The Sound of Music

Take a look at this -
I've got the coolest sound system in my office now! My eldest sister decided she no longer wanted this in her house and so I inherited it! The sound system was originally my grandparents'. It still plays records beautifully (don't ask about the eight track or the radio)! I'm in my office listening to the soundtrack to "The Man from Snowy River" and it's surreal! Thanks Big Sis; you're awesome!

My Night with Barry Obama and Dirty Harry (May 26, 2009)

For all those who don't know, I'm a registered Democrat (mostly because Scoonie chose to be Republican when we signed up at the DMV - this way we get to hear both sides). Anyway, a lawyer who works in my office is a Democrat activist. He offered to help me with a certain legal issue and, because of that, I offered to help out with some Democrat volunteer work. For instance, I walked for Andy Hafen a couple of weeks in a row. Andy was running for mayor of Henderson. Turns out, I am most-likely related to Andy as he has some St. George Hafen roots. Andy won by 45 votes by the way and I'm pretty sure it was because of all the walking I did, but I digress (oh, and you might see me in a florescent yellow Andy Hafen T-shirt and hat one of these days, so now you won't have to ask me where I got it).

Because of the work I did for Andy, I was able to be a volunteer for the Obama fundraiser for Harry Reid. I didn't have to do too much, basically crowd control, but I did get to see Obama and Reid close up.

Now before you go call the Republican missionaries, I'm not a totally lost soul, after all, I did vote for Bush twice...and yes, I know, I'm going to H. E. double hockey sticks for being a Democrat volunteer, but whatever your political allegience, you've got to admit that just to see the President of the U.S. this close (whatever political party he/she belongs to) is pretty cool. So enough with the blabber, here's my proof-



And not only did I see Barry and Harry, but I got to see these folks too:

Rita Rudner
Cheryl Crow
Bette Midler
Don King
Tom Collins (Clark County Commissioner)
Steven Horsford (Nevada Senate Majority Leader)
Dina Titus (US Representative)
Shelley Berkley (US Representative)
Dean Heller (US Representative)

Craigslist ad of the day

Anyone want a free 60 minute limo ride around Lake Mead? Just click this Craigslist ad and you can set one up! Yahoo!

You get a second Craigslist ad today. Just shows that there are still good people in the world!

I lied, you get one more; is this for real?

The great healthcare debate

There has been talk that the United States healthcare system needs to be revamped. This post goes into two different takes on the U.S. healthcare system:

1) Viewpoint the first - The U.S. has the best healthcare in the world; just look at these stats-
-Men and women in the U.S. survive cancer at a rate of 65% (in England it's 46%)
-93% of those diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S. receive treatment within six months (in Canada only 43% do, and in the U.K. only 15% do)
-Seniors needing hip replacement get one within six months in the U.S. 90% of the time (in Canada only 43% do, and in the U.K. only 15% do)
-There are 71 MRI and CT scanners available in the U.S. per million people (in Canada there are 18 per million and in the U.K. there are only 14)
-11.7% of seniors in the U.S. with low incomes say they are in excellent health (in Canada only 5.8% of similar seniors say that)
-Basically, this viewpoint says socialized healthcare is great for when you break a bone or have a cold, but if you have a serious ailment, you are in trouble

2) Viewpoint the second - The U.S. healthcare system is broken; just look at these stats-
-The U.S. spends 15.4% of GDP on healthcare (the U.K. spends 8.1%, Canada spends 9.8%, France spends 10.5%, Spain spends 8.1%, and Europe as a whole spends 9.6%)
-The U.S. has 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people (the U.K. has 2.3, Canada has 2.1, France has 3.4, Spain has 3.3, and Europe as a whole has 3.9)
-The U.S. has 3.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people(the U.K. has 4.2, Canada has 3.6, France has 7.5, Spain has 3.8, and Europe as a whole has 6.6)
-The average age in the U.S. is 78.2 years(in the U.K. it is 79.4, in Canada it is 80.6, in France it is 80.6, in Spain it is 81, and in Europe as a whole it is 81.15)
-Basically, this viewpoint says that U.S. citizens are incurring an invisible healthcare tax by spending a higher amount of their GDP than other countries and must get ill more often than any other country in the West in order to achieve the stat of being the 41st longest living nation on earth; further uninsured individuals can end up with $5,000 emergency room bills for what should be a $50 office visit - thus, something must be broken

I personally think that there is truth to both sides of the argument, but I don't know what can be done to keep our high quality of healthcare while reducing the systems costs for the population as a whole and achieving a longer average age of living.

My wife's stripper friend called me at work...

So I came out of a meeting today and listened to my voice messages and there it was...a message from Scoonie's Stripper friend, Sterling, wanting me to give him a call back.

For all those who don't know, Scoonie was playing with her elementary school group at the mall and talked up a group of strippers while she was there. In the process, Scoonie handed out my business card to Sterling since he was looking for an accountant that could help him set-up a nonprofit organization for Chron's disease (apparently his mom has the disease.)

Anyway, Scoonie must have made a great impression because Sterling called me. Now only if I can get Scoonie to hand out my business card to her non-stripper friends...

By the way, I called Sterling back and got his e-mail address and sent him some information on setting up a nonprofit organization.

Hmmm, how much money could I make if I stood outside the show and sold Sterling's phone number and e-mail address to the women who attend Sterling's show?

Xtreme Croquet

This weekend was Mom's birthday and Xtreme Croquet! For those of you who do not know what croquet is, here is a link. Someone, whom will go unnamed (Kymn), thought it would be a good idea to play croquet and let the "Tall One" (Big J) set-up the course. Well, we were going up ramps and through trees and over walls and up slides and 3 hours later completing the course whilst the little ones quit and went to watch the Disney Channel. But hey, we had fun and learned how to make croquet balls jump through hoops! I'm not sure the croquet inventors really envisioned this sort of thing, but in this day and age of Xtreme sports, it only makes sense - rather luckily no chit-lens were harmed in the making of the game or by flying croquet balls...

For all those wondering, my Mom is 29 and 1/2 and that's quite a feat as I'm a tad over 30 myself!

$5,000 can buy you ________ on Craigslist

Since everyone knows that I love to peruse Craigslist, I thought you'd be interested to know what $5,000 can buy you these days.

1) Human Gyroscope
2) A Mint Z-28 Camaro
3) A Walt Disney Drawn Mickey Mouse
4) Huge DJ Set-up
5) Double Burial Plot in Las Vegas

Woo hoo!!!!