I admit to having a slight addiction to real estate shows, especially those on HGTV. I attribute this to the fact that we have not been able to buy a house yet and I live vicariously through others. Lately, though, I have found myself hoping that the person(s) will not get a house at the end of House Hunters or Property Virgins. Last night it reached a fever pitch when some goofy woman in Dallas refused to go above $120,000 for a townhouse that was priced at $127,009. Adding to my intense dislike of her, she and her best friend were upset that said townhouse was dirty. Dirty meaning the bathroom needed to be cleaned and dusted. Trust me, you would have been cheering for her to not get a house, too.

We had a successful move last weekend thanks mostly the the hard work of Crawford and the hiring of movers for a couple of hours. We have always relied on the kindness of our friends and family who can be bought with pizza and guilt to help us move. This time with the advancing age of said friends and family, we budgeted for movers. It is a thing of beauty to see your house loaded onto a truck in less than hour without lifting a thing.

The new house affords us much needed space and best of all, in my opinion, a home office. Since I work from home 40+ hours a week, I needed a dedicated (and quiet) space. I am enjoying my own room, complete with a door, and a view of the backyard. The children and dog still visit on occasion but everyone is glad that I am not in my corner of the living room waving my arms to keep people quiet while I am on conference calls.

The unending focus on the loss of Michael Jackson has reached epic proportions. He died. His children are fatherless. This is sad but it is no more sad than the 50,000 families that lose someone to colorectal cancer every year. It is no more sad than the over 400,000 people dead in the conflict in the Sudan.

Michael Jackson had wealth and fame and we in America, apparently, have decided that makes this tale worthy of non-stop media coverage. Wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan deserve this sort of attention NOT someone who appears to have finally taken enough drugs to die. Health care reform deserves some honest discussion.

I think Mark Sanford is probably the only person in America relieved to see another Michael Jackson story. It means that no one is talking about his reversal of political fortune.

The family joined me in Denver for work and then we are headed out for a few days of vacation here in Colorado. The weather is fantastic and despite two trips to the ER for two family members prior to our departure, everyone is here and well.

Talk to you later!

I have been riveted by the pictures coming out of Iran in the wake of what can only be described as a questionable election. I have also encouraged our daughters (age 13 and 11) to watch the news coverage. For all the talk of what is wrong with American elections, we still manage to have an orderly transfer of power every 4 or 8 years.

To be a young person in Iran who feels like their future might have been stolen from them must be crushing. Tonight we watched the police fire on the crowd from a rooftop when the crowd retaliated by burning down the building. For those of you who do not know me personally, I am the stereotypical person who NEVER wants to be in trouble with ANYONE. A sideways glance from an authority figure is enough to make my stomach churn even today at age 41. As I watched the genuine suffering and angst tonight, I could see myself setting fire to that building. The helplessness that must be prevalent in Iran is heartbreaking.

While I think the problems in the Middle East go back centuries and are not easily solved, we must help the next generation in Iran as they fight one of the great injustices of their time. America turned the other way when genocide occurred in Rwanda. America turned the other way when the crisis in Darfur spiraled out of control (and our recent involvement is too little, too late). We cannot sit by and watch this lead to more repression and suffering. I am NOT saying the American military needs to intervene, far from it actually. We need to talk to Iran and anyone funneling money into Iran. This is not acceptable and being American still carries certain responsibilities that we seen to have forgotten along the way.

I am back after 5 days in Orlando for a large oncology conference. A few random musings:

Technically, it was the day before Memorial Day. We recently started attending a new church. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are mentioned frequently in the “war is bad” way. This is not problem for me, most of the time, but yesterday it was a problem. If the church feels the need to comment on the injustice of war, almost weekly, then Memorial Day deserved a mention.

I have no reason to believe the church is anti-troops, by any means, but when they did not mention anything about Memorial Day, it rankled me. I have seen the other extreme–jingoism from the pulpit but no mention of the price of freedom by people past and present did not sit well with me.

Memorial Day–does it have a place in worship?

Only five days until the nightmare known at 7th grade is over for our oldest. Her year closely resembled “Mean Girls” and I am not sure who is most excited about the end of the year–her or me! I really, really wanted to call the mothers of the gang of mean girls but I resisted. Should I run into any of them at Honors Day today, though, I will say something about how much things changed this year. Sadly, I suspect no parents will be there which highlights part of the problem. No time for a long discourse on apathetic middle school parents today…lucky you!

Ranger, our wonderful chocolate lab/English springer spaniel mix, eats just about anything. We have this daytime ritual where he licks the spoon after I finish various snacks…peanut butter, soup, etc. Today, I offered him Marshmallow Fluff but he would have NONE of it. He appeared to raise his eyebrows at me and slink away, disappointed. If the dog won’t eat it, perhaps I should not eat it, either!

We are in the middle of end of the school year madness. I am tired already which is unfortunate since we have school activities 4 nights this week plus a soccer tourney (it is bad to hope for a loss just to get the season over with?) and a 21st wedding anniversary. Did I mention I am flying to St. Louis for 30 hours this week, too? Tired yet?