Please write your congressman before you eat that next mad cow burger.

DOA prohibiting company from testing beef
There is a company in Kansas that processes beef, and, in order to make sure the beef is safe, the company now wants to test every cow for Mad Cow Disease. The United States inspects the smallest amount of cattle of any developed country, and we do it as a favor to big agriculture companies and food processors. But Creekstone is offering to test these cows the way they should be tested. They have already spent $500,000 for the testing equipment and facility. Other countries are not buying our beef specifically because we don’t test our cattle thoroughly. So you’d think the industry would be ecstatic about Creekstone’s offer. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has prohibited Creekstone from testing the food supply. Why? The DOA is worried that people may think there is a problem with the food supply. Clark would like someone from the DOA to come on the air and explain what the DOA is thinking. They’re spending our tax dollars to try and stop this. The agricultural industry is obviously more concerned with making profits than they are with whether our children live or die.

I had no idea!!!! http://pacificaresucks.com/

There's more:
Anti-Union Negotiating Tactics
Rx Solution’s (Rx) immediate
agenda was to destroy the support for
PACE. At the first meeting they
demanded transfer of 20% of the unit
jobs to a non-union facility 90 miles
away. Many of the affected included
top union supporters.
Rx also has refused Union Security
clauses, Union Leave, and Seniority
Rights.
They insist on retaining their Merit
Pay System.
They want to subcontract bargaining
work at management discretion, even
allowing supervisors to do any and
all bargaining unit work.

Incidentally, I happen to like merit pay. I guess I never was cut out for that union stuff.

Today's Latin lesson:

Signed up for Capri racing today. The online form asks for University affiliation. All the graduates always fill in "alumni"...obviously incorrect as it's plural. As I am no longer staff, I went with "alum" (instead of my usual "alumnus"). Nico had to do one better: "alumna". I think she had help from dictionary.com.

On to the Latin lesson:

alum: An alumna or alumnus.

alumna: A woman graduate or former student of a school, college, or university. (plural=alumnae)

alumnus: A male graduate or former student of a school, college, or university. (pluarl=alumni).

Usage Note: Alumnus and alumna both come from Latin and preserve Latin plurals. Alumnus is a masculine noun whose plural is alumni, and alumna is a feminine noun whose plural is alumnae. Coeducational institutions usually use alumni for graduates of both sexes. But those who object to masculine forms in such cases may prefer the phrase alumni and alumnae or the form alumnae/i, which is the choice of many women's colleges that have begun to admit men.

In an otherwise slanted article:

Most pharmacists are working on 1 percent to 2 percent net profit, said David Breslow, CEO of United Pharmacists Network International in Los Angeles, which represents 1,100 pharmacists.

"What I don't understand is why there is this feeling that pharmacists are supposed to sell drugs at actual acquisition cost," he said. "When you go to the Gap and buy jeans for $40, would it surprise you to find they paid $20? Why is the same thinking not applied to drugs?

"The fat is at the (drug) manufacturer level. Those are the people who are making obscene profits."

Because, Mr. Breslow: When it comes to my health, money is no object.

Any comments from you socialists out there?

Still recovering from the last marathon (Dr. Foot says I have a neuroma), I had resigned myself to not doing anymore distance running. And then here I am at work...working along and I get this email delivered to my Inbox:

PacifiCare is excited to announce its sponsorship of the first annual OC Marathon, taking place Sunday, December 5, 2004.

The 26.2 mile course is tentatively scheduled to begin at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, with the scenic route continuing through Irvine to the Spectrum and finishing at the Newport Dunes via the Back Bay. The course will provide a fast-paced tour of Orange County, showcasing both its history and beautiful scenery...

Seeing as how my boss is telling me to run, if I further injure my foot, is it a work injury? Anyway, I have it penciled in...anybody want to run with me? It's just like the Huntington Beach Marathon, only you don't have to worry about being mugged...oh, except for that part in Irvine.

This year's resignation letter (Sent to my boss and co-workers via email):

It is with great pleasure that I tender my resignation, effective immediately. I will soon be fulfilling my lifelong dream of opening a floating ice cream parlor/soda fountain on Newport Harbor. (Something similar to Forbes Island in San Francisco). If funding allows, I also plan on including a small pharmacy in the back. If any of you are interested, I will be needing a few good employees on both the ice cream and pharmacy ends.

Hey, did anybody catch my street on the OC tonight? Line of the week (also the line most likely to tick off the Anti-Defamation League) belonged to Summer: "I can out Jew you."

Long time no see.

I spent yesterday volunteering my sailing skills to Access To Sailing. (If you don't feel like clicking the link, it's a non-profit that provides sailing opportunities to the disabled). For some reason, I get a strange vibe from them whenever there are no disabled persons around. For instance, their flagship ship is named "Zij Naplno" (Czech for "Live to the fullest") and the two directors have young Czech girlfriends. Were they dontated along with the boat? One of them seems to live onboard...at the prime 60' Shoreline Village dock provided free by the City of Long Beach. Altruism is dead.

Still recovering from last month's marathon, I finally went to see my doctor today Re: a broken bone in my foot. My doctor dislikes me strongly, and made me sit through this story about the very first marathoner before providing any treatment:

The modern Athens Marathon commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield at the site of the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Legend has it that Pheidippides delivered the momentous message "Niki!" ("victory"), then collapsed and died, thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the marathon.

As I figured, the x-rays were negative, although he thinks I have a small break that was not visible. No running for 6 weeks.

Well this whole Quizno's thing was certainly fun. My Blog went from 3 readers per day to over 100. I am a little surprised at how few people made it over to my webpage. How can anybody resist reading a page called takealotofdrugs.com? Sure it's not very interesting...but I pay $8 a year for that name. Some traffic would be nice.

In recent news: I made an unsuccessful run for both President of the United States and California State Assembly (68th district) on the Libertarian ticket. I think if Nico had written me in for State Assembly, I would have won the nomination. Maybe if I campaign a little harder next time...