Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Fracking Kid's Furniture
After cooking dinner, I have spent the better part of the evening putting together the baby's crib. The bassinet is too wee for him now. The instruction makers suck. Let me state that for the record. One of the steps wasn't spelled out clearly, so I had to backtrack on my work because of course that was critical and can only be done on stage three.
In a few minutes after cooling down, I will put the baby in his new bed, and he will be pissed off because it isn't his bassinet.
The end.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Bloglines
I am using bloglines to get my feeds of different bloggy good things out there. Anybody use a different service? Compare, contrast? So far four people are subscribed to my feed on bloglines (including me!). One of these days #5 will show up. Then they will be sorry.
Lately, I have been playing around with the blog, added three columns, just expanded the margins for posts, and due to the encouragement of Mrs. Trifecta have started adding pictures to some of the posts. You may feel free to weigh in on the changes. Somebody promised me to work on a hand drawn banner for the site. Hopefully that will come in soon.
Although blogging is just a hobby for me, it is fun to play around with tools to make chez Trifecta look a bit different. Sorry about all the bandwidth I am using now for those of you on dialup. I remember the days when I upgraded to 9600 baud and was excited because I could almost see text in real time!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Thank You Kind Page Viewers
I know the big blogs do these kind of numbers in a day, but it feels good to have had 100,000 pages created by your truly viewed on the internets.
Next up 100,000 visits. After that, I might make it 150,000 and then retire to a life of luxury.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Metatoberfest
Long story short, I made a stupid careless error on a quick post on the identification of Hatshepsut today. I had an interest in Egyptology about 22 years ago, and was working on memory without fact checking (and it showed). My mistake was dumb and careless, but it wasn't the end of the world. Ten seconds of googling would have made me not make that mistake. I failed to do so.
A comment corrected my error in a harsh, nasty tone and accused me of an error, I didn't make. In a fit of self righteous anger I deleted the post in the process of editing in a correction, before realizing how dumb I was acting. I goofed up and got called on it. After doing that, I reposted the error I made, but my tone was harsh on the commenter.
This led me to think about the public's relationship with the media. Putting myself in their shoes for a second, it was easy to see how many deflect any attempts to be held accountable for their errors. The critics are obnoxious. Not all of their criticisms are accurate. Let me get self-righteously angry about where I have been aggrieved.
The fact is though, that we screw up, especially when you are sloppy like I was today. I made a mistake about a 3,000 year old mummy. Some writers write about absolute proof of WMDs in Iraq. They are all mistakes. Even if one was writing copy for a box of cereal, you still need to own up to your errors even if Murray from Oklahoma City writes in to call you a retarded albino monkey and then says that you misspelled Corn Syrup and he was wrong, you should address his point that you forgot three items on the list of ingredients if you did.
This is the first time I got seriously hounded for writing something without fact checking my memory, and I did deserve it. The critic was less than constructive about pointing it out. But, let that never be an excuse against owning up to your screw ups.
I also will give a person in the media the benefit of the doubt when finding an error they made, and gently point it out, until I know that this isn't an effective strategy with them. Then I will be as snarky as all get out.
(end of topic for me)
Lazy Stinking Rainy Day
Took a nap at the same time as the toddler, and am playing monster trucks with him as there are thunderstorms outside. I think Al Franken said it best when he discussed not only spending quality time, but lazy stinking unproductive time with your kids too. Plus, monster trucks is kinda fun.
No Pictures Please 2
The boy is enjoying summertime. Today he actually started not just throwing a ball and demanding I catch it, but he decided to catch it too. It makes this daddy very proud. It almost makes up for a fact that he found a pen and drew me a picture on the hallway wall yesterday.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Playing Around With A Redesign
I am not thrilled yet with the result, so I will keep on tinkering. The text scheme is more readable IMHO. The peanut gallery is free to chime in.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Health Care Is Very Sick
This past week, a doctor diagnosed a large lump in my mother's throat as likely being a cyst. A scan was done, and no fluid was found, so it is a solid growth. Another growth on her thyroid was discovered. The lab is backed up, so Friday she goes in for a biopsy, and next week Thursday she will get the results. We are praying for the best, and will do our best to plan for the worst.
This should be a very happy time in my mother's life. She has finally paid off massive debts this month she has been paying for 5 years. She accumulated the debts paying for assisted living care, and in home nursing for my grandmother who passed a few years back. At over $4,000 a month, you can soon be swimming in debt. Her other option was placing her own mother in a room in a giant facility with eight people with workers who were paid minimum wage, and often gave minimum wage effort.
This year, we had the good fortune to have applied for medicaid just in case for my wife, as we moved up to a new area without work yet. She had a complicated pregnancy, punctuated by two months of hospitalization. If I had waited, gotten a job, then had to wait for insurance to kick in, it would have been too late and insurance wouldn't have kicked in and paid for it, but our income would have made us unqualified for assistance. Our timing was indeed fortuitous. We would be swimming in debt right now.
When we had our last child, I paid out about $700 a month for insurance that entitled me to $50 co-pay for medicine and doctor's visits, and a $500 deductible for a child birth. Our insurance company kept not paying the part they owed, and what should have been a completely joyful time in our life, was marred a bit by dealing with the hospital, their collection agency, and our insurance company.
These are just some examples of how the health care situation in this country has affected my family. As Sicko is released this week-end, no matter what you may think of Michael Moore, at least we are going to discuss it. John Edwards' hair style, Rudy Giuliani's marriages, Hillary Clinton's pantsuits, Fred Thompson's bedroom eyes are fun. I engage in gossip about these things myself.
My family is not alone though. People are being devastated by the state of our health care system. Even when you have insurance, it can be denied, you can be kicked off your policy, you have to jump through too many hoops, yet there will be another white woman missing this week. Paris Hilton will leave prison. In a way, focusing on these fluffy stories is cathartic, but it can't be the chief focus in our lives.
As Sicko comes out this week-end, many of us will be waiting for test results, arguing with insurance claim specialists, wondering what plastic card can cover the bill in an emergency, then watching the news and learning a celebrity's diet secrets. Too much circus, not enough bread.
How Sicko.
Update:A wingnut in comments railed against the evils of the Canadian system and it reminded me to look up this study from Harvard. 50% of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are caused by health care crises. More than 75% of people who filed for bankruptcy were actually insured at the start of the illness. Taking care of a sick one often means leaving the job, which means losing your health care if you can't afford the COBRA coverage on no income. What a choice. Leave your loved one home alone, so you can keep coverage, or get financially ruined. I will wave the Maple Leaf flag on this. Our system is broken. Patching a gunshot wound with a band-aid really isn't going to work.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Two of them only speak German which makes it more interesting. I did make some fresh salsa today. People treat it like it's crack and they need a fix, so I thought I would share the recipe.
3 lbs tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 large red onion finely diced
1 handful of cilantro minced
6 cloves of garlic minced
The juice of 1 lime
1 habanero pepper extremely finely diced. 2 if you are addicted to heat.
It should be diced as fine as you can, as thin as you can. Wash your hands afterwards too.
Place the seeded chopped tomatoes in a bowl and salt liberally. Let sit in fridge for about 2 hours, drain excess liquid salted out for a drier salsa. Add the other ingredients, adjust flavor with salt. Have something to drink handy as you sample it.
The flavor of the habanero is different than a jalapeno. Chopping 5 jalapenos to equal the heat isn't quite the same. This will clear your nostrils, make you appreciate summer, and goes great not only with chips, but as a relish.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Under the current system, $2,000 donors are basically worth 80 donors who will give $25 each. It does make the system tilt towards the people who have more money. This rationale is changing some with bundling on the internet, but corporate donors often get their phone calls returned first.
Our politics could be transformed, drastically in this country if ever a movement to organize the small donors in a massive way would be brought to fruition. If 1,000,000 people committed during an election cycle to bundling $2 a day together for a political action committee, the power would be ground shaking in scope. This is less than a cup of starbucks coffee as many people know. There are 1,000,000 people who could afford this.
It would be ActBlue on Acid. $7,000,000 a week to 2 different campaigns. Candidates would have to convince the members of the group that they were worthy of the coinage, and the members would agree to vote, and donate to the candidates that they choose. They are of course free to give to other candidates as well.
208 candidates in one cycle deeply in debt to such a grass roots group would feel beholden to them. This would be one of the most powerful political forces in the nation. Individually, it would be relatively cheap. It would also make people feel like they were part of something larger. Giving your $7 to a candidate knowing it is part of $7,000,000 satisfies much more than another $200 individual campaign check that you right for a candidate you believe in. That $7 will go much further in getting your values addressed than any amount you can give under the individual limit as well.
Splinter internet groups could form to do the same for movies, books, tv. If one million people committed to seeing a progressive movie each month, that movie would generate more buzz. In some weeks, 50,000 people buying a book will make it the NY Times #1 best seller. One million people watching Keith Olbermann every night, calling and writing MSNBC continually promising to support a progressive in the time slot after him, might change the programming direction.
The internet has changed politics in the past few years. It's greatest potential has yet to be tapped.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
I am getting into a rut, visiting the same blogs, going to the same news sources for information. Any of my
I promise to follow all the links wherever they take me. Some of the coolest things I have found on the internets have been total accidents. Starting at one place, following a few links around and finding a gem is a nice little treasure.
Pleasure me people.
My two year old snuck out into the back in his diaper, and turned on the hose at the faucet, there also is a secondary blockage point that he switched, and unscrewed the spray nozzle on the hose, so it would flow freely.
He was caught before he was able to flood the lawn. I am sure there was some sort of plan involved. I bet George W. Bush couldn't handle this feat at two.
Just saying.
Cute bumper sticker slogan that I have seen on several cars. The wife has been out all day and it is raining outside, so I am watching the toddler, the baby, and the nine year old nephew.
That being said, I want to apologize to my mother. It was all our fault. Thank goodness you didn't keep guns or sharp objects in the house. We likely would have had them used against us.
