Archive for the Action Category

On my bike ride home from work on Friday I stopped to help three people get a cow back into the pasture after it had hopped the fence and was standing two feet from the road.

WASHINGTON — In a sign of congressional concern over record-high gasoline prices and global warming, a Senate committee approved legislation Tuesday calling for the most significant increase in vehicle fuel efficiency in decades.

A sign of congressional concern. Right. 35 miles per gallon? Thirteen! years from now and 35 miles per gallon is the best we can do?

Including Iran, in which these lovely people live in this lovely place.

Imagine your next-door neighbor is shooting men, women, and children on the sidewalk with a rifle. You’d call the police as fast as possible, wouldn’t you?

Now imagine your government is doing the same thing. Who do you call?

Believe it or not, you can’t give birth these days without having a plan. No birth plan, no birth. That’s just the way it goes, or so the birth books would have you believe. How do folks without birth books and birth plans have babies? It’s a mystery. Speaking of mysteries, did you know that the first birth plan was found underneath the Obelisk of Luxor? True story. You can read all about it in Dan Brown’s new novel, The Birth Plan Code.

Anyway, Kathleen and I recently sat down to create our birth plan for a very special little boy who should arrive at the end of January and who shall remain nameless at this time. Barring any difficulties, we expect the birth will take place as planned. These questions are taken verbatim from the birth plan questionnaire provided by our care provider.

1. Who will be your main support person?
   • Harry Love, husband
2. Please write the name of any other person who is important to have with you:
   • Frank Oz (he makes us laugh and we think it would be great to have him do Bert impressions during the contractions)
   • Christopher Guest (if Frank is unavailable)
3. Do you want the nurses to help you and your partner control the number of visitors?
   • No. The more, the merrier. See next question.
4. Describe the environment you and your partner hope to create:
   • Any of the following would be fine (all hospital staff and visitors should dress in costume and stay in character):
     • A military bunker setting, underground, as if Kathleen is the last woman on Earth having a baby and the fate of all mankind depends on a successful delivery (barbed wire surrounding the room would be a nice touch)
     • A dance party complete with disco ball and ten-piece mariachi band
     • Dodgeball, 6th grade, New Orleans
     • Ski lodge
5. Do you plan to videotape the birth?
   • What’s videotape?
6. If so, have you talked about it with your care provider?
   • We’ll send her the storyboards next week, but basically we’re thinking of something like a Sofia Coppola film.
7. There are a number of ways to manage pain during labor. Check the ones you might be interested in:
   • Be able to change position and walk around
   • Jacuzzi or shower
   • Heavy mallet (croquet type)
   • Ride-the-Duck tour of Seattle
   • Mimes
8. Please check the birth positions you would prefer for your baby’s birth:
   • Lying
   • Sitting upright
   • Squatting
   • Bench pressing
   • Clean and jerking

Wish us luck!

http://www.carchops.com/car-discussions/t-jifffy-lube-scam-230.html

See the video linked from the web site above. 5 out of 9 Jiffy Lube centers scammed a TV news crew and were caught on tape.

This is the type of experience I had at Jiffy Lube at Northgate. They recommended 20 extra services I didn’t need, including changing the radiator fluid. A week later, having never had any radiator problems in the 14-year life of the car, it overheated on the highway when the radiator failed and leaked fluid all over the engine. I won’t be going back and I wouldn’t recommend their services to anyone.