ladyverthandie

Would you run a business this way?

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:42:24 GMT

I'll state right here that I am neither a card carrying Democrat, a Republican, or a Liberal.  As far as I can see it none of the 3 parties fits my needs. Yes, yes, I know I'll get the usual complaints about how I should pick a side and all that, yada yada. My post, I'll state what's on my mind. What I am however, is a business person. I work with small businesses and work for a small business. I work at the 'bottom' of the heap if you will. I see how hard these folks work their butts off just to keep that shop open and their staff working. These are JOBS, skilled labor. These are the jobs people get after they grow up and leave McDonalds and have families, average folks that don't work in the higher end sectors like wall street or government, they are retired teachers, entrepreneurs, people who love what they do and want to continue to do it.

If this health-care reform is so 'good' as my own mother swears it will be, and how those of us against it with private insurance are just evil fuckers who don't care about anyone else....   Tell me why does the government need to force an option that makes everyone else already with insurance pay for it, and how that will be competition for the private insurance companies?   If a public option is so great, and can be so cost efficient, then just show me the ones all across the country that are successful that work on a large level and let people sign up for that on their own. Don't take from anyone else, just expect those that sign up for it to pay for it. If it's really that kind of competition, then any good competition (ie BUSINESS) will simply have a lower price because it can run more efficiently, more people will sign up for it willingly, and thus the option would have more funds.

What's that you say? It won't work if the government doesn't force people on it? Please, someone enlighten me how a Balance/Non-Profit option (ie doesn't cost taxpayers more money) is supposed to work then? Basic economics folks, If a business gives customer X a good deal on something (like medicare) in sort of a permanent sale price then that business is not just deciding to 'loose' money for the welfare of their customers. That money will be made elsewhere, it gets taken from the cash cow of every single taxpayer, not just the big earners but those of us in the trenches too.

Do you honestly and truly believe that the government is anything different than a business? I'm talking any government here, not just the US. It's an organization that provide goods and services in exchange for money. Only with a government it's backwards, your money is taken first and then you might get goods and services but only after it's been picked over by the very top folks in power first.  At least with a business the stockholders or customers have the right to tell the company they are either fired or they've been dropped in favor of someone else.  You won't have that option with a government plan. Just who do you get to complain to? Have you BEEN to do the DMV or an unemployment office any time in your life? Do those folks seem like they can do anything to take care of a valid problem? Sure you can write little letters to your local politician and most of those folks will listen cause they do care. But lets face it, by the time the complaints get collected and moved up higher to the bigger levels of government, it gets lost and you know it.  When was the last time you were able to talk to someone directly at Google or Amazon? The bigger any organization gets, the harder it is to get your point across or to change things. Sheer numbers and layers are what makes bureaucracy what it is, an evil fucking nightmare for those of who have to venture into it. Ask any social worker, any municipal employee, any person who's ever tried to build a house even and they'll agree.

Think long and hard here folks, just how much more do you want the government to control your health, your personal life, your income, your private information, your bank accounts (yes there was a provision to give the govt direct access to withdraw funds whenever they needed www.heritage.org), what the news media can and cannot report because the president criticizes it (http://www.news-medical.net/news/20090816/Obama-criticizes-media-coverage-insurance-companies-during-Montana-Town-Hall-meeting.aspx), until we are all suffocating under a mountain of bureaucracy and taxes (http://www.heritage.org/research/features/budgetChartbook/Federal-government-revenues-have-more-than-tripled-since-1965.aspx) all while the top politico's keep their lovely health insurance policies while we get the crap version, continue to ignore what the people are saying, spend more than they bring in, and continue to pull their little morality escapades.

Don't you think it's time the government started pulling it's weight and started to do a little real work instead of just taking our money and screwing with the economy?

Don't Stop, This is YOUR FUTURE!

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:03:15 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/19/iran.protests.women/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Or if LJ chooses to block this news link, CNN site has this article "Women in Iran march against discrimination"

Please, dear ladies, do not give up. Keep fighting. Think of your daughters, your sons, your people. What have you lost by being treated as 2nd class citizens? I know there are many on both sides that dissagree with the other side in many things. But this? This is important. Please, do not stop fighting for what is rightfully yours.

..."The weight of discrimination against women is felt most profoundly through Iran's legal system, but Moaveni said Ahmadinejad added to the hardship by clamping down on women's lifestyles. He mandated the way women dress and even censored Web sites that dealt with women's health, Moaveni said. A woman would be hard-pressed to conduct a Google search for something as simple as breast cancer"...

..."She recalled her own mother being a devout Muslim who chose not to wear a veil. Her grandmother, like more traditional women in Iran, wore a veil but resented the government ordering her to do so. Covering up, Nafisi said, was a matter of faith, not politics."...

Know that there are many, many women in the the US who hope to see you finally have the inaleinable rights you should have. You are in our thoughts these days most of all.

Where's it all at

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:11:30 GMT

From about December to about May I was having bad migraines, the kind that never went away. Every single day. Add to that the sharp rushes in head pressure, felt like very bad sinus pressure gone out of control, breathlessness, emotions completely out of control, inability to do my previous level of exercising (2-3 times a week speed walking for 1.5 hours) due to the headaches and pressure, returning anxiety attacks, and serious, significant, depression.

Seven doctors later. Loose weight. At my heighest I was 175 pounds over. Not just a whole person overweight, but an overweight person overweight. I'm only 5'3". I should weigh for my age no more than 155. In the last 10 years I've made some changes, but in the last 5 I've really made changes. I eat breakfast and lunch, something I never did in elementary school, jr or sr. high, or college, or really even after that. I started to get more physical activity in. Swimming, walking the mall with friends and spouse, walking on breaks at work, taking the 4 flights of stairs at work, treadmilling at night with my laptop on special platform that hubby rigged up so I could walk and talk at the same time (eay yer heart out Mayo Clinic). By last fall I was doing pretty damn good and had managed to loose 70 on my own and was nearly down to 265. Over the previous 5 years I probably lost and gained 90 pounds up and down (I'll double check those numbers later on my logs, yes I kept track), but that lasat 70 was being lost in the last 1.5 to 2 years. The walking 2-3 times a week with the dog was my magic bullet. that worked to not only burn calories but to keep my stress and normal high anxiety levels down.

The headaches are finally under control but there are still some days that are tough, I take Diamox (1000mg daily), Topamax (500mb daily), and Frova when really needed. I have to watch the amount of sunlight I'm in as that seems to encourage a migrane.

I have been trying to loose weight on my own for the last 5 years. Exercise for me is key. Diet does not work, I am a Compulsive Eater. Unfortunately with these medical issues exercise seems to be at a very low possibility on my own. I have pursued gastric bypass in the past only to be told I am not sick enough for it. Incidently my particular insurance company is nearly impossible to get the surgery from. When I go to the local gastric specialists in my area (3 in one office, they handle all the people in the northern half of this state) their staff tells me they very rarely see someone with my ins. get the surgery.

While yes I can continue to make better choices in food decisions to just remain stable, what I cannot do is exercise to the degree it would help me burn enough to loose. Dieting to the required degree does not work either as I am a compulsive eater. For those of us with this addiction/disease we can attest what dieting does, it just triggers a binge, which causes guilt and drepression, which triggers a binge, etc. I've already spent the last 7 months dealing with near morbid depression, ie, keeping focused on not slamming my car into a tree because I am essentially trapped in this uncontrollable situation with no options, no way out, no relief. Those irrational thoughts on their own add to a whole nother level of guilt and anxiety as I know they are unacceptable and wrong.

So today was a stress test to find out what the extra breathlessness and side issues are tied to. Minor dyastolic dysfunction (joys of getting old) but nothing that should stop me from exercising. Well the heart is ok, but the immediate tunnel vision, extreem head pressure that kicks in as soon as I start walking, think blood pressure cuff getting inflated on your neck, feeling like any day I'll have an anurism, etc, that's just something that the nuerologist has to make a call on.

So the final straw is, do I try again to get the surgery and get rejected once again? Do I stay living at home, 40 minutes drive one way from town where there is no place to exercise, where it's a pain in the ass to walk anywhere because of all the loose dogs, the schedule problems with hubby, the hassle of meals with him where if he cooks food it's unhealthy, the problems at home with no chances to even socialize with my friends due to distance, the problems of never even being able to socialize because he won't, never ever being able to make him happy, always looking over my shoulder waiting for yet another potential GF to be trotted out in front of me so I can be treated like shit yet again, being ignored while he's in his little online world all the time? Or do I call it quits with him and live closer to town where I can go to the gym 4 days a week, go to weight watchers, go do some volunteer work or maybe help out at a business and learn some skills for when I finally get to open my own?

If I can get the surgery then I can see myself staying out of town and trying to make it work with hubby, but if I cannot then maybe it's time to leave and be on my own until I can loose the weight or possibly for good.

My first quilt!

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:59:32 GMT

My recent attempt at a quilt. My first. Grandmothers flower garden even. I must have been insane!
Rushing to finish it at the last minute for a friend's baby girl. Hand quilted butterfly medallions around the border. I finished it one night before we reached their house, but had to toss it into the dryer for a bit to dry where the disappearing ink was. Whew!

The backing fabric is hard to see in this pic but it was even more beautiful than the front! :)
Onto the next one!

Found it!

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:52:46 GMT

Dave, I hope this is ok. I truly love this. *hugs*

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

/Dave Feinberg

ok call me lame

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:15:24 GMT

I admit to watching Harold and Kumar Escape from Git-bay. Yes, I laughed. Yes, my friend accidently chose the unrated version and proceeded to get squiemish at the potty humor. I think she was funnier than the show was.

But, I have to say, Kal Penn and John Cho are both funny guys. I see on the movie db that many people hated this movie. Yes, it was about as good as Tenacious D and Grandma's Boy. But you have to watch the end. Call me a math geek but I dearly love the poem recited at the end. Of course I have no idea if any of those statments (something about an astonomical position of the sun?) is accurate or not. So of course I have to be a dork and go look for it.

*Geek!*

-LV