Nov 23, 2009

Cancer is Big Business

The USA Mitchell Cancer Institute has been open about a year in Mobile, AL. There is an article in this morning's paper about how successful it has been, and how patient visits are expected to top 40,000 next year. What irony. Success is defined as many sick people. Or, I suppose, in the eyes of the bean counters, if they're going to go someplace, at least they're coming to you. There's a lot of hype in the last 40 years about "finding a cure" for cancer. Forty years. No results. Just hype. Every October pink ribbons abound for "awareness" of women's breasts. Hello, you think men haven't already noticed? Please. I read a book a dozen years ago called Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS. One reason is the same for which we'll never win the "War on Cancer." There is too much money to be made in treating and politicizing it. No money is to be made if a cure is found. You won't find me running in Relay for Life. You won't find me sporting pink ribbons. You might, however, find me praying for and crying over those I've lost to Cancer. Or taking my elderly friends to the bank, the grocery store, radiation appointments, and so on. Substance over style. No hype. No money. Just quietly meeting the needs of the sick and infirm. 

Nov 22, 2009

Interview Question: Your Weakness?

Although I've not interviewed for a full-time teaching position per se, job interviews are job interviews. Some of the questions, from stories I've heard, are identical and as equally nerve-wracking as for non-teaching jobs.

The one I hate most is, "Tell me about your greatest weakness." My problem is, I don't focus on my weaknesses. I focus on the things I can do with excellence.

Some good advice is to answer the question using the phrase, "My growth areas are..." We all have areas in which we can grow, if doing so is an effective use of our time. I cannot hit the high notes when I sing, sometimes. Should I work on that, or is my energy better spent using the gifts and talents I have?

As a guest teacher in hundreds of classrooms, I can tell you what my weaknesses would be in the position of full time teacher. If a principal ever asks me the weakness question, I'm ready. Here's my answer:

"I missed those teacher's in-services on time-travel, mind reading, and human cloning. It's unfortunate, because I know that those skills would make me much more effective in my job. However, until I have the opportunity to make them up, I operate as effectively as I can within the boundaries that I can only be in one place at a time, I cannot read minds, and there is only one of me."

Come to think of it, those skills would make me a more effective parent, too. Good thing there's no interview required for that.

What can you do with excellence within your boundaries today?

Nov 10, 2009

Hurricanes & Hunkerin' Down

When Jim Cantore visits your town, look out! He's the hotshot from the Weather Channel who wants to be where the action is.

This late in the season, no one was prepared for a hurricane. So when Ida roared up to a Category 2 and headed for Mobile, hurried preparations were made. Ok, we didn't board up, but we checked water, batteries, radio, and counted 52 cards in the deck for our nonelectric entertainment.

I said special prayers of thanks that the temperature was cool enough that we wouldn't have to endure sleepless nights in unbearable heat & humidity, as we did in previous post-hurricane power outages.

Hurricane Ida made landfall two hours ago. she was downgraded to a tropical storm, and J.D. Crowe said "Jim Cantore [was] downgraded to Arrogant Guy Hanging Out on the Beach."

Even though the storm didn't turn out to be much of a storm, we as a family are counting the bonus time as a great opportunity to do things together: bake cookies, play scrabble, and catch up on reruns of "Touched By an Angel."

Yeah, we'll have to make up these school days. They'll whack a day or two off Thanksgiving or Christmas break. But it's so worth it to have a "surprise" day off. I can hardly wait to get going.

Those little pauses give an unexpected opportunity to reflect & reconnect.

What opportunities will you use to reflect, and with whom will you reconnect today?

Nov 9, 2009

Moms: The Original Multitaskers

When we were kids, we used to beat Mom at chess pretty regularly. When we were adults, she told us why. The kid was playing chess. Mom was compiling her grocery list, her dinner menu, her laundry schedule, etc etc.

Multitasking is a myth.

You cannot really focus on more than one thing at a time. Computers have parallel processors. You have one brain. If it looks like you're doing two things at once, you're really only focused on one of them. The real question is, how good are you at switching back & forth between tasks, and how many nanoseconds are lost in the switch? Young brains, some studies say, are better at switching, and so it appears that they are better at multitasking. I say it depends on the individual. I know young men who cannot switch focus to save their lives. If the house were on fire, they'd burn to death before they could take their eyes off the video game du jour. I know plenty of middle aged moms who are experts at it.

What mom doesn't juggle a multitude of pins?

Look at the hats we wear: personal valet, chef, maid, housekeeper, taxi driver, nurse, tutor, coach, cheerleader, household administrator ... There aren't enough hours in the day to do all that unless we overlap. Now we have spreadsheets, PDAs and other electronics to help us juggle our ever growing schedule. We quiz our times tables in the car on the way to school. We pick up fast food and eat on our way to sports practice.

In Home Ec class (now known as Family & Consumer Science) in high school, our teacher called it dovetailing. It's performing two essential activities simultaneously. For instance, while your cookies are in the oven, you start wiping the counters. It's an efficient use of time.

The problem, then, lies in "the moment." I've arrived at destinations barely aware that I drove there. I wasn't focused on my driving at all.

Scary.

I saw a six-car pileup on the highway yesterday. I wonder how many of them were multitaskers. Today I'm going to be more aware of the present. I may even beat my son at chess.

On what are you going to focus today?

Nov 7, 2009

Splenda, Story Problems, and Stupidity

When money is your god, there is never enough. I read in the paper today where the Splenda plant in McIntosh, Alabama is "ahead of schedule" in closing. Is this supposed to be good news? Pre-tax profits were $185,000,000. Most of the 120 workers are laid off. Production will continue in Singapore. Ok, so somewhere in Singapore, people are working and children are being fed. I'm happy for them. But it still doesn't make sense to the ones in Alabama. They did all the right things and lost their jobs. It only makes sense to those who worship money. All they can think of is more, more, more. When I teach math to first graders, I explain that story problems often have "clue words" that tell you if you are to add or subtract. If the story talks about how you have something, and then you get MORE, you are to add. If the question is comparative, how many MORE do you have than your friend, then you subtract. How would you explain this confusing story problem? Adding profits equals fewer jobs equals more hungry children, whose bellies won't be filled by Singapore Splenda. Fewer jobs equals more family stress, breakdown of families, neighborhoods, societies. The gap between the rich and poor grows ever wider. Welcome to Brazil II

Nov 5, 2009

Good New Days

I'm not sure how my mind segues from one topic to another, but I was reminded today of candy I used to eat when I was a kid: Black Cow. I wondered if products we loved in our youth will be once again available to us in Heaven, not that I'm in a hurry to get there. Then I wondered what was so great about them, other than that they reminded me of childhood. People always talk about "The Good Old Days" when they were carefree and had no worries. I don't remember mine being so good, and I had plenty of worries. I was bullied in the nice, Catholic school to which my parents made huge sacrifices to send my siblings and me. The teachers liked me, but the kids were awful. I was worried about grades. A's were acceptable. B's were not. I had to walk to the convent for guitar lessons, and as a tiny 4th grader, that guitar was awfully heavy. I could not ride a bike and carry the guitar, so I walked on guitar lesson days. I don't remember going hungry particularly, but we did have a large family, and Sister Angela (God rest her soul) used to give me Holy cards as a reward if I'd gain a pound. That was many years ago, and I don't remember it generally being a happy, joyous time. Today I have confidence I didn't have then. I have a much better self-image. I have knowledge and wisdom. I am focused on doing for others, instead of me me me. That, my friends, is the hallmark of maturity, whether age 8 or 80. Being happy with oneself and one's life, and having hope for the future trumps sitting around complaining how much better the olden days were, and that you can't buy black cows. Eat a Milkdud. Same candy, different shape. Whatever. 

Nov 3, 2009

Playing With People's Lives

Something is going on in Ukraine.

Supposedly 70 people have died of swine flu. Now it seems the number is closer to 1500, and the symptoms mimic pneumonic plage. Is it a bioweapon unleashed? By whom? Cui bono? (For whose enrichment?)

I'm not trusting the official party line about the 70 who were tagged "heart attack" or other causes, and I'm not trusting the "aerosol inhaler" version of the swine flu vaccine. The last thing we need is a hefty dose of toxic droplets floating around the air.

Heaven help us.

Pneumonic plague occurs when Y. pestis infects the lungs. This type of plague can spread from person to person through the air. Transmission can take place if someone breathes in aerosolized bacteria, which could happen in a bioterrorist attack. Pneumonic plague is also spread by breathing in Y. pestis suspended in respiratory droplets from a person (or animal) with pneumonic plague. Becoming infected in this way usually requires direct and close contact with the ill person or animal.

Pneumonic plague may also occur if a person with bubonic or septicemic plague is untreated and the bacteria spread to the lungs.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/plague/factsheet.asp

Nov 2, 2009

Dogs & Babies - The Litmus Test

If you ever want to make some change in your family, work, or community, take the litmus test of dogs and babies to help you decide if it makes sense.

Should we set the clocks ahead an hour in the spring, and back again in the fall? Litmus answer: No. Dogs and babies are on their own schedule, and just because you want to snooze for an extra hour in October, your dog and/or baby will not let you. He or she will be raring to go at the usual time. This policy of time change makes no sense. Several states acknowledge this fact. My state, unfortunately, does not.

Should we tax families to death so that a single wage earner cannot sustain even a lower-middle-class lifestyle? Again, litmus test answer: no. Babies should be with someone who loves them. Who loves them more than their mamas? Dogs want you home. They're not interested in waiting all day for life to begin.

Should we decorate a Christmas tree? Sure! Babies love the bright lights, and dogs... well, never mind.

Everything I need to know I learned from my dogs and babies.

What did you learn today?