Watch the Numbers

If you haven't heard by now, ExxonMobil has reported its quarterly results, apparently reporting the highest profit ever for a U.S. corporation.
Starbucks, meantime, has reported its first quarterly loss ever.
One could point to the obvious, of course: Wow, no one is shocked that an oil giant reported such profits given the price of oil.
And Starbucks' products are a luxury purchase, and those luxuries are cut by consumers when money is tight.
Although quarterly results are interesting to watch, one must watch consecutive quarters of results to gauge any real insight into a company's performance, so don't let the short-term mass media headlines influence your opinion too greatly.
Also, one must critically analyze the information, and be warned, some information can be frightening.

Just look at this insight from just a few months ago, from Investor's Business Daily:

Shooting Ourselves in the Foot
According to Ernst & Young, from 1992 to 2006 the U.S. oil industry spent $1.25 trillion on long-term investment vs. profits of $900 billion. Truth is, oil industry profits are in line with the rest of American industry. In 2007, a record year, they earned 8.3 cents per dollar of sales. Beverage companies and cigarette makers, by contrast, earned 19.1 cents. Drugmakers, 18.4 cents. Indeed, all manufacturers, 8.9 cents on average, made more than "Big Oil."
Oil companies don't really pay "windfall profit" taxes, anyway. You do. Some 50 million Americans today own oil company stock, either directly or through 401(k)s and mutual funds. Don't be suckered: "Windfall profits" taxes come right out of your retirement account, not out of the oil industry's business. Oil prices aren't high because profits are up; they're high because we don't have enough oil. By clamping down on drilling, refusing to move forward on nuclear energy and hitting producers with punitive taxes, Congress is doing all it can to ensure we don't have enough in the future.
-- Investor's Business Daily

The Cuil Alternative to Google

There is a search engine competitor that is attempting to take on Google.
It's called Cuil (pronounced "cool") and it's been created by a former Google staffer.
Check it out www.cuil.com

LA's Proposed Fast Food Ban

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25896233/

This is frightening. LA's City Council is proposing a moratorium on fast food restaurants in one of the poorest areas of the city.

Big Brother needs to go home. If something like this is accepted, it won't be long before foods are banned in grocery stores, etc.

Alas, the City Council wants to save poor people from themselves, but I have news. If the City Council manages to pass this, people will find other ways to get their fast food.

Diet is partially key to the obesity epidemic. I can tell you what the other part is: exercise. I know it may surprise some people, but Joe and Jane Q. Public have to get off their rumps and move about.

The obesity epidemic has resulted from a combination of things, and in amongst poor folks, it takes time, energy, money and dedication to help them undergo substantial change.

Habits that humans adopt are very, very hard to break, especially among impoverished people. How do I know this? I was once an impoverished person. I was born into poverty, and I spent time studying in Family and Consumer Studies at Kent State University during my undergrad, during which time we would go into housing projects and watch how people live and the cycles that have persisted for generations that they want to break, but time and money stifles that potential.

I remember traveling to A Needle's Eye with my pastor in high school. This was a shelter in Youngstown, Ohio, that helped poor people. It takes a constant, conscious effort to make change happen in one person, let alone an entire city.

Taking away their fast food isn't going to do it.

More 5K Run Photos

I did it in 34:11, which is OK. Not great, but OK.

Considering I was running with an injured neck, shoulder and back, this was great time.

I was running to finish, not to race anyone!

The 5K Midnight Run Photos

Left to right pictured here: Arnella, who is one of the dearest people I've met in Oklahoma; Sheila is in the middle; and I, of course, am on the far right.

Credit to Dante for taking the photo!

Midnight Run

We did it.
Arnella, Sheila and I (with Dante's cheerleading) completed the Midnight 5K at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds on July 26.
We do have photos. I will post them soon.
We have to do 5Ks at midnight in Oklahoma City in July ... otherwise, we'd be forced to run in 104 degree heat!
As it was, it was about 85-90 degrees during the run. I felt sorry for the people dressed in costumes. (Yes, there were people dressed in costumes who were running for charity. I got beat by a bumble bee.)
Batman was there ... a fairy ... she ran very, very fast.
We had a delightful time!

This is Embarrassing

But this is how people are elevating him to God-like status.
Apparently, Obama doesn't sweat when he works out. Guess what? I don't sweat, either. As a matter of fact, it's been one of the things Dante teases me about all the time. My lack of sweating when I work out.
I attribute it to DeRosa family genes, not some ultra-form of super-humanness.

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2008/07/24/Bild-was-in-fitness-studio/with-barack-obama-before-his-speech-in-berlin.html

"Last Lecture" Professor Dies

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25848017/

Randy Pausch has died.
You've probably seen his book in bookstores, "The Last Lecture," or you may have seen him and his wife on television at some point.
He gained a lot of attention for his inspiring grasp of life and living in the face of battling pancreatic cancer.
Amen.
Shouldn't we all live like this? My mom did. She did more living in her last year of life than I had seen her do in the 10 years before her diagnosis.
I just happen to be in a "transition" phase right now, where I've been contemplating a lot of things in the months after my mom's death. I happen to be reading, "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis, but I've come to the conclusion that I've always had in my head: We all die. It's not IF, it's WHEN.
In a strange way, I've been blessed by being surrounded by so much loss in my life. It's taught me so much.
So I want it on the record, here, that I want everyone to throw a party when something happens to me. I hope it's not for a while, but one never knows.
Take the life insurance money, take the people who were closest to me, and have a party.
Dance and have music and laugh out loud.
I wouldn't want it any other way. It's exactly what I want.
Play my favorite dancing songs (Dante, you can just play the IPOD), and eat fun food and have a glass or two of wine. Feel good. Life's too short not to.
Pausch was 47. Very, very young, but he did more to meet his life goals than probably some people twice his age.
Take life by the horns, people, and do what makes you happy.
And celebrate. You are breathing, you are alive, and you should embrace it every day.

Gender and Math

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25836419/

First, dear readers, I have a story for you, and this is as true of a story as I will ever tell.
I've been waiting to tell the story, but as with any story, the timing has to be right.
There is a man in NE Ohio who is working on an advanced degree in business. That advanced degree requires math classes.
The man had a phobia of math.
Instead of pushing himself through the classes, the man went to a medical or mind doctor and had the doctor prescribe some anti-anxiety meds and then over the course of some time, the man proved to the university (a well-known, highly regarded university in NE Ohio) that his mental state (anxieties, phobia, depression) kept him from being able to complete his math requirements for the degree he was seeking.
The man was excused from some of the math requirements.
Oh, but alas, there were SOME math classes he would have to take. The system apparently couldn't be manipulated that easily.
So he's taking them online and paying someone to take the classes for him.
He still, apparently, will graduate with a degree which will make future employers think that he has completed coursework that enables him to perform duties within their companies that do require math skills.
This appalls me, and this story has appalled me, and here's why: in my formative education, I was not very good at math. Not at all. As a matter of fact, I barely passed my math classes in high school.
This wasn't because of gender. This simply was because I hadn't been exposed to it very much. In college, I took some math classes but only those that were required for my degree.
Then I started liking math a bit more. And here's why (I know this may sound shocking,) but it's because I was exposed to it and I could progress and teachers never told me I couldn't do it. But knowing my weakness, I knew that I would be behind the curve if I attempted to pursue an advanced degree for which math was required.
And there was a higher degree that I wanted that did require more advanced math skills.
So I worked. I had workbooks and I hired a tutor.
A muscle only gets stronger if you work it. If it's never worked, then it won't grow. If it's not nourished, it won't gain.
As most of you know, I am working on my master's degree in economics. And the last time I checked, I'm a girl. Economics requires calculus and matrix algebra and different forms of mathematical skills.
It was one of the hardest roads I've ever pursued, but I got here, and that's my point.
I've linked to a story above that has been distributed to the masses with the supposedly shocking news that GUESS WHAT .... girls' math skills are reaching those of boys.
Remember what I've said before? Gender is an issue if you make it an issue. It's always been an issue in the area of mathematics and science in the mainstream media. It's time we get over this, get past it, and move on.
I know that's asking too much.
But my purpose in leading with the story about that man and in writing this is to get my point across that a man made excuses for why he couldn't do math. Will anyone point to him and bother to examine the psychological intricacies for why he has such a phobia?
Of course not.
But he'll pass through and pass on, armed with a degree that carries with it a sign that he does have math skills, never performing any of those math requirements. The only thing I can hope is that he'll have to sit through comprehensive exams before the university officially grants his degree, and those skills will be his alone to perform, without a friend on the other side of a computer completing online courses for him.
Because here is the real truth, as sure as I sit here typing this: A person's performance in mathematics and science has nothing to do with gender. It has to do with perceptions, and if people don't realize this, then some girls never will gain.

The Meaning of a Vote

My graduate assistant colleagues asked me yesterday, "Who will you vote for?"
I said, "I don't know."
The truth is, I do know, but I won't tell. My decision is steeped in my own experience, my own take on history and what I believe this country needs at such a critical time.
It's based and thread from my own perspective, and therefore open to the opinions of none.
But here is my plea to everyone: I don't care who you are voting for in November, but PLEASE bother to vote, but by the time you vote, know why you're voting for that person.
For example, don't be an Umbilical Cord Partisan. That means you're voting for whomever your parents voted for. That is one of my biggest pet peeves.
We each are children of our own generation, our own thought processes, our own perspective on history and current events, which is tomorrow's history.
Vote, damn it, but know why.
And if you don't know why, then don't vote.

"He Ventured Forth to Bring Light to the World"

Leave it to The London Times to bring things into great perspective. The Times' point is that society at large has put this man on too high of a pedestal, raising him to a level which is dangerous.

The Times
July 25, 2008
He ventured forth to bring light to the world
The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers
Gerard Baker
And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”
In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.
He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the
Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.
And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.
From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.
And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.
And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.
From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.
In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.
As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.
And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.
The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.
And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.
Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.
And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.
Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.
But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.
And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.
Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.
On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.
And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

I'm Fixed .... For Now

With all my physical therapy experience, I could write a book.
There are muscles in my body that I didn't know existed until I hurt them.
I have several incidents to report, and my friends often view me as "Ooh, don't do what Angie did. I wouldn't want to be Angie right now."
And the injuries seem to be happening with more frequency as the years pass, especially in the neck and shoulder region.
But I took an alternate route to healing my neck and shoulder.
I didn't take the muscle relaxers. I don't want to take pills if I don't have to.
I walked straight into a medical massage therapist.
Now, I'm not saying it wasn't painful. She worked on my neck and shoulder for more than one hour, and she reached points with her fingers that I didn't even know could be reached.
She, apparently surprised that I wasn't reacting to her prodding fingers, said, "You're not screaming in pain."
And I said, "I'm too scared to say anything because your finger might slip and cause another injury."
She laughs.
I mean, I was at her mercy, let's face it. She had her fist wedged between two muscles that I didn't even know could separate and if I move, Lord only knows what will happen.
I wasn't taking the chance.
And then she covered me in Cryoderm, this menthol treatment spray for strains and sprains.
But I am better, truth be told. The pain is gone from my neck and shoulder.
Now, I am sore, don't get me wrong, and I've got some physical therapy exercises to do.
Alternative medicine might be OK.

Colorado's Beetle Problem

http://www.newsweek.com/id/148297/

We saw it when we were there a few weeks ago, but this piece from Newsweek helps to put into perspective the beetle problem that is destroying forests in Colorado.

The landscape looked like fall colors were taking over, though on pines you know that's not the case. Within three years' time, a forest ranger told me and Dante, the forests would be gone. The morning we ran into the forest ranger, they had planted upwards of 800,000 new trees (forgive me, I forget what kind), but it's this tree that's impervious to beetle infestations and the hope for Colorado to restore what's being destroyed.

The Gong Show is Back

If you like comedian Dave Attell (Comedy Central, Insomniac), then you have to check out the comeback of The Gong Show.
It's on Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST.
Seriously.
It's my type of humor, with judges like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
Last week, there was midget wrestling.
Check it out.
I'm too injured to write more. The pain is affecting my brain, but you get the picture.

I've Injured Myself

Angie, meet sternocleidomastoid. Sternocleidomastoid, meet Angie.
It is this muscle (a muy importante neck muscle) that I've injured.
I think it happened while I was doing Marine-style push ups, although I can't be too certain.
So this muscle (work with me here) ... if you take your right hand and place it at the nape of your neck and then run your finger over to the area behind your ear, you've pretty much covered the area that this funky muscle controls.
Yeah, important, I know.
All I know is that I am at home, on the sofa, with a neck pillow and a heating pad.
Mark my word, I will be better by Saturday to run the Midnight Streak 5K here in Oklahoma City.

The Irony of Hippies

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/17/homeless.beating.ap/index.html


Pay attention to the line, "Bolinas wears its xenophobia proudly."
Bolinas is a town in California called a hippie haven.

And up to 20 people stood by and watched this beating, and not a soul stopped it. The person who was beaten was defending another homeless person.

And let me say that homelessness is not the homeless person's problem, it's society's problem. People who are homeless often struggle from addiction and mental problems. In my opinion, a person is not solely responsible for his or her psychological make-up. It's a complex mix of many, many things, including family, era, etc. (I won't get started on my bandwagon).

The mark of the morality of a society, it's often said, is how a society treats its elderly. But one could make the argument that the true moral mark of a society is the way it treats its homeless.

Only in Oklahoma

Noodling for Flatheads
http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1672070674

Wait. I want ya'll to pause a moment and imagine the look on my face when Dante tried to get me to go to the Noodling Fest in Paul's Valley, Oklahoma.

But here is by far the most comical "Only in Oklahoma" story of all, "liberal good ol' boys," gays, and Satan, blamed for trying to take down one politician.

http://www.newsok.com/article/3271203/

I told you, ONLY IN OKLAHOMA.

Readers Unite

In one way, I'm so thrilled that people are reading my blog and paying attention to the poll.
I heard from people today who demanded the addition of the "None of the above" voting option on the poll.
So you will see that I have made that change.
Vote.
You should.

Me and Technology

What is this thing called texting?
Do I sound old-fashioned? Apparently, I am not a technology-savvy person, but somehow, I'm OK with that. As I drove with my friend Charlene in her fully loaded Nissan Altima in Northern California, she dialed her cell phone from her steering wheel and held a conversation without ever picking up her cell phone.
It all was controlled from her steering wheel.
Weeks later, I'm still astounded. Of course, I still drive a non-loaded 1998 Toyota Corolla that is about as plain as the Oklahoma prairie itself.
I'm quite proud of that. That little beast has upwards of 120,000 miles on it. I recently was introduced to MySpace, as it is the only way to regularly keep in touch with the nieces and nephews.
Apparently, not having a MySpace page is like not bothering to show up at the coolest place in town on a Friday night. Well, I've never done that, either. I'm just not a spotlight person, not interested in the "in" thing to do and to be seen doing.
But brother-in-law Daren, aged 28, wasn't even remotely interested in reading my blog.
"Why don't you just get on MySpace?"
Because it's NOT for me. Have you gone on there? There are too many "things." I need "basics." Trust me, I do not care about the Pussycat Dolls and I'm not the least bit interested in spinning a wheel that will predict how I'll die.
It's like me with the Ipod. I loved the Ipod once I had it, because it was simple. Basic. Like my laptop. When I went to purchase that, I told the sales person: "I just need to type and save word documents and get on the Internet."
That's it. Plain and simple. I'm a writer. We don't need fancy things. We need functional things, things that work and get us from A to B.
Now, Dante is quite determined to get me a phone which will allow me to text. This is going to be a disaster, I can promise you. Stay tuned.

Estrich on Snow's Death

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/tony_snow_was_a_gem.html

RIP Tony Snow

It must be a year for really special people to die.
It may sound a bit dramatic to say that, but this morning I learned that Tony Snow died. He was only 53.
And bear with me, because as you know, it's been quite the tough year with my mother's death and then the medical conditions faced by my mother in law Margaret and my father in law Al.
And then on the topic of outsiders I admire, Tim Russert died so unexpectedly and now, Snow.
Snow was one of my favorite political commentators who had been with Fox News before he became the White House press secretary; he left the press secretary post in 2007 and joined CNN as a political commentator.
He had a wonderful sense of humor, and an easy manner with people. I was lucky enough to see him speak here in Oklahoma City late last year; I happened to get tickets at the last minute.
Rest in peace, Tony Snow. You left a mark, and some people won't even be able to claim that at the time of their deaths.

Only in Oklahoma

I have decided to start a new regular feature on my blog, called, "Only in Oklahoma."
It is in this entry that I will share quirky goings-on.
That way, we have them in writing; and in another important way, I cleanse my brain because it's therapeutic for me. Remember, truth is stranger than fiction.
Trust me, I need this more than you do, dear readers, but I hope that you'll get a chuckle out of it somewhere along the way.
This is indeed a quirky state; a nice state, for the most part, but a quirky place. As one of my co-workers said to me earlier this week, "We are in the Twilight Zone."
Indeed.
And she's from Oklahoma.

THE DEAD POLITICIAN
This is a sad story, but it's quite true. State Rep. Terry Hyman from Leon, Oklahoma, was killed when his tractor rolled over him. This happened while we were on vacation.
Dante was very fond of this man, but only in Oklahoma would the death be viewed as "suspicious." That is, there may be reason to believe that "foul play" may have played a part.
The natural question for some people to ask was, "Was he in Gene Stipe country?" (Eugene "Gene" Stipe, the infamous Oklahoma politician who is more crooked than my 90-year-old granny's fingers after decades of crocheting.)
One person who was involved with Stipe was set on fire when the air mattress he was sleeping on wasn't filled with air, but propane.
Seriously, you guys. I am not making this up. But, I can promise you, I have a collection of ancedotes that will color my fiction writing forever.

THE FLAMINGO WARS
This isn't as intriguing, but it's funny, depending on one's perspective. There is a woman in a little town in Oklahoma who has waged a Pink Flamingo war on her lawn. Not so quirky yet, but wait. She makes her Pink Flamingos do all sorts of weird things, including tug o'war, etc. There was some type of unwanted behavior happening on her street, like speeders or something, and she took it upon herself to wage a flamingo war to stop the behavior. Turns out, she now has funding from the local police, AND she has invited all those who own singing bass fish (you know those stupid animated singing bass fish gadgets) to bring their bass over so she can pose them with her flamingos.
If it wasn't for this story, the little town's newspaper wouldn't have anything to report.

THE TRAFFIC TIE-UP
Someone dumped barrels of hay onto the I-35 interstate this morning, and then on another less busy road. It looked like shredded wheat scattered across the highway.
It was on most of the radio stations, with speculation that it was the same guy.
State troopers apparently were trying to find the source. I was sitting right there, watching the guy try to scoop up all the hay across I-35. He wasn't difficult to find, and I don't think he was trying to hide. He just needed more help scooping his hay.

The People's Republic of Capitalism

On July 9, Discovery Channel began its series hosted by Ted Koppel on the economic interdependence of China and the United States.
The series continues this evening, July 10, and Friday, July 11, and I would encourage everyone to tune in.
In one hour last night, Koppel and team managed to interview people from all sides of the spectrum, including a 17-year-old factory worker in China, and workers displaced in Rolla, Mo., when Briggs & Stratton moved its engine-making operation to China.
From my end, I look at the numbers themselves, including China's population as that country competes for scarce resources. What needs to be highlighted here is that we are all competing for scarce resources, but content Americans seem to forget that. Most have been assuaged as citizens of the world's wealthiest nation.
I won't go off on my "fat and happy" bandwagon, but I will say that the price of gasoline alone should be a lesson of economics, the impact of what happens when demand goes up and supply doesn't; when speculation fuels prices (no pun intended) as human nature (HN) factors itself into an equation that traditional economists would like to think only includes quantifiable resources.
Unfortunately, HN is not quantifiable but cannot be left out simply because it doesn't fit nicely into an equation.
Now, about the documentary: Koppel and team create a great balance, showing the impact to the citizens of Rolla, Mo., but the want (and the human right) of citizens in China who are willing to work mundane factory jobs at a fraction of the labor cost demanded by American workers.
Here's my lecture: corporations are profit maximizing. A corporation cares about its employees, of course, but only inasmuch as those employees help the corporation achieve its production goals. Labor costs, by all accounts, represent the biggest cost for most companies. A corporation is going to do whatever it takes to make more money, which can then be re-invested into technology to make the corporation even more competitive, or pay the executives who execute the plans that make the corporation more profitable. That is quite a simplification, but it is an important lesson that some people seem to forget.
Importantly, the documentary incorporates the role of Mexican migrant workers into the cotton industry in North Carolina. The lesson: Americans in that area are not willing to do the same work, so the farm owners bring in willing workers from another country. Why not? If you want fantastic insight into the willing and able global labor pool, you should read Lant Pritchett's "Let Their People Come," which makes a pretty solid case for liberalizing global labor mobility.
Ultimately, and ideally, we would work to create a world scenario in which profit-maximizing corporations utilize the labor resources of one country to benefit the consumers of multiple countries. Aren't we already experiencing that? The documentary astutely profiles the role of Wal-Mart, a gem of discount prices in the United States where even the migrant workers go to shop before they return to Mexico.
But wait. It's not necessarily a gem of discount prices in China. There, consumers shop Wal Mart for higher end products from Western countries.
And it's this balance, these little tidbits, that make this documentary worth watching, especially if you've been in denial up to this point.

Our visit with Kelly and Shad

Kelly and Shad live in Denver. You can link to their blog on the right-hand side of my blog.

Kelly made us the best Elk burgers ever. So fresh! Her neighbor had hunted the elk days before. Yum!

In the bottom photo, Kelly and I are pictured with Baby Drew, who just turned 1 year old.

In the other photo, Dante and I are pictured with Drew and Luke, Kelly and Shad's four year old.

The In-Laws!

Margaret and Tony are two of the most special people in my life.

We had some health scares with Margaret earlier this year, but she is doing OK now.

Heck, she hiked so much in Colorado, it was most impressive. She can haul, let me tell you.

And despite her fear of water, she went whitewater rafting.

Here is Dante posed with Margaret, Tony and the Min-Pin named Abigail.

Someone planted car seeds!

The Cadillac Graveyard in Amarillo, Texas!

If you ever have the chance, you must check out this piece of Americana in Amarillo, Texas. Now, I had no other reason to be in Amarillo other than the fact that it was along my route to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

But this was cool.

And if you're up for it, there is a steakhouse in Amarillo which will give you a 72-oz. steak for free if you can eat it in an hour.

Good ol' Texas.

Climb Every Mountain

Isn't that title hokey?

We stayed in Copper Mountain, Colorado, which is between Breckenridge and Vail.

I can promise you, my personality is not matched to Vail, where some paintings cost more than my house.

I think there's a danger to too much money, folks.

Give me a picnic basket, a notebook and a pencil, and I'll sit in the grass and write. That's my idea of time well spent, enriching my spirit. I'd much rather have a well-nurtured soul than a loaded bank account.

But I shall not go off on my money rant now.

No, instead, I will tell you about a miracle, and why you should believe in miracles and never say never.

When I was 26, doctors found a massive tumor in my leg (above my right knee), whose activity had atrophied the major quad muscle group running from the right side of my knee to the right side of my hip bone.

Needless to say, my muscles were uneven. I had lots of problems from this, including several injuries to my knee. This was a problem considering the fact that I lead a very active athletic lifestyle. At that time, that included a lot of running.

Doctors (three to be precise, plus two physical therapists and an athletic trainer) told me I'd never run again.

I won't go into the sordid details, but trust me when I tell you, I went through a lot. I did so much physical therapy that I tired out the physical therapist. And the athletic trainer. If this quad muscle group could be rehabilitated, I was rehabilitating it.

Only problem was, the doctors at the Cleveland Clinic wouldn't authorize for the tumor to be removed. Seriously.

No. Wanting to stick on the conservative side, they said they wanted me to go through rigorous athletic training to build up the quad muscle group with the tumor (benign of course) in its place.

Now, I'm not a doctor and Lord knows I'm not the medical type, but common sense tells me that a muscle with the weight of a grapefruit on it is not going to develop correctly.

And of course, over two years (YES, TWO YEARS), of therapy, it didn't.

So, we moved to Oklahoma. And I found a doctor who said, "That tumor is coming out."
And in June 2005, Dr. Stephen Connor removed it, God bless him, and he made insurance cover every single bit of that surgery.

Two months later, I hiked Mt. Rainier in Washington. Now, I'm not saying I hiked the entire mountain. Don't get me wrong. But I did a good bit.

Last year, after much more therapy, I ran the Oklahoma City Race for the Cure (5K) with a 12-minute mile (which is stunning for me, given the circumstances).

And folks, trust me when I tell you, I hiked Copper Mountain in Colorado with Dante and the brothers-in-law last week.

I love the DeRosa-Giancola family spirit. When the ski lift wasn't working (we originally were going to take the ski lift up and hike down), all of us said, "Heck with it. We'll walk up the mountain."

The base elevation at Copper Mountain is 9,700 feet. Its top elevation is 12,300.

Here is a photo of (L-R), Daren, Damian and Dante on Copper Mountain.

I love you guys. Thank you for always challenging me.

We're Back!

After 24 hours of driving through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas, we are back home in Edmond.

We had a fantastic vacation, which included all my favorite things: awesome art towns, mountain hiking, biking and whitewater rafting; great food; and FAMILY. :-)

Here are photos of me (taken by Dante when we hit the Kansas border from Colorado) and one of Dante (taken by me at the same location).

Dante grew a (slight) beard!