keepingintouch

van Gogh’s Letters
This fantastic website has a full search feature, but I think I would prefer to read his letters in order, or maybe browse them using their timeline.
Time line

Women and the Subprime Crunch - International Museum of Women

Women borrowers are overrepresented in the subprime lending market according to studies done by both the Consumer Federation of America and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Across the economic spectrum, women receive less favorable terms than similarly situated men on home purchase, refinance, and home improvement loans. The studies also show that the gap between women and men receiving subprime loans actually increases as women’s income increases.

We had a one of those toxic mortgages. Just last month we were able to get a mortgage modification. It helped a lot. If any of you have a mortgage that you cannot afford, I urge you to call your bank and ask them about applying for a mortgage modifiation. It took me less and 30-days from when I applied, and my very next payment was much lower.

(Random kitty photo from flikr)

SFGate.com describes a study carried-out at bay area hospitals. Hospital nurses developed procedures for alerting their colleagues they were dispensing medicine, and they shouldn’t be disturbed.

Prescription for success: Don’t bother nurses

– Accuracy in administering medications improved from an average of 83.8 percent at the start of the program in 2006 to 93 percent after 18 months and 98 percent after 36 months.

– Between September 2006 and September 2009, medication errors at the hospitals dropped by an average of 87.7 percent.

– The adherence to a series of “best practice” principles, which included such techniques as checking two forms of patient identification before administering drugs and explaining each medication to the patient, increased from 79.5 percent at the start of the program to 96 percent after 36 months.

I’d be interested to know how much of the improvement came from telling their patients what they were giving them. Thing2 and I have caught quite a few doctor errors that way. They have standard procedures/medications they give, and they may not remember that you are allergic or have some other contra-indication for the standard treatment.

Poring over facts about milk: cow’s, goat’s, soy, almond, rice and hemp — latimes.co

• Cow’s Milk - Whole milk has saturated fat, skim doesn’t.  Good source of calcium and protein.  May not decrease risk of bone fracture.  May decrease risk of colorectal cancer.   
• Goat’s Milk - Has more saturated fat than Cow’s Milk.  More than 90% of the time, people who are allergic to cow’s milk are also allergic to goats milk.
• Soy Milk - Has no cholesterol, no saturated fat.  Allergies in 0.4% of children.  Lower in calories, but comparable to cow’s and goat’s milk in levels of calcium, protein, Vit. A, D and potassium - partly through fortification.  May reduce some cancers.
• Almond Milk - Has no cholesterol, no saturated fat. Allergies in 0.2% of children. Lower in calories and fat than Soy.  Lower calcium and protein levels.   Not a substitute for eating nuts.  Many brands contain more water and sweeteners than ground nuts, leaving the milk without the significant levels iron, riboflavin, vitamin E and omega-6 fat that you would get from eating an almond or a brand with higher almond content.
• Rice Milk - Has no cholesterol, no saturated fat. Allergies are rare - OK for people with allergies to soy, gluten, nuts, cow’s milk, and lactose intolerance.  Poor source of protein. Good source of Vitamin E.  Requires less sweetening.
• Hemp Milk - Contains more fat than Soy, but it’s a more balanced omega-3 and omega-6 fat, which is good for you.  Allergies are rare. Doesn’t contain any THC (won’t make you ‘high’.)  Fortified with calcium, vit. A and D.

Insurance policies for young people that don’t include maternity coverage are a hot button for me.
On the other side of every pregnancy, there is a man who bears an equal responsibility for the cost of the maternity care. There is no excuse for offering coverage that does not include it because men who choose these policies run absolutely no risk that they can become accidentally pregnant, while women always have that risk as long as they are physically capable of pregnancy.

It’s very early, and I’m still a little sleepy, so my arguement probably isn’t as clear as I’d like it to be.
NPR has an article on the issue showing that women pay more: Framing Health Care Debate As Battle Of Sexes : NPR

A recent study by the National Women’s Law Center found that 25-year-old women have been charged up to 84 percent more than their male contemporaries for individual health plans — plans that specifically exclude maternity coverage.

Be informed. Get more information at
National Women’s Law Center: Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women

The National Women’s Law Center’s new report, Still Nowhere to Turn: Insurance Companies Treat Women Like a Pre-Existing Condition, provides sobering new data about the inequities that women face in health insurance.

The extent of gender rating, in which insurance companies charge women more than men for the same coverage, has remained abysmal since the Center issued its landmark report in 2008, Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women.

Women on the Front Line have Unique Advantages in Afghanistan

This New York Times Op Ed is written by Paula Broadwell who is a former U.S. Army officer, a research associate at The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University and a board member of Women in International Security.

She describes the unique effectiveness of the Marine Corps’ Female Engagement Teams (F.E.T’s).

The F.E.T. units are comprised of female marines with various operational specialties who conduct liaison work with Afghan women in remote villages. Their assignments range from searching women at checkpoints to distributing aid to running medical clinics to their core mission of engaging rural Pashtun women, often in their homes.
…
The presence of F.E.T.’s sends a strong signal of peaceful engagement to local villages. As one village elder put it, “Your men come to fight, but we know the women are here to help.”

She argues that it is time to rethink the ban on women in combat positions, and remove an impediment to the Marine’s ability to fully utilize F.E.T.s.

Click here to see a slideshow.

Last week we lost Boy Kitty.

Since the thyroid treatments we knew he was on borrowed time.

We loved him, and he showed us that he loved us every day.

We miss his courage and good humor and bossiness every day.

Later that same day.

Insomnia… so I’m posting the first of my promised photo updates.

Sometimes you don’t know the pictures you’re taking are special, and sometimes you do. That evening, I knew this was a special sunset. The even rosy color over the blue/lavender marine layer on the peaceful ocean were captivating, and I’m so glad I was able to make it a visual memory. This photo has not been digitally modified, it’s just as I saw it — although not quite as luminous as the original reflected sunlight was so powerful.

I’ve been away from KCL for a long time. Mostly for good reasons.

Thing2 and I are still enjoying her improved health, and we are trying to get out of the house most weekends.

I have a huge backlog of great photos from our day trips.

We’ve been having a heat wave. It was nearly 100 degrees here yesterday and today. We went to the beach yesterday — there were surfers and kids and the ocean doing its thing… It was magnificent.

Today we stayed home. I had some paperwork that had to get done. I didn’t finish until 2:30, and it was so hot that rather than drive all the way to the beach, we decided to go out to the pool here. There was just one other person there. Thing2 swam and then had an hour nap at the pool-side. I read a book for about an hour and then had a little swim. It was a great day.