This weekend I remembered that I wasn’t aware of all the channels we pay for by having Comcast’s Digital Classic. I convinced my parents to get it because I wanted IFC and BBC, and it wasn’t a hard sell because my mom was suddenly without her West Wing fix since Bravo was moved from the basic cable package. So I looked up what other channels we get and one is Discovery Channel Health.
I scrolled the guide to see what that channel aired, and saw one program, and set it to record: 200-Pound Tumor. Now I really didn’t know what to expect besides what promised to be something disgusting. I was not disappointed.
Lori Hoogewind, a forty-something woman from Wyoming, Michigan, has a debilitating disease called neurofibromatosis, or NF, which causes tumors to grow on her body. Since childhood, she has had many – many! – tumors, always benign, that just showed up. She had a malignant tumor in the mid-90’s and her doctors used radiation to attempt to shrink it. The radiation worked on the malignant one, but it caused the adverse reaction on another benign one. As a result, a tumor grew to two hundred pounds in less than a year. The tumor was on the right side of her stomach and grew over on to her back. It dragged on the floor. It was unbelievably huge. She weighed only 120-lbs. and all of a sudden she had to drag an additional two hundred pounds. Her tumor was drawing dangerous amounts of blood from her organs and eventually began affecting her brain.
No doctor wanted to go near the thing, because of all the inherent risks associated with a removal surgery. Finally, doctors at the University of Chicago agreed to operate. This was the biggest tumor ever removed. Because there were so many blood vessels feeding the tumor, it was a very difficult surgery, and lasted 18 hours. The cameras showed the tumor during the surgery and it looked so disgusting. Like raw meat. The surgery was successful, and I cannot imagine what the experience must have been like for all involved.
Since then, the doctor who removed the tumor has gone on to similar surgeries pro bono, most recently for a woman in Transylvania who had the same disease. What a crazy life, to constantly grow tumors all over your body. Horrible, actually.
Monday, August 22, 2005
GET ME A WETNAP
On Saturday, I went to the Morton Arboretum to see the Gin Blossoms. Remember them? I can’t believe it’s been ten years plus since “Hey Jealousy” came out. I still think back to a mix tape I had from that period that introduced me to the Gin Blossoms, the Counting Crows, Cracker, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc. It was such a great time for music. We haven’t, in my opinion, matched it since.
So the Arboretum is trying to fashion itself the Ravinia of the West. I think this is their first summer of live music. It was really cool; very serene and calm and lush, and the acoustics were phenomenal. The grounds where the concert was were not very large, which is understandable, since the space was not created with concerts in mind.
Some no-name piece-of-shit band opened; their name didn’t stick. Then the Blossoms took the stage and rocked immediately. They apparently have a new CD coming out in the fall, but they only played a couple songs from it; the rest were mainly from New Miserable Experience and their earlier EP. Songs like “Hey Jealousy,” “Allison Road,” “’Til I Hear it From You” from the Empire Records soundtrack, and “Follow You Down,” from Congratulations I’m Sorry. They didn’t play my two favorites: “Mrs. Rita” and “Competition Smile.” But overall it was a great show.
I’ve been in a nineties music phase lately. I went to the Vertical Horizon concert a few weeks ago. When I’m there listening to this old music, I remember the Jeff of that period, and it brings a smile to my face. Being a kid again. Feels nice for an hour and a half.
Robin Wilson, the lead singer/songwriter, kept self-effacingly referring to the concert as being at a Ribfest. He recognizes that what goes up must come down and after they had the most played video of the year when Empire Records came out (the filmstrip video for “’Til I Hear it From You”) they were destined to fall out of immense popularity and probably did make the Ribfest circuit. He ended the show by saying next time they’d play at a better Ribfest. I laughed and laughed.
Now if I can just get another chance to see Blessid Union of Souls….
So the Arboretum is trying to fashion itself the Ravinia of the West. I think this is their first summer of live music. It was really cool; very serene and calm and lush, and the acoustics were phenomenal. The grounds where the concert was were not very large, which is understandable, since the space was not created with concerts in mind.
Some no-name piece-of-shit band opened; their name didn’t stick. Then the Blossoms took the stage and rocked immediately. They apparently have a new CD coming out in the fall, but they only played a couple songs from it; the rest were mainly from New Miserable Experience and their earlier EP. Songs like “Hey Jealousy,” “Allison Road,” “’Til I Hear it From You” from the Empire Records soundtrack, and “Follow You Down,” from Congratulations I’m Sorry. They didn’t play my two favorites: “Mrs. Rita” and “Competition Smile.” But overall it was a great show.
I’ve been in a nineties music phase lately. I went to the Vertical Horizon concert a few weeks ago. When I’m there listening to this old music, I remember the Jeff of that period, and it brings a smile to my face. Being a kid again. Feels nice for an hour and a half.
Robin Wilson, the lead singer/songwriter, kept self-effacingly referring to the concert as being at a Ribfest. He recognizes that what goes up must come down and after they had the most played video of the year when Empire Records came out (the filmstrip video for “’Til I Hear it From You”) they were destined to fall out of immense popularity and probably did make the Ribfest circuit. He ended the show by saying next time they’d play at a better Ribfest. I laughed and laughed.
Now if I can just get another chance to see Blessid Union of Souls….
HIGHWAY ROBBERY
I am very disappointed in President Bush and all elected members of Congress. I live in the Greatest Country on Earth, and I expected better. Much better. Let me explain.
Congress was spurred from their mind-numbingly deliberative process (read: tortoise-paced progress) in July by the Roberts nomination and their impending August recess. In order to clear the docket for the fall, and to finally vote on long-gestating legislation (read: to get something done), many bills were hurried into passage directly before they jetted home to their districts for five weeks.
The highway bill is maybe the most egregious. Loaded with more pork than a luau crawl, the bill ended up costing much more than the president wanted, and much more than is fiscally responsible. Bush took the extraordinary step (for him) of threatening to veto any final amount over $256 billion. The bill came in at $286.5 billion and Bush signed it wearing a huge, shit-eating grin.
Transportation bills are renewed every six years, so this money is allocated from now until 2009 (this is the 2003 bill, just passed two years late). The money comes from an 18-cent/gallon tax we pay at the pump. The bill contains more than 6,000 special projects for individual Congressional members (a.k.a. pork). Thanks to the Speaker of the House and the Senate Minority Whip both representing Illinois, we ranked third among all states in allocated monies. Alaska was number one with only three representatives in Congress, but they are very powerful. One senator is the president pro tem of the Senate and Alaska’s lone congressman is chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
I’m not against paying for new roads or replacing others, or building bridges and paying for transportation needs. I’m proud that America has such a great interstate highway system (thanks to Eisenhower) and the best quality roads in the world. I’m a big believer in baptism by road-trip.
What I’m railing against is the wasting of money. Not only are we running a deficit right now, and we’re the bitch of countries like China that hold our debts, but we are facing an oil crisis. While we’ve had way worse oil crises before, $3 a gallon is nothing to scoff at. More than that though is the sheer amount of ridiculous funding approved in this bill. Among the worst: Alaska’s Congressman got a $315 million bridge, as long as the Golden Gate and taller than the Brooklyn, to connect the tiny town of Ketchikan (pop: 8,000) to the even tinier Gravina Island (pop: 50). The bridge will replace a 7-minute ferry ride. What a waste!
It seems to me that any project not related to interstate travel or interstate anything should be billed to the state and not the federal government.
In Chicago, almost $1 million went to the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier, for a transportation exhibit. Please, someone, explain this me. What an egregious use of our money.
And this is just the highway bill. They also passed new energy legislation. The media can only cover so much, so I ask myself, what was hidden in the weeds?
The Republicans are supposed to be the ones fighting against this type of spending. Historically, the GOP is against excessive taxes and big government. Could have fooled me. I suppose that when money is involved, everyone is corruptible.
Congress was spurred from their mind-numbingly deliberative process (read: tortoise-paced progress) in July by the Roberts nomination and their impending August recess. In order to clear the docket for the fall, and to finally vote on long-gestating legislation (read: to get something done), many bills were hurried into passage directly before they jetted home to their districts for five weeks.
The highway bill is maybe the most egregious. Loaded with more pork than a luau crawl, the bill ended up costing much more than the president wanted, and much more than is fiscally responsible. Bush took the extraordinary step (for him) of threatening to veto any final amount over $256 billion. The bill came in at $286.5 billion and Bush signed it wearing a huge, shit-eating grin.
Transportation bills are renewed every six years, so this money is allocated from now until 2009 (this is the 2003 bill, just passed two years late). The money comes from an 18-cent/gallon tax we pay at the pump. The bill contains more than 6,000 special projects for individual Congressional members (a.k.a. pork). Thanks to the Speaker of the House and the Senate Minority Whip both representing Illinois, we ranked third among all states in allocated monies. Alaska was number one with only three representatives in Congress, but they are very powerful. One senator is the president pro tem of the Senate and Alaska’s lone congressman is chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
I’m not against paying for new roads or replacing others, or building bridges and paying for transportation needs. I’m proud that America has such a great interstate highway system (thanks to Eisenhower) and the best quality roads in the world. I’m a big believer in baptism by road-trip.
What I’m railing against is the wasting of money. Not only are we running a deficit right now, and we’re the bitch of countries like China that hold our debts, but we are facing an oil crisis. While we’ve had way worse oil crises before, $3 a gallon is nothing to scoff at. More than that though is the sheer amount of ridiculous funding approved in this bill. Among the worst: Alaska’s Congressman got a $315 million bridge, as long as the Golden Gate and taller than the Brooklyn, to connect the tiny town of Ketchikan (pop: 8,000) to the even tinier Gravina Island (pop: 50). The bridge will replace a 7-minute ferry ride. What a waste!
It seems to me that any project not related to interstate travel or interstate anything should be billed to the state and not the federal government.
In Chicago, almost $1 million went to the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier, for a transportation exhibit. Please, someone, explain this me. What an egregious use of our money.
And this is just the highway bill. They also passed new energy legislation. The media can only cover so much, so I ask myself, what was hidden in the weeds?
The Republicans are supposed to be the ones fighting against this type of spending. Historically, the GOP is against excessive taxes and big government. Could have fooled me. I suppose that when money is involved, everyone is corruptible.
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