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Auction Stuff

skzb — Fri, 14 May 2010 02:33:32 +0000

Bunches of cool stuff are up for auction this week, all proceeds going toward Reesa Brown’s medical expenses. There are even a few things from that Brust guy, in case anyone around here is interested. The auction runs through Saturday night, so those of you who don’t get paid until Friday will still have time to spend your pennies in a good cause!

EDIT: from Brad — “As incentive to everyone to bid higher…I’ll match the auction total. Yup, so everyone’s bid is worth double.” That’s right, any bid you make will double the help we get towards our medical bills, so go visit http://spinathon.reesabrown.com/auction and make your bid, you have until 11:59pm Saturday May 15th!

Auction Stuff

They’re Spinnin’ & Grinnin’ I’m Screamin’ & Streamin’

skzb — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:34:48 +0000

Yes, friends, today I will be on streaming video, live from the Spinathon, starting at 1pm Central Daylight Time. What will I be doing? Probably standing around looking like an idiot. But I’ve said I’ll do it, so I will, if I’m not in jail.

(Edit: our main website went down, of course while our admin is in transit and therefore away from the ‘net. However, we’ll still be recording the show and will have it embedded on the site this evening. You can also see it while live from the direct UStream link in Round Rock starting at 1pm CDT. Paypal donations can be sent directly to eposia@yahoo.com, we’re less than 7 hours from making our 48-hour fiber-spinning goal!)

Re-Edit: SpinAThon site is back up and you can watch the cams directly here: http://spinathon.reesabrown.com/node/5

Final Edit: SpinAThon finished at 42.8 hours, and much lovely fiber spun by several talented women. The fiber spun during SpinAThon will be available for bidding along with other finely crafted products in next week’s auction! Steve played for 3.5 hours and we will be posting videos from his performance within the next few days on the SpinAThon site. Thanks to everyone who participated, you all rock!

They’re Spinnin’ & Grinnin’ I’m Screamin’ & Streamin’

Spinathon!

skzb — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:12:23 +0000

Yes, it’s a Spinathon! What, you ask, is a Spinathon? I have no idea, but we’re having one.

Okay, okay. In order to raise some money for medical expenses (Reesa, if you recall, just had a radical mastectomy, which is major surgery, which they charge money for), volunteers are going to be spinning yarn (or knitting) for as long a time as they can get sponsored, up to at least 48 hours. We have 23.5 hours covered so far. This is going to happen this coming weekend (May 1-2) here in Austin (well, technically Paige,TX and Round Rock). As extra incentive, if we raise enough sponsorships to cover the second day of SpinAThon (that’s Sunday, May 2 in Round Rock TX for you local folk), I’m going to be showing up to the event for several hours and maybe doing some tunes and signing some books and pretending to be a celebrity. Reesa will also be on-site for part of both days if you’d like to meet and chat with the person who inspired the event.

If this sounds like something you want to get involved in, follow the links below:

To skip the rest and go directly to the donate button, click here for the main SpinAThon page and then click the handy donate button, found just above the letters from friends.. (We tried to link to the button directly but the link expires after a certain amount of time.)

A link to the SpinAThon main page, as well as the FAQ page.

Reesa wrote a post compiling several links and information about SpinAThon that might be useful.

Only a few more days available for you to help out with SpinAThon! We also have an auction scheduled for after SpinAThon that will be putting up for bid the yarn and knit things made during the event, as well as other donated unique pieces from artists.

Spinathon!

Reesa’s health status

skzb — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:40:28 +0000

For anyone wanting to keep up with my girlfriend’s health situation, the details are here.

Reesa’s health status

On Health Care

skzb — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:33:58 +0000

The Nobel Prize discussion quite reasonably morphed into a health care discussion. So, if anyone wants to continue that, here’s a place to do so. My position is as follows:

For purposes of this discussion, “profit” refers to money that comes from appropriating the labor of others (”exploitation” in the strict economic sense). If a company bills a nurse practioner at $75/hour, and pays the nurse $20/hour, the $20/hour is wages; the portion that goes to the company out of the remaining $55 is profit. Money earned by a doctor is not profit, money earned by an insurance company is.

That said, I do not believe it is possible to solve the health care problem, or even significantly improve it, while profit is still a consideration.

On Health Care

Defending Tobacco

skzb — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:04:51 +0000

I have set out to write in defense of tobacco. I do it for the challenge. There are other things that would be almost equally challenging, but I don’t know enough about them: I’ve never committed pedophilia or sent out spam emails or run for congress, so tobacco seems the only remaining choice.

I know very well the cards are stacked against me. The only people who love the big tobacco companies are those who own the big tobacco companies. In this way tobacco is not unlike oil. A difference between them is that, in the last twenty years at least, no country has been invaded for its tobacco crop. To me, this is a point in favor of tobacco, but no doubt others differ.

Now, I am aware that tobacco is not good for me. I have been assured of this by, not only the medical profession, but by other good-hearted folk who, I am certain, have been earnestly told by their doctors and clergymen that they should seek me out and inform me. I have had kindly people travel a thousand miles merely to tell me that tobacco is bad for me. Sometimes they bring friends and distant relations and remain for weeks to be certain I have this information. Such evidence of good will cannot be ignored, and I do not ignore it. I am convinced that they are right and tobacco is not good for me, that I will live longer if I refrain. And, as has been said before, even if I do not live longer, it will feel longer, which is the same thing.

I am also aware that tobacco is not good for the fellow next to me. There have been studies indicating that spending forty hours a week for twenty years in smoke-filled rooms may be harmful; it seems reasonable, therefore, to conclude that if a chance whiff of my smoke should infiltrate the air of someone next to me he will drop dead on the spot, and therefore I accept this as a fact. I know that if it should happen I would feel bad.

Another thing that makes it hard to defend tobacco is the recent increase in Federal tax on tobacco. The tax on loose (roll-your-own) tobacco just increased by a factor of ten. What makes this especially praiseworthy is that such an increase, like all taxes on goods and services, hits especially hard on the poor. This will encourage the poor to quit smoking, because as we all know raising the price of something at once causes those addicted or habituated to it to quit; anyone pretending that our government cares little for the poor should be convinced by this statistic. And it need hardly be said that this tax has the additional benefit of providing much needed funds for bailing out billionaire bankers and invading countries for their tobacco, or whichever resource that was.

With all of this working against me, how can I even consider defending tobacco?

Suddenly I am at a loss. Let me light a cigarette. Ah, yes, now I remember. My defense is as follows: I like it.

Defending Tobacco

Here’s a “woman’s mystery” for you…

Reesa — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:50:20 +0000

Here’s a “woman’s mystery” for you…

Follow-up on health stuff and money stuff

skzb — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:36:23 +0000

I’m pretty much okay now, assuming nothing else goes wrong. A bunch of you sent me money, which helped more than I can say. When we posted a while ago asking for a loan, Matthew Fischer said, “I think you are very likely to get 150 fans to donate $100 in exchange for exclusive access to some signature graphic design element, audiobook, podcast or piece of prose.”

Since then, I’ve been thinking over what sort of cool thing to do to say thank you. This post is just to say I’ve got an idea, and it’ll take about a month or so to put together. So hang on, and watch this space for breaking news.

And, really, no shit, thank you all again. Thank you very much.

Follow-up on health stuff and money stuff

Any medical types out there?

skzb — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:40:22 +0000

The one weakness in the Mexican Healthcare Experience was the aftercare was a bit sketchy. Should I be using ice to reduce the swelling where the stitches are? Copyright 2008 The Dream Cafe. Any medical types out there? ©2012 Words Words Words. All Rights Reserved..

Any medical types out there?

And your language skills fail and negativity just won’t pull you through.

skzb — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:21:15 +0000

Doctor Natera came by, I think around 9PM. He’d been delayed by a sudden inrush of patients, I think at the other clinic, where he treats those who can’t afford the services of “Star Medica.” He asked if I was in pain, and we had the “little pain?” conversation. He convinced me not to try to drive home that night, which had been the original plan.

There was a Denny’s about a block away. About midnight or so (my time-sense goes bad around here) I resolved to walk there. I really, really wanted food. Standing up hurt. Reesa helped me dress, and we went downstairs. We tried to communicate to the staff that we were going outside and then back in, but had a lot of trouble getting the message across; no one on duty then spoke English. Eventually, I managed to mime that I was stepping outside to smoke, and they seemed fine with that and pointed me to the correct exit. We walked around the parking lot, out to the street, and about halfway down the block before a security guard on a bicycle from the hospital stopped us. I couldn’t understand his words, but it was obvious we were to return to the hospital. He was friendly, but firm.

We walked back, found what I think was a security manager who spoke English, and explained that we were not permitted to leave the hospital parking lot. He said it was for our safety, and I think it really was. Oh, well. At least I got a cigarette.

I undressed. It hurt whole heaps and bunches.

Then came the night. Mexican hospitals are strange: when you are recovering and need sleep, they let you sleep. Bizarre. The only interruption all night came from someone bringing in a bottle of water and setting it on the inevitable wheeled tray.

A good night’s sleep helped a lot, but I still hurt. In the morning, Sergio and Irene came, and we packed (Reesa packed, actually, I proudly pulled my own socks and boots on) and checked out, which was a very simple procedure. They put is in a hotel shuttle which would drive us to meet Irene, get my perscriptions, and then to the border.

Ooops! The border? The driver had no visa, and in any case the hotel shuttle was not permitted to cross the border, in spite of the hotel saying that they would do so.

So Irene and her brother drove us around a bit to find a pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions for my pain meds, anti-biotic, and anti-inflammatory. It was frustrating, because my credit card, though it worked fine in ATMs, kept failing at the pharmacies. But we got it, and I happily gobbled down the pills.

A lot of pleasant conversation with Irene and her brother, who seemed to think the world of Dr. Natera. And we spoke of the “Wall of Shame” and all cursed those who make the decisions for the US. Irene calmly matter of factly told the story of Sergio being arrested at the border as a suspected terrorist and held for 30 days. He was finally released because (wait for it) he had been a singer for Mariachi band that had played at the White House under the previous Bush, and new the Governer of New Mexico.

Why had he been arrested? They never found out; no one would tell them. Her telling of the story was, as I said, so matter-of-fact, and with so little bitterness, that it seemed as if her attitude was, “This is just part of life if you live near the US.”
How many others has this happened to? How many are still in jail because they don’t have the connections? It is one thing to know this is happening; it is another to hear how it happened to someone you know, and like.

We got into the long, long tine for the border crossing. There are people selling food and trinkets, and begging, all along the bridge over the Rio Grande. We talked of the stupidity of “Homeland Security” and of vague hopes for the future; they seemed to have no more hope that an Obama presidency would change things than I do.

They dropped us off at airport parking in El Paso. We found our car, and began the long drive home. Reesa did the driving, I did the moaning. I’m such a wimp!

I hope we manage to stay in touch with Irene and Sergio; they’re great people. If you are in the position I’m in: rich by Mexican standards, poor by the standards of what is need for healthcare in the US, then I recommend Mexico without reservation. I also want to thank Dr. Flash Gorden, who advised me about hernia care, treatment, and gave me some reassurances about Dr. Natera.

I’m sure I’ve left off a thousand interesting things; maybe I’ll talk about them in discussion, or later posts.

It is good to be home; I miss Irene and Sergio and hope we stay in touch.

And your language skills fail and negativity just won’t pull you through.