Wednesday, July 29, 2009

What should I write about today? Decisions, decisions. I haven't logged on to this blog much this month. If you notice I usually blog on Wednesdays. Interesting. What is it about Wednesday? It is hump day. The middle of the work week. So what. Doesn't really provide me with any hints of why Wednesday. Anyway, today I have my procedure at the derm's office. Yes, another positive pre-cancer biopsy result. At least we caught it early. A quick zip, zip by the doctor and I'm cancer free again. At least for this time. It seems so futile sometimes. I am extremely cautious of the sun. I use extreme protection --- #30 or higher sun block for both UVA and UVB, wear dark colors while exposed to sun including swimming, etc., etc., etc. I even use a daily moisturizer with an SPF of 15. Sometimes I feel that I give the impression, to people less educated about the detrimental effects of the sun, that I have a sun phobia. With all this proactive behavior I still get cancerous and pre-cancerous legions. What's a body to do? I think, "What would I be like if I didn't respect the power of the sun?" So, all is well. The bottom line to all of this is the fact that there is no safe tan. Tanning, exposure to the sun, produces changes in the cellular structure of our skin cells. Cancer is exactly that - change in normal cell structure. Tanning seems to give cancer a heads up. The detrimental effects of this tanning or even worse sun burn is historic. Past sun burns and tanning, even ones that occurred in our youth, are even more dangerous to our present day skin health. If you ever had a sun burn in your life, then you are at risk for skin cancer. There is no expiration date for this risk. Of course there are many different types of skin cancer, but cancer is cancer. Melanoma skin cancer is the deadliest. It can and will kill if not cured. Education and a deep respect for self goes a long way in preventing skin cancer. Sun worshippers beware. There is no safe tan. 

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I've been watching Judge Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination hearings. Our political system has a lot of B.S. in it's operation. Although our form of government is the most celebrated democracy in the world past and present, the political personalities seem a little to unyielding in their partisan views and desires. Why is it that the behavior of the senators on the Judiciary Committee concerning the judicial nominee is dictated by the political party in power at the time? That's politics. Yes, that's politics, but the selection of a judge to the Supreme Court should be devoid of political preferences. Judge Sotomayor is definitely qualified to be a Supreme Court justice. She is disciplined, experienced and highly professional. So what's the problem? The problem is politics as usual. We will never have a perfect political system, but our government should be above such political maneuvering. Personally, I could never be directly associated with anything political. No, not anymore. I make the previous comment because our professional, social and everyday life is riddled with politics. American life is becoming overtly and abundantly political. I'm not referring to "political correctness". I am referring to politics, in the sense of not portraying a core believe or value system expressed by words and deeds in a consistent manner. We tell people what they want to hear. Many time to keep the peace, but more often to get what we want. In any case, American life is what it is. The political deviance is always present, however we have a choice in participating in that type of behavior. I choose not to play politics in my life, any facet of my life. Thank goodness I have the circumstance to abide by that decision and live in peace and prosperity.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Day 2 of my perception of the Michael Savage saga. After listening to the man for a few minutes this afternoon I'm under the impression that he is just plain and simply a mean spirited person. I believe he attacks anyone who opposes his view on any subject regardless of the demographics or persuasion of the person. Most talk radio personalities seem to be playing a role when on the radio. I don't think that's Savage's case. He seems to be a highly unhappy individual, mad at the world on the radio and perhaps even off the radio. How can I tell? By the comments he makes about his off-air, personal time. Rush will be back on Monday. I really don't share Rush's conservative view on most things, but at least he's more entertaining. Rush doesn't appear to be mad and unhappy, just a misguided conservative. Boy is he funny. 

Big Brother 2009 airs tonight. The Big Brother house seems to be the most uncomfortable and strangest in Big Brother history. I saw a little preview this morning on the CBS morning news. The high school personalities theme seems interesting, but may be a little too predictable. In any case, I can't wait to see it. 

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

I am shocked and speechless. I can not believe what I heard on the radio just a few minutes ago. I usually tune in Rush for the conservative mindset of the day and perhaps a good laugh, but Rush is on vacation this week and I really dislike his replacement. The man filling in for Rush just sounds like a complete joke. I got the feeling that he was trying to imitate Rush, but there is no imitation for Rush. Rush is Rush, Amen. So, I turned to Michael Savage, another conservative talk radio personality. I don't listen to Savage too much, so I don't have an established perspective of the man. Today, he seemed bitter and extremely unprofessional. The thing that really surprised me was the manner in which he attacked a female caller. It seemed to me that he was extremely bitter and upset about something and was taking it out on the caller. I can't even describe the interaction. It did sound to me that it was an exchanged between an innocent, unassuming female and a male chauvinistic persona. The outburst was absolutely uncalled for and was in extremely bad taste. Savage was complaining about the Michael Jackson coverage. The topic was beside the point. The manner and tone of his discussion was deplorable. That said,  "What about the Michael Jackson coverage?"

Michael Jackson was a great entertainer. Perhaps even the best of all time. His passing is sad and untimely. Despite any personal inadequacies or indiscretions, he was a human being and deserved recognition. I hope the world takes a collective breath and moves on. We can not continue with memorials for the passing of Michael Jackson. The service Tuesday was sincere, reverent and enough. It's time to move on. Michael Jackson was a human being. He shared in the human situation. His fate is now in the hands of the Almighty. We must not judge him. We do not have the right to judge him. That right is God's alone. In any case, it's time to move on. 

But Michael Savage, I'm still shaking in disbelieve. 

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Governor Sarah Palin is going to resign from the office of governor of Alaska July 26. She doesn't want to be a lame duck governor since she is not planning to seek re-election in 2010. Sounds like she just doesn't want to be governor. She hints that she will be politically active on a national basis. This is crazy. An elected official has the responsible to complete their term of office. She doesn't have to run for re-election, but she certainly should complete her current term. As with many of Palin's words and/or actions, she just doesn't make sense. I believe she is mounting a presidential bid for 2012. How does this move make her a more viable candidate? It doesn't. She is a perplexing person. She speaks with forked tongue, in a language not known to many. If she runs for president in 2012, then I must reconnect my TV cable. It will be a marvelous campaign.

This morning around 9:00 I started watching the men's Wimbledon finals. I went out to breakfast around ten and returned around one and it was still on. Nearly five hour tennis match? Wow. I wish I was an ardent tennis fan. It would have been a great match. I just wanted to know who won. I was torn between the two players. Roger Federer was out to make some kind of record if he won, but Andy Roddick was the local favorite from Boca. I kind of wanted Federer to win, but my South Florida sentiments were with Roddick. Well, we now know the results. I felt so happy for Federer and was heart broken for Roddick. It appeared that Andy Roddick was heart broken, too. It looked like Roddick was more emotional about losing than Federer was about winning. In any competition, athletic or not, strong emotion is usually involved. That's one reason why I don't like to watch athletic competitions. The emotional ride is often times just too much stress for me. 

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

O.K. it's the first of July. We are officially in the second half of 2009. Imagine, 2010 is so close. The first decade of the new century is almost over. Actually, the first decade won't be over until December 31, 2010. Nonetheless, time is going oh so fast.

Senator-elect Al Franken from Minnesota is now officially hailed the most junior United States senator. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the winner on the 2008 Minnesota senatorial election was Al Franken. The Republican contender officially conceded the election and was ordered to pay Senator-elect Franken $94,783 to cover court costs for the Republican's appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Wow. A double whammy for Norm Coleman. Sounds fair to me. The contest should have been over months ago. Coleman has lost a lot of support and popularity due to his continued contesting of the election results. What good did this do for Norm Coleman? Absolutely nothing. A lesson should have been learned from the 2000 presidential election. Al Gore graciously bowed out of the contest once the United States Supreme Court made it's ruling. The legal options remained opened for Gore despite the Supreme Court's decision. Al Gore cared more about the welfare of the American people and the transfer of power than he did about the political or legal recourse opened to him. Let's allow the facts to speak for themselves. 

The King of Pop is still making headlines. I have heard so many media people as well as celebrity and ordinary non-celebrity people comment about the duration of the coverage of the Michael Jackson passing. Enough already. Let's get on with life. I think the Jackson family should have the funerals and the memorials and then get back to real life. Life is for the living. 

A little more than a week before CBS Big Brother 2009 airs. I can't wait. Big Brother is the one and only reality show that I have ever watched routinely. Maybe I haven't given reality TV a fair shake. I've always gravitated to cable news. Maybe I should explore the reality shows on network TV. It seems to be an opportune time to do just that very thing. I fired my cable company nearly a month ago. I was just not that into it so much anymore. I was tired of cable news programs. It seemed that they were increasingly becoming more or less ratings driven concentrating on the bazaar, unusual and controversial. They were so gloom and doom about everything. They pounced on political figures, governmental leaders and any quasi celebrity for whatever reason. Cable movies and series were becoming dull and boring. The repeats were enough to drive me batty. I decided to stop the madness big time. Now I watch network TV driven by a satellite antennae. And it is great. Even better, it's basically free of charge. Yes, this is rerun season for network TV. But I never really watched the first run of many of these shows. It's a win - win for me. Will I ever go back to cable? Probably, just in time for the 2012 presidential sparring.