Recall on... everything!

I received an email this afternoon from Parenting Magazine with news that a massive recall has been issued on ALL roman shades and roll-up window shades. Basically any window treatment that has a cord poses a potentially serious threat. Parenting lays it out for us - by the numbers:

"...millions of kids have grown up safely in homes with these kinds of shades (WCSC reports that roughly five million Roman shades and three million roll-up blinds are sold each year)..."

That's a lot of shades. Moreover, that's a lot of naked windows tonight! Really, how many parents threw privacy to the wind and took down their blinds as soon as they heard about the recall? At first I thought it was all a bit extreme -- but as I sit here at the computer, the only visible window has a loose cord (aka noose) at Josie's current level. So yes, I will agree that these blinds could potentially cause harm, and I will probably tighten this particular loose cord in our house.

But on the lighter side of things, let's examine other household items that might be the next recall:

Door Knobs

Imagine a 7 year old running through the doorway and clipping his head on one of these. You could poke your eye out!

Ovens
These things can get pretty hot...

Stairs

Treacherous!!!

Toilets

What? People are asked all the time if they've fallen in! It could happen.

In other words - be careful around the house!

True Confessions of a Secretary

The June 2009 issue of Vanity Fair features an exclusive interview with Bernie Madoff's secretary, who held the job for 25 years. I'm so very intrigued by her story. Assuming she is telling the truth and knew nothing of Madoff's illegal activities, this woman's exposure has surely left secretaries everywhere wondering, "What is my boss doing that I don't know about?" Myself included! Executive assistant, office administrator, receptionist - I'm a secretary, no matter how you look at it, and I cannot imagine such a large scandal getting past me. A small scandal, even. Sort of makes me wonder what Madoff had his secretary doing. For 25 years, her job might have been quite dull. Then everything in her life got very, very interesting... Watch the interview and see what I mean.

Amtrak Travel

Over the weekend, the NYT Travel Section featured a story about transportation via Amtrak.  I've been wanting to travel somewhere by train - lo and behold, Amtrak's "Cardinal Route" stops at both the Cincinnati and Charlottesville stations!  I looked into train travel from Louisville to Charlottesville once before, but the only option was the Amtrak BUS.  (No thank you, I'll drive.) 

The trip from Louisville to Charlottesville is approximately 7.5 hours.  Very drivable.  But the trip from Louisville to Cincinnati to catch the train is only 1 hour!  

Before I get too wound up, let me lay it out for you:

The Pros:

• Cheaper than flying
  
• Appears to have fewer restrictions than flying
  
• Saves gas
  
• Keeps the miles down on  your car
  
• You can get up to walk around
  
• Sleeper cars!
  
• Dining cars!!
  
• Downtime to do plenty of reading, taxes, solitaire, etc.
  
• Children under 2 ride for free; children 2-15 are 50% off
• AAA discount for adults
• For children, the AAA discount adds another 10% off to the 50% off!  (aka 60% off!)
• The train actually goes to Charlottesville and not to Louisville.  We need to take the train just so Amtrak thinks this is a high demand destination and keeps it on their route.
  

The Cons:

• 11 hours travel time (plus an hour to get to Cincy)
  
• Train seemingly always leaves Cincy at 3am
  
• Train seemingly always arrives in Cincy at 1am
  
• Sleeper cars are $200 extra :(
  
• Could get BORING if you travel alone

This is just a rough list of my first thoughts on the subject.  Maybe we'll try it once?

Ecuador: MIA

This morning on my way to work, I heard a story on NPR about geography textbooks that had a slight error:  there were 2 Paraguays and no Ecuador!  I checked out the story, and sure enough, Brazil's 6th graders will have trouble locating their South American neighbors.  Funny story!  Bolivia made the cut, but no country was luckier than Paraguay, the country that gained a lot of territory without much effort!  "[This] is something that even Paraguay's military generals could not accomplish during their 1864-1870 war against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in which historians say landlocked Paraguay dreamed of capturing a slice of Brazil's coastline."

Who made this map??  Paraguay, after the whole war thing didn't work out?  It seems to me that these countries been in their current locations for awhile - at least since the last textbooks were printed...

Purse Burglar Caught!

The Purse Burglar has been caught!!  A bit of trivia:

• He is known to have spent over an hour in houses when the homeowners were sleeping.
• Purses were not all that he fancied; he ordered pay-per-view adult movies while he hung out.
• He is being charged with 61 burglaries, among other things.  (Hasn't he been busy!)
• Using the burglarized home's address, he would call for a cab to make his escape.  If the cab didn't pan out, he would take the homeowner's car to get away.
• He confessed!

Detectives say he had "plagued" the East End of Louisville.  One story said the suspect had a death wish.  I'm not sure I buy that one - don't you think if he had a death wish, he would have done something more daring?  Or gone down with something more than purses?  Seems fairly tame to fulfill a death wish, but what do I know!  

Off to watch the 12 o'clock news for more info...

Not to Offend - but you're dumb! PART 2

Re: my previous post - the Winston Man died of cancer last week.  (!!!!)

Not to offend - but you're dumb!

I started seeing a new hairstylist, and over the course of my first h/c with her, I told the entire salon that no one under 60 should smoke.  It occurred to me later that I might have offended the 20- and 30-somethings who were also getting their hair cut, dying for a cigarette break.  But who are we if we don't have opinions?  I'm sticking by it - if you're over 60, you are exempt because you might have been smoking before everyone knew how bad it really is, and you have a 45 year addiction.  It might be hard to quit.  But under 60, well, you know the risks and chose to put your life on the line.  Seriously!

Now I read about college students who have taken up pipe smoking, and I think, "do they think they're cool?"  Not fooling me, Joe Camel.  Smoking is not for me.  In fact, it's not for anyone, unless you have a death wish.  Maybe that is harsh.  But so is smoking, on your lungs (apparently not pipe smoking, but whatever), gums, teeth, throat, etc etc etc etc.  Gross, and dangerous!  

Of course I know what a Klingon sword is... don't you?

While wandering around the internet and friends' facebook profiles today, I came across an article about a man in CO who robbed two 7-Elevens with a Klingon sword.  Most people could picture the robbery if it had occurred with a gun.  Fewer people could imagine what really happened, as I doubt everyone knows what a Klingon sword is.

But I do.

Thanks to my dad, I know more than the average woman (and general person, probably) about Klingons and other character species from Star Trek.  I think my uncle (dad's brother) actually taped every single episode of Star Trek EVER (not just the Original Series with Captain Kirk, but also the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager... you get the idea).

I like that I grew up as a Trekkie by association.  I can name at least five different species (Klingon, Ferengi, Romulan, Changeling, Vulcan) that regularly occurred on the show, and identify which character is what species.  I can quote the introduction from the Next Generation in my sleep, backwards and forwards.  I had a crush on Wesley Crusher.  My favorite Star Trek movie is probably the most well-liked among the general population - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  But how many regular folks have a favorite Star Trek movie?  I will tell you that the later movies aren't so good.  Nemesis?  Not again, thanks.

My House Is Worth What?

We've been in our new house since the end of September and I love it more and more each day.  So when I read about a woman in Seattle who refused to sell her house to developers for $1 million, I asked myself how much I really love our house.  Would I consider selling for $1 million??

Edith Macefield simply did not want to move.  I know how she feels, even after only putting in 4 months of heart, soul, sweat, and money into making the house our home.  When we bought the house (a 4000 sq.ft. ranch), I said that we could potentially live in this house for the rest of our lives, after raising our children and our hips have given out.  After the runaround it took to actually buy the place, never moving again sounds like the perfect plan.  But if offered $1 million?  We could pay off our mortgage, buy the next house with cash, and still have money left over for a sizable renovation, not to mention our baby's (or maybe even babies') college tuition down the road.

Edith's stand against the destruction of her home and commercialization of her property seems like a noble venture.  For a woman of her age and experience, I would have probably taken the same stand.  What a tough cookie!  Escaped from a concentration camp, for crying out loud.  No wonder she put up a fight when someone threatened her nest.  I admire her.  But in my current stage of life, I'd sell our house for $1 million.  Ask me again at 80.

My Beef with WSJ.com

A small part of my job requires me to find newspaper articles online that were first found in the print edition, particularly from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and then print them out for filing.  Political bias aside, NYT online is super nice b/c pretty much any article from the past 2 centuries is free, and they have good "printer friendly" formatting, although their pictures are never included.  WSJ on the other hand is a bit stingy in the articles they supply to the regular reader.  Articles available to online subscribers (which does not necessarily include the print subscribers) can be purchased by average folk for $3 or something crazy.  Lately I've noticed that a lot more articles have been available for free, which is fantastic because their printer friendly formats include the pictures from the article - the saving grace of WSJ.  That must have been a cruel tease because now, the whole WSJ website has changed for the worse - their printer friendly formatting is in a tiny font, and no pictures!  Also, I just tried to search for an article from Feb 2008, only to find out that you can only search for the past 3 months.  Boo on WSJ.  

Spellen errers

I was looking into the downsides to Splenda and other artificial sweetners, when I came across a man's description of his experience with headaches associated with eating Splenda. He predicted that if he had consumed more Splenda on one particular occasion, the effects would have rendered him "unconches." I took me a second to realize what the word meant. Something along the lines of unconscious, I'd imagine. Gave me a little chuckle.

By the way, my research into Splenda lead me to Truvia, a natural sweetener made from the herb stevia. Truvia is up for approval from the FDA (not like that makes a huge difference in whether or not it's safe...), but you can buy it already from www.truvia.com.

C is for cookie (or China, or...)

If you've watched any of the Beijing Olympics, you've probably noticed the extremely young Chinese gymnasts, questionably too young to compete.  Commentators, news anchors, and U.S. patriots alike have all commented on these babyfaced competitors, some beating their of-age counterparts for the coveted medals.  I even heard NBC broadcast allegations that the Chinese government could have possibly tampered with official documents like birth certificates and passports to ensure the eligibility of these athletes.  Now for digital proof, a hacker has exposed several websites that had shown hard evidence that two girls in question were only 14 - only to see the information vanish from those websites shortly after.  

Could it be mere coincidence that China and cheater start with the same letter?  

Give the gold to Nastia!!

Dave who?

Saxophonist LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band died yesterday after suffering injuries in an ATV accident in June.  In all honesty, I probably would not like DMB as much if Charlottesville was not my hometown.  But I remember one of my band teachers telling my class stories about how he taught members of DMB, inspiring us to practice (but more likely making us listen to DMB instead of practicing).  Of course, their songs were played more often and everyone had a DMB t-shirt in the city where Dave, LeRoi, and the rest got their start.  I even went to their concert at Scott Stadium in 2001, a noteworthy performance 7 years after making it big.   I think it was 7, anyway.  

I'd imagine LeRoi's death is the buzz around Charlottesville.  Not so much Dave-love in Kentucky, so I've noticed.  Kind of like no one in Charlottesville has heard of My Morning Jacket (you know, a Louisville band, also successful, played on the Waterfront on Saturday)...  But the Cville connection is there, and I'm a little sad to lose LeRoi.  I'll have to play a tribute "Ants Marching" on the way home tonight.

Fat Ol' Kentucky

Front page news today:  Kentucky is one of the fattest states, and it's getting worse despite our best efforts.  More than 40% of Kentuckians are overweight; 28% are "severely overweight," including one 33 year old who was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  Although the most common form on diabetes, Type 2 usually affects older people (older than 33, for sure), and obesity and diabetes are seriously linked.    According to the American Diabetes Association, "While the [Diabetes Prevention Program] also showed that some medications may delay the development of diabetes, diet and exercise worked  better."  Prevention is key - Get moving Kentucky!

Whole Foods Is No Better Than Walmart

About 10 days ago, I was half-watching the news, half-dozing on the couch, when a story came on about yet another beef recall.  Big deal!  Old news!  Happens all the time!  

But -

My ears perked and my jaw dropped when I heard the beef was recalled from WHOLE FOODS stores across the nation, including Kentucky.  The high priced, high and mighty, "safe" grocery store is no better than Walmart, the store that usually gets the short end of the stick.  Forget China, forget cheap labor - there can be problems anywhere, some just at a loftier price.

KY: Working on Alternative Fuel

The trip to VA for the wedding was less expensive than it could have been - gas prices are "down," relatively speaking.  I took more science classes in the year following graduation from W&M than I did during my entire 4 years of liberal arts, and to my surprise, I loved chemistry and was pretty darn good at it.  Too bad I didn't stick with it b/c I would LOVE, LOOOVE to come up with an alternative fuel source for the U.S.  I WILL make bio-diesel in the backyard/garage one day.  Until then, my fellow Kentuckians are working on ways to eliminate America's dependence on foreign oil.  Their plan will take Kentucky coal and convert it to liquid - aka Diesel!  Genius.  

#1 Louisville!

Louisville was voted America's Most Livable City by the U.S. Conference of Mayors this year!  The Courier-Journal reported that Louisville topped Las Vegas, Orlando, Seattle, and others in the Large City category.  Personally, I find the city very livable - and likable!

Farmer's Market: A Lesson in Genetics

I just heard about one of the first Farmer's Markets to start in the area, and I'm so excited to go this year. Last year I kept telling myself I'd go, but I never made it to one. The whole "locavore" idea is interesting to me, so I'm ready to help out the local farmer by buying fresh food from them. Unfortunately, it seems that many farmers are being bullied by Monsanto, the company that produces Roundup and it's genetically enhanced seed counterpart, along with injecting cows with hormones to produce more milk. I'm curious to know how many farmers at the Farmer's Market use Monsanto's seeds and how many have felt (or, by chance, avoided) the company's wrath. This area has a lot of high quality, local food choices, including local bison farms, grass fed beef, and fruit & vegetable co-ops throughout the year. But if these small farms haven't felt the effects of companies like Monsanto, how long until they do?

Cakes Banned, Birthdays OK

I've been trying to cut down on my refined sugar intake, but lately I have had more than my usual share of cake with bridal showers and other special occasions keeping me busy. Over the weekend I had a delicious piece of chocolate cake, although the white looked just as yummy. The kids in New Zealand, however, don't get to enjoy either kind - the School Board has banned cake at all birthdays! Apparently the schools are implementing new, stricter healthy eating guidelines. Parents received notices saying they could not send cake to school with their children, but their children's birthdays would still be recognized without the sugar overload. But what about birthday brownies?? I see a loop hole...

It's a bird, it's a plane...

It's a crane taking down the Superman ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom! According to local news, the ride is being disassembled - the same ride that severed a girl's feet last summer. The ride has also been removed from the Six Flags website, although this might not be recent news. I don't know if anyone has ridden the ride since the terrible incident, so maybe they took it off the website last year. What would the rating be if they had kept it listed? Mild, Moderate, or Max?? Max doesn't begin to describe what Kaitlyn experienced...

I was always a little reluctant to ride fair rides (particularly after a flying bolt left me bleeding one summer during my middle school years), but was generally more trusting of more permanent amusement park rides. That is, until I heard about this poor girl and that fateful trip to Six Flags. If I ever go to Six Flags (not likely), I hope they have really good shows. And maybe a good funnel cake.