As promised, I’ve uploaded a video I shot at an ocean kayak surfing contest in Santa Cruz about a month ago. About half way through the video (I really need to learn how to edit these things…), the surfer catches a wave. It looks so easy, I really want to do it. (Never mind how scary it would be to be caught upside-down in a wave on a kayak)
Ocean Kayak Surfing

And just as naturally, it seems to have gone and I find myself thinking about posting again, and wanting to catch-up with all of you.

Here are some random/chain of consciousness items.

Life has been busy. Thing2 and I try to get out at least once during each weekend, and we’ve got a lot of things taken care of, with yet more waiting to be handled.

Thing2’s health continues to be a challenge. Right now her back is making it very difficult to sit or stand for any length of time.

We continue to work to get our relationship back in balance after so many years of her being in a fog.

Some serious illness among friends and family help to keep things in perspective (as if we needed that help with everything we’ve been through in the last few years).

Girl kitty has continued to adjust to life without Boy kitty. We’ve encouraged a friendship with a handsome tabby boy who looks fairly young and is new to the neighborhood, but she is very cautious.

Thing2 hired a gardener who comes once a week, and after just 4-weeks, our yard looks better than it has in years.

We continue to enjoy outings to the coast. On a recent one, they were having a ocean kayak surfing contest. I believe I got some decent shots, which I will upload soon. They made it look easy — I was ready to jump in and give it a go right then.

That’s all for now, I’ll try to stop by and visit your blogs in the next few days.

~Thing1

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 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.

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.

• 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.

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.

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.