Wherre do we go from here?

Part of me wishes I could have spent the day at home watching all the drama unfold in Washington. True, nothing got settled and no one changes position at all, and some people were ready, willing, and able to demonstrate how much they loved the sound of their own voice, but I think there was a lot of drama to be had too.

For weeks, the Republicans have been calling this a set up and there could be no discussion unless the current plans approved by both houses were tossed. Essentially, taking us back to the same place we've been for the last 20 years on the discussion and saying they aren't obstructing anything.

The Democrats have been pretty weak on this. 60 votes and they couldn't get it through. 59 votes and they still don't know if they can get it through.

There is talk about using reconcilliation and a simple majority to get this through. The answer is yes. 1. It's not like they are setting some earth shattering precedent. This has been done before in the previous adminstration. 2. It will force the Senate to reconsider is practices. This is what you get with the constant threat of fillibusters. 3. What are you saving your powder for? This may be the most important domestic policy issue affecting Americans in a generation. If reconcilliation is what it takes, it's time to use it.

Something I read today.

"The arrangement is, in fact, unfair. Sexuality and justice have little if anything in common. Love and friendship and conscience and kindness and obstinacy find ways to make the unfair arrangement work, though not without anxiety, not without anguish, and not always."

It's from an Ursula Le Guin short story called Paradises Lost. She's written a million things over the last few decades, but I've never read her before. She's better than I expected. I've got a little bit of geek, but I've never been a huge science fiction reader. But she can write, and I thought this was interesting.

Maybe my problem with science fiction even with the stories, it sometimes seems a little too Utopian or out of touch with our world to not work as social commentary. It doesn't follow enough rules. Just a thought. Not something I would ever try to write.

Some recent musings

1. Generally, I like watching the Olympics. For all the corporateness of it, it's in some ways the purest of sporting. And every few years is just about enough. But this time I've watched less than an hour total. I don't know why I'm less interested. Maybe it's just because I'm in a climate without a lot of snow. Anyway, I've figured out that every thing is about either ice or snow, so really it's about watching people fall down. From figure skaters to snowboarders, when I do watch, I'm just waiting for the crash I can't turn away from. And sadly, I find myself laughing at their misfortune.

2. Howard Zinn passed recently. A People's History of the United States is one of the most interesting books around. If you were raised in American schools learning American history, this book turns a lot of that stuff on its head. He served in the air force. He went to school after he got back and realized most of what he'd been taught growing up was pure crap. I guess his main point is that joe the plumber has a history very different from the elites in America. Natives got screwed. Immigrants got screwed and the poor always get screwed. Good times and bads that's always been the case, and a careful look at history proves it. Some people hate this book, and I hear some places are actually teaching it in high school now. Poor kids. It's a thick book.

3. Little S is continuing to improve. She's just about done with the steroids and is a lot happier about it. She's getting more stamina for exercising and her vision is improving. It's hard to say much more right now, but there are good signs.

4. I missed the family guy episode with a crack about Palin. How offensive it was, I can't judge. But I find it pretty ironic that she would go on FOX and say, "This guy MacFarlane who did this is a hater. Makes a lot of money for Fox, but I think there should be some standards sometime, but apparently there aren't." Really? She said this with a straight face?

Potty Training Update

Well, it's getting better. She's managed to poo in the toilet each of the last 5 days. On our part the briberies now include the ipod touch ( we call it the i-pooed) while she's sitting on the toilet followed by a few games on Wii Fit Plus if she is successful. At this point, I'm now sure how I'll be able to argue my way out of getting her a Mercedes for her 16h birthday. I'm just getting used. Yeah, if she ever goes back to read my blog, this entry is just meant to embarrass her.

Support Group

Last night I went to a support group for parents of kids with cerebral palsy. It was the first time I've ever been to any kind of support group meeting. I wasn't exactly looking forward to going, but I was hopeful it would be useful.

And it did turn out to be interesting. Everyone has their own stories, and there are similarities with what we've gone through and some differences. Some of them had kids who were a little older and could tell us about things to expect. Some of them had younger kids and had even more questions than we did. Everyone had that moment where they didn't know what to expect and all they could see in front of them was not knowing.

Wifey and I have lots of great friends and family. Everyone has been very supportive and said all the right things, but it was different talking with people who had actually gone through a lot of what we had. I mean, we had nothing in common with these people except for this, but it was a connection. They got it and they knew what we'd been through.

Things I learned. Seizures are very very common with CP kids. There is an absolutely HUGE difference between mild and severe CP. A lot of times CP is known right at birth. Be it doctors, insurance, social services, school districts, be prepared to advocate your child's needs with everyone. School districts don't have lots of money and will often try to get by doing as little for you as they can.

Email world

It's Saturday and i went into work for a couple hours. Honestly, they don't pay me enough to do that. I don't know what pay would be enough, but what I get is pretty far from covering it. But I went in because there were some things I wanted to catch up on. Mine is a job, where you never catch up, only fall behind. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it really does make sense to kick in a couple extra hours.

I was just thinking about email recently. Everyday I probably get about 80 emails. About half I can ignore. About 5 are updates that I guess I should read and digest and apply to work, but who's got the time? The rest are legitimate questions or things that deserve responses. So in order to be responsive to all my customers every day I would need to generate 35-40 emails. About 5 an hour. That could easily be my whole day. I would get nothing done.

So even though customer service is a worthy goal, it really isn't easy. The other thing is, if you are responsive and answer questions, all you do is get more inquiries. Follow up questions that don't always further the process along.

Email is a great thing, but it's gotten a little too crazy. And sometimes its more of a headache than it's worth.