Know anyone who recently is becoming more frugal?

Add comment December 31st, 2008

I’m going to write a column about becoming more frugal/going more minimalistic, and I’d like to interview someone who has recently become more frugal/minimalistic who lives in Winnebago, Boone or Ogle counties.

E-mail me at gbraun@rrstar.com and give me a name and daytime phone number for that person as soon as possible but by noonish this Friday, Jan. 2.  Or call me at 815-987-1331.

Or if you don’t want to be interviewed but would like to anonymously share your stories of recently becoming more frugal in the comments section here, please do so.

Thanks.

And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Blago playing the race card, and local YWCA workshops

Add comment December 31st, 2008

Rep. Bobby Rush’s comments yesterday are widely seen as “playing the race card.” He said people should not “hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer.” He was referring to Illinois Gov. Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.

We can all learn how to improve race relations in our own communities and workplaces, and the YWCA of Rockford stands ready to help. Check out the YWCA’s comparatively new racial justice workshops and round-table discussions.

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Four beers in four hours my limit; better to call a cop for a ride

Add comment December 30th, 2008

I can drink up to four beers tomorrow night (or any other night for that matter), one an hour for four hours, and I’ll likely be legally OK to drive home, Sgt. Stephen DePauw of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department told me today.

But rather than risk it, I’d be wiser to ask a non-drinker to drive me home, or to call a cop at 815-639-4674 to be my taxi.

(drinkingandyou.com photo)
After all, this blood alcohol calculator tells me that after four beers in four hours, my BAC would be .046 (.08 is legally intoxicated) and that I’d be possibly impaired. “Do not drive,” it tells me.

DePauw said callers to the sheriff’s 28th annual safe ride home program might have to wait a bit for a ride, depending on what time you call and where you’re being picked up at. Four squad cars will be “dedicated” to taking revelers home between 11 p.m. New Year’s Eve and 4 a.m. New Year’s Day. About 70 rides were provided last year, he said.

“We don’t take your driver’s license number. We’re just a taxi service,” he said. And police won’t use your name and home address for any other purposes other than to pick you up at a party or bar and take you to your home, he said. Of course, you have to be picked up somewhere in the county and dropped off at your home somewhere in the county. The rides are free.

Not sure how much alcohol you can drink before you’re legally intoxicated? DePauw said the general rule of thumb is that it takes one hour for you to metabolize one ounce of alcohol. But that’s just a general rule. Even one drink can compromise your judgment.

It’s better to be safe and riding in the back of a cop-car-serving-as-a-taxi-cab than to risk driving and hurting yourself or someone else.

The phone number to get a ride from a sheriff’s officer won’t be activated until 11 p.m. Wednesday night. Again, it is 815-639-4674.

Hope to see ya next year.

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Student-led parent/teacher conferences

Add comment December 29th, 2008

Student-led parent/teacher conferences at more convenient times in Illinois work well, according to this New York Times story.

Has anyone had any experiences with this in the Rockford area or elsewhere?

When your doctor fails you

2 comments December 29th, 2008

This story in today’s Chicago Tribune — about how doctors don’t always know what’s wrong with you, and the sage advice of one woman who says “If your doctor won’t listen, fire him and find one who will” — reminded me of a few similar issues I’ve had with doctors.

One was when I was having to shoot adrenaline while having acute asthma attacks, the advice of my longtime general physician. I finally wised up and went to an endocrinologist, who prescribed some preventive pills, and I’ve never had to inject adrenaline again.

The other was when my now late mom broke her hip about 25 years ago. She was having cold/hot sweats in the hospital and the attending physician said she was having symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol. We told him she was no alcohol abuser. She might drink a six pack of beer in a year, and she made bourbon balls at Christmas, but that was about it. I don’t think the doctor believed us. She came out of that hot-cold sweat whatever-it-was thing in a very short time, maybe even that day or the next. Fortunately, we didn’t entrust her further care to him, because he was merely the doctor on call at the hospital.

Tell your tales about when doctors have failed you, and you’ve switched to another doctors.

Ask Geo blog review of 2008; looking forward to 2009

3 comments December 22nd, 2008

Shooting videos wasn’t the only new thing I added to my Ask Geo column in 2008.
Blogging was the other biggie.
I post at least one item every week day on my online journal here. In 2008,  I wrote a lot of short comments about the economy, Sarah Palin and everything in between, from an Oprah scoop on her book club choosing “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” to viewing Dierks Bentley’s show at the renovated MetroCentre from one of the new suites.
I also like to post polls in my blog, seeking your takes on everything from slurs to Bratz dolls to the appropriate age to stop trick-or-treating.
And I seek your comments. Some stung; others touched me:
In response to a post I wrote to “Virginia,” telling her why Santa couldn’t give the automakers a big bailout, Hokumboy said: “Are you saying the folks at the auto plants don’t earn their money? That the workers don’t deserve a decent wage. It really gets tiring hearing all the desk jockeys on this paper, who’s closest association with occupational danger or injury is a paper cut, complain about how much money people who LABOR for their wages earn.” Of course, we responded back-and-forth.
“Jodi” told what the Oak Ridge Boys mean to her: “My mom dragged me to every single concert when I was little. … I am now 38 years old, and my 11 year old daughter loves the Oak Ridge Boys. It has become a family tradition for the 3 of us to go to their (Christmas) concert every year.”
What do you want me to write/blog about in 2009? How can I make my column/blog more interesting? Post a comment in my blog, e-mail me at gbraun@rrstar.com or call me at 815-987-1331.

Hard to believe, but taxpayers get what’s needed in auto relief package

Add comment December 19th, 2008

Hard to believe, but it seems like the taxpayers will get what’s needed in the White House’s $17.4 billion in financial relief for the Big Three automakers:

1. Loans will be called in by March 31 if carmakers aren’t financially viable. Most of the relief will come via short-term loans. And the car makers have only until March 31 to become financially viable. If they don’t, the loans will be called in and all funds must be returned, according to CBS News.

2. Taxpayers are the first in line to collect. The deal also requires the automakers to give the government loans priority over other creditors.

3. There will be limits on executive pay and elimination of perks like corporate jets.

4. Autoworkers will also have to make concessions. The government set targets to allow the Big Three to become competitive with foreign competitors by the end of 2009 as far as wages and worker rules.

Dare we say that this restructuring could be the beginning of a competitive U.S. car industry?

Getting to know me and you

4 comments December 18th, 2008

What should we do, send him to hell or another parish?

Add comment December 16th, 2008

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford struck a deal under which the Rev. Luis Alfredo Rios of St. Thomas the Apostle Church will apologize to the Algonquin man before his congregation, according to this Daily Herald story.

An Algonquin man, Angel Llavona, will get “a formal apology, but no financial reward, as part of an out-of-court settlement entered this morning ending his lawsuit claiming a parish priest defamed him from the pulpit.

“The remarks, court documents state, came after Llavona left Rios a phone message critical of his previous sermon, saying ‘I have seen poor homilies, but yesterday broke all records.’

“The following Sunday, the suit states, Rios played that message during mass, then, referring to Llavona, asked his congregation ‘What should we do, send him to hell or another parish?’

“The Diocese also will pay Llavona about $13,750 — his costs of filing and pursuing the lawsuit — but not any of the compensatory or punitive damages he was seeking for comments he claimed caused him emotional distress and damaged his professional reputation. He is a teacher at Maine West High School in Des Plaines.”

McHenry County cancer cluster on CBS News

2 comments December 16th, 2008

In McCullom Lake near McHenry in McHenry County, in a community of about 1,000 people, 14 residents have developed brain cancer. Nationally the rate is roughly seven out of 100,000, according to this CBS story.

Coincidence?

“Attorney Aaron Freiwald says “absolutely not.” He represents the McCollum Lake Village residents in their lawsuits against multi-billion dollar chemical company Rohm and Haas. Rohm and Haas has had a plant there since 1963. It makes specialty chemicals that are used in a variety of industries - from plastics to pesticides. It has 140 facilities in 27 countries.” The company denies the charges.

The Northwest Herald, where I worked a long time ago, ran a series last December about the issue.