So it is officially 4 days to Halloween. Yeah!!!! Unfortunately, we still have quite a bit to do. I have today off of work (festival clean-up day, so the whole school is out) and Robert has Friday off. This works out well because today I am cleaning the house and finishing a few things that I still had to do to be ready for Halloween. On Friday, Rob is going to do the final set-up, etc. Hopefully, there won't be much to do on Friday.
So here is what we have done so far. Graveyard: Most of the tombstones are painted, but a few need final touches. Rob practiced the light show over the weekend and it looks awesome! I can't wait!!! Doll Room: I think it still needs a lot of work. The room is tarped and wallpapered, but that is it. Vampire Lair: Our 3 coffin doorways look very cool. One of the coffins has hanging black tarp in it so that you can't see through to the other side. The other 2 coffins still need this. Luckily, it is a very easy job that I can do tonight while watching T.V. The rest of the room still needs to be tarped, but Robert is doing that on Friday. Cornfield: I'm taking a break from painting scarecrow faces, but will finish after typing. Torture Chamber: Anthony and Granddad did an amazing job on the electric chair. It looks very realistic and has lots of noise and smoke to go along with the show. Spider Room: Anthony is still working on a pulley system (or something?) to make our HUGE spider go up and down. This room also has lots of other spiders of all sizes, spider eggs, and two skeletons wrapped up in spiderwebs. It is looking really good so far. Village: The village is done. This is still special since it was Rob's and my first Halloween project together. I really like how it looks this year and am going to have to con Robert into finding a way to store it.
Though I am excited that Halloween is almost here, I can't think what Robert and I are going to do with our time afterwards. We might have to become couch potatoes until next August, when we start getting ready again.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Way I see it.
So today congress had their first chance to sit down with an executive of a failed financial institution and lambast him with their accusations of misappropriation of funds and lying to investors. KPCC which is the local NPR station said that if anyone had comments they could post on the KPCC blog. I got to thinking, I think I should post my comments, but in a forum someone might actually read them and respond.
The way I see it, at the root of the financial crisis is one major disease that caused three major symptoms.
The effects of greed have been advised of since ancient times. The bible warned in Luke 12:15, "Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." I think this ancient wisdom can be seen in a different light in today's environment.
So who was greedy? Who was the one who caused this all? Well despite Democrats efforts to pin this on the Bush administration, or Congress' efforts to pin it on the compensation for executives, the answer is that practically everybody is to blame for the financial crisis. How you might ask? Well let's look at the groups one by one:
Mortage Investors - In the lending industry large packages of loans are assembled and sold off in packages to various investors. Fannie Mae is one of the investors who purchases these loans in bulk and resells in even larger packages with insurance should the loans default. The interest that could accumulate on these large packages of loans is the vehicle for the greed of the mortgage investors.
Mortgage Lenders - One of the key elements in the equation for any mortage investor is risk vs. return. Fannie Mae long ago set the industry standard that essentially a mortgage payment should be no more than 38% of the gross household income, and that total household debt obligations should not exceed 45%. These ratios are still fairly standard for Fannie Mae mortgages. Because this standard is so honored in the industry very few Mortgage Investors would agree to any change in the ratios without serious rate increases. In a bid to get a larger piece of the pie Lenders sold investors on a "Lite-Doc" option in which homeowners without verifiable income could essential state their income. The lenders decision to allow this practice and the investors failure to keep it under control is another major cause of the decline. Borrowers could now essentially lie about their income to get a larger house that they would likely not be able to afford.
Borrowers - Borrowers took on large debt obligations that they were unable to afford. This is the same problem we see with credit cards. Personal responsibility for using credit irresponsibly always falls on the consumer. However, because the consumer votes, blame will always appear to fall elsewhere. The bottom line is that borrowers signed loan documents for a house they could not afford and in most cases, lied about their income to do so.
Brokers - Mortgage Brokers are charged with the responsibility of providing access to money. They do not, as some people believe, represent their borrower's best interest. They do however make a commission based on the borrower's decisions. If I told you I was going to sell you a car from a dealership, handle the paperwork and take a percentage of the sales price of the car as well as charge a bunch of fees you would say no way. This is exactly what most brokers did. Their motivation (greed) was not to get the best loan for the borrower, but to get the loan that made the most money for them. I should note that not all brokers were guilty here as with the other categories as well.
The disease of greed caused Deceit of investors and consumers, Inflated housing prices, Uncalculated Risk taking. Hence the crisis we are in today.
My sympathy doesn't go out to the borrowers losing their home because they thought they could afford a million dollar home on $50,000 of income, or who failed to educate themselves about the mortgage process. Nor does it go out to the banks who willfully took a greater risk to get a greater return. Or to the brokers who are now broke because they spent all the money they earned decieving borrowers. My heart goes out to the homeowners who purchased a home they could afford only to see the housing prices crash the following year.
These people are what I would call the silent victims of the crisis. Why are they silent? Because they bought homes they could AFFORD and even with the dip in housing prices they can still afford to make their payments. So they sit and wait watching the value of their investment go ever lower, praying that the greed of others will not drag the world market into such a recession that their job and therefore home might also be in jeopardy.
At any rate, those are my thoughts on the crisis. Perhaps not very eloquently conveyed, but my lunch hour is ending so it will have t do.
The way I see it, at the root of the financial crisis is one major disease that caused three major symptoms.
The effects of greed have been advised of since ancient times. The bible warned in Luke 12:15, "Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." I think this ancient wisdom can be seen in a different light in today's environment.
So who was greedy? Who was the one who caused this all? Well despite Democrats efforts to pin this on the Bush administration, or Congress' efforts to pin it on the compensation for executives, the answer is that practically everybody is to blame for the financial crisis. How you might ask? Well let's look at the groups one by one:
Mortage Investors - In the lending industry large packages of loans are assembled and sold off in packages to various investors. Fannie Mae is one of the investors who purchases these loans in bulk and resells in even larger packages with insurance should the loans default. The interest that could accumulate on these large packages of loans is the vehicle for the greed of the mortgage investors.
Mortgage Lenders - One of the key elements in the equation for any mortage investor is risk vs. return. Fannie Mae long ago set the industry standard that essentially a mortgage payment should be no more than 38% of the gross household income, and that total household debt obligations should not exceed 45%. These ratios are still fairly standard for Fannie Mae mortgages. Because this standard is so honored in the industry very few Mortgage Investors would agree to any change in the ratios without serious rate increases. In a bid to get a larger piece of the pie Lenders sold investors on a "Lite-Doc" option in which homeowners without verifiable income could essential state their income. The lenders decision to allow this practice and the investors failure to keep it under control is another major cause of the decline. Borrowers could now essentially lie about their income to get a larger house that they would likely not be able to afford.
Borrowers - Borrowers took on large debt obligations that they were unable to afford. This is the same problem we see with credit cards. Personal responsibility for using credit irresponsibly always falls on the consumer. However, because the consumer votes, blame will always appear to fall elsewhere. The bottom line is that borrowers signed loan documents for a house they could not afford and in most cases, lied about their income to do so.
Brokers - Mortgage Brokers are charged with the responsibility of providing access to money. They do not, as some people believe, represent their borrower's best interest. They do however make a commission based on the borrower's decisions. If I told you I was going to sell you a car from a dealership, handle the paperwork and take a percentage of the sales price of the car as well as charge a bunch of fees you would say no way. This is exactly what most brokers did. Their motivation (greed) was not to get the best loan for the borrower, but to get the loan that made the most money for them. I should note that not all brokers were guilty here as with the other categories as well.
The disease of greed caused Deceit of investors and consumers, Inflated housing prices, Uncalculated Risk taking. Hence the crisis we are in today.
My sympathy doesn't go out to the borrowers losing their home because they thought they could afford a million dollar home on $50,000 of income, or who failed to educate themselves about the mortgage process. Nor does it go out to the banks who willfully took a greater risk to get a greater return. Or to the brokers who are now broke because they spent all the money they earned decieving borrowers. My heart goes out to the homeowners who purchased a home they could afford only to see the housing prices crash the following year.
These people are what I would call the silent victims of the crisis. Why are they silent? Because they bought homes they could AFFORD and even with the dip in housing prices they can still afford to make their payments. So they sit and wait watching the value of their investment go ever lower, praying that the greed of others will not drag the world market into such a recession that their job and therefore home might also be in jeopardy.
At any rate, those are my thoughts on the crisis. Perhaps not very eloquently conveyed, but my lunch hour is ending so it will have t do.
Monday, September 29, 2008
RIP Bob Halsey
So this weekend Shannon's grandfather Bob Halsey succombed to his battle with cancer. It has been about 5 months since he was diagnosed and before passing he did all he could to ensure that his wife of 40 years would be in a place where she would be surrounded by friends and church members.
His remains will be cremated and taken to West Virginia to be buried in the "Losh Plot." This is the family plot for Freddie's side of the family.
In his final days Bob was cared for by caregivers from the St. Joseph's medical group in Yorba Linda, and the family was very happy with the care they recieved. The caregivers took great care of Bob who bonded with one of the caregivers named Paul. Paul spent many hours ensuring that Bob had 24 hour care. The caregivers also took the time to prepare and counsel Freddie for the transition, a service that we are eternally grateful for as it appears to have really softened the blow of losing her companion.
Service date/time are TBD and will occur at Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton, CA.
Keeping in line with Freddie's desires we request that flowers not be sent, however we are sure cards/correspondence will be greatly appreciated.
Here is the address for Shannon's Parents:
Tom and Sandee McGinty
107 E. Palm Circle
Placentia, CA 92870
Cards may be sent here addressed to Freddie Halsey to be forwarded on.
We offer our prayer that Bob transition easily and swiftly into the care of his father in heaven and that his positive effect on this earth be felt into eternity. For his wife and loving companion we pray that she continue her days with joy and comfort provided by her friends, family and church. We are so grateful that Bob was able to attend our wedding and also his family reunion before his passing, and that we have so many great memories of our time with him.
His remains will be cremated and taken to West Virginia to be buried in the "Losh Plot." This is the family plot for Freddie's side of the family.
In his final days Bob was cared for by caregivers from the St. Joseph's medical group in Yorba Linda, and the family was very happy with the care they recieved. The caregivers took great care of Bob who bonded with one of the caregivers named Paul. Paul spent many hours ensuring that Bob had 24 hour care. The caregivers also took the time to prepare and counsel Freddie for the transition, a service that we are eternally grateful for as it appears to have really softened the blow of losing her companion.
Service date/time are TBD and will occur at Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton, CA.
Keeping in line with Freddie's desires we request that flowers not be sent, however we are sure cards/correspondence will be greatly appreciated.
Here is the address for Shannon's Parents:
Tom and Sandee McGinty
107 E. Palm Circle
Placentia, CA 92870
Cards may be sent here addressed to Freddie Halsey to be forwarded on.
We offer our prayer that Bob transition easily and swiftly into the care of his father in heaven and that his positive effect on this earth be felt into eternity. For his wife and loving companion we pray that she continue her days with joy and comfort provided by her friends, family and church. We are so grateful that Bob was able to attend our wedding and also his family reunion before his passing, and that we have so many great memories of our time with him.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
So this weekend has started off pretty rocky. My Papa Bob passed away a little before 4 o'clock in the morning today. I was very fortunate to have spent quite a few hours with him and my grandma last night, and was able to say goodbye. We thought that there was 2 or 3 days left, but it ended up only being a matter of hours after hospice informed us. However, I look upon that as a blessing. It was a lot easier on the ones who loved him that it happened this way. He had the good fortune to be able to die at home in his own bed. Before yesterday, he was even able to get out of bed and go sit in the rocking chair when company was over. Though he was mostly non-responsive due to the amount of morphine that he was being given, you could tell that he was still thinking and hearing when people talked to him. We all knew that he had comes to terms with dying and was ready to go home to heaven. It is especially in times like this that I am so grateful for my religious values and beliefs. I can't imagine how incredibly difficult this would be if I didn't believe that my grandpa is now in a better place, a place that my family and I will one day be reunited with him in. Though it is difficult to lose someone who meant so much to me, I am thankful that he passed away with the dignity that he did and that he is no longer experiencing suffering or pain. He will always be a special person in my life, and I will forever cherish the memories that I have of him.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
More research
So I spent my lunch hour doing some more research on Keratoconus and the possible treatments including the treatment TLC recommended the INTACs. Basically most research shows that the INTACS procedure significantly improves vision in 2 out of 3 patients, but the procedure for the most part does not significantly reduce the chance that the condition will worsen.
In my research I stumbled upon a treatment known as C3-R which essentially is a treatment to help strengthen the corneal structure. More information can be found here: http://www.keratoconusinserts.com/cornea.html.
While still in the clinical trial phase in the U.S. the treatment has been carried out for many years in Europe and India with good results. After plowing through site after site I found the actual clinical trial authorization information from the FDA and it contained a list of sites in the U.S. where the trials will be conducted including one in San Diego.
I contacted that site, who had since passed the trial rights onto another group whom I contacted. I am now number 4 on their waiting list for patients to be seen. Apparently they cannot begin to see patients until their "IBR" authorization comes through. It sounds like they haven't worked out all the legal kinks in conducting the trials yet. The lady was really nice and I think she will contact me one way or another to let me know the progress.
I really hope I am a candidate as this procedure looks like it at least halts progression of the condition and in many patients reverses the effects actually strengthening the cornea.
In my research I stumbled upon a treatment known as C3-R which essentially is a treatment to help strengthen the corneal structure. More information can be found here: http://www.keratoconusinserts.com/cornea.html.
While still in the clinical trial phase in the U.S. the treatment has been carried out for many years in Europe and India with good results. After plowing through site after site I found the actual clinical trial authorization information from the FDA and it contained a list of sites in the U.S. where the trials will be conducted including one in San Diego.
I contacted that site, who had since passed the trial rights onto another group whom I contacted. I am now number 4 on their waiting list for patients to be seen. Apparently they cannot begin to see patients until their "IBR" authorization comes through. It sounds like they haven't worked out all the legal kinks in conducting the trials yet. The lady was really nice and I think she will contact me one way or another to let me know the progress.
I really hope I am a candidate as this procedure looks like it at least halts progression of the condition and in many patients reverses the effects actually strengthening the cornea.
Yup, it's THAT bad...
So the picture to the left is bit deceptive, this is not actually MY eye. My eye is much worse. This is a topograph of a person with the same condition I have, just not as severe.
I went to a consultation this morning with TLC to see if I was a candidate for Laser Eye surgery. After some testing they sat me down with a doctor who informed me that I have Keratoconus. It is a condition that affects 1 in 1000 people and basically results in the cornea or lens of the eye getting more and more conical shaped as time goes on. The link to the wikipedia page is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratoconus and there is a great picture of a guy's eye. It was a bit too gross to put on here so if you want to go look at it you can.
Essentially the topograph above shows that the cornea is largely normal in the upper portion of the eye, but drops off steeply towards the bottom of the lens. The doctors said they like to be able to draw a line across the center of the eye and see about as much color on the top as the bottom. My topograph had virtually no color in the upper portion and a bunch of red and pink in the bottom portion.
The really crappy thing about the condition is that contacts and glasses don't really help the situation as it is the Cornea that is the problem, not the eye itself. So at any rate it looks like there are 3 real options:
1) Continue to wear contacts, but switch to RGP or rigid contacts that would be hard and force the cornea more into shape. This would be a temporary fix and it is likely the cornea will get worse.
2) Implant INTACs into my eye under the cornea. As TLC performs this procedure this is obviously their proposed option. Essentially slits would be made into the cornea and little pieces of plastic would be inserted to stretch the cornea into shape.
3) Ignore the problem in which case my vision will deteriorate further and further until eventually I can barely see out of my right eye and I would need a corneal transplant or as my co-worker so eloquently put it, I would need "dead guy eye" put in.
The third option is very non-appealing to me. To the point where I would almost prefer to not have vision in my right eye. The contact option doesn't sound too bad, but it also sounds like it would be a daily inconvenience.
The second option is still somewhat experimental, but has had good results. So at any rate, I need to do a lot more research, and will probably ask to get a second opinion before I go forward. As my two greatest fears in life are to go blind or to lose my hearing, I am going to put in some serious leg-work before I make a decision on this one.
My boss brought up that because it is an actual condition the INTACs might be covered by insurance, which I will have to look into. The doctor said that with the INTACs AND glasses, they think the could give me close to 20/20 vision in my right eye, which would be a miracle.
At any rate, depressing news, but nothing compared to what others suffer through.
Monday, September 22, 2008
What a weekend!
So it was a pretty great weekend including a trip to Disneyland and stay at the Grand Californian Hotel. Shannon and I also got annual passes that will allow us to go to Disneyland during the week should we ever find a weekday we can both have off. We went with my Dad and Jody and Jeff and Abbey and their little ones. It was great watching the little nephews run around and have a good time.
I got to go on Space Mountain with my little newphew Noah who was going on it for the first time. It was fun to watch someone experience it for the first time and to think back to when I used to ride Space Mountain as a kid. Disneyland has changed so much since then.
We also got to see 3 of our 4 living grandpas. Shannon's grandfather is in his final weeks of a battle with cancer and is on some pretty heavy medication which is always difficult on family members. Because of the stress and his need for constant care her grandmother had let her needs slip not taking her medication and losing most of her appetite. It is a pretty rough transition for the whole family. I was happy to see that Freddie (the grandmother) was back on her medication and was in good mental condition though she was of course very distraught. Bob (the grandfather) perked up a bit when he noticed we were there and is still communicating suprisngly well in between his sleeping.
On the other side it was my Mom's father's birthday this weekend so we went down to San Diego to celebrate. Unfortunately Shannon andI have both not been feeling too well so we left kind of early. We decided it must just be something Shannon caught from her kids as the school year just started and this class is much more "touchy" than last year's. So at any rate, our visit in San Diego was short, but it was great to see all the family and especially the triplet cousins. They are walking around and starting to talk which is great to see.
So it was a pretty busy weekend leaving little time to work on our Village or on the Haunted House. Hopefully we will have some time to crank on both of those this week.
I got to go on Space Mountain with my little newphew Noah who was going on it for the first time. It was fun to watch someone experience it for the first time and to think back to when I used to ride Space Mountain as a kid. Disneyland has changed so much since then.
We also got to see 3 of our 4 living grandpas. Shannon's grandfather is in his final weeks of a battle with cancer and is on some pretty heavy medication which is always difficult on family members. Because of the stress and his need for constant care her grandmother had let her needs slip not taking her medication and losing most of her appetite. It is a pretty rough transition for the whole family. I was happy to see that Freddie (the grandmother) was back on her medication and was in good mental condition though she was of course very distraught. Bob (the grandfather) perked up a bit when he noticed we were there and is still communicating suprisngly well in between his sleeping.
On the other side it was my Mom's father's birthday this weekend so we went down to San Diego to celebrate. Unfortunately Shannon andI have both not been feeling too well so we left kind of early. We decided it must just be something Shannon caught from her kids as the school year just started and this class is much more "touchy" than last year's. So at any rate, our visit in San Diego was short, but it was great to see all the family and especially the triplet cousins. They are walking around and starting to talk which is great to see.
So it was a pretty busy weekend leaving little time to work on our Village or on the Haunted House. Hopefully we will have some time to crank on both of those this week.
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