Wait, what am I doing?!

Now that quite a few of the folks with which I prepared for my OAs are on the registrar, in their A-100 training class or heading into it, I am really getting nervous and excited. Yes, some days I wonder, what in the world have I gotten myself (and Jan and Joachim, by extension) into?! It's still rather humorous to me that for someone who is as risk averse as am I, that I'd joyfully sign up a career track and lifestyle that is filled with "risk". The world is calling and I cannot wait to answer...apparently.

You know you're a parent when...

...you make yourself comfortable on the floor rather than move or adjust the positioning of the deeply asleep baby who, unfortunately for you, managed to wriggle into an awkward position in the middle of a king size bed, preventing you from making any move onto the bed without disturbing his slumber.

I'm in Vancouver...

...reminds me of Seattle in some ways. Anyhow, am here (along with Jan and my mom) for a conference. I had forgotten that Vancouver is the 2010 Winter Games host until a day or so before we left. It's nice to see the place, having never been before, and will look forward to recognizing some places during Olympic coverage.

TGIF

'nuff said.

Angela's Ashes

I started reading the memoir of recently deceased, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Frank McCourt. I ordered it right after he passed away in mid-July, but because of the subject matter (his very difficult, impoverished childhood in America and Ireland), I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to pick up the book. I finally did, and boy am I happy to have done so. It is a wonderful book. I don't have the literary capacity to properly express why I like his writing style or the book so much, but if I were to try, I would say that the writing is lyrical, poetic, and vast, while at the time 100% authentic and believable as being told from the perspective of a little boy.

The passage below is one of my favorites (thus far):

"The master says it's a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it's a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if there's anyone in the world who would like us to live. My brothers are dead and my sister is dead and I wonder if they died for Ireland or the Faith. Dad says they were too young to die for anything. Mam says it was disease and starvation and him never having a job. Dad says, Och, Angela, puts on his cap and goes for a long walk.

The master says we're each to bring threepence for the First Communion catechism with the green cover...Older boys in the fifth class have the thick Confirmation catechism with the red cover that costs sixpence. I'd love to be big and important and parade around with the red Confirmation catechism but I don't think I'll live that long the way I'm expected to die for this or that. I want to ask why there are so many big people who haven't died for Ireland or the Faith but I know if you ask a question like that you get the thump on the head or you're told to go out and play."
(Angela's Ashes, p. 113)

I must have been an MMA fighter in my most recent previous life

My favorite, hands down, cardio/sport activity is kickboxing. Whether in cardio/aerobic classes or in formal MMA training, every single ounce of being hums and springs into equilibrium. Quite simply, I feel a true sense of "okay-ness with the world" when I am in the midst of imagining myself as a world-class MMA fighter. It's not like I like violence or the idea of smashing in some dude's face...well, maybe a little bit. I know it's the physicality and grace of the movements and combinations that has maintained my interest, but I can't really say what it is about the whole thing that first got me going. I think part of it must be the early influence in my life of Bruce Lee films (thanks to my older brother) and martial arts video games in which the women were just as tough and effective as the men. Also, being able to effectively land kicks and punches against my two older (and much stronger, physically speaking) brothers was an early lesson that strength is not just about muscle, but also about technique, endurance, precision, knowledge of physiology, etc. It is intellectual and physical, simultaneously.

Maybe one day I will be lucky enough to be able to spend several months immersed in physical training. I could imagine subjecting myself to intense training during the day, followed by meditation or some kind of meditative practice in the evening. Until then, I am going to promise myself to stop challenging unsuspecting Metro riders to impromptu cage matches during our AM commutes...

Wii envy

For a while now, I have been passively interested in the whole Nintendo Wii gaming system. This means that while I haven't contemplated buying one, my ears perk up when I hear people talking about it, my eyes spend a few more seconds on the page when I see advertisements, and I don't change the channel if/when a Wii commercial comes on. When I was little, I used to love playing video games...we had an Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and many of the more advanced subsequent iterations. One of my brothers was, and still is, REALLY into video games...so I was around gaming systems and games pretty much 24-7 all through lower and middle school. I found, however, that as the gaming systems became more high-tech, the games became more high-tech and complicated. I liked playing video games for the mindless entertainment value...having to think, work, or do any kind of non-gaming-time-research just wasn't my cup of tea. Anyhoo...last night I caught a QVC segment on the Nintendo WiiFitPlus game and balance board. Okay, let me just say that it's a good thing I have, literally, no free time and that I have taken a vow of not buying anything that takes up room. It's also a good thing that the Wii didn't debut until after I finished graduate school. Otherwise, there is no doubt in my mind that at this moment I would be on the internet trying to track down the best price for a new or used Wii console system and ordering a select number of highly-reviewed games, starting with WiiFitPlus and ending...who knows where?!?! All this being said, my dentist did recommend that I come up with ways to relax and de-stress (though, I don't feel stressed). Perhaps I could go the Wii route as a form of relaxation therapy...

Obama was in my neighborhood and he didn't stop by!

What's up with that? Well, I'll assume he meant to stop by and just ran out of time. Here's the story!

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
Obama stops in Cheverly to announce boost for small businesses

State senator's company hosted event

http://www.gazette.net/stories/10212009/prinnew161852_32567.shtml

by Daniel Valentine | Staff Writer
President Barack Obama chose a Prince George's County business as the backdrop for a new policy announcement today, his second surprise appearance in the Maryland suburbs this week.
The president gave a speech to a small crowd at the warehouses of Metropolitan Archives in Cheverly, where he announced plans to boost lending by smaller community banks and increase the amount entrepreneurs can borrow from the Small Business Administration.

"These small businesses are the engine of job growth in America," the president told the crowd of about 130 invitees. "They fuel our prosperity."

The expansions will require congressional approval.

Metropolitan Archives, which stores files and records for major law firms and accounting groups in Washington, D.C., purchased its new $7 million headquarters in February using a $2 million loan from the SBA.

White House officials called the company Friday looking to set up the event, said Douglas J.J. Peters, co-owner of the business and state senator (D-Dist. 23) from Bowie, who started the business years ago with a school friend, Joseph Incarnato.

"We're just kind of in shock that this is really happening," Peters said a few hours before Obama arrived, as Secret Service agents sent dogs searching the halls.

On Monday, the president toured Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring.

Invites were kept secret for the event this week, with most people only learning about the appearance the day before. Throngs of police cars and Secret Service surrounded the building, located in an industrial zone off the Capital Beltway, where dogs and agents searched every car before parking.

The crowd was composed of a mix of representatives from national business and banking groups, local small business owners and elected officials, who waited in the closed room for around two hours for the chance to see Obama during his 10-minute appearance.

"You set out your week, and then something like this happens, and you drop everything," said County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), who attended the news conference. "It's always great to have the president in town."

Other local politicians included Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Dist. 26) of Fort Washington, a co-investor in the business, and Sen. Nathaniel Exum, Del. Justin Ross and 2010 county executive candidate Rushern L. Baker — all of whom endorsed the president early in 2007 and were delegates at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

"Everybody's asking, ‘Can you get me in?'" Ross told an audience member as they waited.

Invitees included many local business owners who have used the SBA loan program in the past. Natalie and Timothy Proctor, Glenn Dale residents who own a New Carrollton auto repair service, sat with a copy of the president's book, hoping for an autograph.

"We only found out last night," Natalie Proctor said. "We told our mothers. Oh, and they've told everybody."

Other local owners included Saundra Thurman-Custis of Bowie, whose company, Crystal Enterprises Inc., recently received a loan through the SBA to add 33 workers to their business, which supplies cafeteria services at federal office buildings in the region.

"[The SBA representatives] were very easy to work with," said Thurman-Custis, who said she is glad the program is expanding.

Peters and Incarnato appeared on stage with Obama, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Karen Mills, administrator for the SBA, as the president lauded their growth.

"These small businesses are what will pull us out of this recession," Mills said.

After his televised speech, the crowd rushed the stage as the president shook hands.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.

Rolling over is hard to do

While my gross and fine motor skills are highly developed, I have just about hit the wall when it comes to rolling over my 403(b) from a previous job into my current 403(b) plan. Seriously, I just want to consolidate two accounts...an ING retirement account into a TIAA CREF retirement account. That's all I want to do. Yet, the amount of paper work, the lack of clear directions, the myriad of boxes that I need to check/uncheck, etc. is enough to make me want to forget about the whole thing. Look, I listen to NPR's Marketplace and I always had the impression that rolling over was pretty straightforward. Maybe it is, for some people and/or for some retirement plans, but I am going to go on record as saying that ING Life Insurance and Annuity Company makes the process a hassle. I can understand, I suppose, that they'd want to make it a little difficult for folks to close accounts and move their money elsewhere. But, come on people!!

An article discusses serious questions related to flu vaccines and treatments

I have been doing more than my fair share of reading about flu vaccines, especially possible long-term effects of the H1N1 flu vaccine. A friend of mine flagged the article below on Facebook. I read it and came away feeling quite validated, since I have been questioning and puzzling over the seasonal flu and H1N1 flu vaccine public health policies adopted by the CDC. With Jan being so little, the impact on him of catching a flu could be quite pronounced. That being said, while I think getting a normal season flu vaccination is fine for the adults around him (since the benefits, even if slim, outweigh the risks), more important is that we follow proper hygiene precautions, eat well, and keep ourselves healthy. And, now that his daily diet includes solid foods, we are going to make sure that his diet includes leafy greens, whole grains, probiotics, and all others kinds of things to help him stay healthy.

Does the Vaccine Matter?
Whether this season’s swine flu turns out to be deadly or mild, most experts agree that it’s only a matter of time before we’re hit by a truly devastating flu pandemic—one that might kill more people worldwide than have died of the plague and aids combined. In the U.S., the main lines of defense are pharmaceutical—vaccines and antiviral drugs to limit the spread of flu and prevent people from dying from it. Yet now some flu experts are challenging the medical orthodoxy and arguing that for those most in need of protection, flu shots and antiviral drugs may provide little to none. So where does that leave us if a bad pandemic strikes?

by Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer