Too Early for a Crisis

In the last two months, I've heard from five women whose husbands decided to leave them for other women, or to reclaim their "singlehood". All these women are between the ages of 45 and 55 years old, somewhat well-adjusted, desirable, and interesting. They all have children that are doing well, and everything, from the outside looking in, seems idyllic.

These women, for the most part, seem pretty matter-of-fact about their situation, and had been expecting it for a while. I'm not sure why all of these situations are happening at the same time. Perhaps it's because I've been sharing a little bit more about my personal situation, which is causing me grief as well. But I do admit that it's not particularly encouraging to see that men seem predominantly to leave their partners in the lurch, despite sometimes decades of compromises, sacrifice, and selflessness by their wives.

I'm completely traumatized by all these mid-life crisis', 20 years too early.

Source

An Email to the Roomies

Because I am too lazy to update this blog for real right now, here's an email to my roommates:

Hi Chicas:

As you know, I am traveling for work (finally!) from Saturday, May 17 to Sunday, May 25, 2008. After that, I am on leave until May 28, 2008 but will probably just be hanging in the Washington D.C. region.

I left a check on the table for the rent. Theoretically, I should be back before the rent is due, but just in case something should happen to me (a plane crash, a mugging, or my falling in love with a beautiful Swiss boy from the mountains), you will have that month's rent and plenty of time to find a new roommate :)


Source

Also, I put two plants downstairs by the window. One is a rose, the other is a deformed whisper of a wild flower. Could you please water them every other day? Unfortunately, I was not able to hire a plant waterer so I will have to rely of you! Don't worry if the 'wild flower/plant' dies, it's a weird connection that I feel for it, but it should really be put to bed. My rose is drought-resistant, but I think she'd have a hard time going a whole week without water... Thank you so much!

Please let me know if there's anything I need to do before I leave. My shuttle should come pick me up at around 12:45 p.m. so I'm around until the later morning.

Best,
007 in Africa

Recalling Unsafe Goods

You may recall my post on the blood thinner Heparin about a month ago.  I posted a story for the New York Times about how the drug can become contaminated at the harvesting-step of production. 
 
It turns out that, even when harvested properly, physicians and nurses can also make mistakes in administrating the drug.  In the case of Dennis Quaid (famous actor living in Los Angeles), he believes that his newborn twins were administered 1,000 times that prescribed drug, because two bottles containing different concentrations of Heparin looked so much alike.  He blames Baxter, the company that distributes Heparin, for not making the bottles more distinguashable one from the other.
 
I imagine most people would have blamed the nurses, physicians, hospitals, or even the State for not regulating work hours of the medical staff (it seems that most errors happen when the staff is overworked and tired), so it's an interesting choice for Mr. Quaid to go after Baxter.  But whatever your take on this situation is, it highlights that there are so many goods that can be unsafe (from toy products with lead, and contaminated spinach, to poorly labelled medications).  In a way, I'm glad I live in a place that takes these sorts of allegations seriously, and rectifies potentially unsafe situations.
 
From ccn.com:

Actor Dennis Quaid told lawmakers Wednesday how his newborn twins came close to death after an overdose of blood-thinning medication, the fault of a drug company that did not recall easily confused bottles despite previous problems, he said.

The incident occurred last year at a Los Angeles, California, hospital, Quaid told members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In The actor also said the 'infants nearly died because of a drug company's failure to put safety first.'

The panel's hearing focused on the issue of 'pre-emption,' under which FDA approval guarantees immunity for drug companies against state lawsuits, because federal law supersedes state law.

 
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/14/quaid.congress/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
 
 

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I love Zombies

I completely love Zombies. I love reading about them ("the Zombie Survival Guide", "Wolrd War Z"), I love watching them in action ("I am Legend"), heck, I even like old fashioned Zombies ("Omega Man"), and sometimes, sometimes, I dream of how I could fortify my room to guard against a Zombie attack.

I wanted to share with you, President Bush's brilliant stance against Zombies, that a friend sent me yesterday. Please enjoy.