Monthly Archives: July 2008

31 July 2008

Health Update

By Nicki

I left the greater Binghamton area about 4 on Tuesday as Andy had been admitted to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.  All the 17 year old could say was, “that’s where they took Kevin Everett, Mom.”  By the time I traversed NYS to suburban Buffalo, the surgery was done and Andy was in recovery.

Thankfully, his twin sister goes to school very close to him and is also working at university for the summer.  She spent the day with her brother, even though the two generally do not acknowledge each other.  She went with him to his CT scan and then drove him immediately to the ER as he was told to do.

Surgery, according to the doctor, went perfectly.  The patient is back in his third floor apartment and snoozing as I type.  He thinks he wants to go into work today for a bit so I will play chauffeur as I don’t think his legs move fast enough yet to play with gas and brake pedals.

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts.  Hopefully, in a few weeks, he will feel good as new.

1 comment   |  tags: , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

31 July 2008

Buffalo-Niagara Frontier – A Vacation Destination

By Nicki

I admit it.  The Buffalo-Niagara Frontier is not where I would come to vacation during a beautiful week in July.  I am here as “mother” since my 21 year old had acute appendicitis.  I come to this area frequently – as in four or five times a year for the last three or four years.  I have twins in two different colleges in the area.

The area is full of wonderful family things to do.  I have wonderful memories of Martin’s Fantasy Island as a child.  It is still there on Grand Island.  I have not been recently but there is still lots of time for that.  Maybe not this visit but there is the next.

This weekend, starting today, the Bass Pro series is holding a small mouth bass fishing tour stop – is that what it is really called? – in the water surrounding Buffalo.  The harbor area is gorgeous, although somewhat rundown when you are on land near it.  Evidently, water spouts have been commonplace on Lake Erie this summer.  Not a tourist item but for a science geek, things like this amaze me.

If you want the big tourist trip, be sure to go to one of NY’s oldest, or maybe the oldest, state parks.  Niagara Falls State Park includes the general US side of the falls.  It is a wonderful area for families.   There is a trolley ride through the park or you can walk.  There is an observation deck to be able to get up and above the gorge and check the falls out from there.  You can also take the Maid of the Mist and see the falls up close.  I have a ton of pics from all angles of Niagara Falls.

If you are more into history, there are several old forts around the area that are here for the viewing and visiting.  I have those on my list for a late October visit this fall.

Today, the sun is out and the recouping 21 year old needs to move around a bit to not get stiff.  We may walk around campus a bit.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

29 July 2008

What did we do before ….

By Nicki

… cell phones, text messaging and the internet?

My most recent “disaster” occurred the is morning.  My 21 year old son is working at an internship in Wheatfield and living on campus at the University at Buffalo for the summer.  He has made arrangements with his twin sister, who is living and working at Niagara University for the summer, to use her car for transportation to and from work.  He was just home this past weekend and seemed very healthy and fine to me.

This morning the IMs started at approximately 7:40 am.  His stomach has been bothering him consistently for about 10-12 hours.  What should he do about it?  Should he call in sick to work?  Should he call the nurse hotline?  Should he just go to south campus and to health services?  He opted for calling the nurse hotline.  The nurse on duty told him that he should see doctor in the next two to three hours. 

Then, the fun starts!

The doctor’s office at health services is trying to get a pre-approval for a abdominal CT scan.  The insurance company has my son on file but not associated with a policy or policy holder.  WTF!  The doctor asks my son to ask me to call the insurance company.  Is there not a more efficient way?

Then, comes the shocker.  I cannot discuss info with the insurance company because he is over 21.  They need verbal approval from him to allow them to discuss his medical condition.  I must have sounded distraught on the phone.  I was trying to remember how to use the three-way calling I have and also wondering if I could do it without cutting of the insurance company. 

Suddenly, the woman on the other end – must be sure is a mother also – says while I can’t discuss his medical condition with you can tell you we issued a preapproval for a test today.  Wooo hooo!

Now comes the waiting.  He has to report to the imaging facility at 12:30 today to drink the contrast liquid.  Then, the CT is at 1:45.  The doctor is hoping to have results by 4 pm.  Waiting and praying – they seem to truly be the only thing parents can do once their kids leave home.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

26 July 2008

Rules are Rules

By Nicki

I realize that young adults sometimes make bad decisions.  I have heard the stories of what goes on in dorms and out of dorms on college campuses.  I went to a university that has perennially been called a “party” school.  Yet, rules are rules.
When you sign up to represent your college in a sport, your region in a sport, you sign a contract, whether legally binding or not.  This contract may require you to give up some of the privileges you may enjoy as a “regular” citizen.  You, though, do have the choice to not join the team.
So, why is it, then, that the headline in today’s Press and Sun-Bulletin reads, “Central ejected from Games“?  Did the athletes on the Central region women’s open – which means not of high school age – basketball team sign codes of conduct without reading these conduct expectations?  Did the Central region women’s open basketball team think they were above the rules set out?
To make a team that represents an entire region of NYS in something as important as Empire State Games is truly an honor and a testament to the athletic prowess of the athlete who makes the team.  Why do athletes of college age think they can abuse their bodies and it not take a toll on their playing?
Not only have the members of the Central region women’s open basketball team made a mockery of the games, they have shown those younger, scholastic athletes – who may have been looking up to these slightly older players – what idiots athletes can be.  Number one, someone on the team should have stopped the group that was breaking the rules.  Yes, it is legal – if all involved are 21 years of age or older – to drink.  It is not allowed if you sign a code of conduct that states clearer there will be no alcohol consumption during the games.  If, at the tender age of 21 or 22 or even 25, an athlete cannot go without alcohol for five or six days, there is a huge problem.

Shame on the women who felt it necessary to go against their word when signing the ESG code of conduct.  Congratulations to the Games’ organizers who ejected the entire team.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Collegiate Sports, Just my Thoughts, Sports

24 July 2008

Vanity Fair Hits GOP Candidate with Spoof

By Nicki

Okay, so everyone was up in arms over The New Yorker’s cover that was a caricature of Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.  What will people think about Vanity Fair’s caricature of John McCain and his wife Cindy, which is a spoof?

Vanity Fair Cover
Vanity Fair Cover

Now, the first thing I notice is the hand full of prescription drug bottles in Cindy McCain’s hand.  Then, there is the fist bump.  McCain’s using a walker.  And last but certainly not least, the Declaration of Independence is burning. 

My guess is there are people who are didn’t like the Obama cover who are not going to care about this cover.  I think both are funny but if you have to raise a stink over one, you need to raise a stink over both.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

23 July 2008

Versus on Time-Warner Cable

By Nicki

I am a huge professional cycling fan.  I live for the three weeks in the summer when I get to watch the best of the best battle the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Alps and the cobblestone of French villages as they ride the Tour de France.  I also love seeing the French countryside but that is just a bonus.

Versus, channel 32 on the local Time-Warner Cable, is the “official” network of the Tour.  I have never been disappointed in their coverage.  I miss Al Trautwig this year.  He has been replaced with Craig Hummer.  I am still trying to figure out who Craig Hummer is but that is really not that important.  The other three major “talking heads” are actually former professional cyclists – Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Rolls.

The mountain stages, both in the Pyrenees and in the Alps, are long days.  Live coverage starts early on these days.  This is advertised well in advance – on both current day program, the program channel and within Versus.  These days live coverage is set to start at 6:30 am. 

Not a single one of these days has Versus started programming at 6:30 am.  Some half hour infomercial comes on at 6:30 and they break into already in progress coverage of the Tour stage at 7 am.  I am extremely annoyed with this and have emailed Versus.  I want to know why we don’t get the entire time of the show.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Professional Sports

23 July 2008

More Instructional Time

By Nicki

I understand that teachers feel they need more face time with students.  Between testing, music lessons, sports, students tend to leave class almost as much as they are in class.

I also remember the studies in the late 80′s and early 90′s and some even more recent that say that teenagers need more sleep.  That middle and high schools should start later in the day to allow those who biological need more sleep to not get up as early.  Some districts in the are do pay attention to studies like this and have their elementary schools start earlier and middle and high schools start later.  I am not talking late.  I am talking the difference between 8 am and 9 am.

Come fall, I will have two children in high school.  Saturday, the letters came in the mail.  I could write forever on the idiocy of my receiving two letters when the subject matter is generic but that is fodder for another day.  The letter states the school day is starting ten minutes earlier and ending ten minutes later.  The letter states, and I quote, “The need to change came as a result of teh High School and the Middle School looking to increase instruction time with students.”

Unfortunately, there is a huge misconception here.  By starting and ending school ten minutes early, you do not increase instruction time.  What this has done is start lunch – yes, I said lunch, not brunch or breakfast – at 10 am.  I do have a call into the high school principal as I am just extremely confused as to where the additional instuction time is coming from in this scenario.

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

22 July 2008

What’s with our economy?

By Nicki

Back in the late 70′s, the last time our country experienced massive unrest in the Middle East and an energy crisis along with inflation and a possible recession – although in the late 70′s and early 80′s it was a definite recession, I can remember watching television.  The dollar and its standings against other global currencies was always followed by what an ounce of gold and an ounce of silver cost.  You could watch the dollar fluctuate with the gold price.

Nowadays, with inflation in progress and economic growth stagnant and a possible recession looming, you watch the television for economic news.  The dollar’s ups and downs are directly tied to the ups and downs of the cost of a barrel of oil which is a future delivery item.  Gold is an item that is here and now.  It has some basis – I would hope – in most economies.  Crude oil – traded on a mercantile trading basis and is a future delivery item – should not be the basis of a country’s economy.  Number one, it is not here and now.  It is a futures item.  Number two, our ecomomy is fluctuating on the price of crude oil but we import 70% of our crude oil so it is not “our” crude oil.  This puts our economy in the hands of others, not us.

Yet, on a sometimes daily and definitely weekly basis, the value of the dollar has plummeted as the price of future delivery of a barrel of crude oil has risen.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

21 July 2008

Another Stage in My Life

By Nicki

Yes, I have come upon a new stage in my life.  You may ask how I know but it is easiest to tell you all the pieces that pointed me to this conclusion.

First, my oldest child was in a wedding this past weekend.  Not as a ring bearer or any such thing.  He was one of the groomsmen for a college roommate’s big day.  I happened to go to Men’s Wearhouse with him for his tux fitting and should have realized this was sneaking up on me.  Most visits for tux fittings have to do with proms, not weddings.  Then, there was the call from his office with a strange question.  “Mom, I don’t know how to fill out this response card.”  “Response for what?”  “The wedding reception, of course.”

Second, my daughter who is only 21 and still in college came home for a visit over Memorial Day.  She is working at her university for the summer so is not here all summer.  She has stayed in close touch with her best friend from high school and did go over to visit with her before heading back to Niagara Falls that weekend.  She came home from said friend’s home and was all smiles and immediately says, “guess what?”  How the heck am I suppose to know?  Her best friend had gotten engaged that weekend.

And, the clincher, same daughter just called me about 45 minutes ago.  One of her best friends at university has applied for, and been accepted to, Customs and Immigration in the Department of Homeland Security.  The assignment came through a couple weeks ago and he is leaving in a week.  What did my daughter call to tell me?  She had just had to have a sit down meeting with an agent as part of the reference check.

When did these kids all grow up?

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

18 July 2008

Meteor Showers

By Nicki

I have spent years getting up early or staying up late so that I can encourage my children to be interested in science.  You may wonder what my bed time has to do with science.  Not much other than how cranky I get but that is not the what I am encouraging.  I want my children to watch the skies.  I want my children to know the stars.  I want my children to see the meteor showers.

I always look forward to the Perseid Meteors as they are in warm weather.  It is so much easier to encourage staying up late or dragging one’s self outside pre-dawn when the temps are above freezing.   

I keep an eye out for articles on Space.com that will let me know when the height of the meteor showers will be and when the best time for viewing will be.  The first article of the summer has shown up.  Posted as I was wrapping up my night of baseball and then watching World Youth Day on EWTN, “Spectacular Summer Sights: Shooting Stars” is just what you and I both need as a guide to summer shooting stars. 

Happy Sky Watching!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

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