my horoscope for yesterday: Transportation issues are a fairly big deal for you today, though they aren't anywhere near catastrophic. In fact, you may get a deal on a car or find some way to cut time off of your commute.
seriously, how does it know? how does it know about my car? and that i went car shopping? i test drove two cars: a ford focus and a toyota yaris. i liked both of them. i'm looking to lease a reliable vehicle... one that won't break down every couple of months for no apparent reason. you know. not a lot to ask. i'd rather know that i'm paying a set amount every month for a nice, new working car than not having a car payment but every once in awhile, with no warning, a car that will break down and i'll have to pay an undetermined amount that may or may not fix the problem and then continue driving a ten year old vehicle with dents and scratches, and that could break down at any moment. so yes.
the focus was cool because it had SYNC which is Jetsons style magic where it hooks up with your cell and you can talk and text hands free. it also does directions and music controls and telling you about your car (like running car diagnostics). seriously, i was amazed by that magic but i don't really NEED that so i probably wouldn't pay for it. it was ridiculously cool though and if they offered me a deal i could work with, i'd go for it just because of the magic. but i don't think they will.
the yaris was cute and small and simple. it was nice driving a smaller car - it was easier for me to get a sense of where i was on the road and in terms of parking. i have a hard time with perception in the tank that is the buick and in the vans i've been borrowing. the yaris hasn't gotten amazing reviews but not really bad either. it has awesome fuel economy - like 35 mpg highway. the only thing i didn't really like was well, it didn't have the magic (even though i know i don't need it) and i didn't really like the dashboard. the speedometer and the gas gauge and everything is in the middle of the dash, not right in front of the steering wheel, so i don't notice it as much and i'd like to be able to keep an eye on it while driving... it makes it more difficult to do that.
i still want to check out a few more dealerships and see what they have to offer. it seems like not as many places are leasing any more but that's what i want to do. i'd rather lease a brand new car that i know is reliable for a few years and give it back then worry about financing and buying a car right now. i don't drive that many miles (usually 12,000/yr is the leasing standard and that sounds about right for how i drive) and you can put down less and have smaller monthly payments with a lease then you do when you buy. whatever.
oh, my poor buick. this time they think it's a fuel pump that's causing all the problems. that's an expensive project. i'm not taking it on. i've already thrown more money into that car than it's worth - i'm not spending another dime on it. i'm pretty sure it was purchased for $2500 or so. i've spent over $2000 on repairs and maintenance, and that doesn't include registration, license, insurance, or gas. the kelley blue book trade in value of the car (which i'd say is in "fair" condition) is $663. even if it were in good condition, which it's honestly not with the body damage, rust, and mechanical problems, it would only be at $1150. whatever. in memorium of the car, which is now in the hands of my parents at a repair shop, while i drive my grandparents minivan around town, an ode to my poor buick - a really bad poem:
it was a sunny day in may
parked in my parents driveway
washed and waxed until it shined
a '99 lesabre... and it was all mine.
the side mirror held together by glue
every dent and scratch hard earned
the sound of the door popping a siren
recalling the memories and lessons learned
spilled ice cream from my sisters in the backseat
stones and dirt from a camping trip by the drivers feet
receipts from fast food and gas stations on the turnpike
many miles driven, many roads so alike
all throughout the midwest
down south and through canada, too
florida, maine, new york, PA
the buick has been faithful and true
okay... maybe not so reliable or great.
every few months, a new bad circuit, filter, or brakes
$200 here, $400 there
you never know when it would break down or where
let's remember the good times....
the road trips and laughter
that lasted for 3 and a half years.
now the repairs will be on someone else's dime.
fin.
anyway... enough about cars. i had a dream recently that i went to visit my cousin Lauren in Austin and went to the south by southwest festival. random. it would definitely be something i would like to experience eventually. first of all, i want to check out the whole music festival scene. plus, SXSW is more than just music - it's this huge event. i haven't seen Lauren in forever. i really can't remember the last time i saw her. high school? anyway, it would be good to see her and i've never been to texas - it would be a cool trip. all good reasons to think about checking it out. hmmmm. definitely not a 2010 trip but maybe by 2011 i could swing it.
flight of the conchords on south by southwest...hilarious, as always.
not related but worth noting: there is a fine line between harmless and douchebag. seriously, there are so many types of d-bag but the guys who don't realize that they're douching it up... sometimes i feel kind of bad and want to educate them, like, listen. you're being a dick. you went from nice, good person doing a kind hearted thing to tool. like, i know you aren't wearing an ed hardy/affliction shirt and a cz earring but enough with the jon gosslein act, buddy. i'm thinking of one person in particular who i won't specify because that's rude but i just need to vent. the worst part is the sense of superiority, i think, and the underhanded digs. the more i think about it, it's not that he doesn't realize what he's doing... instead, he thinks he's so cool and so much more smart and smooth that he thinks he's masking his backhanded remarks. and he doesn't see anything wrong with it. he thinks that the person he's talking to needs to hear his hidden message. his lessons of how much working out has kept him young and made him feel better and kept him healthy is such a thin veil for the judgment about whoever he's speaking to own body and workout habits. when he says, "man, when i don't work out, i just start feeling awful and i can tell when i look in the mirror", he means "you should work out. i think you are chubby and you don't fit into my idea of what i find attractive so you should hit the gym. that way, i'll find you sexually attractive and i can have yet another person to inappropriately hit on." yeahhhh. it's just douchey and gross.
on a happier note, taylor swift on SNL this weekend was pretty entertaining. i don't think acting is her calling but she was a good sidekick in terms of helping to compliment the cast. she tweeted tonight about a cool cover of her song "you belong with me" by butch walker - ignore the first 2 minutes and 50 seconds, which is useless. the actual cover starts at 2:50:
speaking of covers, here are 32 songs covered and mashed up in 8 minutes:
dude, mad men's finale tonight was CRAZY. i hope that next season they decide to bring Sal back in to join Sterling, Cooper, Draper, and Price. (and Campbell? If Pete has his way, it'll be a five person named company...) i freaked out about Joan and Harry Crane and i'm glad that Pete and Peggy came, even though Duck is still going to try and lead them away. i'm definitely hooked, wondering what will happen next season. of course, next season isn't until next summer. ! that's forever and a day away. oh man.
the swell season is coming to ann arbor december 2nd and i'd really like to go because they put on an amazing live show but i don't know who would want to go with me... if it weren't a wednesday, i could see if anyone would want to come in from out of town but i can't ask people to miss work or school so i think i'm missing them this time around. too bad they aren't in town around the holidays when people would be around who might want to join me. :/
i also found out that this guy kevin lehman who i saw put on a show at EMU my freshman year and really liked is playing in cleveland 11/20. my friends and i all bought his CD and we listened to it all the time. i still listen to his songs and know all the words - they remind me of college so much... ladybug, motorbike, redlights and greenlights. it's just one of those things that i know other people don't know who he is but that was our soundtrack. i don't know. it'd be cool to go see him. however, without a working vehicle of my own at the moment that's not really an option right now. plus, i'll be "grandma sitting" while my grandpa goes deer hunting at that time. a week and a half straight of staying at my grandma's house and making sure she's ok - cooking, cleaning, taking care of things around the house and running errands for her (shopping, appointments, etc...) we'll see how that goes. i love my grandma but i'm a little nervous about going crazy.
back to work in the morning. a new week, new beginnings. hopefully this week will be an improvement over last week, in which i literally took off my shoes and threw them on the floor in frustration, screamed bloody murder in the car on the way home one day out of anger, and cried in the office, due to my stupid broken vehicle. this week has got to be better than last week. here's hoping.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
yes, I am the popular social networking site known as book face.
halloween costume decided.
i'm digging the song "maggie may" by rod stewart right now. i love the name maggie and think maggie may sounds good together but wouldn't want to name a child after that song. "all you did was wreck my bed, and in the morning kick me in the head"? no thanks, rod.
i had a dream that i met someone who named their kids after her favorite real world cast members. no joke. i said, "oh, your kids are so cute! what are their names?" and she said, "amaya, trishelle, and puck." ridic.
tonight, on community, there was an acid trip that featured a sequence of dancing skeletons (including a girl in a skeleton costume). for some reason, that made me laugh so hysterically i was crying. i have not laughed that hard in a long time. i think what made me laugh so much was the funny dancing and then, the first thought that popped into my head was, "what if all skeletons danced like that?" and of course, i laughed at how ridiculous my brain is. and laughed and laughed. and my sister looked at me like i was crazy and that made me laugh harder.
nbc had a strong theme tonight: "gay halloween". seriously, parks and rec and 30 rock both had references to how gay halloween parties are way more awesome than straight halloween parties. you think there's someone who reads the scripts ahead of time and says "hey guys, you're repeating jokes on the same night"? i volunteer for that job if someone at NBC wants to pay me for it. i'm all about doing that.
so, my favorite basketball team is the washington generals... which shows how much i care about sports. i wish i had the kind of passion for it that some people do but i just don't. i can't muster up the interest. maybe because i'm not athletically inclined myself and i'm not competitive. that whole not playing sports things is probably why i have never broken a bone.
i am easily amused, however there are certain comedians that a lot of people seem to love that i don't think are funny at all - like jeff dunham or carlos mencia. i give all stand up comedians credit because i couldn't do it; being judged and stared at and responsible for making everyone else laugh... plus, i'd make myself laugh. when i say something funny, i can't help but giggle.
sometimes when i'm bored at work, rosanna and i will play the wikipedia game... like, get from appalachian mountains to waffles. go! and then we see what we can click to get from one thing to the other. another example was tugboats to sarah jessica parker. that was a great one. i found out so much. like did you know that edward hermann (aka richard gilmore) played FDR in the TV movie version of 'Annie'? he did. and sarah jessica parker once played Annie on Broadway. thanks, wikipedia.
rivers cuomo, i love the camera love you have happening on letterman right now. i also liked the arm motion indicating archery. again, love this song. any songs about archery and meatloaf get the thumbs up from me. plus, the late show band is playing along so there's awesome horn action. WINNERS!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
advertising is based on one thing: happiness.
the palm pre girl creeps me out. she's like an alien.
the jim beam puppy commercial makes me laugh. "yeah, he's my first mate."
there are two hilarious local commercials that i can't find anywhere online - one is for platinum showgirls, a strip club in town. the ad has a guy looking wistfully at a pole, another at a dollar bill, and another gazing at buildings that are shaped slightly like boobs and the whole idea is "we know you miss being here". It's great. then there's one against issue 3 on Ohio's ballot for casinos in the state of Ohio. it's crazy. it begins with the statement that casinos in Ohio will not show preference to hiring solely people from Ohio. yeah, no shit. they can't discriminate based on where people live. just like people from Ohio could easily go and work at the casinos in other states. the commercial than escalates into ridiculous land when it says that casinos cause suicide and lead to prostitution. no joke. i feel like it's prohibition. i don't understand how casinos are any worse than racetracks or slots, which we already have in ohio. the theme of the ad is "the devil is in the details". it's so bad it's great.
this makes me want a drink:
i hated everybody loves raymond but that ad with brad garrett, where he sings a song to the tune of "windy" and it includes the line, "who's reaching out to tickle a horsey?" i do enjoy that.
i wish i could find the pepsi lime commercial where the limes say "oh, the limanity!" that still makes me giggle just thinking about it. pepsi lime was gross though. they stopped making that, right?
oh, the lime-anity.
the jim beam puppy commercial makes me laugh. "yeah, he's my first mate."
there are two hilarious local commercials that i can't find anywhere online - one is for platinum showgirls, a strip club in town. the ad has a guy looking wistfully at a pole, another at a dollar bill, and another gazing at buildings that are shaped slightly like boobs and the whole idea is "we know you miss being here". It's great. then there's one against issue 3 on Ohio's ballot for casinos in the state of Ohio. it's crazy. it begins with the statement that casinos in Ohio will not show preference to hiring solely people from Ohio. yeah, no shit. they can't discriminate based on where people live. just like people from Ohio could easily go and work at the casinos in other states. the commercial than escalates into ridiculous land when it says that casinos cause suicide and lead to prostitution. no joke. i feel like it's prohibition. i don't understand how casinos are any worse than racetracks or slots, which we already have in ohio. the theme of the ad is "the devil is in the details". it's so bad it's great.
this makes me want a drink:
i hated everybody loves raymond but that ad with brad garrett, where he sings a song to the tune of "windy" and it includes the line, "who's reaching out to tickle a horsey?" i do enjoy that.
i wish i could find the pepsi lime commercial where the limes say "oh, the limanity!" that still makes me giggle just thinking about it. pepsi lime was gross though. they stopped making that, right?
oh, the lime-anity.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
songs for sunday
two beautiful songs that i am obsessed with right now, both by van morrison. i love the poetry of moondance (fantabulous!) and the romance of crazy love ("when I come to her, that's where I belong")... amazing.
Well, it's a marvelous night for a Moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
'Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I'm trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush
Chorus:
Can I just have one a' more Moondance with you, my love
Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love
Well, I wanna make love to you tonight
I can't wait 'til the morning has come
And I know that the time is just right
And straight into my arms you will run
And when you come my heart will be waiting
To make sure that you're never alone
There and then all my dreams will come true, dear
There and then I will make you my own
And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside
And I know how much you want me that you can't hide
Chorus
Repeat 1st Verse
One more Moondance with you in the moonlight
On a magic night
La, la, la, la in the moonlight
On a magic night
Can I just have one more moon dance with a-you
My love.
--------
I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her that's where I belong
Yet I'm running to her like a river's song
Chorus:
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
Take away my trouble, take away my grief
Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief
Chorus:
Yes I need her in the daytime
Yes I need her in the night
Yes I want to throw my arms around her
Kiss her hug her kiss her hug her tight
And when I'm returning from so far away
She gives me some sweet lovin' brighten up my day
Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole
Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul
-------
happy sunday.
Well, it's a marvelous night for a Moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
'Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I'm trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush
Chorus:
Can I just have one a' more Moondance with you, my love
Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love
Well, I wanna make love to you tonight
I can't wait 'til the morning has come
And I know that the time is just right
And straight into my arms you will run
And when you come my heart will be waiting
To make sure that you're never alone
There and then all my dreams will come true, dear
There and then I will make you my own
And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside
And I know how much you want me that you can't hide
Chorus
Repeat 1st Verse
One more Moondance with you in the moonlight
On a magic night
La, la, la, la in the moonlight
On a magic night
Can I just have one more moon dance with a-you
My love.
--------
I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her that's where I belong
Yet I'm running to her like a river's song
Chorus:
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
Take away my trouble, take away my grief
Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief
Chorus:
Yes I need her in the daytime
Yes I need her in the night
Yes I want to throw my arms around her
Kiss her hug her kiss her hug her tight
And when I'm returning from so far away
She gives me some sweet lovin' brighten up my day
Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole
Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul
-------
happy sunday.
Monday, October 12, 2009
under (sinus) pressure
oh man. my face hurts. i hate sinus headaches.
"I'm kind of thinking I want to do my record like a mesh between 'Lovefool' by the Cardigans and ['The Sign'] by Ace of Base," she said. "I want to make songs that people want to hold hands and roller-skate to." - Katy Perry, about her new album
YES. I am all over that idea.
I love when TV shows or movies mention a website and then they follow through and buy the rights to it. How I Met Your Mother is awesome and really plays into this. Tonight, they introduced: itwasthebestnightever.com. Check it out. (See also tedmosbyisajerk.com) Such a great show.
Gossip Girl has lost it's touch this season. I don't really care what's going on. For the most part, I feel like the writing has gotten sloppy and now that they're not in high school, meh. I don't care. I've tried. Not into it.
I'm looking forward to the next few weekends. I'm heading to Cleveland and Detroit this weekend and the Ypsi/Ann Arbor area next weekend. Still looking for Halloween plans. Can't believe how quickly time goes that it's almost Halloween... wasn't it just New Years?
the massive headache continues so I'm planning on cuddling up under some warm blankets and watching mindless tv until I fall asleep. good night. :)
"I'm kind of thinking I want to do my record like a mesh between 'Lovefool' by the Cardigans and ['The Sign'] by Ace of Base," she said. "I want to make songs that people want to hold hands and roller-skate to." - Katy Perry, about her new album
YES. I am all over that idea.
I love when TV shows or movies mention a website and then they follow through and buy the rights to it. How I Met Your Mother is awesome and really plays into this. Tonight, they introduced: itwasthebestnightever.com. Check it out. (See also tedmosbyisajerk.com) Such a great show.
Gossip Girl has lost it's touch this season. I don't really care what's going on. For the most part, I feel like the writing has gotten sloppy and now that they're not in high school, meh. I don't care. I've tried. Not into it.
I'm looking forward to the next few weekends. I'm heading to Cleveland and Detroit this weekend and the Ypsi/Ann Arbor area next weekend. Still looking for Halloween plans. Can't believe how quickly time goes that it's almost Halloween... wasn't it just New Years?
the massive headache continues so I'm planning on cuddling up under some warm blankets and watching mindless tv until I fall asleep. good night. :)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
sylvio.
there was a cute boy in my office today. this is always exciting news, of course. he's the son of one of the awesome women i work with and apparently, we're the same age. hmmmm. so, i might have a new, little, no big deal, five minute crush on this guy i know nothing about and saw for two seconds today. ha. i liked his curly hair.
i've been hearing a few songs in heavy rotation lately on the radio that are not new releases and i don't know why they got picked back up into the system, like jojo's "too little too late" and all saints:
random.
time to pick a netflix on demand movie to watch in bed (i'm leaning towards the commitments right now). i've got to get up and hip hop hustle with the ladies at lifestyles tomorrow :)
i've been hearing a few songs in heavy rotation lately on the radio that are not new releases and i don't know why they got picked back up into the system, like jojo's "too little too late" and all saints:
random.
time to pick a netflix on demand movie to watch in bed (i'm leaning towards the commitments right now). i've got to get up and hip hop hustle with the ladies at lifestyles tomorrow :)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
¿Dónde esta la biblioteca? Me llamo T-Bone, la araña discoteca.
my last two posts have been serious and depressing. this post will be neither of those things. my day at work was mostly awful and i felt like wanting to just physically shake people to try and knock some sense in them. but then things started looking up when my boss suggested buying his young daughter a cheetah. fantastic. so, i'm choosing to focus on the positive. here we go:
1. i'm going to see 'legally blonde: the musical' with my mom, sarah, and harley next weekend. i'm seriously excited. we're in the first row of one of the lower balconies and it'll be a lot of fun.
2. i'm watching the pb&j wedding on the office right now and laughing hysterically. meredith is a great robot dancer and totally burned ryan. michael's painting. kevin's tissue box shoes and hair. oh my god, i love jim and pam. so much. the falls... maid of the mist... the dance line. great tv.
3. i'm enjoying a very classy mike's harder cranberry lemonade in a can that i bought at the gas station. sophisticated lady. that's me. classy all the way.
4. on saturday, i'm going over to hang out with alison and watch movie classics like "the babysitter's club movie". can't wait. i will rap claudia's science rap.
i went to youtube to search it out and couldn't find it but i found the theme song to the babysitter's club tv show and somehow i know all the words. how does my brain remember these things? seriously? what part of my brain recalls the lyrics to the babysitter's club tv show theme song? still no luck on claudia's science rap but i did find the amazing opening song from the movie:
5. i am now bff with yvette nicole brown. and my bff, i mean, she and i have spoken on twitter, which makes me feel special. she is hilarious on "community" and i tweeted about it tonight and she responded. pretty awesome. she's also been on "drake & josh" and "the office" (remember when dwight worked at staples? she was the coworker who was so funny and did the talking head where she said: "I don't like him, his giant head, or his beady little eyes. That's all I got to say on the matter") and she's in a million commercials - she's one of those people who's in everything and now that we've talked, i'm totally using her in every game of six degrees of separation i ever play. :)
check her out in action, if youtube hasn't already pulled the video:
and some more hilarity from "community"... seriously, when a show makes me laugh out loud, it's worth watching:
Troy: Dónde está la biblioteca? / Me llamo T-bone, la araña discoteca
Abed: Discoteca, muñeca, la biblioteca / Es en bigote grande, perro, manteca
Troy: Manteca, bigote, gigante, pequeño / Cabeza es nieve, cerveza es bueno
Abed: Buenos días, me gusta papas frías / Bigote de la cabra es cameron diaz. (Yeah, boy, boy.)
Troy: (What?!)
Abed: (It's 2009.)
Troy: (Word.)
I hope this is used in high school Spanish classes across the country - even though the on screen translation is not 100% accurate:
Where is the library?
My name is T-bone, the disco spider.
Disco, doll, the library
Is in big mustache, dog, lard.
Lard, mustache, huge, little
Head is ice cream,
Beer is good.
Good day, I like cold potatoes,
The goat’s mustache
Is Cameron Diaz.
*Nieve means snow, not ice cream. It should read "Head is snow, beer is good."*
:) hasta luego.
1. i'm going to see 'legally blonde: the musical' with my mom, sarah, and harley next weekend. i'm seriously excited. we're in the first row of one of the lower balconies and it'll be a lot of fun.
2. i'm watching the pb&j wedding on the office right now and laughing hysterically. meredith is a great robot dancer and totally burned ryan. michael's painting. kevin's tissue box shoes and hair. oh my god, i love jim and pam. so much. the falls... maid of the mist... the dance line. great tv.
3. i'm enjoying a very classy mike's harder cranberry lemonade in a can that i bought at the gas station. sophisticated lady. that's me. classy all the way.
4. on saturday, i'm going over to hang out with alison and watch movie classics like "the babysitter's club movie". can't wait. i will rap claudia's science rap.
i went to youtube to search it out and couldn't find it but i found the theme song to the babysitter's club tv show and somehow i know all the words. how does my brain remember these things? seriously? what part of my brain recalls the lyrics to the babysitter's club tv show theme song? still no luck on claudia's science rap but i did find the amazing opening song from the movie:
5. i am now bff with yvette nicole brown. and my bff, i mean, she and i have spoken on twitter, which makes me feel special. she is hilarious on "community" and i tweeted about it tonight and she responded. pretty awesome. she's also been on "drake & josh" and "the office" (remember when dwight worked at staples? she was the coworker who was so funny and did the talking head where she said: "I don't like him, his giant head, or his beady little eyes. That's all I got to say on the matter") and she's in a million commercials - she's one of those people who's in everything and now that we've talked, i'm totally using her in every game of six degrees of separation i ever play. :)
check her out in action, if youtube hasn't already pulled the video:
and some more hilarity from "community"... seriously, when a show makes me laugh out loud, it's worth watching:
Troy: Dónde está la biblioteca? / Me llamo T-bone, la araña discoteca
Abed: Discoteca, muñeca, la biblioteca / Es en bigote grande, perro, manteca
Troy: Manteca, bigote, gigante, pequeño / Cabeza es nieve, cerveza es bueno
Abed: Buenos días, me gusta papas frías / Bigote de la cabra es cameron diaz. (Yeah, boy, boy.)
Troy: (What?!)
Abed: (It's 2009.)
Troy: (Word.)
I hope this is used in high school Spanish classes across the country - even though the on screen translation is not 100% accurate:
Where is the library?
My name is T-bone, the disco spider.
Disco, doll, the library
Is in big mustache, dog, lard.
Lard, mustache, huge, little
Head is ice cream,
Beer is good.
Good day, I like cold potatoes,
The goat’s mustache
Is Cameron Diaz.
*Nieve means snow, not ice cream. It should read "Head is snow, beer is good."*
:) hasta luego.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
sometimes things make me angry.
here's something that makes me irrationally angry, considering it does not directly affect me: the faction of people in this country, specifically those with children, who refuse to vaccinate their kids because "vaccines cause autism".
i don't know what part of being a parent makes you think you're smarter than medicine, science, federal agencies, and many years of experience of success with vaccines... but you're not.
claiming that the autism rate is growing so rapidly and the only viable thing that could cause it are vaccines is ridiculous.
things to think about, perhaps:
1. you are selfish. by not vaccinating your children, it does not affect solely just your family. not only are you putting your children at risk by not protecting them from disease and illness (such as polio, smallpox, and other potentially life threatening health conditions) but you are putting everyone else's kids at risk, too. if you want to risk your kids health - fine. then you keep your kids locked up in a commune, away from the rest of the world, who are then also at risk for becoming horribly sick. what about babies or the elderly or those with weakened immune systems (like AIDS patients), who can't fight off these diseases which were almost totally extinct in this country until you crazies stopped getting your kids vaccinated and started bringing measles back into our communities? it's selfish. most parents who choose not to vaccinate say it's because they don't want their child to be autistic. oh really? you'd rather take the chance to have them get the measles then for them to have a 1% chance to get a social disorder that does not medically harm them in any way? really?
2. looking beyond the fact that it's socially irresponsible, the information out there is flawed. these "studies" and statistics come out and claim that 1 in every 100 children has autism. REALLY? really? and people read that shit and freak out and say, "oh, kids never used to have autism, this is a new disease and it's spread because of the over vaccination of our children". bullshit.
a) Autism is not a new disorder. People just didn't know what it was before and now that there has been more study done on the topic and people know more about it, they are much quicker to claim that any quirk in a social behavior in a child falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. Believing that autism is new or rapidly growing is like believing that homosexuality is new and rapidly growing... I say that not to mean that homosexuality is a disorder (because I'm not a crazy person and I know that it's not). I recognize that I'm not comparing apples to apples here. What I'm saying is that homosexuality seems more widespread than it did, say, 30 years ago because people are more open about their orientation. More people allow themselves to live the way they were meant to live, instead of pretending to be something else. Likewise, with autism, it's not that it's NEW - it's that it's more recognized. More people recognize potentially autistic behavior and have a word to label it as such, instead of saying, "oh, that child is odd."
b) the studies that claim that 1 in every 100 kids is autistic are not based on medical records. no, in fact, the last study that was published (that i saw someone cite as "proof" of why they're against vaccines) was conducted this way:
"The findings are based on the results of a national telephone survey of more than 78,000 parents of children ages 3 to 17. The survey dealt with many health issues and included two questions on autism."
A phone survey, not based on actual medical records - no, just asking 2 questions about autism, like, "Has anyone ever suggested that your kid might be autistic?" A disorder which can't be tested for... Huh. Honestly, parents claiming that their kids might be autistic is the new parents claiming that their kid is gifted or special. Autism and gifted are synonyms now. Any odd character traits or phases a kid goes through, any social awkwardness is quickly labeled by some as somehow falling along the autism spectrum. I feel like this is incredibly overdiagnosed. In fact, "In another finding, nearly 40 percent of the children ever diagnosed with autism disorders didn't currently have autism."
No way! People claimed their kids were autistic and then they actually weren't? Shocking. I don't know. Considering that it does not physically harm anyone that has it - it's a social disorder - I don't think it's as serious as everyone makes it out to be. I'm not trying to say that autism isn't real or difficult to live with and some people have a very hard time functioning and interacting in the world. I get that. And I know that in some extreme cases, autism has been linked to seizures and things of that nature, which yes, is physical. But I don't think that it in any way outweighs the serious threat of conditions that could hospitalize people that you risk by not vaccinating.
Official word on autism/vaccines from https://www.google.com/health/ref/Autism
"Some parents have heard that the MMR vaccine children receive may cause autism. This theory was based, in part, on two facts. First, the incidence of autism has increased steadily since around the same time the MMR vaccine was introduced. Second, children with the regressive form of autism (a type of autism that develops after a period of normal development) tend to start to show symptoms around the time the MMR vaccine is given. This is likely a coincidence due to the age of children at the time they receive this vaccine.
Several major studies have found NO connection between the vaccine and autism. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention report that there is no proven link between autism and the MMR vaccine, or any other vaccine.
Some doctors believe the increased incidence in autism is due to newer definitions of autism. The term "autism" now includes a wider spectrum of children. For example, a child who is diagnosed with high-functioning autism today may have been thought to simply be odd or strange 30 years ago."
I know that people feel strongly about this on the other end of the spectrum as well and I don't mean to diminish the importance or the seriousness of autism. I mostly just take offense to those who rail against vaccination, due to the supposed links to autism and it makes me mad.
I had been hearing about this issue for years but it really got me riled up after listening to this particular episode of "This American Life" last year: Ruining It For the Rest of Us.
I recommend checking it out. You know. And reading the actual research, not the hyped up not medically based research. The truth is pretty powerful.
(/end of rant)
i don't know what part of being a parent makes you think you're smarter than medicine, science, federal agencies, and many years of experience of success with vaccines... but you're not.
claiming that the autism rate is growing so rapidly and the only viable thing that could cause it are vaccines is ridiculous.
things to think about, perhaps:
1. you are selfish. by not vaccinating your children, it does not affect solely just your family. not only are you putting your children at risk by not protecting them from disease and illness (such as polio, smallpox, and other potentially life threatening health conditions) but you are putting everyone else's kids at risk, too. if you want to risk your kids health - fine. then you keep your kids locked up in a commune, away from the rest of the world, who are then also at risk for becoming horribly sick. what about babies or the elderly or those with weakened immune systems (like AIDS patients), who can't fight off these diseases which were almost totally extinct in this country until you crazies stopped getting your kids vaccinated and started bringing measles back into our communities? it's selfish. most parents who choose not to vaccinate say it's because they don't want their child to be autistic. oh really? you'd rather take the chance to have them get the measles then for them to have a 1% chance to get a social disorder that does not medically harm them in any way? really?
2. looking beyond the fact that it's socially irresponsible, the information out there is flawed. these "studies" and statistics come out and claim that 1 in every 100 children has autism. REALLY? really? and people read that shit and freak out and say, "oh, kids never used to have autism, this is a new disease and it's spread because of the over vaccination of our children". bullshit.
a) Autism is not a new disorder. People just didn't know what it was before and now that there has been more study done on the topic and people know more about it, they are much quicker to claim that any quirk in a social behavior in a child falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. Believing that autism is new or rapidly growing is like believing that homosexuality is new and rapidly growing... I say that not to mean that homosexuality is a disorder (because I'm not a crazy person and I know that it's not). I recognize that I'm not comparing apples to apples here. What I'm saying is that homosexuality seems more widespread than it did, say, 30 years ago because people are more open about their orientation. More people allow themselves to live the way they were meant to live, instead of pretending to be something else. Likewise, with autism, it's not that it's NEW - it's that it's more recognized. More people recognize potentially autistic behavior and have a word to label it as such, instead of saying, "oh, that child is odd."
b) the studies that claim that 1 in every 100 kids is autistic are not based on medical records. no, in fact, the last study that was published (that i saw someone cite as "proof" of why they're against vaccines) was conducted this way:
"The findings are based on the results of a national telephone survey of more than 78,000 parents of children ages 3 to 17. The survey dealt with many health issues and included two questions on autism."
A phone survey, not based on actual medical records - no, just asking 2 questions about autism, like, "Has anyone ever suggested that your kid might be autistic?" A disorder which can't be tested for... Huh. Honestly, parents claiming that their kids might be autistic is the new parents claiming that their kid is gifted or special. Autism and gifted are synonyms now. Any odd character traits or phases a kid goes through, any social awkwardness is quickly labeled by some as somehow falling along the autism spectrum. I feel like this is incredibly overdiagnosed. In fact, "In another finding, nearly 40 percent of the children ever diagnosed with autism disorders didn't currently have autism."
No way! People claimed their kids were autistic and then they actually weren't? Shocking. I don't know. Considering that it does not physically harm anyone that has it - it's a social disorder - I don't think it's as serious as everyone makes it out to be. I'm not trying to say that autism isn't real or difficult to live with and some people have a very hard time functioning and interacting in the world. I get that. And I know that in some extreme cases, autism has been linked to seizures and things of that nature, which yes, is physical. But I don't think that it in any way outweighs the serious threat of conditions that could hospitalize people that you risk by not vaccinating.
Official word on autism/vaccines from https://www.google.com/health/ref/Autism
"Some parents have heard that the MMR vaccine children receive may cause autism. This theory was based, in part, on two facts. First, the incidence of autism has increased steadily since around the same time the MMR vaccine was introduced. Second, children with the regressive form of autism (a type of autism that develops after a period of normal development) tend to start to show symptoms around the time the MMR vaccine is given. This is likely a coincidence due to the age of children at the time they receive this vaccine.
Several major studies have found NO connection between the vaccine and autism. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention report that there is no proven link between autism and the MMR vaccine, or any other vaccine.
Some doctors believe the increased incidence in autism is due to newer definitions of autism. The term "autism" now includes a wider spectrum of children. For example, a child who is diagnosed with high-functioning autism today may have been thought to simply be odd or strange 30 years ago."
I know that people feel strongly about this on the other end of the spectrum as well and I don't mean to diminish the importance or the seriousness of autism. I mostly just take offense to those who rail against vaccination, due to the supposed links to autism and it makes me mad.
I had been hearing about this issue for years but it really got me riled up after listening to this particular episode of "This American Life" last year: Ruining It For the Rest of Us.
I recommend checking it out. You know. And reading the actual research, not the hyped up not medically based research. The truth is pretty powerful.
(/end of rant)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
detroit: beautiful/horrible
The Michigan Theatre
Built in 1926, this glorious building functioned as a performance space until 1976, when it was converted into a parking garage.
on NPR the other day, i heard an interview with writer daniel okrent about his article in TIME about the city of Detroit. reading the article at the gym today almost brought me to tears. the plight of the city is tough and there are so many obstacles to making any real change or improvements. years of corruption and bad decisions have led to a ghost town. more than a quarter of the city's dwindled population is unemployed - 28.9%. people who live within detroit proper live amongst the remains and ruins of what once was a great and thriving metropolis. downtown detroit tries to build itself up, attempting to draw in money via sports and gambling or the occasional concert. detroit still rings true to musicians as a sacred place - motown, detroit rock city... people still want to come and play in detroit. but what does it say that you can't walk within a few blocks of the concert venue without running into the reality of the city - buildings abandoned, windows broken, shattered glass strewn about vast empty parking lots? peeling paint and faded signs, not to mention the plethora of the homeless? improving just a few blocks isn't going to change everything.
United Artists Theater
This spectacular Spanish Gothic theater, built in 1928, was closed in the 1970s.
looking past the empty facades and the physical decay and even looking past the problem of the homeless (a problem that every city faces, obviously), there's the issue of safety and quality of life for the residents of the city. detroit has a reputation as being rough and i feel it's one that has been earned. my friend Paul is living in the city right now and in less than a month, his friend's car has been broken into - twice. according to the Time article, "the murder rate is soaring, and 7 out of 10 remain unsolved." that's truly scary. violent crime and a city's complete descent into nothingness and it's largely been ignored. if not ignored, then at least seen as something unfixable and dismissed.
but what can be done? okrent suggests somehow reshaping the city lines to accomodate the much smaller population and attempt to rebuild:
"For its part, Detroit must address the fact that a 138-sq.-mi. city that once accommodated 1.85 million people is way too large for the 912,000 who remain. The fire, police and sanitation departments couldn't efficiently service the yawning stretches of barely inhabited areas even if the city could afford to maintain those operations at their former size. Detroit has to shrink its footprint, even if it means condemning decent houses in the gap-toothed areas and moving their occupants to compact neighborhoods where they might find a modicum of security and service. Build greenbelts, which are a lot cheaper to maintain than untraveled streets. Encourage urban farming. Let the barren areas revert to nature."
i feel like this may be a good idea but doubt it will happen or happen efficiently. while i want to have hope and optimism about bringing this city back up and trying to start fresh, the cynic within me keeps popping up. you can't force people to change and you can't do things overnight. things have been in decline for detroit for decades. no one living there wants people from the suburbs to come in and tell them how to clean things up.
reading back through time's past articles about the D, i found this piece from march, which cites detroit's unemployment rate as 13%: "At 13%, Detroit's unemployment rate is the worst in the country among major metropolitan areas." in just 6 months, the numbers for umemployment in one city, already the worst in the country, more than doubled. that's unacceptable and insane. in that article, alex altman suggests that there's hope in the midst of the squalor: "The approximately one-third of the city lying empty or unused--an area about the size of San Francisco--is not just an emblem of its corrosion but also the blank slate on which to chart a path to renewal." sure, there's room to build new things or turn old buildings into parking lots, as some have suggested, but that's not going to repair the damage done. that's not going to help the people there now.
Lee Plaza Hotel
Once one of the most luxurious residential hotels in Detroit, Lee Plaza closed in the 1990s.
what these particular articles haven't truly touched upon and what i have yet to mention is the horror that is Detroit's school system. if the landscape is a wasteland, then the schools are a black hole. detroit leads the nation in high school dropouts. those who make it through generally aren't prepared for higher ed - and i'm being generous by saying generally. i had kids in my classes at EMU who came out of detroit's public schools who didn't know how to properly form sentences. they couldn't structure paragraphs or write essays. their skills were remedial and at a level that hindered them in college level classes because they never learned basic educational foundations. the public school system has a defecit, that's been estimated to be anywhere between $150 million to $303 million dollars, depending on what you read - teachers are asking kids to bring in toilet paper and light bulbs because the schools can't afford them. to solve this defecit, the state wants to continue making cuts and keep diminishing the quality of education and resources available to potentially improve the system. meanwhile, things go to waste and rot, vandalized, in the schools that have been shut down. Here are some examples from a photo editorial in Vice:
A school art classroom ransacked by vandals has cupboards and a closet still well-stocked with art supplies; the closet still had a six-foot pile of unused paper. Art programmes have been among the first cut by Detroit Public Schools under its current budget shortfall.
it's breathtaking and devastating.
other cities, also in decline, take solace in the idea that "at least we're not Detroit!"
p.s. this video was in michael moore's fabulous capitalism: a love story, which i saw tonight and really moved me. i highly recommend that everyone check it out and start to re-evaluate our values in this society. anyway, onto the hilarity:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
