Enough Already!!!

Sometimes this blog ain't gonna be funny, and instead serves as a soapbox for some rant of mine. This is one such entry, so if you don't want to hang with me on my soapbox, or were looking for some humor, I won't blame ya' if you don't read on.

Another caveat. Even though I'm pretty sure I'll get pilloried on this one, I just have to say something. But please, before you throw out expletives or call me names, read the whole thing, and some of the attached links as well, then make up your own mind.

This idea has been percolating in my mind for months now, but finally came to a head when I went to the grocery store this morning. I was picking up a few things and wanted to get some mushrooms for pizza we're going to have for dinner tonight, but I couldn't find the mushrooms in their normal blue container. It took me a minute to see that they were specially packaged in a pink container as part of raising money for Breast Cancer Month. That put me over the edge. What do mushrooms have to do with breast cancer?

My main issues towards this Breast Cancerization of America movement are that 1) the money raised for breast cancer would save more lives if it was directed toward the main killer of women in the US (heart disease) and 2) the Breast Cancer phenomenon has become a vehicle for corporate exploitation, greed, hypocrisy, and shameless advertisement.

Let me first say unequivocally that breast cancer is a terrible disease. Any cancer is terrible, and a cancer that results in having part of your body amputated (especially a part of your body that defines your self image and femininity) is unspeakably horrible. The people who have gone through this and had family members or loved ones die have suffered loss and pain from breast cancer, and my heart goes out to you. This is not to be minimized.

CDC statistics show that breast cancer killed 41,000 American women in 2005 (the most recent year statistics were available). Again this is 41,000 too many, but is slightly less than die by "accidents" and 10,000 fewer than die annually from Alzheimer's. Breast cancer is only the seventh leading killer of women in the United States, and isn't even the most deadly cancer, that dubious honor goes to lung cancer.

What if we reduced the number of breast cancer deaths by half, 50%? That would be a laudable, honorable goal, and would prevent the death of 20,000 American women. Anyone would be overjoyed with such an unbridled success. But what if we decided to reduce by half, 50%, the number of heart disease deaths of American women? We could prevent the death of 165,000 American women per year.

So what if we took some of the estimated tens of millions of dollars (no one knows how much is actually raised every year) raised for breast cancer and use it to reduce the number of American women who die from heart disease every year? Wouldn't that be a more effective use of money to save the lives of women in the US? Such a program would involve nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle change programs, especially for urban and poor women, who are disproportionately affected by heart disease. The problem with such a program? It's not so easy to raise money, and it's not so easy to make additional profits from such a program. It's just not as glamorous.

As far as my second criticism, that corporate America is using breast cancer as a vehicle for corporate exploitation, greed, hypocrisy, and advertisement - please check out this article - Pink Ribbon Overkill: Are companies exploiting breast cancer campaigns? This goes a long way in describing the current state of various corporate manipulation surrounding the pink ribbon campaign and the current practice of "pinkwashing" by nefarious companies.

The mushrooms that I purchased are a great example of these corporate shenanigans. The company that is selling me the mushrooms didn't even give any money to any charity related to breast cancer. In a tiny stamp on the label there's a statement that says "The Mushroom Council donated $50,000 to the City of Hope to fight breast cancer". The Mushroom Councils own figures state that mushroom producers (farmers?) sold 14 million pounds of mushrooms over the last MONTH and 188 million pounds over the last year, (and you know how much mushrooms cost per pound), and yet the mushroom producing contingent in the US could only come up with $50,000 to donate to such an allegedly important cause? I call BS on that.

The truth is the folks I bought these mushrooms from know that they don't have to contribute a penny of their own money to charity (though surely they pay dues of some kind to the mighty Mushroom Council), but all they have to do is slap their product in a pink box for a few months, add some vague promises about "fighting for the cure" and know that people will buy it. Again, I vehemently call BS on that.

Could future breast cancer cases be reduced or eliminated if instead of donating a pittance of a few dollars, companies stopped using known carcinogens in producing their products? Studies have shown a link between breast cancer and environmental pollution, and more research is needed on this topic, but couldn't companies be proactive and eliminate the KNOWN carcinogens from common use. Wouldn't that be a heck of a gift?

Did you know that AstraZeneca, the producer of breast cancer fighting drugs Arimidex and Faslodex, is also related to a giant international manufacturer of industrial chemicals and carcinogenic pesticides? Their former parent company (they spun off Astra in 1993) Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) manufactures the plastic ingredient polyvinyl chloride, that has been linked to breast cancer, as well as the pesticide acetochlor, classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a “probably human carcinogen.”

ICI also makes pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. ICI releases potential cancer-causing pollution into the environment on a daily basis from its global manufacturing facilities. Does that make sense to you? Wouldn't a better contribution from AstraZeneca towards eliminating breast cancer be to lobby their former parent company, ICI, to stop releasing all these toxins and selling all these toxic products into the world?

So that's my rant. Again, please don't misinterpret this as a lack of respect for those who've lost friends and loved ones to breast cancer, or a lack of reverence towards survivors of breast cancer. I just feel that a greater degree of death prevention could be gained if we focused more attention and money on heart disease in American women, and I wanted a chance to vent my anger at companies who have hopped on the breast cancer bandwagon in order to boost their sales. That is despicable, and unfortunately, quite widespread.

Out of Town Visitor

My Dad came out to our humble North Dakota homestead for a visit last week and had a grand time, or at least he was very convincing in his claims that he had a grand time. We had initially planned on playing a few days of golf, but after the weather forecast, I called and told him that unseasonable chilliness would probably prove prohibitive, and he should leave his clubs at home rather than pay exorbitant baggage fees and then not use them.

But we had plenty of other activities to keep us busy - UND Fighting Sioux hockey and football games (The Potato Bowl) to attend, the French Fry Feed, and numerous local establishments to peruse. There was also a Potato Pancake breakfast at the Sons of Norway Lodge. No I am not making this up.

One of the finest festivities of the week was the french fry feed, part of the Potato Bowl celebration. The french fry feed was in University Park, a lovely area a few blocks away from UND. In the picture above, Dad and Alycia pose in front of the festivities. If it looks like they're huddled together for warmth, it's because they are, it was cold.

We also took a picture with the official Simplot French Fry mascot guy above. Simplot is a huge potato processing plant here in town. We stopped the guy and asked if we could take a picture with him, and he seemed genuinely surprised that someone would want a picture with him. Seriously, how often do you get the chance to take a picture with a giant human french fry? Hell yes we were gonna seize this opportunity.

While I attempted to eat our weight in french fries, my Dad had a mild case of french fry related hiccups, that somehow scarred him for the rest of trip where he avoided potato related products like the plague, which I must tell you isn't easy in North Dakota. And as you can see from the pictures, it was pretty darn chilly, low 30's and windy. It's not so much the temperature here, it's the wind.

We also went to a Fighting Sioux hockey game at the Ralph Englestad Arena. The Ralph is a fantastic place to watch a hockey game, and frequently gets named as one of the best places in the world to watch a hockey game. But before we saw the game, we decided to have ourselves a little full access tour, which is where we got the great picture of my Dad with the ice behind him. And yeah, my Dad is a proud San Diego Padres fan, and proudly wears his Padres gear even in the frozen lands of North Dakota where people say "what the heck is a Padres?"

Sadly we don't have any pictures from the Sons of Norway potato pancake breakfast. All we have is the memory of delicious potato pancakes and charming conversation with a gentleman named Harold Vjold (lot of j's in surnames around here).

We think that Dad a decent enough time, we plied him with homemade delicacies like corn chowder and Parmesan biscuits, blueberry coffee cake, and pho soup (tasty on a cold night), and traveled to the finest dining establishments in town. Hopefully we impressed him with the level of actual civilization here and he'll schedule a return trip. Once winter has passed that is...

Cute Puppy Pictures

I've got a bunch of fun pictures and a recap of my Dad's visit on its way, but I'm a little light on writing inspiration today. So in the meantime, you get a bunch of cute puppy pictures instead. Hopefully you can hold off another day or two to hear all the fun stories of my Pops' visit to North Dakota.

Tito and Shaak Ti have a little chompin' time.

Tito sees his opening and moves in for the kill. Actually rolling over on her back is really Shaak Ti's only offensive move, aside from using her butt to shove Tito into a corner.

After a run through the snow flurries there's nothing better than curling up into the green ball for a cozy nap.

Quiet Time

It's been a bit quiet from the Deaf Dog Blog for the past few days due to my Dad coming out to visit - our first official out of town visitor!!! Our grand plans of golfing multiple days were thwarted by 30 to 45 degree temps, brisk breezes, and some precipitation.

The precipitation is the big item of the day. Yesterday it was chilly and a few rogue snowflakes fell from the sky. I immediately alerted my Dad who was dutifully impressed, apparently snow is a rare sight in San Diego, especially this time of year. But today was a different story, flakes have been falling aplenty, and there is talk of actual accumulation overnight. Accumulation? But it's only October.

It is a bit tiring playing tour guide, so I'm gonna keep this entry short and sweet and go take myself a nap. More information and funny stories of my Dad's visit down the road a bit, right now I'm gonna drift off to sleep as I watch the flakes drift down from the heavens.

It's Getting a Bit Crafty In Here

A craft show at a hockey rink? Hell yeah I want to go.

This past weekend we attended the largest craft show in the region. It was massive, immense, two giant buildings worth of arts and crafts in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Building one was the local hockey rink (appropriate) and building two was the local VFW, all in all approximately seven hundred thousand square hectares of locally made stuff. OK I made up that figure completely, and I'm not actually sure how big a hectare is, but there was a lot of stuff.

I really wanted to tag along with Alycia and her Mom to see what the craft show was all about. The largest craft show only comes around once a year, so you gotta get while the gettin' is good.

According to Wikipedia's North Dakota Info, the largest industry in North Dakota is agriculture, followed by petroleum and food processing. But I argue that baby making should also be on the list, possibly as number two, right behind agriculture. The number of baby related items (fleece Minnesota Viking onesie anyone?) and people with babies at the fair was crazy. And in my half hour or so at the craft fair, my impressions of the area were confirmed, there are more young people here with kids than just about any place I've been. Being over 30 and childless definitely puts you in the minority.

I left after a half hour, while Alycia and her Mom forged bravely onward. Alycia did find a new fuzzy hat to keep her very valuable noggin warm in the winter and some cool new mittens.
Alycia and Mama Bear survey the crafts. The two of them are quite the team, and they focus on inspecting just about every booth with a high degree of scrutiny. When it came to this particular craft show/shopping event, they were no match for me.....

One Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty Seven

Lots of times people ask me "You're so awesome-rad, How did you get to be so awesome-rad?" or "You're so awesome-rad, Have you ever tried to quantify exactly how awesome-rad you actually are?" Sadly there are few opportunities to actually assign a numerical value to awesome-radness, but one recently came my way, so I thought I'd pass it along.

The number is 1,137. That is the number of consecutive games of Freecell I have won. It hasn't been easy, but then again, nothing worth achieving that's difficult is ever easy. And it's not over. We'll continue to build on these 1,137 consecutive victories and establish a new personal best. And don't worry, we'll keep you up to date on new Freecell developments.

I've researched online and there doesn't appear to be any National or World Championship of Freecell, and that's too bad. I feel like I could represent the great state of North Dakota pretty well.

Half a Bushel

Half a bushel of tomatoes. Yup, that's what I bought. First time I've ever purchased anything in an increment of a bushel, or fractional part of a bushel. I'm not gonna lie, it felt good. And since it's prime tomato harvesting time, half a bushel of beautiful, ripe tomatoes was only $15. To give you an idea of how many tomatoes that it, the box they gave me was an old beer box, case size. That's a lot of tomatoes.

My plan was to cook up a big ole batch of pasta sauce, and instead of canning it, I'd honor the sauce by making it the first item inside our newest basement inhabitant - the chest freezer.

It took me a couple of hours to process all the tomatoes, and another hour or so to pick some fresh basil, oregano, and chives from our backyard herb garden to add to the sauce. I also purchased five pounds of onions for $3, so I chopped those up as well and threw them in the pot. The sauce took a while to cook down (the tomatoes were quite juicy), and I actually left them on low to cook down overnight.

I ended up with 11 jars (quart size) of pasta sauce, which are all happily hibernating in the basement freezer. From a cost benefit analysis, I only spent $18 on 11 jars of pasta sauce, which is still a savings over what I would have paid at the grocery store, but the joy is not in saving money, but having tasty homemade sauce waiting for me in the freezer.

Poll Results

So the poll results are in, and it seems that the readers overwhelmingly want to hear more funny stories about North Dakota. I've got to be careful not to make the stories of a "look at these bumbling hicks" types, since a) that's not really the case of the folks here, and b) I don't want a mob of angry villagers knocking politely at the front door whilst brandishing torches and pitchforks.

For the most part, there's no malice or judgment in my observations, nor do I think there is much City Mouse vs. Country Mouse attitude. My earlier post today about the neighborhood smelling like potatoes was the truth, the place smells like potatoes. Plus it gave me the opportunity to investigate and discover some information about my new hometown, mainly that there's a large potato processing plant a few miles down the street.

If I'm reading my audience correctly (and I know I am), I think what you truly want to see are unique perspectives on an otherwise unknown land. And I think the majority of you want to hear humorous tales of me getting into awkward or emabrassing situations due to my presuppositions, Southern California mindset, or lack of knowledge about local customs.

Please note that I will endeavor to place myself in as many situations that can produce these humorous results. This hopefully may include some or all of the following activities: snowmobiling, snow blowing, any other activity that deals with snow, eating lutefisk, clog dancing, pheasant/deer/elk hunting, decking myself out in Chargers gear to visit the local saloon for Sunday football viewing, attending the annual craft show (IT'S THIS WEEKEND!!!!), and ice fishing. I will try as to my best abilities to take pictures and share them, even if they're embarrassing.

Thanks for participating in the poll, it was fun. I think I'll try and come up with new polls every week or so. I'm also pleased to offer a full guarantee for anyone taking the poll. If you're not fully satisfied with your experience, your money will be refunded to you in full. That's right, a 100% money back guarantee if you're not happy. Beat that....