Singing

Last night, I sang with 101 men in the 32nd. Annual Festival of Song at Estonian House.  First the Waukegan Swedish Glee Club sang 2 selections:  Island (above video) and Embraceable You.  And each of the other various choruses each sang 2 numbers.

The groups were Normennenes Singing Society (the host organization), Waukegan Swedish Glee Club, Bjornson Male Chorus, Elmhurst Männerchor, Chicago Swedish Male Chorus, Chicago Swedish Glee Club, The Sibelius Male Chorus of Chicago and Chicago Latvian Choir.

After that we combined to sing 6 numbers: Let There Be Music, Stout Hearted Men, Sanctus, Dear Land of Home, You'll Never Walk Alone. and God Bless America.

I have never sang with so many other Baritones.  It is exciting and fun; since my goofs are not as noticeable. I have never heard or sang Let There Be Music but somehow I got thru it.  The other groups I sing with have at most 15 other men with 4 Baritones.  Our entire Church choir has at most 16 total voices and usually 8-12.

Talkers, Listeners, & Thinkers

My LW was telling me about a conversation she had at the Y with the woman we call "the talker woman" (partly because we don't remember her name and partly because she is very talkative).  She is very friendly and likes to talk; she started talking with my LW and when it was appropriate my LW started telling her about a trip to Target.  As soon as my LW mentioned Target, the other woman started talking about how much better the food prices were at Target then at Jewel.  This happened a few times when my LW tried to complete a thought/sentence.

This woman is a Talker.  She only listens until she can interject something important (to her) about the subject.

Other people actually listen to the person talking.  I am not much of a talker.  I try to listen, but sometimes I am thinking of something else or doing something else when someone starts talking and don't hear/comprehend what is said.  Listening takes effort and some of us don't want to do that.  In my previous job, we had seminars on effective listening (of course, some people didn't listen!) and how important it is.

Some interesting (to me) web quotes:

In general, becoming a good listener is difficult for most of us because A. most of us are talkers, not listeners. B. not-listening is a habit most of us develop during childhood. C. most people have nothing interesting to say. D. listening to people requires us to pay attention.


As a child coming up, I used to see my mother and her friends have conversations around dinner and I was amused at how none of them could finish a sentence. As soon as mom would start to talk, the friend would inject with her own bit, then another would inject on her and the cycle continued. None of them raised their voice or got upset, yet the conversation continued for long periods of time. It was as if the interruptions were accepted, known and unable to break the flow of discussion. To this day I cannot fathom how people are able to communicate like that....
I have come to the conclusion that there are 3 types of people in this world when it comes to conversation. There’s the talker, the listener and then that rare breed of person who plays both cards. Listeners aren’t big fans of talkers (unless we’re on a date), but talkers love listeners.  Talkers need listeners because if listeners were not around you would have the scenario with my mom, except that the lot would be getting frustrated.

There are two types of person in this world when it comes to communicating with others. one is the Listener and another is Talker.

Listeners usually are quiet and seems like a wise person and can be a good source for advice (many people say so), 

while Talkers usually are very expressive and very open to others. everywhere and every time they have the chance they will start expressing their feelings to anyone nearby (sometimes even to strangers, and because they seem to talk too much, people tend to get scared to actually tell a talker their problems, because talkers are usually seems "not wise", "too emotionally involved" and off course "hard to keep up a secret".(again many people say so)..

As far as I know none of the above are professionals in the area, but I thought the entries were appropriate.

Mishmash Cuatro

The above video is a commercial for Pringles but it is fun!

****

Biked to the Y today and then to the Church for Newsletter assembly.  The wind was West 20-30 mph, which was nice going but hard coming back.  The predominate wind in our area is West, so coming home is harder than I would like.  I have noticed that when going up a hill into the wind, the wind is somewhat hidden from the bike.

****

When does a new car become the car or the old car?  For 2 cars before this one it was when a friend of ours parked next to it in a parking lot and the wind blew his door into ours causing a dent in the passenger's door .

Wind and Hills

When we lived in WA,  I bicycled to work every day.  At the end it was 10-15 miles one way and there were very hilly roads.  I didn't notice as much as now.

The wind is very important to bikers.  If the wind is with you; you don't notice it very much, but if it is against you it is very noticeable.  Yesterday, the wind was 20-30 mph from the North.  This meant I would have to bike against it on the way home from the Y.  Since I thought that I would do my regular swim (52 - 50 yd. laps) I thought I would take the car and get some gas for the lawnmower (the grass wasn't quite to the roof of the house but getting close).  When I got to the Y, they told me the pool was closed until further notice (some pipe problem).  I then wished I would have biked since I only did the weight machines (I hadn't done them in over 8 months & lost some of  the weight levels I had built up) and some treadmill (4 mph at 15% incline) and wouldn't have been as tired (but I did cut the grass for a lot of extra exercise [I keep wishing the lawnmower would run out of gas towards the end, but it kept going and going and going]).

I prefer the wind to be from the East and South in the Spring/Summer/Fall since the places we go tend to be South & East (and of course North & West on the return trip).  Also the longest hill is the last one going West.  Plus I am less tired or more fresh at the beginning of our trips.

Our house area is higher then most of the places we go, so we usually get the longest/steepest hill on the way back.  This means we get the potential energy at the beginning of our trips and vice versa we build up the P.E. on the return trip.  (Note to self: if possible when you move look for the reverse, but not in a flood plain.)

Museum

We have lived in IL for a long time (almost too long), but had never visited the Museum of Science and Industry.  But this past week we did with our Daughter, Son-in-law, and Grandkids.

We used our GPS to find it.  After the few directions that it didn't like, it got us there.  It said to turn left into the Museum, I wondered where the parking was; my LW pointed out the sign that said to go to the next left (unfortunately I was in the first left turn lane).  So I had to go around the circular drive and get to the exit which said CTA only can turn left (the way I wanted to go); so I went straight and quickly there was a left turn available.  I took the left turn and went another street over (the second left as it were).  Going straight down the street led to the parking.  Where another shock awaited me; the parking was $20; being the cheap person that I am I was thinking of cussing out the major of Chicago (but didn't, at least not out loud).  We went into the underground parking garage and turned right and at the bottom of the ramp, there was a parking space,  Unfortunately there were people standing in it, but fortunately the mother told them to leave (I'm not sure if they were trying to save a space or not).  I pulled in and noticed the car to our port side was very close or over the line towards us.  Fortunately, they didn't leave before us (with the new car I want as much space as possible when I park usually parking a distance away, which was not possible there, plus it is good exercise).

At the top of the ramp was the stairs to the Museum and a machine that said that no parking attendants were on duty and you had to validate (i.e., pay the exorbitant fee there).  Later I used that very machine to give the major his dirty blackmail, I had trouble doing it, being a man I don't like to read instructions but eventually it worked.

We went down some stairs and there was the entryway.  I went to a very nice young lady (at the top of the stairs to the Museum, I saw my daughter & yelled at her [we went in separate cars, they were going on to other relatives right after] and she saw us) who helped us get the free tickets into the Museum (we had bought a season pass to a MN Museum when we visited my daughter last time and they have agreements with various Museums in the country).  The nice young lady told us to start at the top and work down.

Some highlights were U-505 Submarine (the only German sub captured in WWII) and seeing our grandson crash a rocket or blow up a car with different fuel/ oxygen mixtures.

It was fun to be with family there.

The trip home was uneventful (except for the horrible traffic in Chicago)/

Horror Movies

When I was a (younger) child, I use to go the movies on some Saturdays.  They would have 2 features for  a quarter or so.  Usually at least one of the movies was a horror movie (probably what they call a B movie now).  These movies were not as graphic as they are now-a-days.  But they were scary to me.  Usually all of the blood was via innuendo, they would show a knife or whatever maybe swinging down but go to the face of the murderer / monster when it landed.  They would usually have fog with scary sounds in the night.

I no longer go to horror movies.  There are too scary for a delicate creature such as myself.

This morning on the dog walk, it was a very foggy environment.  And of course, I keep hearing creepy sounds.  It was probably the wind or the raindrops falling plus I had my trusty (fraidy cat) dog; but I would look for the monsters or villains in the mist!  Never goto horror movies when you are young (hopefully this warning is not too late for you)!

Unionism

A Pennsylvania union leader has come under fire after threatening legal action against the city of Allentown for allowing a Boy Scout to voluntarily clear a walking path in a local park.
Nick Balzano, president of the Service Employees International Union's Allentown chapter, said last week that the union might file a grievance against the city for allowing 17-year-old Kevin Anderson to clear the hiking trail, instead of paying some of the 39 recently laid-off SEIU members to do the work.


Perhaps the most notorious example happened in 2002, when two Brooklyn school janitors demanded to be paid time-and-a-half—$37 an hour—for two weekends when community members worked on school landscaping as a memorial in honor of a second-grade boy who had recently died.
The janitors did not even participate in the work. The grieving community members had violated their labor contract.
The unions argue some types of volunteerism violate the bargaining agreement that prohibits schools from giving district work to anyone but employees. But by this logic, the very spirit of philanthropy and volunteerism violates union rules.


In Culver City, Calif., a local union wants to force unionization of — get this — parent volunteers at the local public schools. At several schools in the city, parents have banded together to form non-profit booster clubs to fundraise for and hire part-time teacher’s helpers, who also mostly come from the ranks of the parents themselves.
The local union — the Culver City Association of Classified Employees — is not OK with that kind of initiative. The union wants the parents to continue to fundraise, but to send the funds directly to the school district so the district can then hire union employees to fill the part-time positions. As the union’s scheme makes clear, the school district presently doesn’t have the money to hire anyone to fill the roles parents have voluntarily filled. The parent volunteers aren’t stealing existing jobs from union employees.
The union has taken its request to the labor-friendly Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), a “quasi-judicial administrative agency that is charged with upholding and administering collective bargaining statutes that cover employees working in California schools.”
If the union has its way, parents will have to raise even more funds to cover the additional costs of union dues, administrative overhead and higher union wages — but they’ll have no say over hiring, control, supervision or decision-making. What’s to incentivize the fundraising in that scenario? As likely as not, parents will just stop putting forth the effort to raise funds in the first place — and students will lose the benefit of the added help in the classroom.

I have never been a member of a union.  It seems to me that unions were at one time were very useful organizations, they banded together to insure safe working conditions and to get a livable wage, but now the majority of union members (percentage wise) are in the public sector.  In the private sector, unions and management each represent different viewpoints; in the public sector the management depends on the union for support, this leads to a very bad situation where the public pays for the promises of the politicians to the unions so the pols can get reelected.

Volunteer work by parents helps the schools and the parents & kids!

 --Public-sector workers had a union membership rate (37.0 percent) more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.9  percent). (See table 3.)
--Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate, at 36.8 percent, while the lowest rate occurred in sales and related occupations (3.0 percent). (See table 3.)
 --Among states, New York continued to have the highest union membership rate (24.1 percent) and North Carolina again had the lowest rate   (2.9 percent). (See table 5.)

Kids being used in Politics

There was a entry on a friend's facebook page:
Just cuz I saw this on my way home this morning, is it ok to make your kids hold political signs on street corners?


This reminded me of the videos that were posted around our president's election with kids singing about him.  Above is one video, most of the others were removed from YouTube due to violating the terms of service.

To me this video is much more frightening than holding signs on a street corner!  We should teach our children reading, writing and arithmetic not praise of a political leader!

Ecologist or Cheap

Al Gore (Mr. Ecology An Inconvenient Truth maker) has a 10,000 sq.ft. house that uses 12-20 times the amount of energy then the average family.

An article describes his green efforts:

Kreider said the 60- to 70-year-old house is undergoing renovations to add solar panels to reduce consumption off the power grid, and energy-efficient windows have been installed. The home also uses "compact" fluorescent light bulbs and other energy-saving technology, the Gores drive hybrids and participate in two programs that indirectly reduce carbon emissions.
One is through the local power company — the massive Tennessee Valley Authority — which runs the Green Power Switch program that uses some renewable energy like wind and solar power. The second is through a so-called carbon credit program, in which the Gores pay money to invest in a third party to reduce one ton of carbon emissions for every ton of carbon the Gores emit.


Another article describes his carbon offsets:

Al Gore defends his extraordinary personal energy usage by telling critics he maintains a “carbon neutral” lifestyle by buying “carbon offsets,” but the company that receives his payments turns out to be partly owned and chaired by the former vice president himself.
Gore has built a “green money-making machine capable of eventually generating billions of dollars for investors, including himself, but he set it up so that the average Joe can’t afford to play on Gore’s terms,”


Take another person who is just cheap.  He bought a hybrid to reduce his gas usage.  Lives in a small house.  Has electric baseboard heat, so he can turn down the heat in the rooms that are not occupied.  Does not have an air conditioner.  Bicycles whenever he can. OR

Another article points to the hypocrisy of the green movement:

Copenhagen climate summit: 1,200 limos, 140 private planes.
Copenhagen is preparing for the climate change summit that will produce as much carbon dioxide as a town the size of Middlesbrough.
Ms Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42. "We haven't got enough limos in the country to fulfil the demand," she says. "We're having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden." 

The airport says it is expecting up to 140 extra private jets during the peak period alone, so far over its capacity that the planes will have to fly off to regional airports – or to Sweden – to park, returning to Copenhagen to pick up their VIP passengers.

As well 15,000 delegates and officials, 5,000 journalists and 98 world leaders, the Danish capital will be blessed by the presence of Leonardo DiCaprio, Daryl Hannah, Helena Christensen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Prince Charles. A Republican US senator, Jim Inhofe, is jetting in at the head of an anti-climate-change "Truth Squad." The top hotels – all fully booked at £650 a night – are readying their Climate Convention menus of (no doubt sustainable) scallops, foie gras and sculpted caviar wedges.

 

St Patrick's Day

We went to a St Patrick's Day party with the Waukegan Swedish Glee Club.  I guess everyone is Irish on SPD.  They served Corn Beef & Cabbage, I am part Irish but don't like either Corn Beef or Cabbage but do like Soda Bread so I had extra Soda Bread.  My Lovely Wife tells me that it is called that because it uses Baking Soda not yeast for leavening.   I had found some Soda Bread recipes for the breadmaker but basically the dough is taken out and baked on a sheet; what is the use of a breadmaker if you have to take the dough out to bake it?

Of the various cycles on the Breadmaker, there is a dough cycle plus Whole Wheat, White (basic), Sweet Bread, Gluten Free, French, Super Rapid, Pasta, Jam and Bake.

++++

A sign that I saw during the biking in to Church this morning:  SLOW Children - I think it is not very politically incorrect to refer to children as slow (and emphasizing the slow shame, shame) perhaps Educationally Challenged Children would be more appropriate.

++++

I didn't watch the MSU / St.Louis game, but did listen to it on the radio.  So I guess the control is only if I watch it on TV.  MSU WON!

Unusual Morning

If  Auto Insurance were like Obamacare (funny)

This morning I got up early (0320) and took the dog out for the morning walk.  When we went by the local swamp, we heard numerous froggy types (warm weather must be bringing them out).  Shortly after, we saw lightning but the sky was cloudless.

Later I learned that Duke had lost in the NCAA March Madness, what a great start to the day!  Plus Mizzou lost (#2 seed in MSU's bracket).

Mishmash Tre

Couple of signs interested me:

BOGO - buy one get one - isn't that the way it should work? When you buy one you should receive one item!

Buy Here Pay Here (at a used auto lot) - Where else would you pay? (Assume they mean they would finance the auto.) - Of course I would rather pay cash (if you keep a car for 12 years and save a little each year it is possible).

****

I found a dead beetle in the track of the hatchback of the new car.  I assume with our unusually warm weather it has fooled the bug population.  I hope we won't get a bad mosquito year.  We get a lot of mosquitoes every year even in a normal year.

****

We were able to bike to the Y this morning.  It was very foggy, so we went most of the way on the bike path (last time we were on the path it was muddy and yucky, but this time it was in fairly good shape).  Fortunately we only have to cross 2 larger roads and can mainly use roads with a cement shoulder.

The past winter, I was very lazy, preferring to take the car instead of biking even when the weather was acceptable.  So I am trying to get out of my lethargy this year.

****

When politicians passed the no-call law, they made an exception for themselves.  Since IL matters in the GOP primary season, we are getting a lot of calls.  Some from Romney, against Santorium and some for Santorium against Romney.  Some for local offices especially State Senate and State Attorney.  It is irritating whenever the politicians have laws that don't apply to them (like Obamacare)!

Weather

It is 75F right now.  March should be cooler, but it is nice.  We biked to the Y this morning and it was 62F on the way home.  62F is the prefect temperature for bicycling.  It is not too hot and just cool enough to keep away the sweat!

Last year was a very cold one and this year has been very warm.  I am waiting for the BIG snowstorm to leap out at us!  Now if we can just have a cool summer, IL gets very hot & muggy in the summer.  Since we don't have air conditioning (except for opening the windows- doesn't help if it is hot; or keeping the drapes closed - which my W does not like - makes it too dark) so summer is our worst time of the year!

We (of coure) have not tried out the AC in the new car (oh woe it will reduce the mpg), but our old one's AC didn't work very well.  Actually the whole ventilation system (of the old car) was inadequate, the fan did not move enough air!

The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. (Patrick Young)


The weather is like the government, always in the wrong. (Jerome K. Jerome)


You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you. Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life. (Doug Coupland)


Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning. (George Carlin)


Money is the opposite of the weather. Nobody talks about it, but everybody does something about it. (Rebecca Johnson)

Mishmash Zwei

There are only 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those who don't!

****

My brother-in-law told us about his friend who had her contact list hacked and the contacts were sent emails saying she was stuck in a foreign country and needed money please send.  Supposedly one person sent money.  As one link said: 

State Police are warning of several scams where people are asked to wire money to help a vacationing relative who has been a victim of crime in a foreign land or a needy family member.
The first scam is a phone call from someone pretending to be a grandson or a granddaughter who was in an accident and needs money sent via Western Union. The caller doesn't give a name, police said, only calling the victim "grandma" or "grandpa" and saying, "It's me" until the caller is prompted to suggest a name of someone, who the caller then pretends to be.
Police said the second scam may involve a phone call but more often involves an e-mail where scammers hijack an e-mail account and send messages asking for money to everyone on the contacts list.
The e-mail appears to be from someone the victims know. The message says the person is out of the country on vacation and had all his or her money and travelers checks stolen and need a short-term loan wired in order to get home.


One way scammers get information is from Facebook pages.  The pages sometimes have info on relatives (like grandkids) names.  Though we are proud of our grandkids, I try not to use too much personal info on the page.

****

It is interesting how we sports fans, idolize some overpaid spoiled children.  Most of these players have been pampered from early childhood, since they were great athletes (probably the best in their school / area).  Adults listening to the utterances of these "brilliant" boys (usually boys) as if they had sometimes important to say.

One of the reasons that I like College Basketball is that most of these students (the ones who go to classes anyway[students]) are not going to play in the pros and are just trying their best!

Sleep

I am in general a good sleeper.  I get up at 4AM-ish to take out the dog, so I go to sleep very early.  I have  always been a morning person; in college I liked to have all my classes early.  My LW likes to stay up later than I do.  Usually I get up a few times to go to the bathroom but can get back to sleep.

Last night Frisbit decided that he had to go at about 2330, he barked and came sniffing at the head of our bed, so I got up and took him out (our outside temp was about 59F); it was lightly raining.

When I got back to bed, I could not get back to sleep.  So I tried the "sleep mantra" (where I say n my mind "sleep" on the inhale & exhale breathes); that didn't work.  Usually listening to a Pro Basketball or Baseball game puts me to sleep (when I first listen the score is like 5-2 then next it is 45-34 at halftime then next the game is over) however, 1) there was no game on then & 2) I didn't want to wake my LW (who often is not a good sleeper).

So I tried shifting positions; on my belly, on my side (can do that twice); that didn't work either (I usually can't get to sleep on my back unless I am hugging my LW, but of course I didn't want to wake her).

After an indeterminate long time,  I must have gotten to sleep for I woke up at 0400!

****

I was hoping to bicycle to the Y this morning; but it was raining and I don't like to bike when it is raining so I didn't (except in WA state where it is always raining so if you want to bike you have to bike in the rain [at least that is what we told CA people so they wouldn't move there]).

****

I did not watch the MSU OSU basketball game, just turned in a few times during the game; so I haven't lost control of the outcomes of games yet!  MSU won!  I am willing to make the sacrifice for them to win (aren't I wonderful?).

We Made It

We bicycled to Church this morning and we made it back home safely!  It was a little cool in the morning (around 40F) but it warmed up to around 60F for the ride home.  The trip is on the order of 15 miles and it feels good to get back to biking.

****

I feel a loss of control: I bought gas on Thursday night (the 10 block gas gauge on our new car had just gone to the lowest block) and today the gas has gone up 16¢ per gallon to $4.059.  I was going to tell all of you to fill up, but I don't know what happened (my LW says since it was late when we filled up maybe the gas goblin got confused or didn't see us!).  Fortunately, we in IL have a very high gas tax and since we are close to Chicago get the Summer Blend gas, so we get to pay more than most people.

****

An interesting article from Reuter's saying that:

(Reuters) - Banks are foreclosing on America's churches in record numbers as lenders increasingly lose patience with religious facilities that have defaulted on their mortgages, according to new data.
The surge in church foreclosures represents a new wave of distressed property seizures triggered by the 2008 financial crash, analysts say, with many banks no longer willing to grant struggling religious organizations forbearance.
Since 2010, 270 churches have been sold after defaulting on their loans, with 90 percent of those sales coming after a lender-triggered foreclosure, according to the real estate information company CoStar Group.
In 2011, 138 churches were sold by banks, an annual record, with no sign that these religious foreclosures are abating, according to CoStar. That compares to just 24 sales in 2008 and only a handful in the decade before.


"Churches are among the final institutions to get foreclosed upon because banks have not wanted to look like they are being heavy handed with the churches," said Scott Rolfs, managing director of Religious and Education finance at the investment bank Ziegler.
Church defaults differ from residential foreclosures. Most of the loans in question are not 30-year mortgages but rather commercial loans that typically mature after just five years when the full balance becomes due immediately.
Its common practice for banks to refinance such loans when they come due. But banks have become increasingly reluctant to do that because of pressure from regulators to clean up their balance sheets, said Rolfs.
"A lot of these loans were given when the properties were evaluated at a certain level in 2005 or 2006," Rolfs said. "Banks have had to reappraise the value of these properties, whether it's a church or a commercial office building. Values have gone down, so the loans cannot continue in the same form."

American Way

Dremel Two-Speed Cordless Golf Club Cleaning Rotary Tool Kit w/Bristle & Brass Brush Wheels, Model 760-01-BP.

Only in America would we relabel something to pretend it was a special product for a golf club.  This is a generic rotary tool!

****

On my daughter's blog Never Enough, she mentions that none of her relatives are close (travel wise).  Since we were in the military (Navy) we had to live basically on the coasts, so since most of our relatives were in Michigan, we were never close to them which made visiting either way difficult.

Now our kids are at least 360 miles away (1000 miles for the other), we don't get to see them or our grandkids often enough.

We would be proud to watch our GKs in various arenas, but we have commitments here which make traveling to them difficult.  I wish in some ways that we were like my parents living close to relatives but alas we don't.

I hope the GK does well, take lots of pictures!  PS, kids you can always call if you get lonely or overwhelmed!

Biking

Today, I pumped up the tires of our bikes.  We have not ridden them for a long time.  The goal is to bicycle to Church on Sunday.  It is suppose to be 60 or so then.

Even though we get 40+ mpg on our new car, we like to bicycle since then we get exercise, we can leave at different times and we save the gas.  This week is "Women's Sunday", so the women do even more than normal.  And my Lovely Wife will want to stay later then I do.  I like to leave right after Church, my LW likes to have the goodies and talk to various people.

Since it is Women's Sunday, only the women will be in the choir(including my LW) and as Josh (our choir director) says the men will not be in the organized choir.

The first bike ride of the bicycling year is always exciting and we wonder how our legs will hold up!

I Deserve It

I believe that people that really need assistance should get it.  I give to charities that spend the money where it is needed.  But people like this lottery winner turn me off!

One of her reasons for still getting the money was that she had 2 houses; of course, the reason she has 2 houses is that she bought a new one with the lottery money.

It is sad to listen to the people that really need the assistance suffering because the state has limited resources and wastes it on this woman!  Why do so many people feel that I DESERVE IT?

Health Issues

I came across an article about sweat glands in IWON which said:


Remember the seven-day deodorant pad?
It can't begin to compare with what researchers at Yonsei University Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, are now working on.
According to the British Journal of Plastic Surgery, researchers describe a method of using ultrasound energy to destroy the sweat glands in armpits. The method liquefies the fat layers under the skin, and since the sweat glands are located in the fat, it's the ultimate answer to sweaty armpits.
The energy levels used are low, so the ultrasound doesn't harm any of the other tissues. The method was tried in 84 patients, and only three had any recurrence of armpit odor.


I wonder what people are thinking sometimes.  Destroying tissue in the body to eliminate sweat!  Is vanity so important that we will do anything to look or smell better?  It's like listening to the drug commercials on TV that give about 5 minutes of warnings like "tell your doctor if you have ..."(shouldn't your doctor know?), death, heart failure, etc. for minimal benefits.

*****

On the blog entry Sunday Gospel 3/4/12, I misread the verses, it should have been Mark 12:28-31 not 23-31 that makes more sense, since the wife of 7 is another sermon (as it were).

Salt

My lovely wife believes in less salt.  So I do not put salt in the bread I make and have never used salt in any of the recipes that I make.

Here is an interesting link on salt:

Some of their points:

After the Industrial Revolution, salt became inexpensive and plentiful. It found a valuable role as a food preservative, and the average consumption soared to as much as 7,000 milligrams (mg) a day in the 19th century. Salt has long since outlived its use as a preservative, but our hankering for sodium lingers on, with daily consumption in America averaging 3,436 mg.



salt is essential for human health. The average adult's body contains 250 grams (g) of sodium — less than 9 ounces, or about the amount in three or four saltshakers. Distributed throughout the body, salt is especially plentiful in body fluids ranging from blood, sweat, and tears to semen and urine.


Sodium is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, always bringing water along with it. It is the major mineral in plasma, the fluid component of blood, and in the fluids that bathe the body's cells. Without enough sodium, all these fluids would lose their water, causing dehydration, low blood pressure, and death.


Fortunately, it only takes a tiny amount of sodium to prevent this doomsday scenario; in fact, some isolated population groups manage perfectly well on just 200 mg a day. About one-quarter of the tongue's taste buds are devoted to recognizing salt; like other animals, humans can — and do — seek out salt when they need it. 


Scientists know that sodium has an important influence on blood pressure, but they are not sure exactly how it works. It's no surprise, since the systems that control blood pressure include dozens of complex vascular, neurological, and hormonal elements. Although the body can rid itself of excessive dietary sodium, it seems likely that eating salt expands your blood volume, at least to a subtle degree. In turn, the extra volume may signal your kidneys to trigger a cascade of hormonal and vascular effects that raise blood pressure.


Why did the link between sodium and blood pressure generate so much heat? Part of the reason stems from the body's intrinsic complexity: sodium is but one of an enormous number of factors that affect blood pressure — and for all its importance, blood pressure is only one of the many things that determine vascular health.


Little by little, though, a consensus has emerged. Most researchers, scientific advisory boards, and government agencies agree that reducing dietary salt will lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and save lives 


So beware of your salt intake!


Matthew 5:13 (NIV)
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Control examples

Yesterday, I watched the MSU v. Ohio State basketball game.  Before I watched it, the score was 24-9 MSU up!  The score ended up 72-70 OSU winning!

I also watched the RedWing v. Blackhawk hockey game.  It was a good game except for the final score 2-1 for BH!  At least my son should be happy!

****

An interesting article (to me) on Hot Air : What if government treated eating the way it treats sex?  Showing the control the federal government exerts over kids eating habits and how they tend to encourage sex.

Sunday Gospel 3/4/12

Here is the Gospel Lesson from our Church on this Sunday.  Love God & your neighbor! From http://www.biblegateway.com/ a great site for reading the Bible verses of the various versions also in different languages plus a keyword search!

Mark 12:23-31
New International Version (NIV)
23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
 24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

The Greatest Commandment

 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
   29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Love & money Stats

I get a magazine from USAA (called surprisingly enough USAA Magazine) that had some interesting stats on love & money.

3 in 4 single Americans are turned off by excessive credit card debt
46% of Women don't care how much their date spends on a date & coupons are OK
41% of women would pick up the check on 1st date
$116 is the typical amount spent on Valentine's Day  (I spent slightly less, approx. $116 less))
$60 is average monthly amount spend on primping  (not much of a primper)
Typical date costs 30% - <$50, 10% > $100,rest between 50-100
91% women say they would marry for love over money
cost of date $12-drinks,$36-dinner,$16-movie,$5-coffee = $60
managing finances in house - 25%-husband, 20%-share,55%-wife
3% of people with spouse or fiance have pre-nup
$4466 average cost of honeymoon
wedding costs $13370-reception, 1290-dress, 3300-photo, 1430-flowers, 400-cake,1500-rings,5130 - others = $26500
$3250 average amount of engagement ring
2.1 million marriages 2010
900,000 divorces 2010
1 in 3 married Americans say recession has stressed their marriage
22% of divorcees say money was cause of the split
$9.8 billion amount of alimony paid in 2009
30% admit to lying to partner about money
cost of education: $28500 tuition & fees, private,$8240 public (my first year was $324)
what kids cost : $226920 child born in 2010 to 18 (college not included)
$1014 monthly cost to feed family of 4
$4294 cost of raising baby to age 1
Weekly allowance: >$10-15%, 5-10 25%,<5-12%, rest nothing

I'm glad I am already married to a wonderful woman and educated and my kids are on their own!

Control

I never realized how powerful I was!

I control gas prices: one day after I buy gas the price decreases at least $.03 per gallon sometimes 20¢ a gallon!

I control traffic lights: when I come up to the light, it changes to red to honor me!

I control the workout schedules of others: when I get to the swimming pool the lanes are full of others.

I control the stock at the stores: when I get to the store, they are out of what I want!

I control the eating habits of others: when I am in line for a potluck, the people just in front of me take the food I want!

I control the fate of my sport's teams: if I watch the event they lose!

I control the stock market: after I sell a stock it increases in price!

If only my power was more to my advantage.  I guess I am just a super hero, I just do for others!

Pay My ...

I found this article on Hot Air about how hard it is to pay for birth control, so we all should pay for it in the insurance.  The original article was from http://cnsnews.com/.

Quoting :
Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke said that it’s too expensive to have sex in law school without mandated insurance coverage.


Apparently, four out of every ten co-eds are having so much sex that it's hard to make ends meet if they have to pay for their own contraception, Fluke's research shows.


"Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy (Georgetown student insurance not covering contraception), Fluke reported.


It costs a female student $3,000 to have protected sex over the course of her three-year stint in law school, according to her calculations.


"Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school," Fluke told the hearing.


There is also a video of the testimony at both places.

There are various comments at both sites.  Since these are conservative sites (especially Hot Air) there is not much sympathy for the poor coeds.

Quoting Hot Air article:

At the end of her testimony, Fluke spoke in strong language of her resentment of university administrators and others who suggest she should have chosen to attend a different university that would have offered student insurance that does cover contraception — even if that other university wasn’t quite as prestigious as Georgetown.


“We refuse to pick between a quality education and our health and we resent that, in the 21st Century, anyone thinks it’s acceptable to ask us to make that choice simply because we are women,” Fluke said.


Ms. Fluke, I resent that you think women are incapable of controlling themselves, of sacrificing temporary pleasure for the sake of long-term success. You make us sound like animals, slaves to our instincts and able to be used, but we’re better than that. We’re persons, equal to men in dignity and love.


Sometimes you have to sacrifice in life.  We can not have everything we want!  The occupy movement's mentality that I want it, you pay for it is too prevalent these days.