo in the first place? There was already a public memo in 04. He was just looking for some more secret CYA.

There's another thing about torture that's bothering me. In Junior's denial he speaks of doing what is necessary to interrogate people to secure our country. Multiple studies have proven that torture doesn't work too well in that regard. After a certain point, most people will say anything to get the torture to stop. Information obtained by torture is not worth a lot when the veracity is immediately in doubt. What torture is really about is intimidation. People have a way of shutting up and not raising issues with their governments when they are scared that there's no habeas corpus and the government tortures people. Things that used to be and still should be viewed as abhorent in a democracy.

Junior Vetoes Kids.

A couple years ago, in pursuit of continuing education credits, I attended a one day event where there was a speaker on law and the health care industry. He had an insurance industry attorney with a fascinating perspective on the business. He harped about how insurance companies should work with the state and the feds to do everything possible to provide health insurance to kids. Not because it was the right thing to do but because he believed it was a "gold mine." Yeah, kids who get sick cost a lot, but overall if you look at the numbers, kids don't get sick that much. It was a good investment and insurance companies could make a killing.

That whole talk seemed rather crass to me. It seemed like another reason to hate insurance companies and their division of all of us into tiny risk pools. Maybe that's why I'm not in that business.

Anyway, not really related, but sometime later the federal government sees a real gap in health coverage for kids. Congress actually works out a bill supported for both sides that will help those kids not quite on welfare but with parents that don't make a lot. Great program that helps those that are most vulnerable. Ten million of them.

Junior's response is that status quo is good enough which means the expiration of the current program this week. Too close to socialized medicine. He has never been the compassionate person he pretends to be. In a quiet room without any fanfare, he vetoes this legislation.

Truth of the matter is some kids are probably not going to get the healthcare they need because of his decision today. Some may die, but the cost (how much for his war?) and the socialized medicine thing are his best reasons. Sad.