Well, I normally don't post a ton about my life. I'm a private person and well, I'd rather rant and rave.
This week has been rough. I have a grandpa in the hospital with a mild hematoma. He's 92 and well, the prospect of brain surgery isn't pleasant and the prospect of him living with the current issues isn't pleasant either.
My wife's grandmother went into the hospital after the cliche "I've fallen and can't get up." Sadly, it wasn't funny at all. She was dizzy, had been having headaches, and her heart rate was mid 40s.
The ER she was at almost released her! Thankfully she couldn't stand and my wife and her cousin (both granddaughters) were there to say, um, admit her.
Well, today (3-4 days later) she'd had a CT scan, NO MRI (until tonight) and things hadn't gotten better. In fact they got much worse. Her eye was drooping, her arm and leg hurting.
Finally the do an MRI and she's had a stroke in her medulla oblongata. This would explain the low heart rate, the labored breathing. She's conscious, but now the next step (what is the next step?) Has to be taken.
I'm upset with the hospital, as is my wife, because they didn't seem NEARLY as concerned by the abnormally low heart rate as we were. SOMETHING had to be causing it!
I suspect she had a mini-stroke the first day and a full on one today. That's only what I think. I have no proof of that. My wife is going to lodge a complaint about the ER treatment as they were going to release a 76(?) year old woman with a 45bpm heartrate!
Also, my mom gets to go in for a biopsy monday. YAY! *with as much sarcasm as can be* I'm thankful the doc noticed something and while he says its most likely nothing at all to be worried about, checking is good.
So, please, lots of prayer for the extended Schurter/Maddox families as its been a bad couple weeks medically.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Movies: A Mini Rant
I think about movies too much. This is strange, since I don't watch all that many movies, and most of the ones I do are silly fun action movies, but really I do.
I suppose I do because I expect certain things out of different sorts of movies. Action movies I just want fun entertainment. Sci-fi/fantasy, coherent plot and a decent story.
Drama, well, I don't watch much drama and here's why: Real life has enough drama for me!
What brings on this hatred (not really) of all things dramatic? Well, Katrina rented Revolutionary Road last night. It was critically acclaimed which I'm starting to decide is a real strike against a movie being watchable.
The premise is this. Leonardo Decaprio and Kate Winslet are married with 2 young kids in the suburbs in the 1950s. They hate their lives as Leo works as an ad-man for Knox Business Machines (IBM) and Kate is a housewife who is in community theater.
The movie starts with a huge fight between them and it really goes down from there. Its a litany of 1950s stereotypes, questioning of life, bad behavior and just painful things to watch on screen.
A list of the issues "dealt with (brought up I should say): Consumeristic life in the suburbs, the pointlessness of many corporate jobs, the housewife's lament, the having more kids to prove you wanted the first, abortion, greed, dreams of a different life.
The movie doesn't so much deal with these issues as chronicle them. The life of Leo and Kate is miserable, unhappy, and all too common in America of the 1950s or today.
Which brings me to my point. Why would I want to watch a movie about this? I know people who's lives are like this. This isn't raising my awareness to anything. This isn't making me "deal with" or "confront" any issues.
Its merely a sad depressing tale of two people who's lives didn't turn out as they wanted and who don't seem to really want to work on themselves.
The movie might end great. About 90 minutes into it give or take Katrina hated it enough to give up as well. Or she just wanted to shut my sarcastic comments up. Either way.
Avoid this piece of trash at all costs. Unless you like reveling in other people's misery.
edit- Thinking about this a bit more, I'm not sure the movie was even well made. Its set in the period very well. But, the flashbacks are few, far between and seem sort of an after thought. It, I dunno. Just avoid it.
I suppose I do because I expect certain things out of different sorts of movies. Action movies I just want fun entertainment. Sci-fi/fantasy, coherent plot and a decent story.
Drama, well, I don't watch much drama and here's why: Real life has enough drama for me!
What brings on this hatred (not really) of all things dramatic? Well, Katrina rented Revolutionary Road last night. It was critically acclaimed which I'm starting to decide is a real strike against a movie being watchable.
The premise is this. Leonardo Decaprio and Kate Winslet are married with 2 young kids in the suburbs in the 1950s. They hate their lives as Leo works as an ad-man for Knox Business Machines (IBM) and Kate is a housewife who is in community theater.
The movie starts with a huge fight between them and it really goes down from there. Its a litany of 1950s stereotypes, questioning of life, bad behavior and just painful things to watch on screen.
A list of the issues "dealt with (brought up I should say): Consumeristic life in the suburbs, the pointlessness of many corporate jobs, the housewife's lament, the having more kids to prove you wanted the first, abortion, greed, dreams of a different life.
The movie doesn't so much deal with these issues as chronicle them. The life of Leo and Kate is miserable, unhappy, and all too common in America of the 1950s or today.
Which brings me to my point. Why would I want to watch a movie about this? I know people who's lives are like this. This isn't raising my awareness to anything. This isn't making me "deal with" or "confront" any issues.
Its merely a sad depressing tale of two people who's lives didn't turn out as they wanted and who don't seem to really want to work on themselves.
The movie might end great. About 90 minutes into it give or take Katrina hated it enough to give up as well. Or she just wanted to shut my sarcastic comments up. Either way.
Avoid this piece of trash at all costs. Unless you like reveling in other people's misery.
edit- Thinking about this a bit more, I'm not sure the movie was even well made. Its set in the period very well. But, the flashbacks are few, far between and seem sort of an after thought. It, I dunno. Just avoid it.
"Big" Government
So, my brother has an interesting post on cutting government spending. Its interesting, and here's some of my thoughts on it.
Going off of the Havoc Pennington post, I suppose I'm more in the "cut government by 10-20%." I like the general ideals of libertarianism, but since I view man as naturally flawed, not naturally good (and very distinct from naturally evil) I can never truly support libertarians because I don't trust people enough.
I don't trust the government much either, but they tend to slow things down enough that nothing totally insane happens that often.
It would seem that 21% of the budget going to Defense/War on Terror is high, I personally would much rather see that at 10-15% with no Iraq war, but you can't turn back the clock.
But, as my dad points out, that's only about 1/3 of what is going to programs that only suck more money out of the system. That is the underlying problem of socialist styled programs. France is going broke over its healthcare/welfare/retirement system. Sarkozy has all but said that they can't afford to keep doing things the way they have been.
The problem with entitlement systems or government funded programs is as people live longer and longer, you get more people getting payed out and fewer paying in. It also doesn't help that Congress can't help but raid the "surplus" for things like Social Security as extra spending money. That it hasn't been legislated illegal is only proof of how completely screwed our government is.
Case in point. Listening to NPR the other day it was a story on how the SEC missed the AIG mess. Well, the SEC along with the Commodities watchdog have overlapping duties. But, they don't/didn't communicate well so AIG just played them off against each other. They were interveiwing an excongressman who said he tried to combine them, but the Agriculture committee chairman didn't want to give up the power (and money) from the position.
Why do I share this story? Because the system is broken. Since both parties get elected mainly to stay elected (and attempt to push through what their lobbyists pay them for) real change isn't going to happen.
Our political system, and many of the rulings on "free speech" pertaining to politics almost insures that any plans the government comes up with will eventually end up broken, bloated, and pandering to the rich and or corporately connected.
Don't get me wrong. We spend far too much money in this country as citizens and government. We're going broke. This isn't just our leaders fault.
What IS their fault is they are too interested in getting reelected and/or getting cushy high paying lobbying jobs down the line to do what is right, not what is politically convient or expedient.
The statement both sides want to spend 105% is true. And its going to bankrupt us and slowly push us to 2nd nation status.
Going off of the Havoc Pennington post, I suppose I'm more in the "cut government by 10-20%." I like the general ideals of libertarianism, but since I view man as naturally flawed, not naturally good (and very distinct from naturally evil) I can never truly support libertarians because I don't trust people enough.
I don't trust the government much either, but they tend to slow things down enough that nothing totally insane happens that often.
It would seem that 21% of the budget going to Defense/War on Terror is high, I personally would much rather see that at 10-15% with no Iraq war, but you can't turn back the clock.
But, as my dad points out, that's only about 1/3 of what is going to programs that only suck more money out of the system. That is the underlying problem of socialist styled programs. France is going broke over its healthcare/welfare/retirement system. Sarkozy has all but said that they can't afford to keep doing things the way they have been.
The problem with entitlement systems or government funded programs is as people live longer and longer, you get more people getting payed out and fewer paying in. It also doesn't help that Congress can't help but raid the "surplus" for things like Social Security as extra spending money. That it hasn't been legislated illegal is only proof of how completely screwed our government is.
Case in point. Listening to NPR the other day it was a story on how the SEC missed the AIG mess. Well, the SEC along with the Commodities watchdog have overlapping duties. But, they don't/didn't communicate well so AIG just played them off against each other. They were interveiwing an excongressman who said he tried to combine them, but the Agriculture committee chairman didn't want to give up the power (and money) from the position.
Why do I share this story? Because the system is broken. Since both parties get elected mainly to stay elected (and attempt to push through what their lobbyists pay them for) real change isn't going to happen.
Our political system, and many of the rulings on "free speech" pertaining to politics almost insures that any plans the government comes up with will eventually end up broken, bloated, and pandering to the rich and or corporately connected.
Don't get me wrong. We spend far too much money in this country as citizens and government. We're going broke. This isn't just our leaders fault.
What IS their fault is they are too interested in getting reelected and/or getting cushy high paying lobbying jobs down the line to do what is right, not what is politically convient or expedient.
The statement both sides want to spend 105% is true. And its going to bankrupt us and slowly push us to 2nd nation status.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)