Category: Life

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Spending time off the net – Part 2

I was without Internet access for about 10 days and I didn’t realize how much its tentacles reached into my life. I had 10 days to kill and this is the second part of what I did to kill the time.

4. There was a faded celebrity with a new book accusing her now dead celebrity father of incest when she was a drugged up teenager in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. She was interviewed on Oprah which is like the President being on all channels for a speech. I understand that her ordeal is major and it may have had an influence on her later substance abuse and she should get treatment for it- but I can’t understand why she would need to be on Oprah and discuss it. People have said that by her being so public that some regular people who suffered the same trauma might finally come forward to deal with it … I guess that is one way of looking at it but I just don’t get someone wanting to be so public about whatever trauma they have suffered.

5. Got to watch some shows from the season DVDs of “Due South” that I missed the first time they were on back in the 1990’s. The problem with the season set is there isn’t any extras – just 6 episodes on each disk. Still funny after all these years – Thank you kindly. Just before I lost my Internet I got word that fans of the show will be meeting in Toronto in 2010 for a convention.

6. Finished up a screen writing workshop I had on DVD and that got me warmed up to write again. In one day I wrote 20 pages of a new script…. whooo hooo. Although I really wish I could write comedy. Got to really read one of my writing magazines I paid for but hardly read.

7. Kept up on my house cleaning and laundry…. wow – didn’t take long at all.

8. Really got to thinking why am I charged cell phone minutes to hear my voicemail. Shouldn’t voicemail be free for me to hear it? Yet another scam – just like paying $9 a month for Netflix even if you don’t use it very often and if you do then they charge you more.

9. Edited and converted some digital video files I made from some old VHS tapes including some guest starring turns in 2000 from an acting favorite of mine. They appeared on several shows that season and I had video taped the shows. Also converted some old footage from the day of the 9/11 attacks. I had put in a tape and just pressed record during the wall to wall news coverage. Also had a bit of the first Letterman, Leno, and Saturday Night Live back after the attacks.

10. Listened to some of the commentary tracks on some of the DVD movies I have. A good one was the technical commentary on Clerks II with Director Kevin Smith and Dave Klein who was the Director of Photography. Another good one was the one to the 2000 reissue of “Superman the Movie” (1978) with Director Richard Donner and writer Tom Mankiewicz. The one thing I didn’t know was that Chris Reeves flew in 7 different ways for the movie all without any CGI (since they didn’t have CGI yet). Well I did know CGI didn’t exist but didn’t know they used 7 different ways to make him fly. That film still holds up. I also have “Superman Returns” and it is cool to compare the two movies and see so much was the same in theme and tone. I really love when both Supermen say “Well, I hope this experience hasn’t put you off flying. Statistically speaking, it’s still the safest way to travel.” Cracks me up every time.

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And this is progress?

Back in September, we were hit with the remnants of Hurricane Ike mixing with a strong cold front. 75 mile per hour winds basically knocked out power to most people in the city and county. I was without power for 3 days and many others were out for up to a week after the storm. The electric company brought in hundreds of crews. I mention this because it seems 30 years ago the electric company was faster in restoring service after a bad storm.

My Grandmother gave me a book she had about the Blizzard of 1978 that pummeled our area that year. It was self published and contained personal stories from people who went through the storm then.

What was interesting was that the power went out at the beginning of the blizzard, and like for us, most of the stories noted that some power was restored the next day or two later. The two day outage also applied to people out in “the sticks” of the county. Crews would go down county roads with a snow plow to gain access to the power lines and repair them.

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Don’t believe the Republican view on health care reform

Republicans are all a gasp about President Obama and the Democrats plan to reform health care in this country. They claim that the Democrats want to take over the industry and get between the person and their Doctor. Once again the truth is totally different than the Republican talking points.

Anyone of us “regular people” who don’t have our own tax payer supported health plan – like the members of Congress – know that there is someone who stands between us and the Doctor now. We call them the insurance company. It was set rules on what is or isn’t covered and specific rules to follow or you won’t have something covered.

Insurance companies don’t want you to use your plan and make it as hard as possible to do so. They make a profit off your premiums but not if they have to pay out money – so they nickle and dime you. The most recent health care product is called the “Consumer Directed Health Plan”. Basically the there are little rules on coverage but you are forced to pay a $1500 to $4000 deductible upfront before the plan pays anything. If you are a healthy person then you get a nice suprise should you ever need to use your CDH plan.

Then there are plans where they have something called “managed care” where they won’t pay for something unless you have tried something else that is less expensive.

Basically most private insurance companies are not your friends and never will be. They like their profit too much. They will be working with their friends in the Republican party to make Obama’s health care reform seem as scary as possible.

The fact is our health care system is broken and needs to be fixed so that more people are covered and a majority of Americans feel the same way.

85% of Americans support “fundamental changes” to or a “complete rebuild” of the health care system. 64% believe the government should guarantee insurance for all Americans and 72% think the government should offer a public option styled after Medicare to compete with private insurers.

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Man who shot dogs is fired from his job

Back on July 12th I had a blog post stating that a Columbus Firefighter shouldn’t lose his job because he had shot his dogs so he wouldn’t have to pay for boarding them while on vacation. My point was that the crime really had nothing to do with his job and was just another way people seem to want to draw and quarter anyone who does something they find abhorrent. Today it was announced the man was fired but shooting his dogs wasn’t the only reason for the termination.

It seems the idiot sent text messages about the incident and in one message seemed to threaten a police officer:

[Mitchell] Brown said that a major factor behind his decision was that investigators found text messages that were sent from Santuomo’s phone that detailed killing the dogs, including shooting one of them eight times before it died.

[David] Santuomo also had suspicions that a female Columbus police officer tipped off humane society agents, Kocot reported.

One of the text messages allegedly threatened the officer, Kocot reported.

“(You) realize (sic.) that there is a funeral in (Columbus Police department’s) future,” a text message read.

Fired Firefighter Allegedly Threatened Police

In another message he texted that he had done 3 stupid things – shooting the dogs, telling people about it, and not burying the dogs in the ground.

Add a fourth stupid thing – threatening the police.

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Why should man who shot dogs lose his job?

I strongly believe in the right to privacy. What people do at home on their own time – as long as nothing is being harmed – is none of my business. Those actions also shouldn’t affect ones job either unless the action was part of the job. That’s why I don’t agree that a firefighter who shot his dogs so he wouldn’t have to pay a boarding fee should be fired from his job.

The thousands of people who e-mailed and called about a firefighter who shot his two dogs got the attention of Chief Ned Pettus Jr. Yesterday, Pettus recommended that Firefighter David Santuomo be fired.

Santuomo appeared in his dress uniform on Wednesday for a 30-minute meeting with Pettus at Fire Division headquarters, said Battalion Chief David Whiting, a division spokesman. A union representative was present to make sure Santuomo was treated fairly per the firefighters’ contract.

Pettus issued a one-page memo to Safety Director Mitchell Brown yesterday, recommending that Santuomo be fired.

Public may get its wish on firefighter

Santuomo, a 13-year veteran of the Fire Division, had pleaded guilty to three criminal misdemeanors — two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possessing a criminal tool — in June for the killing of the dogs.

I agree that the guy is a nut job and should be called out for his actions – and he did answer the charges – but unless the crime involved his job I don’t think he should lose his job.

I get tired of people wanting to draw and quarter anyone who does a despicable thing. It just doesn’t seem enough for the justice system to do its thing and some people want to return to the days of the public stocks and scarlet letters.

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