Making Bookcases....

I've been busy making bookcases. I've got all the tools. I've got the Battery-powered DeWalt drill Dad got me for a birthday or Christmas sometime (I love that thing); I've got the Delta chop saw David got me for my last birthday, on a Delta table no less; I've got my circular saw that I'm ripping boards with; I've got the pneumatic nailer I bought at Jerry's last weekend. I've got eye, ear and hand protection. I've got it all.

Except for one thing: I'm not much of a carpenter. I mean, I try. And eventually I'll finish this project, but it takes me forever to get stuff square and level. So, for now, as I go along, I'll try to remember to get David to take pictures of me sweating, chopping, drilling and nailing stuff together. And hopefully we like the results and I can finally unpack books and display them in my music/office/library room in our tiny house. But for now, things are a mess around here.

Carolyn's Mom, Update

I've been requested to update Marianne's condition: She is doing as well as can be expected. She is out of the ICU and in a ward bed. She is taking short walks. She is finding it difficult to eat, though, and today she's pretty tired. But if she does start eating and things go well, she could be home as early as Friday! Wow!

Alberto and the kids are going home to Italy tomorrow (Thursday). Carolyn will stay until August 7.

Gesture Research

My friend Susan does gesture research and works at the McNeill Lab at the University of Chicago. Recently the Chicago Tribune wrote a story about gesture research after an international conference held at Northwestern in Evanston.

"What came first: words or gestures? Researchers aren't 100 percent sure, but they've been asking the question a long time. Gesture studies didn't really emerge, though, until 1941, when Daniel Efron published "Gesture and Environment," a study of how gestures differed among first- and second-generation Italians and Jews in New York City. More recently, work by two University of Chicago professors is carrying the field forward. Professor emeritus David McNeill and professor Susan Goldin-Meadow each lead research labs that bear their names at the university in Hyde Park. Because of their work, Chicago is considered the world's center for gesture studies.

McNeill and Goldin-Meadow were among 200 or so conference presenters and hundreds more attendees catching up on and comparing notes about the latest research."

Susan, although she lives in Hammond, does fascinating research. More later....

Ethical Dilemmas in Health Care: the special case of psychiatrists

The health care business in this country is full of conflicts of interest and insider dealing. It's rife with ethical dilemmas, however most healthcare professionals act as if they couldn't find an ethical dilemma if their lives depended on it.

Consider today's press release by the American Psychiatric Association. They have formed a national committee of experts to go through the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). This manual is used by everyone in the mental health profession to diagnose a mental disorder and encourages best practices for treating diagnoses. Certain diagnoses encourage prescribing of certain very expensive medications. So there's lots of incentives for drug companies to influence psychiatrists and their diagnoses. So who would you want inventing the diagnoses? Somebody who isn't conflicted, correct?

According to their press release: "Of the 27 task force members, eight had no relationship with industry and 19 disclosed relationships with industry during any of the 36 months leading up to their nominations. The APA made all task force members' disclosures available during the announcement of the task force. Several otherwise highly qualified indivduals were ruled ineligible fortask force appointments due to their competing interests."The press release goes on to say "The APA Board of Trustees established limits on relationship with industry that are more stringent than federal agency limits," said APA President Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D."What makes the DSM powerful is its value in clinical practice. Patients deserve a diagnostic manual based upon the latest science and free of conflicts of interest."

So I took a look at the disclosures made by the committee members to see what they must attest to before becoming a committee member. They must disclose the last 36 months of connections to the pharmaceutical industry, and they must limit their income from the industry (excluding unrestricted grants) to $10,000 per year for the next year.

70% of these committee members are ONLY taking $10,000 a year from industry while they work on reworking the DSM-V. When I look at what they're getting from industry, it's really astounding to me. It includes things like: consulting fees, speakers bureau, honoraria, stock options, royalties and much much more. It makes me ask: who did they NOT accept on their committee?

One of the grantees for the AG program, Elissa Ladd (who signed a conflict of interest form which says that she has not taken - in the last two years - and will not accept for the duration of the grant any of this kind of funding from industry) has put together curricula in a movie format that you can watch to tell you why these kinds of conflicts are not good for consumers. Watch it, and weep for the psychiatrists. They evidently have no clue what a conflict of interest is and why people shouldn't trust them. For any reason, let alone medical reasons.

My Pal Susan, Part III

And what does Susan do to keep sane in this little town of Hammond?

She drives back towards Illinois, Calumet City, and visits the closest Starbucks. Everyday.

The Saga of Susan, Part II

The attraction to Hammond for Susan (and her husband David Klein) was the price of the house and the proximity to David's employment. And her house, believe me, though I have no pictorial evidence thereof, is nice as well as the neighborhood she lives in.

About two blocks away from her house is the Great Wall of Hammond, which I happen to have no picture of, either. This is the story: more than a year ago, the cash-strapped community of Hammond, formerly a proud Midwestern industry port that has fallen now into hard times, was coping with a problem. The problem? Black kids from Calumet City Illinois were riding their bikes into Hammond and stealing stuff from people's homes. What were the righteous citizens of Hammond to do?

Well, build a wall, of course.

So, the outraged citizens of Hammond spent their precious resources building this curb down the middle of State Line Road to deter this traffic. The people living on either side of State Line Road (one side is Calumet City, the other Hammond) now could not cross is or make left-hand turns which deterred traffic alright. But the funny thing was: I stood on State Line Road and watched black kids from Calumet City ride their bikes right over the curb, in fact do wheelies right over the curb and ride right into Hammond, completely undeterred. The only thing the curb has done is keep the Hammond police force from being able to chase the kids on bikes back to Calumet City.

Don't build walls, people. This is silly.

Let's Not Forget My Pal Susan, Part I

Part of my spring vacation this year was spent in the charming hamlet known as Hammond Indiana, a hop-skip-and-jump from Chicago down a litter-strewn toll road, a mecca for....

SMOKERS!

Well, the price of the house was right. And it's not all that bad, but unfortunately I did not take pictures of anything good about Hammond. In fact, while I was downloading pictures from the camera I kept thinking, oh here's one of Sue in the nice part of Hammond, only to discover on closer inspection that it was a picture of a woman in Italy (who sort of looked like Sue) out in a field. Sorry, Sue.

Carolyn's Mom, Marianne.....

I got an unexpected phone call from Carolyn on Friday early a.m. Carolyn was back in Portland because her mother had collapsed at the airport, was rushed to the hospital and given emergency surgery for divertriculitis - basically her bowel had ruptured and it could have been a disaster without quick treatment. Marianne is fine and recovering well, but will be in the hospital for about a week before she can go home.

So Carolyn and Alberto are back in Portland for awhile. Their kids are still in Montana with Carolyn's family, but are scheduled to be back in Portland Saturday evening. I think Alberto and the kids will go home next week, but Carolyn will stick around to nurse her Mom back to health.

(Secretly I am overjoyed to have Carolyn here a little while longer.....!!!)

Sicko, the movie

David and I went to see Sicko this evening.


Two thumbs up. Way up.



Since Ms. Duncan asked me to give my thoughts on this movie, I thought I would post a couple of my thoughts as I watched:

• The government spends a lot of time dissing lawyers - especially trial lawyers. Why? 'They' drive up malpractice costs. Or 'they' bring frivolous lawsuits. But quite frankly, in this movie (and in real life) the only noble people bitching about health care are lawyers. In the movie it is either plaintiff attorneys suing for the benefits of patients against health insurance companies or in the despicable case of the patients being dumped at the mission on skid row in LA - the City Attorney's office sent a lawyer down there to be nice to the poor woman who had been severely beaten. No doctor was in the room with the woman attending to her pain, but the city attorney asked the woman "are you in pain? Is there anything I can do for you?" Why are people so afraid of lawyers? One possible answer: lawyers can demand justice for those suffering in a very unjust situation, which is threatening to those who are profiting from a very unjust system.


• If anything, Michael Moore did not go far enough - the greed doesn't stop at insurance companies or hospitals. Heck, everybody knows about the doctors. It's the hidden and unexpected greed mongers that will really make you sick - he touched a bit on the pharmaceutical industry, but it doesn't stop there. Think about all the sycophants who produce the merchandise that gets sold in healthcare settings, anything from stethoscopes to swabs to bandages, etc. The mark-ups and bad business dealings are rampant in every setting. If you want to understand the scope of the problem, I suggest you read a few other blogs who document it on a daily basis. Start with Health Care Renewal, which is a bunch of doctors who publish stories about excess, waste, fraud, etc in the US health care system. They post, on average, about 3-5 stories a day.

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts about this movie as I get further away from it, but for now suffice it to say: if you live in this country and are at the mercy of this healthcare system, it should be required watching. And in the meantime, stay healthy.

For My Out-of-Town Friends and Relatives

Some people we know from places as far-flung as Denver or Hammond or Cesena Italy might someday need a place to stay in Portland whilst they come to visit me. Or David. Or both of us.

Introducing the latest in guest house accommodations: yes, folks, this is the smallest house in the world awaiting your arrival in Portland to serve your needs for luxury.

The stucco: New! The paint: New!

And right outside the door to your guest accommodations, in certain times of the year, is your very own corn crop! You can harvest some ears and boil them on your stove in your very own kitchen! (Recipes not included)

The Other Member of My Family..

Here is the newest member of our family: Lucy Good Fortune, rescued from the Oregon Humane Society last May. She likes to lay around and meow at us intermittently. She runs to the food dish to check whether we put anything new in it, about as often as we check our email throughout the day.

It is raining out in the Pacific Northwest - a nice way to come home from the evil hot and humid right coast of the Americas.

It's Hotter than H-E-Double Toothpicks here

Last night I had dinner with Tim Carey (head of the Sheps Center at UNC) and his lovely wife Kathleen. We took a walk through the gardens in the middle of Chapel Hill, eventually strolling down the main street, past the historic and famous Varsity Theater (still showing movies - Sicko is playing there currently - since 1927), to dinner at Top O' The Hill. It was about 140 degrees out and humid, the cicadas roaring their 17 year pleasure at us and the crepe myrtle trees blushing in all shades pink. And if that weren't enough to convince me I was south of the mason dixon line, the lovely cadence of the North Carolinian voices was sure to.

Back to Portland this afternoon to continue on...

In North Carolina today....

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the comments, email, etc on the new blog everyone. In answer to your questions, no you are not safe. The minute I have a chance, your story will be told. Here. And I know where all the bones are buried. :)

I don't have a camera with me, but I am at the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center at UNC Chapel Hill....see link here: http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/About/Facilities/index.cfm

I keep calling it the Frank Rizzo conference center because my brother John's moniker is Frank Rizzo, as I recall. He uses this name when he wants to remain anonymous, I believe. Is it part of a movie or something? I can't remember - John? Wish to illuminate this?

It is unbelievably plush here - the accommodations are pharmaceutical-company worthy. When Susan Duncan and I saw those business students doing their stupid trust exercises at the business school in Chicago all those years ago, we should have known that in the end they would have the last laugh. Their accommodations are the best. Their salaries are exorbitant.

More when I get back to Portland....

Yes, I have a husband....

Some of you are dumbfounded. Liz has a husband??? Yes, he is elusive, but I have one. His name is David Taylor. Sightings of the guy are rare. When I went to look for pictures of him, I had more difficulty than I thought I would.

Note to self: take more pictures of the old man.

We've been married for 10 years. We've learned a lot in 10 years, but I can honestly say: David is my best friend. He's stuck by me when most people would have bolted, run, left no forwarding address. He's a good guy.

Spring Vacation 2007

I'm not much of a picture taker, I spent days in Rome and never snapped one picture of a Roman ruin, some of the world’s first churches or even Vatican City’s Swiss Guards, but this year I did take a couple of noteworthy pictures in Italy which explains my fascination with the country, its heritage (and future!) and what I do while on vacation.

The first picture (above) is of my friends' Italian/American children (from top) Camilla (to bottom) Antonio. They are 8 and 10 years old.

The second picture is what I do in Italy. I play Barbies with Camilla. The picture above is one of our noteworthy Barbies - she (Snowy) was joined later by "Tessa" Barbie (the cardiologist), "Jessica" Barbie (the gymnast) and "Leila" Barbie (the malpractice attorney) and "Mom" Barbie (who was crabby and yelling at us all the time).

Here's the story we were re-enacting: Jessica had a heart attack while doing her high-dive flip gymnastics and had to be rushed to the "hopital" in Cesena where she met with the "expertise" of Tessa, who ripped her heart out, stirred it up in a bowl, and then maimed Jessica for life, prematurely ending her extensive career in acrobatics/gymnastics. Enter Leila the malpractice attorney who has known about Tessa's bad medical behavior because she has other clients laying at her feet who had recently received the same heart-rending (literally) operation.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Snowy, Tessa's twin sister who is oddly enough a Milanese fashion model, had been kidnapped and held hostage with a large ransom being demanded which explains why Tessa wasdistracted while performing the highly delicate heart stirring operation which ended so badly with the maiming of Jessica (and two other dead dollies by Leila's feet). Mom Barbie, and it was unclear whose mother she was during this highly-engaged re-enactment, was angry that Leila and Tessa couldn't seem to keep their space clean and clear of clutter, especially Tessa whose operating theater looked like a trash bin (what with all the legs and arms ripped off of other dollies and scattered about) and smelled like old parmesan (we forgot about the pasta we were supposed to be eating).

Then Mom Barbie saved the day by blurting out: "what do you mean Jessica's maimed for life? Haven't you forgotten about the cure for traumatic heart-stirring operation - you simply jump up and down three times!" And then Jessica was cured, Tessa became a better doctor, Leila collected her contingency fee (and went to Paris to live a happy life), Snowy was released and we all went shopping at Elena Miro (whose website for fashion you can access at http://www.elenamiro.com/home.asp)

And that's how I spent my spring vacation.