We have all heard about it: marijuana used strictly for medical purposes only.
Currently we have 14 states that have in some form or another legalized marijuana.
Interestingly, since the beginning of time marijuana has had many, many uses. The plant itself is used for fabric (hemp), rope, food, and even incense. It has also been viewed as a useful plant for many different things and only in the recent decade has it been considered a potential danger to people.
Marijuana has helpful for many things over time and was not ever used in terms of smoking until more recently.
Which brings me to the recent topic seen on msn.com: Wal-Mart employee fired for marijuana use. The 29 year-old fellow, a 5 year native to this particular Wal-mart suffers from an inoperable brain tumor and sinus cancer. Making just $27,000 he supports his two children on that income. After multiple attempts at routine pain medication this man was not responding well to it's typical pain relief. His physician used his last resort: prescribed him regular marijuana use. The fellow always carried his medical card stating he had a prescription for marijuana use, however he was only to use it at home and away from work.
This young man claims he never went to work high and was always careful when using and never ever smoked while on the job. However, after looking at Wal-Mart policies, the manager of the store opted for a random drug screen on him and fired him on the spot once finding the results.
The kicker is: can a medically prescribed drug prevent you from getting a job? It can in most states. If employers believe that you are potentially going to violate a policy that states "all employees who are a potential safety hazard or may cause negligence to customers must not remain employed" (I paraphrased) they may fire you.
Sadly enough, this man has spoked with many different lawyers and despite their own personal furry for his tragic situation they are unwilling to take on his case because of federal law. Federal law is held above state law. So this leaves this particular man in a sad predicament: he can't work because he has been given medical marijuana, but now he can't pay his bills. What do you do in a situation like this?? Live in constant pain while working or lose everything to be pain free?
I hope I'm never in this situation.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
A "bump" along the way
This past Friday my wife woke me up bright and early, half crying, half crazy to tell me that she was pregnant (it was 6:30 in the morning and she was getting ready for work). After that was a blur as I held her while she wept on my shoulder before going to work her 12 hour shift.
My wife and I have decided that our plans never work out. Ever. Any time we make substantial plans they always go completely off course. Sometimes I wonder if it's God's hand making the plans or Satans (or both). In this case we had our next two years completely planned out:
1) I raise our daughter while go to school full time for a bachelor's degree
2) My wife work full time (and then some) to pay for our living expenses.
3) We attempt to pay off $6000 remaining balance on our second mortgage and then pay off my mother-in-law. After that we would have NO debt other than our house and school loans.
Once we found out about the pregnancy it left us in a scary position: my wife has no health insurance. We were picking out a plan through Anthem last week to buy it privately. Now no one will touch her with a 10 foot stick. This leaves us in a scary position: pay for all her medical costs out of pocket or get government assistance. My wife cringes at the thought of being on Medicaid however would it be worth it getting more in debt to have a baby in addition to having to save because my wife has no maternity leave???
So right now our plans have changed. Granted, we are THANKFUL to have this little one and even though he/she isn't coming at our optimal time, it is the Lord's timing for us and we are trying embrace the idea of having two little ones under the age of two (it's kind of scary!).
I'm trying not to freak out being a unemployed full-time student. I want to provide for my family and right now I am not and if I go out and get a job the most I would be making would be $10-$12. That is not enough for us to live off of. My wife keeps insisting that I stay in school, I say drop out at least of the time being. How can I work full time, take care of two kids, and go to school full time?? So there you have it. Our three goals for the next two years are somewhat up in the air right now. I don't know what we should do or what would be best for us right now.
All I know is that we need lots of prayer!
My wife and I have decided that our plans never work out. Ever. Any time we make substantial plans they always go completely off course. Sometimes I wonder if it's God's hand making the plans or Satans (or both). In this case we had our next two years completely planned out:
1) I raise our daughter while go to school full time for a bachelor's degree
2) My wife work full time (and then some) to pay for our living expenses.
3) We attempt to pay off $6000 remaining balance on our second mortgage and then pay off my mother-in-law. After that we would have NO debt other than our house and school loans.
Once we found out about the pregnancy it left us in a scary position: my wife has no health insurance. We were picking out a plan through Anthem last week to buy it privately. Now no one will touch her with a 10 foot stick. This leaves us in a scary position: pay for all her medical costs out of pocket or get government assistance. My wife cringes at the thought of being on Medicaid however would it be worth it getting more in debt to have a baby in addition to having to save because my wife has no maternity leave???
So right now our plans have changed. Granted, we are THANKFUL to have this little one and even though he/she isn't coming at our optimal time, it is the Lord's timing for us and we are trying embrace the idea of having two little ones under the age of two (it's kind of scary!).
I'm trying not to freak out being a unemployed full-time student. I want to provide for my family and right now I am not and if I go out and get a job the most I would be making would be $10-$12. That is not enough for us to live off of. My wife keeps insisting that I stay in school, I say drop out at least of the time being. How can I work full time, take care of two kids, and go to school full time?? So there you have it. Our three goals for the next two years are somewhat up in the air right now. I don't know what we should do or what would be best for us right now.
All I know is that we need lots of prayer!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Community Clinic
Due to my recent employment my family and I walked into some unknown territory. Losing my job was bad enough, but I also lost all insurance benefits. I was fired on October 30th, my benefits ended the 31st. At the beginning of November my wife and I were scrambling for private insurance. We first planned on using Cobra, but after looking over the package we were appalled at the cost: $1300.00/month for our current plan. I almost had a heart attack.
This has caused us to look into (for now) other means of obtaining adequate health care.
Here in Joplin you see two clinics: Family Access Care and The Joplin Community Clinic. Both are usually packed and hard to get into, but see people and base their pay on their current income. With the rise in unemployment rates rising to a staggering 10.4% currently more and more people are uninsured.
It makes sense then that you have to use the resources around to get the care you need and the use of health clinics are on the rise. It would also make sense the the government, who frequently helps support community clinics would focus more on these local resources to help families in need. Quite the contrary.
The story of a lady who deals with being uninsured is quite scary: this lady has a 5 week son who suffered from a stroke and menigitis and she has been currently taking him to the Family Access Care Clinic for regular visits. Recently the Missouri House Appropriations Committee approved a bill that cut $9.23 million dollar grant that is distributed to care clinics like FSimiamily Access Care.
Similarily, a clinic in Tulsa has had their funding cut short, stopping them from adding on to their ever growing facility. This facility has more than doubled their patient numbers in the last two years and are dealing with major sickness in tight quarters. Their bid to add on won't be addressed for at least another two years, making the addition to the clinic seem more like a dream rather than reality.
The "Family Van" has been visiting the Boston are since 1982, providing regular low cost/free medical screenings such as blood pressures saw a large budget cut last year. This van has been a resource utilized to the community and has helped recognized people at high risk for cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders.
So you see? The need for health care assistance is ever rising, don't cut a resource out of our community. The need will never go away. Obesity is here to stay and so are all the health risks and diseases that go with it. Makes me sick, literally.
This has caused us to look into (for now) other means of obtaining adequate health care.
Here in Joplin you see two clinics: Family Access Care and The Joplin Community Clinic. Both are usually packed and hard to get into, but see people and base their pay on their current income. With the rise in unemployment rates rising to a staggering 10.4% currently more and more people are uninsured.
It makes sense then that you have to use the resources around to get the care you need and the use of health clinics are on the rise. It would also make sense the the government, who frequently helps support community clinics would focus more on these local resources to help families in need. Quite the contrary.
The story of a lady who deals with being uninsured is quite scary: this lady has a 5 week son who suffered from a stroke and menigitis and she has been currently taking him to the Family Access Care Clinic for regular visits. Recently the Missouri House Appropriations Committee approved a bill that cut $9.23 million dollar grant that is distributed to care clinics like FSimiamily Access Care.
Similarily, a clinic in Tulsa has had their funding cut short, stopping them from adding on to their ever growing facility. This facility has more than doubled their patient numbers in the last two years and are dealing with major sickness in tight quarters. Their bid to add on won't be addressed for at least another two years, making the addition to the clinic seem more like a dream rather than reality.
The "Family Van" has been visiting the Boston are since 1982, providing regular low cost/free medical screenings such as blood pressures saw a large budget cut last year. This van has been a resource utilized to the community and has helped recognized people at high risk for cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders.
So you see? The need for health care assistance is ever rising, don't cut a resource out of our community. The need will never go away. Obesity is here to stay and so are all the health risks and diseases that go with it. Makes me sick, literally.
Home Improvement
Since I was younger I've always enjoyed hands-on projects. I helped my dad do handy-man projects at the house and when I was in junior high I built my own chicken coop and raised my own chickens. My dad showed me how to install a hot water heater when I was in my teens. Doing all these projects only facilitated my thirst for all home improvements.
When I was 21 I bought my own home. I owned it for one year when I helped put on a new roof. When my wife and I were serious we tore up all the carpet in the house and refinished the hardwoods. We also put a new ceiling in my bedroom.
After my wife and I got married we bought a flip home for $8,000. That turned out to be a disaster, but we didn't know it at the time. We financed for an additional $8,000 and an additional $16,000 we finished it. The home went up for sale for $41,000 and this all happened the time the housing market went to the toilet. We ended up selling it to an 80 year-old lady (who was buying rentals to invest in her retirement) for a lovely $22,000. We lost our pants on the deal. All those months of spending weekends/evenings at the place making the house that was once infested with cats urinating all over the hardwood floors to a home that smelled and was livable.
That being said the house we are living in now we have almost completely remodeled. I did all the tile in the bathroom (working on the 2nd bathroom now) and am planning puttin in Allure flooring in the kitchen/hallway plus putting in a small picket fence in our front yard. I think I'm a glutten for punishment. It seems every single time I start a project it always costs double what we estimated and takes twice as long. Yet I get burnt out and decide never to do another home improvement project 3 months down the road I put myself back into yet another project!
I think my business degree will help me get a better job, but won't let me do what I love to do: anything with my hands that involves working on a home. I say sometimes I hate it, but I really do enjoy this kind of work. I wish I could make big money doing construction or flipping homes, but my last experience has put a bad taste in my mouth.
If you ever need anything done give me a call. If anything I have all the tools you need, probably.
When I was 21 I bought my own home. I owned it for one year when I helped put on a new roof. When my wife and I were serious we tore up all the carpet in the house and refinished the hardwoods. We also put a new ceiling in my bedroom.
After my wife and I got married we bought a flip home for $8,000. That turned out to be a disaster, but we didn't know it at the time. We financed for an additional $8,000 and an additional $16,000 we finished it. The home went up for sale for $41,000 and this all happened the time the housing market went to the toilet. We ended up selling it to an 80 year-old lady (who was buying rentals to invest in her retirement) for a lovely $22,000. We lost our pants on the deal. All those months of spending weekends/evenings at the place making the house that was once infested with cats urinating all over the hardwood floors to a home that smelled and was livable.
That being said the house we are living in now we have almost completely remodeled. I did all the tile in the bathroom (working on the 2nd bathroom now) and am planning puttin in Allure flooring in the kitchen/hallway plus putting in a small picket fence in our front yard. I think I'm a glutten for punishment. It seems every single time I start a project it always costs double what we estimated and takes twice as long. Yet I get burnt out and decide never to do another home improvement project 3 months down the road I put myself back into yet another project!
I think my business degree will help me get a better job, but won't let me do what I love to do: anything with my hands that involves working on a home. I say sometimes I hate it, but I really do enjoy this kind of work. I wish I could make big money doing construction or flipping homes, but my last experience has put a bad taste in my mouth.
If you ever need anything done give me a call. If anything I have all the tools you need, probably.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The reality of reality TV
Every time I turn on the channel I see yet another reality TV show. On primetime television you will see The Bachelor or The Biggest Loser or Dancing with the Stars. Switch to TLC and you'll see 19 Kids and Counting, or how about HGTV The Biggest Bang for your Buck or Holmes on Homes. They are on every stinkin' channel.I get so sick of seeing all these people ready to have their 5 seconds of fame.
We know how it can all go sour. It's hard to miss the recent events of Jon and Kate plus 8 and their ugly breakup or The Bathelor how one of girls slept with someone behind the camera (I think a producer). It really gross.
What makes these shows so appealing for so many people? They gross some of the highest revenue out of all the shows on tv today. The Biggest Loser is among the top rated. Is it really that entertaining to watch large people kills themselves with a nazi trainer yelling in their ear? Is it really that entertaining to watch them drip with sweat and puke with overcoming nausea while they wail in agony? What fun is it to watch people suffer?
I try to stay away from as much reality tv as I can. My daughter and I watch some Disney morning shows, completely void of reality tv. Then I go to redbox and rent the latest flick to get my kicks. It's far more entertaining anyway.
We know how it can all go sour. It's hard to miss the recent events of Jon and Kate plus 8 and their ugly breakup or The Bathelor how one of girls slept with someone behind the camera (I think a producer). It really gross.
What makes these shows so appealing for so many people? They gross some of the highest revenue out of all the shows on tv today. The Biggest Loser is among the top rated. Is it really that entertaining to watch large people kills themselves with a nazi trainer yelling in their ear? Is it really that entertaining to watch them drip with sweat and puke with overcoming nausea while they wail in agony? What fun is it to watch people suffer?
I try to stay away from as much reality tv as I can. My daughter and I watch some Disney morning shows, completely void of reality tv. Then I go to redbox and rent the latest flick to get my kicks. It's far more entertaining anyway.
South Paw
Let's face it: most of the amentities in existence are made for the right-handed person. Anything from scissors, desks, peelers, baseball mitts, power tools, and pens/pencils all cater to the right-handed person.
It was interesting for me because I grew up being a lefty (I think maybe my distant great-uncle might have been a lefty), but otherwise there is no first degree relative who is left-handed. Imagine my surprise when I started dating my wife and found out something interesting: we are both left handed. There is no family that she knows of who is left handed other than her father who could have been as a child, but in the 1950s it was socially unacceptable to be anything different than right-handed (thus he grew up writing right handed).
While no studies are conclusive about what it means to be a lefty they have found a strong connectiong between being a South Paw and specific diseases: celiac disease, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, dyslexia, ulcerative colitis, stuttering, myasthenia gravis, and are more prone to alcohol and nicotine abuse.
Some studies link advantages to be left-handed such as: better recovery after a brain injury, greater emotional expressivity with the face, and better spatial relations. Left handers also have some advantages at some sports such as baseball and tennis.
The determination of which hand is dominent is undecided though possibly the combination of strong genetics and a human genome, although they are unsure of which one at this time.
Only 10% of the population are left handed...my wife and I make up that minority. Other than occasional discrimination with daily use of thing especially scissors we make do just fine. It fact it has encouraged us to become more ambidextrous in nature. My wife and cut using scissor with her right hand better than her left. I bat right-handed. I throw right-handed. Those are just a few I could think of.
So far my daughter has shown right-handed tendencies. My wife and I don't know what we are going to do. Trying to teach her anything will be a challenge for the both of us!
It was interesting for me because I grew up being a lefty (I think maybe my distant great-uncle might have been a lefty), but otherwise there is no first degree relative who is left-handed. Imagine my surprise when I started dating my wife and found out something interesting: we are both left handed. There is no family that she knows of who is left handed other than her father who could have been as a child, but in the 1950s it was socially unacceptable to be anything different than right-handed (thus he grew up writing right handed).
While no studies are conclusive about what it means to be a lefty they have found a strong connectiong between being a South Paw and specific diseases: celiac disease, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, dyslexia, ulcerative colitis, stuttering, myasthenia gravis, and are more prone to alcohol and nicotine abuse.
Some studies link advantages to be left-handed such as: better recovery after a brain injury, greater emotional expressivity with the face, and better spatial relations. Left handers also have some advantages at some sports such as baseball and tennis.
The determination of which hand is dominent is undecided though possibly the combination of strong genetics and a human genome, although they are unsure of which one at this time.
Only 10% of the population are left handed...my wife and I make up that minority. Other than occasional discrimination with daily use of thing especially scissors we make do just fine. It fact it has encouraged us to become more ambidextrous in nature. My wife and cut using scissor with her right hand better than her left. I bat right-handed. I throw right-handed. Those are just a few I could think of.
So far my daughter has shown right-handed tendencies. My wife and I don't know what we are going to do. Trying to teach her anything will be a challenge for the both of us!
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