After my last post about my Dad, I fell into a bit of writer’s block.  And also lost focus on what I wanted to write about on this blog.  I’m still trying to find that focus but will come back to it.  In the meantime, please follow my newest blogging adventures over at Pint Sized Musings.

I hope you’re all well!

August 11, 1943 – December 4, 2009

Dad, I will miss you.

(Click on the link below to hear this beautiful song)

There Will Be Rest

There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,
A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness holy and low.I will make this world of my devising
Out of a dream in my lonely mind.
I shall find the crystal of peace, – above me
Stars I shall find.

Sara Teasdale

• I’m thankful for being alive and healthy
• I’m thankful for my family who have been a rock for me my entire life
• I’m thankful for my many friends, especially those who enrich my life and make me strive to be a better human being
• I’m thankful for my job even though it can be hectic.  So blessed to work for an awesome company, especially in this economy
• I’m thankful for everything that has occurred to make me who I am today

I hope that everyone takes time to think about the things they’re thankful for this next week and strive to make it more than once a year.

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.  ~Edward Sandford Martin

You see, I’ve become a beer drinker.

I never thought it would happen.  I’ve never really cared for beer much and only drank it when it was the only choice or when a group I was with were drinking it and I caved to the peer pressure of not asking for a cocktail or wine, lest I be laughed at.   But here I am, shamefully proud to say that I like beer.  Now mind you, the word beer encompasses a large variety of styles, not all of which I am a fan of.  However, about a year ago I started a journey of beer education thanks to a certain beer connoisseur I know and the love has steadily grown to make me realize how much I love a lot of beer.

Last night I drank one of the best beers I’ve had called Double Vision Doppelbock. What makes it so amazing it seems, are the barrels that it’s brewed in.  It has a lovely caramel sweetness & is one of the smoothest beers I’ve had.  Naturally, it was found at Monk’s Kettle, one of my favorite beer serving restaurants.  I felt pretty lucky to have tried it since it’s only there for a week (or until it runs out!).  My hope it to find it somewhere and buy as much of it as I can!  Sadly, the brewery is in Idaho, somewhere I’m not traveling to this year (which ironically is a shock as I seem to have been all over the country the past few months!).

SO the point of all this chitter chatter is to one, recognize to mind your P’s and Q’s and don’t mince words.  I really hope to never say never again in regard to trying something new (and I’m also considering naming one of my children Domino).

One may wonder why I still use the same blanket from childhood…it must be worn thin, right?  But somehow it’s the one blanket I always end up wrapped in and it keeps me warm.
Sadly, a few weeks ago I noticed that pieces are starting to rip off.  Almost like a thread in a sweater, it’s slowly pulling apart.  I’m not sure what I’ll do when it’s all gone.  Maybe if I ever have kids I’ll keep enough of it to use as a baby blanket.

It probably looked similar to this when I first had it...

Being delirious at the end of a busy day, I think this is a good time to write the stories.  I think I’m most amused by this one and how they’re going to interpret my management style from it.

Sadly I could not copy and paste the picture but essentially it was of the back of a man looking at a captain with a cruise boat in the background.  The captain was saying something to the man.

Here is my short story:

Jack had always wanted to see Jamaica.  He had heard amazing things of the beauty of the beaches, the jungles and the exotic people.  This was his one chance to finally see something outside of his small life in Hoboken, NJ.  He had saved his pennies for years, working at the local joke shop.  It had been slow in coming, seeing as they were one of 5 joke shops in Hoboken.  But each whoopie cushion added up and here he was, standing on the brink of a grand adventure.  As he walked down the plank to the ship, he saw a captain standing there in a white hat.  He had to smile as he had always imagined the captain of a cruiseliner to look like that.  He noticed a dark look on the captain’s face as he approached.  He reached out to shake the captain’s hand but the captain quickly drew his hand away.  He had bad new.  The ship had been contaminated.  Swine flu, he said.  They were going to have to cancel the trip but he assured Jack he’d be able to take another trip in the future.  Sadly what the captain did not know was that Jack had only months to live.  Working in the joke shop, it seemed, was a hazardous occupation.  The asbestos in the building had caused him to develop cancer and he had stopped fighting it.  Jack turned away, wondering why life had to throw him so many curve balls.  Back to Hoboken and the joke shop…maybe the next life will be a better one.

As I read this to my coworker, I was pretty much in tears laughing…only imagining how they’d read into it.  What are your thoughts?

This was forwarded to me but it’s original copyright is from the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

COUNTERING HEALTH REFORM MISINFORMATION

WHY HEALTH CARE REFORM WORKS FOR YOU

As the debate over health care reform continues, special interest groups have begun spreading rumors and misinformation designed to make the public doubt, or even fear, reform.  Below are real facts about our current system and proposed reforms.

Why Health Reform Works for You

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Our Current System – You currently have health insurance through your employer, Medicare, Medicaid, VA, the military, or some other source.

Proposed Health Reform – You will be able to keep the health insurance that you have.

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Our Current System – You may be, or may become, uninsured because: your employer can change or end your health insurance coverage at any time; you lose your job and are not eligible for or can’t afford COBRA health care continuation insurance; you do not have insurance through your work place; you cannot afford private insurance or no private insurance company will sell you a policy.

Proposed Health Reform – You will be able to purchase health insurance through a Health Insurance Exchange: you will have a number of health plans from which to choose; if you have limited income, you will receive assistance with the cost of the premium.

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Our Current System – You have a pre-existing condition: health insurance companies can refuse to sell you health insurance; If health insurance companies sell you insurance, they may not cover services they decide are related to the pre-existing condition.

Proposed Health Reform – You have a pre-existing condition: health insurance plans will not be able to deny you insurance; health insurance plans will not be able to deny coverage of claims based on pre-existing conditions.

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Our Current System – Health insurance companies can charge you a higher premium based on gender or health status.

Proposed Health Reform –      Health insurance plans will NOT be able to charge you higher premiums based on gender or health condition.

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Our Current System – Health insurance plans can charge exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses: high deductibles; high co-pays; limits on how much they will pay in a year and over a lifetime.

Proposed Health Reform – There will be limits on out-of-pocket costs: no cost-sharing for preventive care; annual out-of-pocket caps; no annual or lifetime limits on how much coverage your insurance will provide.

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Our Current System – Insurance premiums and health care costs are rising rapidly.

Proposed Health Reform – Mechanisms will be in place to help contain costs.  A public health insurance option that competes with private plans will keep costs low as it encourages innovation and efficiency in health care. Other health system reforms, including a focus on prevention and coordination of health care, will help reduce costs.

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Medicare IS Public Health Insurance

44 years ago Medicare was enacted into law.  All of today’s dire warnings about a public health option – socialism and government barring the doctor’s door – were made in opposition to Medicare.  Despite such opposition from “conservative,” leaders, Medicare passed because of some courageous, principled law-makers.

Before Medicare, 50% of everyone 65 or older had NO health insurance. Now, as a result of Medicare, almost all older people are insured.  Medicare, which is national, government-run health insurance, succeeded in insuring older people where private insurance failed. Further, until the Bush Administration privatized Medicare with huge subsidies to private “Medicare Advantage” and Part D plans, Medicare was also remarkably cost-effective. It’s private Medicare, not the traditional, public program, that’s bleeding taxpayers of billions of dollars.

Medicare has been a success, fiscally and morally.  It took on the job of insuring health coverage and care to people that private insurance had abandoned.  Since 2003, on the other hand, private Medicare plans have cost us all tens of billions of dollars that went to support the private insurance industry, not to providing health care.  In addition, private Medicare plans have too often engaged in marketing abuses and restrictive coverage practices.

As numerous studies have shown, people with Medicare love it.  They do not want government to fool around with the traditional program. Ironically, some people with Medicare are arguing against a public health care reform option ? while also telling the government “to keep its hands-off their Medicare!” They, and their family members, (which accounts for pretty much all of us), forget that the traditional Medicare program is a public health insurance option.

Meet Medicare:  Our 44 year-old public health insurance option that provides care to all its enrollees everywhere in the country, and that has provided health and economic security for millions of older people, people with disabilities, and their families.  For two generations, the public Medicare program has shown what a true public insurance program can offer: health insurance for the otherwise uninsured, at a price that taxpayers can afford.

Now, for all generations, we need a public option in health reform!

Folks, I don’t pimp my choir’s shows very often. I know this audience is wide and largely uninterested. However… those of you living within reach of Campbell, CA (just west of San Jose) should make the trip on June 5th or 6th.

We’re good. Really good. And this show is all music that you know. Here’s the real blurb:

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
June 5 and 6 at the Campbell Heritage Theatre

The Choral Project concludes its 2008-2009 season with Across the Universe, a light-hearted concert featuring music from film, television, stage, and radio. Familiar radio hits include songs by The Beatles, James Taylor, Queen, and Imogen Heap, as well as Broadway hits like For Good from Wicked, Where Is Love? from Oliver!, and much more! A little something for everyone!

Friday, June 5 · 8:00 PM
Saturday, June 6 · 8:00 PM

Buy tickets online!

You can't handle the truth!!

• I have done about 2 hours of work today
• I’m on a Weight Watchers high and hope it continues
• I really wish I could find side job/project that would be interesting and fun and if it gives me more $$, always good
• AT&T commercials have been making me cry lately
• Excusing myself for the above as TOM is visiting
• I’m really looking forward to my runs this weekend…which I kind of find sick in a way
• I have been loving  the “How well do you know me” quizzes on Facebook
• I’m having fun dating around lately…but still waiting to find someone who I feel as strongly for as I did my ex
• I really want to be at Dolores Park with something delicious from Tartine
• I really want to buy one of these
• I was not happy with the winner of America’s Next Top Model this season
• I love my family and friends and feel so incredibly blessed
• I like random blog postings