Happy Thanksgiving

Don't you just love Thanksgiving? It's my favorite holiday of the year, although I'm not sure why. Maybe it's all the great food, being surrounded by family and good friends, playing a new card/board game, trying a new dessert or taking a few minutes to reflect on what I have to be thankful for. I'm not really sure except that I know it's my favorite!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Well, like it or not, government is moving forward on health care!

Just a vent...

Another step towards nationalized health care, government takeover of another 1/6 of our economy and government intrusion in our lives was just taken on Saturday night.

Government doesn't really care about health care for Americans, this is simply another way for government to take control...control/power from you and give it to themselves. If this bill were really about health care and the concern for Americans, then we wouldn't be hearing about:

*Increases taxes - starting when the bill gets pushed through even though health care benefits wouldn't start until 2014.
*Not every American will be covered - this health care plan will still not cover millions of Americans.
*1/2 trillion cut in Medicare benefits - MC is already closing in on bankruptcy, what is this going to do for the health care of our parents, grandparents or even you in the future?
*Medicare payroll tax hike
*You will be forced to buy health insurance or get fined/go to jail
*Rationed health care
*The creative accounting method used by the government to try to make a $2.5 trillion dollar health care bill look like it will cost only $849 billion.

Do you also know that a part of health care reform was already passed? Yep, it was hidden in the stimulus bill. This part is the creation of a "health care panel" consisting of 15 members (Obama has already appointed the 15 members) that will determine the appropriate care for each person. They will decide this by taking the cost of the medical procedure against the estimated time period the person will benefit from it. Oh, and by-the-way, the panel has also been funded with something like $1.1 billion dollars from the stimulus bill.

Feel cheated by your elected government officials yet?

How many times in the past few months have you seen our elected officials stand in front of us, on camera, and lie? Outright lie about what is included in the bill, who wants it, etc.? How about the blatant bribe of $300 million dollars included in the bill to get Senator Landrieu's (D-La) yes vote? Imagine that? Reid bribes Landrieu with tax payer $ - OUR $ - so she will vote yes for a health care bill that the majority of Americans don't want!

They really aren't trying to hide the fact that they don't care what their constituents wants. Consider the interview with Sherrod Brown (D-Oh). Asked if he knew that his constituents didn't want this health care bill to pass, would he vote no? Sherrod Brown responded with no, he would still vote for it. I guess he knows better than us about what we want or need, right?

I ran across a post this weekend that really sums up a lot of Americans' feelings pretty well. Here's what one person wrote:

"We the people" have tried to find jobs that the stimulus was supposed to create, we have tightened our belts, lowered our expense and still are struggling.
"We the people" have see that Government only knows how to spend and has lost touch with "WE the people"
"We the people" have taken cuts in pay, had our benefits reduced, and have lost our jobs.
"We the people" have watched as Government has increased spending, taken trips, enjoyed the fine life.
"We the people" would like to see Government take pay cuts, lose benefits, and pay for their own health care.
"We the people" demand better from our Government,
"We the people” are angry, hurt, and disappointed with our Public Servants.
"We the people" want our Government to remember who "We the people" are": right wingers, tea baggers, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Housewives, Teachers, Electricians, Farmers, Business owners, Construction workers, Janitors, Barbers, Gas station attendants, unemployed, retired, etc....
"We the people" means all of us, not just Party Affiliates, Bankers, Stock brokers, Unions, and Associates.
"We the people" will be heard and our votes will show that we care what our Public Servants do for "We the people".

I know it's a really long post, but I just had to vent! ;-)

Alcoholism Sound Portrait

Terri Wise's Podcast

T: The American Medical Association officially recognized alcoholism as a disease in 1991. Like any disease, alcoholism follows a pattern, starts out slowly and builds to more harmful levels of addiction.
B: My name is Bill and I’m 66 years old. I am a recovering alcoholic.
T: Alcoholism statistics report that individuals who start using alcohol before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholic at some time in their lives, compared to those who start drinking at the legal age of 21.
B: My Mom and Dad gave me some beer when I was about 8 years old and they gave me enough beer that I got drunk.
T: A number of scientific studies have verified a link between genetics and alcoholism. The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) cites compelling evidence that alcoholism does run in families.
COGA notes that children of alcoholic parents, especially sons of alcoholic fathers, are four to nine times more likely to have problems with alcohol than children of non-alcoholic parents.
B: I believe my father had a drinking problem, but it’s not for me to say he was an alcoholic. He was the same way I was. Once he started drinking, he didn’t stop until he was drunk.
T: Alcohol is the top drug of choice for children and adolescents with approximately 7000 children in the U.S. under the age of 16 taking their first drink.
B: My drinking became pretty consistent at about the age of 15 and 16. Once I consumed alcohol, I didn’t quit until I was drunk.
T: Research verifies that alcoholism is a disease that progresses through various alcoholism stages. Early in the disease a person starts to depend on the mood altering capabilities of alcohol.
B: Well, in my 20’s and 30’s, I didn’t get drunk every day. I sometimes didn’t even drink on the weekends. It’s just that if you went to a friend’s house or played cards and that friend drank, then I would start drinking and it was like, you know, off to the races and I would drink until I was drunk.
T: In the second stage of alcoholism tolerance increases, the person drinks because of his or her dependence on alcohol, rather than because of stress relief. Drinkers in this stage start to resort to denial of their problem.
B: I suspected I had a drinking problem for most of my life. I just didn’t admit it. Or, didn’t want to admit it.
T: In the third stage of alcoholism, the loss of control becomes more noticeable. For example, once the individual takes the first drink, he or she can no longer control what will happen, even though the intention might have been to have at most two or three drinks. At this stage of the disease, rather than experiencing an increase in tolerance, the drinker usually experiences a DECREASE in alcohol tolerance.
B: When I quit drinking, I would say I was in stage 3. I had problems with my spouse. I was angry all of the time. I was very emotional. I drank until I blacked out. So, I would say stage 3 would be about where I was at.
T: Alcoholism affects families and can cause more damage and pain than any other internal or external influence on the family and has long-term implications.
B: My drinking caused problems at home. You know, the wife would get upset and I would tell her that I would never drink again but once I started drinking, I just didn’t quit. It made for an unhappy family life, that’s for sure.
T: The fourth and final stage of alcoholism is characterized by a continued loss of control. In the earlier stages of the disease, the alcoholic had a choice whether he or she would take the first drink. After taking the first drink, the alcoholic usually lost all control and would then continue drinking. In the last stage of alcoholism, however, alcoholics no longer have a choice: they must drink in order to function.
B: I was going to a marriage counselor and the marriage counselor suggested that I go to an addiction counselor. After 3 sessions, the addiction counselor advised me to go to 3 AA meetings before our next weekly session. My sobriety date is October 14, 2003. I’ve been sober for the past six years.
T: Alcoholism is a treatable disease and many treatment programs and approaches are available to support alcoholics who have decided to get help, but no medical cure is available.
B: I’ll never be cured of alcoholism. There is no cure for it. If I take alcohol into my body it will basically be just like I never stopped and before long I’ll be right back where I started six years ago only it will probably get worse in a shorter period of time.
T: In the AA recovery program, they have what is called a 24-hour plan.
B: I stay sober by using the tools of AA which is to get a sponsor, go to meetings, if I have a problem, call my sponsor and discuss it with him. If I can’t get a hold of my sponsor, I’ll call another AA member. When I get up in the morning, I ask God to keep me sober. When I go to bed at night I thank God for keeping me sober. I’ve only got today. I can only do this program one day at a time.
T: Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other so that they may solve their common problem and help others. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
B: If someone suspects they have a drinking problem, the first thing to do is to admit it. Then seek help. Seek help through the AA program. Any kind of help that you can find. But get support from people that know about alcoholism. That right there is about the best advice I can give anybody. AA does work if you want to work it.

NET202S project

I'm working on this project today as well as over the next several days. When I started this project by creating my plan assessment, doing research and watching and/or participating in several hours of Flash tutorials, it seemed very overwhelming. The part that made it overwhelming at first was the technical side of it. But, now that I'm getting into it and starting to build the website, the technical side seems much easier and now I'm having trouble with the creative part of this project. Every time I sit down to work on this project, my creative side totally freezes up. I can lay in bed at night and come up with all kinds of good ideas, but when I sit down in front of the computer, I draw a complete blank. I'm beginning to think that I'll have to get up in the middle of the night to work on the project -- to take advantage of when my creative side kicks in!!!

Facebook Ad

Since I already have a Facebook ad created and running for my business, I made up an ad for this assignment. Since gold and silver are so hot right now, I decided to create an ad for buying/selling both.

It can be tricky to create an ad with a limited number of characters. You really have to get to the point very quickly.

Computer crash...almost

This stupid PC! It's caused me nothing but trouble. It just crashed a couple of months ago and I had to restore it back to original and reload everything! Ever since I downloaded Audacity, it started acting freaky until it finally wouldn't even complete the start-up process. After several restore point attempts with no luck, I decided to start it using the last known good configuration before either completely restoring it back to original or kicking it to the curb. It worked...finally! Worked out good for me since I didn't lose my Sound Portrait or the work I had done on my website since my last back up on 10/14. Phew!