A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A HEALTHCARE ALARMIST

This is hilarious.
For all the 'get the government out of my life, the government sucks' people.

This morning I was awakened by my alarm clock, powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service (of NOAA - the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating a breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food.

At the appropriate time (as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by NIST - the National Institute of Standards and Technology - and the US Naval Observatory), I got into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve bank.

On the way out the door, I deposited any mail I had to send via the US Postal Service and dropped the kids off at public school, run according to state and national government guidelines.

After work, I drove my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to a house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then logged on to the Internet (which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration) and posted on FreeRepublic.COM and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the Government can't do anything right.

A Note About the Oscars

I got home about halfway through the Oscars last night. I was ok with that, because I found the whole broadcast utterly boring. Hosts were not funny. The horror montage was lame-and scary. I don't like horror movies. And the presentations of the awards took way too long.
Oh, and Sandra Bullock DID NOT deserve that Oscar.
No way, no now.
I am so upset about The Blind Side and how it has been distorted. I will save that rant for another day, but here is a tidbit that I hope people realize: The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game is a book by Michael Lewis. It's about football and the evolution of the right tackle position. And it is the story of Michael Oher. It is not a story about the rich white woman who took in a poor black boy, despite what the movie may have you think. The main character of the story is actually Michael Oher, not Leanne Tuohy, which was the role played by Sandra Bullock. I refuse to watch a movie that makes such a mess of the original source material and turns it into a feel-good tale of redemption.
This is the problem of reading. I read too many books, and then hear that they are turned into movies that completely ruin the story. Like the movie "21" based on the book "Bringing Down the House." argh.

I am happy about a few things though.
1. Avatar did not win anything major. I have never seen the movie, and I have no desire to do so. I'm just glad it didn't win. I have an unreasonable dislike for blockbuster movies. See: Titanic.
I think I also have an unreasonable dislike for James Cameron. But perhaps that's reasonable. The guy just seems like a jerk.

2. Glad the Hurt Locker won for so many things, even though I also have no desire to see that movie. Realistic war movies don't do it for me.
3. SUPER GLAD that Christoph Waltz won for Inglourious Basterds. I LOVED his performance in that movie. And yes, I am a Tarentino fan. I was prepared for the blood and gore. Even though I didn't necessarily like it, the story was so good and the acting so amazing that I can easily handle some exploding heads. And besides, the ending was awesome!

Beauty Tip

So if you read fashion mags, you'll always see little blurbs about how to get "luminous skin."
Well, folks, I think I have achieved that mythical luminosity. It's really quite fantastic! And it's hard to describe, but I was looking at myself one morning, and I realized that my skin does, in fact, have a glow to it.

My secret?

Moisturizer! (among other things)
Here are my steps:
Morning
1. Around lower eye area: Skyn Icelandic Relief Eye Pen
2. L'Oreal Revitalift Complete Moisturizer with SPF 18
3. Stila Hydrating Primer with SPF 15
And then the eyes:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Sin
Followed by: a variety of eyeshadows in neutral shades of brown and beige, sometimes with a hint of shimmer.
And: mascara, either Clinique or Yves St. Laurent (in one of two shades: sublime gray, or deep night)
And maybe a touch of eyeliner-Urban Decay or Make Up for Ever Aqua Eyes

Back to the face:

4. Stila Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 15 in Shade 1
5. Laura Geller Bronze & Brighten Blush
6. Yves St. Laurent Touche Eclait concealer under the eyes.
7. Lip gloss/balm

And Voila!

It looks fantastic! This is a picture from a few months ago taken on the way to work, at about 6:45 in the morning. (I have a long light to wait at to get out of my complex. I was not driving) I think I look pretty luminous here! My cheeks look a bit too pink, but that fades quickly into a more general glow.

Note:it takes about 10 minutes total to do this.
I don't like spending a lot of time getting ready, but I have discovered the perfect way to get my face looking fresh, not overly done, and awake in the morning!

At night:
1. Clean face with makeup remover
2. Wash face with soap
3. Apply Target Up & Up eye lifting serum
4. Apply L'Oreal Advanced Revita Night Cream.
5. Get lots of sleep!

And here's a pic of my products and tools, because everyone likes pictures!

Did you ever notice?

That most people's blogs are terribly boring?
Some people think that they are SO INTERESTING and that everyone will want to read about how they cooked arugula in a cast iron pot with a little bit of sea salt and a touch of pepper and it turned out so perfectly nom nom nom.

The self absorption of bloggers is hilarious. People take themselves so seriously.

Maybe the problem is that most of these would-be 'writers' really aren't very good writers at all. They think they're being hilarious with their witticisms and clever photos, when in reality, they're just boring, bad writers.

Meh. Perhaps I am just profoundly misanthropic.
Or perhaps I just hate the cult of domesticity and the fact that people think they're somehow superior because they use organic vegetables and they painted their room in a particular shade of teal. I love cooking, but I don't spend a lot of time reading cooking blogs, unless they are by well known people like Mark Bittman. I like looking at housewares in IKEA, but whenever I see a blog about decorating, I am reminded of the classic scene from Old School, where the newly married couple is talking about all the exciting things they're going to do on a Saturday:

"Well, um, actually pretty nice little Saturday. We're uh, gonna go to Home Depot, yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond I don't know. I don't know if we'll have enough time."

A Word on Figure Skating and the Olympics

I am happy for the Chinese pair that won the figure skating gold medal. I thought they were fantastic. I am not one to watch figure skating. I get bored after about a minute of watching them twirl. Yeah, the jumps are exciting, but they are rare, especially in pairs skating. The rest is just emoting and waving your arms around and looking intense.
Here is my one question: Why is the US so terrible at pairs skating? Both of the US teams were pretty bad. Yes, I know, I just said pairs skating is boring, but some emotion is better than just skating around with a partner!
They were graceless. Empty. Lifeless. No passion.
And they weren't even very good technically speaking.
I think part of the problem is that they have a 16 year old out there. Come on, 16 year olds are ok for singles, but in a pair? I just didn't buy it. To me, they looked like randomly selected pairs. Why wasn't Amanda Evora skating with her guy-whatshisname? Seems like that would make more sense and produce some more sparks on the ice.

I am sorely disappointed. And the NBC critics were hilarious as well. They kept saying things like "Well, this is the chance of a lifetime. They have learned so much." Nothing about the actual quality-because they were terrible! And had no chance of winning a medal.

We need to STEP IT UP!
However, I think I will watch men's skating. Now there are some jumps!
As for the women, I don't even know who the top US contenders are.
I may watch the women, but again, in an Olympics where events last 20 seconds or so, I simply don't have the patience to sit and watch a 4-5 minute routine set to sappy/annoying music.

Lastly, I am loving the Olympics in general. Even with NBC's terrible broadcasting. I love the excitement of competition! The agony of defeat! The massive wipeouts on the ski hills and on the ice!
I did NOT enjoy the luge. I was very sad about the whole thing, and I could not believe that NBC kept showing the footage of the young Georgian luger. That was awful and exploitative. I refused to watch it, actually, and I switched the channel when it came on and avoided all internet links to video.
Other than that, I have been enjoying myself. It's great timing-just when we are in the lowest pit of winter, out comes the Olympics to set everyone afire with passion!

It has even motivated me to start running-outside in the cold! If they can be outside racing around, then I surely can stand a few minutes of running outdoors!

Toyotas

Preface: I occasionally read a blog about consumer issues. They post articles about companies and their anti-consumer policies. They post about cars. They are sponsored by Consumer's Union.

I am interested in following the news about the recent Toyota recalls. I find it interesting because I am now a (happy) owner of a GM car. I thought that perhaps these recalls would cause a shift in attitudes about the supposed superiority of foreign-made cars, specifically Japanese brands such as Toyota and Honda.

Well, I am annoyed to say that, after reading an article about how the price of Toyotas are dropping because of the recalls, people on the article are commenting about how they're in the market for a new car and they can't wait to get a good deal on a Toyota. Because to them, a Toyota that might possibly accelerate and lead you off a cliff is better than a Chevy or a Ford.

I blame this on Consumer Reports. Let me just say, despite what they say, Consumer Reports is NOT unbiased, especially when it comes to cars. People spend way too much time reading the Car Issue as though it is the ultimate Truth in car buying. I don't believe them. I have been reading Consumer Reports car issues for the past few years, and I (and my parents, I might add) have noticed a trend: Consumer Reports ALWAYS rates foreign cars, especially Toyotas and Hondas at the top of their "good cars" lists. Conversely, GM cars are almost always at the bottom.
I am not sure why this is. If you read the reviews of the cars, focusing on the "Pluses" and "Minuses" section, you'll notice a great amount of subjectivity. For example, CR lists the Hummer H3 as having an "uncomfortable" ride. Well, based on whose opinions is it uncomfortable? My mom loves her H3. She has driven to Minnesota and back in it, with my dad. I have driven in it. A variety of family members have ridden in it. It is not uncomfortable, plainly stated. In fact, I think it's one of the most comfortable cars I have been in! So how are they rating this?? What standards do they use? They never say....

For my car, they list a major minus as the "finish" on the car. Seriously? That's a major flaw worth taking of several quality points?

So it seems like there might be an issue with the power steering in Camrys. On the radio today, the CR guy in charge of vehicle testing said something like "Well, when we tested it, we noticed that the steering was a bit loose." But yet, Toyota has gotten complaints about this issue. One woman said she lost control of the car and ran into a fence. Instead of presenting this as a negative, the CR guy spun it into something like "personal preference as to how loose you like your steering wheel." Really?
If that were a GM car, they would say something like "steering wheel is loose, may cause potential problems." And they would rate it "LOW."

I am so sick of everyone pandering to the Toyotas and defending them, even in the face of problems.

I just don't understand why opinions of American made cars are so low. It's not fair, and I think a lot of the reason why this is the case is because of Consumer Reports and their efforts to effectively destroy the US auto makers.

Smug

I pride myself on not being addicted to the television. One of the cool things about J and I is that, while we enjoy certain tv shows, we don't really talk about them all that much. We don't get overly upset if we happen to miss a favorite show. This is perhaps due to the fact that we don't live near each other, but it seems like compared to many people, we just don't see tv shows as a big part of our conversations.
This is not to say that we don't enjoy tv shows. The ones that we both enjoy are The Office, Lost, and House. Other than that, well I have my shows that I enjoy, like ANTM, Project Runway, Mad Men, but I can't really say that my life would be significantly affected if these shows were to suddenly disappear.
So I guess this is where the smugness (or perceived smugness) comes in. Sometimes I wish I could just cancel my cable all together. I don't need tv. Of course I will never do such a thing, due to societal pressure and the fact that there are some shows that I do enjoy, and I don't like watching shows on the internet. But still....I think it would be so liberating to be free from the television. DVR already makes a lot of this liberation possible. I was too lazy to sit down and watch the whole 2 hour episode of Lost last night. Of course I DVR'd it, so I will easily be able to watch it today. And it will be less than 2 hours because I fast forward to the commercials. I can't even remember the last time I watched a commercial voluntarily.
I know that it's a bad idea for me to get rid of the tv though. I do need to relate to people. I noticed that in the past few weeks, I barely had any idea of who was running in the primaries. I don't watch local tv commercials, I don't listen to any radio except NPR or XM radio, and I don't read the newspaper or news websites.
So for me, not having a tv contributes to my isolation-I start to live in my own world, comprised of the gossip websites that I read and the facebook updates that people post. And the articles on Wikipedia that I read.
Did you notice something about that last sentence? Perhaps I am the ultimate hypocrite, because while I can live without the TV, I absolutely cannot live without the internet. I read gossip blogs like a fiend. While I don't care for any celebrities, nor do I watch any of the ridiculous amounts of reality shows that they are on, or even the movies that they are in for that matter, I do like knowing what goes on in their lives. I love salacious "blind items." I am addicted to looking at pictures of outfits from various awards shows, even if I don't watch the shows on tv. I guess this is part of my personality as an information gatherer. I want to know everything-and I enjoy reading it more than watching it. I am a profoundly verbal person. I have trouble sitting and watching a movie for two hours, but I have no trouble at all looking at websites and reading articles for 2 hours or more.
To each his own.
I was inspired to write this by some facebook statuses, if you must know. So many people doing Lost countdowns and using way too many exclamation points. I mean, I was reasonably excited, but geez. Is it really necessary to countdown every day with things like LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12 days!!!!!!
I don't know, I guess I just get annoyed easily. Or I am a curmudgeon and don't let people express their joy. Or I am apathetic and don't care about people's opinions. Whatever, maybe I am just tired of the constant oversharing by people on facebook about every. little. thing.
I'm not going to quit facebook because of it of course. I could never do that. But I can complain. And I figure, it's ok to say that here, because people must deliberately come to my blog in order to read my posts. Unless they have an RSS feed or something, no one is obligated to read what I say. Not so with facebook!