Thursday, February 26, 2009

It took a lot out of me when she took a bit out of me


It never ever ends.
I had some spotting (not on my face) in late December and early January, and since that can be a sign of uterine or endometrial cancer, and because those cancers can be caused by tamoxifen, which I'm taking, I knew I needed to see a gynecologist. I have the Boyish Gyne, who felt my breast lump and said it was nothing, and never apologized for missing the cancer, and I never meant to have a male gyne, so I wanted a female. Long story short, I googled Breast Cancer, Menopause and Chicago, and found Dr. K, called her office last week, and got an appointment last Friday. (Don't ask why I waited until late February to take care of this. It was just one of those things.) Today I went to have her take out some of my endometrium lining to have it checked. She said I might want to take a Valium, which I did. Still it was uncomfortable. L came with me and I held his hand while Dr. K did her work, which included probing around with what she called a French Tickler. I think that is not its patented name. She said it was hard to get the cells, which was a good sign. If it was cancer, there would be lots and lots of tissue. So that's good. She calls with the results on Thursday.

I told her that I just found a web site on which a young woman is posting photos of her cervix. http://www.beautifulcervix.com/photos-of-cervix/
The doctor thought that was strange. She said once she had a patient, who had psychiatric problems, who was waiting for her, with her own speculum already inserted.

I don't see anything wildly strange about that. I always meant to go to one of those gatherings where you buy a speculum and borrow a mirror and look inside yourself.
But I never did.

Afterward the gyne we went to see B, who is in a rehab hospital after having a pump implanted that will send out liquid to lessen the pain in his legs. At least that's the idea. B is getting occupational and physical therapy, and I think that's very good. Still his legs hurt. Arthritis in the joints, they tell him. He's reading
Rachel Shukert's Have You No Shame?, which I brought him. I read aloud from it the other night and B, L, and I laughed until we couldn't speak any more. This afternoon L the girl was visiting B, and asked if a non-Jew would think the book was funny. I recounted some of it: that when she's eight or nine, in the 1990s in Omaha, she would make lists: People who would hide us from the Nazis. Her mother gets into the act and makes her opinion known. ("'The Nagels?' she shrieked. 'Are you kidding me? The Nagels would own slaves if they could.'") I told L that a non-Jew who knows Jews and lives in an urban area would get the book.

Valium is a powerful drug. I felt woozy for about five hours. I can't believe housewives were on this. How did they function? (Not very well.)

Here is a picture from the cervix project, bringing introspection to a whole new level:

Why does it gross me out? Even if I didn't know what it was, I would feel disgusted. I'm supposed to embrace my innards but this exposed cervix is so tonsilly, so pink and gooshy looking I want to gag. But why? It looks like raw meat torn of its skin and fur. It looks like it shouldn't be out in the world. And it isn't; it's in.

Where's Georgia O'Keeffe when we need her?
READ MORE - It took a lot out of me when she took a bit out of me

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A votre santé?


Choose your poison. A new study of more than a million British women indicates that if you have one alcoholic drink a day, you're more likely to get breast, liver and rectum cancers. Of course, a drink a day is good for your heart. But your healthy heart won't be pumping much if the rest of your body has died of cancer.

One theory for the alcohol-to-breast-cancer link is that the alcohol boosts estrogen levels.

On the other hand, two years ago the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute found that a component of cannibis sativa can help stop breast-cancer metastasis.

Don't look for any million-women studies on that any time soon, though.

Here's the link to an article on the British study: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/24/AR2009022402361_pf.html
And on the marijuana study: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071123211703.htm
For some reason, my hot links tool isn't working.
READ MORE - A votre santé?

The Balboa Island Underground!

The undergrounding of utilities is perhaps
the greatest way of increasing land values on the planet.
Little Balboa Island, by the way, has already completed its
undergrounding. So, what is up with those on Balboa Island
that wish continue to fight the good fight against the devil
"undergrounding"?

The people on Balboa Island have always been wrapped a little
different. Balboa Island people become Republican when the
Democrats are in, Democrats when the Republicans are in and
Independent whenever it serves their purposes. Balboa Island
has a Ferry to the peninsula, A cute little Clubhouse, A Main
Street with shops, two major cross streets, one of which has
lovely trees. Balboa Island even has funny street names for
various stones and crystals....Like; Diamond, Garnet and even
Crystal. They have Little Balboa Island and Big!

Anyway, they had a nice turnout down at City Hall last night
according to the Daily Plot, all about "Undergrounding".
They had a whole bunch down there on one side saying: "Too
expensive!" and the other group saying: "Too ridiculous!"
In any event, the patriotic thing to do for Balboa Island is:
Underground your utilities! My goodness, on one hand they
contend that they are "elitist status which deserves the best".
Like their expensive Fire Station, an Annual City Wide July
attended Parade, Three Boat Parades, Three fix up your homes
for the holiday events, a business improvement district and
even a bridge! They have yachts, they have sea walls, they
have beautiful homes on North and South Bayfront. They have
cute little houses and wonderful little streets in the middle.

What is wrong with doing away with all those drooping
telephone and power lines? "The Cost, you idiot!" they do
protest! $5,000 dollars to $35,000 each. Well, what we
might mention is that this could be the only time that
anyone will be able to refinance their homes for quite some
time during these tough economic times! They might even get
lucky and get a reduction in their current monthly payments.
Hey, this could be a lot more complex than most thought..huh?

Well, we stand firmly for "undergrounding" all utilities in
Newport Beach. We are supposed to be a wealthy, intelligent,
beautiful city that invites travelers and visitors from all
around the world. We are not San Francisco....we need our
utilities "undergrounded".

We invite your comments....
READ MORE - The Balboa Island Underground!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Government to Provide High Quality Education

Human’s life is affected by many aspects, such as economical, politics, culture, and social. Perhaps there has been enough attention and actions taken to deal with the first four aspects, but sometimes both the government and the society forget and often ignore the last aspect, the social life. Social aspect covers all interactions and events taking place within the society. It may be the housing system, the health service system, or the employment structure. All of the social structure is built upon a fundamental base, that is the educational system. Unfortunately, the government and the society pay inadequate attention on education issue.

Education becomes very important and plays a very significant role in the society’s development of characteristics, because education determines the quality of the component in the society. A good and qualified education will develop well educated and qualified human resource, while an incomplete education will be an obstacle in developing the quality of the human resource completely. Due to the significance of education for the development of the society, a well structured and meaningful education is in need to be designed and managed immediately. Nevertheless, sometimes the government cannot take the responsibility of providing qualified and affordable education system completely. Some countries even failed in constructing the system, resulting in the lack of qualified human resource which then leads to poverty and social degradation. Private institutions or organizations are trying to take over the responsibility of providing qualified education, but sometimes it is too expensive to be obtained by middle to low class society.

The government should think over the education system in its country all over again, and should immediately design and develop qualified and affordable educational system for all layers of society in its country to develop qualified human resources for a better future of the country
READ MORE - Government to Provide High Quality Education

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Why Michael Phelps needs to move to Newport Beach!

Hey Mikey, how come you don't come to live the life right
here in Newport Beach? Haven't you heard of us? What's
wrong....we have ReHab Homes? You could probably buy a
few for your friends and pals from the East Coast, as
week-end crash pads. It would be a great place to just
veg out between endorsements and prime time spots on
"Entertainment Tonight" or "The View".

How in the world could you ever be caught up in some
dumb drug bong deal "gone bad" in South Carolina? Those
people are real old school....and the only things cool
in South Carolina are their historic architecture, mint
juleps and those lovely "Game Cocks" and Steve Spurrier
who continue to never make it to the big show at the
end of every college football season.

No, Mike....you are prime meat for Newport Beach. Hey,
most of the people that had money on the Newport Coast are
now buried in unending debt. Most of the bigtime, prime
time players are all under indictment or have terrible
divorce issues. Hey, Rodman is gone while Kobe and Tiger
are here. Hey, you might even run into Carly Fiorina at
Trader Joe's on the Newport Coast. You should be attracted
to older women anyway. So sorry Amanda Beard ran off to
get married on you....oh, but you weren't really interested
anyway...huh?

OK, lets talk turkey here Michael. Even though Kellogs has
unceremoniously dumped you....you will always have Nike....
and Subway. In any event, you just need a place where you
can kind of melt into the woodwork....but still have some
very elitist and powerful posers around you. You need some
cool babes too that are impressed by wealth, power and
celebrity. Of course, we know you are no Kanye West or Bobbie
Brown...but hey, you can kind of scoot around the local
Newport Beach gin joints like the "Landmark" in CDM....or
go to private events at the Pacific Club...so you can get
those necessary kudos and the meaningful praise that you so
rightly deserve.

Michael Phelps right here in our town! Wow, how impressive
would that be? If you get busted again...think about it...
you will have a "jury of your peers". Where else could that
happen? Maybe Irvine.....they have lots of swimmers there
too....but no one of the heft of a "Bong Toter", eight Gold
Medal....Michael Phelps.

One last thought...Mikey...we need your mom to move here too.
Think about her being elected to the Newport Mesa School Board
.....what a deal! Zero Tolerance...you've got to love it! Maybe
you could also make a donation to a couple of our NB city council
members...so they can fix up their rental properties! Face it,
Newport Beach has got to be perfect for you!
READ MORE - Why Michael Phelps needs to move to Newport Beach!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

AWP




It started out in the '60s when there were just a handful or two or three creative writing programs in the country and the directors of them wanted to get together to compare notes. Now it is this huge conference of maybe 7,000 this year (I heard it was 10,000 last year in NYC) because the number of MFA programs has exploded. Not to mention MA and BFA and PhD. I am talking about the Association of Writers & Writing Programs' annual conference, which started Wed. night and will end Saturday night at the Hilton, 720 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. More info at www.awpwriter.org. If you go there, expect to see hordes of dazed non-biz types with name tags wandering around carrying bags of magazines and books. These are my people. This is my tribe. These are the people who believe words are important and that literature means something and that innovation is necessary. We may be insular but we're dedicated. There are still people who worship the short story even though the days of print culture might be numbered. These are people not writing screenplays or potboilers but poems that they hope will define some fraction of the universe so precisely and beautifully that others will commit their lines to memory. These are people who also know that Keats said his name was written in water, and though that's a little heart-warming because it means that Keats thought he'd be forgotten, and thus those of us who think we'll be forgotten might actually be remembered and revered as much as Keats. But it also means that our names might really be writ in water and soon we and our words will be forgotten, and Keats was 25 when he died and we're twice that and what do we have to show for ourselves?
READ MORE - AWP

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Lark & Owl



There are larks and owls and I've always been an owl but I try every so often to become a lark. I went to bed early last night and had a devil of a time getting to sleep. I was going to go to sleep early tonight but I got home from school around 10:30 and then had dinner and started reading.

It is so much easier to get things done if you get up in the single digits. You have all day to make phone calls. The odds are stacked against us: If left to our own devices, the sleep experts say, we would stay up a little later every day, so that we'd never have regular hours for anything.

Some people move from owl-dom to lark-life when they have children. They're forced to get up early. But I skipped a generation. I have not children but step-children and step-grandchildren. I have not had to stay up all night with a colicky baby. Which, if you think about it, would make a person an owl.

Don't go against your natural rhythms, people say. But my natural rhythm or way-of-being-in-the-world is to be lazy and slovenly and slow and messy and never get things done. You have to fight against what's "natural" sometimes.

I know that the most depressing thing is to be staying up late and then when you're getting ready for bed you start hearing the birds chirping. They're saying: You wasted a whole night when you should have been asleep.
READ MORE - Lark & Owl

The Impact of Technology in Education

Technology plays important roles in our life. It enables us to do our activities easier. Something that might be so difficult to do in the past, can be done easily with the technology innovations. No want will argue that technology also give huge impact in educational field. With technology, teaching and learning activities can be more interesting and fun. It may also help the learners to get the lesson objectives faster than the manual and conventional way.

Almost all schools nowadays have been using computer and internet technology in their educational systems. It is used to deliver the information and knowledge to the learners. Further, it also gives fun education for the students. The audio and video functions in a computer easily engage the knowledge in each study lesson with the students' understanding of the lesson. The programs in a computer such as PowerPoint allows to display animation features that can attract the students' interest in learning the subject matter.

Meanwhile, internet technology can be an effective tool in acquiring students' knowledge. With internet technology, the students are able to search any information that can be useful to add their comprehensive in the lesson. Technology is now regarded as a more effective tools rather than textbook. Since technology plays important roles in educational field, computer even becomes a school curriculum in some countries.
READ MORE - The Impact of Technology in Education

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Intensity


My high school best friend J had breast cancer before I did. It was a very early stage (maybe zero?) but because cancer runs in her family, she had a double mastectomy (and reconstruction). I remember her telling me that in a way she missed the intensity of the early days of her cancer and treatment. There is the Grab On to Life phase where you pay more attention to everything around you and are more conscious of the passage of time. As someone who has always contemplated death, I didn't think that I'd have a similar experience with my cancer.

And I haven't. But when I was writing this blog every day, and I was living with cancer treatment and its after-effects, I carefully observed the world around me. Everything was relevant and everything had to do with cancer because I was looking at it with cancer-colored lenses. I was hunting for material. I paid more attention. (as Willy Loman said we must, in a different context.) I collected, in an almost physical way, tidbits around me.

Now I feel I'm wasting material, letting it fall around me without picking it up. I've become lazy about cancer reports, not feeling obliged to report on the latest studies, such as the one last week that linked the lowering of breast cancer rates in the US and Canada to the declining number of women using hormone replacement therapy. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090205.wlhormone05/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home

What fell today? I don't remember.
READ MORE - Intensity

Saturday, February 7, 2009

The Senate Stimulus Bill, Newport Beach, and all America stands for

I am not the type of person to mope around very long. I believe I have a pretty resilient spirit, and I am a deep believer that the only long term realism is optimism. I can not recall a time that very bad news personally, professionally, or ideologically has kept me down for more than a short while. I confess that since the inauguration of this new President, a tidal wave of reality has hit me that has tested my long-term optimistic resolve. Thankfully, I am a person of faith.

No President in the last one hundred years has had a more disastrous first two weeks than President Obama. The massive amount of centrist voters who voted for him have had their hopes for a Clintonian pragmatism shattered in a matter of days. "Change" has proven to be an entire cabinet of tax evaders and scandal-ridden creeps, or in the better case, Clinton administration re-treads. Bipartisanship has meant a 100%/100% divide on his very first piece of legislation ever submitted (every Democrat voting affirmatively, and every Republican voting negatively). In fairness, Obama does not deserve to be associated (that we know of) with this debacle in the Illinois gubernatorial matter, but it is not at all what he wanted to see happen in his first month as the President-elect. The whole country seems to be feeling the vibe that this man is not quite done campaigning, and nothing seems to bother the American electorate more than people in office who feel the need to eternally campaign. It is a necessary evil, as far as us Americans are concerned, when running for office, but when one governs and speaks in office as Obama has the last two weeks, the reality kicks in that some people are better at sales than management. I have seen even some of my own friends "sold" by this guy, and I think they are about to start the slow, humble crawl back to principle.

The truth is, I am not nearly as worried about Barack Obama as I am the state of the American dream. There is no person in America who is currently more loathed and discriminated against than the "wealthy". When George McGovern was decimated in the 1972 election after running a perversely populist and class envy-driven campaign he famously said, "Our pollsters knew how many people in America were not rich. They just apparently did not know how many people in America wanted to be rich."

The quotes below were delivered by our President and Vice President in recent weeks, describing their perspective on class struggle in America.

"Over the course of America's last economic expansion, the middle class participated in very few of the benefits. But now in the midst of this historic economic downturn, the middle class sure is participating in all of the pain. Something is seriously wrong when the economic engine of this nation -- the great middle class -- is treated this way."

"The things that affect people's daily lives. I will be the guy honchoing that policy ... There is a great divide in this country between the rich and the middle class. The affluent have their social lives, their mansions, their millions and their prosperous friends. The wealthy prance around like they are better than the rest of us. The wealthy have connections that get them what they need. We see the rich using their connections to receive at no cost, what the rest of America has to buy with their own hard earned dollars."

I wish that this was just rank political rhetoric, because at least then I could take the familiar position of having no respect for a politician because they lacked principle and integrity. Unfortunately, there is a chance these guys actually mean this nonsense, and as far as I am concerned, the utterly false and libelous notions shared above represent the death of the American experiment. It is imperative that we take our stand, now.

The issue of executive compensation will end up being a defining moment in our country's history. TARP has teed up the greatest opportunity for wealth-distributors the Democrats ever could have dreamed for. The very definition of naivete is one who believes that the steps taken by the Obama administration this week represent the end of this discussion. We are just getting started. I actually stated the other night that I wonder if the economic conservatives in this country are now having their "Roe v. Wade moment", a reference to the awakening that took place in social conservatives in 1973 after the passing of that insidious law. This is not a TARP issue at all, for if it were, why did Claire McCaskill, who I would now rather see thrown out of office than any Senator in this country, state that all employees of these companies should be capped at total compensation of $400,000, because no one "deserves to make more than the President" (except for the President, apparently, who made $1.7 million in 2006). Why did Barney Frank just say yesterday that these limits ought to be applied to non-TARP companies as well? Why has the government told firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan, that they can not pay back the TARP funds that they never asked for to begin with. Class warfare is alive and well, and this issue may seem palatable to people who hate Wall Street, and hate the rich. Their egregious violation of the 10th commandment notwithstanding, do people not understand what the broad effects of this mentality are going to be? No one will be more decimated by this evil than churches and non-profit organizations who depend upon donor dollars (despite Barack Obama's $7,000 of charitable giving off of $1.7 million in income, the fact of the matter is that 80% of non-profit giving comes from the evil wealthy; only Al Gore and Barack Obama sit in their limousines and plot the destruction of other rich people's futures).

I have no interest in this article becoming an apologetic for the rich and elite. It goes without saying that I like the rich and elite, for the same reason that it goes without saying that you do too. Your paycheck has always come from someone presumably richer than you. The economic system you function within has always worked off of people taking risks and investing capital and labor into endeavors that create wealth. This is basic economics, but it is also America. Any and all discussions right now of the need for charity and public assistance are unhelpful, as long as we affirm that assistance for those in need is better addressed by strategies that acknowledge the dignity of human beings, and disavow the theft and inefficiency of wealth redistribution. What we are becoming is a country that's DNA is being re-programmed, and this is more evident in our rhetoric about successful people than any other area I can think of.

The stimulus package the Senate will vote on (and barely pass) next week is a travesty. It is a pork-laden fiasco, and a blatant contradiction of nearly all economic wisdom we collectively developed over the last 80 years. Not even Lord Keynes himself would approve of this debacle.

There is more money (cash) on the sidelines than any time in world history. There is absolutely no reason for government spending to "stimulate" anything. All they have to do is set policies in place that will motivate companies to "stimulate" their own balance sheets. A variety of tax credits will do exactly that. Technology credits. R&D credits. Energy credits. Labor incentives. I pray my readers can understand how counter-intuitive what present policy is to actual effective action - government is incapable of optimally allocating capital, by definition. Not only are markets the best arbiter of how to allocate capital, they are presently in a position to do so very, very well. This cash on corporate balance sheets will "stimulate" economic growth beyond our wildest dreams with the proper balance of pro-growth policies (credits, tax cuts, incentives, etc.). I could get into extensive detail of what policy measures would bring about positive effects in the short term, and the long term, but it would distract from the point of this writing. No sane person believes that the government is in a better position to allocate capital than the free market (yes, I do believe Robert Reich and Paul Krugman ought to be considered insane).

The government is in a position to do a few things better than the private sector, and those things are: (a) Re-allocate capital along the lines that are most effective for political and special interest purposes; (b) Place the current generation and future generations in unfathomable amounts of debt; and (c) Redistribute the wealth that has been created by the most productive people in society to less productive people, thereby creating incredible moral hazard, and de-motivating wealth creators from future productivity.

So, I ask you, what exactly are we hoping Uncle Sam is going to accomplish with this bill? The ideological divide is spreading, and the present administration is cognizant of this horrifying fact. We are at a tipping point. The DNA of our country is on the line, and I mean that as much as I have ever meant anything I have written.

Despite everything, I am a long term optimist. I believe God has smiled upon this country. What I am pleading with my readers for now is to stand taller than ever against the horrid onslaught of socialist legislation and rhetoric you are inundated with on a daily basis these days. The idea of a center-left politician being President who passed NAFTA, cut capital gain taxes, and instituted massive welfare reform (read: Bill Clinton), are over. This man is no Bill Clinton. Obama will be gone in 4 or 8 years, but for the sake of your children and grandchildren, we have to make sure this politics of envy and theft go with him. In this turning point of our country - stand tall for freedom, prosperity, and morality. I have no intention of letting this issue go. I hope you will join me. It is time to bring to fight to them.
READ MORE - The Senate Stimulus Bill, Newport Beach, and all America stands for

Friday, February 6, 2009

Visions of Newport Beach's Impending Doom?

While Newport Beach is bickering with Irvine, bickering with their residents, and bickering with the state, the expansion of John Wayne Airport continues...

Best part of the OC Register Article (I'm at it again, poaching original stories from news sources and just commenting on it)?

"Officials expect a new parking structure to debut in fall 2010, and the terminal should premiere by early 2012."

When does the Settlement Agreement end?

A cap of 10.3 Million Passengers a year until 2011.

Cap of 10.8 Million Passengers a year until 2015.

Curfew limitations expire in 2020.

Gee...do you think the Newport Beach will be able to curb the amount of Commercial Flights and limit the hours when they can take off and land, RIGHT AFTER THE AIRPORT EXPANSION IS DONE?

Wanna see what pictures of the beginning of the End looks like?

Here you go...Enjoy...
READ MORE - Visions of Newport Beach's Impending Doom?

Bail Out the World...

Funny stuff...when you think about it. Hank Paulson, Ben
Bernanke and most of the Republican leadership....all voted
for the first $700 Billion dollar giveaway. The money has
gone down the big black hole of Wall Street. Bank mergers
became all the Vogue. Investment Banks all wanted to go
as regular....banks! Bank of America is about $65 Billion
under right now....after getting $35 Billion from the TARP.
The list of who got what and when is Top Secret Information.
Even the FBI, CIA and IRS haven't figured out where all this
cash went off too!

Our dearly departed Republican Majority/Minority has switched
without premise from "Go Bail Out....to Kill the Bail
Out!"
David Drier and John Campbell are touting the
negatives this time as opposed to their first time back in
September of 2008. What has changed? Isn't this $900 Billion
dollar Obama bail out...just Bush Light? Hey, they have a
motivated Inspector General guy...they have rules....they
have "earmarks"! They have programs to fix bridges, and of
course infrastructure and secure jobs - something wrong with
that?

The Republicans are saying: "Tax Cuts!" Whew, that's new!
When did they come up with that issue? 1979? OK, maybe 1959
when Goldwater ran...maybe after 1964..with Wallace. All in
all....this is not exactly new news is it? Our economy is
on its knees.....this Bail Out package is more or less
designed to Bail Out....States, Counties and some of the
larger cities who are verging on the edge of a cliff.
California is supposed to get about $8 Billion up front
cash...which will still leave them about $34 billion upside
down. It might be enough however to pay citizens their
State Tax refunds...rather than offering those lovely IOU's!

So, here we are in a World Economy that is about $163
Trillion dollars short. Commercial and Real Estate values
that need to be written down to 1993...to be sure that
stability will work. The jobs plan has to be to keep the
infrastructure of the nation, state and municipalities
able to continue. All will be forced in the near term to
reduce the size of government about 30%.

We have entered Post-Communist Russia "Shock Therapy". As
the Republicans change their allegiances from the bankers
the ones that are left) to the out of work citizen...buyers
should beware! The devils are always in the details.

One thing is certain: We need to keep every elected's feet
to the fire! We want results...and we want them now! Save
your partisan tripe for when you get back to your district.
One last word of advice: It will be better to find
solutions than to require the voters to seek one!
READ MORE - Bail Out the World...

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Web Weirdness



I joined Facebook about two weeks ago, just in time to get in before the fifth anniversary of the network. I found this very bizarre notice just now:

"The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recently launched a fan page in Facebook. You are invited to join, learn about our online resources and upcoming events, share with your friends, and please provide feedback about how we can best serve the Facebook community! The USHMM fan page is at http://tinyurl.com/c4ydrb."

The Facebook language is limiting, of course. But it doesn't seem right that a person can be a "fan" of a Holocaust museum. Any ideas for other words?

On Facebook, join Friends of Cancer Bitch. It's free, and no salesmen will call.
READ MORE - Web Weirdness

The Book

My kind editor at the U of Iowa Press FedExed me a copy of The Adventures of Cancer Bitch. I got it yesterday and brought it to Show and Tell today, where it was roundly oohed and ahhed over.

My first local reading is March 25, but I have others before:

~Reading, 6:30 pm, March 17, 2009, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI
~Reading, 12:30 pm, March 19, 2009, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids
Debut Chicago reading of The Adventures of Cancer Bitch, Wed., March 25, 2009, 7:30 pm, Women & Children First Bookstore, 5233 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60640. Tel: 773.769.9299
~Reading, 7:30 pm, April 16, 2009, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
~Writing Workshop: The Joy Joy Joy of Repetition in Writing about Health, Medicine and the Body, 6-7:15 pm, Wed., April 29, 2009, The Examined Life: Writing & the Art of Medicine Conference, University of Iowa, Iowa City
~Pizza and conversation, "From Blog to Radio to Book," 12:30-1:30 p.m., May 14, 2009, Northwestern University Center for the Writing Arts, Evanston, IL

TBA: Loyola University Chicago; Program in Medical Humanities and Bioethics,
Feinberg School of Medicine
READ MORE - The Book

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Free Guide of Online Dating

As you might have also realized, the number of workload can sometimes keep you at the office. Meaning to say, you don’t have much time to socialize whereas in fact, you do need to meet other people such as friends and also need to make friends. Involving in a relation can also help you to balance your life since you will get affection which is absolutely needed by your emotional side. Then, some of you might be interested in online dating. Online dating is getting popular now as many people have experienced the benefits from it. However, there are also negative things that you can experience while you are on online dating. Therefore, you might need to have guide in choosing the right site for online dating.

Then, you might need to go to onlinedatingtips.com. At this website, you will find lots of useful tips which can be as your guideline whenever you want to start having online dating. This is a free service in which you will be able to find reviews and also information about dating sites on the web. You might have known that there are lots of sites offering you dating opportunity and this means that the opportunity for you to meet strangers is widely open. This website offers you review of some highly recommended sites and you can use the recommendation to start your online dating. Then, there are also some tips for you if you want to try to find love online. Following the tips, you will likely have a safe dating and the incidence of meeting maniac can be avoided.

If you are a novice of such online dating, you will find that the information provided here can be helpful for you. You will know what can and cannot to do while you are on online dating. So, if you are going to have an online dating and you want to know the secret of having successful online dating, you can go to this website and get informed.
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World Ringtones

Mobile phone is one thing that can’t be separated from people’s life nowadays. It is the very important communication tools that being use by most of people around the world. It has various shapes that can attract people to use it also the features that mobile phone has is quite similar to the notebook nowadays. As we can see, the development in communication world has been bringing the deep impact towards mobile phone nowadays. There are so many mobile phones that come with the high end features in them. Even it can replace the use of notebook in several fields, also replace for the GPS units.

Teenagers usually like to change their mobile phone into something that catchy. Not only the shapes or cover, but also for the ringtones in it. As we all know that mobile phone ringtones could be change into many things. Moreover we can record our voice to be use as ringtones. Numerous companies also provide ringtones download in their website. If you are trying to find the company that can give you the various ringtones download at their website you can try visit this one worldringtones.com. There they provide many kinds of ringtones that can be downloaded here. Not only ringtones actually that World Ringtones provide, but also here you can see and download various Java games and wallpapers.

No matter what kind of your mobile phone, you can still download your favorite ringtones, wallpaper and java games here. Here is the source for you who want to change the way your mobile phone looks. Check out the latest ringtones and wallpapers that they have. You also can see the number 1 ringtones that has been downloaded by people in US and Australia. Be the one who get those ringtones among your friends. Visit their website right now.
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Dating Services

For some people getting date for their life is kind of hard. Not all of people can get the partner for their life as easy as other. Usually someone who never falls in love will find very hard to approach any women on their life. Sometimes when they have meet, they do nothing because they can’t figure out what should they do, that is the reason why the women left at him, because it feel like date with a statue, doing nothing just silent. In contrary, many man also experts when they having a date, just by seeing her eyes, women’s heart can melt because of that.

But don’t you worry, as there many development in technology nowadays, it also bring the impact on the dating field. Now you can use the online dating that provided by many websites in the internet. You can try this one, dating-services.net. Here you will be able to find your appropriate date for you. But you have to consider many things before you decided to join this online dating. Not little people who taking bad advantages using this kind of activity nowadays, that is why you have to really careful in taking this date online.

Make sure that your ID is secure here; the date company will not use it for any other things except this date. Here also available the online date guide, divided into 4 parts where you can use to find the most suitable partner for you. Also there are many advices from the one that has been use this online date. Not only a little has who been got their date using the online date from dating-services.net. For you who ever find any dates in your life, now it’s your turn? You can use this service to find the most suitable for you. Good luck!
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Knows the Marketing Strategy

For consumers, we also need to know about the marketing techniques used by companies to maximize the selling of their products. We often think that companies use bad marketing method which makes customers as their victims. Many people get bad experiences on buying things. Some companies give excellent promotions with deprived service. We often get fooled with their promotions and buy their products but we end up disappointed because we do not get the product as the promotion. This makes us think that companies are not on our side and always against us.

One of the marketing expertises reveals some unexpected facts for customers. Lee Gallagher as one of the marketing expertise with years of experience in big companies reveals some marketing facts in transpromo-live.com. It is a blog about marketing messages which are specialize on personalized, timely and targeted marketing. On this blog, we can get some important information about the marketing strategies. Lee Gallagher’s famous posting in about Drive ROI, Know your customers! This posting informs how important for marketers to know what customers needed. It will help any marketer to understand the market demand and able to give the suitable products. This posting also wants to show to customers how the company’s marketers are really care about them and always provides the products suitable to their needs.

The blog also show the company’s marketers are worried about the global financial crisis. It has affected their selling rate. This crisis has made companies prepare the marketing solution to increase their selling rate. Because actually every company dependent to its customers. They have to provide the best product to attract more customers, so their selling rate can get higher and they can get benefits. This knowledge on marketing strategies can help us to spend our money carefully and get the best product, especially in this financial crisis.
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Sunday, February 1, 2009

Older


I was talking on the phone to R today, and she told me about her hometown best friend who has a terrible blood disease. What is it? I asked. I was pretty sure what she would answer. I was right: Polycythemia vera. Oh, I have that, I said. Mine is almost asymptomatic, except that I get pins and needles from taking a shower or bath with water that hotter than warm, and I often have red cheeks. Oh, and I have to get my blood sucked out and disposed of every couple of months. The technical term is therapeutic phlebotomy. Her friend has it bad. Her friend's mother has it worse. She's had small strokes. Her friend had been feeling tired for the past two years and so now when she sees her mother's symptoms she imagines she's seeing her future. PCV isn't usually hereditary but in her case it is.

I felt very lucky and charmed even though I had terrible pins and needles for about 90 minutes after physical therapy one day for my Achilles tendonitis, caused by the rousing of my circulation.

The thing is we are all getting older and we are getting more and more diseases and injuries and conditions. R has had many, many health problems and said she's disconcerted by having so many of her friends cross the line to the illness side.

I found out last week that my friend P had had a month of bad reactions to a dental operation. I don't mind hearing about everyone's bodily status. At least not yet. I don't believe there's such a thing as TMI (too much information).

In grad school my friend D found a letter on the street written by one nun to another. The letter-writer detailed her bowel movements. At least in my circle, we haven't descended to such detail.

But I have to admit that PCV (I think that's the abbreviation used) does worry me. I fell on ice last week and got a huge bruise across my arm and it was warm to the touch. After panicking, which started after midnight, that it was going to turn into a blood clot, and talking to two emergency room nurses and then in the morning, to my hematologist's assistant, I calmed down.

For those of you who get midnight health panics, I recommend calling the Northwestern Memorial Hospital emergency room. The nurse at Illinois Masonic wouldn't give out any information.

Don't tell NMH that Cancer Bitch sent you.
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