Round Robin Photo Challenge. A comfortable place to be.

The Round Robin Photo Challenge (which I really didn't sign up for this week until the day of; don't know if that is allowed or not), is to show a photo of our most comfortable sitting place, OR a photo of a place we would like to sit. For the 2nd option, please refer to all photos of warm sunny sands and somewhat isolated beaches. A premium is placed on said locations if the water is all warm AND dogs are allowed.

Right now, the great outdoors for me is instantaneous sinus congestion and allergies (HATE that). The inside can be that way, too (know that Zyrtec commercial about inside and outside allergies? Yup, I got them (4+ response to house dust; how rude is THAT).

Anyway, this is my most favorite place to sit, and in the winter time this is what it normally looks like:Yup, I often times sit in the middle of that couch. If I'm lucky, I score the seat next to the table so I can have my lap top. Occasionally, that just doesn't work out.

As noted by the poor dog in front of the couch, sometimes, there isn't enough room in the inn (or on the couch). However, Gabi (the Girl Goober) , isn't put off by the lack of room. She just stacks on top. Often times, the dog on the bottom will give up and leave although Charlie (the bottom dog in this picture) doesn't mind having Gabi crush him as long as it means he can sit right beside the Human Servant.

I think if one watches the Dog Whisperer, this probably anti-What Should be Allowed with Dogs. But hey, we get along.

The Round Robins this week:
Linking List

Tammie Jean
Long Drives To Nowhere
http://tammiejean.blogspot.com

Karen - POSTED!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Carly - POSTED!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Kiva
Eclectic Granny
http://eclecticgranny.blogspot.com

**Gattina (See Sidebar or Comments For The Link)

Jill
Letting Crazy Take a Spin
http://lettingcrazytakeaspin.blogspot.com/

Sandra
Strong Chemistry
http://strongchemistry.blogspot.com

Jan AKA Wammy
The Ellis Family Cincinnati
http://theellisfamilycincinnati.blogspot.com

Lisa Marie - POSTED!
Lisa's Chaos
http://lisaschaos.blog-city.com

Nancy
Nancy Luvs Pix
http://journals.aol.com/nhd106/Nancyluvspix/

Vicki
Maraca
http://mymaracas.blogspot.com/

Sarah
Charish-me
http://charish-me.blogspot.com

Martha
Perception
http://journals.aol.com/lifes2odd/perception/

Suzanne R - POSTED!
Living . . . Suzanne R's Life
http://newsuzannerslife.blogspot.com

Sandy
Myanderings
http://myanderings-myanderings.blogspot.com

Momma - POSTED!
Sandcastle Momma
http://sandcastlemomma.blogspot.com

Jan - POSTED!
The Prytz Family
http://theprytzfamily.blogspot.com/

Chrissie
Chrisseas-Corner
http://chrisseas-corner.tripod.com

**Wise Old Dog (See Sidebar or Comments For The Link)

Food for thought.

Cancer is a devastating disease at so many different levels. For some reason, there is a certain pride in heart disease: the executive has his heart attack, angioplasty and is back to work within a couple of weeks bragging, but the patient with cancer often tries to hide the diagnosis. Why?

When I was first drawn to oncology (as a geek high school student), I had read a Newsweek article about oncogenes. The discovery of these genes was going to lead to a cure for cancer in the next 10 years. Well, we are now 25 years down the road. We can treat more cancers than ever before, we have extended the survival and decreased recurrence in many, but .... for far too many, the outcome is the same. Death. I found an interesting quote yesterday.

Taken from Breast Cancer Update in an interview with Larry Norton (a breast cancer specialist at Sloan Kettering in New York):

"If you add together everything that Americans spend on cancer research in this country, and I’m talking about all segments of our society — government, industry and philanthropy — it’s between $11 or $12 billion, about two thirds of the $16 billion the tobacco industry spends on advertising and one sixth of the $68 billion Americans spend on soft drinks annually. The entire National Cancer Institute budget for cooperative group trials is under $158 million. If we really want to get rid of cancer, we know what to do. We just have to do it."

Pretty sobering statistics, eh? If dumped all the money that currently goes into tobacco advertising into cancer research will we have a cure? Maybe not -- but in many disease, we are moving closer to having a chronic disease. If that conversion to a chronic disease comes with quality of life....I think that is an adequate goal. And the amount we spend on sugared carbonated water? All of a sudden the Diet Coke sitting at my desk didn't taste right.

Right now, I am feeling like we live in a very toxic world. It seems to be moving faster and fast, in part because of the computer age that has made this blog possible. On many days, things feel off balance. Part of that is the innate stress of my work, but when I read things like the finances on cancer research, I know that we are off balance.

On February 4th, George Bush presented his proposed budge for FY2009. In that budget is a mere 29.3 billion for the NIH, increased from 28.9 in 2008 (NIH funds all sorts of basic science, not just cell biology and biochemical sciences). Between 1999 and 2003 there was a doubling of the NIH fiscal budget. Given inflation and the increased cost of doing research, the current rate of increase in the NIH budget has resulted in a 13% loss in the buying power of the NIH. (As we learn more, more sophisticated techniques are required.) This means the loss of research programs, the loss of morale in labs (which is hard to maintain at baseline), and the loss of young investigators. Without supporting our basic sciences, the foundation for novel therapies for cancer and other medical conditions will be lost.

I know that there is a limited pool. I see waste all the time. What are our priorities?

I have the utmost respect for our service men fighting the war, police officers, fire men (the path of my training has shown me that those people are exposed to horrors that most of us never consider or appreciate). I believe many people question the war in Iraq. The direct cost of that war is 845 BILLION dollars. The direct costs plus indirect costs (inflation, increased cost of oil, etc) may be as high as 3 trillion dollars (See link). Just think the industry that might have been generated had half of that money been diverted to research and education (without education, we will have no one to do research).

OK. I'm off my soap box. For now.

Call from?

I recently purchased a new phone with multiple handsets. I have progressively lost the handsets from my old phone. A couple of my dogs will eat anything, but I haven't seen phone parts in the poo. I have no clue how or where the old handsets have disappeared.

When I purchased my new phone, I chose a model with voice ID. The base set speaks the name, rather than just displaying it on a LCD screen. Cool, eh? Well, technology does have it's limitations.

This evening, the phone rang. I let it ring a second time for the voice ID to kick in. I'll admit it, I screen.

"Call from from Uckshit."

Call from ?

"Call from Uckshit."

I live in the south. Is somebody in this town actually named Buck Shit? Uck Shit?

"Call from Uckshit."

I check the caller ID....

It's a call from........UCSD. (One of my alma maters).

I guess if I was a machine trying to say "ucsd", I might say Uckshit. Works for me.

I didn't answer. I know they want my money. When will they learn to just send the request by mail?

(Last year's conversation after I gave in and answered the call:

Young student: Ahhhh, this is Happy Girl from UCSD, like ya know?.

Grumpy me: Yes (I guess I know).

YS: Like, do you really live in Texas?

Grumps: Yes (does everyone in CA think that living in something other than CA is impossible? After all that is the state that is going ot fall into the Pacific with the next big earthquake.)

YS: Like, ummmm, do you think you might be willing to pledge the same amount of money that you gave last year, or ummmm, like, do you think you might even be willing to increase that pledge? (spoken in very rapid cadence -- young student is either manic, on drugs, or (more likely) had too much NoDoze)

Grumpy Me: Definitely, if it will LIKE put an end to this ever so painful conversation.

Yes, I screen my calls.

Buck Shit, if you send me a letter politely requesting a donation without using the word "like" I'll send you a check, like, again!

Lawn mowers and lemons

Most of my friends think my lawn mower is a lemon. Of course, I may have a biased audience. A friend suggested that I try this model, next:Oh, yeah!

SNOW

We live in a part of the country that normally doesn't get snow, or if we do, there isn't much of it. Usually, there is a rain/ice storm mid-winter.

Last night, the snow came. It coated the area with a thick blanket (5 inches in our small town). It was beautiful, but the kind of snow I like: by noon at was 45 degrees out so all of the snow was melting.

Unfortunately, life in the Big City was wretched with wrecks on all the major freeways, and closed over-passes. Once again, I am thankful that I no longer live there. Big Cities in the South just don't do winter.

We're in trouble

The following was sent to me by a friend. Kind of ties into that NY Times article.....you know?

We are in trouble...

The population of this country is 300 million.

160 million are retired.

That leaves 140 million to do the work.

There are 85 million in school.

Which leaves 55 million to do the work.

Of this there are 35 million employed by the federal government.

Leaving 15 million to do the work.

2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with killing Osama Bin-Laden.

Which leaves 12.2 million to do the work.

Take from that total the 10.8 million people who work for state and city Governments. And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work.

At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals.

Leaving 1,212,000 to do the work.

Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons.

That leaves just two people to do the work.



You and me.










And there you are,


Sitting on your ass,


At your computer, reading jokes.



Nice. Real nice.




I hope the upcoming week is good to everyone.
Hug your hounds, love your humans!

Which is faster?

Last summer, I created this spoof ad when I purchased my zero turn radius mower. I was excited about the new mower. From what I had heard, I would likely cut my mow time in half - a nice thing since I was spending about 6 hours mowing the entire 5 acres on my old trusty (please, note that adjective) John Deere mower.

The answer to the question, "Which is faster, the mower or the whippet?" Oh, definitely the whippet. The answer to the question, "Which is faster the mower or the turtle?" Oh, the turtle.

This mower has been a lemon. I had to have taken back to the dealer 4 times last summer. Three times, it popped a belt. At first they just replaced the belt (the belt was fine). Then they started criticizing my mowing technique: I was mowing grass that was too high. I was mowing grass that was too wet. This is supposed to be a commercial grade mower. I see those guys with lawn services out buzzing around at 7:30 am, far before the dew has burned off. They mow at full speed. I'm not. I'm afraid to go that fast. The last time the mower stopped working, the blades were messed up.

I am jus' a lil' ol lady mowing her 5 acres. I am not a commercial lawn service mowing 12 hours a day 5 days a week.....seems like the mower should be a little bit tougher, eh?

Today, when I tried to mow for the first mow of the spring, it ran rough. After one trip around the back yard, I discovered that the belt was fraying. I called the dealer (they should be on my speed dial). The conversation didn't go well. Basically, they blamed it on me: I'm mowing to fast, the grass is too wet, the grass is too high (only weeds are growing, the grass hasn't started to grow; I was trying to get started before the grass is too high), must have thrown a stone that was causing the belt to wear. My conclusion: this mower is only good to mow grass that is dry, 1/8 inch taller than the last mow, and in an area where there are NO twigs, stones or other things that might irritate it's sensitive constitution. The dealer seems to be unwilling to entertain the idea that the mower is a lemon. Of course, I bought it exactly one year ago so now the warranty is likely defunct. GRRRRRR.

I still think zero turn mowers rock. Just not my zero turn mower.

Oh, yeah, and because I PO'd about the mower, I forgot to shut the gate. The whippets went for a run around the neighborhood.....ummmmm, not what I like because there are a lot of kitties in the neighborhood. Only two more years off my life. I blame this all on the mower.

Now for a break......