Framing the Dialogue

Random Thoughts

One Million Steps

Sometime in the afternoon of April 27, 2012 I achieved a milestone albeit a couple of weeks later than I had hoped. On January 1 I started a program to increase the number of steps that I took each day with an ultimate goal of getting 10,000 steps a day. Starting a walking program in January in Pittsburgh probably was not the easiest thing, but I had to start somewhere and now that it is hotter I am glad that I got that start. I am, unfortunately, a sweater and this may restrict how much walking I do on my lunch break unless my co-workers don’t mind a sweaty heap nearby.

Stat Not

I had a recent experience dealing with the healthcare industry when my mother became ill. She went in with a condition that for those of us younger would take some antibiotics and be done, but when you’re elderly a simple illness can be fatal. It was interesting that when my wife heard her symptoms she made a diagnosis and the EMTs did the same. They ended up being correct as confirmed by the tests or so I thought.

Out Of Service

I am sorry that I haven’t posted, but I have had an inordinant number of visits from The Blue Screen of Death.  I have been working through the mess and hopefully will be back on Sunday (3/11).

Talk Me Off Of the Ledge

No I am not planning to throw myself off of a tall building, but life as a conservative seems rather harsh and I keep looking at how easy it is for liberals with more than a little jealousy.  Life for a liberal is quite simple…

  • It’s a life where they can go from Global Cooling will kill us unless we do something, to Global Warming will kill us unless we take drastic (and costly) measures, to a nice balance of Global Climate Change which gives them cover to every climate situation.  They seem to have no qualms about making these label changes and are as vociferous in their arguments.  Oh and they have the backing of the elitist media. That’s much better than the facts.

Jackson Dismayed

That title is how the excerpt from my local paper described Rev. Jesse “blackmail” Jackson’s feelings over the Recording Academy’s (Grammy Awards) decision to pare down the number of awards handed out this year.

Grammy Controversy: Rev. Jesse Jackson Enters Fray Over Cut Categories

Since Jackson has absolutely nothing to do with the music industry (or any industry or anything for that matter) I can only surmise that it has been too long since he got any press and decided this may work.  Jackson DEMANDED a meeting with CEO Neil Portnow to discuss his demands or threatened boycott or to “occupy” the grammys.  Portnow acquiesced to Jackson’s blackmail as have so many others in the past. 

My 10,000 Steps

Perhaps not as widely used as “drinking 8 glasses of water each day” or “an apple a day…”, the belief that taking ten thousand steps each day will pave the way towards total health is almost as well known.  On many levels that makes sense to me.  I have a relatively new position where I work that entails a fair amount of walking 2-3 times per week with some climbing slopes included.  I had been doing this for a few months and I noticed something weird.  I was able to tighten one more belt hole, my pants got a little bigger, and I didn’t gasp for air when I strode up a steep slope.

I Got By With A Little Help From Some Strangers

As part of my job duties I inspect dams to ensure that they are in decent shape and maintained.  I am trying to be vague as I really don’t care to divulge what I do for a living or for whom.  The inspections are visual and generally take about 45 minutes for the field work each depending on the size of the dam.  I was out yesterday and got four done (just the field work) and it was around noon.  I had one more that I wanted to tackle before settling down to write up my reports.  It was about an hour away and like to get my field work done so I postponed lunch and headed toward the dam.

Detours

I walked Colorado Street twice a day every day to/from school for eight years. This was the site of many snowball fights and an occasional monkey ball fight.

Today’s Hottest Jobs

Kiplinger writers Martha Craver and Michael DeSenne have done the impossible and uncovered 10 hot jobs in an era of high unemployment. Even more unlikely one of the professions, and number four no less, is my profession. The “jobs” are ranked by the number of job seekers for every position open environmental engineers only have 1.15 active job seekers per opening according to Kiplinger. I was happy to see the 10-year growth projection at 31 percent though I don’t see a move to another employer in my future.

Cradle to Grave

My son recently bought a new bed. You’ll have to bear with me on this one, but I was thinking about that and its implications about growth and where we sleep or more importantly what we sleep on. He has lived on his own for years now, but still used his single bed much as he has since he was probably two years old. His move up to a double bed seemed like a life step. I know it’s just a bed, but think about what we sleep on.