So Simple

Even a scarecrow can do it.

Or do you think I'm just setting up strawmen? XD

I Called It

Over a year ago, I predicted that, in this economy, "green" products that were more expensive would not sell well. Well, guess what? According to recent research, "consumers have become less willing to pay for environmentally friendly products." Even the overwhelming percentages of people conserving energy and water could easily be doing so to save money. Who wants to write a bigger check to the electric company? Probably all those millionaires who swear they should be taxed more.

Dear Cult Followers

who think that it is cool to post a photo of yourself with a message written on your hands saying why you support Dear Leader. You know what? Writing messages on your hands and arms is really popular here in flyover country, too! At my daughter's high school. For your next trick, try wearing an Obama shirt and holding up your hands to make a heart over it. Also, don't forget the duck lips. For serials.

Is This What Health Care Needs?

Let me start this off by presenting my husband's, and my, needs for health care. Mr. BTEG has about six autoimmune disorders. Since there is currently no medical specialty that deals with autoimmune disorders in an overall sense, he must see a number of specialists that each deal with a particular facet of his issues; for example, he needs a gastroenterologist to help him manage his Crohn's disease, and an endocrinologist to help him with his thyroid issues.

My main health issue is mental, not physical. I am bipolar. This requires a psychiatrist to keep an eye on my mental state and help me adjust my medications accordingly. Thank God, I am currently in a good mental place in general and do not need to see my psychiatrist very often, nor switch my medication around. When things are more difficult for me, I sometimes see a counselor as well. Then of course both Mr. BTEG and I have a general physician, and our daughters have their health care needs too.

All of this brings me to an article about cutting out waste in health care. It caught my eye because the example patient, Harold, has rheumatoid arthritis, which is related to autoimmune issues, and because the author holds up the Cleveland Clinic as a model at the end of his article.

The Cleveland Clinic is, in general, definitely a good place to receive health care. It has a world-class reputation and some of their doctors are at the forefront of knowledge of various diseases and disorders. One of the problems I see in Cleveland, however, is that the Cleveland Clinic and its "rival," the University Hospital system, have largely sucked up most of the hospitals and many of the health care practices in the greater Cleveland area. Competition is good, and I would not want to see either the Clinic or UH completely dominate the Cleveland health care market.

However, having so much of a market controlled by two large systems also has its drawbacks. Both the nearest hospital to our home, and the best pediatric hospital in Cleveland, Rainbow Babies' and Children's, are in the UH system. Our family currently works with many doctors in the Cleveland Clinic system, both because of proximity to our house and because the percentage of solo practices does seem to be smaller. What if there is an emergency and we need to go to the nearest hospital, or one of our daughters, God forbid, gets an illness where a stay at Rainbow would mean the best care? First of all, that completely wipes out one of the advantages that the author above presents, which is computerized health records all in one place and readily available, due to everything being "under one roof." Secondly, doctors were already limited in what hospitals they could work with because of insurance. Would my daughters' pediatrician even have any privileges at Rainbow? But again, I would not like to see monopolization as the answer!

Secondly, we in the BTEG household know a lot about problems with health insurance. Our previous insurance provider would not pay for a very expensive health treatment which would have helped with all of Mr. BTEG's autoimmune disorders, similar to the problems Harold had with paying for Humira and Enbrel, which also work with autoimmune issues. However, Harold is also held up as an issue for waste when his declining health, based on not receiving the best medication for his issues, is mismanaged due to a multiplicity of doctors and lack of knowledge about his overall medical history.

Mr. BTEG prefers to have the freedom to choose his own doctors, whether they are in a particular system or not. Neither his gastro nor his endo doctors are in the Cleveland Clinic system; however, they are both excellent in their fields and moreover, they know each other professionally and readily share information with each other concerning my husband's issues (after my husband's consent is obtained.) Just recently, his gastro passed on taking bloodwork because his endo had also recently completed a blood panel, and "Dr. S is one of the few who knows what to get." Waste avoided, but not for the reasons our author describes. Also important, my husband "clicks" with his doctors. It is equally important for a patient to click with her psychiatrist and counselor. Sometimes it can take a while to find a health pro with whom you can feel comfortable. When it is already work to find the right doctor for you, why be even more constrained by what medical center, if any, they work for?

Is there waste in the medical field? Heck, yes. And steps should definitely be taken to avoid as much waste as possible. I simply disagree with what quality care must look like.

Move Along

This has been a very difficult week here in the Evil Genius household. It hasn't been as bad for us as it has for others, but it's been a very difficult and painful time ever since Saturday morning. And now I'm fighting a cold that I probably caught because my immune system was down from a lot of grieving. And I'm in that place where you never want to be happy again because bad things can happen, and you never know when one will happen next. I think rest and time are needed for the next couple of days.

Prayer

Even so, Lord, quickly come.

Everyone in Cleveland

who wanted to piss on this guy's grave can start lining up now. Just sayin'.

School Days

I've been busy with back-to-school activities, and the year isn't even in full swing yet. Next week, the Dancer will start her four dance classes, and the two classes she will assist. The Musician is a junior in high school this year, and is busy three nights a week with marching band stuff. That will change once the football season is over, which is probably for the best. In general, I'm really enjoying being involved with the girls' activities. My eldest is already a junior! The years are running by, and I'm doing my best to make the most out of them.

On the Domestic End

After four and a half years of knitting, I think I'm ready to try to learn how to knit on circular needles. I got my pattern from Ravelry; you can find it here. I wanted to pick something small and simple for my first project. So far, I'm getting better and better at using Judy's Magic Cast On, as I've been casting on over and over and over due to the unraveling I need to do everytime I mess up and have to start over. I just keep reminding myself that it took me a while to learn how to knit, so I am mostly sure that I will be able to figure this out. Mostly. It's a very gloomy day in the Hundred Acre Wood Northeast Ohio, so it's a good day to curl up and knit.

I had to order the main skein of yarn that I need online. My imaginary Internet friend Naomi suggested I could just use any yarn that had the correct gauge, but this particular cotton yarn is wrapped, which is supposed to keep the yarn from stretching as much. I imagine that would be a good thing for a bag.

Oh, and I'm not going to provide a link for Judy's Magic Cast On, as there are many videos and articles describing how you can do this. Just do a search and take your pick as to what works best for you.

Wait, what?

This is already all over the internets, but as a resident of O-H-I-O, I have to pass this picture on. Just click over to Ace's place to see that our president thinks Ohio is spelled O-I-H-A. And deodorant is optional.

If you need a palate cleanser, watch this video of students from the Burke School perform an Irish dance to Hang On Sloopy, Ohio State's song. This is a better video than the one that I have, but I took one of this dance the same year. I think you can see Mr. BTEG and I off to the left of the screen every so often.

The Least of These

The more I think about the whole abortion issue, the more I disagree that it is ever a good idea. Christians have tried to be all compassionate and understanding about women who have had an abortion for at least the devasting reason of rape and incest. What has happened with this compassion and understanding, however, is a culture that considers a human life something that can be thrown away for any reason, at virtually any time before a viable infant arrives in the world. Even after a viable infant is born,if the mom panics and abandons the child by himself somewhere, we are supposed to feel more pity for the young adult forced to make such a horrible choice, than for the baby who may or may not pay for it with his life.

Women and girls who do face a surprise or unwanted pregnancy do need help and support. What a lot of right-to-death proponents gloss over is the fact that many pro-life people are providing help and support right now. Sadly, not everyone can get the help they need. However, not everyone finds, say, the mental health help they need either. Suicide is the final result far too often. Even having money and connections does not always make struggles easy. How many Hollywood stars have self-destruced, often due to awful things that happpened to them as they rose through the ranks to stardom? With the money for the best counseling and mental health retreats, some people still can't completely rid themselves of their demons. And again, the result is death.

I used to have at least a sort of sympathy for those who claimed they were only in favor of abortion until the baby was viable outside of the womb. I wanted to meet them halfway, hoping that they would develop into people who were pro-life for even the youngest and most vulnerable of those in the womb. Vulnerable. Even the infants that are born full-term are horribly vulnerable. How can we welcome some of these, and essentially tell others that they have no right to live, after being given life without their consent or their will? Look at the picture here of a developing human only seven weeks after conception. He looks a little odd, but he is undeniably human. Not a clump of cells. Not a bunch of tissue. Human. And one's belief in a God or gods or no deity at all does not change this. If you are not afraid of being punished by a deity for killing the life of a unique individual whose body is daily growing and taking shape, does that mean that life does not matter if you find it an inconvenience? The story below is where we end up, and it does not and will not end there. What kind of a society do we want to be? That is our true choice.

I Can't Tell You How Sick This Makes Me

One of my guilty secrets is reading online forums, even ones where I don't have a direct connection to the forum topic, such as kitchen remodelling. I like reading peoples' stories, good and bad, and seeing pictures of what kind of remodels and crafts and so forth people do. And depending on the forum, mostly people are relatively polite and remain on topic.

But something I read recently made me very sick at heart, and it preyed on my mind for quite a while that evening. A woman was talking about how she and her boyfriend of a year just found out that the boyfriend is a father of a child, the product of a one-night-stand. At which point, a few commenters talked about how it is not "fair" that the woman didn't just abort the child. Well, first of all, as I am fond of saying, life ain't fair. And why supposedly grown adults should still think that any part of life should be "fair" is beyond me. How is it fair that a person should not have to live with the consequences of his behavior?

But the worst part is what easy abortion is doing to people's hearts and minds. People who probably think that they are "good" people are, in essence, saying that there is a baby out there who should not have been born. A human being who should not exist. That someone should not have been allowed to draw his first breath not because of what he had done, but because of what his biological parents did. Not only that, complete strangers on the internet feel free to postulate on whether a child should have been allowed to live. How much more twisted will we become?

Dear Andrea Mitchell

I've done a lot of thinking about this, and you know what? I don't even know why you would presume that you could speak for me as a suburban mom, or even as a woman. I'm everything that you hate. I'm very white, and I'm not ashamed of the color of my skin. I'm not strictly evangelical, but you wouldn't know the differences in Christian doctrine if someone made a coloring book about it for you. I'm a stay-at-home mom. I've homeschooled my children. I've never had an abortion. I want a return to our Constitution and the founding principles of this country. It doesn't matter if you are who you are, a woman who married a wealthy old man and wouldn't be caught dead living the life of any of the suburban moms that I know, or if you were a dirt poor woman living in a ghetto. YOU DON'T SPEAK FOR ME.

I'm So Happy!

Both because of the thought of Paul Ryan becoming Vice President of the United States, and because of the Hey Girl, It's Paul Ryan pics being back!

Thinking Straight

About the concentration thing. I've been having a seriously hard time lately finishing sentences (for those who know me well, it's always been a problem; it's just gotten worse.) I find it hard to write things like blog posts when there is other noise from a television show or video game going in the room. I can't always think of a word that I want to use to say something. There may be health issues at play here, but I'm hoping that things will also improve when the girls go back to school. I enjoy having them at home; I enjoy spending time with them, but even with limited television viewing and video game playing, there is still a lot more noise when they are here. I'm starting to miss having my weekdays at home all to myself. Fortunately, school starts soon. We'll see how things go after that.

Music

On Friday, the Musician's high school had the privilege of hosting a Drum Corps International competition. For all the band students at my daughter's high school, it was a great opportunity to see these Corps, as Drum Corps International features the very best brass and percussion corps in the country. The Corps practice perhaps twelve hours a day in the heat of the summer, and when they are not performing or practicing, they are on a tour bus or sleeping on a gym floor. The bands also feature a color guard, dancers who moved flags or twirled batons, sabres, ribbons or wooden rifles, who work very hard as well. There was so much activity going on on the whole football field, that you couldn't take everything in at once. It was also fun to watch the judges, who literally get right into the competition. There were eight different judges, each rating one portion of the presentation. Judges follow the band around the field, talking into a recorder to preserve their observations in real time. One judge who particularly stood out was tall and stocky, and was the one who wove the most in and out among the musicians, gesticulating wildly with one arm. It must be very hard to face forward and maintain your composure while a judge is ducking under your tuba!

Have you seen any of the videos where two songs are mashed together? Like Thunderbusters? Well, the DCI corps Music City out of Nashville, Tennessee, presented a program called Phantom of the Grand Ole Opery. Somehow they managed to weave in Ring of Fire and the theme song Phantom of the Opera, then Your Cheatin' Heart and Music of the Night. They also played Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), Point of No Return, Stand By Your Man and All I Ask of You. The male color guard members wore Phantom style half-masks for most of their performance. I couldn't help but think how hot it must have been to wear those.

All the DCI groups had some kind of "theme," although some of them were more obvious than others. The thing I noticed most about the 7th Regiment out of New London, Connecticut, was the drum major. With a fu manchu mustache, large but well built, he looked like he could be a bouncer during the rest of the year. With the Vanguard Cadets out of Santa Clara, California, the theme was Heroes and Legends, and we got a beheading(!).

It was a fun night if you enjoy marching bands (minus the woodwinds.) If nothing else, the work that the kids put in should definitely be appreciated.

Eat Mor Chikin

As you can probably guess, I went to my local Chick-Fil-A today and picked up some yummy food. I passed by about half an hour earlier, and the line of cars was spilling out into the street. By the time I got back, there were no cars in the street, but there was still a line of cars completely around the building before even getting into the drive-thru line. And there was a long line of people around the building, who were smiling, happy and enjoying hanging out.

It was nice knowing that we who value First Amendment speech are not alone. As I pointed out to my daughter on the car ride home, it is not just Christians who need to worry about losing their freedom of speech. In this case, it was.

I'm sorry I can't write anymore right now. I'm finding it really hard to concentrate lately. More about that later.

Maryville, Missouri

I wanted to blog about our trip to Missouri in a series of posts in order of when we did what, but I'm still not interested in writing about our first interesting stop on the trip, which was Antique Archaeology, home of the American Pickers show, seen on the History channel. So for now, I'm going to skip straight to our destination, Maryville, Missouri.

Unfortunately, Maryville, Missouri was... boring. I was hoping to find some yarn stores or some fabric/quilting stores, but there weren't any. There was the Mozingo Lake Park and Golf Course, but I don't fish or play golf, and it was too hot to do any walking. We had the additional misfortune of hitting Maryville right when the big heat wave swept the Midwest.

Actually, Maryville is in rather sad shape. It has three large employers: an enormous Kawasaki engine plant, Northwest Missouri State University, and a jail. However, there were many empty storefronts in the city square, and there were two burnt-down restaurants and a vacant lot where it looked like something had been torn down. The one restaurant seemed to be in the process of rebuilding, but the other one was just there. No indication that it was going to be rebuilt and reopened anytime soon. It's sad that even with employment in the area, it has still felt the effects of the recession.

One interesting thing about the prison compound, there was an enormous church inside the fence, and one of the other buildings looked like it could have been a school building at some point. Mr. BTEG and I wondered if it could have been a regular church and school before becoming part of a prison.

At least the main part of our trip was successful. The Dancer and the Musician got lots of Law and Gospel, learned a lot about the faith, made new friends and got to hang out with old friends they hadn't seen since last year. Is it silly to say that seeing so many kids greeting each other after a long time apart, seemed almost like a foretaste of heaven?

And Now, We Recuperate

Just got back from four days spent in Missouri at the latest Higher Things conference. Higher Things is an organization that teaches the Lutheran faith to young people. It is a great organization. This was the Musician's fourth year, and now that the Dancer has been confirmed, she was eligible to attend as well. We attended the conference in Missouri because the Musician already has a large number of friends from previous conferences that were going to attend this one. Because we didn't know anyone else from our area who was attending, Mr. BTEG and I drove the family to Missouri and stayed in a hotel while the girls were at the conference. As a result of the heat wave and the fact that there turned out to be not much of anything to do in Maryville, Missouri, our side of the trip was rather uneventful, but the girls learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and made even more new friends. It does feel good to be home, especially after pulling an all-nighter to get home from Missouri without booking yet another hotel room. More posts will follow about the trip!

Belated Fourth of July post

I hope all of you that live here in the States enjoyed the Fourth of July celebrations yesterday. I know a lot of us are concerned about losing freedom, but at least we still have a chance to work toward restoring this country as our Founders envisioned it. Or do you think an amicable divorce of the United States might be in the works? Do you think that might be feasible?

How do you celebrate the Fourth? When I was a kid, like Karen's family a carnival came to my hometown, and still does, every year. We would buy the all day wrist string and ride the rides all day long. At night would be the fireworks over Lake Erie. We would sit in the large grassy area across the street from the carnival area with our blankets and chairs and watch the show. Somewhat unenjoyable was the way the loudest fireworks would echo off of the middle school building behind us.

When my own girls were young, my cousin and her kids, about the same age as mine, would come and visit her parents in the Wooster area, and my mom, sisters and families, and my family, would be invited for the Fourth. What was especially nice was that my aunt and uncle lived in a neighborhood with a private lake, and they had a boat, plus we had swimming and playing in the sand with the little ones. I never tried waterskiing or tubing behind the boat, but I did like riding in it. My cousin's husband, formerly in the Navy, was especially fun to ride with. After driving an aircraft carrier, he could make being in my uncle's little boat rather exciting. Now my aunt and uncle have moved to Virginia to be closer to my cousin and her family and those days are just memories. It's a shame my kids can't see their second cousins more, as they are a lot closer in age to them than they are to their first cousins. My Musician and my cousin's oldest son are just a few months apart.

My family has yet to create any new tradition for our Fourth of July celebrations since, but these are the years of flux, as my teens start getting involved in their own activities more and more. I wonder what will develop next!