Life's Inconveniences

HIPAA has gotten out of control

2008-10-02T23:01:00.002-04:00

HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) has gotten out of control, or at least the way many people and most institutions carry it out has.

I am disgusted that privacy practices prevent people (ooh nice alliteration, Lor) from getting the proper care and from families and friends finding out important information about loved ones -- more importantly from giving information to health care providers.

I can't go into too many details but we are trying to help a friend who's in the hospital and the people there are SO rude to not only us but the family members trying to get (and give) information. You'd think they would be happy that the person in the hospital has people who care, are concerned, want to help. I understand there is a line in protecting someone's privacy, but when someone is at a point where they can't reasonably care for themselves or communicate with doctors about their medical history, medications, where they even were the day before or what happened to bring them to the hospital, I think that privacy should drop down a bit on the scale.

organized hate

2008-09-29T02:55:00.003-04:00

I don't think anyone reads this anymore, which is fine -- gives me more freedom to post what I really think anyway.

I watched a video tonight on the web about churches in California actively organizing to support a proposition (Proposition 8) that would outlaw gay marriage. And I have to wonder: When did Jesus's message of love turn into one of hate?

It makes me sad to think that with all the unloved children the world, the disease, famine, wars, pollution of the earth, that so-called religious people care so much about this issue that they are actually campaigning against people marrying each other. It's not even a religious issue to begin with, because in our country (not in all countries, btw) the state determines who is allowed to marry. Why does a church care so much about this issue?

There are lots of mean-spirited things I could say about the Catholic church in particular, and also about people who would be considered right wing or fundamentalist. But really what it comes down to is I just don't understand how Jesus's message got so lost in all of this. What I remember most from the bible is "LOVE one another." Secondarily I also remember turn the other cheek and Jesus saying that God is the one who judges us, but we should not judge each other or throw the first stone unless we are free from sin ourselves (which, of course, none of us are).

My love for others in particular is tested when I am trying to love those who espouse so much hate, greed and lack of compassion for others. So I will meditate on that and try to find love in my heart, because sometimes I feel very angry. Mostly, though, I feel sad, when I think of my gay friends who love each other so much, who are committed to each other, who are loving people in general, and who are subject to hate and discrimination by religious zealots and by society at large. This makes me really sad, and try as I may, I can't understand it, because the God I learned aboutgrowing up and the God I know is a God of love. I guess I was lucky that in my church we learned about love and acceptance and not about hating others and judging them.

I am going to spend some time reading "Affirmations of a Dissenter" by Bishop Joseph Sprague this week, as my sister has recommended, because I need some spiritual guidance. I am going to try to remember the stories told to me years ago by members of my church about the Methodists who protested at the national conference, protested the church's treatment of gay people, and cried aloud as the leaders of our institution denied the acceptance of gay people again and again. I am going to try to remember that I am not alone in my grief that Jesus's message has become so exploited, so damaged, so diluted and twisted that we persecute our brothers and sisters in the name of God.

why it doesn't matter whether there is global warming or not

2008-08-04T20:01:00.002-04:00

I am so sick of hearing people argue about whether global really exists and whether we are causing it or not.

I haven't written on this blog in two years -- didn't realize so much time had passed but time flies when you're having chemo.

But back to the global warming dilemma. I keep hearing from scientific types that scientists have proven that global warming either doesn't exist or we, the humans, are not causing it. I am not a scientist, but I read a lot, and most of what I read says we are contributing to the acceleration of global warming, and that we can help to slow it down by reducing our carbon emissions.

But the truth is, people, it just doesn't matter! There are so many other reasons for us to reduce our reliance upon fossil fuels. We don't need global warming as a reason. If it's the kick in the ass that gets people moving, so be it. But what is the point of arguing over it? There is another problem caused by fossil fuels, and I can guarantee it is affecting you and your children with every breath you take. POLLUTION.

Even though we've made a lot of our air in this country LOOK cleaner, it's still very dirty. And so are our rivers, lakes, oceans. (Whoa, are the oceans dirty, and getting dirtier by the minute). Pollution killing the oceans and wildlife of the oceans, the very oceans we rely upon for LIFE.

Here are two very simple things you can do TODAY: 1) Stop using plastic bags! This is such an easy one. Why don't more people do it? Just stop using them. All together. It might take a week or a couple of months to get into the habit, but get a few cloth bags from your local supermarket for a few bucks, and start using them. After you unload them each time, put them by the front door or in the garage or on the front ca seat, somewhere you won't forget them.

In case you've been living under a rock, plastic is made from petroleum. Petroleum-based plastics are not biodegradable, they create a mess when recycled, they're just plain harmful to all life, AND they're not even necessary!

If you need more information to spur you to action, go to www.earthresource.org They've got a lot of information there about just how bad plastic bags are and scary statistics about how big of a problem this is.

2) Stop buying junky little items that are made in China and other countries that have even worse environmental manufacturing standards than the US does. Better yet, think about your buying practices, and consider every single item that you buy. Where was it made? What is it made from? How much waste will be created from this item? We need to change our buying practices to support environmentally friendly companies. Don't eat at restaurants that use styrofoam carry-out containers (and ask the ones that do to stop using this extremely harmful substance -- there are alternatives! Tell them why you are not eating there until they do).

I've got a lot more, and all of them are things I am trying to do in my daily life. (If they aren't, I'll say so, and tell you why).

A friend of mine has a swap once or twice a year where everyone brings a whole bunch of items they don't want, including never-worn clothing and household goods, and swaps them. Everyone leaves happy! Use Freecycle, use Neighborrow, reuse whenever possible. Does your baby really need all new clothes? Is it worth the impact on the environment? Think of the concept of the Seventh Generation and how every item you buy will have an impact on the world for seven generations to come!

I get discouraged at times -- just yesterday I was horrified when we were leaving a state park to see trash strewn EVERYWHERE, hundreds of plastics and papers and junk all over the lawns and parking lot. It was pretty unbelievable. I don't understand what is in people's minds when they throw their trash on the ground and leave it there.

But I also have faith that there are so many people working to better the environment and we CAN do it. So please join me, join we. Let's do it.

www.wecansolveit.org

Our Goat

2006-08-21T16:08:00.000-04:00

We walked up the mountain one day with friends for dinner. Fredi says we didn't really walk up the mountain, but believe me, my fellow Americans, we walked up a mountain for dinner. It took about an hour, so we didn't go the whole way up. But it is the way back down that I want to tell you about, because on the way back down we got a goat.

We didn't mean to get a goat. I suppose the goat really got us. (I wonder where that expression comes from, "I got your goat.") Suddenly when we were almost down to the main street a goat joined us and told us, "Meh, meh, meh." I think she was trying to say, "I'm lost," or "I'm hungry." Or maybe she was trying to say to us, "You're stupid." I don't know.

In any case, we could not, I repeat, could not get rid of her. But we needed to get rid of her, because we were going down to the main road in and out of the valley where, in all likelihood, if left to her own devices, she would be killed by a passing car. Or if she followed us the whole way home we'd have to explain to Fredi's parents that we brought them a goat. And as much as they love us, I don't think they would like the gift of a goat.

So for 45 minutes we tried all we could think of. At first we just shooed her away and said, in various languages and with varying degrees of distaste, "Go away, Ms. Goat." She didn't listen. I suspect she understood, but didn't care. Then Fredi tried to trick her by going in a fence and jumping over. But the gaps were too large and she just came right back through with him. She came up to us and rubbed her horns against us and said, "Meh meh," and then when we really ran at her and tried to chase her away she reeled up in the air on her hind legs and seemed ready to attack. Or play. Hard to tell with a goat.

Then I went up the hill and she followed me. I brought her into a field where she nibbled at the grass. I hid behind a big concrete slab. And it worked. It almost worked. She was content, nibbling away at the grass. I remained very still. I looked for a getaway. But it was too late. She raised her snout up in the air and sniffed for me and, sure as sugar, found me before I could escape.

So we did what any responsible citizen would do. We called the cops. First our friend Marcel called and told them, "We have a goat. Help!" And they basically said, "Screw you. It's your problem. So you've got a goat. We have better things to do," in their polite, cute, Swiss way. But truly, they did not have better things to do. This is the tiny capital of a tiny canton in a tiny country. What could they possibly have to do?

Apparently a woman's touch was needed, so Marcel's girlfriend, Nina, called back and suddenly the police arrived. Of course Fredi knew one of the officers. Fredi knows someone everywhere we go in Switzerland. Even Marcel, who lives in Switzerland, agrees with me and says, "Fredi knows everyone."

Fredi and his friend the police officer shook hands and laughed about our goat. Somehow it had been discovered where this particular goat belonged, and we were free to go. We continued on down the hill back home. Meanwhile the police put on their flashing lights and chased our goat back home to where she belonged. What they did with her once they got there, unfortunately, we will never know. But we will never forget our goat.

Bessie

2006-08-13T18:06:00.000-04:00

I'm gonna take a rope and put it over her shoulders and head for the river and practice on boulders. And when she's real good I'm gonna build a big ramp and me and that bovine gonna vacate this camp. Fly now across the hills. Everyone's watching, gonna give them a thrill.

So pound up that ramp, your hooves sound like thunder. I'm Zeus, you're Pegasus. We're a six-legged wonder. It's our key to success; we'll be famous world over. I'll make lots of money and you'll have sweet clover. Fly now across the sky, fetlocks-a-flappin'. It's just you and I.

Bessie part 2

2006-08-13T18:05:00.001-04:00

And I won't tell the airforce about my schemes. I know they'd abuse you for their flying machines. And the farmers will curse me when their cows take off from the fields. No meat for their markets, no milk for thir meals. Fly now across the hills. Everyone's watching, gonna give them a thrill.

So don't let me down, oh, bovine, be risen. Come on, sweet Bessie, be just like my vision. Don't back away Bessie, if you pull I'll push. And we'll weave a nice sine wave up over the bush.

Bessie part 3

2006-08-13T18:01:00.000-04:00

Fly now across the hills fetlocks a-flappin' but you're standing still.

Fly now up in the sky Bessie sweet Bessie it's just you and I

(Lyrics by Issa, better known as Jane Siberry)

Hot Ice Hockey

2006-08-13T17:58:00.000-04:00

How to make hockey more popular in the States, especially with women ...

We didn't need the National Weather Service to tell us this was a tornado!

2006-07-15T23:25:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday afternoon I was having a little lie down. Suddenly I heard a howling and banging noise and some other strange sounds coming from the window that I could not identify. I instinctively moved away from the bedroom window, and then against good sense, but compelled by curiosity, I moved towards the front window of our apartment.

When I looked out to the street through the rattling window, I saw pieces of aluminum siding and tree branches flying through the air, level with our third-floor window and higher, in spiral patterns. I stared for a few seconds, fascinated, and then suddenly it was over. I remember at some point during it all I heard sirens, but not warning sirens as far as I know. I don't even think we have those here.

I got dressed and went downstairs and saw people in our courtyard picking up tree branches. What a wind storm, I thought. Then I walked to the front of the building, where I was able to take in the full picture. The man who works at the pharmacy downstairs was standing outside, along with just about the rest of the town's population, as far as I could tell, and I asked him, foolishly, "Was it a tornado?" "Yeah," he replied, as we all looked around us in disbelief.

The street was filled with people, trees and debris, but the silence was palatable at first. People conversed quietly and soon the sirens started in earnest. The National Weather Service took a day or two to offically decide what we already knew, that this was, indeed, a tornado, and a class F2 tornado with winds up to 125 MPH at that! Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt or killed. We sustained no damage at all to our apartment (thanks, Rockefellers, for ensuring our building was so well constructed with masonry and good workmanship). Here are a couple of the many photos I took.

Tornado in Sleepy Hollow!

2006-07-15T23:15:00.000-04:00

another tornado pic

2006-07-15T23:00:00.001-04:00

The sidewalk in front of our building.

another tornado pic

2006-07-15T23:00:00.000-04:00

Thoughts on Lucy and the Natural World

2006-07-09T03:44:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are some pictures of Lucy. I think she is gone now, as I haven't seen her in a few weeks. I love the photo of her flapping her wings. She is sitting in one of her favorite places, an old tire that would be completely exposed during low tide.

It's so beautiful down by the river, and it makes me think about the natural world around us. I have been thinking a lot about the environment lately and reading about it. I am worried. The current presidential administration is quietly putting into place policies that are going to endanger our environment for generations to come. This is not a partisan issue, so please don't take it that way. And it shouldn't be a partisan issue. It affects everyone in the world.

To me the environment and nuclear proliferation at the two biggest issues affecting us right now. World health and nutrition and terrorism are certainly right up there, but they won't matter one whit if we blow ourselves up or destroy the planet through other means.

But it is not hopeless. There are so many things we can do, if only we would bring this issue more to the forefront of American politics. It would be better if we made this happen sooner rather than the later, because by the time it becomes the only issue it will be too late. I really encourage you to join organizations like the Sierra Club and others that are lobbying for environmental protections. I encourage you to look at your daily life and see what you can do differently to use less and create less waste. Educate yourself.

I do not claim to be anywhere NEAR perfect or even very good in this area, but I am not going to shut my ears to it either. Because for every negative effect we have on the environment, if we put the effort into it, we can make a positive effect to offset the damage we are doing. Better yet, don't make the negative impact to begin with.

For example, I did not know until recently that air travel is a major cause of air pollution, contributing to global warming by creating more greenhouse gases. So people are pledging to reduce less air travel. This feels very difficult to me, because my family is spread out all over. Apparently one round trip international flight can create as much greenhouse gas as a year of driving your car!

I will try to limit my trips if possible. But if I don't, it is not hopeless. I can pledge to offset the carbon emissions caused during my trip by making a donation to organizations that are helping to remove CO2 from the air in many ways, such as planting trees, getting rid of environmentally destructive power sources and more. For more information about this, visit here:

http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/05win/livgreen.asp

2006-07-09T03:43:00.000-04:00

2006-07-09T03:41:00.000-04:00

Lucy is Gone (Alternate Title: Lucy Times 12)

2006-05-14T02:44:00.000-04:00

I do not yet have a picture of Lucy so you get some pictures of my friends' chickens instead. Well, two chickens and one rooster.

I am not sure if you are going to ever get a picture of Lucy, because today when I went down to the Hudson River, she was gone! I was so disappointed, because I had gone to a wild bird seed shop -- a wild bird seed shop! -- to buy some feed for Lucy. I heard you were not supposed to feed them bread. And I did not want to kill Lucy, so it seemed maybe I should get her some other type of food. I read on the internet that you can feed them cracked corn. Wild birds do not eat grain normally but it is okay to supplement their diet with it.

I got a 5-pound bag of cracked corn for only $3.50! But I have not been able to get down to the river for more than a week, and I was feeling guilty and missing Lucy. So I went down there about 5:00 on Saturday. And she was nowhere to be seen. I did not even see my duck friends. I was going to go back but there was a couple having sex in a nearby car (I'm not kidding) and I did not feel like walking by them, so I sat on the dock and waited for Lucy. I waited a while. I threw some corn in the river and saw it does not swim (as Fredi says) but sinks. Oh well.

I wondered if Lucy had found her flock (not likely) or died in the severe storm we had Thursday night(hopefully not likely) or run off with the duck husband (very unlikely) or just left for fairer pastures, so to speak. I guess I will never know.

I saw the duck husband, or a male duck, floating off in the distance by himself. I wondered, "Did Lucy eat the female duck and then die of bloat?"

Oh sorry but you know I do have an active imagination. But after I saw the male duck I looked further out into the river and I saw two duck families with their babies! They were swimming upstream and then headed toward the bay. At least I would get treated to some duck babies. As they got closer I realized through the dusk light that they were goose families! I threw some corn out into the river, forgetting that is doesn't "swim."

Then I walked quickly down near the beach. The goose families kept coming. There were two sets of parents with four babies each. As they got close to the shore one of the parents hissed at me. I sat down to make myself smaller and cautiously throw some corn over the fence onto the beach. I was rewarded when the baby geese (goslings?) came closer and began nibbling away at the corn. They were adorable. They looked like baby ducks, all yellow and fuzzy, but bigger. Not that I have seen many baby ducks, but I would imagine they are not as big as these goslings.

They peeped away -- such a cute sound! The parents were wary of me and hissed some but they got used to me. After a while some fought with each other. I reveled in watching these geese for quite some time. Then I wondered if maybe one of the geese was Lucy. Or Lucas I suppose his name would be, because maybe he was a male goose looking out for his wife while she was nesting. I am not sure if this is true, because Lucy sure seemed to spend a lot of time alone. But I would like to believe one of them is she.

After a while a man and a woman came with their little white dog to the beach. The goose families were scared away but came back after a bit. Later on an older man I've met at the beach before came by. We talked -- or he talked and I listened, because he is quite hard of hearing and I think he hardly heard a word I said. I'm not sure if he had seen me feeding the geese, but he mentioned the millionaires in the new housing development might not like these geese, well, pooping on their property, and it might be a problem if people are feeding them a lot. But right now I don't care. I found Lucy times 12!

Next time I got to bring the camera.

Lucy Goosey

2006-05-02T05:19:00.000-04:00

I'd like to introduce you to my goose, Lucy. She seems to have lost her flock as they migrated to Canada this spring, because she is pretty much all by herself. Except for me and a duck couple that she hangs out with.

I can't say she has befriended the ducks exactly. Originally I thought she had, except that recently she has been giving them a hard time whenever they get some of the bread crumbs I throw. So they just all kind of float around together in a bay, but they do not seem to be friends.

There is not too much I can say for certain about Lucy. I have read up a little on geese since meeting her and it seems either she is mourning her mate, is injured or just somehow got separated from her flock. She does not seem to be injured, although I haven't seen her fly.

Actually I am not even sure that Lucy is a she. Turns out male and female Canadian geese have the same markings. But Lucy seems to fit her. However, most Lucys I know are quite vocal, and my Lucy does not talk at all. I wonder why.

I keep meaning to take a picture of Lucy, and when I do, I will post it here. So in the meantime you can enjoy a picture of my breakfast from February 27th, 2006. Isn't it lovely?

The Demon Kitty of Beekman Avenue

2006-02-14T06:10:00.000-05:00

Just to reiterate, GO SEE THIS SHOW OR SWEENEY WILL COME AND GET YOU! If not, the Demon Kitty of Beekman Avenue will!!!

Woe to Piggybanks Everywhere!

2006-02-14T05:43:00.000-05:00

Watch out, Americans. You are about to be ripped off, if you haven't been already. We have been working our butts off to get on top of things financially. Finally we pay our bills on time, put away a little extra to feed the piggy, we're on top of things. We plan to pay off our credit cards entirely in the next year or two. Not enough, say the Banks. Too bad, say Them. We will screw you over, says The Fine Print.

Now we have an even more urgent reason to pay off our credit cards: Did you know that credit card companies can raise their rates as high as they want, at will, for no reason whatsoever, and there is nothing you can do about it?

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But he put coal in the stockings of all the good girls and boys and gave the gifts to Citibank, Chase and all the other big boys of credit. (Oh, and his name is not Santa Claus, it's Uncle Sam).

Chase Manhattan (or are they just "Chase" now? WHATEVER) decided, just because they wanted to, to raise our rate to 29.99 percent! "29.99 percent?" you ask. "That's outrageous," you say. "You must have been late on payments or something."

No, no. We never were late. Not once. Not by 5 minutes. And they told us this. They also told us they raised our rate because we used most of our credit with them. Not that we went OVER the credit limit. No, we did not do that. Just used "most" of it. And they said we could either close the account and pay it off immediately or, well, too bad, you get to pay six times the interest you were just paying.

You think, "Just transfer the balance to another card." The trouble with this scenario, kids, is that zero percent and low interest rates on cards are getting harder to come by, for everyone, not just us. If it hasn't hit you yet, just wait. Our total credit cards are NOT a lot. They are about 1/20th of our annual income if that helps you figure it out. So it is not like we are using a ton of credit.

So why did Chase single us out? Because they could.

So watch out Piggy. Rip offs and scams courtesy of states like South Dakota and Delaware are coming to a mail box near you. Read the fine print. Pay off your bills as soon as you can. And boycott the banks, especially the biggies that are these rip-off artists. We certainly will never be doing business with Chase in any way again. I won't even withdraw money from their ATMs even if I have to walk ten blocks out of the way in the cold to avoid it.

And now for something completely different:

GO SEE SWEENEY TODD. YOU MUST. DO IT. GO NOW. BUY THE TICKETS AND GO. OR SWEENEY WILL GET YOU! (Theatermania has some great offers but it's even worth full price if you can pay it). But don't put it on your credit card! Pay with debit or go to the box office and pay cash. : ) I mean it!

Christmas Cheer!

2005-12-20T03:51:00.000-05:00

I hope the photographer of this picture does not mind me posting this (Jean, if you want me to take it down, let me know!) but I had to write about this great company that I found.

My original thoughts for this entire blog were to write about all of the outrageously horrible customer service experiences I have had through the years, which seem to keep getting more outrageous as time goes by. I will never forget when the H&R Block rep deleted our entire tax return from their system, completely out of spite (and I have the online chat records to prove it) on April 13. That was only the beginning of a nightmarish descent into Tax Hell.

I really do think the bigger a company gets, the less it cares about its customers and the worse the customer service is. Today I encountered a extraordinary example of superior customer service by a small company that also cares about causes I believe in.

I was looking for a last-minute Christmas addition for my sister and I went on Google looking for a specific item, which cannot yet be revealed or my sister might see what she is getting. I kept looking for a site that would gift wrap an item and not charge me up the hoohah for it.

I finally came across White Rabbit Beauty. Gift wrapping is free, and special gift wrapping was only $2.95. You could even select which wrapping paper you wanted from some photos. Then at check-out I was given the opportunity to select which animal welfare organization I wanted part of my purchase to go towards!

Not only that, but the next day I got a phone call from Jean at White Rabbit who wanted to know if I'd like to upgrade my shipping, because they could not guarantee my order would arrive by Christmas. She also e-mailed me to follow up. I declined the upgrade (sorry, Sara, your gift might come late, just like the Three Wise Men, so that's okay!).

Tonight after shipping the package, Jean e-mailed me a kind note along with -- get this -- a JPEG of the package they wrapped! What? Who has ever heard of this kind of service? Unreal. In a good way. Look how BEE-U-T-FULL the package is, too! Ain't it purty?

White Rabbit carries only cruelty-free beauty products, many of which I use and are outstanding products. You can get free samples with your order, and a free wallet guide to cruelty-free personal care brands. This is a great guide, which I have already.

You would be surprised how many companies do cruel testing on animals while at the same time pleased to find out how many of your favorites do not test on animals. Mary Kay and Clinique are among those who do not test.

I've been asking the women at the Clinique counter for a while why their products do not say non-comedogenic (meaning does not cause big, honking zits by clogging your pores). No one had any idea what I was talking about. I recently found out it is because the comedogenicity testing includes animals! Reluctantly I am going to have to stop using Neutrogena, who does test on animals and hence can say their products are non-comedogenic. Hey, Clinique, teach your reps to tout that you can't say you are non-comedogenic because YOU DO NOT TEST ON ANIMALS.

But my point is, small business rules. Next time you want to send some great beauty products to yourself or as a gift, visit the folks at White Rabbit and give them some love. This helped me today, as I need some Christmas cheer while the first NYC transit strike in 25 years goes on.

Peace out.

I'd Strike, Too, But No One Would Care

2005-12-19T17:59:00.000-05:00

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm going to write. It's just a test to see how often Fredi reads my blog, because once he sees this picture he will want me to take it off of here right away! But it is so cute, isn't it?

My rant for the month is about striking transit workers. I support the efforts of all workers to make a decent wage and get the benefits they need. But I do not support the impending strike by the NY transit workers. These workers all make well over 10K more than I do a year, including those in unskilled jobs, such as, well, picking up the garbage on the subway. They get paid health care, sick days, vacation, holidays and pension (I do not).

My jobs are highly skilled, and I get paid near the top of my field on an hourly basis for both of them. But I pay for most of my health care, have no paid sick days or vacation days or holidays, contribute to my 401K plan with a small matching amount from my employer, and it's very unlikely I will be able to retire. The transit workers want early retirement with full benefits on top of everything else and a 9 percent raise every year. I'll be lucky if I can ever retire at all, and I think I have gotten a raise once in 11 years and it wasn't anywhere close to 9 percent.

So what is the main reason people will care when the transit workers strike and no one will care if I do? The difference is the public completely relies on them. It is going to be a disaster when they strike tonight, which I believe they will. Up until today I thought I would be able to travel to one of my jobs, which is in Manhattan right near Grand Central Station. But now the train workers where I live have announced they will strike in solidarity with the TWU, which means it would be nearly impossible for me to get to work at all unless I drive back and forth in the middle of the night or live in the office (which I may do). Wonderful.

So these people are going to take away my livelihood and hold us all hostage. By the way, I don't get paid if I don't show up to work. I believe in the workers' RIGHTS, but something is very WRONG here. By the way, it is illegal for these workers to strike, and there is a very good reason for that. Besides, I think they are well paid and have outstanding benefits, especially in the current work environment.

The original reason unions were formed was because of the horrendous way assembly line workers and other industrial type of workers were being treated. This was an important advance in human rights. But I think the current workers are spoiled and they do not understand how good they have it.

I really pray they do not strike, as it's going to negatively affect literally millions of people just in time for a very Merry Christmas.

Lunch of the Penguins

2005-11-12T23:53:00.000-05:00

Announcing a new contest: Try to guess which one of the following random events did NOT happen in my life in the last month. As an added bonus, just for reading them you get a sense of what a nutty girl I am, how I spend a little too much time watching TV and how easily I'm moved to tears.

1) Sadly, we had no trick-or-treaters, and we had to eat all of the Snickers and Reese's peanut butter cups ourselves.

2) I made it to the train station on foot in the impossible time of eight minutes flat.

3) I cried when the Gaghan Family with the two cute kids got eliminated from The Amazing Race, and then I wrote them a letter after finding their address on the internet.

4) We got a letter from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services notifying us that Fredi's green card interview will be on January 12, 2006.

5) Someone (presumably a hungry teenage girl) stole my three-dollar peanut butter chocolate chip cookie from the VIP area at the Hanson concert.

6) I laughed hysterically when Trump mercilessly fired four people at the same time. I'll tell you, that was funny. If you're not watching The Apprentice and Lost this season, I think you're missing out.

7) I saved a ton of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

8) I won $168,000 in an online poker game. Okay, I'll give you a hint. This one is true. It was play money. Is online gambling legal if it's for real money? I'm not sure and therefore I won't be providing you with more details about my newfound love for taking money from people I don't know.

9) I cried for just about the entire 80 minutes of March of the Penguins. Actually, we could not find parking near the theater and were late, so I cried for about 78 minutes and 17 seconds. If you have not seen this yet, run, don't march to the theater nearest you that is still showing it. You've never seen anything like it.

10) I cried when they sang "Happy Birthday" at Rory Gilmore's 21st birthday party, despite the shameless manipulation of the facts by the producers and writers of the show, because there's no way Rory could have turned 21 as she was only a freshman at Yale last year, which would make her about 18 or 19.

11) The night before Halloween, when Janet was walking towards the castle in the rain while holding the newspaper over her head, the girls in front of me turned around and yelled in shrill voices,"Stop it! Stop it!" when I was hitting them with water from a spray bottle. (Bonus points if you have any idea what I am talking about here) .

Prizes are yet to be determined but will not be of any substantial monetary value.

P.S. Does everyone have things they send in the mail arrive at the destination open and with the contents missing? And does everyone order things from web sites and catalogs only to find out UPS has the package, but it's been broken into and the merchandise is missing? Or is that just me?

A Very Pretty Picture!

2005-10-07T16:38:00.000-04:00

This is a peace offering to make up for my political digressions. Although I feel it's very important for us to be aware of what's going on in society and not be complacent, I realize many people would rather see pretty pictures than read political ramblings from me. So here is a gorgeous picture of my lovely pumpkin, niece, goddaughter, Katie! She's not even two years old yet and look at this little creature! Happy fall!!

Not a Pretty Picture

2005-09-23T03:44:00.000-04:00

I think I've lost most of my blog audience during Hurricane Katrina. Did I get too political? It's just there are so many things going on in this world that are just plain wrong and I can't sit back and watch without saying something, without trying to do something.

I'd probably be a professional activist, except that there are so many causes that come to my attention I can't decide on one. I have a soft spot in my heart for animals, because humans have mercilessly exploited our fellow creatures of the earth. But I haven't yet been able to devote my life to helping animals, because I don't know how to leave behind all of the other causes that are so important to me, particularly health-related organizations, and particularly now when I see the frightening events that are taking place in our society.

America, when are we going to wake up? Is it going to be only when it affects each of us as individuals? We all feel pretty safe until we are the ones who lose our health benefits. And it's going to happen to you. And to you. And before you know it, to you. Trust me on this one. I've educated myself a lot about this, and it's going to happen. Probably sooner rather than later, but count on it to happen in your lifetime unless there is a sea change before then.

As many of you know, over three years ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I was lucky enough to have medical insurance through my company, a small group plan. Today as I write this I do not have insurance. Our insurance company is trying to drop us because we are not profitable. Well, actually, they did drop us, and they're trying to block us from getting reinstated. Why are we not a profitable small group? Because of me and my cancer and my other health costs.

The state I live in, New York State, is one of the best states for the patients in terms of protections, and there are laws against our carrier dropping us for this reason. So hopefully we will fight it and it will be reversed. But if I lived in another state I might have no recourse at all, and everyone at my company would lose out.

So what's the solution here? Drop me out of the plan? Fire me? Put all people with chronic illness in higher risk pools? Or how about not give us the care we need and let us die? That's what's happening to some people in some parts of the country.

Think it can't happen to you? Think again. There are many stories like these, but picture yourself as this woman a few years down the road (this is a true story): A woman worked her whole life for a certain company. She had health insurance. She got diagnosed with breast cancer. She was unable to work during treatment and had to quit her job after using all her vacation and sick days. She lost her health insurance benefits with the job. She paid the COBRA until it ran out in 18 months, and then was not insured at all. Her cancer metastasized. She went through her life savings paying for her treatment in the couple of years after that. Now she has no assets, no job, no insurance and no way to get treatment. Soon she will probably be on Medicaid, but where will that get her? She worked her whole life for this???

Employer-based insurance is the problem. It started out as a solution, but it's a problem now in this country. In Switzerland, where my husband is from, everyone MUST have health insurance, whether you are employed or not. If you can't afford it, the government will help you out. Do they have health care cost problems in Switzerland? Of course. Every country does. But the Swiss have nowhere near to the extent of problems we have here, problems which are leading to the collapse of our health care system.

I'm not exaggerating. When companies such as Starbucks are paying more for the health care of their employees than they are for the raw goods to make coffee, when the average cost of health care for a family for a year exceeds what a minimum-wage earner makes in a year, there is a system collapse in the making.

It seems like it would not work here to have everyone be required to have insurance. But right now most uninsured people in our country get treated where? In the emergency room. Talk about high health care costs. You think it's expensive to see your doctor? Try the emergency room sometime. Try checking into a hospital every time you can't afford your diabetes medications anymore. This is right around the corner, folks. It's already there in the "lower" classes, and it's approaching the middle class and sweeping right up among us. And who is paying for it? The taxpayers.

If everyone were required to be insured, we could actually drive health care costs down. The risk pool would include everyone. Right now who makes up most of the risk pool, particularly the risk pool paid for by the taxpayers? The sick, the elderly, the disabled and the poor. Hmm. Anyone see a mathematical, economic problem with this? We need everyone in the pool to drive the costs down, because right now many healthy people go without insurance because "it's too expensive."

Oh, what, you're healthy and you don't want to pay for my cancer treatment? Fine. Wait until you get sick 10, 15, 25, 40 years from now when you're old and the hospitals are closed and there's no Medicare anymore and your doctor long ago retired and it costs $1,000 to see a doctor anyway, and health care is considered the luxury it is quickly becoming. See what happens to you then. You reap what you sow.

When I was a kid it was assumed we would go to the dentist. Now many people I know, including myself, can't afford to go to the dentist. Besides lack of dental care causing long-term health problems, this is a view of the future of general medicine, not just dentistry. Health care will be for the wealthy.

But that's okay, because TV can solve all our problems. We give away houses on TV, why not health care? We give away plastic surgery, why not health care? Maybe Amy Grant can grant "3 Wishes" to three lucky Americans who get to live because they get sent to MD Anderson or Sloan Kettering, and the other people in the town with illnesses get to watch it on TV from their death beds. Hey, maybe instead of "Extreme Makeover" they'll have "Extreme Health Care" where contestants on the show get to have mammograms and the winner gets treated if she gets diagnosed with breast cancer. The others are sent away to die.

Oh, wait, that's not the future! That's now. The working poor, those who are too poor to own homes and cars, but too "rich" to be on Medicaid or other public "assistance" programs, and too poor to afford medical insurance even though they work for a company that has thousands of stores all over the country, those people? What happens if they get cancer? Nothing. Nothing at all. They're sent away to die. Maybe if they're "lucky" they can enroll in a clinical trial and get "free" treatment. But if that drug company decides to end the study, they're out in the cold again.

So I'm sorry if there's no pretty picture on this blog. I'm sorry if you didn't read this far. It's your loss, because you're going to be blindsided some day. Sooner or later this will affect all of us. Why wait until then?

Here's another story for you:

I first had my taste of this almost 15 years ago when my dad lost his job, and we got this interim insurance. They put a rider on my policy that it would not cover asthma for the first year. After the first year we applied to get the rider removed, but they said, "No, that means you must be symptom-free for a year before we will remove the rider." What person with asthma goes a whole year without medication and without symptoms? If that were the case, you wouldn't have asthma. Yeah, I get it.

So who ended up paying for my health care for my severe asthma? Well, let's see. Me. You. Other taxpayers. And in a small way, even the economy. Because what happened was I got very, very sick and racked up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. Why? Because I could not afford the asthma medications I needed to control my asthma, so I ended up repeatedly in the hospital, for weeks at a time. I had no way to pay these bills, although I tried.

I put some of them on credit cards. The interest rates went up and up and up and I couldn't make the payments anymore, and I was still sick, because I still couldn't afford the medications. Eventually I was completely overwhelmed by debt and poor health, and the hospitals took write-offs on the bills I couldn't pay (so you and other taxpayers paid for those bills) and then eventually I had to declare bankruptcy for the tens of thousands of dollars I'd put on credit cards to pay my medical bills, so the economy paid, because those debts went unpaid.

Not what I intended to do. But then again, I was only 21 years old. And even if I was older and wiser, what could I have done differently? What should I have done differently?

To put it another way, think of all of the thousands upon thousands of dollars that would not have needed to be spent on hospitalization in the first place if I had an insurance company that actually INSURED me (what a novel concept!) and paid for my asthma medications, which were a nominal cost compared to hospitalization, but prohibitively expensive for a 21-year-old grad student.

Later I found a medical clinic where I could get medications for free or a low copay, and see a doctor for the same. So again, you and the other taxpayers were helping to pay for my medical care. And eventually my boss did the right thing and got medical insurance for the company where I've worked since 1994, and here we are. I am doing "the right thing," working hard at 3 jobs, trying to pay off some debts and save a little change here and there, and paying my medical insurance premiums every month to the tune of a few thousand dollars a year. But guess what? I'm about to be kicked to the curb again, back in the system where this whole big mess started out.

Not a pretty picture.

P.S. Don't be depressed, do something! (Get involved -- I'll try to find some ways for you to do so if you want and post them here). And don't worry, I'm now married and so my husband's company may get to have the happy task of insuring me with their shitty policy with the ridiculously high deductible and then I'll again have insurance -- after having screwed all my coworkers out of theirs because I got cancer. Nice, huh?

At a loss

2005-09-02T03:17:00.000-04:00

I'm at such a loss to understand any of what has gone on in our country over this past week. The director of FEMA has blamed the tragedy on the victims, saying there was a mandatory evacuation and they should have left. His ignorance and refusal to see what is in front of his face is not unique, but it is appalling. Most of the people did not leave because they did not have the means to leave. New Orleans had a 30 percent poverty rate before the hurricane. Those people needed to wait until payday on Friday to have some cash to get out of town.

The lack of humanity from our government should not be shocking, but it is. No one is getting help to these people, and when "help" does come, it's in the form of armed National Guardsmen patrolling, rather than Red Cross or FEMA people with food and water. The looting has gotten worse, yes. But why? Because people are dying of starvation, of thirst, of lack of medication. Yes, there are some who are violent, some who have gone outside the bounds of rational behavior and stolen things like big screen TVs. But why focus on them? Stay out of their way. Is this really so important in the overall scheme of things? Get the victims out, get them to safety, get them water and food. And for God's sake, why not let them take their cherished pets with them?

It's so heartbreaking and so beyond belief. I'm at a complete loss. I'm so angry and disappointed in our government and "disaster relief system." I know there are many volunteers who are trying to help, who are trying to do the right thing. But there is such disorganization, such chaos, such a focus on policing and military efforts, that the whole idea of a rescue operation has gotten lost.

Every time I see an official on TV, they basically say "It's not as bad as it looks." This is crap and we are being lied to. It's worse than it looks. Make no mistake. My worse nightmares haven't come close to what is going on down there.

I can't help but compare this to 9/11, but the comparisons are very few. It's more of a contrast. On 9/11 and in the time after I saw extraordinary acts of kindness and compassion, of hundreds of firefighters and police officers giving their lives for others. Today I hear of police in New Orleans turning in their badges and running away. On 9/11 we watched as an enemy attacked and tried to show us the worst of this world, and as New Yorkers we came together. This week Mother Nature has shown us some terrible things, but the enemy is ourselves.

The governor of Louisiana holds a press conference to demand an apology from the House Speaker. Why did she have time to do this? Didn't she have more important things to do? Besides, the speaker's comments to my hometown paper did make a bit of sense. A city below sea level in the a time of global warming really does not seem like a good idea.

Rudy Guiliani spent 9/11 on more important tasks than reading reports from other places and demanding apologies. He stood up and took command. Perhaps that's the problem here. There's no one in charge. The closest thing we've got to that is Air Force One flying overhead and looking down at the predominantly black, poor people below and saying, "We'll get aid to you. Some time. In the next, er, few days or, er, week, or whenever we can get there."

Shame on us.

The Animals Need Our Help, Too

2005-09-01T19:52:00.000-04:00

Please don't forget about the animals in Katrina's wake. The good news is there are organizations helping, and if you donate to them you can make a real difference in this effort. I recommend Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and Noah's Wish.

Update on Amanda

2005-09-01T18:01:00.000-04:00

Here is an update on the woman I am trying to help. She is separated from her family in a woman's shelter in Baton Rouge, LA. I am not clear on the circumstances that led her to be in a woman's shelter and not with her husband, but it seemed she had no place to go and that was her only choice.

I was able to text message her grandfather who called me back. He's in a hotel and lost everything. I text messaged her parents but I do not know if they were able to get the messages.

Amanda is diabetic and feeling very down and depressed. She is trying to find her husband, Felix Shelton, Jr., his father Felix Shelton, Sr., who is in a wheelchair and has MS, and Felix's mother Kathleen Shelton. I have not had any luck but hopefully I will be able to help her locate them. They're from Chalmette, which from all reports was hit very hard.

I plan to help her find where the rest of her family is and help to find a place for her to stay if I can. Her parents may be headed for a shelter in Huntsville, Texas. Once she is somewhere where help can be sent, I plan to help her with supplies, clothing, cash, whatever is needed. I will need lots of help with this as I already feel a bit overwhelmed and there's no way I can do it alone. Luckily several individuals have already stepped up, but more will be needed.

Giving to relief organizations is very important, but you can also help directly if you want to join me in my project.

Thanks.

Katrina Help

2005-09-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

If you'd like to help me help someone affected by Katrina, let me know. I am going to try to help a woman named Amanda in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, get through her rebuilding time. Currently I am trying to help her contact her family and let them know she is okay and to find her husband for her.

Post a comment her or e-mail me directly if you know my e-mail if you'd like to help. I figure if we each help at least one person we can help everyone get through this absolutely horrific time.

Lori

Where My Feet Would Rather Be ...

2005-08-30T20:54:00.000-04:00

Here ...

2005-08-30T20:53:00.001-04:00

Or here ...

2005-08-30T20:53:00.000-04:00

Or definitely here ...

I'm a bit nutty

2005-08-13T19:32:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since before this picture was taken at a Cubs game almost two months ago! But we've been having a very busy summer, and I am a summer gal so I like to soak up every minute of it. If you don't know me well enough already, I'm a bit of a nut. But come on, people, just because the Cubs are losing 15-0 doesn't mean you can't get up to do the YMCA!

The kid behind me in the blue shirt has got the idea. Besides, right after this the Cubs rallied to score five runs. I know my dance must have inspired them. That's my dad, lifelong Cubs fan, on the left, and my brother-in-law Dan and niece Katie on the right.

Since our whirlwind trip to the Chicago area in June we have traveled neither very far nor very wide, but next Monday we'll be leaving to spend the better part of a week in Stevensville, Michigan with my mom, dad, Sara, Dan and Katie.

I've had trouble keeping in touch with long distance friends lately (including those as "long distance" as Manhattan!) so I hope you'll forgive me. There have been some ups and downs.

On the down side, in May, three years after my diagnosis, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully she is stage I, her cancer was low grade and not aggressive, and she will not need to endure chemotherapy. She's almost finished with radiation and will get to relax on the beach in Michigan soon.

On the up side, Fredi has a new nephew, Hugo Allan! He's a real cutie and I'll post a picture when I get a chance. We are still waiting for news about Fredi's green card interview, so it may be longer than we'd like before we get to meet our baby nephew in person as he's overseas in Switzerland.

I turned 36 on July 21st, and to celebrate, Fredi and I went to a water park in Long Island called Splish Splash and acted half our age. Fredi turns 36 next week on the 22nd of August! He'll be spending a breathtaking, exhilirating birthday driving 750 miles in the car to get to Michigan. I think I'll take him out for a special birthday lunch at Bob Evans in Youngstown, Ohio. (Seriously! I love that place and we don't have them here.)

For our 2nd wedding anniversary, which was on August 9th, we went to a Yankees-White Sox game. Luckily we went the day before our anniversary to see the Yanks actually beat the White Sox 3-2 in a nailbiter. I got to see my favorite pitcher, Mike Mussina, better known as MOOOOOOOSE, and we were treated to a stellar performance by the greatest closer in the history of baseball, Mariano Rivera. At the game the next night, on our actual anniversary, a teenage kid jumped off the upper deck into the net behind home plate on a dare, and George Steinbrenner reportedly said it was the most exciting thing that happened in the 2-1 loss to Chicago.

I've probably spent less time traveling this year to see friends because I've been spending every chance I get with Katie. The great thing is now she knows who I am and we talk on the phone and sometimes over the Internet with the web cam. The other day she even had a whole pretend conversation with me on her play phone. She's super smart, and I am not biased at all to say she's quite advanced for her age. She knows a ton of words for all of her 20 months, and for a few months now she has known our names, which are "Wauwi" and "Fedi." It's a bit sad each time we have to say goodbye to her. Recently she had on a bracelet we gave her as a gift, and she pointed to it and said, "Wauwi. Bye-bye."

So bye-bye to you from Wauwi for now.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Shoes

2005-06-13T00:35:00.000-04:00

This is one place my feet will not be too many times in the coming week -- resting. And I don't suppose they'll be on a rock anywhere either but who knows. We're on our way for a family trip and it's going to be a busy one, most likely not very relaxing, and not a true vacation. Fredi wants to see Star Wars and I want to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants this week but I told him, "There's no time! We have every minute of every day scheduled including 7.6 hours of sleep and 21.7 minutes for meal times!"

Yes, I do have other pairs of pants and other shoes, but hey, I like these shoes and these jeans. I think the idea of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants would be much funnier if a pair of SHOES traveled around to the different friends throughout the summer, don't you? Okay, maybe not.

What I would like to do is send my shoes or pants or some part of me to the five different places I want be next weekend. I will be in the most important place, with family at my grandmother's 89 and a half birthday party in Illinois! But there are a few other places I'd like to be simultaneously, including, in no particular order: the Cubs first visit to Yankee Stadium since the 1938 World Series, the Indianapolis Formula One Grand Prix, the St. Louis Race for the Cure with my Sisters in Survivorship, and a friends' 50th birthday celebration.

I tried to talk to the Mr. Steinbrenner about rescheduling the upcoming Cubs-Yanks series, especially since there won't be another Cubs-Yankees series in New York for four years, unless they're in the World Series playing each other (be still my heart), but his schedule is a little full right now trying to figure out who to fire. Maybe a reality series will come out of this, a combination of the hilarious "Fire Me, Please!" and "The Apprentice," with contestants competing for Joe Torre's job while he tries to get fired before 3 p.m. each game day, and Donald Trump and Mayor Michael Blooomberg can guest star on an episode with contestants vying to see who can tear down Yankee Stadium and build a new stadium in Manhattan first.

Since I can't be five places at once, I will definitely be feeling very torn up next weekend during all the festivities. I should have sent gnome copies of myself around to each location and asked someone to take a picture of my gnome visiting each location. Darn. Why didn't I think of that before?

Well, all I can say is, Lisa, nothing personal, but I really want it to pour rain all three days next weekend so I have another chance somehow to see my adored Cubs tear apart my beloved Yankees in the Bronx this season. (Lisa has tickets to all three games ... grrr. And she doesn't even live here! She lives in Texas! Harrumph.)

Ladies, have a great time in St. Lou, Happy Birthday Chris although you will never read this, and ciao ciao for now now.

Amazing Airborne Alex

2005-06-12T03:42:00.000-04:00

Here he is! The winner of the Belmont Stakes! Hooray! I love these pictures of him, all four legs off the ground as if he's flying. He is flying. It's amazing and Afleet Alex is inspiring. Yay for Alex and for Alex's Lemonade Stand!

Smitten by A Horse

2005-06-10T04:52:00.000-04:00

I'm smitten by a horse. It seems crazy, I know. But I love this horse. I'm in love with this horse. The horse is Afleet Alex, and the trouble is Alex is a racehorse. I don't even like horse racing.

You're more likely to see me out protesting at animal circuses with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or the Animal Protection Institute than cheering on horses from the side of the track. I love horses and all animals, and I don't like any sport or any kind of entertainment that exploits animals (I also don't like gambling so much).

So why I am cheering for Alex to win on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes? I simply can't help it.

I first heard about Afleet Alex on the web site of Alex Scott, my tiny heroine (see previous post). As you may know, Alex founded Alex's Lemonade Stand and has raised over a million dollars for pediatric cancer foundations. Sadly, Alex passed away last year at the age of eight of neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer. But her lemonade stands and her spirit live on, and Afleet Alex is helping to raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stands through merchandise sales and even a percentage of his winnings.

There are so many reasons to love Afleet Alex. Just look at him. He is simply gorgeous. I can't take my eyes off of him. He's in the air in this picture! He only had a ten percent chance of surviving after birth when his mother couldn't nurse him, yet he thrived. He is a survivor, and that inspires me and many other cancer survivors.

He's also a fighter, and a champion. A few weeks ago at the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown (he came in third in the Kentucky Derby), he fell TO HIS KNEES during a collision with another horse, but recovered to win the two-minute race. Two seconds of that video and I was head over heels. As much as I hate to say it, this horse loves to race and to win. And he looks beautiful doing it.

There are now Alex's Lemonade Stands set up at the tracks when Afleet Alex races, and this weekend coinciding with the Belmont Stakes there will be Alex's Lemonade Stands all over the country, check HERE for a location near you.

There's a great article in USA Today about Alex, and if you read it, read more about Alex on his web site, and check out Alex in the Belmont on Saturday, you may just become smitten, too. With a horse. In the meantime I will be silently cheering Alex on. There's just something special about that horse.

Roses for Lori

2005-06-07T02:56:00.000-04:00

Roses for Lori -- these pink ribbon roses are in memory of another Lori, a Lori whom I never had the honor to meet. I came across her web site and now I keep thinking of her and her family. Lori's husband Keith and her twin sister Kelly are raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in memory of Lori. I hope you will visit her site and read her story. It's a sad one that's produced a wellspring of tears from me, but Lori's sunshine and joy shine through her memory.

If Laura, the winner of the contest, doesn't mind, I am going to donate Laura's prize to the 1st Annual Lori Lenfert Tilton Memorial Bike Ride. (Laura, let me know, as the charity is your choice!) I'm honestly even thinking of going on the ride, which seems like a crazy idea as it's in Southern Indiana, but a seed has been planted in my head and we'll see how the summer pans out.

Lori, you are very much missed and I'm sorry we never had the chance to meet in this lifetime. These roses are for you.

They Look Cuter in Shoes

2005-06-01T04:39:00.000-04:00

The picture of my feet that started it all. (#1 of a series). Taken at the aforementioned Cinco de Mayo bash.

Stella!

2005-06-01T04:37:00.000-04:00

This is from Julia's 3rd semiannual Cinco de Mayo bash! A lovely sleeping dog next to a plate of Snickerhoohas. That's some party! Stella! Not even chocolate could lure you awake.

New Contest Announced : No Fountain This Time

2005-06-01T04:21:00.000-04:00

It only seems like I've been all work and no play the past few weeks. Although I do not remember the last time I took a day off (including weekends), at least we are finding some time for recreation, particularly on Sundays. Since Fredi and I both have Sundays "off" in a loose use of the word, we have been scheduling visits with friends.

Over Memorial Day weekend we got to visit our friend Jack (the dog) and his family. For those of you who do not recognize Jack, he is the proud dog of the family of Kim, Tim, Spence and baby Holden in Connecticut. Connecticut only seems far away. On a day with no traffic on I-95 it's under two hours to their house. I stress, "on a day with no traffic on I-95." Luckily Sunday was such a day!

If you'd like to enter the newest blog contest, "Spend a Sunday with Fredi and Lori and Lori's Feet" please send a 3x5 e-mail to lori@truelori.com, including name, number in your party, date of birth, credit card numbers including security code, social security number, blood type, ring size and your preference for canine or feline. Phone call entries will not be accepted. Snail mail entries may receive preference.

Be sure to indicate the Sundays you are available for the next two years, and the approximate driving time (driving distances will not be accepted) from our house to yours under favorable traffic conditions. Offers of delicious burgers, especially garden burgers; yummy pasta, with apple sausage and broccoli; amazing handcrafted desserts such as trifles and cheesecake and homemade potato salad with extra mayonnaise will be duly considered.

There is no deadline for this contest. Winners will be announced on an ongoing basis. Photographs of my feet at your residence and/or members of your family(especially those of the canine or feline variety) may appear on this blog. Those wishing to travel to Sleepy Hollow may enter this contest at your own risk and travel expenses.

Winners will be selected at the sole discretion of the judges based on our availability, your proximity, familial relationship and, frankly, how much we love you. Those whose awards are deferred to a later date should not assume we love you less. Ministers being ordained, grandmothers celebrating 89.5 birthdays, Democrats, musicians, parents of young, cute children, dog owners and cats recently neutered may have a higher chance of winning.

The contest winner of the fountain has not yet claimed her prize. It has not been made clear whether she wants the fountain or the donation to charity. Both prizes are still available and will be awarded at a moment's notice.

Inside My Tortured Heart

2005-05-21T19:46:00.000-04:00

On June 17th, 2005 history will be taking place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. I live 21 miles away from the stadium. Where will I be on June 17th? In a tiny Swiss American town in Wisconsin called New Glarus. Why? Oh, why torture myself this way?

Contest Winner Announced

2005-05-21T19:39:00.000-04:00

We have a winner! It's not the fountain. And it's not me. The batteries died some time in the early morning after I went to bed.

LAURA is the big winner because she is the only one who entered! Congratulations, Laura! You won the fountain contest. Laura, please make your selection between a fountain that lasts for only a few days on two Duracell AA batteries or a donation to the charity in your choice in double the amount of the cost of the fountain.

It will be easy to come up with the money because I'll be returning the 2 fountains to Walgreens this week unless Laura wants one of them. Surprisingly, it is very soothing and does not make you feel like you have to pee all of the time.

The thing is, I really LOVE the fountain. But I can't afford batteries every 2-3 days for the thing.

Congratulations to Laura! Woe to me and the fountain with the appetite for batteries! Someone at CVS told me their CVS batteries last longer than the brand name batteries. Maybe I should test out their theory. I really hate to get rid of the fountain.

Unsere Nichte/Our Niece

2005-05-20T03:55:00.000-04:00

This is Pierre and Celia's younger daughter, our niece and Fredi's goddaughter, Tamara. Sooo cute!! She and Deborah were our flower girls. Another Meli is on the way in July as Celia is pregnant. We can't wait to meet the newest arrival, hopefully we will hear from immigration soon.

Lovely Mom and Daughter

2005-05-20T03:40:00.000-04:00

This is my sister-in-law, Celia and our niece Tamara, who live in Switzerland. Aren't they gorgeous? You can read more about them at www.meli.cc. We miss them!! We haven't been able to see them since 2003 because we're waiting for our immigration interview and Fredi's kind of stuck here in the meantime.

So I could use a pedicure ....

2005-05-20T03:32:00.000-04:00

Fredi thinks my feet are ugly! Harrumph. They are not my most attractive feature, I agree. But I've seen some ugly feet in my day and I don't think mine qualify. My feet are back under the desk for typing now but they were in this position at some point during the last 24 hours, which is a good thing.

Money Cat & Co.

2005-05-20T03:30:00.000-04:00

These are Mr. Money Cat's two best friends, Piggie and Yellow Cat. Piggie and Yellow Cat were adopted by me when I bought my used Mazda MX-6 in 1999 and they were stuck on the dashboard. The previous owner abandoned them there!! Along with my friend Matthias, Piggie and Yellow Cat survived a near brush with death when my car was, sadly, totaled, in 2001. (See the scar on Yellow Cat's head?) I love these guys!

Mr. Money Cat

2005-05-20T03:26:00.000-04:00

This is my lucky cat, Mr. Money Cat! He is good luck and hopefully will keep bringing me more work, money and good fortune. Too bad he cannot actually do the work for me. Mr. Money Cat has a twin who is on my desk at the office.

Ahh!

2005-05-19T06:21:00.000-04:00

My tranquility fountain! I always wanted one of these. This one was affordable. At least affordable before the cost of the batteries. It's cordless! Neat-O.

We will see how long the batteries last. I'll be sponsoring a contest -- whoever can guess how long the batteries last (two AAs) wins one of these fountains or double the cash equivalent donated in your name to the charity of your choice (okay, the fountain was cheap; thank you, Walgreens). Post your guesses in the comments section with the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds that you guess the batteries in this fountain will last, starting now. Alternatively you can post the date and time you think it will stop running.

Here's the tricky part -- I would love for the sake of science to run the darn thing 24 hours a day, but my cat might destroy it or drink all the water when I'm not here, and hey, batteries are expensive! So you agree this isn't scientific, and I agree to keep the fountain running as continuously as possible. That shouldn't be difficult, since I will be glued to this desk transcribing for the next few weeks. (See previous post.)

Ahh! I feel so tranquil already.

Working Feet

2005-05-19T06:20:00.000-04:00

This is why I am eating what I am eating right now.

And this photograph is number 4 of my new series. Working title: "My Feet." Is that too obvious? So it's a working title. Hey, "Return of the Jedi" was originally "Revenge of the Jedi." So I will call this series "My Feet." It's about the photos in any case, not the title of the series. Coming soon to a fine art gallery near you.

This is where my feet are right now. I should just glue them there because that's where they will be for the foreseeable future. For those not on the "inside", as we call it in "the business," the pedals on the right are foot pedals for transcription. One is hooked up to a transcription machine and one to my computer so I can transcribe digital files. How cool is that?

Due to a lot of hard work and a lucky cat I'll call "Mr. Money Cat," the work has been pouring in lately. Do I need sleep? No. Just a tranquility fountain!

Darn, I wish these blogs were in actual chronological order instead of reverse chronological order. My through line is getting all messed up. Okay, just pretend you are watching that movie Memento where everything takes place backwards. And please scroll down to the bottom because it's my favorite post and I want everyone to see it.

Sorry I haven't posted lately. My feet have been glued to these pedals. Okay, so not really. Actually my feet have been moonlighting as the subjects of my new photography series so they have been quite busy. A pedicure is becoming more and more necessary.

But a lot has gone on in the last couple of weeks, and I will update you all very soon.

Food for Thought

2005-05-19T06:18:00.000-04:00

What I am eating right now.

Schoene Blumen

2005-05-01T22:54:00.000-04:00

My mother-in-law called today to thank us for the flowers. Unfortunately, we didn't send her any flowers. You can read all about it in "No Sleep Makes Lori a Crabby Girl." This is a little postscript for those of you that got through that lengthy post: Both Fredi's mom and his godmother got these flowers (pictured above).

I'm not sure yet whether we paid for two bouquets. We weren't planning on it. After all, the whole reason we used the Swiss flowers site at all was because we wanted to save some money. Fredi's mom, Ruth, was a bit confused because the flowers came to her in my name at their address.

Ruth doesn't read or speak too much English, so she won't be able to read this, and hopefully Fredi's dad will never translate this part! Um, "this part," meaning the fact that we did not actually mean to send her any flowers. Mom, if you're reading this, we had decided not to go with flowers this year for Mother's Day. Fredi's mom got these accidentally. Doh!

In other news, I went to a gym today that didn't have towel service, which made me realize I'm a spoiled Manhattanite. I took a shower anyway after my workout because we were on the way to a birthday barbecue, and I tend to get sweaty in the gym. I used a blow dryer on my hair and body and stole a roll of paper towels out of a cleaning closet to blot myself dry. Worked so well I think this will be my new method for post-workout washing.

Ciao ciao for now.

Get Your Pink Wings Here!

2005-05-01T03:03:00.000-04:00

Melanie, Me, Sedona, Nanette & Courtney

In 2002 when I was going through chemotherapy, I ordered a few small items from a web site called gardenpaper.com. To my surprise, when my order arrived, a check was enclosed for the Race for the Cure, a check in an even greater amount than my order!

Melanie, the owner of Garden Paper, had gone on my web site truelori.com, and she read my story. At the time I was raising money for the NYC Race for the Cure, and Melanie wanted to make a donation towards my fundraising. I was immensely touched by this gesture, and by the heart behind the people at gardenpaper.com. I didn't realize at the time that there were no Garden Paper "people," because Melanie runs it all herself. And I didn't know that Melanie, too, had a story. Her sister Courtney is a two-time survivor of breast cancer, and together they have been fighting breast cancer one order at a time. Courtney is the owner of pinkwings.com.

I never forgot Melanie's gesture and I continued to order little things from the web site from time to time. Finally in February at the Young Survivors Conference in Philadelphia I got to meet Melanie, who remembered me (!), her sister Courtney and their friend Nanette.

Melanie and Courtney give back ten percent of their web site sales to breast cancer walks and organizations, and for special events they give back 20 percent. Best of all, their merchandise is SUPER CUTE and they have designed most of it themselves. My favorite are the pink wings angel pins from Courtney and the new I Care design from Melanie.

A few weeks ago Melanie e-mailed and told me they would be in New York at the Revlon Run/Walk For Women. She was looking for volunteers to help out at their booth. I was excited to help them out, and my relative lack of sleep this past week didn't deter me from getting up this morning, hopping on the Metro-North train and meeting them in Central Park.

I met Melanie, Courtney, Nanette and Courtney's daughter, Sedona, in the park around 9:30 a.m. They'd been there since before 7 a.m. and awake well before that! I had a blast helping them out, but unfortunately it was a pretty darn depressing, rainy, muddy day and although we did a brisk business at times, sales were down because of the weather. Hopefully they made enough so they'll be able to come back next year! In the meantime check out their web sites (listed in the links at the right of my blog) because you might just have to have some of these adorable breast cancer awareness items for you and your friends. The girls generously sent me home with some sweet gifts from their stock, but I'm sure I'll be ordering again soon!

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching husbands with their wives, mothers with daughters, groups of friends, people who walked through mud and on crutches to get to our booth, and seeing how much they want to do something for the battle against cancer and for their loved ones with cancer. And knowing there is only so much they can do and only so many ways they can be there, they showered them lovingly with gifts.

And now for some sleep ....

No Sleep Makes Lori a Crabby Girl

2005-04-29T19:07:00.000-04:00

I haven't slept in over 24 hours. A robot just called me to tell me I can watch the Yankees on Cablevision if I get a new (presumably more expensive) cable box. Or maybe I'm hallucinating and I just hung up on a real person. It sounded like a robot to me, but the robot's name was Judy.

I was going to take a picture of myself in my current state of not having slept in over 24 hours, then I decided I'm too vain. So you get to see another picture of Katie. And me on plenty of sleep. I know I had gotten plenty of sleep at the time because I was taking care of Katie and I was sleeping whenever she slept - 12 hours at night, a 2-hour nap during the day. Otherwise neither one of us would have been smiling in this picture.

I didn't make a conscious decision not to sleep, so I'll blame it on the Swiss florist. Late last night Fredi and I were trying to send flowers to his godmother Elisabeth in Switzerland who is very ill. We wanted to send the flowers from a Swiss site because it seemed to be less expensive that way. We could not get the web site to work properly, so I sent through a dummy message to test it, but with real address information in case that mattered. When it got to the credit card payment page, I simply closed the browser.

When we sent through the correct information it seemed to work and said we would get an e-mail confirmation for our order. We never did. So this morning, very early here, about 10 a.m. in Suisse, I called and spoke with Stefan in a trilingual conservation that made little sense to either of us. What I gathered was he would check on the order and call me back later in the day. When I received no return call from Stefan, I begged Fredi to call because I thought they'd have an easier time communicating.

During their conversation Stefan said he would call Fredi back in a few minutes, but when he did, Fredi was downstairs at the offices of the building management, playing his role in an unrelated episode of "Life's Inconveniences," and I again had to speak with Stefan. Stefan told me in German that the credit card had not gone through and he needed another number. It struck me as strange, because the card we used is an American Express which has no balance and, as far as I understand, no real credit limit either. Besides, how expensive could a get well bouquet be?

Unfortunately Fredi had all of the credit cards with him and so I called Fredi on his cell phone and again begged him to call Stefan. Fredi reluctantly returned to the apartment, called Stefan and gave him the credit card information. Fredi left for work, and apparently all was fine in floral land. Apparently not.

A few minutes later I checked my e-mail and received the confirmation e-mail from the Swiss flower dudes. Just for kicks I clicked on the "view" button to see my order, and I noticed something was horribly wrong. The flowers were not being sent to Elisabeth, but instead to me, at Fredi's parents address in Switzerland. The dummy order I had sent, sans credit card, now was coming back to haunt me.

Fredi could not make an international call from work, so I called from home. This time Stefan was not quite so polite and patient in his nice Swiss-French way. After I struggled valiantly through a couple of sentences, first in chopped baby-French, then in somewhat smoother German, he finally sighed (loudly) and said, in pretty close to perfect English, "Can you speak English? I can't understand a word you are saying."

I think it's resolved now, although I won't know for sure until we see the credit card statement and we hear that our spring bonfire bouquet made it safely to Elisabeth's hospital bedside.

So would I use swissflowers.ch again? Yes, I would. Despite this mildly frustrating experience that gave me enough adrenaline to keep me up all day, I was so relieved that I actually called the number of a company and got the same person each time I called. That's probably because Stefan was the only one working there, or one of two or three, and I love that. I love small business. I love that "on-line chat" was not the "recommended way to contact customer service" and that each time I called Stefan picked up the phone right away. I love that there was no low quality voice recognition technology trying to guess what department I needed to get to or what I wanted, and I love that Stefan spoke no less than three languages.

Most of all, I loved that he put up with my mediocre German the first two times I spoke with him, not letting on until it was absolutely necessary that he couldn't understand me. Fredi graciously said it was because Stefan was Swiss French, and therefore his German wasn't up to snuff. But I know the truth. Anyway, how good could my German be with so little sleep? Note to self: speaking a foreign language well requires rest.

Little Love Bug

2005-04-29T16:58:00.000-04:00

I present to you my niece, Katie. Yes, that's a roller in her hair. No, she never saw anyone wearing one before she stuck it on her head. Well, what else would it be used for?

My Tiny Heroine

2005-04-29T16:35:00.000-04:00

If you ever feel like weeping uncontrollably but want to remind yourself that there is hope for humanity after all, take a visit to this web site and read about Alex Scott, my tiny heroine.

http://www.alexslemonade.com/

Especially read this:

http://www.alexslemonade.com/aboutthestand.php

Toilet Paper for a Cause

2005-04-29T14:30:00.000-04:00

I want this bag. But I don't want to buy Quilted Northern toilet tissue. So I can't get the bag. Unless YOU buy Quilted Northern toilet tissue and send me the receipt so I can send them 15 bucks and get this bag. At least five bucks from every bag goes to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. What do you say? Can you buy Quilted Northern toilet tissue and send me the receipt? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top?

Has Anyone Seen These People?

2005-04-29T13:51:00.000-04:00

This is not me. In fact, I don't even know who these people are. The last time I used Walgreens photo finishing to develop my photos, I got this picture along with my own photos. My husband wants me to throw it in the trash, but I like it. If this is you in the picture, e-mail me. I'd love to hear from you. If you know these people, tell 'em "Hey" for me. I'm never going to Walgreens for photo developing again. What if they gave those topless pictures of me on the rock by the lake in Portugal to someone else?