So, the guy who sent this comment would not reveal who he is–he’s anonymous, but resorts to name-calling pretty quickly. No fair just ignoring him. Let’s take a look at what the courageous man (who won’t reveal his name, e-mail or anything else) says:
Who is paying you to write this garbage? I see that you are a journostitute. Is United Healthgroup among your “Select Clients”?
Americans overwhelmingly want a public option, because they’re tired of being gouged to death, literally, by the insurance giants.
We pay twice as much per person for health care than do citizens of any other country in the world. And we are ranked 37th in the world in quality of care. http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
And dead last in preventable deaths.
Meanwhile United Healthgroup CEO Bill McGuire walks away with a $1.78 billion golden parachute.
You’re on the take, admit it. Someone must be paying you to lie like this. Either that or you are seriously deluded from watching too much Fox. Do you teach at a public school, and if so, where do you get your health insurance?
Who is paying you to write this garbage? I see that you are a journostitute. Is United Healthgroup among your “Select Clients”? Americans overwhelmingly want a public option, because they’re tired of being gouged to death, literally, by the insurance giants. You can google it yourself: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=60F&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&q=POLL+AMERICANS+WANT+PUBLIC+OPTION&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq= We pay twice as much per person for health care than do citizens of any other country in the world. And we are ranked 37th in the world in quality of care. http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html And dead last in preventable deaths. Meanwhile United Healthgroup CEO Bill McGuire walks away with a $1.78 billion golden parachute. You’re on the take, admit it. Someone must be paying you to lie like this. Either that or you are seriously deluded from watching too much Fox. Do you teach at a public school, and if so, where do you get your health insurance?
AlanSmithee@verizon.net
DonaldKehoty
OK-I tried writing back and such, but there is no e-mail address. Movie fans will recognize that the e-mail name is a phonetic spelling of the editor’s name used when an editor doesn’t want his name associated with a film he’s worked on, Alan Smythe. Then there’s that clever phonetic spelling of Don Quixote. This guy’s a regular genius. But, there is a sliver of a debate here. So, I’ll parse it up:
Who is paying you to write this garbage? I see that you are a journostitute. Is United Healthgroup among your “Select Clients”?
Yes. That’s it. I’m a tool of the insurance lobby. In fact, I make so much money writing copy for insurance brochures, that I also moonlight as a high school English teacher and a reporter. By the way, very clever word invention. See what he did there? See that–journalist and prostitute! Pure fargin’ genius this guy.
Next:
Americans overwhelmingly want a public option, because they’re tired of being gouged to death, literally, by the insurance giants.
There is a debate here. For a long time, the polls did say that Americans do want a public option. I think it’s arguable, however. And even if it is still the case two things are also true: 1) If we’re looking at polls, we are going to have to deal with the current ones that say some 60 percent or more of Americans don’t want this “bill” to pass. 2) I still don’t agree even if most Americans do want a public option. I don’t. We can agree to disagree. No harm there.
We pay twice as much per person for health care than do citizens of any other country in the world. And we are ranked 37th in the world in quality of care. http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
And dead last in preventable deaths.
Sigh. Where to begin. Here’s some more statistics, OK?
A recent “Investor’s Business Daily” article provided very interesting
statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health
Organization.
Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after
diagnosis:
U.S. 65%
England 46%
Canada 42%
Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within
six months:
U.S. 93%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six
months:
U.S. 90%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S. 77%
England 40%
Canada 43%
Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:
U.S. 71
England 14
Canada 18
Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in “excellent
health”:
U.S. 12%
England 2%
Canada 6%
So, there you go…Stats everywhere. You cannot just pull numbers out on preventable deaths because there’s another issue at work here. The U.S. has high rates of death in car accidents and, rather unfortunately, murders. Other Western Industrialized countries don’t suffer these as much as we do. We can have that debate, too–but it’s another subject.
The rest kind of speaks for itself. Mr. “Smithee” or Mr. “Kehoty” apparently isn’t interested in the debate–just in argument. I’m not.
For the record, I think health insurance could stand some real reform. I think competition among companies is a great place to start and if the U.S. Govt. allowed companies to compete across state lines, the prices would drop overnight. I also think tort reform would do wonders. Look how much U.S. docs spend on malpractice insurance versus other docs. Lastly, I think it’s a good idea to force insurers to insure people with pre-existing conditions. Here’s a simple fix: Let the companies compete across state lines, slap a small 3% tax on premiums and create a pool for the uninsured that they can have access to for three years.
So, I would rather not descend into name calling. I think the record is pretty clear. But in the end, Mr. “Smithee” didn’t convince me that he was right. He did however call me names and asked me who was paying me to “write this garbage.”
The health care “bill,” such as it is, deserves to fail as does the President and the Congress who are “sponsoring” it.
I understand politics fairly well and I am certain I have been on the wrong side of the issue any number of times. But, is there anyone left or right out there–no facetiousness now–who can tell me what passing the health care bill will do that is so good that it must pass now, its urgency capstoned by the very fact that once signed into legislation, it won’t take effect until well after the election of 2012 (sorry for the run on)?
Beyond that, has anyone read “the bill”? Are you certain one exists? If so–beyond the talking points of insuring 30 million uninsured people (two-thirds of those “uninsured” by Dem stats), forcing insurance companies not to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions–and giving major kickbacks to Nebraska and Louisiana in the form of Federal Medicare largesse–and exempting union members from any tax to pay for it–what is in this bill?
This isn’t just out of touch, this is close to criminal political behavior. The vast swath of Americans left or right don’t like “the bill.” Yet, the President is determined to pass it no matter what and the Dems in Congress, a good chunk of them, seem determined to jump off this cliff. What I want to know is why.
Assume for a moment that everyone in the nation agrees that healthcare needs reform. Assume also that everyone agrees that the government needs to intervene to provide this reform. Is this “bill” the one that most people think is needed? Other than the obvious lurch to the left that this “bill” would provide the U.S., is there anything else notable that it would do?
I know some of you moderates and lefties out there read my pages occasionally. I know that fundamentally, we disagree on the engine of health care. I do not think that it is a basic human right and others of you do. We can agree to disagree on that. But is this “bill” the one that is going to ultimately provide what lefties want? Does this “bill” give you what you want?
The words no one is saying are these: This bastardization of legislation, this piece of lawyer briefed, corn-fed, pork-filled sausage is not at all in the best interests of anyone in this country who is in need. Even if I agreed with those of you who think health insurance is a basic human right, I would not be in favor of this “bill.” In fact, I believe, with a lot of evidence on my side, that the reason this “bill” is so unpopular is precisely because both left and right see it for what it is: a legislative power grab that will end up being parsed up, pared down, ground up until it costs more and does less than ever was promised–and to be clear (to Paraphrase the President), the “bill” doesn’t promise much. Yet. But passing it will, of course, mean opening doors that were never meant to be opened and granting more power and money to politicians, taking it out of the hands of private citizens, doctors and health care professionals.
It may not be the first time that the U.S. government has acted in direct defiance of the will of the people who elected it, but it is the most brazen. I’m hard-pressed to find another example in U.S. history of domestic policy being made in direct opposition to the will of the people with the exception of the Alien and Sedition Acts signed into law by President John Adams-and probably responsible for his downfall–or at least, a part of it. Certainly, there are foreign policy examples–but even the Iraq war doesn’t come close in rock-solid opposition to this thing. Heck, when the Iraq war was launched, most Americans were for it. For a while….
The President has become fond of saying, “I don’t know how this plays politically…” Yes, he does. He is lying. He knows it plays very poorly politically. But he thinks he can get away with saying that while sounding “above the fray,” another term that politicians like to use when they think of themselves. What the President wants is a legacy of lurching the country to the left. And he may get it. Republicans who come into office will be hard-pressed to undo the mess of health care reform and won’t be inclined to dismantle something that gives them so much power. They’ll talk about “taming it” or “reforming the reform,” but what that will mean is, “we’re going to take control of it, put our spin on it–and still bankrupt you–and the country.”
I urge you to join me in contacting your representative and putting a stop to this absurd and near-criminal action. The people decide how things work in a representative democracy and the people don’t like this legislation. If it passes, it will be in direct defiance of the will of the people. The politicians who vote for it must be made to understand that.
Well, Peanut was sick most of yesterday with a cold and cough as only 8 year olds can do. There was a plan to go to Disneyland today, but I was leery because she wasn’t 100 percent.
So, this morning, after a good night’s sleep, Peanut came roaring into our room at 6:12 A.M. and said, “I feel much better! Can we go?” How can you deny her? So we went. Had a great time, too. Played all morning at riding Pirates and Big Thunder and Monsters Inc. and something else I’m forgetting. Then met the Wolf family and played around some more at California Adventure and back to Disneyland. A fine and good time indeed.
But home tonight, Peanut’s not quite 100 percent still. The cough persists and she’s nasally. I’m guessing we’ll hit the doc tomorrow. She’s had this since Wednesday of last week and it isn’t getting a lot better. Glad there’s no fever, but she’s got a ways to go before she’s better. It’s better than the bad old days, though. When she was an infant, she got sick frequently and had asthma to boot. She seems to have outgrown the asthma for the most part, but when she gets a respiratory infection or a cold, it does tend to turn into bronchitis on her.
Sigh. All shall be well soon.
Meanwhile, an auspicious week begins as a number of deadlines come calling while the teaching schedule gets busy and we have a few financial issues we’re attempting to iron out as well. Tomorrow is the annual eye exam for all three of us. That should be a lot of fun, too.
The long and short of it is it’s been a strange (albeit not long) ride. The health dept. story is full of comments–and the follow up is, too. You can click on those links on the post below this one. But I learned that most comments on the newspaper’s website come from, well, people with a lot of opinions and not so much knowledge. I’ve been there, too. I’m not criticizing, I’m just saying.
I’m on to the next round of stories and there are a gaggle of them which makes me happy. I say that not lightly, nor glibly. I am in earnest, as Scrooge would say. I love what I do.
Teaching has been fairly brutal the past week. I’m re-writing a curriculum and something this small has already got politics attached to it. It’s quite sad, actually. Power and petty fiefdoms and all the rest of it. As Mark Twain used to say, the competition is so fierce because the stakes are so small. At least, I think it was him. Cannot seem to google very well this evening. No excuse, I know.
Peanut’s got a cold, but it doesn’t seem all that bad. She’s in bed now and Sue has been kind of punk as well, so she’s in bed too. Scoop actually isn’t at his best, either. Nightly, now, he gets the nervous-nillies just before dinner and tonight was a doozy. The rain storms don’t sit well with him when they’re coming in and my wife swears it’s a pressure change thing. He’s somehow sensitive to the coming storms and clouds and he doesn’t like them.
Unfortunately, he got a double-whammy when the smoke detector went off because Sue’s delicious homemade pear tart overflowed in the oven and burned the on the surface. This put Scoop in a paroxysm and rather than calm him, I medicated him. I can be lazy that way. He’s upstairs sleeping it off which is where I’ll be soon.
Last week, I linked to a story I wrote at the Ventura County Star in which I revealed that a local hardware store had been told by the local health dept. that they could not offer free coffee and donuts to their customers. Apparently, an anonymous complaint had been lodged that at one point, the store served bbq’d meat to show off a couple of new grills or smokers they had. In the story I wrote, I did not mention the bbq’s because I thought it immaterial to the story as my wife is a dietitian and I know through her a bit about food rules. One of those rules is that when cooking meat for the public, you need some kind of permit. That wasn’t the story. The story was that while they were there, they also stopped the store from giving away coffee and donuts.
That story went nationwide as it was picked up by bloggers and eventually by CNBC, Fox News, John and Ken on KFI and a few other places. A facebook page was made disparaging the health dept. and hundreds of comments on the newspaper’s website ensued.
The County Supervisor’s called the Chief of the health dept. to their meeting and asked him to explain. He said that the anonymous complaint had been made about the bbq’s and that while the inspectors were there, they “found out” about the donuts and coffee and this fell under their purview as well. I want to state here that this does not jibe with what the owner of the hardware store says. He says that the anonymous complaint included the donuts and the coffee as well as the bbq.
The newspaper has been taking flack on my behalf from the health dept. and from some readers commenting on the website that I didn’t do a thorough enough job or that I omitted a critical fact. I can understand where someone might say that, but ultimately, I do not agree and will not submit to that critique.
I pursued the story because the owner of the store and some of the customers indicated to me that donuts and coffee could no longer be served, that serving donuts and coffee in a public place without a permit is, according to California State Law, illegal. I thought then and think now that this is an important story.
If anything, I committed an error of omission by not indicating that the main anonymous complaint was about the bbq. However, the fact remains that the health dept. shut down the store’s ability to serve donuts and coffee as well as its ability to sell candy at the counter. That is the story I told and the story that is still true. The fact that the bbq portion was omitted is not, in my view, terribly relevant, especially considering that the health dept. told the store’s owner that they had an anonymous complaint that featured the bbq, the donuts and the coffee.
As a reporter, I don’t really want to give my opinion on what I think about the health dept.’s decision. However, in this forum which I own and maintain, I will state here for the record that I stand by the piece I wrote and I’m honored that the paper has so far stood by me. The fact that the health dept. has suggested that I blew “the story out of proportion,” does not change their position that the store may not serve donuts and coffee. That, to me, is the essence of the story.
My interview with Elizabeth Huff of the Ventura County Health Dept. went on for 15 minutes. At no time did she discuss the bbq issue with me. She was very pleasant, very understanding and quite professional. Our conversation started with my asking about the store in question and about an anonymous complaint and why that became the impetus for halting the service of donuts and coffee. Once again, let me reiterate, in my interview with Ms. Huff, she did not once mention the bbq issue-and she was honest, open and forthcoming on the issue of the donuts and coffee saying that state law mandated that such food service in a public place was indeed illegal. The point is that the problem is not with the health dept. The people of the health dept. are merely doing their job enforcing the law.
In light of all the many comments posted at the Star’s website and in light of the follow-up article that my colleague at the Star wrote, I felt it necessary to state these things for the record.
We’d planned a getaway this weekend up north to Pleasanton. We have friends there we wanted to see and we had free hotel points to go do it, so we were off. But, the trip is canceled, rather unfortunately, by unforeseen circumstances. We spoke to our friends at length and we will reschedule.
Hard to believe it’s March now. Harder to believe that Peanut will turn 9 at the end of the month and maybe it’s even harder to believe that by this summer, we may very well have an addition–or two–to our family in the form of the adoption process.
I’m past the nervousness phase and now I’m in the excited-but-realistic phase. I’m watching Peanut grow every day and she is becoming the little independent Ms. we are raising her to be. I attribute a good deal of this recent change to my revelation during the Christmas Holiday that a lot of why she was doing what she was–was my fault. I enabled her, wrapped myself around her axle, as my brother says, and I don’t do that anymore. Now, Peanut rides her bike to school alone, goes to bed on her own, plays outside on her own–it’s remarkable. So, I’m ready for another. Being a dad is not just difficult and fill of obligation and tiring–it’s also a lot of fun.
And really, the rest of it is just so much stuff-and nonsense. With the exception of my writing and teaching careers, there’s nothing I need worry about. We’re like a lot of people right now, working to stay above water financially–but you know what? If it all came crashing down tomorrow, I’m not sure how bad it would be. I have to believe that at some point, what really matters is who loves you and who you love-and that you have some fun along the way.
OK, hokey and sappy post. But, that’s where I am. A belly full of tri-tip, a gullet full of beer, a sleepy evening and a couple of deadlines to pursue and I’m doing just fine, thank you.
If you click here and scroll down to “health inspector nazis,” you will see what I mean by having hit a nerve. The story that the bullhorn duo John and Ken picked up on is mine from the local paper. For those that don’t know, John and Ken run the most listened to AM afternoon drive talkshow in L.A. on KFI, a station I actually listen to quite a bit myself. The story seems to have legs, as we say, and has been picked up by lots of different media outlets.
This week has been an astounding one for me as a freelance journalist. From writing about the health inspector who stopped a favorite local hardware store from serving free coffee and donuts, to writing today about Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2006 in Economics (I saw him speak this afternoon)-and two other stories this week–it’s been incredible.
Still, a difficult week, too as we ran into financial difficulties courtesy of the Federal Government. I own a Tax Sheltered Annuity through my school district and it’s not worth much anymore. But, it’s enough to pay off some debt and help us get our refi going. Only thing is the Feds say I cannot have my money. Based on the stipulations surrounding a TSA, there’s no closing that account unless you meet the IRS’s definition of “hardship,” which we don’t.
But, sunlight broke through today when I learned that I can roll the TSA over into an IRA. From there, I can get access to the money any time I choose because the rules are different for IRA’s. True, the dollars are no longer pre-tax dollars, but that’s OK with me. I’ve stopped contributing to the TSA anyway.
My brothers and I share a running joke in that we say we’re “living the dream,” when anyone asks how we’re doing-and by that term, we are generally sarcastically overstating our condition. But this week, I got to teach great literature, work with students on writing good, solid essays and show them how, and I got to report on some amazingly good stories. I am indeed living the dream, gentles. I may not be wealthy–but I sure am rich.
I’m sitting here doing exactly what I tell my students to never do–I’m staring at a blank page. In this case, I’m staring at a blank screen. Well, really no. It’s not blank. It’s a word press site so there are all kinds of things on the margins-but the area that I’m in control of is blank. Or was.
This is the case because after a post like the last one, where I was writing with visceral certainty and about my own past, my own passions and my own experiences, I’m here on a Wednesday wondering what there is that’s so interesting to write about.
I’m too perplexed and even a bit depressed over the state of education. The hapless and helpless administrators, the feckless and reckless unions, the apathetic kids, the overbearing parents. It’s too much. So, no-I won’t write about that.
I could write about the stalled attempt to refinance our home, but that too is rather a sad story. Is it possible it still may work? Sure, it’s possible. Is it likely? No. No it isn’t.
This is not to say there isn’t good news. I actually enjoy my little niche of teaching and like what I do there, even now. And I love being a freelance writer and correspondent for the local newspaper. This week is a busy week for me as I have already covered three stories and have yet one more to do.
My wife and my daughter are healthy, so am I and we have each other and Aunt Laurie, too. We get to spend our evening’s together which is nice and the rain makes things feel close, comfortable and easy.
The sky was interesting all day. It darkened and lightened and was swollen with rain clouds but for the first few hours, it remained dry. Slowly, as the clouds accumulated into a mass of gray, little drops began to fall and then steadily drizzled all the rest of the day while it got colder.
Several times, I caught myself breathing deeply and inhaling rich, fresh aromas of rain and mist. It made me happy to feel how fresh it was, how invigorating. I stood outside with a gentleman named Fred Roth, the Chairman and co-founder of the Camarillo Academic Olympics for kids. We talked as the rain began and at first, didn’t bother to go inside.
This evening, the rain turned to a kind of Seattle-drizzle. It was wet, but you could walk outside without getting too wet and yet, everything glistened and became illuminated by the graying down of the day while the sun, already hiding behind clouds, gave way to dark night.
And it’s then, as I was driving home just before dusk from a press conference, ready to wind down for the evening and enjoy dinner and a glass of wine that I thought, “this isn’t so bad.”
I’m 13 years old living in the dappled sunlight and heat of the San Fernando Valley. I’m digesting a steady diet of Journey and Boston-ballad bands that run through the FM radio rotations like merry-go round horses and once in a while, catching a glimpse of my big brother’s favorite bands who have a more progressive edge. I walk in the door one day and see Doug and his friends gathered around the stereo in the living room listening to Led Zeppelin. I didn’t know if I’d heard them before, but I think to myself, “the radio plays this?” Until then, it was AM stations and pop hits, ballads and even bands like Air Supply, for which I now think I must pay penance because I listened.
Doug, on the other hand, is the oldest of us three and he is already a fine drummer at 17 years old. He plays in the marching band and he sings in a rock band called Arial. Their guitarist is a guy named Brian Hughes who is rumored to have had a heroin problem and I don’t know what heroin is, but I know that when I watch Brian play, he drools–and he’s in another world. He’s a musician. A real musician.
Doug has started listening to Jazz and he introduces me to Chick Corea and Chuck Mangione. I pay attention to it because he’s the big brother and I admire both of my brothers at this age. I’m beginning, just beginning, a fascination with words of my own and I’m starting to keep a journal and write stories. One day, Doug comes home and asks me if I want to go see Louie Bellson play at Pierce College, the community college where I will eventually meet my wife, but up until then, was the place where cool teenagers go when they leave high school. I don’t hesitate and I’m introduced to a new world: Jazz. There’s Grant Geisman, Chuck Mangione’s guitarist, playing with Belson, and Doug tells me jazz musicians often play with other people. This isn’t what’s supposed to happen. You join a band-and you’re in that band. For life or so I thought.
But it’s Chick Corea who captures my attention. His band is called RTF or Return to Forever and they have this amazingly talented line-up. Stanley Clarke is on bass. Doug tells me, “you haven’t heard anyone play bass like this.” I don’t know what to think. The speed at which Clarke plays and the finesse that he puts into his playing are a revelation to me. I take up bass guitar when I’m 14 years old. I never, never achieve anything close to Stanley Clarke. But I listen to him and appreciate his music.
By my teens, I’m thoroughly dressed in progressive rock. Yes, Genesis, Rush, Emerson Lake and Palmer get blasted through the cassette player. But I’m branching out. My fascination with words continues and so I listen to Simon and Garfunkel and Paul Simon’s poetry works for me. If I’m not hashing out mad rhythmic Rush melodies, I’m lying on my bed, listening to Simon sing about his disillusion in “American Tune.”
Chick Corea’s Return to Forever band is never far away from me, either. I put it on mostly in the day-time, as though night is too sleepy to appreciate its nuances, as though night is too dark, too unknown to allow trips down a musical rabbit hole through which I’m not sure I’ll return. I’m not a drug-user. That would come later-and I would never make it a hobby. I don’t get that interested in weed or even booze. I just like music.
My parents divorce and the earthquake that shapes the landscape of my brothers’ and my lives is now complete. I’m 17 years old and music is my refuge. Music and words. Journals are piling up in the corner of my desk with poems, diatribes, articles and ideas. I begin to take photographs, too. I listen to more music and more Chick Corea, but as the divorce occupies more and more of our lives, I drift from it and I stay away for a very long time….
It’s in the background now. I listen to Stanley Clarke to remind me of who I was. I’m in college and I meet Edd in 1987 who becomes and remains one of my closest friends. Edd is a musician like Brian Hughes was, but without the heroin problem. Edd appreciates everything and yes, he has heard of Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke and yes, he even has some of the albums.
Edd and I form a band and play together until I’m in my 30’s. A latent passion is awakened and it’s not until well after I’m married that I realize I’m no musician. Edd is, still-a fine and consummate one. But words begin to push their way into my world and suddenly, I’m a writer, a teacher and music is what I listen to, not what I do.
That’s where things are now, in my 40’s. So it was with a good deal of resurrecting some of those ghosts that I went to see Stanley Clarke play last night. Free tickets from my friend, Ty and I brought Edd along to an intimate little club called The Canyon.
Stanley Clarke doesn’t play the bass, he engages and coerces it. His band aren’t just musicians, they’re virtuosos who create art night after night on the canvas of their instruments. Clarke’s music has no lyrics, no words-he doesn’t need them. His fingers dance across the bass and he creates fretted and fret-less images with grace and elan. He’s a pied piper inviting all to forget the world and live in this moment.
Now in his late 50’s or early 60’s, Clarke leads his 20-something band-mates into swirls of little jazz miracles, allowing just as much room for them to play as for himself, never stealing the show from them, always allowing the music to be the one thing-the only thing that matters for that hour and a half. The songs are new and old and Clarke plays them with the energy he had 30 years ago. His style is all original and the clarity, the beauty and the nuance of the melodies is so personal, so revelatory that I’m not standing in the middle of the club floor staring at a stage. I’m lost, rather ensconced in each and every high and low and the fingers of this man who I feel like I’ve come to know after 30 years of listening.
So, now in my 40’s when concerts are much less interesting to me and not worth the money and the time and effort, last night was an unexpected gift. All the old visions, all the old desires to play, all the wonder of getting lost in a melody and a riff came back last night and for a time, I was 25 again.
When the reverie ended, I wasn’t unhappy about it. I was simply grateful that I got the chance and more so, happy that I got to share it with friends. I’m tired today, sleepy and groggy with being out later than usual and standing for that hour and a half, straining to get a glimpse of a master craftsman at work. But the feeling is mollified by the simultaneous feeling that I got to see Stanley Clarke play after 30 years of wanting to.
I’ve not been resting on my laurels these past few weeks. Doing so would indicate that I had laurels upon which to rest. But truly, I have kept a busy and expanding freelance writing schedule, re-written the curriculum, along with my colleagues, for the journalism classes offered in our school district, worked with Jason to build websites for every teacher at the high school (go here to see a really good use of one) and taught my classes.
Meanwhile, I’ve been working for over a year now to free our family up from an interest only loan we hold for our mortgage and only recently have gotten anywhere. We’re about ready to refinance–pending approval–at a very good interest rate locked in for 30 years. This will subordinate our HELOC and allow us the freedom to stay in the house which is what we want to do. I’ve been attending classes with Sue as we prepare for the adoption of another child into our family and Peanut and I have been working on building a whole new relationship since Christmas-time when the revelation of the past few years dawned on me.
Biorganicwines.com has taken a back seat to all this and I’m uncertain of its future just now. I don’t have a vision for it as I did previously and so I’m pulling back a bit, checking out the lay of the land and thinking about how to proceed. I’m also in the process, rather necessarily than willingly, of planning to purchase a new car. This is not something I want to do, but the venerable MPV has now cost us nearly $8,000 since August and that’s just too much money–over $1000 dollars a month. On top of it, we were just told that a small oil leak we’re experiencing will require yet another $1400 repair. This is the straw that broke the minivan’s back. We just cannot keep dropping coin on this car when we could negotiate a certified pre-owned or even a new car–at about $300 a month. This would have saved us, over the past 6 months, some $4200. We cannot keep throwing good money after bad on the thing.
And I don’t know why I wrote about this because what I essentially just did was updated you on nearly every important facet of what’s happening right now.
A writer, reporter and certified sommelier, I write journalistic, editorial, public relations and marketing content for dozens of companies, magazines, newspapers and online media outlets including Christianity
Today, Decanter.com, Wines and Vines Magazine, Wine Country This Week, The Ventura County Star, TechCentralStation.com, Today's Dietitian and many other clients and publications.
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Most importantly, I'm a husband and a dad and those are
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Currently writing for: Decanter.com, Central Coast Farm and Ranch, Wine Country This Week, The Ventura County Star and trueslant.com/markstorer.
