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Opinari - Latin term for Opinion. Opinari.net is just what it seems: a cornucopia of rants, raves and poignant soliloquy.

Monday, January 30, 2006

From the National Review Online:

According to Scott Lilly of the Center for American Progress, the highway bills that passed from 1970 to 1986 contained between 2 and 14 earmarks each. By 1991, the number had ballooned to 538, prompting one Republican to accuse Democrats of holding “a seminar on pork.” Republicans took over and by 1998 were passing a transportation bill with 1,850 earmarks, or, as Lilly writes, “about two and a half times the number of earmarks that had been contained in all highway bills since 1956 combined.” The highway bill that passed last year had 6,371 earmarks.

I don't care if you are Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Socialist, Independent, or Marxist, the above assessment of the American Congress, and the executive's lack of willingness to veto such expenditures, should make you sick to your stomach.

And... if you happen to be a partisan pointing fingers at the "other side", think otherwise. This is not a partisan problem. This is an institutional problem that needs to be changed, and quickly. This is one issue that should bring all parties together for a common solution, but I'm not naive enough to expect that.

As far as I'm concerned, we can throw out the whole damned bunch of them, and start from a clean slate.

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.: posted by Dave 2:58 PM


Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Does Not Compute:

Today, we had a mandatory HR talking heads meeting. During the 45 minute snooze, we were given an overview of salary increase ranges.

Witness the following:

Highly Competent
0% to 9% (Minimum increase 4%)

Granted, it's been awhile since I have had basic mathematics, but I'm still working on figuring out the logic in the above statement. I postulate that this is what relegates an individual to a life of HR bliss, the failure to grasp basic mathematical concepts, and such.

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.: posted by Dave 5:38 PM


This week's nugget of truth comes from the Wall Street Journal:

After a vacation on some sun-kissed sands or snow-capped peaks, many of us would rather be on the losing end of a red-hot poker than return to work. But there is one subset of employees for whom returning to work can provide the blissful respite they hoped their vacations would offer. They are called parents.

Boy, howdy, it is so true! If you have a subscription, read the whole thing.

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.: posted by Dave 4:56 PM


Monday, January 09, 2006



Maybe I should try this with some Jones Soda Company Brussels Sprouts flavor. Yum!

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.: posted by Dave 2:52 PM


Sunday, January 08, 2006



My son greets my newborn.

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.: posted by Dave 9:33 PM




Aidan is now... How many hours? 87 hours old... Almost. Nearly.

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.: posted by Dave 4:05 PM


Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Texas 41, USC 38

A great game by two great teams. However, I didn't really care one way or the other about the outcome, except to keep a streak alive. The streak goes something like this:

  • 1998 Moved in Tennessee, UT wins National Championship
  • 2003 Moved in Connecticut, UConn wins National Championship
  • 2005 Moved in Texas, Texas wins National Championship


    • See a pattern here? The moral of the story is this - I really need to move back to Tennessee. Heh.


    An aside - my wife and I have moved twice since getting married. We've conceived children both times. There's a fertility secret in there somewhere.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 11:28 PM


    Tuesday, January 03, 2006

    My Son, Aidan:

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    .: posted by Dave 3:32 PM


    Thanks to SayUncle, Michael Silence, and any other blogs out there who might be linking to me today. (I'd provide links, but I'm doing this from a Treo, and my thumb mobility is limited.) I'm going to try to update soon with some pictures.

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    .: posted by Dave 2:01 PM


    Labor and Delivery IT -

    I was eavesdropping in the hallway and I noticed a lot of angst about the hospitals IT systems:

    "They don't bother to talk to the user.(Then maybe someone from your department should have represented you in the requirements meetings.)"

    "This new system is useless. (Have you considered paper records instead?)"

    "What's your username and password? (The user promptly announces to the world her username and password. Now how is an IT group supposed to guard against that? Eh, but I digress.)"

    I try to escape work by fathering a newborn, yet I still find my profession permeates my life. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a hospital IT system to log into. ;-)

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    .: posted by Dave 1:08 PM


    Well, we're all in a regular room now. Aidan has calmed down. I think he realizes that he is out now, and he might as well make the best of it. Ami is nauseated from the spinal. She's doing great otherwise though. As for me, well, who really cares how I'm doing. The mother and baby are what's important.

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    .: posted by Dave 11:31 AM


    Specs: 6 lbs, 12 oz, 20" long. Very vocal and animated. Mommy is recovering. Daddy is speechless.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 8:22 AM


    We have baby. 8:05 am. Adorable. Thank you, God.

    Details to come.

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    .: posted by Dave 8:14 AM


    Well I thought I was going in, but apparently they just completed the spinal. So in the meantime, I'm sitting here listening to nurse gossip. Ugh.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 7:57 AM


    Nurse Grammar:

    ".. if I misunderstood that wrong... "

    Sigh.

    As long as they care for my wife impeccably, that's what matters to me.

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    .: posted by Dave 7:40 AM


    Nerves. Nerves. Nerves.

    Somehow, 9 months didn't prepare me for the nerves. That and the fact that I've had no breakfast.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 7:38 AM


    New Dad Humor

    Some nurse just addressed me as "Doctor". My response: "Well, I'm not really a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night."

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    .: posted by Dave 7:36 AM


    Well, here we go. It's 7:34 am. I'm about to be summoned to the operating room. I'm not sure if I will be allowed to blog from in there or not, but we'll find out.

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    .: posted by Dave 7:34 AM


    Well, the obstetrician and anesthesiologist have arrived to pomp and circumstance. Ami is awaiting the spinal (happily, I might add). I'm starving, and nervous for some reason I can't quite put my finger on. I guess any surgery is bound to illicit nervousness. Ami doesn't seem concerned though, so I guess I should be calm too. Heh.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 7:20 AM


    After discussing the pros and cons of spinals vs epidurals, I still couldn't figure out why we had to be here at 5 am. But it just occurred to me why - paperwork. Paperwork ad nauseum. The nurse has been in here for over an hour discussing paperwork. Why we couldn't do all this beforehand and gained more sleep, I'll never know.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:49 AM


    I'm very lucky. I really am. Ami is such a beautiful girl. She's having a hard time with this pregnancy, but she still glows. I'm proud to have her in my life, and I am praying that there aren't any complications from what has proven to be a difficult pregnancy.

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    .: posted by Dave 6:03 AM


    Ami is on the operating table now, getting prepped. She is obviously ready to get the baby out of her. The baby's pulse is about 125-130, and Ami's BP is elevated, which is to be expected.

    Mine's a bit on the high side, too, but I'm a bit high strung in the morning, I'm caffeinated, and I keep thinking about the stupid second deductible I just had to pay. Oh, and I'm about to become a father again, which adds up to more excitement than usual.

    Labels:

    .: posted by Dave 6:00 AM


    Well, the big day is here. It's time to have the baby. We woke up at 4 am and loaded up, came to the hospital.

    So what have I learned thus far? That I hate dealing with insurance and hospital billing departments. This is because I'm being charged a second deductible because the birth is happening in 2006 and the other services happened in 2005, even though we aren't allowed to use our FSA for the 2005 costs. Don't ask. It's been a fiasco.

    On the bright side, as the father, I get free parking! Anyway, the birth should be in a couple of hours. I'll post as much as I possibly can.

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    .: posted by Dave 5:41 AM


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