Gerald R. Ford

I was surprised when the tears came. He was a fine man who dedicated a large part of his life to his country. His memorial site.
The Ford family in 1976

3308 No more fat lips

My daughter gave me a lip restorer for Christmas. Yes, when I was young having fat lips was not in style, and now that they are and women pay a lot of money for all sorts of unhealthy enhancements, mine have pretty much disappeared (it's called aging). I don't try anything new without reading the ingredients--especially on my mouth. It's a two part system. In the first part I noticed "benzyl nicotinate." Sounds nasty, doesn't it, like it might be from tobacco? So I found this neat site called, "Science Toys" which I think is for kids, and it explains various chemical ingredients. It's a B vitamin, and a vasodilator, so I suppose that's what its purpose is in a lip plumper (doesn't that sound funny?)--opens the capillaries and makes the skin red.

Then in part 2 I found an ingredient called butyro spermum Parkii. Now that really sounded gross until I looked it up and its common name is Shea's Butter. It comes from a tree in Africa, and you can buy it in bulk to make your own cosmetics, or in health food stores, and you can even buy it fair traded from cooperatives like you do coffee.

The print is very small and I have another 10 or 20 to look up. But the next time you see me I just might have my fat lips back.

3307 Not everything grows old gracefully

When leaving the public library this morning, I walked by the reference/ reserve section for . . . well, children I suppose. But very old children. When I was the librarian in the Veterinary Medicine Library at The Ohio State University, I was horrified by the science fair projects that brought school children to my library. Because school children can't get there on their own, they were usually with their parents and if I was on duty I could warn the parent that the project was not appropriate (if it involved the health and well-being of an animal). At that time, I looked at what was available in the public library so I could make referrals to better sources, but discovered many hadn't caught up with the times in terms of animal welfare.

So I stopped and looked again today. Here's the copyright dates I noticed--1950 [outdated even when I was in school], 1962, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1984. There were many from the early 1990s. But I was really stunned to see "Science projects with computers," with a 1985 copyright date. These books belong in a history of science teaching collection.

Although the general concepts and plans can remain the same in the revised editions, the bibliographies and web content information needs to be updated--many of these books pre-dated the web--and also this visually sensitive generation needs illustrations that don't look like mom and dad or grandpa when they were kids. I use a very well-heeled public library--it can afford to print color bulletin board displays that reproduce book cover images on deep hue backgrounds that must require gallons of ink. Surely it can spring to update the science fair collection and withdraw or send to storage the out of date materials.
Borrowed from a Manitoba science fair


science fairs
public libraries
children's books

3306 Three Silly Chicks

is the name of a group blog effort that reviews funny books for kids. The three contributors are also authors of children's books and have their own personal journals. Stop by here--if you have children, or grandchildren, and you love to put books in their hands, you'll really enjoy this site.

Top 10 New year's Resolutions

Will you be making any New Year's Resolutions for 2007? Even if we don't keep them, it's always useful to reflect on our habits and lifestyle to assess what might need a change. The only resolutions I ever kept for any length of time were 1) to stop biting my fingernails, and 2) always put my keys in the same place in my purse. Those two tiny changes made a huge difference in my appearance, and my frustration level--and I did it about 30 years ago. There is nothing more off-putting than watching someone nibble at their hands (unless it is watching them smoke or getting smashed). By not digging many minutes a day in my purse, I bought myself a lot of time.

These are from Goals Guys website, and the original article, with permission to reprint, is much longer, but I've shortened for use here, adding a few asides.

Top Ten New Year Resolutions

The following list is the result of our extensive survey, which consisted of over 300,000 responses worldwide.

1. Lose Weight and Get in Better Physical Shape

Are you ever going to be fit again as long as you live? The answer is unless you make a resolution to get fit – you’re never going to be fit – ever. The choice is yours; it begins by opting for the stairs instead of the elevator, fruit in place of chocolate, and active rather than sedentary activities. I've lost the weight, now I need to add the exercise. I'm wearing my new pedometer I got for Christmas!

2. Stick to a Budget

The good news is that most people find the longer they can stick to a budget, the easier it becomes. We had to do this for a few years when my husband started his own business; wasn't that hard because we'd always been careful. But we are going to sit down together and review our year's expenditures.

3. Debt Reduction

Make a resolution now to stop charging anything and to get financially stable. If you can't pay cash for it, you don't need it, make it just that simple and you will find yourself out of debt in no time at all. We have no debt, so I can skip this one.

4. Enjoy More Quality Time with Family & Friends

Starting right now, you can begin to make choices and take day-to-day actions that will create nothing short of a phenomenal family. You can choose to have one if you just resolve to do it and know where to put your focus. Making our families stronger and healthier is important to our communities, our state and our world. We'd love to spend more time with our friends, but we seem to have more time than they do--grandchildren! Thinking about inviting a few folks in before I pack up the Christmas dishes.

5. Find My Soul Mate

Soul mate relationships Marriage gives both partners the fulfillment that deeply satisfies them and makes them feel that they have found the most wonderful person in the whole universe. I did this many years ago, and I think "soul mate" is an inaccurate, misleading term, so I struck it out. Soul mate sounds awfully narcissistic to me--not for the long term.

6. Quit Smoking

Becoming a non-smoker is probably one of the best decisions you can ever make, and is a life changing as well as a life saving decision. I am so thankful that I never got mired in this mess--in fact, I'm not sure I even feel sorry for you smokers anymore like I used to. If you don't care about yourselves, why should I?

7. Find a Better Job

It's corny, but true -- most of us get reflective at this time of year and if we are in jobs already, we begin thinking: Am I on the right path? Do I like where my position and my company are headed? Am I even in the right career? Oh yeah--I'm retired and loving it. But I still enjoy libraries and all they offer.

8. Learn Something New

Whether you take a course or read a book, you'll find education to be one of the easiest, most motivating and beneficial resolutions to keep. Challenge your mind in the coming year, break out of currents routines and challenge every comfort zone and watch your horizons expand. That's why I blog and why I read your blogs--so don't disappoint me in 2007.

9. Volunteer and Help Others

Resolve to replace the pursuit of success and materialism with the pursuit of contribution and generosity. For this to occur, the critical question must move from, “How can I become successful?” to, “What can I contribute that will significantly impact other people's lives?” By focusing on what we can contribute, we automatically become successful. Yes, I could use a little work on this one. Maybe a lot. Haven't quite found the right fit.

10. Get Organized

Resolve this year to plan your days, reduce interruptions, clean off your desk, say "No", and make detailed lists. The benefits of getting more organized include being able to save time, as you no longer look for the same things over and over again or need to replace things you can’t find at all. Last year at this time we did a massive clean out and reorganization, but I see some clutter reappearing behind closed doors--I'll try to nip it in the bud.

Goal Guys Reprint Policy: You can freely reprint this material (full version, not mine) with the following reference source: Gary Ryan Blair is the inspiration behind the 10MillionResolutions.com phenomenon - www.10MillionResolutions.com

New Years Resolutions

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

3303 Christmas service on Hallmark Channel

The listing of Christmas programs on TV today included one on Hallmark Channel by Church of the Brethren, the denomination in which I was baptized when I was 11. So I've been watching it, and found the service similar to what I expected--message of peace, reconciliation and some diversity with handsome young people. However, the music is lovely, all based on the Luke 2 birth story, and even if you know nothing about this anabaptist group, you'll enjoy it. The choir from Juniata College (Huntingdon, PA) performed, as well as a children's choir from Indiana, and congregational singing. Shawn Kirchner, minister of music at the LaVerne (CA) Church of the Brethren, directed the musicians and arranged many of the selections. It was originally created for CBS in 2004.

To purchase this on DVD.

Church of the Brethren
Christmas hymns
Christmas Eve

3302 Fresh coffee

I've got some new posts over at Coffee Spills my blog about the people I meet and greet at coffee shops. Sometimes the stories I hear are just too sad or mystifying to repeat even at a blog among millions. If you've ever pondered why some people seem so mired in the quicksand of near-poverty, just listen a bit. After you've heard about the live-in boyfriend who only occasionally works, or the son who is developmentally challenged, or that she doesn't want a better job because it's all she can do to make it through the day now, or the surgery that probably isn't going to work (because he's so overweight)--well, it's really hard to gin up the indignation I read in the hard luck poverty stories in the paper. Or catch that conversation of the grandmother telling about her granddaughter's $55,000 wedding for a marriage that went sour after one year because he was an alcoholic. You realize even rich folks with good jobs and first class educations can botch up what should be a very good life.

3301 In Hoc Anno Domini

Each year the Wall Street Journal reprints a 1949 editorial by Vermont Connecticut Royster, the Journal's editor and president (1960–71) of its publishing company, Dow Jones & Company.

Through the miracle of the WWW, I learned that Kay Kayser (band leader) was his cousin, and he was named after his grandfather Royster, whose siblings were also named after states. The boys were Iowa Michigan, Arkansas Delaware, Wisconsin Illinois, and Oregon Minnesota. The girls also had states' names: Louisiana Maryland, Virginia Carolina, and Georgia Indiana. These unusual appellations were listed in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and found their way into the pages of the Saturday Review and Saturday Evening Post.[Book Rags]

Anyway, it's an excellent essay, well worth reading once or twice a year, especially if you're wondering about the price of freedom or the value of stability.

3300 Hannah Montana

Until I read someone's Thursday Thirteen yesterday whose daughter wanted a Hannah Montana (doll?) I'd never heard of this Disney character. Sort of out of my range of interests. But today the WSJ mentioned that the album for this 14 year old sold 1.6 million copies in 2 months. It is marketed to 8-12 year olds.
The Disney plot: a young teen moves from Tennessee to Malibu and moonlights as a rock star (undercover, I think) managed by her dad. In real life Miley Cyrus, who plays Hannah, and her TV dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, are in fact, father and daughter. Why would any dad in his right mind want his 14 year old dressing like a hooker--and encouraging your 8 year old to want those clothes?

Hannah Montana
teen fashion
Billy Ray Cyrus

3299 The Year in Sports

Allen St. John writes some pithy copy called "A year in numbers" in today's WSJ citing 10 top sports numbers such as percent of his team's points (67.5) by Kobe Bryant, and Trevor Hoffman's career saves (482). No women appear on the list. My non-sports-expert opinion:

• Women talk too much (now it's official)
  
• Women are not good team players; they hold grudges way too long (see my post on Nancy Pelosi)
  
• Women's bodies are different than men's, putting them at a disadvantage for all the sports that were invented, arbitrated and refereed by men. Their blood pressure is different; blood volume less; muscle structure is smaller; center of gravity is lower; pelvis is wider. Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up; it matters in jumping, leaping, hitting, and trying to behave like a 15 year old when you're 30.

3298 Pan's Labyrinth

I watched the trailer for Guillermo de Toro's political horror fantasy at someone's blog yesterday. Will definitely not be on my "to see" list. Got a movie you'd like to recommend for someone who doesn't like suspense, violence, action, mystery, fantasy, horror, or bad language? Also, the pets can't die, and it can't ridicule old people.

3297 Stop tweaking!

I am sooooo sick of everything I use trying to improve (keep the staff busy through Christmas?). I haven't yet been able to switch to Blogger Beta, which now isn't calling itself that. None of my blogs appear on the dashboard. The new adobe acrobat (version 7?) is just a pain to read on screen and to scroll. The new IE just makes a mess of my blogger template when I try to add a link (requires about 3 clicks), and it takes 4 or 5 clicks to get out of some people's comments. And the spam filters some of you are putting up. Gracious. Good-bye Chickadee--I'll never visit again. Switch to something better if your home for your blog can't protect you with some blocks. Firefox "improved" something a day or two ago--wonder if it will still make my computer crash if I don't start out in it. And I swear I won't click to register on Thursday Thirteen until the owner finds a way to stop flooding my mailbox with replies I didn't sign up for. I didn't register to comment on the TT forum to complain, because I'm plumb out of patience with registering so I can comment. You'll just have to find me after I find you on Thursdays. I think yesterday I had to delete 120 bulk mailings from my medscape account because of TT. And Mr. Linky--folks--all the links disappear the next time you use that link stealer. Links have to appear on the first page to be counted or recognized.

I'm off to get a cut and color so I'll be gorgeous for the holidays. Maybe everything will solve itself by the time I return.

3295 December twenty first poem

I posted this three years ago, last year and here it is, December 21 again.


Christmas will be here in only four days.
House is festive--we found the artificial poinsettia
in the attic with other mementoes of holidays past.
A big roll of wrapping paper--blue with snowmen--and scissors
wait on the dining room table for those final exchange gifts
we’ll take to Indiana, socks for a guy, gloves for a girl.
The decorative shopping bag waits for its next assignment.

Christmas will be here in only three days.
It’s always been a pagan holiday, but now it’s more so.
The cranky ACLU is just spinning its wheels in snow
because not even Christians can make it religious these days.
Mistletoe, holly, evergreen trees, candles, and Santa Claus,
feasting, caroling, office parties, gift giving and shopping.
It’s all worldly or completely secular, therefore legal.

Christmas will be here in only two days.
The early Christians scooped up local winter festivities
in a giant snowball, soft and white, and pronounced it holy.
The godly let the Angles, Saxons and Romans keep their ways.
People do not care who they worship if they have a good time.
Our Puritan forefathers tried to stamp out the revelry.
They were the nay sayers of yesterday, spoiling the party.

Christmas will be here in only one day.
Yes, there really is a new born babe, and a sweet young mother,
and angels announcing to shepherds in the fields, Peace on Earth.
But Rachel is weeping because Herod is killing her sons.
One baby lives on only to die on a cross for my sin,
including celebrating his coming rather than going,
his birth, not his death and resurrection.

Christmas poetry
Christmas customs

Thursday Thirteen

13 Gifts my mother gave at Christmas.

You probably think I'm going to list wonderful personal qualities and characteristics, like honesty, integrity, kindness, etc. No, this really is a list of presents given to us children at Christmas from a woman who made every dollar count, was practical and believed educational things would last. The gift tags said from "Mom and Dad" or "Santa," but we knew who picked them out and wrapped them. Looking back, some of these surprise me (we were were always supervised, but some don't look real safe in retrospect) and this covers about a 10 year period.

Thirteen Gifts

1) Wood burning set. I don't know if these are still made for young children; the box included stamped designs on wooden plaques, metal hooks for hanging, and an electrical tool with multiple points for burning. Then the plaques were painted and shellacked.

2) Building sets: Erector set (for my brother, but I got to use it). We didn't have elaborate sets, but there was a little electric motor. Lincoln logs (for my brother, and I didn't get to use this).

3) Records (probably 78 rpm) with stories; I think some were the sound track of movies. I remember "Treasure Island" with Bobby Driscoll.

4) Oil painting by number. Usually a horse or dog printed on canvas board.

5) Chemistry set. I think it had test tubes and little jars of crystalized chemicals.

6) Pottery kits. These were extremely popular in the 50s--don't know if they still are. The kits had rubber molds and a plaster to mix with water. After drying, the mold was removed and you painted the object. Getting out the bubbles was always a challenge. She also bought us pottery we could paint and glaze. I still have some of them.

7) Embroidery stamped towels, pillow cases and dresser scarves with the thread. Sometimes she also bought the transfer design and we would hem the towels, iron on the transfer, and make our own.

8) Small metal looms to make woven squares from stretchy loops which were then stitched together to make something. I doubt that I ever completed a single project.

9) My first Bible, a KJV with Jesus' words in red, maps, leather binding with gold print. I still have it.

10) Books. I still have some of them, like the Marguerite Henry horse stories and the Black Stallion series. We got magazine subscriptions from her mother.

11) Board and card games. Sorry, Monopoly, Checkers are some I remember best. Authors was a favorite card game. This was even approved for use at my grandparents.

12) Glass dishes, metal pots and pans, and metal stove and sink, white with red handles. I still have my glass dishes. The little kitchen appliances lasted into the 1960s and 70s for their grandchildren to play with.

13) Art supplies--drawing pencils of various hardness. Different types of paper. One box of "oil crayons" I may have kept for at least 40 years. Possibly still have them.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Leave a comment and I'll add your name and URL. View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Visited and visitors today:Amber, Amy Christopher, Anale, AnnaMary, Beth, Bookworm, Bubba, Carol, Caylynn, Celfyddydau Chelle Y. Cheryl, Chickadee, Cinderella, Cindi, Christine, Dane Bramage, Darla, East of Oregon, Gracey, JAM, Jane, Janeen, Janet, Jen, JMom,John, Julie, Katia, Kitty, KT Cat, Lady Bug, LaughingMuse, Laura, Leah, Ma, Mar, Melissa, Mikala, Momtoanangel, N. Mallory, Pippajo, Rashenbo, Sanni, Shoshana, Silver, Skittles, Something Blue, Sonny, Southern Girl, Smurf, Sparky, Staci T, Susan, Susan (Mustang), Terrell, Terri, Wackymommy, West of Mars.

Christmas gifts
nostalgia
educational toys

3293 Volunteering at the Food Pantry

Tuesday I had the opportunity to work at the Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio newly remodeled Choice Food Pantry. I was very impressed with the new layout and system which I believe provides the client with more responsibility, dignity, and less waste. The food is now all arranged on movable shelving units (can be stocked in the back and moved to the client area), color coded by USDA food pyramid graph. After the client is screened and approved by an experienced staff member, the volunteer picks up the card with the amounts allowed (a family of 10 with 6 children would have very different needs than a retired couple), and walks with the client through the aisles and they pick out what they know their families will eat. People with diabetes or cholesterol problems stop and read the labels. It takes a little longer than the old method where the volunteer selected the items, but in the long run there will be less waste. Tuesday had a special treat that I would have loved--30 piece slabs of wonderful, fresh corn bread from a local restaurant. Only one family unit turned it down. Each family can have as much bread (muffins, bagels, rolls, buns) as they can use up without it counting as a choice.

Because it is the Christmas season, each client also received age and sex appropriate gifts purchased, packaged and wrapped by the churches of central Ohio. Some families received table decorations and stockings with personal care items until we ran out. Adults received knit hats and gloves if they wanted them. Each child in the family received a very nice selection of new books, including a hard cover children's Bible.

Did you know that the "working poor" families and the welfare families in this country have about the same income, but the working families by percentage of income are the most generous of any group? Yes, they donate a higher percentage of their incomes than do the wealthiest income group; and welfare families with about the same income give almost nothing to others. There is dignity in work and self-sufficency. Occasionally, something happens to people of limited means--maybe grandchildren have to be taken in, or a heating bill is outrageous, the support check doesn't come, or there's an illness, so they need a little boost from the food pantry.

LSSCO distributed 2,416,715 lbs. or $2.8 million worth of food, and used 28,000 volunteer hours in 2006. This time of year 80-90 family units are being served at the location where I worked. The poor in the USA are not underfed or poorly clothed; many are overweight or obese, they dress well and have access to or own an automobile. For whatever personal circumstance, they are in a moment--or a month--of hardship. However, the Bible says in Matt. 25:35 that it is the ones feeding the hungry who are benefiting, because they are meeting Jesus, the Son of Man, who will be separating the sheep and goats. Keep that in mind the next time you are needed as a volunteer. There are no goats in heaven; only sheep.

Food banks
hunger
Lutheran Social Services

3292 More about Christmas letters

Previously, I posted about a Christmas letter I got from the OSU Medical Center, which hasn't yet deleted my name from its list of employees (6 years I've been retired). I just counted our printed Christmas letters on festive paper, fifteen, and our hand written letters and notes, also fifteen. This is a pretty skimpy survey, but based on past Christmases, I think only Democrats include political statements in their Christmas letters. Anti-Bush, anti-war, global warming, etc. Nothing like 2004, however. Although, I suppose if someone mentioned stem cell research or abortion (no one did), that would be a draw, because it could be considered a seasonal message, Jesus having been an unattached embryo at one point in his life. But I give liberals a pass on this, because I used to be a Democrat, and thinking back, I think I probably used my Christmas letter to smack others around too, but now I have blogs. Did you see me on the cover of Time Magazine?

We also received a lot of nice family photos. Most of the people we know seem to be repopulating the earth with grandchildren--5, 8, 10. Over the years, we've watched their kids growing up; now we're seeing the grandchildren. We love the family updates, and worry for a few moments over the people who are missing from the photos.

We've also received some wonderful original poetry and art. My friend Lynne (from high school) always has something fabulous. My brother-in-law is terribly clever, and our son-in-law-once-removed (brother of our son-in-law) also has a cute one. Several of our artist friends sent reproductions.

I just LOVE getting mail. Don't let any Grinchivious advice columnist tell you otherwise.

3291 Joseph Rago doesn't have a blog

He's a highfalutin journalist, writing for the WSJ (MSM) and bloggers are just scum. Check it out. If you're reading this, you're an imbecile, and I'm a fool for writing it.

Joseph Rago
bloggers

3290 The Christmas letters

Yesterday was probably the big haul--maybe 10 cards and 4 or 5 letters. Today I got a lovely Christmas letter [holiday letter] from the Ohio State University Medical Center thanking me for all my hard work and dedication in 2006. "The success we have achieved would not be possible without [my] your contributions and all of us working together as one team."

I retired over six years ago, but there's a few folks over there who haven't noticed I'm gone.

But I learned a lot reading the Christmas letter [holiday letter]:

• There is a $780 million expansion project, the largest upgrade and expansion of facilities in OSU Medical Center history--this year they completed the Biomedical Research Tower (800 researchers identifying the mechanisms of disease) and started the expansion of the Heart Hospital and Digestive Diseases Tower.
  
• All kinds of new talent and administrators have been hired.
  
• The Center improved in national rankings in ALL three of the mission areas--patient care, research and education
  
• The Leapfrog Group named the Center to its list of top hospitals in the USA in quality and safety.
  
• US News & World Report ranked our hospitals among America's Best for the 14th consecutive year and in the top 20 for the 2nd year in a row
  
• We were named one of the 100 most wired health systems by Hospitals & Health Networks and
  
• received the CIO 100 Award from CIO magazine.
  
• The faculty hold almost $200 million in sponsored research funding--triple the amount when I retired (was it me?)
  
• We have the 8th largest medical student enrollment in the country--only 9% of the applicants are accepted.
  
• Financially, 2006 was the best year ever--we generated more than $1 billion in revenue and reinvested almost $50 million back into our organization in all areas.

But we went to Finland, Estonia and Russia, Bay View, Michigan and Columbus, Indiana, California and Illinois.

3289 Malaria's Silent Spring

The October 2006 Budget Travel has two unrelated items, linked unintentionally. After p. 30 there is a full page ad for Malarone (atovaquone and proguanil HCl). An attractive couple is sunning on a tropical white sand beach joined on a third cot by an ugly, huge mosquito. "It could take just one bite from one infected mosquito to get malaria," reads the text.

Then after p. 57 there is a pull-out booklet, "Born in the U.S.A." by Michele McEvoy with details about where 50 important Americans grew up (includes Elvis Presley, but not Ronald Reagan). There is a paragraph on Rachel Carson, Springdale, PA, "credited for galvanizing the modern environmental movement" with Silent Spring and banning DDT.

Thus, we can also credit Ms. Carson, who was not a scientist, with the deaths of millions of Africans from malaria, more than died in the brutal trans-Atlantic slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. To date, there is no record of anyone ever dying from exposure to DDT.

That's one homestead I don't plan to visit.