Needed: A large vacuum

I'm rather glad to know that, had I been in a situation like this, my husband would pick me up and walk us both out of there. In fact, had Mr. Peloski done just that, I'm sure he would have scored big points with the independent voters floating around right now. A "real man" earns a certain level of respect from society, even today.

From the Washington Post:

Whoopi Goldberg: Pelosi Admirer Extraordinaire

Sure, politicians always appreciate a warm welcome when they appear on daytime TV talk shows. But the welcome House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got today on ABC's chick TV show "The View" was more than warm - it was downright steamy.

Even before Pelosi walked on stage to take her seat at the round table, the show's moderator, Whoopi Goldberg, and its co-hosts - with former news anchor Barbara Walters leading the pack - started flirting with the speaker's husband, Paul, who was seated in the front row.

"You wanna take a look at Nancy Pelosi's handsome husband?" Walters asked the audience.

Yes, came the answer in the form of whooping and hollering. Poor guy was actually blushing. Then the show's hosts asked him how long he and Madame Speaker have been married.

"Forty-four years," Mr. Pelosi managed between pained glances in the direction of a blanket, a paper bag, anything to hide under.

Whoopi got the pleasure of introducing Speaker Pelosi, who she noted is the first woman speaker of the House who, somewhere along the way, managed to raise five children.

But Walters was still stuck on Mr. Pelosi, unfortunately for Mr. Pelosi. And this is where a little blushing turned to a Code Red alert, four-alarm fire.

Trying to shout over Whoopi and her other gabbing co-hosts and excited audience members, Barbara turned to Guest Pelosi and said she has heard Whoopi say before that she'd "do Paul Newman."

"And I think she'd like to do your husband as well," Walters deadpanned in that quintessential accent that made her the subject of late-night lampooning over the decades.

Of course, Whoopi being Whoopi, she couldn't let that one go, which is where the
speaker begins blushing.

Yes, Whoopi implicitly acknowledged, she'd like to do Mr. Pelosi - but she might take his wife while she's at it. "I would do her as well. But we should wait on that because you're still in office, I don't want to cause a problem."

Oh dear, would this were not live TV.

As you might expect, Speaker Pelosi remained silent underneath her signature permanent smile. And her press office later remained predictably mum on the specter of Whoopi-on-Speaker action.

You might also want to check out the comments left on this story. Quite a few of them are downright funny.

Life as a Hygienist

To work is good. Glad to be among the productive in our society. Now I only need to make twice as much money so I can hurry up and pay off school loans.

I am working in an office about 9 miles from the house. Friends have asked if we would move since my job was on the other side of town. (Sad isn't it?) No, we will not be moving. I like having a commute which takes long enough to get my engine warmed up and through a proper heat cycle.

The practice is bustling with activity and has a large staff despite only one dentist practicing in the office. I do my part as a hygienist. They do all their parts. I want to learn all their parts. There really is a lot going on that I don't see, even though I am as behind-the-scenes as it gets.

The patients I see now have a different perspective on their oral health from the ones who sought out the school clinic. Most who come to the school don't ever brush or floss. Many have never been to a dentist. Some may have never owned a toothbrush. They are willing to learn about what is bothering them because things got so bad.

Patients who come to a regular dental office have a high opinion of their oral habits, regardless of the true state of things in there. They take for granted their visits to the dentist twice per year. They must feel as though through association they will acquire some immunity or protection from oral problems.

People! You have to floss! Don't tell me you don't have any plaque in there. There's a ledge of tartar on your lower teeth that you can see whenever you smile! It's so big I could drive tent stakes into it!

Sorry, I get caught up sometimes. The point is, everyone needs to floss and brush. PROPERLY. If using the correct technique, there will be significantly less plaque accumulation, better health in your gums and bone structure, and little tartar to speak of.

I will need to describe such techniques in a future post.

Happy Labor Day! I am thankful I can say I have more work to do tomorrow!

Knockabout pt.2

THE QUEST FOR A PATIENT CONTINUES:

The few weeks prior to the exam led to a flurry of activity, seeking patients high and low, hoping for someone who fit the bill. Phones rang. Flyers were made, posted, and passed around. Stores and malls were staked out. The local community clinics were approached. Internet forums were solicited. Heck, even an ad on Craigslist. Suitable patients were not to be found.

Did I say "patients?" Yep. It turns out that I was not the only one seeking a patient. Classmate 1 was not confident with her patient when he showed up for a check the week before the exam. She was afraid there was insufficient calculus and wanted to find a back-up.

Classmate 2 was in a similar situation, also seeking a back-up patient.

Classmate 3 was without a patient altogether, though she tried to get one of the patients who went to an earlier exam. She was not successful in enticing him to be a WREB patient a second time.

Classmate 4 was one who took an earlier exam and was helping out in locating patients for the rest of us. What a saint.

Classmates 3 & 4 worked together, 2 worked with me, and 1 just worked. (She got a job as an assisstant until her license comes in.) We covered about a 100 mile spread physically and much further with the aid of the internet. Alas, not much came about. Lots of hits for folks willing to volunteer, but none who qualified.

Two days before the exam, Classmate 2 and I met a lady about 70 miles from home. She had arranged for us to meet with several friends and co-workers of her husband. That night, at about 9:30 pm, I found a woman who seemed to fit the criteria. I would not know for certain until I got her in the clinic and got x-rays, but there was a beam of light shining through.

That did not last long, as the woman, was afraid to leave her children with someone for the day. She is illegally in the country and fears for her family. I cannot say that I blame her, but Classmate 2 (originally from Mexico but is here legally) recommends against using her as a primary due to the possibility of complications with her family. We left, not having failed, but without the ring of great success.

As we headed up the road, I got a call from Classmate 3 who was seeing people 60 miles from us that night. She declared that success was with us afterall as she found two patients! They could be at the clinic the next day.

I continued with my plan to see patients who called in from the flyers and such, but with no success. More calls were made, and in the process, I made an interesting discovery. The guy who had been a previous WREB patient claimed he had been planning to go with Classmate 3 all along. I let Classmate 3 know that she needed to get in contact with this guy quick to confirm.

By the time one of Classmate 3's newly identified patients showed up, she had confirmed that she did have a patient in this other guy afterall. I had a patient. The other two who were looking for back-ups had decided to stick with who they already had.

Life was good, even though it was the day before the exam when I found my patient.

What A Knockabout Of Pure Fun That Was! pt. 1

FINDING A PATIENT:

As a recent dental hygiene graduate, I hope to practice soon. Practicing requires getting a license in that state. Getting a license requires taking the National Board Dental Hygiene Exam , which is a written exam, and a regional clinical exam where your performance in cleaning a patient's teeth is scored. The Western Regional Examining Board administers those clinical exams for several states.

Some of my classmates took the exam in Dallas in April. Others took in in San Antonio at the start of May. I took it last Friday.

The exam itself is pretty basic. You clean a quarter of a mouth in 2.5 hours. Sounds simple, right? Well, it would be if I could hang on to a patient.

The patient requirements for the WREB exam are pretty tight. The patient must have heavy subgingival (below the gumline) calculus (tartar) deposits. Twelve is the magic number. 12. As in twelve large pieces of subgingival calculus in one quadrant of the mouth, or up to one quadrant plus four teeth anywhere else in the mouth.

I found my WREB patient early on. I was the first one in my class to have a WREB patient. I was excited, especially since it was our good friend and neighbor. I brought her in again in February to begin planning for my exam. I was rather upset to find out that she had brushed and flossed every day since the last appointment a couple of months earlier, diminishing the size and quantity of the deposits, and no longer qualified as a WREB patient. Good for her, bad for me.

I began to search again. It took another two and a half months to find another suitable candidate. She is a nurse in a retirement home. She said that she understood what it was like to have such big exams for getting a license to practice and agreed to do whatever she could to help, including go with me to my exam in Houston. Sadly, that was the last time I saw her. She has not returned any of my calls or messages since.

Which brings us to about three weeks before the exam. I have no WREB patient and no prospects.

It is the last week of school and I need a Class IV (a particularly difficult class of patient) to complete the semester and graduate. I have nobody on the list, and the clinic has not screened a Class IV since November. She walks in off the street one afternoon. I get her back in for two consecutive days to finish her periodontal treatment just in time for the semester to close out. Frustratingly, she would have been pretty good for WREB, except for the part where had I not completed her treatment, I wouldn't have been able to graduate, and therefore would not have been allowed to sit for the WREB exam.

The semester closes out without success at finding a WREB patient.

Ultimate Bed (for sleeping)

Is it worth it?

From Fox News:
The $50,000 Bed: Could It Possibly Be Worth It?

Everyone loves to turn off the alarm and hop back into bed ... but would snoozing be any sweeter if you shelled out $50,000 or more for a place to sleep?

A small but growing number of Americans are purchasing beds from Hollandia, an Israeli company that offers “off-the-shelf” beds from $10,000 to $50,000.

My husband can barely get me out of bed in the morning as it is. I never want to go to bed and I never want to get out of bed!

Hollandia was founded 25 years ago by Israeli artichoke farmer Isaac Barssessat, who was inspired to start his company after a trip to the Netherlands led him to a bed that helped relieve his chronic back pain.

“The idea is that people spend 50, 60, 70, $100,000 for an automobile they're proud of, but if they're in it for more than two hours a day, they complain they were in the car all day and their back hurts,” said David Ashe, CEO of Hollandia International U.S.

Farmers always have that different outlook on life that just makes way too much sense sometimes.

Yes, I would buy it... if I won the lottery or something...

You give Unions a bad name

A rather revolting look at what our society has become:

From the Houston Chronicle:

Ninety-nine HISD teachers who received performance bonuses are being told this week they have to pay back an average of $745 because the district accidentally overpaid them.

...

Although this affects less than 1 percent of HISD's 12,500 teachers, the error should not have been made," HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said in a written statement. "We regret it and apologize to those instructional staff members."

The head of the HISD's largest teachers union, however, is advising her members to keep the money.

"If it's the district's error, then the district should bear the loss," said Gayle Fallon, whose Houston Federation of Teachers represents about 6,500 employees.

"If you tell someone they deserve money and put it in their bank account, you've got a helluva nerve taking it back."

Fallon said she is encouraging teachers not to sign the form authorizing the district to deduct the money from their paycheck. Without the signed form, the district can't take back the money, Fallon said.

"And if they direct them to sign it, we'll see them in court," she added.

Asked to respond to Fallon's comments, Abbott said simply, "The money will need to be returned.

Good, honest, and for fairness for all doesn't describe unions anymore. In fact, it hasn't for a while. If a mistake was made, then I would encourage the people to pay it back, if at all possible. I know that it may be impossible for a couple of people but I would definitely encourage them to try.

And I'm not just preaching like a hypocrite. I'm sure that's the first thought that many people will have as they read this post. I had the opportunity last week to return a check to Walmart that the cashier had rung up improperly. I could have kept the money. After all, it's just Walmart, another global coorporation without a face already rich beyond comparison, that isn't going to miss my hundred bucks. But there was a great amount of thanks in the face of the manager and I'm sure that the cashier, who I found out was just out of training, is thankful too. She was a nice girl but she messed up. There are in fact, many faces in a global coorporation.

Texas AG issues order, screws up

What, you've never heard of an Attorney General messing up? Well Greg Abbot pulled a fast one last week and brought Texas Courthouses to an almost complete standstill. This may be one for the history books. Have there been any other decisions that brought everything to a standstill like this? Okay, there probably have.

District and county clerks from across the Brazos Valley hovered in a state of chaos for the second day in a row Tuesday as elected officials scrambled to protect them from possible arrest if they're unable to comply with an old law that has new implications.

Clerks in the Brazos Valley, just like those from every other Texas county, have been in a frenzy for several days following the release of a legal opinion from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott that requires Social Security numbers to be removed from open records before the documents can be made public.

The law on which the opinion was based is designed to protect Texans' personal information from identity theft.

The issue is privacy. The AG issued a new opinion on an old law that is already in effect stating now that absolutely no documents should be made public with social security information on them. Currently, the clerks offer that as an option to customers. Well, absolutely no document includes a lot of documents. A lot of documents. This order he made would require every single document that is filed to be re-examined and a duplicate copy made available to the public with the privacy information redacted.

But today the AG suspended that order with a 60-day reprive to analyze the effect. Oh yeah, I can personally tell Mr. Abbott how difficult is it to continue a courtcase when you can't get copies of the files you need.

I don't think the real issue is privacy. I think the real problem is that credit agencies are willing to sign over thousands of dollars in credit and product to people without proper proof of identification. They are also too willing to just ignore the problem and eat the cost of theft as a "just doing business" expense. Then they pass these costs onto their good consumers and you and I wind up eating it. Stop the problem there and then we won't have to pay millions to re-do our state's county and district clerks.

Links:
Order that paralyzed clerks' offices suspended
Brazos Valley adjusts to AG opinion

Tuna Alert

If you're into buying cheap, then you might want to stock up on those little cans of tuna. From this report, we can conclude that prices are going to go up...again.

EU Announces Cuts to Tuna Quotas

(AFP) - The European Commission on Tuesday published reduced quotas for the fishing of tuna for 2007, part of a global agreement to prevent the immensely popular fish from being hunted to extinction.

The total blue-fin tuna catch for the EU as a whole was set at 16,779.55 tonnes for the year, down from 18,301 tonnes in 2006.

The move follows a decision by an international commission to cut the total hunt of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean by 20 percent by 2010.

The article fails to mention what increase in population of tuna they expect in 15 years and predictions of expected tonnage of harvest will be under these future ideal conditions.

Finding the Right Christmas Tree

It really is important.



Merry Christmas to one and all.

I found this a couple of years ago and saved it. I haven't seen it on the web since. The website it came from died, or was out of business for a long time. The 2moto.com site is listed as under construction right now, but that's a lot more than can be said for the past couple of years.

This Christmas, I decided that it was too good to let another year pass without reposting it. I'd give more credit if I knew who to give it to.

Thanks to those who executed a memorable holiday skit!

Oh, and a Happy New Year to everyone too!

Math isn't the universal language

This is a transcript of a conversation between a series of Verizon Customer Service Representatives and a customer named George. The conversation lasted about 27 minutes. You can listed to it here if you wish, but reading the transcript will take less time.

George has started a blog to document the trials of getting Verizon to recognize the difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents after he was billed .002 dollars per kilobyte, not the quoted .002 cents per kilobyte for wireless internet service. It really is sad that so many people cannot grasp the conversion from dollars to cents or cents to dollars.

Watch the Illegal Immigrants!

Texas has opened to public viewing the first fifteen or so of cameras installed on the border. They are just test cameras to help the state decide which system they want to purchase right now. You can click HERE to go to the site and view the live-action feed. The site is appropriately named, "Texas Virtual Neighborhood Border Watch." If you see something suspicious, hit a button and alert the authorities!

CNN had a video on their website with two Texans talking about it. The guy for it said he would be happy to do his part and watch. He also said he's be happy if they spent a million dollars on this program. I wonder if anybody told him they're already planning on spending 5 million on it. :) Another lady, the opposing view, seemed to be worried about vigilantism and complained that the public is not trained but government officials already are. But heh, I think I've been perfectly trained to watch tv. :)

Television station KVIA has a pretty good article about the cameras if you want to read more.

Candy Alert!

I like to refer to Halloween as the time when parents make their kids work and slave for candy especially for the parent. Did you really think that those parents let that hyper 4 year old eat another 20lbs of candy that he acquired?

From Hallmark Magazine:

Parents Confess to Stealing Halloween Candies!
Hallmark Magazine Survey Discloses the Most Popular Snacks Parents Swipe From Their Kids' Trick-Or-Treat Bags

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- You suspected the truth when you were a kid, and now parents have confessed that it was so: They really DO steal candy from their kids' Trick-or-Treat bags! According to a recent poll published in the premiere issue of Hallmark Magazine, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup was the candy parents were most likely to swipe. Other popular targets of parental pilfering:

1. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (24%)
2. Almond Joy (12%)
3. Snickers (9%)
4. Butterfinger (8%)
5. Kit Kat (6%)

"My parents always told me they were just keeping my bag so I wouldn't eat it all at once and get sick," said Amy Palanjian, Assistant Editor, Hallmark Magazine, and the author of the article. "This is so disappointing."

A noble minority claimed that they would never steal candy from their kids' treat bags. "We don't believe them for a second," said Editor-in-Chief Lisa Benenson, "but maybe that's just because all the moms here at Hallmark Magazine are just a little bit too fond of their chocolate."

"Researchers have found that the average American consumes 22 pounds of candy a year, but looking at the empty candy wrappers around our office, I'd say we're on the high side of that estimate," adds Benenson.

Just in time for Halloween, researchers at Hallmark Magazine also unveil a Sweet History of candy on page 17 of the September/October issue.

Did you know that:
* Good & Plenty is the oldest branded American Candy, dating back to 1893?
* Tootsie Rolls were included in WWII rations because they can withstand severe weather?
* Candy corn dates back to 1898. Nine billion pieces of it will be produced during 2006?
* Snickers, America's best-selling candy bar, is named after the Mars family horse?

For more candy facts and the full Sweet History of candy, check out the current issue of Hallmark Magazine or go online at http://www.hallmarkmagazine.com.About Hallmark Magazine

Hallmark Magazine is the women's lifestyle magazine that talks to women about the true substance of their lives -- family, friends, homes and community. The magazine is available through subscription as well as in booksellers, grocery stores, drug stores, mass merchants and Hallmark Gold Crown(R) stores across the country. Hallmark Magazine is a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc. SOURCE Hallmark Magazine

Bryan PD TRT

As much as I like the town I live in, it has many of the same problems as anywhere else. This is an excerpt from SWAT USA, which is a series aired on Court TV featuring SWAT teams across the nation performing their duties in the field. Bryan PD’s TRT (Tactical Response Team) was featured in an episode which originally aired on 08 Oct 2006. The first half of the show was dedicated to the Bryan TRT while the second half featured San Antonio SWAT, specifically their team leader Willie Cantu, who is faced with a hostage situation. (I haven't found that part of the show yet.)

Lights out, Lights on, Lights out

Yippee! The Brazos Valley had a brown out for about three hours, and our part of town went completely dark for about another two hours, from 8:30 to 10:30pm yesterday. I was hoping to see some stars but a bright moon lit the entire street and sky instead. Purty!

We had planned on ordering pizza for dinner last night but were thwarted by the brownouts. The pizza man said, "Try back in 15 minutes," and then "Try back in 20 minutes." My kids know what generators are but didn't understand why the hospitals have them but not the pizza joints. Hubby got the bright idea to just drive and get whatever pizza Double Dave's had left, but he was greeted at the restaurant by a line going out the door! Everybody else in town suddenly decided they wanted pizza too. I took forever to get our dinner and Double Dave's shorted us a pepperoni roll, but the family loved it. Unfortunately, Double Dave's fried one of their ovens with the brownouts.

When the lights went out completely, the neighbors started coming out with lawn chairs. One parent broke open some Halloween glow necklaces and passed them out to the kids running everywhere. Hubby broke open an old army glow stick and was disappointed to find it was an infared glow stick. (It glows but only if you're wearing night-vision goggles!)

I stayed up past midnight to reset all the clocks the easy way.

The news reports said a $1 million transformer blew up but I really think that's just a cover-up. Here's some more realistic reasons that the power went up:

(1) Organized revenged attack by squirrels, for the multiple deaths of their comrades.
(2) Somebody at the Power Plant forgot his anniversary and needed a good excuse.
(3) Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger needed power and we'll find out why on the next episode.
(4) Power diverted to the Houston Texan's training room in attempt to revive team.
(5) Texas A&M University experiment gone right.

My thoughts on Foley

Congressman Foley of Florida has been exposed as a predator in recent Instant Message (IMs) conversations he had with young pages on the Hill. First, the facts:

Congressman Foley sent some emails to young men that were later reported to authorities. The emails were described as "overtly friendly", it was discussed with Foley, and the issue was thought over. However, some really nasty IMs to the pages have recently surfaced. They went way beyond "friendly" and have crossed the line in sexual solicitation.

I am not calling for the head of Speaker of the House like some. I disagree that Hastert and party are in any way to blame. You simply don’t go around accusing people of attempted child solicitation without more proof. The emails alone just don’t cut it.

Now I wonder about those that held onto the IMs. After all, we’re being told that somebody has been “shopping” these IMs to reporters for a while now. I've heard “months” being tossed around. (From the Foley campaign, I believe.) If true, This person/these people should have federal charges brought against them for failing to report the abuse. I recall how the blogosphere spit upon that Watergate tattle-taler, who reported the fiasco to a reporter instead of the police or a justice authority. I see parallels between these two.

Frankly, I can’t figure out how this information would have been collected by a group to release it. How many sources are producing/releasing these IMs? I’d like to learn more about the big picture.