by Rupe | Nov 20, 2011 | Not So Recent Reads
Title: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Summary
“Life changes fast….You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” These were among the first words Joan Didion wrote in January 2004. Her daughter was lying unconscious in an intensive care unit, a victim of pneumonia and septic shock. Her husband, John Gregory Dunne, was dead. The night before New Year’s Eve, while they were sitting down to dinner, he suffered a massive and fatal coronary. The two had lived and worked side by side for nearly 40 years.
The weeks and months that followed “cut loose any fixed idea I had about death, about illness, about probability and luck…about marriage and children and memory…about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.”
In The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion explores with electric honesty and passion a private yet universal experience. Her portrait of a marriage, and a life, in good times and bad, will speak directly to anyone who has ever loved a husband, a wife, or a child.
My Comments:
Probably one of the most important books I have read. Its insights are quite profound, as if one was given the chance to look in on someone being emotionally dissected. Ms Didion is an exquisite writer who is almost mythic in some respects. Being able to stand back from the pain of loosing loved ones and garnering the courage to share that experience is telling. I absolutely admire her for that. She is truly great and I very much recommend this book.
Grab it from Amazon
by Rupe | Oct 31, 2011 | Fitness
Narrative:
Went for a pretty hard run today…definitely felt it. Â The run was hard because it was all road work with car going back and forth. Â I haven’t had one of those in a very long time. Â Plus, I had a lot of hill work as well; have not done much of that in a long while either. Â Surprisingly though, it did not register much in way on caloric burn. Â I suppose that means my body is relatively fit. Â I was also fighting the snot monster along the way. Â Still felt a bit week, hence no crunches.
Cardio: 52 mins
Distance: 4.8
Calories: 421 (Run)
Crunches: 0
Tracker
Total Distance: 321.64 miles (Goal 400/78.36 remain)
Total Calories: 77,309(Goal 80,000/2,691 remain)
Total Crunches: 8080 (Goal 25,000/16,920)
Good livin’…keep movin’!
-R-
by Rupe | Oct 31, 2011 | Health-Wellness-Sex
Like a lot of companies, Veridian Credit Union wants its employees to be healthier. In January, the Waterloo, Iowa-company rolled out a wellness program and voluntary screenings.
It also gave workers a mandate – quit smoking, curb obesity, or you’ll be paying higher healthcare costs in 2013. It doesn’t yet know by how much, but one thing’s for certain – the unhealthy will pay more.
The credit union, which has more than 500 employees, is not alone.
In recent years, a growing number of companies have been encouraging workers to voluntarily improve their health to control escalating insurance costs. And while workers mostly like to see an employer offer smoking cessation classes and weight loss programs, too few are signing up or showing signs of improvement.
Click source link to continue…
Source: Reuters
My Comments:
There are no secrets about my feeling with regards to people who routinely abuse their bodies; I have written about it on few occassions here. Â I absolutely believe that those who overeat to obesity and smoke or do both jointly or separately should pay more for healthcare. Â I do understand some social implications of this move, and support a case by case review, but for the most part this would be justified.Â
by Rupe | Oct 30, 2011 | what the...?
They served their country, and now the
y’re being left out in the cold.Soldiers who have returned from battlegrounds in Iraq and Afghanistan are twice as likely to be living on the streets than other Americans, a new study has found.
The study by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs says that from October 2009 to September 2010, an astounding 144,842 veterans were homeless for at least one night.
“This is unacceptable and we’re committed to fixing the problem,†a Housing and Urban Development spokesman said.
The problem is most rampant in California, which leads the country with 25 percent of the homeless veteran population. About half of all homeless vets live in California, Florida, New York and Texas, even though these states make up just 32 percent of the total population.
Most of the disenfranchised don’t have anybody to turn to. As many as 96 percent are alone in the world and only 66 percent have a family, the study found.
Veterans are considered “more financially secure†than nonveteran civilians but “homelessness is a far greater risk,†with 1-in-9 vets trying to survive on the streets, the study said.
Many of the homeless vets suffer from a disability, which could include physical injuries, mental illness or substance abuse problems.
And with the military set to leave Iraq by the end of the year, there may soon be more veterans on the streets.
There has been a 3 percent drop in the number of homeless veterans since 2009, but the study shows how much work remains before the Obama administration can fulfill its pledge to end homelessness among veterans by 2014.
My Comments:
So I am reading this article yesterday, and started to find myself  
getting pissed off at the author; here we go again, another Mr Freaking obvious pointing out what’s wrong with our little democratic experiment, wasting words…dude no one could give a rat’s nut-sack anyways.
But the more I reflect on it, the more I realized how misplaced my emotions were on this.  Yep, maybe the piece was self-serving, but sh!t, at least he is bring it to the fore, and highlight the ills – but what can be said about our vastly inept and self-serving government; the one that pitches flowery words at this sick problem as it lines its pocket with our tax dollars, sends our young off to fight and die in distant lands, only to scorn and discriminate against those lucky or unlucky enough to make it back in one or more pieces.   This literally turns my friggin’ stomach to the core. Â
Having worn the uniform, I suppose I might be bias on this point; but for a country that claims its foundings on “Christianity” principles, whatever the heck that means, I find this most ironic and shameful; then again, irony has been a part of the American legacy…hasn’t it? Â
by Rupe | Oct 30, 2011 | Fitness
Narrative:
First workout day after being off for over week. Â I have been pretty much down with the flu for roughly a week straight – aches, sneezes, coughs and all. Â So today I slid back into the groove. Â I ran a new route that I recently walk. Â I still haven’t even measure it yet. Â I ran the route once, and then a quick 2-miler around my block. Â Also, still haven not lift any weights in over a month, still the aches have not gone away. Â I have to go see the doctors.
Cardio: 55 mins
Distance: 4.7
Calories: 809 (Run)
Crunches: 150
Tracker
Total Distance: 316.84 miles (Goal 400/83.16 remain)
Total Calories: 76,888(Goal 80,000/3,112 remain)
Total Crunches: 8080 (Goal 25,000/16,920)
Good livin’…keep movin’!
-R-
“Life changes fast….You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” These were among the first words Joan Didion wrote in January 2004. Her daughter was lying unconscious in an intensive care unit, a victim of pneumonia and septic shock. Her husband, John Gregory Dunne, was dead. The night before New Year’s Eve, while they were sitting down to dinner, he suffered a massive and fatal coronary. The two had lived and worked side by side for nearly 40 years.