bleerzog

michelle obama, again, I dig this woman.

Apr 30, 2008
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I really do.

wow, I am watching a speech that Michelle Obama gave in Indiana on Friday 4/25...wow. It's the first time I've taken the time to sit down and listen to where she is coming from and what she stands for...in her own right. wow. She was fantastic. she shared a feeling that communicated something I haven't felt in a leader in more than a long time...

Right now, I'm thinkin' that nothing would say that this is really America to the rest of the world more than seeing Barack with his hand on the Bible on Jan 20. wow, she just did a fantastic job.

it is pretty amazing that the person who raised Barack was an 18 year old white woman in the 60's...his grandfather was a servant in Kenya...and his wife was raised by her parents with her three siblings in the south side of Chicago in an apartment on a single income that came from her father, a city worker who had multiple sclerosis.

needless to say, she gave a damn good first rally impression.

tibet, u.s. diplomatic presence in lhasa

Apr 23, 2008
2 comments

a u.s. consulate in lhasa would be a damn good next step. Also, regain the access to the freedom bridge for the Tibetan people. Just a couple important topics we need to confront with our partners regarding the human rights issue in China.

very tough to be Tibetan and proud to be Chinese at the same time...something they, the Tibetans, continue to strive to do even in the midst of such controversy and oppression.

It's so interesting how protest and patriotism naturally progress. We know that embracing one with the other is the one of the most important aspects of a strong community...in China, the U.S. and everywhere around the world. Props go to European nations, Canada, and the like that continue to embrace their sense of identity by letting the people get really fucking pissed off at the shortfalls of their own policies.

(did I mention having cable (for free) and a newer t.v. (bought for very cheap on craigslist) has created a c-span and c-span2 junkie in me?)

speaking of recent and education...

Apr 16, 2008
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I thought this little modern day irony and reference to education fit like a glove today.

((Stereo)) Outside the Wall - Pink Floyd (Vinyl Recorded)

All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.

And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.

"Isn't this where...."

4A The University of Minnesota Fairview/Riverside Hospital Children's Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Apr 7, 2008
2 comments

I just learned from an old co-worker that the children's inpatient mental health unit I used to work at closed last week. The most vulnerable members of our community here in Minneapolis and around the country have lost funding in this sector of health care while virtually every other aspect of health care has become more profitable. It's amazing to me that the general public doesn't realize the cost benefit of keeping children who have been dealt a bad hand in a biological, psychological, or social way that makes them vulnerable to injuring themselves or vulnerable to taking out their frustration or poor social skills out on other children. makes me sick. yeah, let's cut funding to the most vulnerable and ill represented group in our society because there's no f'n money in it...un-f'n-believable.

so, sure, some of these kids are still admitted. but, they're admitted onto the adolescent unit which means fewer adolescent psych beds as well. can you believe that? these kids being on the same unit as teenagers? wow. they were vulnerable enough with kids up to age 12 much less 17!

I know many of you know what population of kids I'm talking about, but some of you don't. The population of kids I'm talking about are the one's who have gone through things that are hard or even impossible to imagine going through...sometimes the stuff that's too gruesome to even put on the nightly news. Some kids have physiological or psych disorders that they have no control over and need to learn how to live with it in a safe place. maybe it's the family, maybe it's their own body, maybe something drastic happened to them. People usually think of adults when they think of mentally ill...well, all adults were once kids! all the murderers, rapists, suicidal people, depressed, manic, the entire gamut of humans out there were once kids! helping them while they're children is pinnacle to a healthy society to avoid as much of the fall-out later on in their lives as we can.

this is a great example of why privatized health care doesn't work for the common good. too bad we can't put a $$ on that reality...then surely there'd be corporate support.

jp morgan, bear stearns

Apr 7, 2008
2 comments

socialization of risk, the privatization of reward.

KEN LEEE...if libu dibu dout you!!!

Mar 26, 2008
1 comment

Ken Lee or Without you,Mariah Carey-improved English(subs)

The Easter Weekend in The North Country...

Mar 24, 2008
9 comments

Got up to the North Shore of Lake Superior with a buddy for the Easter Weekend...with the plan to return home in time to see family on Sunday, of course. Great weather, awesome conditions, and good tunes...an excellent spell out of town for the weekend.

here are some photos of the river hiking and ice climbing on the Devil Track River on a climb called Nightfall...considered by many to be the premier climb of Minnesota. I can see why...the hike was awesome and the climb was clean. too bad for my buddy that he was feeling too under the weather to make the commitment of climbing the entire thing to the top. We went in with the hopes of just having a great scouting mission. But, we ended up getting some great bouldering and climbing in.

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here (left) you can see how thick the ice is away from the current...notice wulffie in the background taking it easy. the river gorge was so beautiful.

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nightfall

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what a beautiful climb. with a WI 2 start leading up to a WI 3+ middle to WI 4 right side of the second pitch this climb is just great. it's a little distorted in the photo. the lower section is about 40 feet if you don't include the really low grade snow approach which I think is included in the total height of the climb. the middle incline is a pretty low one for about 30 feet. then the finishing vertical section is about 70 feet...hard to tell since the climb goes into the gorge for about 20 feet...you can kinda tell if you look at the vertical exposed rock on either side of the ice from the middle of the climb up to the top. So, Wulffie and I decided that climbing the lower grade section free was in order. after some warm up, we nibbled on the lower section to get to the middle of the climb and soak in a different perspective on life for a few minutes before we descended down.

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Now, the descending part, that was a bit of a different experience as you can imagine. hell, even going down stairs is tougher than going up them.

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here are a few videos of our little excursion.

Vox 1 water through ice

Walking on water

a taste of the climb...

Vox 3 ice climbing cam

a view of the climb...

ice climbing minnesota devil track nightfall

until next time, Old Man Winter.

my two latest iTunes downloads...they make me :)

Mar 20, 2008
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gerry rafferty, right down the line

grandmaster flash (melle mel), white line

I guess there's just something about a line that I'm not getting enough of in my life right now. I think it's more like a track...like staying on one...that's been lacking in my life lately. so this post in itself is just another example of how much of a lazy ass I've been lately. I can't say that I haven't been totally enjoying it though...hee hee!

so, all the hype about interpreting dreams with Freud, Jung and all the others...somewhere along the way, the interpretation of a person's personality, for better or worse, through a person's choice of song has been completely ignored. hmmm, just another topic for a book, I guess. by the way, I've come up with about 12 of those as well...anything to avoid studying nursing...

nothing like the forgotten classics...

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Larsmeandering said:
Many congratulations, Patrick! What doesn't kill you, you know, ah, allows you to live. So live, dammit, live! Celebrate by... read more
on :o)
patrick said:

[this is good]
yep! it's done. I actually just landed an interview at HCMC that would start on the 19th. quick action especially... read more
on :o)
moopdog said:

[esto es genial]
Good stuff, my man! Did you get our congratulatory voice mail from Castle Peak? You should have saved a Pin... read more
on :o)
snow-flower said:
Ok thanks a million, pat:).....! read more
on :o)
patrick said:
o.k. so what was I saying that I would be doing when I became a nurse? hmmm...well, I started by... read more
on :o)