Book List Update...

Not much of an update, except I'm removing one book, and swapping out 1776 by David McCullough for John Adams. I'm still trudging through Jane Eyre, and making good progress. I've been quite sidetracked this year though, so I'm not sure I'll even make it to 25 books...

() The Fall (Camus)
() American Creation (Ellis)
(X) Man Gone Down (Thomas)
()World Without End (Follett)
()The Pillars of the Earth - re-read (Follett)
(X)Gentlemen of the Road (Chabon)
()The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Chabon)
(X)The Other Boleyn Girl (Gregory)
()Team of Rivals (Kearns)
()The Mascot (Kurzem)
(X)Then We Came to the End (Ferris)
()The Russian Concubine (Furnivall)
(X)Jane Eyre (Bronte)
()Thunderstruck (Larson)
()Schulz and Peanuts (Michaelis)
(X)A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini)
()Tree of Smoke (Johnson)
()On the Road (Kerouac)
()The Savage Detectives (Bolano)
()Midnight's Children (Rushdie)
()The Fortress of Solitude (Lethem)
()A People's History of the United States (Zinn)
()The World is Flat (Friedman)
()Kabul Beauty School (Rodriguez)
()John Adams (McCullough)
()My Life (Clinton)
()The Myth of the Rational Voter (Caplan)
()A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
(X)Eat Pray Love (Gilbert)
()The End of Poverty (Sachs)
()The Plot Against America (Roth)
()Ragtime (Doctorow)
()Parting the Waters (Branch)
()From Beirut to Jerusalem (Friedman)
(X)Clapton: The Autobiography (Clapton)
()What is the What (Eggers)
()White Teeth (Smith)
()Breakfast of Champions (Vonnegut)
()The Inheritence of Loss (Desai)
()The Good Earth (Buck)
(X)Daughter of Fortune (Allende)
()The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao (Diaz)
()Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (Swanson)
()The Guns of August (Tuchman)
()Catch-22 (Heller)
()The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway)
()Marie Antoinette (Fraser)
()The Crimson Petal and the White (Faber)
()Emma (Austen)
(X)A Free Life (Jin)

The state of our world...

This post is going to touch on a few things that have been irking me about the world we live in. Please bear with me.

I had a routine pap smear back at the end of February. I figured it was all taken care of, as usual, by my health insurance. I consider my health insurance pretty darn good. I received a bill from the hospital which does the labwork, and it was for $120! Somehow, the hospital said that my insurance didn't cover some of the diagnostic tests. So, I got on the phone last week to my health insurer, and found out that the doctor needed to use a different code and resubmit the charges.

OK - not really making sense to me, but ok. So, I call the hospital - I've had lots of problems with them before, so I hate calling there. In talking to them, I find that the tests that my insurance didn't cover were the gonorrhea and chlamydia tests that they do along with the pap smear test. Now, I'm quite certain that those same things were covered last year, so I'm a little confused. I then called the doctor's office and spoke with the billing person there, because the hospital said that I would have to speak with them, since they consider it a "screening". Now, screening is preventative, right?

Sure is. The problem is, my insurance doesn't cover those tests under my preventative! They will only cover STD testing if there's a "medical reason" for them. Now, I have to say that it makes me wonder how those tests are not considered preventative. If my "good" insurance won't cover it, what about people with minimal insurance or none at all? How in the world are people supposed to know if they have STDs without screening?

Strange...and we wonder why 1 in 4 women have an STD.

On Friday, gas went up to $4.18 at the Speedway here in Lansing. I had kind of expected this to happen. We've been hearing from lots of people regarding gas prices (surprised, aren't you?). Well - what a lot of them don't seem to understand is that I pay the same prices for gas as they do. And, I have been making attempts at altering my driving habits. I won't be going to Muskegon as much as before, and I won't be driving as much during the week as I used to.

The increase in gas prices has really made me start to look at how our society depends on our motor vehicles. As I was driving this weekend, granted it was a holiday weekend, I saw tons of SUV's, trucks, motorhomes, boats, etc. It's quite interesting to me, because I really wonder if people will stop depending so much on their cars and trucks. Will they switch to public transit? Will there be more investment in public transit? Will our roads be made safer for other forms of transportation such as bicycles?

I wish I could answer these questions. What I do know is that gas prices aren't going down anytime soon, if at all. I expect them to rise over the summer. I also don't expect anyone to be able to do anything about it. I know that sounds pessimistic, but I hear from people asking their government to do something about the gas prices.

I'd like to remind everyone that we live in a free market society, which means prices will pretty much do whatever they want. Part of that free market society frowns on government getting involved with private business. What the government can do, which won't alleviate prices anytime soon, if at all, is invest in green energy, ethanol, and other things that will begin to lift our dependance on foreign oil.

Which reminds me - Ford, GM, and Chrysler - could you all make some higher gas mileage cars so I can buy a UAW made car on my next purchase? Yes, I do look at the stickers. Yes, I am conscious of gas mileage. And, I want to support American workers.

Whew! I think that's enough from me today! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

This show has overstayed its welcome...

I haven't watched "The Bachelor" in such a long time. Though, I had the TV on, and the new "Bachelorette" just came on. They're letting the girl, who was on a previous "Bachelor" show, meet all the guys. This particular girl was not chosen by Brad, who is the guy that's famous for not choosing either girl in the final rose ceremony.

Now, they spent most of the first half hour of the show talking about how she got dumped by Brad, and all the guys were talking about how Brad was crazy. Now, because of the ridiculousness of this show, I would have to say that Brad might have been the only honest "Bachelor" out there. Honestly - who is still together from previous installments? Jen and Andrew aren't, Ryan and Trista are, Jesse whatever his name that is now on ESPN during college football time - crap, I can't even remember who he picked. What makes these people think that dating 25 people at once is the way to find love? When they go out to the real world, it just never seems to work.

On the other hand, I kind of feel sorry for this girl. ABC seems to have done a less than stellar job in choosing guys for her. They all seem to think cheesy pick up lines work.

I believe it just might be time for this show to make its exit from TV...

Reconciling...

I'm having a hard time lately reconciling my desire to do lots of different things with the fact that I can't plan everything. I have a lot of ideas of things to do lately, but I just have to recognize my limits in time. But then, I feel like I'm surrounded by people who aren't stepping up and doing what I think they're supposed to be. Then, of course, I run the risk of looking like the overachiever...

Then again, here I am writing on my blog when I should be packing!!! I am not looking forward to filling up my gas tank in the morning either - I'm scared to see how much I have to spend! Contrary to popular belief, state workers pay the same amount for gas as everyone else...

Oh, how I'm looking forward to the weekend and sleeping.

Currently watching: The Office Season Finale

Not to sound cliche...

Something I've learned in the past week or so - and I know it sounds cliche, but here goes...

"You get out of it what you put into it."

I've decided that I want to have good experiences - in life, at work, at home. Life is too short to bitch and moan and whine. Everyone has complaints, but it's how you handle them that matters. Make a constructive comment, then move on to how to make it better. I know that I have trouble doing this sometimes, but I'm going to try, darn it.

Another new goal of mine is to get to know as many people as I can. There are so many interesting people out there, I think it's worth my time to get to know some of them.

And now it's time to continue the week by crossing more things off my to do list. Wish me luck.


Currently Reading: Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

There ain't no bugs on me...

Hm, it's such a catchy tune on the commercial, and the dogs are so cute, I decided to use it for a title.

I'm feeling a little lazy tonight. I've been pretty good the last week or so. I've been eating at home more, exercising for at least 40 minutes on my exercise bike (except for Saturday, when I painted a lot of the day), and I FINALLY watched The Godfather (I had it from Netflix since July).

However, yesterday and today I've been in a funk. I've been cranky, tired, not feeling super well, and just plain busy! I only got on the bike for about half an hour tonight because my stomach hurts.

I'm starting to think I just need a vacation...

Wow - Michigan has a long way to go...

Before I write this, I'd like to point out that I am not necessarily the most eloquent of writers. With that said, onward.


The Guttmacher Institute has put out some interesting statistics on contraceptives.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/state_data/states/michigan.html




Now, some things in this struck me. A few of them are below:

1) In Michigan, 1,204,060 women are in need of contraceptive services and supplies. Of these, 582,140 women need publicly supported contraceptive services because they have incomes below 250% of the federal poverty level (406,230) or are sexually active teenagers (175,910).

These figures are just amazing to me - over 1.2 million women need contraceptive services and supplies, just in Michigan alone!!!


2) Every public dollar spent on family planning services saves the federal and state governments three dollars in Medicaid costs for prenatal and newborn care.


I would like to think this is a great argument in favor of family planning services, yet there are still people in Michigan that believe abstinence is the only way...


3) Michigan ranks 48TH in laws and policies - whether their laws and policies are likely to facilitate access to contraceptive services and information.

While I'm not surprised by this, it just makes me sad. If we want fewer unintended pregnancies, then why would we make it harder for women to have access to contraceptives and family planning?


And the another bit of information that is in this fact sheet:

About half of unintended pregnancies occur among couples who were using a contraceptive method in the month the woman became pregnant; either the method did not work properly or the couple did not use it consistently or correctly. Because the likelihood of pregnancy in the absence of contraception is high, the other half of unintended pregnancies occur among the one in 10 sexually active, fertile women who were not using any birth control method even though they were not trying to become pregnant.

So, does anyone want to tell me why we shouldn't teach people the proper way to use contraceptives or that they are important? Otherwise, we can continue to deal with the medical, social, economic, and personal tolls of unintended pregnancies in Michigan.