Saturday, September 29, 2007

Yum... Pioneer Woman Cooks!

I don't get to her often enough, but G-d knows I love Ree and her blogs.

This is just way too much to stand. Cook it tonight!

Sicko, redux

I first wanted to post about this back on July 4th. Gives you an idea for my free time follow up skills... ugh.

I've done a lot of thinking about this since I saw the movie, and had numerous discussions with people "on both sides of the aisle," as the cliche goes.

Most doctors I work for predict the change is inevitable, but no one is quite sure what it's going to look like or when it will really happen.

My friend who accompanied me to the movie is an avowed liberal. And the wife of a doctor. I asked her, "Are you really saying you'd be okay with his salary being cut?" No one has those numbers, but I do wonder what the reality would be like in a universal health care system.

Having just stayed most of yesterday in the ER, I could only imagine the revolution that would take place if you removed all those administrative folks from the mix. At our local hospital, they even have a specially designed scanner for health care cards. Last time I was in with one of my kids, I commented about it to the admissions person. She said, "Yeah, it's great when it works." Sounds similar to most health care plans to me.

I can recall battling (and battling, and battling) between our insurance company and a health care provider when my son was being tested for developmental problems. Even though the billing was going out of the same hospital program, each doctor's coding was different. So some were covered, and others (on the same team) were not. The insurance company told me the doctor's office was coding improperly. The doctor's office told me they were following directions from the insurance company. When I asked the insurance company which codes the doctor's office should be using, they said, "You aren't allowed access to that information. Only the doctor's office can know the codes." So hours of wrangling meant we wound up footing the bill.

Note to Michael Moore -- The revolution may not be as far away as you think. When several well-heeled (we'd call them "high maintenance" ladies-of-the-lake (and of a "certain age," as the French would say) at my local coffee shop were discussing out of network coverage for when they're in their winter homes (Florida, Arizona, New Mexico), and cited as a horrific example one of Moore's case studies in the film, I knew we might be making progress. No one knew the anecdote came from his movie. But someone had repeated it with enough fervor to make it spread like a rumor in the game "Telephone." It was the story about the woman whose ambulance ride wasn't covered (following a traumatic car accident) because she hadn't gotten pre-approval. "Can you imagine?" they said to each other.

After seeing the movie, yes, I can.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Homage to HolyCandy.Com

How can you not love this? Can't get that in People, people.

Old favorite section: "Breath Smells Like."

New favorite section: "Most Likely to Have..."

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Jenny, That's What I Said!

My friend Jenny recently asked me what I thought of the whole Zac Efron/Vanessa Hudgins "thing." Well, apparently Dlisted got to it before me. (Jenny'll vouch for me here.)

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Which Part is Most Disturbing?

Usually I love to read the posts from AdRants. But this was really twisted, even for advertising:



Maybe it's the fact that they used CGI "people" instead of actors. Eeew. Maybe it's that they're pitting dad against baby son for mom's affection, set to a rap song. Yuck. And, you can even play the videogame online if you were that inspired by the clip. Uh-huh.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

More Embarrasing VMA Moments

As if Britney wasn't enough -- how about this? I love Dlisted's comments about this the most!

Monday, September 03, 2007

Why I'm Not a Jessica Fan

You might be surprised. I'm not talking about Simpson, or Biel. Or even Rabbit.

No, on my radar screen right now is Mrs. Seinfeld, who has come out with this book.

I first read about this on Saturday while getting my hair done -- the only time I get to peruse Vogue Magazine. In it, there was an article (!) about Mrs. Seinfeld's new book, and her philosophy on getting her three tots to eat healthy, along with a cover shot of the new book. There are numerous paragraphs dedicated to her collaborators, how she simply decided not to fight with her children about eating vegetables, blah blah blah. Why this warranted this much copy, in, did I mention -- the fall edition of Vogue Magazine -- can only be explained by her last name.

Anyway, she says her children simply "expect" that brownies are made with spinach and carrots. Her son's yellow birthday cake is pictured, as fortified with pumpkin.

Now, I'll admit that part of why this is such a burr under my saddle is its condescending tone. Coming from a very wealthy, very connected person. You have to ask, could she even have gotten this published without Jerry's name and money? I mean, when this was featured in a special email to my Amazon email account, I knew the marketing was cranking into high gear. For a children's cookbook. Hmmm.

The article also talks about her list of high profile consultants (Dr. Oz from Oprah being just one, natch).

I must admit it's good marketing. Especially the way it's described as an 'antidote for the childhood obesity epidemic.' That's certainly high praise -- from her publisher. It would be very cool if she took the profits and donated them to a foundation or program combatting childhood obesity. Walking the walk, as it were, since they're using that angle to sell the book.

I may just review this book once it hits the shelves in October. If I can get it off hold at the Library.

Let's hope she's as successful as Shoshanna.