In today’s AJC there’s an article about the nasty air here in Atlanta. Atlanta is the top rated city for allergies and asthma. The high percentage of blacks here skews the numbers for asthma somewhat, but the bottom line is you probably shouldn’t raise children here, especially if they have health problems of any kind.

Here is the asthma article at cbsnews.com. Yep, pollution matters, people. You can deny it all you want, but it matters what you eat, drink and breathe.

I doubt the people who read this blog are in denial about pollution, global warming and all that, but I always think of my poor clueless mother who really, sincerely believes that none of it matters; that it’s all just a media plot to scare people. She honestly sees no connection between humans (Americans, mostly) churning out megatons of pollution and the various ailments that plague us and the planet.

Ah, well. This is why we want to move away from the polluted South. It may be a few years yet, but we will get out of here. We don’t want to live in the woods, so there’ll always be big city pollution, but we have many other cities to choose from with much less pollution than the ones in the South. Vegas sounds great, but you do have all those superfund sites out there… There’s always some sort of trade off. The point is, you can choose and you can make informed decisions. :-)

Ah, yes, I love it when my way of thinking is reflected to me in unexpected places!

Like today, in the AJC. I’m perusing the Op-Ed section like I do every day and a headline beckons: “Happily adrift in a sea of low expectations”. And the pull quote is,

“There’s such a thing as being too positive, especially when expectation gets confused with hope.”

Why, YES, that’s exactly it!!

The essay is written by LA Times columnist Megan Daum and the piece is entitled “Wanna be happy? Expect the worst”. It’s common for syndicated articles to be retitled by the paper who runs them, sadly. The AJC typically has lame ass titles for their Op-Ed section.

Anyway, basically what Ms Daum is saying is that my mantra of “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst” is her mantra as well and while most people think it’s bad karma or all negative, it’s really NOT. It’s a pragmatic way to deal with life’s let downs and yet keep a decent level of satisfaction. The author mentions Denmark for having a very pragmatic (read: pessimistic) view of themselves, yet also having the highest rate of life satisfaction in the world. Hmmm.

I think more people should try it. It would certainly make a dent in antidepressant sales. Americans eat happy pills by the handful trying to be “positive”. Then when things don’t work out as planned, they are crushed and depressed. All I’m saying is perhaps having a prepared mind for ALL contingencies is why you don’t see us “pessimists” eating anitdepressants like M&Ms. And perhaps it’s why we get shit done – both good and bad – with equal alacrity.

When you are mentally prepared for any outcome, good OR bad, you are much more calm when the shit hits the fan. It’s these “optimists” who are never prepared for anything and get totally sidetracked by reality. Reality is that things rarely go as planned. It’s rarely as good OR bad as you think. Being “optimistic” is typically equated with EXPECTING success. Therein lies the problem. No contingency plan. Take Iraq for instance. A prime example of optimistic thinking.

For me, being a “pessimist” is far more conducive to living a good life and having a nice level of satisfaction. If you can weather the storms with as much vigor as the nice weather, then you’ll definitely be ahead of the game. Look around you.

I’ll bet we “pessimists” are happier overall than the “optimists”. Perhaps I shall move to Denmark!

Hot on the heels of the Pill news yesterday, today we have the amazing news that children who live near freeways and in heavily polluted areas have more lung problems than kids who live in less polluted areas. Wow, where you live is as important as other health factors.

Well, DUH!

There was a study of children in Southern California, but it’s same for any area with ‘fine particle’ pollution. My hometown, Knoxville, TN has horrible air pollution due to its valley location and GA Southern’s nasty ass coal plants that pollute the whole region. Knoxville also sits directly east of Oak Ridge TN where the fuel for the atomic bombs of the Manhattan Project was refined in the 40s and the subsequent radioactive carcinogens were unceremoniously dumped into the lakes or buried. Hey, it was the 40s and it was a war. No one gave a rat’s ass about polluting the area. It was only hillbillies anyway, right?

Continue reading “News from the Dept of DUH”

It appears that the FDA has finally addressed the relative suckiness of the new low dose birth control pills vs the ‘old skool’ higher dose ones I used to take. I was switched to the newer type pill last year and they totally did nothing for me. My body laughed at the low dose pills! Soon after that debacle, I stopped taking the pill altogether.

My stopping the pill is why Nick ended up getting a vasectomy. He was a trooper and it was a simple procedure, but since his vasectomy, my body has gone into total revolt. Had I known that I’d be in hormonal misery just a few months after stopping the pill, I’d have never let him do it.

I’ve suffered insomnia and horrible crampy periods ever since the foray into the new pills and subsequent end of taking the pill. I am now seriously considering a hysterectomy to ease my discomfort. When I do this, it will render Nick’s pain and suffering a useless endeavor, which really pisses me off!

Had they simply given me the Triphasil that I’d taken for years, then perhaps Nick could have skipped the surgery and I could have staved off the misery. Grr!

I’m glad the FDA has finally gotten a clue and may consider use of the old skool pills once again. I’m not going to take them any more, but perhaps it will save other women the misery I’ve been through!

It’s been shown that periods are unnecessary for female health and I hope that the drug companies are allowed to pursue ways to end the dreaded Aunt Flo for good for those of us who are not the least bit interested in the whole baby making thing. It will be a great day when women can choose whether or not they want to waste 7 days a month on this inconvenient cycle.

Heh, guess it’s better than a snowy ice covered one! The midwest’s been pounded for the last week or so and I’m grateful we didn’t get any of that mess here!

We had our dinner date with Russ last night. The meal was FABulous! We’ve got pix to post in the gallery, but for now I’ll give you the menu:
Sparkling wine served for all these:
1- Homemade shrimp filled ravioli, fried, with a spicy tomato cream sauce
2- Creamy Avocado and crabmeat soup
3- Mung bean sprout and fresh basil salad with lump crabmeat marinated in coconut milk with a fried spinach leaf garnish (they become bright green translucent paper!)
A very nice chianti served with these:
4- Veal roll with cream cheese and crab served over wilted spinach with garlic and a crab cake
5- Prime sirloin served rare with homemade pasta cooked in red wine (drunken pasta)
Rozes LBV Ruby Port served with these:
6- Stilton cheese (this was supposed to be THE accompaniment to the port – I didn’t care for the pairing)
7- Cocoa cheesecake with fresh strawberry sauce (which was wonderful with the port)

The meal was outstanding! Russell has set the bar pretty damned high for me!

All this took several hours and we didn’t get home until 4:30am. I really didn’t intend to be out that late and be DRIVING at 3:30 in the damn morning. Want to get stopped? Drive at 3:30am on a Sat/Sun night! Baaaaad idea. Nonetheless, we made the 45 minute trek home unscathed and slept until noon today. As it turns out, that is just fine and dandy with the weather sucking like it is!

Nick drug Ben out to get more fill dirt for the front today. In the rain. In 40° weather. Have I mentioned that boys are dumb? ::sigh::

I sent him out again to procure chili fixins for us tonite. We are going to cuddle up in the warm house, eat chili and watch movies tonite. Yay for quiet Sundays with a Monday off tomorrow! :-)