I love the internet. It allows for the discovery of so many things you would never find or learn about otherwise. Despite my occasional lapse into Luddite musings on "what am I going to do to support myself when Civilization collapses a la 'The Road'," and "I really do need to acquire a farm and learn how to live off it exclusively," and "I wonder if I could get the Amish to adopt me," I am entirely addicted to the convenience of looking up whatever I find interesting on the spot.This has lead to any number of UK-based entertainments, and massive quantities of historical tidbits. A week or so ago, I downloaded a BBC Radio show for my iPod, "Friday Night Comedy with Sandy Toksvig" and heard the voice of someone named Sue Perkins, who was hysterically funny. So I Wiki-d her name, and discovered a TV show she had made last year called "Supersizers Go..."
Hop over to YouTube, and I found entire episodes in 10-minute chunks. The show's premise is this: Sue and restaurant critic Giles Coren live for a week as people would in a particular time period, and eat the food of that period exclusively. They dress in the styles of the period, live in a period house, and generally do the activities and pursuits of the time as well. What adds an additional dimension of scientific interest is the fact that they go to the doctor for a checkup before and after, to see how the diet effects their health.
This is endlessly entertaining. I love history most of all in the context of how a society lives day to day... what they read, what they listen to, how they dress, what they eat. This show is NOTHING but social history, and hilariously presented at the same time; not in the "let's do an amusing show to teach children about history!" style, but because Giles and Sue are both such inventive and amusing people, their responses to some of the more appalling foods and activities is laugh-out-loud funny.
I think I've managed to watch all of the episodes, although the first one I saw, "Elizabethan," was such an eye opener, that it has given me an overarching impression for the rest of the series: Thank God we can eat vegetables. It has profoundly affected the way I regard my daily diet, and I hope will also prompt me to make some significant reductions in the junk that I typically eat.
Now, of course, I have moved on to reading Giles Coren's columns in The Times, and although I think he needs to soften his aggressiveness a bit at times, I'm still rather charmed by the memory of how well he looks in Mr. Darcy's coat and attire, and how even in a Restoration wig or Brillcremed hair (1950s) he looks entirely at home in any period. And his habit of affectionately calling Sue "My dear" (she typically played his wife, in a rather sisterly manner) is quite appealing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Supersizers...
Dear Mike,
Long time no... um... see? Doesn't really apply when we don't really talk on the phone (maybe once a year?), haven't actually seen each other in 20 years (that trip to Japan was exactly 20 years ago last month!) and don't really email each other unless I'm pestering you with a computer question. Yet I feel like I have a decent grasp on what's going on in your life through your blog and Facebook and stuff like that... you have three kids (Sarah, Jay, and Lily) your wife is Stefanie and you still live in MI and work at UMich. And you paint models. I can't really say that much about any of the people I went to high school with, and only one person I went to college with, and that's because I actually see him on a weekly basis!
So is this the typical friendship of the 21st century? We wrote a ton of letters about anime and manga (BTW have you seen Ponyo yet?), met only twice in our lives, and yet we've actually managed to keep track of each other and have a fairly good idea of what's going on with each other and I can confidently send you a prayer request on occasion. That's pretty amazing when you think about it!
And what's more strange is that you are actually one of the few constants in my life! I stayed in the Nashville area for college and career, while most everyone else left or drifted away... and a guy in Michigan is actually a more faithful friend than 99% of them! You are still "Mike in MI" in my own personal mental shorthand after 2 decades.
This is neat. Really, really neat.
Anyway, hope you've had a good summer... it was really a surprisingly mild summer here in TN; July was in the 70s for most of the month, which is wildly unusual and made me a much happier person, especially because I didn't have much work and could actually relax a bit after 9 ridiculously busy months. Business is strong (thank God!) and although there are times I would like to tell people to stop calling me because I'm feeling overwhelmed, it doesn't actually happen that much. Personal achievements: - Won Best-in-Show for my needlework sampler at the Williamson County Fair (winning through sheer mass rather than genuine quality, I suspect; the thing is about 4 feet long and took me over 2 years to complete)
- Completed a "season" with the newly-formed Chamber Singers group at my church - we prepared songs for 2 Sundays a month for 8 months and did a full concert at the end of May. We start up again tomorrow!
- Paid off the last of my student loans
- Made an offer on a house (short sale; will take months to find out if I get it, stupid banks!)
- Actually managed to exercise occasionally for the last 2 months
- Decided I actually prefer the spinster life that stretches out before me... which lasted for all of 5 minutes until an absolute baby showed up in our office with an engagement ring. Fought my way back with the reminder that I do not have to buy clothes for a guy, nor pick up children from soccer.
- Went to the beach with a friend for the first time in... ever. I've only ever been with family or by myself.
OK, time for your list back! Sincerely, Susan in TN
I am SO pleased at how well this turned out! I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I sort of winged it; although I did find some amazing pictures of similar projects online that helped me figure out how to do the eyes.
You know, as a chronic hypochondriac, fear of illness is a regular companion of mine. It was made more complicated in my youth, when I was so fearful of doctors and needles that I would think I might have appendicitis... but was too scared to go get it checked out. It made for many fearful days. I eventually got over the worst of my fears and have had blood work and various shots in the last decade with minor angst.4 years ago, I lost my job at William Morris, and went on COBRA for 18 (very expensive) months. Now as a self-employed computer technician, I have been uninsured for 2.5 years, and have only a small healthcare cushion in the form of Christian Healthcare Ministries; it doesn't cover much, but does serve as protection against a Worst Case Scenario of cancer or a car wreck. Most of the big expenses will be covered. Because I am overweight and take prozac, I can't even get insurance companies to respond to my application without requiring ridiculously high premiums, so I am grateful for this small shield.
In the midst of the current wildfire over healthcare reform, I am one of those who is personally concerned with the outcome. It is the difference between being able to go to the doctor when I have a bad fall and twist my knee, and sitting at home with an ice pack and ibuprofin and praying that it's nothing serious. That's fear. And in every news story, every debate on the virtues and failings of both the current American system and socialized medicine, the rage and the unwillingness to concede a single point is just that: fear. We are terrified of being helpless.
I hear an interview on the radio with a young woman who developed cancer and had no insurance and the horrors she endured as a result, and my instinctive response is to get a full-time job at Starbucks so I can have insurance.
I hear stories from Canada and the UK and Europe about people who had to wait months for an appointment and received critical care too late, and my instinctive response is to call my congresspersons and beg them to stop the proposed reform.
I hear nothing but fear and accusation, really. The government is in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry... the government wants to dictate our care... we'll be taxed to pay for lazy slobs who can't be bothered to eat right or exercise... the insurance companies are really just out to make money... the doctors in the US don't care as much for their patients... the doctors in Europe don't care as much for their patients... People in Canada come to the US for critical care because they can't get it there...Every time I try and make sense of the whirling dervishes of healthcare rhetoric, I become more disillusioned and confused, and feel less confident in ANYTHING that purports to fix the problem. In my worldly self, I would rather just let the American system stay as it is, and hope to get insurance again someday, because I have no faith in our government to effectively reform healthcare. I would rather be in debt for quality care, than pay nothing for essentially weak/poor care.
And then I remember the nature of society... to find a fear, and ride it into the ground. Once it was illegal immigrants, once it was Communism, once it was Indians, once it was smallpox, once it was Catholics, once it was the Plague, once it was the Vikings, once it was the Romans, once it was the Persians. All those fears which had genuine danger underlying them have long since passed, but our makeup as humans seems to require something to be frightened of. So by all means, let's be frightened of Socialism creeping in through the guise of healthcare reform; it helps take our mind off the economy.
I actually think it's sortof good for me to not have health insurance. Good health insurance gives you the illusion of having an armed guard to protect you wherever you go; well, that armed guard is easily recalled at any moment, so it's best not to rely upon it. I will be far better cared for by God than by Blue Cross, even though I cannot tell how or know what form it will take. When I fell down 2 weeks ago and twisted my knee badly, I cried because I was helpless and couldn't afford to go to the doctor. I told some friends, and asked for prayer. Advice rolled in from medical professionals: prop your knee up, ice it frequently, take anti-inflammatories for the first 24-48 hours, the first 2 days are crucial. Many, many people prayed. And my knee slowly and steadily grew better. Now, 2 weeks later, it's about 95% normal (I have hyper-extended knees, and can't fully extend it yet) and I scarcely limp at all. It is discernibly better each day.
Was it really a bad accident? I don't know if I'll ever know. It might have been just a bad wrench of the knee muscles. But it also might have been something worse that was healed through prayer. And I survived it (quite well, actually) without consulting with the healthcare industry. It was not fun being scared... but I much prefer the method and results.
I have been "pimping" (for lack of a better word) Carbonite's online backup service for over 2 years now, to clients and friends. I would venture to say I have persuaded dozens of clients to sign up for their service, and it hasn't been all bad. It has saved the files of several people whose computers died spectacularly, and considering most of them would have had no backup at all without it, it has been an admirably cheap solution. BUT. I have just discovered their appalling, pitiful excuse for customer support, and a loophole they've provided for themselves in the Terms of Use that none of us ever read; basically, they can delete your files if your computer doesn't connect to the carbonite service for an undetermined length of time. Your computer dies, and you don't get a replacement quickly and re-establish your carbonite account? Say goodbye to 5 years worth of family photos. Your internet goes out for a week? Too bad. You'd better hope that your computer doesn't die before you can get back online and let carbonite rebuild your entire backup from scratch! It costs $19.99 to get "priority" phone support; ludicrous, if the product that I am paying for won't work, even after following all of the online support. It took over 20 minutes of painfully slow online support chat to discover that my client's backup had simply been deleted - after several "did you try this?" comments from "Ralph", I finally asked point-blank "DO YOU SEE MY DATA ON YOUR SERVERS?" 5 minutes later, he finally responded that the data had been deleted. So now I am on a mission - to warn all of my clients and friends that Carbonite.com is an unreliable and basically dishonest service, and they would be better served to switch to either SugarSync.com or Mozy.com, as I intend to do myself. Both are well reviewed and have good value for cost, while carbonite is only #9 out of 10.
I loathe walking. Well, not LOATHE, but Sincerely Dislike. The only ways I can endure it is if I specifically am walking to GET somewhere (like, when I was in England and walking was absolutely necessary and therefore unnoticeable), or if it's a particularly beautiful walk. It is my great good fortune that I have recently gotten permission to go for walks in one of the most lovely places on earth (IMHO). It's a gated community not too far from my apartment, and it's just breathtaking - rolling hills, beautiful mansions, tons of deer.It's also home to masses of birds, especially bluebirds. This, to me, was a sign, insofar as I have a Sign... the first bluebird I ever consciously recognized was in a wilderness camp, as I was leaving the wedding of a dear young friend who was almost like a son to me. I remember seeing it fly overhead and suddenly knew that THAT was an authentic bluebird, and I had seen it on the day of Neil's wedding, which meant it would be a happy one.
In the years since, I have started spotting them with more frequency, especially in the last year. Each time I felt a thrill, and had the conscious thought that Something Good was imminent. So to see so very many on my recent walks in my little demi-Paradise is like a confirmation (I admit, I'm not sure of what precisely). I don't believe in totem animals; I am a sucker for certain ones like cats and bunnies and Pomeranians... but I do attribute a positive significance to bluebirds.I remember first reading about the concept of "The Bluebird of Happiness" in Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild - the girls were in a pantomime of Maurice Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird, which tells of the quest of 2 children for the Bluebird of Happiness. Of course, my interest in the signficance of bluebirds is rather spoilt by the nauseating song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with its line "If happy little bluebirds fly/Beyond the rainbow/Why oh why can't I?" (I am bored silly by The Wizard of Oz. Never cared for it.) But still my fascination remains, partially due to the rarity of spotting them. Cardinals and bluejays aplenty, but few bluebirds. They are made precious by their scarcity.
I had a lengthy and spirited debate with some friends this past weekend about the Healthcare debacle and the Obama Administration's proposed plan. Even among a small group of fairly mellow and affectionate friends, the words sometimes became heated, and I went away feeling a vague feeling of dread and discouragement at some of the facts and figures revealed during the discussion. If a group of smart and respectful friends couldn't come to any reasonable conclusions over the current healthcare situation, how could we possibly expect the government to make all the right choices and truly benefit the public?
The fact is, they can't, and they won't. It's easy to get bogged down in the details of various systems throughout the world, and to be furious at the perceived inequties... but the underlying fact is that we live in a broken world, and we're probably going to f*&k it up, no matter how good our intentions. It's just too big, and we're just too selfish, incompetent and lazy to fix it. The economy will rise and fall, healthcare will grow impossibly complex, the environment will continue to deteriorate, and people will be treated badly and unfairly by other people.
I've been living without real insurance for almost 3 years now; after I lost my job at William Morris, I had COBRA for 18 months and spent a small fortune to hang on to it, to squeeze every last drop of medical support I could from it. When it ran out, I applied with my insurance agent for a single plan, and found out that I'm horribly expensive to insure - I take Prozac, and I'm overweight, which makes me well-nigh uninsurable. I could get a plan, but would pay more than I could really afford. I would pay hundreds each month, all for the possibility of serious illness. I just can't bring myself to do it - money's tight, and in general I'm quite healthy. For those few days each year when I might actually need to see a doctor, I would pay thousands.
I did sign up for Christian Healthcare Ministries as a sort of emergency cushion - for $150 a month, I have access to a lump sum of money I can count on to pay for the big stuff, like cancer or a car accident. No preventative care, or x-rays, or prescriptions - the deductible is something like $5000. But it's better than nothing!
Sometimes it is scary, when I'm not feeling well and I don't know the cause... or when I think about the decades to come where my health will inevitably deteriorate. But the fact of the matter is, I don't feel like worrying about potential medical needs - I don't want it to be the Big Thing in my life. When did it become so huge, so significant a thing, where we would scream at each other in Town Hall meetings and go batsh*$ crazy on the news? Yes, our health is vitally significant, and quality of life is important... but our increased reliance on societal structures to take care of us, be it medical, or Social Security, etc., is not a good thing.
I'm going to have to rely on God to take care of me... I doubt I'll have enough to retire, and yes, I may end up with diabetes or cancer. I will probably have no spouse (and certainly, no children) to provide for me either. This means I only have God to fall back on when things start to fall apart. The government may help a little, if it hasn't all gone completely to pot... but in the final analysis, God will be the one doing the heavy lifting.
This is undeniably scary... how he'll take care of me is a source of much anxiety to me. But after stripping away all of the illusions of insurance and government provisions and familial support, he is all there is left to us. I have reason to believe he's Good and has my best interests at heart... and this is something I don't have reason to believe about the government.
