Friday, December 08, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Thirteen Things I've been Wondering about This Week
This is the season of wonder, so I've been wondering, in no particular order, while you've all been fighting the crowds at the mall:
1) Have Catholics advanced spiritually more with the vernacular rather than the unifying language of Latin?
2) Do Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians have a better grasp of the gospel with loud rock music?
3) If every household now has 2 or 3 fuel efficient cars, are we really better off, environmentally speaking, than when we had one gas hog that could hold six people comfortably?
4) Has bussing children for 45-60 minutes to and from school ever improved the quality of education or even built friendships and understanding among the races and income groups?
5) How many lawyers will get rich from restaurant operators (passing the costs on to us) trying to figure out compliance with Ohio's new minimum wage law (now part of our constitution) and the anti-smoking bans?
6) What do little children strapped into safety seats in automobiles think about or learn listening to mommy chatter on the cell phone while ignoring them?
7) Do restaurant employees really "lávase las manos" before leaving the restroom?
8) Do baseball caps on guys really hide thinning hair, or do they increase the fallout and make it difficult to give their wives a kiss?
9) Will Nicole Kidman change Keith Urban's drinking behavior or has she made another bad marriage?
10) Will the visual quality and intellectual content of YouTube be a passing fad?
11) Do gun enthusiasts, hunters and collectors really need assault weapons?
12) Did George Clooney really share his bed with Max his 300 lb. pet pig and could this be the real reason he's not married?
13) Does sloppy, loose clothing hide weight gain or does it visually add pounds?
Visited and visitors today:
3250 Head for the Resale Shop
if you've gained or lost weight. Today I went to the American Cancer Society Shop up the street and bought 4 pair of slacks, black, brown, navy and tweed. Not terribly exciting, but they were all lined, 100% wool or wool blend and better quality than I usually buy; they appear to have been shortened just a bit which is great, all the buttons are sewn on and they cost between $8-10 each. But here's the best part. Because they are several years old, all had natural waists! I hate the pants style that rides below the waist--your shirt won't stay in, it won't stay flat across your tummy, and they gap big time when you sit down. I also bought a navy muted plaid suit with a pleated skirt--haven't seen one since the mid-90s, so that's probably the vintage, but it didn't have huge shoulder pads and the jacket was nicely fitted. Somebody my size up in Dublin must be cleaning out her closets!And before I could even think about it, I bundled up about 7 pair of slacks that are either too big, or so old that the linings are ripped. I never take anything to a resale shop because I buy for value, not quality, so these will go to the church for our urban ministry to be redistributed to people who need them. And just a little of the cat is going with them since I didn't notice she'd been sleeping on the bed before I put them down.
If you need a party dress, Oh My, this place has them--and lots of cute fancy jackets to wear with dressy slacks or a velvet skirt. I just didn't need any bling this year.
weight loss
women's fashion
resale shops
3249 Of Cabbages and Kings
And Poles. A cancer study of Polish women in Warsaw and Polish-American women in Chicago, showed that the European Poles have much more protection against certain cancers because of . . . CABBAGE! Yes, they eat a lot more cabbage in Poland, including sauerkraut, but immigrant Poles tend to eat more like Americans. I just had no idea.I fixed cooked cabbage last night for dinner--really just to use it up. I'd had a small head in the frig for about two weeks, and didn't want to make cole slaw again. I've found this really great site on the Internet called "The World's Healthiest Foods," and when I'm curious about the nutritional value of something, I look it up. This site has what every librarian loves--hundreds of references to refereed and scholarly journals, and what all non-nutritionists need--translation into a language we can understand. The site is well-designed and easy to read and print--also a big plus for me. Reading about cabbage I learned that it is a cruciferous vegetable with phytonutrients which "initiate an intricate dance inside our cells in which gene response elements direct and balance the steps among dozens of detoxification enzyme partners, each performing its own protective role in perfect balance with the other dancers."
Wow! It's romantic to eat cabbage! We've been "dancing with the stars" and didn't even know it.
Also, I learned that my mother probably did it right (this really isn't news to me). She used to give us children a wedge of raw cabbage for an after school snack or let us finish up the core if she was making slaw. We thought it was a wonderful treat. According to the Polish study, women get the most life time protection from raw cabbage if they eat it during childhood. The article also reports that I left mine in the refrigerator too long, so it probably lost a lot of the nutrients, especially Vitamin C. It quickly degrades once it has been cut, and I also didn't have mine tightly wrapped. Although I did lightly saute the cabbage, I overcooked it when I reheated it. Apparently, there's not much left when you make cabbage rolls.
Unfortunately, the site says 3-5 servings a week of cruciferous/brassica vegetables to fight cancer, and there's not much in this family. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are the only ones we eat. So even if you eat each just once a week. . . your house will always stink. I suppose I could break away from white and red and try some of the Asian cabbages--there are many of those.
cabbage
vegetables
cruciferous vegetables
healthy foods
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
3248 Chef training for the homeless
is the topic of Roger Thurow's lastest installment in his series about creative ways to address poverty and hunger in the Wall Street Journal. The devil is in the details, as usual. Although he describes an innovative program to train chefs, his story is a reminder that if you think low wages or poverty can be addressed by adding an amendment to raise the minimum wage, or consciousness raising among the middle class, think again.Eighty-four low wage and homeless people signed up for the chef training program, of which half didn't show up the first day. Thirty-eight completed the interviews. Twenty were dropped after a battery of tests and a 3 day kitchen trial. Finally, they had a class of 17, of which 14 completed the course and 12 found jobs.
As I've said many times, homelessness is not the correct term. These people suffered from lack of a sense of responsibility, absenteeism, health problems, poor math skills, and test anxiety. If there is a chance of overcoming these life long habits and problems, it is in the small programs that Thurow describes.
3247 Straight-from-the-book classes are history
was the headline of the Columbus Dispatch story on Monday. Actually, they were history when I was in elementary school in the 1940s, and when my parents were in school in the 1920s, and when my kids were in school in the 1970s-80s. Except my parents and I also studied real "history." My children's teachers didn't want to load up their impressionable minds with boring facts, so they never knew which came first WWII, Korea or VietNam.How I remember building walls for a medieval fort by cutting up bars of soap (the whole class worked on this plan), and making a poster of Georgia showing all the agricultural products with my friend Nancy. And I also remember the less able students who were part of the team and learned nothing--not even how to cut up soap. Whatever. Each generation of journalists and teachers seem to think they invented hands-on, group learning.
However, this article in the CD was about teaching teachers who had no required history courses in college--how to teach children what the teacher doesn't know. It's a program--funded with federal money, of course--by the Ohio Historical Society, Ohio State University and the Columbus Public Schools called "History Works II." Seventy-five Columbus teachers have been through the $1 million dollar program to teach creative ways (costumes, journals, mock-government) to teach history.
Here's an idea. Let's reset the college requirements with more history courses for education majors, so we don't have million dollar programs to correct the oversight later on (federal site says $119,790,000 for 130 programs). I was a foreign language/education major and was within about one credit hour of a history minor, with some political science courses, too. So, how are ed majors filling their class time these days?
Check here for Jennifer Smith Richard's article.
New drug pulled from trials
Yesterday the big story was that Pfizer's experimental cholesterol drug, torcetrapibhad had been removed from the clinical trials because 82 people had died. A woman guest on Cavuto's show on Fox (I think) commented that if Michael Fox were told today that there was a cure for Parkinson's Disease that didn't require research for a new drug, would he pursue it? Then she went on to say that there is help for cardiovascular disease and no drugs or clinical trials are required. We already know what works. I agree with her 100%. For every drug we take, no matter how helpful, some chemical reaction not so helpful will also be happening. Why not correct the problem yourself?Cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of women in the United States and most other developed countries, exceeding the number of deaths in men. Two thirds of the women who die of coronary heart disease have no previous symtoms. The road to a cure involves lifestyle changes and interventions available to any woman.
This is reprinted from "Evidence-Based Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women" (Circulation. 2004;109:672-693) describing what doctors should be doing for their female patients. It is a long list, but the first five items pretty much say it all, and four of the five are completely in our control. Ladies! Take back your health!
Cigarette smoking: Consistently encourage women not to smoke and to avoid environmental tobacco.
Physical activity : Consistently encourage women to accumulate a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity (eg, brisk walking) on most, and preferably all, days of the week.
Cardiac rehabilitation : Women with a recent acute coronary syndrome or coronary intervention, new-onset or chronic angina should participate in a comprehensive risk-reduction regimen, such as cardiac rehabilitation or a physician-guided home- or community-based program.
Heart-healthy diet : Consistently encourage an overall healthy eating pattern that includes intake of a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy products, fish, legumes, and sources of protein low in saturated fat (eg, poultry, lean meats, plant sources). Limit saturated fat intake to <10% gi="1">
Weight maintenance/reduction : Consistently encourage weight maintenance/reduction through an appropriate balance of physical activity, caloric intake, and formal behavioral programs when indicated to maintain/achieve a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2 and a waist circumference <35 in.
3245 When my husband does this
I know he's asleep.
The following is the reply of John Hogan, Commonwealth Edison Supervisor of News Information, to a charge by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector that two Dresden Nuclear Plant operators were sleeping on the job:
"It depends on your definition of asleep. They were not stretched out. They had their eyes closed. They were seated at their desks with their heads in a nodding position. "
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
3244 The Christmas Meme
I saw this at Gracey's.1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg Nog, definitely. I purchase it, then cut it in 1/2 with skim milk. We can't tell the difference.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? We wrap--my husband always gets his under the tree first. My daughter's gift wraps are really elaborate and artistic. Mine are reused bows and paper.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We have white lights outside, and colored on the tree.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. We have open season on kissing in this house.
5. When do you put up your decorations ? Ours are up from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? It depends if I'm doing Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Lately it's been boneless pork roast with an orange cranberry glaze.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child The excitement. Particularly to see what doll clothes my mother had made.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Santa wasn't part of our tradition--I always knew the story, and sort of hoped it was true, but realized about age 7 it wasn't. My husband, however, was a true believer, until he noticed that under Santa's red suit was a shirt the same as his uncle's (Santa used to stop at his Grandmother's.)
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We did when I was a child, and when our children were young. Now we open them all on whatever day they are with us.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? No theme except tradition. We have very old decorations--some from our first Christmas in 1960; some handmade by our children. I used to buy one or two each year and date them, but don't any more.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? It's fun to see it fresh and white around Christmas, but I'm always anxious for it to melt to make better driving conditions.
12. Can you ice skate? No. I tried it a few times as a child and found it very difficult. Spent a lot of time sitting on the ice.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My father was discharged from the service in December 1945, and I remember that Christmas Mother got us (my 2 sisters and me) a doll house. It continued well through the grandchildren, and maybe great granchildren, being redecorated many times.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The coming of Christ for our salvation.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Although I don't make them anymore, my husband's grandmother, Neno, made a fabulous sugar cookie cut-out.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Eve services at our church with lighted candles singing "Silent Night."
17. What tops your tree? An angel.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving presents? Giving.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Although it is secular, I love "White Christmas" sung by Bing Crosby. I heard it first in California where it was damp and foggy and we were homesick for Illinois. It makes some sense because it was written by a Jew, Irving Berlin, about a Californian.
20. Candy Canes Yuck or Yum?OK for decorating, but I never eat them. Fudge would be my choice for Christmas candy.
3243 130,000 but who's counting
The site meter rolled over at 2:14 p.m. today to 130,000; someone from Madrid clocking in at 8:14 p.m. their time. Of course, a ping doesn't necessarily mean stopping to read. Last week my "how to unstick a car door" was really busy. . . beat out the "how to fix a broken zipper." One would hope you wouldn't have two disasters in one day.I downloaded IE7 today, unfortunately in the middle of attempting labels and Christmas letter with my new printer. I had time to unload the dishwasher and complain to my husband while it struggled through its paces. I try to keep the Christmas letter to one page, and found some nice paper with a tree in the corner, then had to squeeze the text a bit.
I had lunch with a friend today who's recently had cataract surgery. Thinking she'd be delighted with her new found clarity, I discovered she now can see wrinkles she didn't see before, and is very upset! Cataracts don't need to "ripen" like they used to, and when you get tired of halos around the street lights and on coming headlights, then you have it done. I've always had poor night vision so I'm not sure it would help me.
3242 But is it comfortable?
The reason I always buy a Dodge/Plymouth mini-van. Well, that and I am a value shopper. I'm also confident and don't have a need for people to look at me and drool.Giugiaro’s Mustang
automobile design
3241 Visit my new link
This blogger is in my book club, and I just found out last night that she has a blog. Life of a Domestic Disaster reports, "My blog is inspired by my niece's blog called "Life of a Domestic Goddess." At the end of the day at our house, if no one has been to the emergency room, Children's Services has not called, my sweater wasn't on inside out at work, and we have eaten something other than poptarts and donuts for at least one meal, I call it good!"She's wonderfully talented, has a great sense of humor and is a loving, caring mother. Stop by for a visit and tell her Norma sent you. We all love to get comments.
Monday, December 04, 2006
3240 How many hours are wasted
messing with new software and technology? I should have been prepared; this is my fourth printer, more if we count the ones I had to hook up when I was working. Last week I pulled a jammed piece of paper from my HP 5550 and apparently ran the print heads off track. My daughter worked on it and couldn't get the case off to get to the belt; then my husband tried it, but managed to really break it.I called around and discovered that labor costs are about $70 an hour to fix printers, and there was no guarantee they could fix it. So off to Staples I went to shop for a new printer. First, however, I did look for a cartridge for my old, reliable workhorse, the LaserJet 4L, gasping on it's last taste of black-only ink, but the cartridge was over $90 (it lasts forever). Now that I'm used to color with my blogs, I really needed the color.
I picked one out, an HP C3180 that will print, copy and scan. Fine, I had 2 printers and a scanner on my small desk, so I figured I'd replace them with one machine. I'm a value shopper, not a quality shopper, and it had a floor discount of $20, making it $79.99. But I did go home and look on the internet for reviews. They were pretty good. So I took back my unopened $45 print cartridge (for once in my life I found the sales receipt), and my 6 used print cartridges which are good for $3 off a new purchase. It doesn't come with a USB cord--but I already had one. "Won't do," said the salesman, "the data will travel very slowly and you'll miss the best features," so without really thinking that misinformation through, I paid another $20 for a USB 2.When I finally got it all hooked up I discovered my computer is old enough that it won't take a faster data transfer, and the USB 2 cord is doing nothing the old one wouldn't have done. Then I spent about 10 minutes in the cold garage going through the garbage and bags of soiled cat litter looking for the USB package, finally finding it in the kitchen trash.
I didn't check ahead to see if it would take card stock, and although it will, it is very cranky, and wants to reformat to note size cards, and I'm not doing that--I'm printing my own on 8.5 x 11. Also, if you don't put the little extender out on the paper tray, it shoots the paper across the room like a paper airplane.
When I tried to scan a photograph, I could find no command to "Save" or "save as" to MyPicture file on my computer. Oh, it scanned fine--but then proceeded to create a whole new set of photo files (hundreds) already stored on my computer which I didn't want and so far the only way I can figure out how to get to them is to send them to myself with e-mail. Why do these people think we want digital scrap books everytime we hook up new equipment. I have them in my genealogy file, my digital camera file, and something else, now here's a fourth one.
Also, discovered I can't turn it off (lots of lights eating up electrical current), or it will run through its color testing when I turn it on. I'm sure if I call the 800 number I'll sit and wait for an hour.
So I hooked the old scanner back up until I can figure something out that makes sense, and am rethinking my desk arrangement. Right now I have no place to put down anything I'm copying.
So don't cross me, folks. I'm really, really crabby tonight.
Monday Memories
Have I ever told you why my mother was a Democrat (according to my father)?My parents were married over 65 years. My mother died in 2000 and my father in 2002. When cleaning out Dad's desk, I found a small notebook which he used to jot down phone calls, addresses, appointments and lists (he had worked in sales into his 80s). Leafing through it, I found a "memory" written on the date of their 66th wedding anniversary, 7 months after Mother's death. So I brought it home, and came across it while cleaning my desk last week. I hardly ever had letters from Dad, so I enjoy looking at his handwriting.
He wrote about how they had met the summer after high school and he changed schools to attend Mt. Morris College so they dated during the academic year 1930-31; how he had returned in the fall of 1931, but she had gone to work as a domestic for a Jewish family in Chicago (it was the Depression and she had no money to continue, but he had a football scholarship). He wrote, "I had to stay with dad and mother during the summer of 1932, but in the fall I got a job at Kable News Co. I remember getting her (my mother) a job as a housekeeper for one of the execs, which later turned into a job also at Kable News. It had to be during the winter because Roosevelt had been elected Pres. and one of his edicts got her a raise from $8.00 weekly to $10.00. Thus, she remained a Democrat the rest of her life."
My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:
3239 Dress up for Jesus, pt. 2
Over a week ago, I wrote my little hymn to women's fashion, "Dress up, dress up for Jesus," to be sung to the tune of "Stand up, stand up for Jesus." It's my social comment on the sloppy way women appear in public and at church.In today's Columbus Dispatch (B1) there is a large photo of a marriage recommitment ceremony at Highland Baptist Church. Sixty couples renewed their vows as part of the church's Winter Wedding Spectacular.
From what I could see, it appears that the women are wearing slacks and sweaters or jackets, except for a fuzzy view of a woman in the background who is standing beside a man in a clerical robe (the pastor and his wife?).
Ladies. God is great. God is good. But he's not THAT good. He has not yet created a woman who looks more graceful and feminine and ready for true commitment in slacks than a dress or skirt. I began wearing corduroy slacks in third or fourth grade under my skirts in winter to keep warm, and have yet to find slacks that fit me. And you're kidding yourself if you think it's any different for you.
It gets worse as we get older; the waist expands which leaves baggy material in the back (which is what all the rest of us see), unless you compound the problem with a baggy sweater. This also happens with the men, who are gaining more girth and more baggy seats in their jeans. I don't know what body type the designers have in mind when the patterns are cut, but the rest of us would be out of work if we failed that miserably.
A banquet. A ceremony. The party season of the year which even pagans celebrate. A church that calls itself the Bride of Christ. And still we show up looking like we're going to an OSU tail-gate party?
Sunday, December 03, 2006
3237 Dropping in on strangers
Most of the blogs I read are written by strangers. If I return often enough, there is a sense that I at least know their stories even if I wouldn't recognize them on the street. Some are very sad; some happy; some are people of deep faith; some are strange beyond belief. I almost linked to a woman whose blog came up in a search I was doing--she had two really good posts on marriage, both copied from other bloggers, and her own comments exhibited skill with words. Then I clicked to her "main" page just to see if there was a bio or something. There I was horrified to read her recounting of picking up an affair she'd had a few months ago. She wasn't unhappy; her husband was a nice guy; and she wanted to stay married. The families I know whose lives have been destroyed by this kind of idiocy spun through my mind like the dead leaves blowing around our yard this afternoon. Sometimes it involves 4 generations and goes on for decades.But this careless airhead isn't what I wanted to talk about. You've heard the expression "Happiness shared is doubled; sadness shared is halved." I think bloggers live by that. When they are happy, they want to share and their happiness is doubled or tripled when the comments roll in--"Way to go," or "I'm so pround of you." When they are grieving--and I've read some really heavy, heavy blogs of chronic illness, death, job loss, crashing friendships, etc.--you can almost see the spirits lift on the screen when there is a kind or thoughtful response.
Now someone has written a paper on that to try to find out if it is true. "Is Happiness Shared Doubled and Sadness Shared Halved?: Social Influence on Enjoyment of Hedonic Experiences," by RAJAGOPAL RAGHUNATHAN, University of Texas at Austin and KIM CORFMAN, New York University. I'd share the authors' conclusions, except it's written in academese, and made little sense to me.
3236 Greg Oden
We finally got to see Greg Oden play, Ohio State's 7' freshman basketball player. He looks twice his age--like he's 35. Makes you wonder if when he's 35 he'll look 70. OSU won over Valparaiso 78-58."Shorter stature and smaller body weight appear to promote better health and longevity in the absence of malnutrition and infectious diseases." Height, body size and longevity, by TT Samaras, Acta Med Okayama. 1999 Aug;53(4):149-69. In another article the same author suggests "that the differences in longevity between the sexes is due to their height differences because men average about 8.0% taller than women and have a 7.9% lower life expectancy at birth." Life Sci. 2003 Mar 7;72(16):1781-802.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
3235 Working for the Fed
"New data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis confirm that the average federal civilian worker earns $106,579 a year in total compensation, or twice the $53,289 in wages and benefits for the typical private worker. This federal pay premium costs taxpayers big bucks because Uncle Sam's annual payroll is now $200 billion a year. No wonder that, with a per capita income of $46,782 a year, Washington, D.C. is the fourth richest among the nation's 360 metropolitan areas."Full story at WSJ Career Journal.
Columbus' per capita income is $35,226. Check out your city here. It would seem to me that the DC area would be a tough place to live and keep up if you're not working for the government. Especially if you are competing with 2 income households where both might be government workers.
Some of these workers spend time doing this, and this, and this, and this.
federal employment
government workers
3234 New art show going up
If you're in central Ohio and enjoy attending art shows, please stop by and see the Winter show of the Pump House Guys, which we're hanging today at The Church at Mill Run, 3500 Mill Run Drive, Hilliard, OH 43026. The reception will be next Sunday, 2-4 p.m. If you attend church there, I know it is a mob scene on Sunday, especially if you're getting your kids from the 2nd floor classrooms, but stop for a few peaceful moments and enjoy the show.
Upper Arlington Lutheran Church
art shows
Church at Mill Run
Friday, December 01, 2006
3233 Go to Flopping Aces
for the run down on "Who is Jamil Hussein," the AP informant who apparently doesn't exist. Sort of makes you wonder how many other sources our media have been using that are frauds. The links are all listed at his site--so I'll refer you there.
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