we did it.
and i couldn't be prouder to be an American.
Showing posts with label barack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barack. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
seriously, socialism?
Its no secret that I support Barack Obama. I almost always vote democrat because I believe that being an American, everybody should have the same opportunities I did. I had a leg up on many because I had a great and supportive family growing up that afforded me a good education and support along the way - why should only a select few of us have a fighting chance at living the American dream.
(disclaimer, I will be voting for our GOP governor in Indiana this year because of a good track record and keeping his nose out of Roe v Wade, Church/State and Gay rights issues - he's just cleaning up a messy state that can blamed on both parties throughout the last 15 years).
I read a lot about Barack, McCain and the election process as a whole. Some of this is from credible sources, some not - but I feel like I've got a pretty good idea of what is true and what is not. Lately, I've been making the mistake of reading random user comments - more often than not, these people are idiots who like to use phrases like:
NeoCons
Democraps
McSame
Barack Osama
Liberal/leftist
you get the idea. However, I get so tired of seeing the word Socialism.
Seriously, socialism. Here's what the first paragraph of Wikipedia says about it:
Socialism - refers to any of various economic and political concepts of state or collective (i.e. public) ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods and services, some of which have been developed into more or less highly articulated theories and/or praxis.
OK, I'm not sure what all that means but certainly there have to be some good things about Socialism. For example, how about Police and Fire Departments? These are publicly owned entities that benefit everybody. We all pay for them and we all reap the rewards. How about public schools? Again, access to everybody and for minimal additional cost than your property/state/local taxes. I guess what I'm getting at is - why are people so quick to label Democrats as Socialists when in fact it seems like the entire country has had these types of services for centuries.
Don't get me wrong, I recognize that Socialism can certainly go far beyond what I'm talking about and in directions that even the staunchest Leftist (I couldn't resist) would shy away from. I'm just tired of seeing the Socialist label thrown by people who attended public schools, have used police/fire services, or currently collect some sort of aid (social security or medicare for example).
I want to institute a new rule. You use the world Socialism to describe the Democrats again - you forgo your rights to Social Security, Medicare/aid, Police and Fire Protection.
(disclaimer, I will be voting for our GOP governor in Indiana this year because of a good track record and keeping his nose out of Roe v Wade, Church/State and Gay rights issues - he's just cleaning up a messy state that can blamed on both parties throughout the last 15 years).
I read a lot about Barack, McCain and the election process as a whole. Some of this is from credible sources, some not - but I feel like I've got a pretty good idea of what is true and what is not. Lately, I've been making the mistake of reading random user comments - more often than not, these people are idiots who like to use phrases like:
NeoCons
Democraps
McSame
Barack Osama
Liberal/leftist
you get the idea. However, I get so tired of seeing the word Socialism.
Seriously, socialism. Here's what the first paragraph of Wikipedia says about it:
Socialism - refers to any of various economic and political concepts of state or collective (i.e. public) ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods and services, some of which have been developed into more or less highly articulated theories and/or praxis.
OK, I'm not sure what all that means but certainly there have to be some good things about Socialism. For example, how about Police and Fire Departments? These are publicly owned entities that benefit everybody. We all pay for them and we all reap the rewards. How about public schools? Again, access to everybody and for minimal additional cost than your property/state/local taxes. I guess what I'm getting at is - why are people so quick to label Democrats as Socialists when in fact it seems like the entire country has had these types of services for centuries.
Don't get me wrong, I recognize that Socialism can certainly go far beyond what I'm talking about and in directions that even the staunchest Leftist (I couldn't resist) would shy away from. I'm just tired of seeing the Socialist label thrown by people who attended public schools, have used police/fire services, or currently collect some sort of aid (social security or medicare for example).
I want to institute a new rule. You use the world Socialism to describe the Democrats again - you forgo your rights to Social Security, Medicare/aid, Police and Fire Protection.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Boyz vs Men
For any of you who watched Purdue lose to Xavier, you probably had the same feeling I did; "Did I switch the channel to the local high school kids vs dad scrimmage?"
Purdue fought the good fight...but it became pretty clear that they were freshman and the Xavier team were all men. I enjoyed the game and thought we might have had a chance, but it just wasn't meant to be. It was a great year of Boiler basketball and hopefully we'll get three more years of these hard working kids.
As for my health, I'm feeling pretty good. No blood work this week so I'm a little anxious to hear how my numbers are doing next Tuesday. It's a blessing that my meds are working so well so fast, but I'm still so new to it that I like to have the confirmation that things are going well via hard data. The side effects continue to be manageable and the outpouring of support continues to amaze me.
After a pretty good health run in my circle, I'm starting to realize how unfair the world is. About a year ago, a former coworker was told he had a tumor on his pituitary gland, surgery followed but now it's looking like it wasn't enough. This man is a true gentlemen who I've have never known to be anything but courteous, fair and a great dad of three young girls. More recently a current coworker's husband had been losing a lot of weight and a visit to the doctor led to the diagnosis of with what appears to be pancreatic AND colon cancer. As if that wasn't bad enough, they had their first child on Monday. It's hard to say poor me with so much other bad stuff going on around you. It's a quick reminder of mortality and to be thankful for what you have immediately in front of you.
At the office, the Obama Brigade is in full force with more than 20 people coming and going all day. It's quite cool to be part of something like this (even as an observer), but you can quickly tell which coworkers are for him and which are against ;-).
The kids and Kristin are doing well. As my energy returns, we are able to get back to a more active lifestyle and expect that will only increase as the weather warms up.
Purdue fought the good fight...but it became pretty clear that they were freshman and the Xavier team were all men. I enjoyed the game and thought we might have had a chance, but it just wasn't meant to be. It was a great year of Boiler basketball and hopefully we'll get three more years of these hard working kids.
As for my health, I'm feeling pretty good. No blood work this week so I'm a little anxious to hear how my numbers are doing next Tuesday. It's a blessing that my meds are working so well so fast, but I'm still so new to it that I like to have the confirmation that things are going well via hard data. The side effects continue to be manageable and the outpouring of support continues to amaze me.
After a pretty good health run in my circle, I'm starting to realize how unfair the world is. About a year ago, a former coworker was told he had a tumor on his pituitary gland, surgery followed but now it's looking like it wasn't enough. This man is a true gentlemen who I've have never known to be anything but courteous, fair and a great dad of three young girls. More recently a current coworker's husband had been losing a lot of weight and a visit to the doctor led to the diagnosis of with what appears to be pancreatic AND colon cancer. As if that wasn't bad enough, they had their first child on Monday. It's hard to say poor me with so much other bad stuff going on around you. It's a quick reminder of mortality and to be thankful for what you have immediately in front of you.
At the office, the Obama Brigade is in full force with more than 20 people coming and going all day. It's quite cool to be part of something like this (even as an observer), but you can quickly tell which coworkers are for him and which are against ;-).
The kids and Kristin are doing well. As my energy returns, we are able to get back to a more active lifestyle and expect that will only increase as the weather warms up.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
It's Official.
The office where I work (which I refer to as my office though I have zero ownership in the building) is renting space to the Obama Indiana Headquarters. I just happen to think this is pretty awesome.
We are told not to expect Barack to grace our presence, but one can Hope (pun intended). Currently we have a dozen or so twenty-somethings pounding away on computers and doing a lot of pointing at maps and such. I think I finally realize why Mr. Obama went after the youth so heavily...free, seemingly limitless labor that has very little professional responsibilities or baggage.
It's smart really, most of these kids' parents are probably in their early to mid 50s and likely Clinton or McCain supporters, but because they're still funding their kids (either in school or through some other promotion of philanthropy) - these parents are essentially funding the Obama campaign. Ok, its a stretch, but I think it makes sense.
The US can't repeat the Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton pattern (don't forget about Jeb). Let's hope there's a new sheriff in town...
We are told not to expect Barack to grace our presence, but one can Hope (pun intended). Currently we have a dozen or so twenty-somethings pounding away on computers and doing a lot of pointing at maps and such. I think I finally realize why Mr. Obama went after the youth so heavily...free, seemingly limitless labor that has very little professional responsibilities or baggage.
It's smart really, most of these kids' parents are probably in their early to mid 50s and likely Clinton or McCain supporters, but because they're still funding their kids (either in school or through some other promotion of philanthropy) - these parents are essentially funding the Obama campaign. Ok, its a stretch, but I think it makes sense.
The US can't repeat the Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton pattern (don't forget about Jeb). Let's hope there's a new sheriff in town...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The turn around.
I'm not exactly sure what good news is anymore - so many ups and downs both figuratively and literally. As I mentioned in my last post, they had reduced my Gleevec to 300mg daily because my ANC and white levels had gone too low. Apparently, the dosage drop worked and my ANC is up to 1.4 from 0.9 (Neutrophils are the fighters in your blood) and my whites continued to tick up to 2.6 from 2.2. For the lay folk (myself included) - the ANC number is actually the number of fighters in the total number of white cells. In my case, 53% of my white cells are Neutrophils whereas last week it was about 45%.
The bad news is that my platelets dropped to 64,000. The nurse is talking with Dr. Dugan and will let me know what I need to do with my care to get them back up.
Aside from the platelets, the rest is pretty good news and hopefully over the next couple months - all my levels will continue to regulate to my new norm.
I go back to see my orthopedic doc on Thursday who I should probably credit with finding the Leukemia when it's all said and done. Maybe I'll bring a cake.
As my blood heals, its tough to remember that I still have limits. An example of this...on Sunday I hit the bike then did some stretching and ultimately overworked my calf. It's a little sore now and in the back of my mind I find myself worrying that I somehow ruptured the hematoma. I never needed much help being a hypochondriac so all these new unknowns just feed into that.
Well. Better get ready for the primary election results tonight.
The bad news is that my platelets dropped to 64,000. The nurse is talking with Dr. Dugan and will let me know what I need to do with my care to get them back up.
Aside from the platelets, the rest is pretty good news and hopefully over the next couple months - all my levels will continue to regulate to my new norm.
I go back to see my orthopedic doc on Thursday who I should probably credit with finding the Leukemia when it's all said and done. Maybe I'll bring a cake.
As my blood heals, its tough to remember that I still have limits. An example of this...on Sunday I hit the bike then did some stretching and ultimately overworked my calf. It's a little sore now and in the back of my mind I find myself worrying that I somehow ruptured the hematoma. I never needed much help being a hypochondriac so all these new unknowns just feed into that.
Well. Better get ready for the primary election results tonight.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I'll keep this short.
Not because I don't have anything to write about...but because my man Barack is putting the smack down on some Clinton ass.
Been feeling pretty good the past couple days. I've made it two full days at work and the only side-effect seems to be fatigue at about 8p every night.
I did have a doc appointment today with my practioner Kristi. She tells me that my blood results from Monday are good news. I'm still too green to fully understand what she's saying. My whites are down to 2,100 (which is too low), but the way she explained it to me is that my ratio of healthy ones to leukemic ones is increasing. I think I'm going to check back with her tomorrow and maybe even get another blood test on Thursday just to make sure they aren't creeping too low.
In spite of my confusing blood results, it sounds like her and Doc Dugan are even talking about dropping my Gleevec dosage to 300mg per day. I'm lucky in so many ways, but one of my biggest blessings is that for some reason - my body responds really well to mediations. I'm one of those people that can take a single aspirin and clear up a headache...actually, now I can't take aspirin at all, but you know what I mean.
Ok, I gotta get back to my debate.
Holla!
Been feeling pretty good the past couple days. I've made it two full days at work and the only side-effect seems to be fatigue at about 8p every night.
I did have a doc appointment today with my practioner Kristi. She tells me that my blood results from Monday are good news. I'm still too green to fully understand what she's saying. My whites are down to 2,100 (which is too low), but the way she explained it to me is that my ratio of healthy ones to leukemic ones is increasing. I think I'm going to check back with her tomorrow and maybe even get another blood test on Thursday just to make sure they aren't creeping too low.
In spite of my confusing blood results, it sounds like her and Doc Dugan are even talking about dropping my Gleevec dosage to 300mg per day. I'm lucky in so many ways, but one of my biggest blessings is that for some reason - my body responds really well to mediations. I'm one of those people that can take a single aspirin and clear up a headache...actually, now I can't take aspirin at all, but you know what I mean.
Ok, I gotta get back to my debate.
Holla!
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