Friday, August 14, 2009

Getting Edumacated

I've recently been attempting to learn more about how our economy works and I have come across so many things that confuse and infuriate me about practices and policies that squander our country's wealth but are allowed to continue unchecked. Things that, if more were widely known about them, I think would confuse and infuriate everyone else who loves this country too. I used to believe that our country was kept relatively safe from corruption by a series of checks and balances. I am realizing that so many of these have already been eroded long ago, leaving us with a system devoid of reason, fairness or control.

I was excited to learn about a bill designed to target the source of some of these corrupt practices, the Federal Reserve. The same mysterious Federal Reserve that is mentioned daily in the news but that few Americans truly understand. I didn't. I was shocked to learn that the bank that runs our entire economy is not a government agency at all. It's run by private bankers who have no built-in incentive to make choices that are in the best interest of anyone but themselves. They may inflate and deflate our money at will. And they don't even have to allow anyone to audit their books.

Bill HR 1207 would open the Fed up for audit. As it stands now, many Fed meetings are secret and audit is not allowed. I shudder to think of the tumult that an audit would cause and the staunch resistance it would likely create on its way to implementation. But the thought of the status quo continuing for another 10, 20, 50 years is even worse. This isn't the first time such a bill was proposed. Unfortunately, 1993's version was brushed aside by Alan Greenspan, the Fed president, and denounced by President Clinton as dangerous to the stability of our economy.

Learn more about the Fed below and see all the representatives and senators who support the bill to audit the Fed here.



Thursday, August 13, 2009

New Linky

The future of American liberty may depend on ordinary citizens joining with organized movements like Campaign for Liberty that have the power to make real changes in Washington. I hope folks will begin channeling any anger they're dealing with into a quest for education and a desire to support like-minded folks in the House and Senate.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Sleep Bank, Cloudy Weekend

My sleep bank bled slowly throughout the week, only to dump me into my call-free weekend feeling wiped. It's taken a couple naps to really top off my tank and get me ready to take on the next week. Having said that, I suppose I'm squandering some of that by being up til 12:30. *sigh*

It was a strange, choppy weekend. Our parents were either working or traveling and so that meant the Pooplet remained with us at all times. Perfect for family reconnection, bad for the to-do list.

And I believe she's cutting a new tooth on the top. I'm happy that it'll round out her existing 5 teeth and make her smile more symmetrical. But heaven sakes, the child is fussy. Cuddly, but fussy. She'll be our delightful, smiley giggly Isabella one minute, then *flash!* here comes McFussikins and her Pouty Lip or McGrumpikins and her disconcerted squeal.

I have a great picture of just such an expression.

It just so happened that the Michigan weather had a similar dark and brooding mood this weekend. Though it only rained hard once all weekend, it always looked like it was going to storm or rain anytime. Don't you get the feeling Isabella could liberate a bolt of lightening and a clap of thunder at any time too?

Saturday, July 11, 2009

My First 10 Days as an Intern

So since graduation, I've spent 2 weeks in Spain, a week moving, 2 weeks of orientation/moving and last Wednesday I started on the inpatient floors at Helen DeVos Children's. And the way my schedule fell, today is my first day off! It felt amazing just to sleep in until the Pooplet alarm went off.

Internship's gotten off to an encouraging start. It's overwhelming to start any new job, let alone one where your performance and picking things up quickly effects other families so much. But it's gone really well. My 2 nights of call were at opposite sides of the spectrum with 2 admits and 3 hours sleep one night and 4 admits and no sleep the other. Ack!

I'll work on posting some Spain pics next.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Done!

Last day of med school rotations! On to graduation in 3 weeks!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Send This Guy To Washington



Is anyone saying this to our president? How much debt does each American child bear?

Isabella & GR Update

It's been a couple months now since we stayed overnight at the epilepsy monitoring unit at Children's and got our diagnosis of Benign Paroxysmal Torticollis squared away. Since then, Isabella's development has been nothing but normal. She hasn't had any more seizures and hasn't worried Mommy and Daddy with any new symptoms. She continues to have BPT spells occasionally where she'll drop her head to the side and fuss a little just like before, which only strengthens my confidence in that diagnosis. I get the sense that she's perhaps dizzy or nauseous when she has her spells and she seems to have some mild trouble with balance and coordination during those times but between episodes she's progressing right on target with her motor milestones, if not a little advanced in some areas. She's saying "mama" and "dada" and sometimes seems to use them correctly depending on who she's with but she's still saying them pretty nonspecifically at this point. But that doesn't make it any less exciting of course. :)

After our news of the match in GR, our focus has shifted toward real estate hunting and planning our spring/early summer with internship activities starting on June 15 and the real action (first real day on the job) starting July 1. April will be my last rotation in medical school, pediatric infectious disease, here at Vanderbilt and then it's off to a couple weddings, moving, graduation, Isabella's first birthday (yeah, already!) and a 2 week honeymoon in Spain. Caramba!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Matched

Pediatrics in Grand Rapids!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

MaMaMa!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

MRSA Beware

Hooray for hardy ocean sponges. Check this out!