no attorneys to plead my case...

whew! what a crazy week! happy belated thanksgiving to everyone - i want to hear what you did... i have lots of stories to write about, so rest assured i have not forgotten about you... until then, check out my food stuff post over at mad tasty (it IS monday!) and leave a comment.

a tres bientot!

left in the wrong world part 23

i'm so happy that there are people out there who never see the bad side of things... never see poverty and addiction and lack of education and failure. they don't know heartache and loss and trauma and understand mental illness. i have always said i wish i was dumber. i wish i knew less and thought only of myself. maybe then hearing people say things like this won't upset me:

"You have to work hard and give all that money to losers who can’t make it on their own."

left in the wrong world part 22

this is a train wreck and i can't stop watching it - thanks to boingboing. it is from, of course, the borders here in columbus - last week sp was in town to sign her new book. tell me if this doesn't make you sad...

its a bit long, but worth every second...

dream apartment - 6

i saw this video a few weeks ago about the piano stairs, but it wasn't until the other day that i realized that my dream apartment will have at least two stories - maybe the bedroom upstairs? - AND now i have to add that the stairs should be piano keys.

what do you think?

she's a very kinky girl...

so... umm... yeah... i dont know what to do with this except that enrique iglesias is really hot and this video is maybe nsfw, which means its a bit racy, so watch at your own risk.

i found it at gawker and ... idk... wanted to keep it? what do you think? too sexy? just right? bizarre?

hello darkness, my old friend...

sigh... just when things seem to be going well (brother's team MAJORLY won last night, etc), the shit hits the fan.

blue cross blue shield of north dakota sent out an email to their "subscribers" "warning" them of the effects of health reform - namely, that their health insurance will go up. read about this sad and disheartening move from the nations 6th worst insurer here. this is absolutely despicable. using scare tactics, even embattled kent conrad is annoyed. here is a summary of the article from the daily kos that is important for north dakotans to realize:

• Health insurance premiums for North Dakota working families have skyrocketed, increasing 74 percent from 2000 to 2007.
• For family health coverage in North Dakota during this period, the average annual combined premium for employers and employees rose from $6,124 to $10,674.
• For family health coverage in North Dakota from 2000 to 2007, the average employer’s portion of annual premiums rose 70 percent, while the average worker’s share grew by 86 percent.
• From 2000 to 2007, the median earnings of North Dakota workers increased 26 percent, from $19,196 to $24,255. During that time health insurance premiums for North Dakota working families rose 2.8 times faster than median earnings.

i was kind of losing steam on writing my letter about being denied health coverage, but it is now my number one priority this weekend. i'll keep you posted. insurance companies have got to start thinking about their subscribers and not their profits.

for any non-believers, check out this video on the health care plan.


last week, i wrote about how north dakota is great and everyone i love should move there (no call-outs for people i dont like, obviously). here is another excellent article by a north dakota senator.

and yet more evidence that large companies don't care:

• for your own edumacation, this is an interesting article about goldman sachs.
• can we break up big banks?? naked capitalism explains that we can.
• and finally - some logic that makes me believe there is hope (despite the authors saying that they won't pass...)
• do you bank with wells fargo? read this.
  

audacity of huge

this is going to be a random bunch of stuff i have found interesting lately...

the other day, i was at cvs with my friend from work, alice, and we turned a corner and she said, "look! they have the condoms locked up." i look over and sure enough... ALL of the condoms were behind lock and key at a cvs. i was shocked and dismayed. "THIS is exactly why you have people who can't afford kids having too many and why people are trying to have abortions and then other people getting upset about that. i can't believe it! i'm so upset!" and i really was. i was livid and about to go on a tirade. i started talking very loudly. she looked at me and said, "i should've realized you'd get so upset and not pointed it out." maybe she shouldn't have. but now i know. i have half a mind to walk in to the cvs and buy all the condoms and stand on the street and hand them out to anyone who needs them. and, btw, this is a cvs that is in the heart of downtown columbus with LOTS of low-income, "urban" people around. people who take the bus wearing no shoes. and they don't have easy access to condoms. can you imagine me standing out there handing them out? maybe i should. AND do it on the day when they have abortion protests across the street at the statehouse. THAT would be an interesting day...

anyway, i was reminded of this the other day when i read this article ironically titled "spreading the love" on jezebel. it says that "STD rates are through the roof" - where? HERE IN THE US!!! education and protection is all you need. and we could have both and there are people pushing against it. it's heart breaking. maybe this is common practice at cvs - having the condoms locked up. admittedly, i dont buy them that often, so i haven't really paid attention. but here's the truth, peeps, so listen up: if you need a condom, let me know and i will get one for you or send you a few bucks to buy some for yourself (i'm guessing they might not be that effective after going through the usps - as much as i love the mail system, i'm pretty sure heating and pressing condoms is not a good thing...).

it is wed night and i am at home listening to my little brother's game (player). either the team they are playing isn't very good, umary is AWESOME (which is clearly one of the reasons), or... something else... but my brother's team had 60 at half against the opponent's 17. i kid not. here is a fun video of my brother's team preparing for the season. [player just scored!!! oh and here is an excellent article about how he red shirted the past year - he's so well-spoken!!]


i found this video on boingboing and thought it was really really interesting... thought i would post it here in case you missed it. you can read comments on boingboing or the original designer's site on vimeo which explain why the US isn't in it.

Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.

what do you think?

left in the wrong world part 22

overheard at work the other day, discussing obama and his administration in washington:

"He’s gotten everyone to be programmed to think like him. Now no one thinks for themselves. They’re just programmed robots."

"Yeah, it’s all this group-think shit."

can we say no more arigato, mr. roboto?

left in the wrong world part 21

overheard at work yesterday evening:

“By the time Obama gets done with this economy, we couldn’t get into the EU!”

“You know how we say that we don’t want to be Western Europe? Pretty soon people will say they don’t want to be the US!”

i'm pretty sure no one said that for the previous 8 years...

give it to me

monday monday! my favorite day of the week! woo hoo. and have i got some stories for you all... i have to run to work, though, so check out my food stuff post over at mad tasty and i'll catch you on the flip side... (oh and be sure to leave a comment here or there!)

food stuff: knives

oh PS - what did you get up to this weekend??