Hiya Suzanne!

zed.

guess not. Travel day, son gets bachelor’s degree this weekend!

Hey Suzanne have you heard about this initiative targeting Oregon PERS, the Public Employee Retirement System?

“Americans for Prosperity Oregon—Wisconsin comes to the Pacific Northwest” (by Gaius Publius on 5/05/2011 07:45:00 PM)

hey ce — how ya doing tonight?

hey wmd — close! how was your day?

i had not mzchief — i’ll read up on it later. my pension is with calpers

So cold here this morning that I was wearing coat, scarf, gloves and, gasp, sandals. Dammit, it is MAY.

shit, hit submit instead of the carriage return

how was your day mzchief?

i hear ya…. i get a day or two of great forking weather and then its all grey, cold, cloudy and drizzly.

*le sigh*

Groom to be in tonight from states far away. Wedding September 10, 2011.

I’m digging the better weather and the cherry blossoms. And you?

getting closer every day!!!

socked in and soggy. only got up to 54 today. that sunshine was nice but nowhere in sight today

OK, Summer “in shape regime” beginning to gel…oh hell I’m going to be 59 in June.

flight from MSP to IND had two millennial women from Saskatoon sharing office gossip the entire time.

good to see my son!

woohoo!!! how’s he doing?

that’s the attitude i had for jen’s wedding… i’m too forking old to be the belle of the ball (and that sure was jen’s job — not mine). i found ‘support team’ was the best spot for my energies.

judas priest mzchief…. that’s horrible. i hope you diary it

He wants to set a PR in Indy half marathon Saturday. Better than 75 minutes would really make him happy, anything under 82 minutes will be OK.

If I can walk off ten pounds this summer, I’ll be in great shape. My plan is to take myself off to Nordstroms and have them “dress me.” I did this for MSCE and it worked like a dream. They made her look totally professional for graduate school.

sweet! fingers and toes crosses he busts his PR with plenty of room to spare

Sorry to fold so soon tonight. I have to be up in six hours. Kisses Suzanne!

i put myself in jen’s hands — she’s got such a good eye she helped pick out the dress, shoes, and earrings.

g’nite ce

Maybe because the sun was over here visiting us for a few days prior? :-)

muddy and james

Congrats to your son, wmd. Enjoy.

on the plus side, the apple trees are finally starting to bloom… those few days of sunshine did wonders :)

hey loohoo — how was your day?

Wedding! Hurray.

I’m a bit surprised my laptop updated timezone.

wow — automatically?

Mom died yesterday. Peacefully and painlessly.

oh loohoo.. i’m so sorry (((loohoo)))

I am so sorry for your loss. (((loohoo)))

(((LooHoo)))

hey kelly — how ya doing tonight?

Thanks, people.

hey sunny — how was your day?

It’s strange. I have two more aunts alive, then my generation is the elders!

“You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she’d want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”

__David Harkins, British Poet

yeah. connecting to wireless I expected, was surprised to see local time. it’s got to be a snow leopard thing.

all of my dad’s brothers and sisters (and my dad) have all passed on. on that side of the family, its the cousins (like me) that are the elders…

hey robert — how ya doing tonight?

I mowed….

*putting on tinfoil* maybe its the tracking system in the apple that tells big brother you are in that time zone…*taking off tin foil*

yay?

all parents hope their children will eventually become orphans (just not before they’re grandparents).

I’ve been an orphan for 2+ years, and lost father before he was a grandpa way back when he was my present age in 1970. My mother was a great grandma twice over.

never easy, but rejoice in her life and the love she gave you. let everything else evaporate

Our thoughts go with you. There often comes a time when peacefully and painlessly is the answer to our prayers. It may not hurt less, but there can be a measure of solace there.

it used IP addresss I’m sure.

Hit a particularly pooled patch, though. The mower sank. Got a friend coming over with a wench to pull it back out….

hey strato — how was your day?

Hip deep in the Big Muddy?

adjusting for the ip time zone makes sense to avoid conficts.. makes sense.. glad i didn’t use the superglue when i doffed the tinfoil

That’s beautiful. Thanks, Robert!

ouch (and a few more days to dry out)

hey vc — how’s your island tonight?

Maye next time you can reconfigure the mower to work as a hovercraft. Just a slight change in the blade pitch… air inlet at the top. Yeah it’d work, revolutionary for mowing seaweed too.

My sincerest condolences, (((Loo Hoo)))…! *g*

Peacefully is the best way to go…! *g*

I tried to reach far enough down in to get a hold on the thing, but only pulled up two drowned rabbits and a mole.

Guess them critters had no time to swim for it….

aloha tut — how’s paradise tonight?

my condolences and hugs (((LooHoo)))

hey margot — how was your day?

Actually, she wanted to die about a month ago. Too bad our laws prevent dignified death and we all had to spend about $100,000 extra because of that. Wonder if we’ll EVER have a politician willing to expose that great theft to taxpayers?

Excellent day. Finished a small patio/paver job. I think it’s the first in years that’s gone as planned, under budget and on schedule. Actually made a profit.

Smoochies.

Aloha, Suz and LLN Pups…! happy Cinco de Mayo…! I’m actually celebrating with a homemade soft taco in one hand, and, a Corona in the other…! Ole…! ;-)

Kinda my initial reaction… seems we’re getting privacy – convenience tradeoffs, like it or not.

i am thankful that i’m in oregon which has a compassionate death with dignity law…. i’m sorry that she didn’t have that basic human right loohoo

Thanks, Margot. I’m really okay. It was the best of all possibles. My brothers and sister are fine. A blessing, really.

yay!!!

Permit me a moment of cynicism.
It’s the last chance for the PTB to drain off middle class estates. I found it one of the most morally revolting part of the Ryan budget plan.

i had leftover roast chicken, asparagus spears and rice. totally spazzed on the date today…

It was OK, but I am worried about a friend of my younger son. His mother ran out of medicine because they didn’t have enough money and now she’s in the hospital. It’s scary for the kid (20-ish) to see his mom collapse…

AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Suzanne:

Hey there Sister Suz…are you folks out there in the Northwest gettin hit by the shock troops for the banksters goin after public pension funds? Welcome to the “new” capitalism brought to you by the University of Chicago School of economics and the law…the gospel of Ayan Rand as interpreted by Milton Friedman and Barak Obama.

This attack on the people of America is worse than anythin’ Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda brought down…as a matter of fact Al Qaeda and Osama were created by the same folks who are stealin’ our pensions and lyin off teachers.

But I digress…I can’t sleep yet, been too busy chasin down youngsters who are leadin the charge to recall our state senator … I’m too old for this shit. The candidate, Shelly Moore is a 37 year old English teacher who has a BS and MS and has worked as an executive of the state WEA…AND she got a layoff notice this Spring as a 13 year tenured staff person in an area high school. Whoopee…this is gunna be fun watchin’ tons of money fallin outta the corporate coffers into the TV screens of people that Senator Walker-Harsdorf has fucked over. It will be fascinatin’ ta see whether money and direct mail bullshit can beat thousands of people knockin on doors and talkin to folks…I’m bettin on the people.

Weather here has gone from fucked up to post-coital depressing…we’re gettin 60′s now but the rain we didn’t get in April is on us now with a vengeance. I just hope it doesn’t mess with my Walleyes.

Keep the tunes hot and the conversation hotter, Citizen I’m gunna read through the comments and try and switch my last 3 brain cells into sleep mode.

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, AND DON’T TAKE ANY FUCKIN’ PICTURES!!

It is not an altuistic desire to save lives that steer the hearts of the Medical Industrial Complex. It is to extract as much of the lifelong accural of wealth from the dying.

When someone dies, the money flowing from him/her to the medical vultures stops.

oh geez margot…. dayam

felicitaciones!!

hey norske — sorry about sending ya the rain…. hope it don’t fork up your walleyes either… and g’nite dood

Oregon is so progressive! I understand why Teddy moved there.

Explicky??

I need to sleep. good night all

tornados

g’nite wmd

Citizen Loo Hoo:

Oh my, please take sincere condolences…whatever ya need you’ll get it somewhere around here.

My brother and sisters are facing the same set of issues. Our mother is in bed and will never again not be in bed.
Painless and peaceful is all we hope for.
In January, she told me that she was mad at her friend XXXX who died a few years ago of Aids. She had hoped when the time came, he would bring her something.
I am heavily conflicted as to why she shared that with me.

She was hoping you had a friend like XXXX who’d do the deed….

Oh, lordy, Margot.

You’re exactly right. And Norske, thanks, buddy.

Sounds like she’ll be home soon, they’re just keeping her to do a few tests.

When my time comes, I intend to have plenty of morphine patches on hand.

That’s good news. I guess yesterday put me in a mindset…

Well, I’m going to try this “going to bed at night” thing, instead of staying up too late. Night all.:)

It’s all so odd.

Belch and his sister and I made a birthday lunch for their (Belch & sis) Mom – she turned 81 today and is in rehab care after a ICU hospitalization. We went and grabbed the Dad from the assisted living joint and took the lunch to her, and all ate together, birthday cards, the whole 9 yards.

I just don’t know what to think anymore. They’re (old ones) in that space where they are just about approaching the “waiting to die” phase.

I’m somewhat used to that from the past, from the AIDS years and other terminal folks from something other than AGE.

Somehow, from an intervening process other than age, it’s been it bit easier to let go, excuse so to say, people from having to hang out and stay with us. It’s really odd, and quite the exercise emotionally.

g’nite margot

Mostly sunny (well – during the day), intermittent rain. Like normal, really, but with bigger drops.

I had to go and feed the cats. Nani completely snooted the food, Marlowe tucked in and ate most of her own.

Glad your mother could go peacefully and mostly at her own time, LooHoo. Grandma was (I think) ready about 10 years before her body actually gave up. I’m glad you and your family are doing so well.

TheRyan plan offers seniors a voucher that will be inadequate to pay for either insurance or actual midical care. The parents will then either pay out of pocket, as long as there is pocket left, or die.
I know that one of the major hopes for parents is to be able to leave their children a little something for the future. For many people, that inheritance is the seed money that helps their first house purchase, or starts a business, or whatever. Ryan ends that small kernel of upward mobility.
Then what are the children to do? they face their own set of moral conflicts. When the parents money runs out, as it almost certainly will, do they step in? Ryan is asking them, “Give up all the rest of your money and the hope of your line on the family chart, or the Mom dies.”
That is a brutal thing to do, force that decision on someone.

Part of the reason this is Brave New Territory is that Medicare came before the explosion in medical technology and cost. This is a new question in the history of the world. And it will be faced by nobody other than the Americans, particularly in teir 40s and 50s.

evening, Suzzz … firegods

One day your life will flash before your eyes.
Make sure its worth watching.

My eldest, who’ll be home here next week, was saying if you’re poor and sick in Ohio, don’t even look to the State for any assistance, whatsoever…! She’s did some intern work in a few local Hospitals handling Mental Health cases, and, there’s no funding whatsoever for Mental Health…! 8-(

hey ppd — how was your day?

happy lucky 100 tut!!!

Some people say ‘just shoot me’ when the time comes. Me? I say ‘just give me the morphine patches’!

*heh* Another bullet I took for ya, Suz…! ;-)

Thanks, and pleased to “meet” you!

thanks dood

Citizen Loo Hoo:

Nobody can feel your feelins right about now…so I won’t pretend. This kind of loss changes everything at the most basic level and reminds us that no matter how much we have seen and experienced, John Donne was right and the curse of our humanity is to feel that pain and to be diminished over and over again until we vanish into the pain of others. Bless your heart Loo Hoo.

Agree! But I don’t get to choose for these Elders.

Watching their life leave them, slowly, is really something I’d rather not do, but must.

only OK — hot temperatures today made it difficult for dad.

how hot did it get? does he have a/c?

Mahalo, Kelly…! Nobody should die neglected and alone, except maybe Shrub, Darth, and the rest of the PNAC crew…! 8-(

Okay, gotcha. I totally want people to get medicare, but when it’s time to go, people should have the right to do so.

Remember the ‘personnel office’ where you worked? In the 80s, they all changed to ‘human resources’ to equate workers as nothing more than a capitalist resource, stripped of any acknowledgement of employees as people, only equipment for harvesting wealth.

The name change seemed trivial, then, but was a major deliberate change to dehumanize before destroying the middle class.

My only problem with the morphine patch solution is availability.
maybe Glaxo-Smith-Kline will see a market and offer them at $2,000 each. Or $20,000

My condolences, LH – peaceful & painless is the way to go.

The right, absolutely. But how long before it becomes a duty?
That’s where this is going.

oregon’s law is pretty simple (from wiki):

Under the law, a capable adult Oregon resident who has been diagnosed, by a physician, with a terminal illness that will kill the patient within six months may request in writing, from his or her physician, a prescription for a lethal dose of medication for the purpose of ending the patient’s life. Exercise of the option under this law is voluntary and the patient must initiate the request. Any physician, pharmacist or healthcare provider who has moral objections may refuse to participate.

The request must be confirmed by two witnesses, at least one of whom is not related to the patient, is not entitled to any portion of the patient’s estate, is not the patient’s physician, and is not employed by a health care facility caring for the patient. After the request is made, another physician must examine the patient’s medical records and confirm the diagnosis. The patient must be determined to be free of a mental condition impairing judgment. If the request is authorized, the patient must wait at least fifteen days and make a second oral request before the prescription may be written. The patient has a right to rescind the request at any time. Should either physician have concerns about the patient’s ability to make an informed decision, or feel the patient’s request may be motivated by depression or coercion, the patient must be referred for a psychological evaluation.

The law protects doctors from liability for providing a lethal prescription for a terminally ill, competent adult in compliance with the statute’s restrictions. Participation by physicians, pharmacists, and health care providers is voluntary. The law also specifies a patient’s decision to end his or her life shall not “have an effect upon a life, health, or accident insurance or annuity policy.”

Back at my last job, I’d get messages from some websites saying their content was intended for NA only, I should go to their European site x. See, the company is French-owned, and the ISP was chosen in Paris. French, natch. So these sites were extra-special-super-smart, and figuring out where I was coming from. Except they weren’t, of course, as I was sitting inKing of Prussia, PA.

High temp this afternoon was 85F — before the marine layer rolled in. No AC at dad’s care facility. We’re concerned about dehydration.

Good point. I’ve never gone along with that change. I still call it the personnel office.
“Oldthinkers unbellyful Engsoc” *

* Spellcheck really didn’t like that sentence.

wow… how bizarre

oh dear… that’s always such a risk when there is only fans and pushing liquids…

It is a slippery slope, but, the right to choose a dignified death should be embraced not criminalized, or made by a ‘death panel’ at one’s ‘local’ Healthcare Provider…! 8-(

vc — how did you figure that out — it would have driven me nutz

particularly in his fragile condition, Suzzz

Good catch.

Especially when it’s often difficult to recognize when you’re getting too dry.

And this is a core reason for the abrupt episodes of workplace violence, when ‘personnel’ (people) became ‘resources’ (anonymous worker bees).

thank goodness for that marine layer…

Seems reasonable to me unless docs refuse to prescribe.

then ya get another doc. the major medical centers are very much on board with the program. most folks go to the big centers in the portland area when bad shit happens here in rural tillamook. there is a hospice in town, across the street from the tillamook hospital. i haven’t checked out what the death with dignity options are here in tillamook county.

“Most men and women go to their graves with their music still in them.”__Oliver Wendell Holmes

The right to choose a dignified death… Since when has the right ever cared about the right to choose a single fucking thing. Church, intoxicant, war or peace, elected leaders.
Does anyone remember the book “A Wrinkle in Time”? The most horrifying scene in that book was on the planet behind the darkness where the heroes saw the whole block of identical houses, each with a young boy in front bouncing a ball. Each one synchronized with the others. Then one boy missed the bounce and they took him away for re-education

[samkinison]I GOT A JOB! I GOT A FUCKIN JOB!!![/samkinison]

Putting pieces together. I used to say I was getting paid to solve puzzles, and this was a puzzle. The messages were assuming I was in France, I knew the Paris office was making the choices (we were lucky, in a way, that we could get online at all, or that we didn’t have to get on from a completely stand-alone computer, the way they did in Paris), so I guessed the sites with the messages had access to some ISP registry to better customize service based on location (the way the imbedded ads I see now are generally aimed at Hawaii, and some ads are pulled from keywords in the post, to sometimes). They just weren’t quite as smart as they thought. They were kind of ahead of their time, actually.

woohoo!!! great fucking news that guy!!! no need to ask how you are doing *laughing* when do ya start?

Cool.

Republicans are always confusing A Wrinkle In Time with Utopia….

i get frustrated when i’m surfing the utube and find one that i think may be interesting and when i click on it, its not permitted to be viewed in the us. i figure its some sorta copywrite thingie but geez, its frustrating

Suz: on the 16th.

marine layer and hospice

Congratulations! Hope it’s a good one.

I understand. It’s an easy mistake to make.

Hey Cruiser, are you still giving the Charlie Daniels people what for?

It doesn’t pay as much as some I’ve had but after a year out of work, it’s OK.

When my better half worked for Hospice it was both her most rewarding and most taxing cases she’d worked, we still have warm ties with many of the patients’ families, years later…!

Whoo HOO!!! Details, please, thatguy!

i miss sam

woohoo!!! most excellent dood

That totally rawks, TG…! Congrats…!

Absolutely. I double their traffic when I comment.
I have learned they do not, as a group, handle snark very well.

He was more than a comic, he was a philosopher. He was as great as Carlin or Pryor.

I’ve been banned from there many times. ;-)

they were wonderful with my dad. and katymine used to say she had wonderful hospice care and loved her caregivers. takes a special kind of person to work in hospice

Kinda like the #€*!! regional coding on video discs. No technical reason for it (unlike NTSC-PAL, arising from different standards), pure marketing, IMO. There may be some copyright/piracy issues, but I’ll bet they’re more an excuse than anything else. Thing is, if they’d all just go region-free (some do), it would simplify their lives, too.

why does that not surprise me (laughing) i don’t see how ya’ll do it — would just piss me off and i don’t want to waste my time being angry when i could be doing something i enjoy.

I’ve been fortunate that I can count on them not understanding subtlety either.

such bullshit — what if ya get transferred across country? do your video discs not work because you are in a different region?

Yeah. I’d be happy now, to get one at about half what I was getting paid before (I was worth more, of course).

The Missus took each death hard, she had to give it up…! *g*

takes a toll for sure.

night all – be well.

g’nite ppd

Aloha, PPD…!

Pleasant dreams to ya’ll too…! Aloha Oe…! *g*

g’nite tut

about time for me to head out myself. thanks for letting me hang out with ya tonight.

g’nite all

The regions are worldwide, I forget the actual delineations, just know that the US and UK/Europe are different regions. Long ago, I had a nice setup – one player set up for Region 1, another for Region 2, and I’d just pick the one appropriate for the disc. Then Windows updated, and the software talked to each other, and bang went that workaround.

Nite Suz. Thanks.

Morning everyone,

I understand discount printer ink sometimes is coded to work only regionally.

LooHoo my condolences, too. My siblings and I are on the any day now watch routine with our mother. Hoping she passes peacefully in her sleep. It is the aggravation from mom’s siblings whining that we aren’t doing enough, (though we are following Mom’s directives) that is the most heart-breaking at the moment.

Your friend must know a very strong female pirate for her to have pulled your lawnmower from the muck. I usually use a winch. Ha!

So sorry. Fortunately, my moms siblings are either gone or too ill to interfere. Cousins are totally supportive.

Nite Suz,

A better day for everyone, today, is my wish.

Could have been a barmaid.

Sorry about your having to deal with family being difficult at an already difficult tolime. Best to you all.