Wednesday, September 23, 2009

That Health Care Issue



New Rule: You can't complain about health care reform if you're not willing to reform your own health. Unlike most liberals, I'm glad all those teabaggers marched on Washington last week. Because judging from the photos, it's the first exercise they've gotten in years. Not counting, of course, all the Rascal scooters there, most of which aren't even for the disabled. They're just Americans who turned 60 and said, "Screw it, I'm done walking." These people are furious at the high cost of health care, so they blame illegals, who don't even get health care. News flash, Glenn Beck fans: the reason health care is so expensive is because you're all so unhealthy.
Yes, it was fun this week to watch the teabaggers complain how the media underestimated the size of their march, "How can you say there were only 60,000 of us? We filled the entire mall!" Yes, because you're fat. One whale fills the tank at Sea World, that doesn't make it a crowd.
President Obama has identified all the problems with the health care system, but there's one tiny issue he refuses to tackle, and that's our actual health.
And since Americans can only be prodded into doing something with money, we need to tax crappy foods that make us sick like we do with cigarettes, and alcohol -- and alcohol actually serves a useful function in society in that it enables unattractive people to get laid, which is more than you can say for Skittles.
I'm not saying tax all soda, but certainly any single serving of soda larger than a baby is not unreasonable. If you don't know whether you burp it or it burps you, that's too big. We need to make taking care of ourselves an issue of patriotism. If you were someone who condemned Bush for not asking Americans to sacrifice for the war on terror, the same must be said for Obama and health care.
President Arugula is not gonna tell Americans they're fat and lazy. No sin tax on food on Obama's watch. And at a time when it's important to set new standards for personal responsibility, he appointed a surgeon general, who is, I'm sorry, kind of fat. Certainly too heavy to be a surgeon general, it's a role model thing. It would be like appointing a Secretary of the Treasury who didn't pay his taxes. He did?
And get this: Surgeon General Benjamin had previously been a nutritional advisor to Burger King. The only advice a "health expert" should give Burger King is to stop selling food. The "nutritional advisor" job was described as, "promoting balanced diets and active lifestyle choices" -- and who better to do that than the folks who hand you meat and corn syrup through a car window? When you have a surgeon general who comes from Burger King, it's a message to lobbyists, and that message is, "Have it your way."


- Bill Maher


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I don't usually like making political posts, but I just thought that was too funny not to share.

Sunday, September 20, 2009




We bought this mirror from Ikea. Look at the instructions that came with it. Can you make any sense of these? I'm thinking it has something to do with "what to do when you find a geoduck in your mailbox".


Saturday, September 19, 2009

Award-Winning Design


It's about time I won a freakin' award for something. The Web Marketing Association gave me, ...us, ...Metia, an award for this project we did for the Microsoft SQL Business Value Calculator. Now, I've never heard of this organization, so I don't really know how prestigous this is, but it's always nice to get recognition from wherever you can. AND, it will still look nice on the old resume!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Breezeway Progress



This weekend, I pressure washed the building site of our future breezeway to make way for a little additional concrete slab. We were not able to pour, however, due to unruly rain. But since I had the washer for a full four hours, I was able to wash the whole back patio and deck. Look at that before and after of the deck... it's like new!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Go Go Microsoft!



This is supposed to be a slow time of the year for us at work. They always plan on being slow due to our client's budgets and fiscal years and so forth. That, coupled with the down turn in the economy, should be gauranteeing me with stress-free summer days coming in late and leaving early and taking lots of vacation time (I'm trying to take a week off for a bike tour). But noooooo. Microsoft is moving full steam ahead and just craming new projects (and money) down our throats. Good ol' Microsoft - keeping me very employed.

Here's two new sites that we just build for them. My job is creating the interactive main graphics for the home pages.

Streets and Trips and MapPoint


Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Mudroom Begins



Or is it a covered breezway? Whatever, it is, we are both very excited to be breaking ground on this project as it has been something that we have wanted to do pretty much since we moved in. We have the detached garage which is where the laundry room is and we keep our shoes out there, too, since we don't wear shoes in the house and it really gets to be a pain in the ass schlepping shoes back and forth.

Anyways, we are going to connect the two structures and improve our quality of life significantly, I think. Last weekend, I tore up a portion of the deck and even removed some of the siding and door trim. This weekend, I will pore some cement for the slab.

Use your mouse to look around this 3D model of the project.