cherydactyl

There's this goal-oriented meme that's going around: set yourself one hundred and one goals to complete in the next one thousand and one days (roughly 2.75 years). This is a bandwagon I am jumping on. It's BIGGER than New Year's Resolutions! It's more awesome than a locomotive...it's 101/1001!

( 101 in 1001: )

If you are in Ann Arbor/Southeast Michigan this holiday and are reading this message, you are invited for board games and hanging out this Boxing Day (December 26), noon to 7pm. We will provide soup or sandwiches or chili or something like that, and will have lemonade, iced tea, and/or kool aid on hand. We will probably make some popcorn, too. If there is a beverage or food you would like to bring to share, please do. But also don't let it stop you from coming if you don't!

If you need directions or have questions, please email me (cherydactyl@livejournal.com works). If you either will be coming or might be coming, please reply or let me know in some way so I can make sure we're not woefully underprovisioned. :)

Have a wonderful holiday. We hope to see you!

So yesterday was the solstice. We celebrated Christmas with illyaa's family, including some cousins we don't see that often. Or, in a few cases, that we expect to see a little more of, since they have just moved to Toledo from West Virginia. Festivities included way too much food and chocolate, presents of course, Fluxx of both the Zombie and Monty Python varieties, which I inflicted on people to keep my kids amused, and Guitar Hero. Our nephew is pretty wizard at Guitar Hero, as is Mark, husband of illyaa's cousin Kim. We got to meet the newest addition to the family, their son Max. Some members of illyaa's family keep trying to civilize us with gifts of china and other stereotypically gifty things. It never works.

IMO, a version of this with a grey area for the extra $ in a pie the same size of the bailout pie would have been more visually effective.

Only, I'm wondering if this is right...is this falling afoul of the American Billion vs. British Billion problem? I didn't think our bailout was in the trillions yet....

Apparently, the source for the numbers is this article at Boing Boing porsted by Cory Doctrow. It includes the Citi bailout money, which is why it's over 4 trillion.

Yikes.



Oh My. There are some sources out there saying it's even worse than that:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/12/calculating-the-total-bailout-costs/

Announcing the arrival of LJ Friend O' The Day!

1. Reply to this entry if you want me to tell you how cool you are!
2. Watch my journal over the next few days for a post just about you and why you rock my socks.
3. Post these instructions in your journal and give your friends a much needed dose of love and adoration!.

I'm not that large. Really. Okay, I could stand to loose 10-15 pounds, so could many people. But what has that got to do with glove sizes?

I recently bought a really nice dress coat from Lands' End. They had my size for that; it's not even the biggest size of the regular size range (non-plus-size). It's lovely and warm, a camel colored wool walking coat.

I also ordered some gloves. Beautiful plum purple lambskin leather gloves lined with cashmere, the most expensive gloves I have ever bought. In size L. They are too freaking small. I have long fingers, which I have known for a long time, but even discounting that, they are really tight around my fingers. I called LE up and they don't make these gloves in XL. I am SOL. I suppose it saved me from buying the matching cashmere baby cable scarf and hat (which would have been a little over $100 together), but I still need good, warm dress gloves, long and large enough to fit my long-fingered, not-so-small hands.

Today was the Flagstar Bank/Detroit Free Press International Marathon and Half Marathon.

shekkara and I totally rocked it. She more so than I, as she *caught up to me* around mile 12 after getting about 2 minutes behind (according to the 7 mile split times) just after the Bridge to Canada due to need for a pit stop. We crossed the finish line together, a little under 3 hours 20 minutes gun time. The chip timing seems to have failed, but our actual race time should be about 5 minutes less, because we crossed the start line about 5 minutes after the starting gun. So I made my target time of 3 hours 15 no matter what the race results say. Not bad for having had a raging sinus infection and bronchitis just a few weeks ago.

I am very, very, *very* sore and tired. I woke up this morning at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, which was useful for making sure we got Downtown on time, but not so much useful for being well rested. I usually take a nap after the race, so it's all normal/expected, but I am definitely in sore, wet noodle territory.

GALVESTON, Texas, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Nearly 1,000 prisoners on Galveston Island were not evacuated as Hurricane Ike bore down on the Texas Gulf Coast because of security concerns, officials say.

Click above for the full UPI story.

I'm reposting this piece posted by fierce_femme21, because I think it's important.

An Open Letter to Gov. Sarah Palin on Women's Rights
By Lynn Paltrow, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, posted on September 4, 2008.

Dear Governor Sarah Palin:
Many Americans agree with your position regarding abortion -- they do this as a matter of faith, ethics, personal experience and sometimes politics. I am just wondering though, if you have thought about what would happen if you succeeded in getting your position -- that fetuses have a right to life -- established as the law of the land? Did you know that it not only threatens the lives, health and freedom of women who might want or need someday to end their pregnancies, it would also give the government the power to control the lives of women -- like you who -- go to term?
Your last pregnancy, the one that has become the topic of widespread discussion and speculation provides an important opportunity to demonstrate how this could be true.
According to press reports your water broke while you were giving a keynote speech in Texas at the Republican Governors' Energy Conference. You did not immediately go to the hospital -- instead you gave your speech and then waited at least 11 hours to get to a hospital. You evaluated the risks, made a choice, and were able to carry on your life without state interference. Texas Governor Rick Perry worried about your pregnancy but didn't stop you from speaking or take you into custody to protect the rights of the fetus.
After Ayesha Madyun's water broke, she went to the hospital where she hoped and planned to have a vaginal birth. When she didn't give birth in a time-frame comfortable to her doctors, they argued that she should have a C-section. The doctors asserted that the fetus faced a 50-75 percent chance of infection if not delivered surgically. (Risks of infection are believed by some health care providers to increase with each hour after a woman's water has broken and she hasn't delivered).
The court, believing like you that fetuses have a right to life, said, "[a]ll that stood between the Madyun fetus and its independent existence, separate from its mother, was put simply, a doctor's scalpel." With that, the court granted the order and the scalpel sliced through Ms. Madyun's flesh, the muscles of her abdominal wall, and her uterus. The core principle justifying an end to legal abortion in the U.S. provided the same grounds used to deprive this pregnant and laboring woman of her rights to due process, bodily integrity, and physical liberty. When the procedure was done, there was no evidence of infection.
According to the press reports, instead of going straight to a hospital you chose to get on a long airplane flight back to Alaska.
When Pamela Rae Stewart, allegedly, didn't get to the hospital quickly enough on the day of her delivery, she was arrested in California on the theory that she had violated the rights of her fetus.
When Laura Pemberton chose to give birth at home in Florida, a Sheriff came to her house. Doctors believed that she was posing a risk to the life of her unborn child by having a vaginal birth after having had a previous c-section and were in the process of getting a court order to force her to have a c-section. The sheriff took her into custody during active labor, strapped her legs together and forced her to go to a hospital where an emergency hearing was taking place to determine the rights of her fetus. She was "allowed" to represent herself. A lawyer was appointed for the fetus. This woman, who vehemently opposes abortion, nevertheless believed in her right to evaluate medical risks and benefits to herself and her unborn child. She was forced to have the unnecessary surgery and when she later sued for violations of her civil rights, was told fetal rights outweighed hers.
You chose to continue working throughout your pregnancy -- even during your labor. Until 1991 women who worked in high paying blue color jobs that provided health benefits were being fired based on "fetal rights" policies that claimed if the woman became pregnant she would expose the unborn child to workplace health risks. Eventually, the Supreme Court said employers covered by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (the PDA) could not do this. But, millions of American women work part time or for small employers who are not covered by the PDA. If your political position on abortion is accepted -- all of these women could be forced to give up their jobs because an employer, family member, or state agent believed it necessary to ensure the health and rights of their unborn child.
Governor Palin, you have led an extraordinary life, balancing work and family, public service and private family obligations. We hope you know though that your freedom relies on exactly the same legal principals that guarantee that American women can choose to have an abortion when they need and want one.
Sixty one percent of women who have abortions are already mothers. Eighty-four percent of these will be mothers by the time they are in their forties. As a proud mother of five beautiful children, we hope you will recognize that the issue isn't abortion -- it is ensuring the lives, dignity and freedom of all pregnant women and their families.
Lynn Paltrow
Executive Director
National Advocates for Pregnant Women