Earthquakes suck.

And tsunamis that refuse to be great breaking news suck too. Woo. The water in Hawaii is dirty from their teeny little tsunami. The people on MSNBC are beating this boring horse, but it ain't running. Wait! Wait! There are rocks showing in the surf offshore on the Big Island in Hawaii! So pretty much the tsunami in Hawaii is like a speeded up tide. That is big news. Never mind that there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile -- they don't have any awesome shots o' destruction to share with us? Instead the Powers That Be are hoping for some big exciting tsunami action in Hawaii.

I still haven't downloaded and uploaded those photos. Maybe I will do it today...Although I have lots of stuff to do today, including dragging Tess to her school twice so she can play the drum for three minutes at the start of their play. She is really good at drumming -- even playing on her own, she keeps the beat, no speeding up or slowing down.

Don't get it...

I don't understand those who say that they don't want health care reform because they don't want the government telling them which doctors they can see and stuff like that -- right now, you are limited in the US by the insurance companies telling you which doctors are in your network, which hospital you can go to, which tests you can have, which procedures they will pay for, and on and on and on.

Argh.

It's still snowing, we must have over six inches of new snow so far. I have to take some photos...

Mark sent me some flowers for Valentine's day, which I completely forgot to photograph, but there is a lily that just opened up and is gorgeous. I did remember to grab my camera this time --

But I am too lazy to download and upload the photos tonight. So you will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry!

Ha! It's still Thursday in Alaska.

So I haven't missed a day after all.

Today was ugh. I was having a thing done in the doctor's office, and she dropped something on the floor. Something that needs to be sterile. So I got to lay there in a very uncomfortable position -- it's way tmi,but if you really want to know, give me your email address and I will fill you in -- while the nurse ran around looking for another one. Lucky for me, somebody had one. But geez. Really? You had to drop the one not easily replaceable thing on the floor? It couldn't be a swab or a tongue depressor, something easily and QUICKLY replaceable? Oh well. Good story, in the right company...

Oh, yeah, then I get home and it has been snowing, so the wonderful little Civic -- which is an awesome car, I love love love it -- can't quite make it up the VERY slight incline in our driveway, because there were three or four inches of snow. So I had to hop out and shovel a couple feet of driveway between the car and the garage, then back up and take a running start at it. I love the Honda, but it is not really the best car for Alaska winters. It's really not an issue, especially since I have the Suburban too, which does really well on snowy and icy roads, but even with the Honda, I mostly am driving in Anchorage and Eagle River so it's only days like today when we get 6 inches of snow where I might have a problem. Eh. It's completely worth it because it plays my IPods.

This afternoon I took a long nap on the couch. I guess going to bed at midnight and getting the kids up at 5:30 is taking a toll on me.

It's been a long day...

And I should be going to bed. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, and I never get enough sleep so it's very hard to get up before 10 am. Tomorrow I have to be out the door by 8:15.

But I am very happy that I get to go to the doctor tomorrow, that that visit and the lab work and prescription that accompany it are free. I don't pay a dime. I get thousands of dollars worth of drugs every year, drugs that do an amazing job at keeping Crohn's at bay. I get allergy medicines and the drugs for my ridiculously-slightly too high blood pressure (thank you endless crushing stress), and any and all the tests my doctors order for me -- the random ones everybody should get and the ones that come from having the digestive tract from hell. Two sleep studies and the machine that keeps me breathing all night. Hospital stays, ER visits, radioactive egg sandwiches. All free.

I don't pay a dime.

God damned socialized medicine at work. I don't have some cadillac health care plan, I am married to an Army guy. So all my medical care is provided by and paid for by the US government.

I know it's not always perfect. I had symptoms from Crohn's disease for 18 years before it was diagnosed, but in those 18 years, there have been great strides forward in military family health care. The US government can get it right.

My Mom almost died this Christmas. Thanks to the valiant efforts of the nurses in the Cardiac ICU, she survived. Some death panel there -- an 80-something year old woman, and they are spending lots of resources to keep her around. We are all very grateful for that. And again, it's government provided, since my Mom is on Medicare. The doctors talked about choices and issues and complications and heroic measures, but never once did they suggest that we should let her die, to preserve resources for the next person. The younger, healthier next person. So much for your death panels, Governor Palin.

But then wander over to Lou's, and he will guide you to another blog. One with a person who isn't so lucky. Start asking around, and I bet you can find lots of people who are either without insurance themselves or know somebody who is.

Health care is not a luxury. Having access to drugs that save your life, your sight, your kidneys or heart, that should not be a privilege. Dying too soon, too young, because some worthless person at an insurance company gets a bonus for denying as many claims as possible, because some heartless and thoughtless and subhuman exec thinks that making money for the shareholders is far more important than some average person's life, that should not be happening in this country.

Dear Republican Politicians. I am an American Citizen. I am married to guy who has spent the last 20-whatever years serving our country. I have spent countless hours volunteering for military families and civilian families and the communities where we have lived. I am a real American. I want health care for every single person in this country. I want health care reform. I want my friends and family to have the same "privilege" that I have -- to be able to go to the doctor when they are sick. To go to the doctor when they feel great, so that they don't die early from undiagnosed and untreated diseases. To be able to buy food and heat their homes and get their prescriptions filled.

I know I haven't been political on my blog much, because I don't want to offend. But this is who I am. I am very liberal, very progressive, very non-Republican, and I am pissed. And tired. And worried about my kids and your kids and everybody's kids.

I am a real American, and whenever somebody says that Americans don't want health care reform, well, they sure as hell are not speaking for me.

Worm holes and black dogs...

Secret Mom and Lou think they have worm holes, too, and Lou wonders where his socks end up. I am suddenly relieved that I only have a small kitchen-to-Suburban wormhole. I would hate to endlessly find someone else's socks on my kitchen counter...

Mojo dented the wall today. With his head. Not to worry, though, Moj has a head of steel and thus bounced off it without noticing. Very unfortunately the wall doesn't bounce back so well...

Today was a class -- FRG Fundraising and Finances -- then off to the hospital for lab work, then a quick lunch, to another meeting, then home --but wait! A phone call (curses. Finding my cell phone bites me in the keister.) before I even get home summons me to another meeting...When I finally actually do get home, the dogs have once again ripped into the kitchen trash.

And I have no tequila.