Wendy and I finally did it, we bought a Wii. This may have been a foolish purchase but time will tell. Every time we played someone's Wii we came away wanting one. I think the final straw was when we were over at John & Kristi's after a soccer match and we played the Wii for a couple of hours.
Sunday is always shopping day and we needed to hit Target for some things. I walk into the electronics section like any other normal male adult and started poking around. To my delight I noticed they were advertising Wiis!! They have several on the counter just waiting to be purchased. Yay!!
So last night was spent setting up the Wii, getting connected to our wireless and playing some games. We also were able to check out the forecast channel, pretty cool stuff. Mom asked me if we are going to bring it to Sodus. We have not decided but you never know what the weather will be in upstate New York in May. Maybe I will start a family poll to see if we should bring it.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Honey Bunches of Oats
So congratulations me on letting Owen become a complete monster this morning. Yesterday, while grocery shopping, I thought it would be a good idea to pick up a box of Honey Bunches of Oats with Chocolate Flakes. Why do you ask?? Currently we allow Owen a small treat when he eats his Rice Krispies in the morning and we mix in some Cocoa Krispies. Not too much however so he does not go completely bonkers at the sitters. Anyway, I digress so I can get back to the Honey Bunches of Oates now with chocolate flakes.
I pour some of the regular version of the cereal into his bowl and he complains a little so what does dad do? That's right, he heads to the pantry for something else, the newest version of HB of O with Chocolate Flakes! I guess you could say it is somewhat equivalent to Bill Cosby's story of feeding chocolate cake to his kids one morning. If you have never heard that bit you should go listen to it, you will laugh very hard. Anyway, I pull out a couple of flakes, both chocolate in nature and proceed to eat one showing Owen they taste so, so good! So guess what, being the good son he is he decides he has to try what dad is eating. Low and behold, Mikey, he likes it!
This is where things start to go terribly wrong. Owen then decides the only flakes he could possibly eat for breakfast are now clearly chocolate flakes. I proceed to say and then ask Wendy "I think I screwed up, did I screw up?" I bet no one out there can possibly guess what Wendy said? So now I am fighting tooth and nail to get Owen to eat something other than anything coated with chocolate to no avail. He eats every last crumb he can find that resembles chocolate and then, of course, wants more. How dare my child not eat what I am feeding him but want something else that is in the box that only lies a few tantalizing feet away!?
Moral of the story? Dad = Dumb. I bet I could find a way to do a math proof on that too. OK, never mind.
I pour some of the regular version of the cereal into his bowl and he complains a little so what does dad do? That's right, he heads to the pantry for something else, the newest version of HB of O with Chocolate Flakes! I guess you could say it is somewhat equivalent to Bill Cosby's story of feeding chocolate cake to his kids one morning. If you have never heard that bit you should go listen to it, you will laugh very hard. Anyway, I pull out a couple of flakes, both chocolate in nature and proceed to eat one showing Owen they taste so, so good! So guess what, being the good son he is he decides he has to try what dad is eating. Low and behold, Mikey, he likes it!
This is where things start to go terribly wrong. Owen then decides the only flakes he could possibly eat for breakfast are now clearly chocolate flakes. I proceed to say and then ask Wendy "I think I screwed up, did I screw up?" I bet no one out there can possibly guess what Wendy said? So now I am fighting tooth and nail to get Owen to eat something other than anything coated with chocolate to no avail. He eats every last crumb he can find that resembles chocolate and then, of course, wants more. How dare my child not eat what I am feeding him but want something else that is in the box that only lies a few tantalizing feet away!?
Moral of the story? Dad = Dumb. I bet I could find a way to do a math proof on that too. OK, never mind.
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Masters and Philanthropy
The Masters... I know I had this complaint last year but I will be honest, I respect Tiger a lot, would love to meet him and understand what makes him tick but, I am glad he did not win yesterday. CBS's annual love fest for Tiger is over and guess what, someone else won HIS tournament and I loved every minute of it. Since when does one golf tournament become a persons right of passage? The golf tournament no one else should be allowed to win, according to CBS anyway. Well, that might not be true but that is what I feel like every year I sit my lazy butt on the couch to watch The Masters. It's always, tiger will make his run and whomever is ahead him will surely collapse because Tiger is looming over the field like the Rocky Mountains do over the mid-western plains. Whatever, I am glad it's over.
Philanthropy... I despise pretty much all things American Idol but, there is an annual event I hope many people got to watch this year. They had an Idol Give Back event last week and it was tremendous. I could not believe all of the people they had on TV or on stage to raise awareness of many things. Not only issues in America but issues in Africa as well.
Patri and I had a very good discussion last week and then I saw that show. It gave me a whole new perspective on how some people live their lives in America. I made me ashamed this country has not done more for the needy, for our own people who live in squalor and fight to just to survive another day and put food on the table. For as much as I disagree with some things concerning health care and how we go about our business in this country it shows how much need there is even in this day and age. I wish there was a measuring stick you could apply to people who actually try on a daily basis to make the American dream come true vs. those who don't and abuse the system.
There is no right answer for health care I think. You will never make everyone happy. What we should strive for however, is to make as many people healthy and happy that we possibly can. Maybe it's a combination of providing for others, the weak, those that cannot help themselves and education. Enough talk, it's time for action.
Philanthropy... I despise pretty much all things American Idol but, there is an annual event I hope many people got to watch this year. They had an Idol Give Back event last week and it was tremendous. I could not believe all of the people they had on TV or on stage to raise awareness of many things. Not only issues in America but issues in Africa as well.
Patri and I had a very good discussion last week and then I saw that show. It gave me a whole new perspective on how some people live their lives in America. I made me ashamed this country has not done more for the needy, for our own people who live in squalor and fight to just to survive another day and put food on the table. For as much as I disagree with some things concerning health care and how we go about our business in this country it shows how much need there is even in this day and age. I wish there was a measuring stick you could apply to people who actually try on a daily basis to make the American dream come true vs. those who don't and abuse the system.
There is no right answer for health care I think. You will never make everyone happy. What we should strive for however, is to make as many people healthy and happy that we possibly can. Maybe it's a combination of providing for others, the weak, those that cannot help themselves and education. Enough talk, it's time for action.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Cars & More Politics
First off I ran across a list of cars with the worst fuel economy. As I looked at the list I began to wonder, would anyone owning a car on this list even care about ridiculous gas prices? Aside from the Jeep Grand Cherokee I would guess the answer is no.
Cars With Crappy Fuel Economy
Secondly I appreciate any feedback on the Health Care post... This is what makes our country so great. We can share our feelings on a subject and hope we can still love each other. I also have to throw in some rebuttal because I feel like some words were put in my mouth...
I never said we should not care for the weak and I did say we would need some type of plan in place in order to get somewhere closer to being a healthy society. It requires education, it requires less pollution as well as lots of other things. It may or may not require some sort of universal health care to get us there. We have medicaid and medicare but I do not understand those things enough to even discuss what they could or could not do for the "weak". I think generally the answer is not much.
All I am saying is that some will be willing to pay for someone else's care and some will not. I never said I wasn't willing however, what we can control as a society we should control so costs can ultimately go down. My argument was never about "Acts of God" that we have zero control over only about health care and controlling what we can control.
If I missed some important points in my original argument I am sorry. It's hard to think of everything writing in a blog. Keep the comments coming, they are most welcome.
Cars With Crappy Fuel Economy
Secondly I appreciate any feedback on the Health Care post... This is what makes our country so great. We can share our feelings on a subject and hope we can still love each other. I also have to throw in some rebuttal because I feel like some words were put in my mouth...
I never said we should not care for the weak and I did say we would need some type of plan in place in order to get somewhere closer to being a healthy society. It requires education, it requires less pollution as well as lots of other things. It may or may not require some sort of universal health care to get us there. We have medicaid and medicare but I do not understand those things enough to even discuss what they could or could not do for the "weak". I think generally the answer is not much.
All I am saying is that some will be willing to pay for someone else's care and some will not. I never said I wasn't willing however, what we can control as a society we should control so costs can ultimately go down. My argument was never about "Acts of God" that we have zero control over only about health care and controlling what we can control.
If I missed some important points in my original argument I am sorry. It's hard to think of everything writing in a blog. Keep the comments coming, they are most welcome.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
April is Here and Politics
Finally, Spring has sprung in Cincinnati, Ohio. Planted some flowers today and painted a new mailbox since our current one is a dilapidated piece of crap. The Lee's, the family that owned our house prior to us, did not know what the heck they were doing with their gardens. Planting full shade plants in spots where they would receive nothing but sun and vice versa. Wendy and I are determined to win this battle against our garden and the Lee's. What else can we do? Enter a contest to win 10,000 bucks to fix it and hope we win!
What else... oh yeah, Universal Health Care, a.k.a how to bankrupt our country even more... Borrow, spend, borrow, spend. Ah, the life of a politician.
Wendy and I have been talking about the various issues more than I can remember. Politics is not usually conversation we have at the dinner table but lately it has become fairly prevalent. My view is we need to fix the root cause which is people living unhealthy lives. I don't disagree we need something to bridge the gap between now and when people are healthier but, should it cost us healthy people billions of dollars to fix someone else's problem? But then you have to discuss why people don't have health care in the first place.
So really you have more than 1 issue. You have the issue of people not being healthy and we should educate folks so they can get healthy and health care costs eventually go down. Secondly, you have the issue that people do not have health care because they are not educated and do not have jobs that give them health care for various reasons. Whether it be they are only working part time or for a small employer.
I know this is tough topic for many and especially those in Washington. I guess I throw this topic out there to see what kind of responses I do get. Some people will say I don't want to pay for other people's poor choices. Some people will say did those people ever really have a choice growing up or living in whatever horrible conditions they are/were in? They are a product of their environment. It's subjective and there is probably no right answer hence why there is debate.
I guess my point is, in the information age, lets get some damn information out and get this country healthy and whole. Get people to stop smoking and eating like pigs. Get people to realize what their decisions ultimately do to their bodies and everyone will be much happier. If we don't do something the problem will persist and health care costs will continue to go up. Someday, if the current trend continues, even large companies will not be able to afford to cover their employees.
Maybe Universal Health Care will work in a healthy society because the overall cost is less per capita but I don't think it has a chance of being solvent in today's environment. Time to fix the root causes and not the symptoms. That is what I want out of Washington.
What else... oh yeah, Universal Health Care, a.k.a how to bankrupt our country even more... Borrow, spend, borrow, spend. Ah, the life of a politician.
Wendy and I have been talking about the various issues more than I can remember. Politics is not usually conversation we have at the dinner table but lately it has become fairly prevalent. My view is we need to fix the root cause which is people living unhealthy lives. I don't disagree we need something to bridge the gap between now and when people are healthier but, should it cost us healthy people billions of dollars to fix someone else's problem? But then you have to discuss why people don't have health care in the first place.
So really you have more than 1 issue. You have the issue of people not being healthy and we should educate folks so they can get healthy and health care costs eventually go down. Secondly, you have the issue that people do not have health care because they are not educated and do not have jobs that give them health care for various reasons. Whether it be they are only working part time or for a small employer.
I know this is tough topic for many and especially those in Washington. I guess I throw this topic out there to see what kind of responses I do get. Some people will say I don't want to pay for other people's poor choices. Some people will say did those people ever really have a choice growing up or living in whatever horrible conditions they are/were in? They are a product of their environment. It's subjective and there is probably no right answer hence why there is debate.
I guess my point is, in the information age, lets get some damn information out and get this country healthy and whole. Get people to stop smoking and eating like pigs. Get people to realize what their decisions ultimately do to their bodies and everyone will be much happier. If we don't do something the problem will persist and health care costs will continue to go up. Someday, if the current trend continues, even large companies will not be able to afford to cover their employees.
Maybe Universal Health Care will work in a healthy society because the overall cost is less per capita but I don't think it has a chance of being solvent in today's environment. Time to fix the root causes and not the symptoms. That is what I want out of Washington.
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