I can't stop watching it!

The Health Care Debate

So I have to admit that I have only been following the recent health care debates in a very superficial manner. I am in no way an expert on this topic, nor am I even extremely well-versed on what is in the text of the proposed White House plan. (Is there an actual text at this point?)

But I have noticed that one issue that seems to be dividing almost everyone is that people like Joe Wilson believe that illegal immigrants will be offered health care insurance. Obama says that illegal immigrants will NOT receive the insurance.

I feel like it's kind of a ridiculous debate. I can think of two scenarios right off the bat based on my line of work where it would be to everyone's great benefit if illegal immigrants received full or partial health care coverage.

Scenario 1: Illegal 21 year old man can't pay out of pocket for a flu shot and obviously does not have health care insurance to pay for it. He contracts the H1N1 virus. He passes it on a multitude of U.S. citizens. One of those persons dies from the flu.

Scenario 2: A woman illegally enters the country from Mexico. A couple of years later, she gives birth to a daughter who by virtue of being born here is automatically a citizen. Father is nowhere to be found. The mother develops a form of cancer that would be entirely treatable, but she can't afford it because she doesn't have insurance. She dies as a result. Because no family members live in the country, her daughter enters the foster care system, which ultimately costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands more dollars than it would have to just give the woman some damn health care coverage.

And here's something else to think about. Unless you are 100% Native American, the likelihood is that somewhere in your family tree is someone who came here illegally.

This is probably moot, since I doubt illegal immigrants will get health care coverage anyway. But a healthy society leads to a more productive society, which in turn stimulates the economy. WHY IS THIS SUCH A BIG DEAL???? We pay WAY more for these ridiculous overseas wars, and boy, haven't those been productive?! We need to put America first, and that means putting the health of it's citizens and residents first.

Recent Things

I keep forgetting I have this blog, even though I'm obsessed with reading them (Thanks, Google Reader!). Here is a post on the last few weeks, in photos:

It was Aiden's 1st birthday on July 3rd.




Robin, Jamil and Jesse (college buddies) came down from the Bay Area to visit. Robin was excited to try Pinkberry for the first time!




They stayed at my apartment.




The next day we had a barbeque. Even Erika and her daughter Hazel made it down. Erika is pregnant again! I can't believe we're not all in college anymore. It was a great reunion!




Sunday we went to Venice.




Sunday night was The Standard




The following weekend Elise and Ashley (high school buddies) came down from Thousand Oaks to hang out. We went to Broadway Bar and met Darryl from "The Office" (I don't know why this picture is weird).




We randomly ran into my friend Derek from college, who was visiting from the bay area. He and I were standing next to each other at the bar for a full 5 minutes before we even noticed each other! (Don't I look so scissor mafia in this pic?)




On Friday, me and my co-workers ate at the "world famous" Clifton's Cafeteria and was sorely disappointed. Darn you, Huell Howser!




Fin.

LOL

I ate about 20 dried apricots...

...and that was a bad decision. Apricots have 5% of your recommended daily fiber. Each dried apricot is a whole apricot. I had all of my daily recommended fiber AT ONE TIME. It was a painful afternoon. Thank God I discovered this on a weekend, and not at work.

Those Badgers...

They do like to drink a lot.

Best review ever

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens tomorrow in theaters. Please don't see it. Please don't contribute to the destruction of all that is good in the human spirit. If you absolutely must go (e.g. you have bratty kids who won't stop yapping), please fart loudly and repeatedly in the theater so that everyone's good time is ruined.

Now comes the part where I hack up a lung

My cold's are extremely predictable. It never fails.

Day 1: sneeze a few times, but don't give it a second thought
Day 2: sore throat. i start remembering the day before - when i was sneezing
Day 3: sore throat + snot nose out of control
Day 4: snot nose
Day 5: snot nose + slight cough
Day 6: snot nose + painful hacking cough
Day 7: hacking cough
Day 8: hacking cough
Day 9: occasional hacking cough
Day 10: better

I am currently in Day 5. Tomorrow is gonna suck. Maybe I'll remember to blog again on Day 10, Wednesday, to report if my prediction was correct. Working in an office sucks. After not being sick for almost a year, and then 2 colds in 3 months?

Also, I've been having major TMJ (?) pain since Monday. Do I grind my teeth in my sleep?

I am looking forward to what will hopefully be a weekend of relaxation and recuperation. Here's to lounging around!!

Is it bad that...

...I cringe every time my cell phone rings?

Awesome Weekend

Celebrated my brother's graduation and his gf's birthday all weekend, and I got to spend 10 hours babysitting my nephew. I know, what kind of crazy person wants to babysit for 10 hours? ME! I love that little guy. So well-behaved now, too.

AND, of course, the Lakers won. Plus, I didn't have to work! GREAT WEEKEND. Plus, I am going to the Santa Barbara zoo next Sunday with my mom and my brother's family :)

I inadvertently decapitated a crow on Saturday...

...and I am still feeling bad about it. I don't even LIKE crows! I didn't even feel bad when Nicki and I killed a rare albino deer that we hit in the UP.

Tattoos, Roomies and Smashages

For years now I've had this irrational desire to get a lady justice pin up girl tattoo. The problem is I have no idea where I'd put it. The coolest thing would be to get it on my arm but there's no way I'm doing that. And it's not like I can put it somewhere small and inconspicuously, because what is the point of pin-up girls?

Roommate moves in on Saturday. I'm a little nervous because I've gotten used to living here by myself for the last 6 months. Oh well, I'm only committed to a 6 month lease so I will just see how things go.

I'm having a love affair with a sausage restaurant in Little Tokyo. Rattlesnake is the best. I've been there 3 times this week and was just called a "regular" by the guy behind the counter. I don't know whether to be excited or embarrassed that I eat so many sausages.

Click this link at your own risk

This is so disturbing. What I want to know is why the father even had custody of that child based on the previous PCP incidents. I literally gagged on my coffee this morning when I read it in the paper.

Yes, you should be hiding your face

Yes, you should be ashamed. How can you expect to win the championship playing the way you've been playing? Don't disappoint us now...

I tend to daydream....

This means that I'm super smart! Ha!

The Phantom Tollbooth

One of my favorite books growing up was The Phantom Tollbooth. There was something really magical about it, and I probably read it about 10 times. I still have the same copy from when I was a kid. It's pretty ratty by now. I vaguely remember seeing the movie and thinking how it did not live up to the book in any way, shape or form.

I just started re-reading the book, and as an adult, I really appreciate the word play that the author uses. I didn't pick up on a lot of it as a kid. For example, the main character meets the residents of Dictionopolis, where they literally eat their words. He also meets the Whether Man who claims that "it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be."

Anyway, the point of this story is to buy this book for your kid when s/he hits the 4th grade or so. Maybe you can even take a gander at it yourself.

And p.s. - how bout them lakers last night? :-D

Grilled Cheese Invitational

If my taste buds come back tomorrow (and if I can find someone to go with me), I am seriously considering attending this.

Sniffles

I spoke too soon. I am getting siiiiick :*(

Shamwow Vince bitten in violent encounter with hooker

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0408091sham1.html

Work, Sex Offenders, and Other Things

I like my job at The Alliance. I'm underpaid and overworked, but I do really like it. It's amazing some of the ways the County is denying funding to caregivers. I don't understand why an 8-year-old kid who is pissing and shitting all over his caregiver's house, lighting fires and is bipolar doesn't qualify for a higher rate because of mental health issues, and also doesn't get free access to appropriate services. It's a good thing I love kids, or else I might not be able to do this job. I appear before Administrative Law Judges twice a week against county to argue for appropriate benefits and services. We keep seeing some of the same fuck ups from county over and over (they are actually violating the law), so we might try to get a class certified if we can pull in a pro bono firm on this. I can't believe how incompetent county is. It all makes my problems seem kind of minimal.

Speaking of sucky situations, when I was at the biglaw firm, I did a pro bono memo on Sex Offender Registries and DNA Registries for LCAV. It was amazing the types of things that led to registration and notification requirements. Some states require it for public urination. If you get convicted or plead to peeing in public, your address and offense go online for everyone to see. Not necessary to spend time or resources to warn neighbors about that. If you are 18 and she's 16 and her parents turn you in for sleeping with their innocent little daughter, in some states you are a sex offender. And in a few states you are subjected to registration/notification provisions for life. I came across one instance where a 10-year-old boy pled to touching his 4-year-old cousin's genitals and had to register. His father said he was unable to explain to his son why he had to register as a "sex offender" because he didn't really understand what sex was. Anyway, this all came to mind again after I read this. Yeah, that guy sucks for doing that, and the girl gets the last laugh, but isn't being convicted enough?

Anyway.

Should I sell my BB and get an iphone? The BB was great for business purposes, but only a few people at the alliance have them, so nobody really expects you to get back to their emails urgently after hours. Everyone kind of manages their own cases.

Alright, time to eat my gorgonzola linguini with toasted walnuts and get ready for Lost.

FML - This is a long one, brace yourselves

I feel like I may be complaining a lot lately. It's been a bad month. I hope that I'm usually a more positive person than this. But the month just keeps getting worse.

Last May, I had my car shipped from Wisconsin to California. Thanks to North Central Auto Transport, owned and operated by Wayne Markow of Medford, Wisconsin, my car sustained $3,400 worth of damage. He claimed he didn't know how it happened, and offered $300 upon dropping off the car for settling then and there. I was still in Wisconsin at that point, so thank god my dad is smart enough to know not to accept that money. It turned out that the car in good condition was worth less than the cost to fix it, so it was deemed a "salvage" car.

After about 6 months of going back and forth with the moving company and 3rd party contractor who actually drove the truck, and a whole bunch of other stuff I won't go into, I finally settled with North Central. I chose to keep the car, which was estimated to be worth $400 for parts and they paid me the difference of $3,000.

At that point I decided I would just not fix the car and drive it until this summer, when I figured I'd have enough money to buy a new car and sell the Accord off for parts.

Last month I got a notice in the mail that my registration was due and I needed a smog check. I passed the smog check and paid the registration fees online, like the notice said I could. A month later, I still hadn't received my new license plate stickers. I called and the DMV informed me that their systems were down and to give it another week or two to get my tags in the mail.

Fast forward to last Friday. My brother has to go to the DMV and I decide to tag along to find out what's going on with my registration. They tell me that they've received my payment, but they won't process my registration until I bring in the title and car for inspection. This morning, I go in, figuring that they would just make me show them that the reverse, brake, and blinker lights were all working. But all they do is check my car to ensure the VIN isn't damaged (like I fucking stole the car or something?). Then after waiting for a long ass time (of course), I'm informed that I need to go to a mechanic to pass a brake and light test. Once they do that, I can qualify for a "Salvage Title" and my vehicle registration will be processed. I have until the end of April.

After calling every mechanic in town, only to be informed that ONE place in Thousand Oaks does it, they agree to see me immediately. Excited to have caught a break in my bad luck, I bring it in, only to be informed that the only way I'll pass the brake and light test is to entirely repair the damage to the car.

Somehow I have to come up with $3400 by the end of April. FML.

God loves Mike Bibby

Maybe it's bad luck when I dream about the Lakers...

Tony pointed out that I was no longer "Rachel Unemployed"...

...so I changed the name.

And here's something random...beginning last October, I started working out 6 days a week. I just realized that I haven't gotten sick or a cold since then, which is amazing because I usually come down with something 2-3 times a year. Yet another reason to love working out!

Laker dreams are the best dreams

Last night I dreamt that Phil Jackson recruited me to join the Lakers (ha!). I told him about the only thing I could do was play a game of H-O-R-S-E, but he insisted that he could teach me. When I was on the team, I never had to practice and I would show up late to games and was never fined or disciplined. Pau was my best friend and it was AWESOME. I woke up and knew it would be a happy day.

The Alliance for Children's Rights

I accepted a one year fellowship position there. Hooray! I am excited and I start on Wednesday :-D

Um, What??

Oh my stars and garters! It's a w00toff!

IT'S A W00TOFF!

Is Colette Really A Cat?

Most cats go crazy when you use a laser pointer. Case on point:


Jeff's cats are like that too, although to a less acrobatic extent.

My cat flat out ignores laser pointers. I don't think that's a normal cat-like quality. It also may explain why she's a little bit overweight. I swiped Jeff's laser pen in an attempt to get her to exercise, but she just won't. Instead, she prefers to sit in the sun and watch the laser pointer do a little dance around her. It's hard to see in the pic below, but the laser dot is in front of her face. Shortly after this picture, she fell asleep.

I thoroughly enjoy random internet sites

I thought I had seen everything interesting on the internet, especially because I had lots of free time on my hands when I worked at Nameless Large Law Firm, LLP. But my wonderful friend Tim has just brought this wonderful site to my attention: www.stumbleupon.com.

It helps whet my insatiable appetite for random ass websites. If you decide to sign up, let me know so I can add you as a friend. :)

some people are unbelievable

I think the way to make this unemployment thing work for me - to really take advantage of the system - I need to have 8 babies through IVF or get super fat.

Splash. Smash. Glam. Pink.

I don't know why, but I am always fascinated when celebs do commercials for random things overseas.  This is a totally pointless post (aren't they all?), but it was hard to believe this commercial wasn't straight out of SNL.  Poor Lindsay.  And aren't they ripping off Rihanna with the umbrella thing?

Legal Layoffs in the Media

CNN has finally caught on.

The only things holding me back from Uganda are...

1) Finding someone to move into my extra bedroom (who I can trust will not sell off my furniture and bounce while I'm out of the country)

and

2) Getting funds for my $1600-1800 plane ticket

I have enough money to keep my apartment, to buy health insurance and to have spending cash in Uganda if I can swing those last 2 things.

I just met with Sister Kristin yesterday and she and the Sisters of Notre Dame have agreed to provide free room and board in Buseesa, Uganda (basically in the Bush).  She also agreed to accept donations on my behalf for the plane ticket so that donations qualify as charitable for tax purposes.  So now I just need to find donors.  I hit up my old high school because they might have some discretionary missionary funds to give me.  I can ask my grandma tomorrow when she gets back from the Philippines.  The problem is that I don't have time to apply for grants, so I need to ask private individual donors.  If I can get 16 or 17 people to donate $100, it might be doable.  Does anybody have any fundraising experience or tips they can give me?  This is starting to look very daunting...

Stuff Unemployed People Like

can be found here

Lake Victoria is Africa's Largest Lake

If I can work out the details, I might be going to Uganda - very soon - to start a microfinance project.

Not Unemployed For Long

One door closes, many more open.  Good opportunities.  The Rand Corp, NRDC, SAG, or Public Counsel.  This is actually a real opportunity to choose a career path - a specialization.  I am getting excited.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Saw Watchmen tonight.  I have been anticipating it since I read the graphic novel last summer.  Would have to say that I liked the comic more than the movie...but I was entertained for a good 3 hours.  I usually get really squirmy during movies that long (like Benjamin Buttons, Titanic (the WORST)), and even though I knew what was coming, I didn't feel like I was waiting for the movie to end.

My favorite character in the comic was Dr. Manhattan.  The movie did a decent job of not making him too comic-y.  I wouldn't have recognized Billy Crudup at all, if I hadn't known it was him beforehand.  I have to say that I was most impressed with Rorschach and the actor who played him.  I had never heard of him before, and he gets very little actual face time, but the character was captivating nonetheless.  The Nite Owl was intriguing as well...mostly because he was cute.  And the actress who played Silk Spectres I and II were doppelgangers of their animated versions.

Overall, glad I went to see it, will probably buy it on DVD.  Definitely worth the extra to see it on IMAX.

Silver Linings

Me and two co-workers lost our jobs yesterday.  They said it was "non-performance based."  That makes sense, since I had been there for less than 9 weeks.  I hadn't had the opportunity to "perform" at all.

It's not really that bad.  I didn't enjoy the type of law that I was supposed to be practicing.  Mergers and acquisitions, stock and asset purchases, etc.  Basically helping rich people to get richer.  I'm not going to lie, I was only in it for the money anyway.  Lots of loans to repay.

So my former employers offered to fund a fellowship at a local non-profit legal organization for a year in lieu of taking a 3 months severance package.  Probably for the best - better than having a gap in my resume.  I'll be gaining valuable experience (and hopefully making valuable contacts), and there are not too many jobs in the LA legal community at the moment.  I'm also thinking of traveling to Uganda to help a friend of mine begin a micro-finance project for a couple of months.  I'll see if I can swing that.

There are silver linings.  I don't have to work with my ex.  I have the opportunity to be at a non-profit doing work that I know I will love.  I may be taking on the project of a lifetime by going to Uganda.  This is a setback, but it is still only the beginning.