Cleaning the refrigertor

Anjali Athavaley wrote in the fourth section of The Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010, (“Why Won’t Anyone Clean Me?”) about how most Americans clean their refrigerators only once or twice a year and how refrigerator manufacturers are trying to make their new appliances a weapon in the fight against dirty kitchens.
It came as a shock to me that most Americans actually clean their refrigerator twice a year. I have been in my Man Cave for two years and have not cleaned my refrigerator once. During the 55 or so years my wife and I shared a home I am sure she cleaned our refrigerator regularly, at least I never found reason to complain. Of course, when you have five children at home there not much food that lingers long enough in a refrigerator to resemble “science projects” or cause bacteria problems. (My wife now lives in a nursing home and I am in my second period of bachelorhood, the first being the time between when I left home to enter the Air Force and when I married.)
A cleaning service comes to my apartment weekly and does the necessary, but things like refrigerators are a special service and separate arrangements must be made. My good intentions to get this done seem to disappear in the time it takes to close the refrigerator and put the task out of sight. After reading Miss Athavaley’s article this morning I was determined to get in there and “clean and sanitize.” I put on some old pants and shoes and went to work.
First, I emptied all the food out of the refrigerator and stacked it on the counter and stove top in the kitchen. I don’t keep a lot of food as I take most of my meals in the dining room of the retirement community where I live, or I eat elsewhere. (Occasionally, falling back on “the kindness of strangers.”) As I pulled each item I gave it the smell test and looked it over carefully for signs of something that might cure the H1N1 virus.
Then I commenced to take out all the shelves, compartments and humidity controlled containers. I washed each of these pieces in the kitchen sick with hot water and detergent and as I did so I put them on towels I had laid out on the dinette table and leather sofa to air dry. It surprised me how easily all these parts came out and it later surprised me even more that they all went back in.
When it came time to restore the food I carefully noted the advice in the article and put the condiments on the door shelf (the warmest part of the refrigerator and not the place for the milk carton). I only have one potato, an apple and three oranges that are likely to spoil if they are still around on Labor Day but I put them front where I will see every time I open the door. I looked at the “use by dates” and chucked a couple of items into the trash.
All in all it was not a time consuming task, nor something beyond a man with only a Masters degree in international relations. I did the job in about an hour and took some pictures as I went along in case I am compelled to prove that I cleaned my refrigerator during the 21st Century. I suspect that when some congress person(s) read the article there will be an attempt to create a refrigerator police force. Such is the way of life.
(From my blog.)

Duke, we miss you

I can hardly wait for May to arrive. AMC and other movie channels usually run a month long tribute to John Wayne by showing his movies over again. The Duke died in 1979 so many of these films are dated and you know the outcome. The Duke is always the good guy and right away you can spot the bad guys. This desire for a nostalgic moment (or month of such moments) is propelled by the two last films I have chosen to watch.

One was Lorna’s Silence: the story of an Albania girl who enters into a sham marriage to a Belgian drug dealer to get Belgium citizenship so she can get a license to open a snack bar. At the end she is running for her life and hiding in a cold shack in a forest somewhere between Belgium and Albania laying on a simple wooden bench and whispering to the non-existent child she imagines is in her womb.

The second film is Shutter Island, the Scorsese film which took in the most money at the box office this week. In this one a US Marshal arrives at an asylum for the criminally insane on this island off the coast of Boston to investigate the disappearance of an inmate – or a patient, as the staff likes to refer to them – and winds up quietly heading for a lighthouse on the island where the doctor and staff will perform a lobotomy on him.

Let’s just say these films were not my cup of tea and I like the simpler world of the Duke.

  

Marsh walk, Mt Pleasant SC

This is a link to some pictures I took today at the recently opened Mt Pleasant marsh walk near the Water Works Department on Rifle Range Road. There is also a dog park which has two fenced areas, one for large dogs and one for small dogs. Along the way to the marsh we met some people and dogs enjoying the warmer weather and the great view from the marsh. Parking is close by the entrance to this site. It is on a driveway between the Water Works and the new Mamie Whiteside school under construction. It makes a nice outing.

(Click on the above link to see the pictures).

(From my blog.)

Health care died in 2010

The sweeping improvement to health care in America envisioned by the Obama administration a year ago is dead. Its lengthy life killed it.

 

President Obama and his advisors looked back at the fate of President Clinton’s health initiative. President Clinton sent his wife up to Congress with a detailed master plan. When it arrived it hung there like a piñata at a Cinco de Mayo festival in a Juarez saloon where three kinds of people waited to bash it: the nearly drunk, the drunk and those who couldn’t even hang on to the floor. To avoid a similar fate, the new administration’s reasoning went, let’s allow Congress to write a bill around some goals advanced by President Obama. Well, that hasn’t worked either.

Having taken over the government in 2009, the really liberal Democrats in Congress (who never face serious Republican challenges back home) drafted a bill with every wish and wet dream idea they ever had in it. The Democrats from states where they depended on Republican cross voting to get elected balked at some of these ideas, not that they weren’t good. They were just too risky for some Democrats. Meanwhile, the Republicans got together and decided they would not support anything – even a 21st Century version of the miracle of the loaves and fishes – not even if they could put their hand into Jesus’ side.

 

Over in the Senate the Democratic majority that could push a proposal through dithered too damn long and then the great Liberal Lion, Ted Kennedy, died. What could have been the strongest voice for health care reform was silenced. The one man who might have brokered a deal, as sick as he was, with a few Republicans was gone from the Senate scene.

Then the seat held by Senator Kennedy was given to a Republican by the Massachusetts voters and the chances for health care reform began to really slide down hill. In the end, the proponents wanted and expected too much, the administration plan to let the Congress draft the bill has turned out to be a mistake and the refusal of the Republicans in Congress to come to the table in any collegial manner finally scuttled the whole idea of imaginative health care reform. If anything comes out in 2010 it will be a watered down version of the great dream. The 35 million uncovered Americans will remain uncovered. There may be tinkering around the edges but in the long run insurers will make more money and consumers will pay higher premiums.

(From my blog.)

Goodbye Charlie, Thanks for your work

Charlie Wilson, a 12-term congressman from Texas, has died at the age of 76. While he was in Congress he was a one-man dollar resource assault team against the Soviets in Afghanistan. There is a book and later a movie, Charlie Wilson's War, which tell the story of how an obscure playboy congressman (Tom Hanks played Wilson) from Texas single-handedly got the Congress to funnel millions of dollars to the mujahideen and Afghan "freedom fighters" to fight and ultimately defeat the Soviets during the 1980s. Some say now that weapons funded by Wilson and the CIA are being used against us in Afghanistan, but that is Monday-morning quarterbacking. The fact is that Wilson's efforts led to the defeat of the Soviets and forced them to give up in Afghanistan. It had the unintended consequence of awaking dreams and visions of Islam, but that not ought to be held against Charlie.

If you haven't see the excellent movie it is available on DVD at most of the usual outlets and is occasionally seen on movie channels. With Wilson's death you might look for it to be re-run several times over the next week or two.

The book, written by George Crile, is similarly available at most of the usual outlets. It is a fascinating read. I actually saw the movie first and then bought and read the book. The story is that compelling.

Charlie Wilson is the only outsider ever recognized by the CIA as "honored colleague." He was truly one of the good guys.

Sanford saga

Letters to the Editor
The Post & Courier
Charleston, SC
Dear Sirs:
Drucilla Barker, director of women and gender studies at USC, hit the nail on the head regarding Jenny Sanford's book on her life, failed marriage and divorce from the governor.

This sadly miserable tale, like a few others involving rich celebrities in recent years, continues to play out only because of the wealth and resources available to Mrs. Sanford.

There are thousands of women, and some men, across this country who divorce every year because of infidelity and other reasons and we hear little or nothing from them or about them, only the statistics about the divorce rate.

Through the Internet, for example, I learned that for the 12 months ending in April 2009, 34 percent of marriages ended in divorce. Enough of the Sanfords.

/s/ Francis X. Archibald 

(Published February 10, 2010)

(This is from my blog.)

You’ve got mail

On a lark about six days ago I decided to count the pieces of unsolicited mail I received over the next week. Leading the way were 19 offers to sell me something, 13 requests for donations to charities and 7 offers to subscribe to publications. Clearly these 39 unsolicited mailings outnumbered the pieces of mail and magazines I already subscribe to.

My mail is not unusual, according to comments made in the lobby by other residents of my 35 unit apartment house. One lady said all she ever gets is “pay me, buy me, give me” mail and wonders how the senders got her name. I wonder the same thing. Did someone get a copy of the directory for our retirement community? If so, how? Holders of the directory are requested not to make copies nor share the contents with outsiders.

I have briefly considered writing “Return to Sender,” and adding either “Addressee deceased” or “Moved, left no address” but the next piece of unsolicited mail will simply be addressed to “Occupant.” I think I will just continue to toss the unwanted mail in the recycle bin and get on with my life.

(This is from my larger BLOG.)

God does not carry a 220 year old grudge!

The earthquake in Haiti is, according to TV evangelist Pat Robertson, God getting even for a pact Haitians made with the devil in 1791. Legend has it that 220 years ago some Haitians led by slaves revolted against French rule and made a pact with the devil to serve him if he got them out from under the French.

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and possible anywhere in the world. Even an old testament vengeful God would consider this sufficient punishment for nine million people who today live in abject poverty and who have never known anything better. He would not have to send them an earthquake to make his point. On top of which none of these nine million souls were around when the alleged pact was made with Satan.

I do not believe natural disasters occur because God gets up one day on the wrong side of the bed and decides to even scores. It is not necessary to understand all the forces of nature which must come into play for disasters to occur. Suffice it to say they happen and they are called natural disasters, be they earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, plagues, landslides. These things are not, in my opinion, the messenger of the Lord.

 

Anyway, forget about the loony characterizations of the Rev. Robertson and find some way to send a bit of help to some charity trying to alleviate the terrible effect of this disaster in Haiti. The God I know will not punish you for being an accessory after the fact to a 220 year old pact with the devil.

(This is an extract from my blog.)

Some stars will be sadly added

Sometime later this year seven stars will be added to the CIA Memorial Wall honoring the men and women who died in Afghanistan this past week. Their bodies were returned to the United States on Monday, arriving at Dover AFB, the scene of the return of so many other Americans who have died in the line of duty. Following are some notes about the CIA Memorial Wall:

 

THE CIA MEMORIAL WALL – Langley, Virginia 
The Memorial Wall is on the north wall of the Original Headquarters Building lobby. This wall of 90 stars stands as a silent, simple memorial to those CIA officers who
have made the ultimate sacrifice. Above the stars, a simple inscription reads: "In honor of those members of the Central Intelligence Agency who gave their lives in
the service of their country." The Memorial Wall was commissioned by the CIA Fine Arts Commission in May 1973 and sculpted by Harold Vogel in July 1974.
Below the Memorial Wall sits the glass encased "Book of Honor." It lists the names of 55 officers who died while serving their country. The names of the remaining 35 officers must remain secret, even in death; each of these officers is remembered in the book by a star. This wall memorializes those men and women who served and sacrificed in silence.

Getting blog writer updated

This is an informational blog – I am using a new application to help craft blog entries and hope that you receiving this will not be an undue intrusion. I am including a picture taken in early December 2009 when one of our fine dining room staff was leaving to pursue her new career in nursing. Well done Tameka!

Archie

Life's little problems

On a Sunday I bought an overcoat in a large Southern chain store. Sleeves needed to be shortened a tad and the coat would “go to the tailor on Monday. Be ready after four on Thursday.” I could not get back on Thursday and Friday was New Year’s Day so I telephoned to see if the store was open. It was. And the lady answering the phone said she would check on my coat and call me back. Thirty minutes later she called and said the coat was ready to be picked up. “Come to the customer service desk.” I drove to the store and went to the customer service desk. My coat is not there and I have to go down the aisle, turn right and go to another customer service desk. Off I go. At this desk a clerk is closing a sale of three nylon panties to a rather large woman who wants 15% off as promised in some newspaper coupon she presents. That takes another minute or two and my mind wanders as to how this woman would look in those panties. I repress the image and present my claim ticket to the clerk. This is not the customer service desk that handles such and I must go back down to the end of the aisle. At this third customer service desk my ticket is presented again and the clerk disappears into the back room somewhere. Other customers arrive and want to check out but are dismayed to find the customer service desk not staffed. “She will be back in a moment,” I tell them reassuringly. “She went to get my coat.” The clerk returns empty-handed and says maybe it is in a fourth customer service station and she will go there and check. I say that I will do it and she should stay at her work station and help these other customers. (After all we are trying to cooperate with President Obama and get the national economy moving and every little bit helps.) On to number four I go. By now I have almost made a 360 degree sweep of the store. At number four a clerk is finishing up a sale and then he turns to me. I present my ticket and he ponders it for a moment and then reaches over to a large garment in a plastic bag tied in a knot at the bottom (a security measure so shoplifters can’t stick a second item in a bag). The ticket I presented matches the ticket on the bag and off I go with the sound of “Thank you, sir, and Happy New Year” ringing in my ears. I arrive home, hang the bag on a door hook and untie the knot at the bottom. I remove the coat from the plastic bag. I put on a casual sport coat and then don my new overcoat. Look at myself in the mirror and am pleased with the whole effect. After all, I got a greatly reduced price on fine coat. And then the perfect moment is shattered. The coat still has a plastic security (see picture) tag attached. This is supposed to set off an alarm if someone tries to leave the store with such a tag in place. But no alarm went off when I left the store. I examine the tag. It is a rectangular plastic tag on one side and a pin has been inserted through the garment and is secured with a plastic round button like tag on the inside. Tampering with this tag is guaranteed to ruin the garment. I tried to twist and pull the button off at the same time, which sometimes works but not for me. I thought about the problem for a minute or two and then reasoned there have been a lot of people between Adam and Eve and myself so this might not be a new problem. I Googled the question of removing clothing security tags and was shocked to find out dozens and dozens of people have had this stupid problem. There were young girls literally in tears who had prom dresses, men with suits, some who lived out in the New York suburbs and dreaded going back into Manhattan to get the tag removed. One earlier victim suggested wearing the garment with the security tag and starting a new fashion statement. People reported using hammers, flat head screwdrivers and pliers to deal with the problem, some of which resulted in damaging the garment. Another suggested going to a store close to your home and ask them to remove the tag. This approach is iffy because they might not have the correct tool and the explanation process could generate more questions and an extended hassle. So I returned to the store where I bought the coat to have the tag removed by the clerk who gave me the package in the first place. I was not a happy camper, not even when he apologized and informed me that the sales lady who sold me the coat last Sunday was the one who should have removed the tag.

What a voice

Over 35 million viewers have seen this YouTube video of Susan Boyle but she is one of my favorite singers of the decade. I am passing on this link to a remarkable short video so that everyone can enjoy ( or re-enjoy) the moment. I bought several copies of her first CD in early December and sent them to each of my children and a couple of close friends. Ms. Boyle is currently touring Japan where I am sure she will be well received.
(This is from my blog.)

Looking back and forward

To say that 2009 was a tumultuous, momentous year for all of us is somehow not enough to describe how we are as we enter the second decade of the 21st century. Some good things happened in 2009, on a personal and family level and on a collective level with our fellow residents on this planet. Our family was accident free throughout the year, albeit we had our share of visits to doctors and hospitals. We are healthy and alive going into 2010, although the Matriarch resides in Skilled Nursing. We had some unemployment but this has been corrected as the year comes to an end. We had a small amount of success with investments, managing our money and meeting high costs in a tough economic year. The young people have done well in school and are growing in wonderful ways. We intensified friendships and fought off loneliness and discouragement; we have bright hopes for the future. Our search for pleasure and entertainment was satiated through good movies, TV and books, as well as associations with friends in group meetings, social settings and visits to local sites. We had some wins and losses in sports but we convince (or delude) ourselves 2010 will somehow be better. It is called living the dream. After all it took 85 years to win another World Series in Boston!
For our country, we inaugurated a new President and handed him a plate full of problems and opportunities. All things considered he has done well and his team steered the country through rough financial waters; the economy is picking up. The good people in the land have risen to the occasion and the naysayers have not carried the day. The nation remains at war in lands far away from our shores and thousands of brave men and women are out there defending us here at home. If there is a discordant note it is that these men and women are bearing the sacrifice, while at home we refuse to impose a war tax which would share the burden and reduce the debt. The New Year will see improvements in health care for most Americans; we cannot predict the final costs in terms of dollars but somehow Americans will muddle through. For more than two centuries “ican” has been a part of Americans.
In our state and local communities we face tough times and tough choices. Again, the resilience of our people will stand us in good stead. Major breakthroughs in job creation are already announced and spirits are on the rise. Practically everywhere men, women and children, are optimistic and looking forward to personal and collective opportunities and growth.
It is a good time to be alive in our family, in our country and in South Carolina.

They are at it again....

The prophets of doom and gloom who delight in knocking Congress and irritating the old people are out and about this Christmas season spreading lies and damn lies. The latest comes in an e-mail message, where the originator's identify has been stripped, claiming that the U.S. House and Senate have voted themselves thousand dollar pay increases for 2010 and social security recipients will not be getting a token cost of living increase. Furthermore, these false prophets said Medicare is going to $142.80 next year (currently $96.50).
I get so tired of this elder abuse so I checked this out. I went to Factcheck.com and learned "this claim is so far off the mark that it simply beggars belief. The claim is false. The fact is that Congress voted in March to give itself a zero pay raise in 2010. The language is in Public Law 111-8, the Omnibus Appropriation Act for the current fiscal year, which was signed March 11. Tucked away at the very end of the 466-page spending bill is the following language:

"It says quite simply that the automatic cost-of-living increase that might have gone into effect for members of the House and Senate in January "shall not take effect."

As to Medicare, I got a notice last week about my social security benefits for 2010 and it does not show any increase in Medicare costs for either my wife or myself.

I am off Twizzlers forever

I am thinking I should stay away from red licorice in the evening. Last night I had dinner in the Franke Bistro with a neighbor and her grand-daughter. It was a pleasant event as the grand lived in Geneva, New York, where I spent 1951-1953 while I was stationed at Sampson AFB. Later I watched the Dallas-New Orleans game and came away grateful that I am not into sports betting as I would have lost my shirt. Who thought Dallas, with several recent years of meltdowns in December, would beat New Orleans which was trying to go 14-0? During the game I chewed on three strawberry twists (red licorice sticks) and judging by the dream I had later I wonder if they were laced with LSD or did I pick up a package of peyote at the local grocers? You know what peyote is? That's what Tonto used to chew at night when he sat around the campfire drying the Long Ranger's underwear by hanging it on a stick over the campfire. When Tonto took an early retirement buyout and social security, he told Johnny Carson that after 30 years of cooking meals and washing the masked man's underwear he had enough. But I digress. Back to the dream. I was somewhere about 30 miles North of Charleston with my Lincoln Towncar. Some big bozo in a leather jacket was driving. I know not why. We were stopped and I was standing outside the car. A woman friend was there, but she eventually disappeared. A young woman dressed in yellow and nursing a baby came up to me and asked for a ride to Belvedere Court in a city where I used to live. I stared at her for a minute and saw she had a big clear plastic bag tied around her neck and draped over her breasts. It was full of milk and had a big nipple in the center of it. This is where the baby nursed. I wondered if she had any breasts but she and my lady friend told me this was the new age. Mothers pumped milk from their breasts and stored it in a bag so the baby could be nursed on its schedule without inconveniencing mom. I asked: "Where is this baby's father?" "He is in Iraq." "What is he doing there?" "He is in the army." "Ours or theirs?" I will pay you for the ride she said, and I said get in the car. I opened the back door and my oldest daughter was sitting there not saying a word. About this time my woman friend disappeared and a heavy set young lady showed up in the dream. She also wanted a ride. The car is big but this strange and large guy was under the wheel and I was taking the up front passenger seat. There is not a lot of room left I said. The heavy set girl started to cry so I told her to go around the other side and get in the back. So there we were going down the road. We were getting low on gas but I said we had enough. The next thing I woke up on a bed in the room I slept in as a young boy. The bozo was on the bed next to me sleeping. I don't know where my daughter, the nursing mother, the child, and the fat young lady were. The bozo woke up, embraced me and wanted to give me some investing advice; he was against a couple of Charleston investments I was considering. I shoved him away and told him to get off the bed. Then the early morning light was coming through the wooden venetian blinds in my room. That's when I decided no more Twizzlers (red licorice) in the evening.

Thanks for your prayers

Last night I had a discussion with The Big Guy. He came to me as I was dropping off to sleep and he sure was crabby. He called me a schmuck and asked, “What’s the matter with you?” And he didn’t give me a chance to respond before he continued. “All day long I’ve been bombarded with prayers, incantations, begging, beseeching, pestering, and soliciting - all up and down the east coast from Florida to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I even heard from your sister in California. Some people in Northern Virginia took time away from their national security work to put in a good word for you. And then it picked up in Myrtle Beach and Mt. Pleasant. Mt. Pleasant alone was enough to cause a near meltdown in the heavenly computer center. All kinds of people who live near you, a lot of women and some men, children, black and white, all on my case on your behalf. Active and retired Lutheran ministers (and by the way I had you in the Roman Catholic catalog) got into it. Around noon Matthew came to see me. He was acting for Luke who is off in Brussels with those Microsoft people celebrating the European Union dropping the browser monopoly charges that have been on the front burner for a couple of years. I put Luke in charge of information technology because he is the best educated of the apostles. He was a doctor and historian, as I hope you remember from your bible study classes. You schmuck. At first I thought it was those other schmucks at Notre dame looking for a coach who could win ten games a year, five years running. I told Matthew I sent them a good Catholic coach from Massachusetts with a sterling record. Then he told me it was you. I was having a latte with Mary Magdalene and we were reminiscing over old times, especially that last supper where she was beside me on my right side at the table. Didn’t I put you and your health problems in one of the best hospitals in the eastern half of the United States? And didn’t I give you a world class surgeon? And then you still have all these people bothering me at the busiest time of the year. Matthew told me that if the pressure did not subside the system would overload and fail. He said that millions of children would not be able to get through with their requests for Christmas. Dreams of toys, dogs and jobs for dad would not be received. We put in a call to Luke and asked him for a recommendation. He said originally the surgeon was going to keep you overnight in the hospital because you got a pacemaker in October and he wanted to keep an eye on you. Luke said this was unnecessary, that your heart was in good shape and we should suggest to the surgeon that he send you home a couple of hours after the surgery. Luke stressed that we should only make this as a suggestion because doctors like to be in charge. Your Guardian Angel told me two of that brood of children you have were on hand to take you home and you would not have to walk from Charleston to Mt. Pleasant, so we planted the ‘send him home’ seed. Unless it is a real emergency I don’t want to hear from you again before Christmas, unless you want to send a “thank you” - that is always in order.”
(This is from my blog at http://archibaldinsc.blogspot.com)

How Warren Buffett helped me earn a dollar

About a month ago I turned on my computer early one morning and brought up the Scottrade ticker showing my stock interests. One of my stocks, Burlington Northern railroad, showed a pre-market price $20 higher than the closing a day earlier. (I had a few shores of this because Warren Buffett held a lot of shares). The higher price was a computer glitch, surely, and planned to call the brokerage firm but it was early so I did a news check. To my surprise, Warren Buffett had announced during the night he would buy all of BN that he didn't already own and the stock jumped like it was on steroids. I never had a stock jump $20 in one day. I sold it pre-market, took my profit and said a silent prayer of thanks to the Sage of Omaha. All of this only heightened the interest I had in a lengthy Wall Street Journal story today about Mr. Buffett. Mr. Buffett said, among other things, that in this past year of investing dangerously he had looked "into the abyss," and some of the best decisions he made were deals he didn't do. The small investor (and I am minuscule dabbler: i.e. smaller than small) can't touch a share of Mr. Buffett's stock ($99,000 per share for Class A and $3300 a share Class B) but you can look at him from time to time and smile when he does something that puts money in your pocket.
(This is from my blog available here.)

Roper ER

December 8, 2009

Administrator
Roper Hospital
316 Calhoun Street
Charleston SC 29401

Dear Sir:

I need to tell you about two of your nurses in the ER, Tiffen and Ashley, who worked as a team yesterday, December 7, 2009. From the moment I reached the ER by ambulance around noon-time I was given first-class treatment by everyone concerned, including Dr. Clarkson, who was as fine a caring doctor as I could hope for. He was not a man in a hurry to the next case. I was his case.

Tiffen and Ashley worked over and on me until after seven in the evening on a painful (not to be helped) and ugly necessary procedure. They never once complained and throughout were solicitous of my well-being. They were highly professional in every sense of the word, and exhibited such personal compassion and empathy toward me that I came home thanking God I had met them. Believe me they are the best ambassadors for Roper and I hope everyone there appreciates what they bring to the table of medicine in your ER. If you need an endorsement of the staff of your ER, I am your man.

Please convey my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone in the ER and especially Dr. Clarkson, Tiffen and Ashley.

Sincerely,

Francis X. Archibald
(This is from my blog (htto://archibaldinsc.blogspot.com)

What are we becoming?

It is not enough that we can have pet food delivered to our front door but now we can send postcards from our iPhone and what's even more ridiculous is we can do for free. And if that is not enough my doorbell rings when my coffee maker is finished brewing my morning cup! (LOL).
What has happened to the colossus I grew up in. We went about our business growing peacefully and getting better and stronger all the time. When some SOBs attacked us we went to war and made things right in the world. There was a time when a young President said we will go to the moon in this decade and we did it.
Now look at us. We are sending more of our finest men and women off to fight in a country that is two centuries behind the rest of the world in human progress. They are chasing an enemy that is hard to find and even harder to kill. We are dithering in the congress over providing health care to almost all our citizens because some elected congressmen and senators are more afraid of the health care industry than the voters. We refuse to accept that the earth is warming, the icebergs are melting and alternative (to oil) sources of energy are in the best interests of all Americans and this country. We've got a congress that is so entrenched in all its trappings of comfort that we can't get past party lines and come together for the common good. I have never been in favor of term limits but when I look around at the dithering and procrastination in congress (and in state legislatures) I am coming around to one six year term for senators and one four year term for representatives. No re-elections to worry about, no need to curry favor to raise campaign money, no need to be beholden to the greed of the greediest. I am p....d o...
Damn, postcards from telephones! God almighty, what's next?

Buying from a catalog

Sometime in my youth I probably ordered a bumper sticker for my tricycle and it seems that since then I have been on the mailing list of every English language catalog publisher in the Western World - well at least in America.
And it pays to look and hesitate (procrastinate might be a better word) before ordering. Couple of cases at point:
The National Geographic catalog offers the Irish Donegal Tweed Cap for $62.00; Hammacher Schlemmer offers the identical cap for $49.95.
Hammacher Schlemmer offers 120 CD selector box that stores your CD and DVDs along with an index where you can make a choice and the desired CD or DVD pops up into your hand. Price: $149.95. You can get the identical product from the Herrington catalog for $89.95.
If you are in the market for a "learn to play Illuminated Fret Electric Guitar" you can get one of those for a $499.95 or for $179.95 you can order a "learn to play Violin and DVD of instructions."
There is no limit to the range of goods offered in these catalogs. Right now I am looking at the Vermont Country Store and a Large Brandy Plum Pudding. I will keep my readers informed.
(The foregoing is an e-mail version of a blog entry made this day. Click on the link for the complete blog.)