One of the downsides to being part of our incredible international community is that everytime some awful news hits the press, no matter what part of the world it is in, I start worrying about people I know who live there. Oh – I am a big worrier – as I try to explain to my husband …it’s my job to constantly worry about “what if”. We all do, as programmers, right?

Uggh . Just got my annual letter from MVP telling me my next year’s rates.

We have the absolute budget HMO and I get some break since I’m getting it through my corporation. But for 2 adults (no kids), $25 co-pay, [I think] $500 deductible, NO prescription help here is what we have paid here in Vermont.

2001: $425/mo
2002: $527/mo (yes a $100 month — $1200 year increase!)
2003: $568/mo
2004: $597/mo
2005: $617/mo

Sad part is we hardly ever get sick and don’t go to the dr. much. Last year Rich had a wierd dizzy spell that freaked out our doctor (thought it was a precursor to a heart attack) and ended up in the hospital for 3 days getting every test known to mankind and got a clean bill of health. A $7000 physical! We joked that at least we got something out of our insurance money.

My poor hubby has also had a lot of dental problems and that is 100% cash out of pocket so add about another $4000 on top of our health insurance costs. I’m more sad for Rich though than for our wallet.

Each year we spend many hours reviewing our options and determine (when thinking about maximum out of pocket what-if situations) that this is still our best bet. This is a big problem in Vermont (this is the health care that Howard Dean wanted to share with the whole country) because we have run most of the competition out of the state.

I’m thinking about the problems Shelley Powers had when talking about her finances on her blog – somehow the tax department read them and used that info against her. I think I’m okay with this here, though.

I just realized I have been sitting at my computer for 4 hours and have not even opened up Visual Studio. I have written 40 emails all related to INETA, my user group, the and Vermont Software Developers Alliance. What’s wrong with this picture. Oh and I wrote a couple of VERY SHORT blog posts.

I think I will just close Outlook for a bit.

I totally think of Christopher Reeves as a survivor and am surprised and saddened by his death. He leaves an incredible legacy.

Change is hard, but this is heart breaking. I know that the dynamics of being at a small all women’s college was one of the defining factors in becoming the person that I am now. There is an interesting article here about the evolution of many women’s colleges in central new york to co-ed institutions. Notable on that list is Cazenovia College as I grew up in Caz and remember the hullabaloo over their going co-ed.

Ahhh Wells. It is a very special place and in reality, I don’t think that the addition of male students is going to change that. When I lived in Dutchess County, I had the great example of Vassar College nearby. That went co-ed many years ago and remains a very very special place. The spirit of what is special about Wells College is quite embedded into every brick, every blade of grass on that campus and in the hearts of every alum. So I have great confidence that this won’t change.

The camera was handy, what can I say? Can you believe this cat, G.B.. He just loves newfoundland dogs! That’s Daisy he’s cozying up to. She’s one of my parent’s dogs who is visiting for a while – maybe permanently. Tasha is also a Newfie, just one who had an unexpected major haircut in July. We’re hoping it will hurry up and grow back in before it gets cold!

This new book by Garret Keizer, who lives in Vermont, was featured this week in our local weekly, Seven Days.

I look forward to reading this book. It is about how people deal with wanting to help others, how people deal with being helped by others. It is not a book that is set out to answer questions, but to analyze this issue.

I am sitting here filling out paperwork and contracts, doing data entry, thinking about my work and in the meantime, I wonder why I do this stuff instead of hopping on a plane to Haiti or whereever I can to help people in real trouble. Every time I open up my web browser there it is (I have cnn.com as my home page). How do we manage to go about our daily lives. Certainly it is a form of self-preservation. It is a constant struggle for me as someone who is highly empathetic to other people’s troubles.

I recently read a description of a character in The Secret Life of Bees who is empathetic to the point of having created for herself a wailing wall to deal with her uncontrollable grief when she hears about the hardships of even perfect strangers. Things like reading in the newspaper about a car crash where people were killed. Thank goodness this person lives in the 60’s where she is protected from the onslaught of news that we have today. I completely understood this character and saw that she does not have whatever key it is that most of us do have to protect ourselves from internalizing the pain and suffering of others.

First real break in three years – even if it’s only for 4 or 5 days.

YES: My hubby, Maine, ocean , camping, kayaking, lobster, steamers, beer, fudge

NO: Computer, email, blogs, cell phone, clients

imagine! Not leaving till tomorrow and will work until I get shoved into the car, but getting used to the concept.

Reading this (touching) post by Peter Provost who recently moved with his family (including a newborn) from Denver to Seattle for a hot job at Microsoft, struck a chord. I remember having a  conversation with another person and his wife who recently moved from Florida (where he was already a Microsoft employee) to Seattle. They have young children. They were having a difficult time figuring out where to live (that was affordable as well as commutable) where his wife and children would be able to re-create their social world that they had to leave behind (along with family) when they moved. These are obviously huge and difficult choices to make. Quite different than when you are young and single and without a lot of ties.

A connection? Yes. Scott Lock, who runs the www.caparea.net user group in the D.C. area is the man behind the American Red Cross’s e-commerce donation system. Everytime there is *bad* stuff going on, Scott is on-call 24×7 just in case – since they want to make sure that nothing gets in the way of people making donations. The current system will soon be replaced by a .net app by the way.

One thing I know these hurricanes are wiping out the ACR’s funds and they can always use more help. It’s quick and easy and painless.

When I hear of the DNC and RNC spending 100’s of millions of dollars on  adverstising, it makes me sick.

I think that a new law should be instituted that for every dollar spent on political adversting, one dollar should be put into a charity of the same locality. So if it’s a national campaign – give to a national charity, like the Red Cross. A state campaign? Give to that a state-wide charity in that state. A local campaign? Give to the local homeless shelter or the local library or SOMETHING.