April 30, 2008
Disruptive Behavior
The other day, I was sitting in a work meeting when my vent decided to begin alarming. I usually have my nurses wait in my office when I'm in meetings, so I explained to a manager how to silence the alarm. I apologized for interrupting things, but the manager shrugged it off. She told me that she was once in a meeting with another person on a ventilator and she had to quickly plug in the vent when the battery died. I'm not sure I would get such a blasé response in most other workplaces. I was actually a little disappointed that nobody freaked.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2008
Text Me
A few months ago, I wrote that AT&T was planning on offering a data-only plan for deaf iPhone users. The Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) is now available for $40 per month. The only hoop for potential customers is completing an eligibility application to verify one's deafness, hearing impairment, or speech impairment.
On a completely unrelated note, the warmed brie on Kincaid's menu in St. Paul is, like, the best appetizer ever. Its melty goodness is enough to make me weep just a little bit.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:54 PM | Comments (1)
April 28, 2008
Enough Slacking
I think I'm going to try my hand at writing another book. Never mind that the first draft of the last one is still lurking in a murky corner of my hard drive. Never mind that I haven't been able to squeeze out more than drips and drabs on any writing project over the last year. This idea has been kicking around inside my head for a while and I think it might lead to a better result than my last effort. And announcing my intentions on this blog might compel me to come through on a finished product. Check in with me three or four years from now and find out.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:55 PM | Comments (1)
April 27, 2008
Headhunting
Once again, I need to recruit another nurse. This kind of reshuffling is to be expected after several years of stability and I'm fortunate that I don't have to do it more often. I'm posting ads on places like Craigslist because placing a classified in the Strib is exorbitantly expensive. If anyone has other ideas on recruiting methods, let me hear them.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2008
Milking The Franchise
Geek favorite Guillermo del Toro (director of Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth) has signed on to direct a feature length version of The Hobbit...and its sequel? Huh? The second film proposes to fill in the gap between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. I'm no Tolkien scholar, but I don't remember any of his writings expounding on the events of that interregnum. The film could be interesting, but it could also turn into Bilbo Baggins and the Phantom Menace. The LotR trilogy worked because the scripts borrowed and oftentimes strengthened the best elements of the books. Without the firm footing of existing material, the sequel could descend into fanboy flights of fancy, like Bilbo hooking up with some Elven warrior princess hottie.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2008
We're Not #1
I got around to watching the recent Frontline episode that profiled health care systems in other wealthy democracies. In short, places like the U.K., Taiwan, and Germany make us look like a banana republic when it comes to providing access to health care. This doesn't exactly come as a surprise, but the success of other national health care systems only highlights the tone-deafness of our own elected leaders on this issue. The narrator makes it clear that, once implemented, universal health care systems are tremendously popular with citizens. If Republicans could overcome their slavish devotion to free-market absolutism and pass meaningful health care reform, such a move would likely reap them huge political rewards. I suspect McCain understands this and could be persuaded to endorse a health care system that is a public/private hybrid, but that isn't going to happen while the GOP is beholden to Grover Norquist and his acolytes.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:36 PM | Comments (2)
April 24, 2008
Defying Conventional Wisdom
My prediction for the Pennsylvania primary result wasn't that far off. But what I find really interesting is how all the doomsayers in the blogosphere and mainstream media are proclaiming that Obama can't win white voters. While race may influence some voters, the real dynamics are age and class. For whatever reason, working-class folks view Clinton as one of their own even though her income is in the stratosphere. And Clinton is the last gasp of a boomer generation that isn't quite ready to yield the political stage to their juniors. Those of us who support Obama want to get on with the business of living in the 21st century. Clinton supporters seem content to revisit the Nineties.
As Andrew Sullivan notes, Obama has a commanding lead in Minnesota, a state as lily-white as they come. We have plenty of blue-collar workers and oldsters. But we also elected Jesse Ventura as governor, so we might also be a state of contrarians.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2008
Live Studio Audience
Last night, I overheard someone say that The Daily Show is coming to Minnesota during the Republican National Convention. I have no idea if this is in fact true. But assuming it is, I'm going to start shamelessly appealing for someone to hook me up with tickets. Otherwise, I will be forced to take that entire week off of work so I can camp outside the box office.
C'mon, people. This blog isn't complete without a picture of me and Jon Stewart.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2008
Every Time Someone Says "Bitter", You Have To Down A Shot
The only way to watch cable news coverage of a primary is to do so slightly intoxicated. I'm going to watch the returns with some fellow junkies. I'll post a follow-up if the mood strikes me.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:07 PM | Comments (1)
April 21, 2008
Banking On Philly
The news keeps making reference to some election or another taking place tomorrow. We're still doing those? I thought this whole thing had devolved into a tedious and unending reality tv series, like The Real World minus the hook-ups.
My prediction: Hillary by seven. If all those newly registered voters turn out in droves, it could be somewhat closer. She probably needs to win by at least eight or nine to justify remaining in the race. Whatever happens, the circus will likely continue for at least a couple more weeks.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:37 PM | Comments (2)
April 20, 2008
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
Today's Strib features a story about the mortgage crunch and its deleterious effects on outer-ring suburbs like Wright County. The story is familiar: developers rush into an exurban area with dollar signs in their eyes, selling overpriced homes to individuals with spotty credit histories. Then the market crashed, leaving many development projects in limbo and saddling borrowers with mortgages that now exceed the value of their homes. The article reminded me of that recent Atlantic feature which outlined how these seemingly idyllic housing developments, hard-hit by the economic downturn, could become the new slums of the American landscape.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2008
Reason #10,786 For Health Care Reform
Even though most of the media is still preoccupied with analyzing the bitterness of rural Pennsylvanians and politicians' friendships with former Sixties radicals, the NYT comes along with an article informing us that health insurers have come up with another way to screw over people who have the gall to get sick. Major insurers like Kaiser have devised a new co-pay tier for expensive drugs that treat life-threatening conditions like cancer or multiple sclerosis. Co-pays for these "Tier 4" drugs can be hundreds of dollars per month. If you don't have the cash on hand to pay for the co-pay, then you'd better hope that your Visa isn't maxed out or else it's no medicine for you.
Isn't the whole purpose of insurance to spread the risk across a large population so that cost burdens do not fall disproportionately on one person or any group of people? If private companies don't have the wherewithal to adequately pool risk, then we need to recognize that the time has come for a single-payer solution.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2008
Self-Image
It occurs to me that I'm a flesh-and-blood version of a first-grader's drawing. Big head. Limbs like sticks.
See, these are the kinds of things that pop into my head when I'm sitting at my desk on a Friday night.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2008
Best Of All, No Adam Curry
Pitchfork.tv is a new streaming video site from the hipsters who brought us the music website of the same name. It's been live for only a few weeks, but the site already contains an impressive amount of content in the form of music videos, interviews, and long-form documentaries. Since MTV now shows nothing but bad reality television starring the beautiful and the lobotomized, Pitchfork.tv is a great find for those of us who want to watch actual music videos. I'm especially fond of this exuberant video by the Brazilian band CSS.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2008
Modern Medicine
A friend of mine who also has SMA told me about a recent visit to a physician who specializes in neuromuscular disorders. This doctor told her that, contingent on the results of a genetic screening, she could receive an injection of a substance that stops the progression of SMA. She couldn't tell me the name of the substance and a cursory Google search didn't turn up anything definitive. My understanding of SMA is that it isn't progressive in the same sense as, say, ALS is progressive. The motor neuron is shut off (or at least badly damaged) and the loss of signal causes muscles to atrophy, but that atrophy eventually plateaus. But I could be misinformed. My friend's SMA is significantly less severe than mine and, if progression is an ongoing process, she would definitely benefit from such a treatment. I see myself as having reached that plateau back in my early twenties. As I get older, however, it might be difficult to distinguish progression from the usual creakiness that accompanies the aging process.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2008
Life Lessons
According to the AP, summer camps tailored to the needs of kids with disabilities and chronic illnesses are sprouting up all over the country. Researchers are finding that kids who attend these camps may go home with a better understanding of their disabilities and are more comfortable discussing their disabilities with others. Here's what one kid said about his experience at a camp for children with epilepsy.
You get to learn about each other, how you're not different from everyone.
I attended a camp sponsored by the Muscular Dystrophy Association for a couple summers in a row. It was the first and only place where another kid threatened to beat me up. I suspect that's not an anecdote the MDA wants printed up in the brochures. But I also caught a glimpse of my pretty counselor topless, so the experience had its upside.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:43 PM | Comments (1)
April 14, 2008
Gimme Some Sugar
Today is Hug-an-Atheist Day. It must be a real holiday because there's a whole Facebook page dedicated to it. So where's my hug? Don't worry; I'm the warm, fuzzy kind of atheist. I won't try to thrust a copy of The End of Faith into your unsuspecting hands.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:54 PM | Comments (1)
April 13, 2008
Hard Truths
Some things just go together. Peanut butter and chocolate. Fireworks and the Fourth of July. Elections and charges of Democratic elitism. It comforts me greatly to know that, in these ever-changing times, we can still count on politicians to get all faux-indignant when someone dares to opine that some of our neglected fellow citizens are kind of grumpy and may be channeling that grumpiness at the gay couple down the street or the guy at the Kwik-Mart with the funny accent.
Obama's phrasing was clumsy, but that doesn't discredit the observations he was making. The megachurches that dot the suburban landscape are booming because they offer a one-stop support network that is replacing the old civic infrastructures, like neighborhood organizations and labor unions, that have been decimated by economic stress and upheaval. And some of those churches do preach uplifting messages of social justice and tolerance, but many of them encourage a kind of exceptionalist thinking that breeds contempt and suspicion of those who are different. This wasn't as much of a problem when people lived in homogenous little towns, but that isn't the world we live in now. "Those people" are now neighbors and co-workers. Obama isn't criticizing anyone; he's giving an oversimplified, reductionist explanation of a social trend. But it is a real and persistent trend.
Some of you may be getting tired of my political commentary, but I can't help it. It's just too interesting for me to ignore.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2008
Familiar Faces
I'm going to drop by my ten-year law school reunion tonight. I mostly hung out with the public-interest crowd and I'm not sure how many of them will be there. Of course, it might be more interesting to talk to someone whom I barely knew when I was a student. I'll listen to stories of people's seventy-hour workweeks at the firm and feel a little wistful that I didn't pursue a private sector job more aggressively. But then again, I'm not sure there's any kind of private practice that I would want to do for seventy hours a week.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:32 PM | Comments (1)
April 11, 2008
The Common Touch
Much is being made of Barack Obama's difficulties in appealing to white, working-class voters. Being a stereotypical Obama backer (young, educated, relatively affluent) and a couple generations removed from my working-class roots, I have a hard time understanding this trend. Race is almost certainly a contributing factor, although I'm not convinced that voters wary of Obama's race are any more likely to vote for a woman in a general election. And this all might be so much media hype. Pennsylvania is in the spotlight and the news networks are looking for an angle to keep people interested in the horse race. Once this primary is over, the press will be stumbling all over themselves to find a new angle.
Except that this particular race, barring something truly unexpected happening, is over. And Obama will have plenty of time to win over lunchpail Democrats, Hispanics, grandmothers, rural folks, and all the other demographic subgroups that are supposed to resent him.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:21 PM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2008
Spreading The Wealth
This was the first year I actually owed the guv'mint taxes. I adjusted my withholding last year to see if I could break even and I came reasonably close. In some parallel universe, there's an alternate version of me who is a moderately successful CPA. And I'm happy to throw in a final payment as a thank-you to Uncle Sam for educating me and providing me health care. I kind of miss those refund-facilitated shopping sprees, though.
And it would have been nice if my van could have waited until next month to spring a coolant leak.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:28 PM | Comments (1)
April 09, 2008
Out Of Stock
My trusty HeadMaster, the device I use to type these blog posts, check e-mail, play Scrabulous, and generally get my geek on, is no longer being manufactured. I learned this fact a few months ago and ever since then I've had a low-level anxiety that my existing HeadMaster would fail. Fortunately, they're designed to last. The one sitting above my monitor has been in use since circa 1996 and I don't think it has ever failed to do its duty. And I do have a spare sitting in a desk drawer, which provides some additional insurance. By the time I need to think about a replacement technology, perhaps I'll be able to get one of those oft-predicted neural interfaces implanted inside my melon.
The odd bits of tech that we gimps use can sometimes assume talismanic qualities. We know and trust them. They're predictable. They may have their quirks and eccentricities, but we can navigate those without much conscious thought; what matters is that they do not fail us. And when market forces make our devices obsolescent or unavailable, we are forced to put our trust into the unfamiliar and (frequently) the untested.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:35 PM | Comments (2)
April 08, 2008
This Is The Musical Version
Do we really need another Dune movie? Wasn't the obtuse David Lynch version and the so-so SciFi Channel miniseries enough to teach us a lesson? At the very least, there should be a law prohibiting any further Dune adaptations until I've had a chance to read the book.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2008
Held Hostage
Every political observer in Minnesota anticipated that the governor would probably take his red pen to portions of the recently passed bonding bill, but I don't think anyone imagined that he would cut funding for the planned Central Corridor light rail line. After all, he included the funding in the original bonding proposal he sent to the Legislature. The remarks he made to the press today make it clear that he's using the project as a bargaining chip to reassert his waning power. If the DFL doesn't bend to his will in budget negotiations, he'll deny them a much-anticipated public works initiative.
It's an interesting gambit and perhaps Pawlenty sees this as an opportunity to boost his conservative street cred. After all, his name is probably on McCain's short list of veep picks. Still, letting this project go forward might do more to solidify his legacy as governor. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to take the long view on things.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2008
Players Of Games
Second Skin is a forthcoming documentary about massively multiplayer on-line role-playing games (MMORPGs) and the people who play them. The film's trailer is available here. According to its promotional materials, Second Skin does include a profile of a gamer with cerebral palsy who is active in the Second Life community. It also profiles gamers who fell in love on-line or struggled with addiction to their hobby. Second Skin looks like a fascinating exploration of the forces at work behind the explosive growth of MMORPGs and I hope it makes its way to Twin Cities theaters. Thanks to BoingBoingTV for the tip.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2008
Musical Interlude
Time for another peek at the singles on heavy rotation here on the 19th Floor:
"Send a Little Love Token" by The Duke Spirit: A propulsive rocker of a song by a British band whose pretty blonde lead singer sounds an awful lot like the pretty blonde lead singer from The Sounds. If this song was included in a movie soundtrack, it would be played during the scene where the hero walks into a rough-and-tumble bar, orders a shot of whiskey, hits on the saucy-looking woman standing next to him, and then gets clobbered over the head with a beer bottle by her skinhead boyfriend.
"Feel the Love" by Cut Copy: This sunny electronica-tinged number induces waves of Eighties nostalgia. The whole album is quite listenable, in fact.
"Dead Sound" by The Raveonettes: Continuing the theme of bands fronted by pretty blondes, this single from the Denmark duo's latest album is drenched in feedback. Is it me, or is the whole feedback/distortion thing making a comeback? The Magnetic Fields did something similar in their most recent effort.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:50 PM | Comments (1)
April 04, 2008
Hey, Batter, Batter
I'm leaving shortly to catch a Twins game. I'm not turning into a fan, but the tickets were cheap and it gets me away from the computer. If you're watching on television, you might see me. I'll be sitting above and behind the opposing team's dugout.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:19 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2008
Productivity Boost
My employer recently implemented a web-based tool to access work e-mail and documents. It comes in handy for those times when I'm out of the office for all-day meetings and I need to check my inbox when I get home. But it will also be one of those things that I'll compulsively access. When I had a BlackBerry, my compulsive tendencies were held in check by the fact that I needed someone's assistance to use it. But now that I can access work from this computer, I can send all the late-night e-mails I want, thus confirming my co-workers' long-held suspicions that I do not in fact have a life.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:29 PM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2008
Extreme Surfing
The Twin Cities may not have the San Francisco's hipster sheen, but we certainly hold our own when it comes to the technological sophistication of our populace. Which might explain why Comcast has chosen us as the first market to roll out its next-generation Internet service. Starting tomorrow, you can download Usenet porn and Bittorrent movies at blazing 50 Mbps speeds for the not-so-reasonable price of $150 per month. While the idea of near-instant access to porn has a certain appeal, I won't be busting my budget for the privilege. I'm not sure what kind of customers Comcast hopes to attract with this offering. Gamers are the ones most likely to lust after a speed boost, but I thought most gamers were unemployed or still in high school.
I kid, I kid.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2008
Another Voice Joins The Choir
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar endorsed Obama yesterday. If Klobuchar had more time to build a national profile, she would make an interesting choice for the veep slot. If Obama is the nominee, my money is on Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius. She has red-state appeal and she can provide him some insight on running an executive branch.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:15 PM | Comments (1)