Ready to recert

Recently the husband of a work friend got in a car accident.  We had very little news so I figured I would see if the EMS, Fire and Police radio bands had any info.  Although I didn't find the info I wanted the instant I heard the radio I wanted my EMT cert. back.

I want to be able to ride again....I mean of course I have a full first aid set in the back of the escape in case the need ever arises, but I want on an ambulance.

Wet houses...an interesting option

Last month I read a story about a wet-house

and I have been tossing the idea around in my head for a couple of weeks now and I think its an interesting option...

A wet-house is sort of the other side of the coin from a dry-house. A wet house is a community house that allows alcoholics to drink. At first the thought goes against everything we have been raised to think, but lets break it down.

A wet-house provides a place for alcoholics, many of them homeless. to go and stay. The person is given a stipend of 89$ per month to do with what they will, including buying alcohol. The issue that some people have is this is partly financed by the taxpayers, with the rest being financed by Catholic Charities. It seems very odd that someone would be able to spend taxpayer money on alcohol, but lets think think it through for a second.

The amount of money paid to the residents of St Anthony's residence in St. Paul Minnesota is 89 dollars per month. There are approximately 60 people taking advantage of this service.

$89*60 people=$5,340 per month

$5,340*12 months=$64,080 per year

Yes 64,00 dollars a year is a lot to you and me. However in the United States a hospital cannot refuse care to any patient, regardless of their health care situation (which is the way it should be) How much money do you think is spend every year in illness and injury due to homelessness? lets take a look (the below information was found at CNN.com and belongs to them)

"A University of Washington research team studied a group of 95 chronically homeless alcoholics and found that in one year, they cost taxpayers more that $8 million in hospitalizations, detox centers and incarcerations.

When the same group spent one year in Seattle's Housing first program-- residences where they are allowed to drink--the same group cost $4 million in taxpayer money." (This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association)

This is a simple math equation here guys. If it is cheaper to have houses where they can drink, then thats the way to go. They cannot get better until they decide to, which is the truth no matter where they live. Why wouldn't we at least give them a place to live??

Really South Dakota...really?!

Are you serious?

The above article is about a bill about to go through the South Dakota house that would make it legal for a family member to kill a doctor who performs an abortion. And they are going to include that in the mercy killing law??

I am not arguing the merits of pro life vs. pro choice in this post (that one can be later). This is a matter of a state trying to make something illegal that they do not have a constitutional right to make legal.

I have two major problems with this legislation (and a host of other problems)

First off Abortion is legal. Under federal mandate, and upheld time and again by the US Supreme Court, abortion is legal. I don't give a damn what your opinion on abortion is, at this moment abortion is legal. It's not a new law, its a law that has been in effect for a while now. As a state South Dakota doesn't have the legal right to make abortion a crime. I mean South Dakota isn't a country, its a state that must follow federal law.

Second off you are going to include this in a mercy killing law? You are going to lump murdering innocent doctors that are doing a legal procedure on adult woman in with someone that kills a gunman in a crowd to protect the public? It's not like abortion doctors ride into town and give all the woman abortions. This is a LEGAL procedure that a woman must seek out and elects to do.

Who the hell do you think you are South Dakota? Let me remind you who you are, you are one of the states in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! I am all for states rights, but this is not a matter of states rights. You are trying to put people in danger by authorizing state run killings of abortion doctors. I'm sorry I thought this was America, not some crazy system where the state thinks they have the rights to kill us citizens that pose no threat to public health or safety. ]

This isn't even addressing all of the other issues that were mentioned in the article, the reading of a pro-life script before anyone is eligible for an abortion, or the fact that planned parenthood has to fly in doctors to one clinic in all of South Dakota. This is just the law point of view.

Washington needs to get off its ass now and slap South Dakota in the head. You don't have the right South Dakota. Your state has twice voted down banning abortion and you are just trying to find a way to discourage abortion. One you are going against the people the voted for you and two you are authorizing hits on law abiding citizens. Instead of worrying about all this foreign shit and Egypt and other countries issues this is what Washington needs to look at. The rights of the US citizen and South Dakota 's police state move to put out hits on US Citizens.

Go fuck yourself South Dakota.

Saying no is a part of being a parent! / Its not tobaccos fault you smoke

So I was reading through my usual morning news this morning and found this article. This woman is suing McDonalds because of their marketing ploy towards children. Putting aside the fact that's an idiotic lawsuit lets talk about this specific quote.

"We have to say no to our kids so many times and McDonald's makes that so much harder to do. I object to the fact that McDonald's is getting into my kids' heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat."

Are you serious right now? What you are saying flat out is that you don't want to/can't say no to your kids about McDonalds? What kind of shitty parent are you? This is one of the things that has really gone wrong in the world. Your a parent lady, its your job to say no when it needs to be said. It's not McDonald's problem that you don't want to say no to your friggin kid!

Ok that being said lets go to the other great news story (sarcasm) of the day. In Massachusetts the superior court just awarded $71,000,000 tot he family of a life long smoker because tobacco marketed towards her as a child. Dude what are you two? The woman was 54 years old when she died and still smoked up to that day. Take some responsibility for yourself dude. How is it a company's fault for her continuing to smoke? If this was any drug other than smoking this would not happen, people die of liver issues from alcohol every year and people don't sue Budweiser.

This is a really big issue for my generation. I can only hope that we have more sense than our parents and take some personal responsibility for things. It's not always other peoples fault, in fact i bet most of the time its your own personal fault. Ugh!

Relax...your fine

So I had anew experience today, of which I am very glad. Usually when I get upset or annoyed about something I let it kind of run me for a bit. A good mood can go to a very bad mood quickly and it has always been very difficult for me to break out of that bad mood. Today I broke myself out of such a mood rather quickly, maybe 10 minutes.

I just stopped and took a second and it made all the difference. My mind can usually come up with things very quickly and my biggest problem when I get upset is that I don't slow my mind down at all. It jumps from one thing to the other, always getting more and more pissed off. Today I interrupted my mind by forcing it to focus on one thing, my little stone frog that I keep on my desk. By allowing it only to focus on the little frog my anger dissipated.

I took a deep breath and moved on. Sure I am still pissed off about some stuff, but it's nice to not get controlled by that anger.

mmm sleep

So I am not sure why, but the past 2 weeks I have had the hardest time staying asleep at night. I can think of one night in that time frame that I haven't woken up at least twice in a night. I am not sure why and no matter what I have changed it has stayed relatively constant. The only factor that seems to have affected my sleep was when I took some time walking Maddie to just think and reflect. Not worry about anything and just take a breath and relax. So that is my focus tonight, lets see if it works.

Why would you trust your children to an 11 year old?

Check this out

Putting the fact that she killed a baby aside why would you ever trust an 11 year old to watch a child. Ok so before anyone gets worked up and starts saying that they were babysitters at 11 I am not saying that it's an 11 year olds fault for not having the skills to babysit. I am sure there are plenty of 11-15 year olds (my sister in law LF is one of them) who do very well watching children. But think of it from the mindset of an 11 year old. To do that I will pose a scenario

Lets say that you are an 11 year old babysitter watching a 2 year old (like in the above scenario). Lets say that said 2 year old is running around and falls. Lets say they had something in their mouth. Now all of a sudden a fall is a very seriously thing that many (not all) 11 year olds aren't capable of handing. I think i would be ok at 11, but I am not even that sure of that.

Interestingly I discussed this thought with BQ and she mentioned that she took a baby sitter class before her parents allowed her to babysit. Fantastic idea! At least that way they will have a basic knowledge of first aid, CPR and many other emergency situations.

What the hell is a meme?

So in talking with MW (that looks really weird) she mentioned this thing that girls do on facebook called a meme. It happened in like Jan/feb with bra colors and it is happening again with places to put your purse. Apparently this is supposed to support breast cancer? Ok what? I mean thats great and all, I am all for supporting cancer research and all that, but how can I support you if I have no idea what the hell you are talking about. I mean this to me is not a cute lil prop, its freakin annoying. If you really want to support a cause why dont you give money, or bring it up in actual words to actual people, or help out. Posting some cryptic thing as your facebook status is just kind of annoying.

I guess this is why guys are never a part of these things. I was thinking the other day what I would say if someone sent me one of these meme request thingys and this is it....its freaking dumb.

Which brings me to another point that I wanted to discuss. Now I understand that self exams do not always reveal lumps or anything like that(this is everywhere not just the breasts people) I also understand that things such as mammograms and uncomfortable and also don't always work. But I am getting a little annoyed at people who bitch and moan about these things. Yes it hurts to get a colonoscopy and a mammogram. But here are your options a squeezed boob/ a camera up the butt, or possible death. I mean this is pretty much a no brainer. Luckily I haven't heard a lot of this form my friends, mostly in the media. But its like dude yes it sucks, but dying sucks more get over it.
This thought was brought on by reading a story about a high school junior who had to have his leg amputated after an accident. Obviously it would suck hardcore to have your leg cut off,but the kid said ok now I build up again. It confuses me that youth seems to give people an edge in this situation. Many younger people seem to have the ability to pick themselves up and move on, while many older people tend to wallow. This is not backed up by any scientific study, just my thoughts.