I like Hillary less and less as the days go by. And I’m officially at the point where I don’t see myself voting Democratic if she wins the nominee.

This is Bush garbage.

Wow, Obama with the quick response!

I have two more biopsies scheduled for Monday at the U of I hospital. Friday I have my big appointments. I will meet with Geraldine Jacobson, a Radiation Oncologist, Mark Karwal a Medical Oncologist, and my main doctor, Ronald Weigal in the Endocrine Surgery and Surgery Oncology Clinic. My case will be reviewed in boards this day as well. I will meet with someone from Nutrition by paging them and I can’t get an appointment with Alternative Medicine until March 26th.

My day was focused, or rather somewhat unfocused, on my diet. I am eating only veggies and fruits, some nuts and few whole grains. I am taking garlic, omega 3s, a gentle colon cleanse, and some live foods.

I meditated twice and did some exercises specific to healing in general and of the breasts. I had a moment of profound happiness.

Now is the time. How we relate to it creates the future. –Pema Chodron

No one can be positive 100% of the time, it’s impossible. –Lorraine Merydith, my mother

Yesterday was day one of a new journey for me. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I have been encouraged to blog about it. We will see how this goes. The book, When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron got me successfully through the day.

Fear, kicks our ass into being receptive –Pema Chodron

Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all –Pema Chodron

Goal for the day, to stay present.

I read that statement more and more in magazines, newspaper and blog articles about new movie download services like Joost or Netflix’s Watch Now. By the end of their write up they usually conclude that the service is so-so because, “people won’t watch movies on their computer”.

Really?

I have a 52″ flat screen ten feet below where I am sitting right now. It’s in the basement, below our computer room/office, along with a nice reclining couch. Instead of lazing down there in the glow of HD goodness, I’m watching a movie on a 20″ monitor hooked up to my laptop.

Netflix apparently knows I’m spending more and more time watching my favorite YouTube channel and so they’ve responded by adding more of their titles to their streaming service. I realized their brilliance the other day when I dusted off my older DVD player and hooked it up to the 20″ monitor on my desk. Now I am feeding my Netflix movies to the “tv” on my computer desk through a DVD player and a laptop.

I’m not sure where this is all heading. But I’m now multi-tasking during my play time: blogging and watching movies, gmailing and watching movies, reading news and watching movies.

The only drawback I see right now is I no longer have free hands to eat my popcorn.

I’ll be honest, Dawn does most of the grocery shopping. I used to know how much a pack of butter should cost, but not anymore.

Yesterday I made my first trip to the grocery store in like 2 months, and on the list was butter. I nearly screamed out in the dairy aisle at Everybody’s when I saw the price. $7.59 for four sticks of Horizon organic butter!

So I have to ask, what does a pack of organic butter cost in your local grocery store?

THE SKY IS FALLING!!

Okay, after watching his announcement on Meet The Press and varies new reports I don’t feel so freaked out. I can actually see the silver lining.

John Nichols writing for The Nation puts it best, “If Obama runs as a progressive, Nader will have little room to maneuver. If Obama runs to the center, Nader’s space will open up — a bit”.

My hope is running high these days. Maybe this will push Obama to a more progressive place.

Cake, anyone?

My spring fever reached a frenzied pitch this weekend.

Last year we used a neighbor’s unused garden plot. This year we are converting some of our backyard into a garden. I can’t wait for spring! I know you are all with me on this point. Out and about and on-line everyone is talking about the end of winter.

I subscribe to the Seeds of Change Yahoo group. The threads over there are currently buzzing with everyone’s preparation plans. One is titled, “The time is right to turn lawns into farmland.” I’m now convinced that not only do I need to turn my lawn into a garden but that I also need chickens. The first thing on my to-do list for Monday is to check into the Fairfield zoning laws.

The movement to convert lawns to farmland is awesome. And sites like, Cascadia Food Not Lawns make a very compelling argument for it. Here are a few points:

58 million Americans spend approximately $30 billion every year to maintain over 23 million acres of lawn.

Lawns use ten times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland.

The pollution emitted from a power mower in just one hour is equal to the amount from a car being driven 350 miles.

Lawns use more equipment, labor, fuel, and agricultural toxins than industrial farming, making lawns the largest agricultural sector in the United States.

I’m ready for a seed swap.

There’s no question that FOX’s war on journalism is spreading to other “news” networks. And CNN has been slowly stamping out good journalism on their network for the past decade.

Here’s a recent example.

I have two reactions to this video.

First, it’s bad journalism. I wrote better papers in the 9th grade.

Notice how Wolf starts by talking about Obama supporters and then saying things like, “some are saying”, “some are suggesting”, “we hear”, “they say”, “critics say”. Without citing anyone. And during the segment the banner at the bottom of the screen reads:

Obama-Mania Backlash

Passion “cult-like” to some

Then the female anchor comes on and says, “you’ve heard the criticism of Obama . . . and now some critics are saying the Obama campaign is coming dangerously close to being a cult of personality”. Towards the end of the segment they throw out some citations, but none of them link directly back to all the claims they made at the beginning of the program. It’s like Hillary is behind the curtain operating Wolf and his co-worker like puppets.

Secondly, the reason Obama is winning the vote is tied directly to the fact that our media and government is controlled by people who want you to think that being passionate about your elected representatives is “creepy”, an attitude that disgusts me.

Recall Howard Dean.

A passionate democratic who lost the nomination to someone who stands by while a student activist is tasered.

I want my food organic and local. Who doesn’t? We have some great local food here, especially Radiance Dairy. I wish we had everything local. I even wrote up a dairy wish list for 2008. How silly is that?

While enjoying Will’s famous enchiladas with friends this past weekend, part of my wish list came true. I learned that another local farm is filling the void. Farmers’ All Natural Creamery in Kalona Iowa makes a variety of cheeses, milk, and butter. We have been getting our Kalona butter and eggs from Everybody’s (the local organic foods store). But they do not carry Kalona cheese. The only cheddar and mozzarella cheese options are not local.

Well, HyVee carries all of the Kalona products. The trick is most of them are hidden under HyVee’s own organic brand, Health Market. If you look close in the organic dairy section at HyVee, past the green and red logo, you’ll find a local haven.

Yahoo.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to dig out my car in order to leave the house. I drove to the office today to pick up some gear and there was no one out expect for guys in pickups with snow plows attached. And you’d be surprised at how many of those guys there are in a small Midwestern town. In Seattle it’s cars with ski and snowboard racks. Here’s it’s pickups with plows.

I need to get to know some of these guys with plows, so that we don’t have to dig out three feet of snow from the end of our driveway (thanks Dawn) with a plastic shovel.

On one hand I am looking forward to some warmer weather. Mainly so I can start biking again. On the other hand I never get tired of fresh snow. In fact I’m wishing for one more big dump before Spring.