A Whale of a Story

Things have been kind of dull here in blogland. Maybe everyone has just run out of things to say and write about and maybe they are busy with the holidays and back to school. Either way, I haven't seen any new posts in the last many days and feel that I have to get things off first base.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to write about either.

Congress is muddling its way through the Health Care reform mess and it could become quite interesting, like a horse race where the odds keep changing before the run.

The stock market isn't doing anything unless a .4% price change is considered significant. The news media seem to treat these miniscule moves as something to comment on, but as far as I am concerned, it is all "no change."

I did hear a story about a supposed medical advance and have been trying to decide whether this blog is a proper venue for the discussion I have in mind regarding the event but have mainly decided to shelve it for the time being.

Regarding our president, I won't look at pictures of him nor listen to any of his speeches or even his sound bites. I've never felt that way about any other president no matter how much I detested him. After years of climbing out of the currency of New Deal liberalism, it is disheartening to see us fall back into that trap. I am getting older and don't want the dream of a prosperous, free America to slip from my grasp. It will be too long until the trend reverses itself.

To end this post with some relevance to the title, here is a commentary on Jonah and whale, appropriate for this season. The scripture states that a fish swallowed him but it is popularly believed to be a whale. The commentaries point out that it took him 3 days to pray for salvation because things were roomy inside the male fish that swallowed him. So, after 2 days and some time, the original fish, transferred him to a pregnant female fish and things got a bit cramped so he started praying. The only fish I know of that carries live offspring is a whale. It also survives on oxygen from the air.

Doctor, It really hurts

Now that Max Baucus has revealed his conception of what health care reform would look like, I wrote to my representatives in congress detailing my objections to a massive reform effort. In the cause of brevity I did not elaborate on the need to fix certain gross anomalies in the current health care system on a gradual piece by piece basis, but I think that should be the ultimate approach and goal of the whole excercise.

Because it is almost impossible to gain their attention for even a few nano seconds, I tried to keep it short but my best efforts still came up with a one page letter. My wife advised me that the best way to write is to put the word "for" or "against" in big letters at the beginning and end of the communication which is all that matters. Good advice. I guess they have heard all the arguments, reasoned or not and don't have time to rehash exactly why each individual is either for or against a proposal.

So in order to enlighten at least the loyal readers of this blog, I offer my arguments.

I am concerned about the mandatory aspects of the proposed health care reform initiative. To be forced to purchase something or to join an organization is abhorrent to the principles of a free democracy and individual rights.

I am further concerned by the intractability of the public option debate. If there is a public option, it will cost too much and give government too much control over healthcare choices. If we don't have a public option, the insurance companies will reap a vast windfall at the public's expense. It also does not make sense to increase the costs of the healthcare industries by taxing them. This will only shift the costs right back to the consumer. It’s like everyone taking in everyone else’s laundry.

It is not the government's role to insure everyone who chooses not to spend the money on health insurance. For over two hundred years Americans have had the right to choose to assume risk.

In view of the above, I think it would be best if the entire initiative would be defeated.

Wildlife II

My driveway seems to be a haven for all hungry beasts in my neighborhood. I am thinking of charging admission " See the animals! Watch them in their natural habitat! (my garbage cans), much closer than Great Adventure! Take one home as a pet! (please)."

Let me explain.

A few weeks ago, I responded to pick up the ambulance for a call at 3 AM. I went out to my car and saw that the garbage can was once again on its side, and there was an animal having a late night snack. Now the can was in front of my car, and a little off to the side.

Thinking it was one of the usual suspects (the cats and raccoons that frequent Chez Greun) I continued towards it, figuring I would just chase the varmint away.


Until I saw the wispy white tail.

Sticking up.

Now, I had to make a quick decision on what to do. I had to get to my car, and I figured I could still do so, but the usual escape route of this critter is to cross the driveway into the back yard. If I were to blast past him, he might freak and decide on a little eau de ewwww. So I slowly went wide around the can, hoping he would sense company and leave, which is what they usually do. However, this little skunk decided to come out and investigate.

With his tail really straight up.

This is generally perceived as not a good sign for one who wants to keep his friends and family, so I decided that a little walk around the back of the house would probably be the prudent choice of action. As I came around the second time, the critter must have decided that having his meal disturbed a second time was enough, and he politely chose to leave.

With his tail down, thank goodness.

I arrived a few minutes later at the call, and all was forgiven for the short delay, since the smell inside the ambulance would have been enough to send us all to the hospital had I kicked the can.

So that was all well and good until the other morning. I heard rustling outside my window, which usually indicates a feast is in progress, but this was early in the morn, when Chez Greun is usually cosed for the day. I didn't think much of it until around 7:30 when Lovey informed me that something was still banging around. I looked out my window, which overlooks the driveway, and into 3 of the 4 cans which don't have lids, and didn't see anything. The fourth can had the lid on it, but it wasn't moving.

Lovey decided to investigate and look in all the cans from ground level. Since I didn't think there was anything to see, I wasn't paying much attention until she shrieked. She had looked through the hole in the top of the can that one of our previous customers had made, and seen a little raccoon staring up at her. Then, after my manhood was called into question, I was forced to come outside and see this animal for myself. I asked all the appropriate agencies to please come and take this interloper away, and get rid of it, but they all refused, so I had to let it go myself.

I know Lovey is a good cook, but this constant invasion is getting ridiculous.

End of Summer ll (click here)

I was off today so, needing to do some banking business, I went to a local branch, not my usual one. Upon entering the premises, I immediately realized that this place was understaffed. It is a highway branch and was currently manned by two tellers who had to take care of a line of 4 people and about 6 cars. I waited patiently (the cars waited even more patiently - I didn't hear any horns blowing) and while waiting, a young lady got on line behind me. She was about the age of my middle child and we got to chatting about how the bank branch we were in was going to handle the extra traffic from the other local branch which B of A decided to close.

When I exited the building, I noticed a baby blue convertible BMW z4 with the top down, bathed in brilliant sunlight, parked next to my car. I examined the roadster, noticing the fine leatherwork and the manual shift. As I was doing so, the woman who had been in line behind me, came out of the bank and said to me, "My birthday present! But it's probably the last one I'll get for the next fifty years." She got in her car and drove off, as I wistfully watched her drive away with the last days of summer.

As Sand Through an Hourglass...

There truly is a generation gap. At least among my siblings and their children. let me explain.

I was over at the Carwash's and we got into an impromptu game of charades along with my brother ( not the lawyer) and his wife. So we were running out of topics, and since we all grew up with each other, we were guessing before the person even started, so we needed to shake it up a bit.

Now, when I was younger, the movie that became real popular with my siblings was The Princess Bride ( inconceivable, really.) my sisters knew the movie so well it was to the point that we could watch the movie with the sound off, and still have all the dialogue.

For some reason, among our children, the movie that the girls in particular seem to have gotten into is Newsies. The kids seem to be in a competition as to who can see it the most, and the dialogue gets quoted constantly. I happen to feel that I should know what my kids are into, so I have seen it as well (I should note that at one point it would have been impossible not to see it, as it was playing on the DVD or computer just about every night.)

Figuring that my siblings are as involved as I am, I started to act out the movie, from the first scene on. Blank stares. I did a few more scenes. More blank stares.

Finally, after flopping over the ottoman for the third time, and realizing at my advanced age that I couldn't do it much longer, I told them what it was. Their response? Oh, we haven't seen the movie!

I was shocked that something so integral to their kids was not in their interest at all. I was also a little winded.

So I got to thinking, this isn't really that different than when we were kids and soooo into things, and our parents were completely not interested ( for instance, The Princess Bride). Just like we were not interested then in things our parents were into, that we have a greater appreciation for today.

What that is, offhand, I can't think of anything, but I am sure there are some things.

And the Gap widens... ( perhaps the name of a soap opera when we are really old??)