crazychild1234’s Neighborhood

DRB2008

Hospitalized (again)

I was in the hospital a couple days last week, after passing out in a parking lot.  The fifth time something like this has happened over the last 5 1/2 years.


The cause is not clear.  I may end up with a pacemaker sometime.  Some doctors think it would help, others don't.  But for the moment, there have been some changes in medication.

This stuff is no fun.  However, I would rate the ambulance crew top-notch, the emergency room pretty darn good, but the hospital itself, sort of so-so plus.  Too many people, too much confusion (over meds and other issues).  Plus I had a roommate who was trying to help his wife deal with a flooding basement by phone.

Never did get any sleep really.  If you want "bedrest," it is easier to get at home....

10 comments Tags: health
DRB2008

No news is good news?

I find that I am watching much much less news now than I did previously.  Instead, I often have the TV tuned to the Travel Channel, the Food Network, the Discovery Channel, etc.  (At the moment I am learning a bit about the insects of Paris).


The news is too dreary!  The coverage is disgustingly poor:  little in the way of useful "perspective" is offered.

Maybe I will try BBC?  
Maybe I will try PBS once again?  (I gave the latter up some years ago).

In addition, I have cancelled subscriptions to most of the many magazines I have received--though not Atlantic.

Perhaps I will just stick to getting news off the web.  What the New York Times is offering on the iPhone (through a little app available on system 2.0) is pretty darn good!

Or perhaps I just won't bother with whatever the heck is going on.  My wife, for sure, can hardly stand to hear really any of the political coverage and commentary.  Her animosity started with Bush, expanded to embrace Hillary, and certainly includes John McCain.  I do know a couple people who watch no tv at all, ever--although most of my acquaintances try hard to be informed and "up-to-date" and accurate.

Still, like Walt Whitman said, "I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained."

Perhaps they know something we don't.

5 comments Tags: media, politics, food, technology, travel, nature
DRB2008

Expiring??

I am letting my membership in the American Political Science Association (APSA) expire.  I have been a member since 1966 or 1967, which is to say more than forty years.


But I am really fully retired now.

And, looking at the roster of officers, I don't recognize the names of the president, president-elect, any of the three vice presidents, or for that matter any of the 23 other officers listed.  So I guess it is time to get out!  A "new generation" has taken over.

But I will keep up my membership in the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) for at least another year or two.  The incoming president of that organization is a good friend.

After so long working in one general field of interest, it is hard to let go.

Still, I don't think it is so much the "retiring/expiring" that I don't like.  It is the getting older!

Post a comment Tags: personal
DRB2008

No such thing as a free lunch?

They say that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  And I suppose that is right.


However, I do think that the $4.95 luncheon special at Pequod's Pizza in Morton Grove iL is a good deal:

That price includes a cold beverage.

The pie is, I guess, about 6 inches diameter.  And it tastes just great!

It is a kind of rustic little old building, too, in easy walking distance of residences.  That impressed me.  The first time I went there were women with little children in tow.  Yesterday, there were a couple of groups of men, probably co-workers, having lunch together.

I took a photo of the pizza with my iPhone.  And it turned out that the waitress has one too!

Give it a try when you are north of Chicago.  A fine little neighborhood place.


5 comments Tags: food
DRB2008

Happy Independence Day!



Hope you have an enjoyable Fourth!

I will be going to a big picnic with a bunch of university students, many of them Chinese officials, who are here in the US to learn more about American government.

But my wife is in New Jersey at a big family reunion--after a flight yesterday delayed five hours in trying to get there.  Apparently flights into the New York region were pretty backed up.

I started the day today by going to breakfast at a nearby diner-style restaurant, owned by a family of Greek heritage.  There were all kinds of people, of so many different backgrounds, there.  The four men at the table nearest me were speaking what seemed to be Russian.  The waitress was named "Valentina," and the table crew was Hispanic.

From a very diverse menu, I ordered and enjoyed the Irish Breakfast.

It all seemed so very American!
3 comments Tags: holiday, food
DRB2008

this is a test from my iPhone

I am testing the new application for posting to various blogs (including Vox) from an iPhone.  Provided by Typepad as a web application called Blog It.


It took several tries, but i did get it to work!

4 comments Tags: technology
DRB2008

Wii too!

I received a Nintendo Wii today as a late Father's Day present from my wife and son.  With the sports game package included.   (I guess that is how it always comes?)  Anyhow, I am enjoying it.


Also am interested in any suggestions about other good Wii games.  

8 comments Tags: technology
DRB2008

Tim Russert's passing

What a terrible loss!  He was only 58.  Journalism in this country has been so badly damaged over recent years, or decades.  I considered Russert to be a really fine professional.  This will leave it worse off.

Now I find myself wondering if Tim was on the Clinton's recently-publicized "enemies list."  Plus he played a key role via testimony in the conviction of "Scooter" Libby.

Paranoia is setting in a little early this evening, apparently.  But it is Friday the 13th

It is all a great shame.  Good men, bad men--all one day are dust.

5 comments Tags: media
DRB2008

Another terrorist warning!!

The Fox News commentator, E.D. Hill, is publicizing the notion that the "fist bump" between Barack and Michelle Obama on the eve of his primary election victory perhaps was a covert, personal signal of their terrorist sympathies.  


(As of course also was the scarf worn by Rachel Ray in a now-deleted ad for Dunkin Donuts).

And it isn't the first time!   Here Obama is, doing the same thing with an Iraq war veteran in Springhill, West Virginia.


But the problem is far far worse than we might have realized!  Not only is the "fist bump" pro-terrorism signal widely employed by sports figures, actors, and young people--all of whom might be thought patriotically challenged.


But there also is the "corporate fist bump:"  Our major businesses have been taken over!

Ist2_760147_punch_fists
Ist2_760147_punch_fists

And, indeed-- this signal of anti-Americanism (until now only recognized as a coded gesture by the terrorists themselves!)--has actually invaded the Bush White House!


Really, is there any point in having an election at all if the terrorists have already taken over!
Secretly, of course!

But, we are fortunate that at least the president himself, our Commander in Chief, who is not so easy to take in, knows there is only way to signal "brotherhood" among actual true Americans.

That is the chest bump.

Why didn't Michelle and Barack do that?

I am left to wonder....

8 comments Tags: media, politics
DRB2008

Now there is tenacity for you!

It has now been 24 hours since Hillary Clinton lost her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, a loss that she seems to be having a terrible time accepting, and which remains unacknowledged .


Rather, on her campaign web page, Hillary for President, there is a request to "Stand With Hillary," and another to "Show Hillary Your Support" by making a campaign contribution.  There are no press releases, no speeches, indicating that the primary elections are in fact over, that the delegates have been allocated, and that she came up short.  And there is no call to her fellow Democrats to support the Democratic party's candidate--and for that matter, no statement she she will do so herself.

In contrast, the Obama web page has much information about that is up-to-date, including an interesting tabulation of the state by state primary results.  So the problem isn't a limitation of technology, it is a matter of being out of contact with reality, as with her landing under sniper fire in Bosnia.  If there is a story to be told, she seems to have to be the hero (heroine).

This is in sharp contrast to the general practice.  If you are racing in the Indianapolis 500, and someone else's car crosses the finish line and gets the checkered flag before you do, then you lost the race.  If you are a couple touchdowns behind when time runs out, then you lost the football game.

And, in politics, the normal thing is to concede your loss, and offer congratulations to the victor.  Here for example is a part of Mike Huckabee's statement of concession to John McCain:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I called Senator McCain a few moments ago. It looks pretty apparent tonight that he will, in fact, achieve 1,191 delegates to become the Republican nominee for our party.

I extended to him not only my congratulations, but my commitment to him and to the party to do everything possible to unite our party, but more importantly to unite our country, so that we can be the best nation we can be, not for ourselves, but for the future generations to whom we owe everything, just as we owe previous generations all that they have done for us."

That is how it should be done.  Had he lost, it is how Barack Obama would have done it.

Now, the most recent news reports indicate that many of HRC's strongest supporters in the Senate and House are disgusted and embarrassed, and that in response to their pressure, Hillary has indicated that she might well concede the election and suspend her campaign, perhaps on Saturday.

There has been some information that she was trying to demand the vice-presidential spot on the ticket.  Relevant to that see the headline "GOP roots for Clinton," which indicates that Republican fundraisers are hoping that Hillary will be named as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, which would greatly ease their task of developing support for John McCain, given the disdain with which she is regarded in conservative circles.

Post a comment Tags: politics