Unless you have been living in a hole recently, you have heard plenty about, and are probably sick of, the health care debate. Talk about health care is everywhere you look. Every news source, whether online or on TV, regularly talks about the current state of health care and what is currently being debated to deal with the problems. I am like you and have been completely overloaded with all the coverage of the debate. It is hard to keep track of everything that is going on in the debate.
In order to bring some more structure and clarity, I am diving into the debate. Over time, I am going to try to sum up each the bills currently working their way through congress and list out the key provisions of each. Then, I will give my thoughts on each of the plans and will eventually list out what I would like to see in a final bill. Being that I am just a guy in the Twin Cities, I don’t expect any of my thoughts to sway anyone in power or close to the real debate in Washington. I only hope that my ramblings will help you straighten out the bills as they move through congress and give you another perspective on the whole debate. For easy reference to all my posts on this topic, I have created a “Special Topics” section on the right side of my blog. You can quickly reference my posts on this topic by clicking on Health Care. Please leave me your comments on any of my posts. Hopefully I can spark some good discussion on the issue.
If you are viewing my posts on Facebook, click on the “View Original Post” link at the bottom of the post to go back to my blog. It will be easier to leave your comments on my blog rather than Facebook in order to keep everyone’s ideas together.
You know, for all the heat Saturday Night Live has taken over the years when it comes to discussing hot button issues, I think they have hit the nail right on the head with this one. There are people who say that we are moving closer and closer to socialism. That’s not very true. We shouldn’t be taking about how the President is bringing communism to the US. We aren’t becoming like Russia or China. None of these comparisons make much sense. As they say on SNL, just look at his record:
Yes, you read the title of this post correctly, Stand Up Economist. When you hear the word economist, comedian is not the next word that usually comes to your mind. In rare cases, these two words do deserve to be in the same sentence. Austan Goolsbee, who is currently a member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the President and on the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, may just be one of those rare economists who fit this bill. Why don’t you take listen to this video and let me know what you think:
If you are viewing my post on Facebook, click the “View Original Post” link at the bottom of the note to see the full post-with video-from my website.
September is one of those transition months that we hit each year. It is the month where students transition from the summer break back to school. It is when the weather in Minnesota starts to change from warm and sunny to cool and windy. It is also the month when the biggest transition of all is made – from no football to many weekly games! Now that the end of the month is here, all three of these transitions are well under way.
This year, just like last, I am partaking in three separate fantasy football leagues. This year, however, I moved from playing in my work league to joining another league put on by another friend from Bethel. After the first three weeks of the season, my overall record is 4-5. It’s not too bad of a start. I’m at least competitive in each of my leagues. With bye weeks starting this week, now is when the season really starts to get interesting.
The other large transition that Bethany and I have been working through is the addition of our little puppy, Copland. We have had him for just about a month now which puts him at just over 12 weeks old. And let me tell you, that guy has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks! When we first got him, I was able to pick him up with one hand and flip him around at will. Now, he is big enough to fight being thrown around. He is getting to be a tank. That little guy really likes to eat. We have also started him in puppy kindergarten. So far, we’ve gone to two weeks of the six week class. His favorite part of the class is when he gets to go off of his leash and run around with all the other puppies. For him, it is more like run around and tackle all the little puppies. That might change in the next week because he might get bumped up to being with the bigger dogs – currently he’s with the little puppies. Then we’ll see how he does taking on a Great Dane! Otherwise, Copland is doing pretty well so far with his sitting and staying. He can’t stay for a very long time yet, but he’s getting there. He is also learning to climb the stairs. This is quite a process when your legs are only 5 inches long. But, he’s able to manage it:
I also just posted a bunch of Copland pictures that’s I’ve been neglecting to post for a while now. You can check them out on my pictures page or just click here.
Third, I finally finished up the revamp of Gerdinauto.com! The upgrade was quite significant and it looks MUCH better than I had ever hoped to make it when I began. Last weekend was the wrap up weekend for the site. I spent a good amount of time finishing up various pages, cleaning up many links, and transitioning the old site out and putting the new one up in its place. Check it out and tell me what you think. Over time, I plan to update some of the various pictures and add some new features, but functionally, it is good to go.
Lastly, I have been working on becoming a Crown Money Map Coach. This desire had been culminating for a few months now. Last summer, Bethany and I were in a Crown small group with a number of people from church. We were able to get all our finances agreed upon and used it as a great launch into marriage. Throughout the year, I’ve been listening to the daily podcast they produce and learned about this coaching service. This really interested me. So I ordered the books, signed up for the class, and away I go. Once I have completed everything in the next couple weeks, I will be certified and a part of Crown’s coaching network, which will allow me to be able to help others who are having any number of financial problems. I am really excited to complete the training and get started.
I’ll leave you with one more Copland picture. Aren’t they cute?
I am writing to you on Labor Day 2009. Despite summer winding down for the year, the weather has been terrific recently. Today it has been sunny and in the mid-seventies, and it looks to be more of the same nice weather coming up this week. These last few days have really felt summery, which has been fantastic. But alas, we find ourselves quickly approaching fall. Put away your white clothes and get ready for the weather to start changing.
A few weeks ago, Bethany’s sister Erika, her husband Eric, and their little daughter Liv came up for a few days. We all went to Spicer, MN for the weekend to meet up with the rest of the Bethany’s family at a small resort. Well, it was advertised as a resort at least. It wasn’t all that much to look at. The small house had three tiny bedrooms with one tiny bathroom and a tiny kitchen, and needed some new furniture and a good cleaning. It was fine for the weekend, though. We spent a lot of time outdoors and on the lake. The kids especially spent a lot of time on the water. They went between the paddle boats, canoe, and kayaks all afternoon. It was pretty comical how much switching they did between the three boats. It seemed like they didn’t spend more than five minutes at a time on a single boat. We were there from Friday evening to just after lunch on Sunday.
Before we left for Spicer on Friday, Eric had an interview for a neurologist position at a clinic in Golden Valley. He said it went really well which it pretty exciting. Bethany and I think it would be really fun to have them move back to Minnesota. After visiting an old friend in the area, they came back to our house for the night. Eric had to leave the next day as he had another interview for a job in Boston. Erika and Liv stayed with us until Thursday. It was great fun having them with us for a few days. Liv has really started to make a lot of fun noises recently. While they were here, I took a short video of Liv in her fun noise making stage. Take a listen and just try not to smile. There’s no way you can do it.
Isn’t that just about the cutest thing you have ever seen? Erika and cute little Liv stayed with us until Thursday. We had a great time with the both of them.
As I mentioned before, we decided to get a dog recently. More specifically, we decided to get a little basset hound puppy. Well, last Thursday, that day arrived. I took a half-day on Thursday so that we could head down to pick up our new little puppy. We got down to Sleepy Eye, MN around 2:00 and met our new little friend. Copland was laying outside by the stairs when we arrived, just taking a nap. We were able to meet his parents and his other little dog friends. He sure had a lot of animal friends there on the farm. After about a half hour, we took him away from all the friends he had known for the first eight weeks of his life and took him in the long car ride back to Oakdale. He didn’t really like the car ride at first. However, after about 15 minutes, he didn’t really care anymore as he had fallen asleep. That does seem to be his favorite activity. Take a look at this good looking guy:
Who knew that I would one day own a dog?
This is his favorite position to be in.
That little guy has a fun future in front of him and we have a lot of excitement to look forward to as well!
Yes friends, you got it right. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, there is a new online animated series “in which Warren Buffett teaches children about investing. The web series will debut on AOL in the fall.” You can guarantee that this will be interesting. Anything that has the name Warren Buffett attached to it is bound for success. Take a look at this sample video below to get an idea of what this new series will be like.
I came across this great representations of our tax dollars at work. It shows very clearly where your dollars are being spent and how those numbers compare to the previous year. I could spent a long time reading through all this info. Be sure to take a couple minutes to take a glance.
