At Random

I've been a bit busy this week, and haven't had a lot of time to post something in depth. I'm working on a couple of things, but in the meantime there is no shortage of stuff to randomly muse about, hopefully without being boring or repetitive..


Yesterday afternoon after a staff meeting at the hospital I went to get some blood drawn that requires a 12-hour fast. After the vampire-in-waiting, I mean phlebotomist, had extracted the necessary amount from my arm into those little tubes, she secured the little cotton ball over the puncture site with some stretchy lime green tape.

I joked that if we were in Tehran, going outside with that on could get me shot. I got a few laughs out of her; then while leaving, I realized that statement was really not funny at all.

Seriously, it's kind of sobering the more you think about it, and it leaves you grateful for what we have here.


Continuing in the so-funny-it makes-you-think department, I have thoroughly enjoyed Steve Beauregard's return to the local opinion pages, this time in the Sentinel. Steve's column on Country Jam yesterday was hilarious, while illustrating the truly sad manner in which people conduct themselves out there. I can personally bear witness to Steve's story about the couple in the porta-potty; unfortunately, there are probably several examples of this over the years.

Call me crazy (or just a porta-potty party pooper), but I've got a bad feeling about this year. Yesterday's collapse of the crane that they hung the US flag from may be a harbinger of more desperate fun to come. The natives have been restless across the Grand Valley this week; the local ER's seemed overrun with trauma, drunkards, and psych cases. And it was only Monday and Tuesday...

Scanner junkies, radio hobbyists and media types, there's a change to the public safety radio system in use at the Jam this year. Instead of using rental radios, they'll be using some of the commonly used local frequencies with a temporary repeater on site. If you're headed out there, take your squawk box and you might get a good catch of some of the action. If you have FRS radios (those 14-channel thingies you can get almost anywhere), take those along too. Some of the banter among attendees can be hilarious.

And by all means stay safe, please...


I was scratching my head about the protest at the local Grand Junction ABC affiliate yesterday.
Their programming today notwithstanding (I didn't get to watch), I've found ABC News of late to be offering the most comprehensive variety of news products among the three major broadcast networks, along with some serious investigative work and an excellent source of technology-related news. And besides, Crystal Costa is about the best local TV news person we have. Now that I've said that, she'll pull a Vigliotti and leave town...

Those who would rather have the status quo can check this story out for some of the reasons that things have to change. If not by the government, then by a strictly non-profit system.


In the WTF (What the FRAC) department, my congratulations to Jim Spehar for intelligently exposing and deftly debunking the criticism leveled against him for espousing the merits of Rep. Diane DeGette's legislation to remove the Clean Water Act exemption for hydraulic fracturing chemicals, and force those using this process to come clean with what they're pumping underground.

All I really need to know about this debate comes from my life experience. I've written previously about growing up in a town dominated by an industrial economy, and the human costs of those endeavors.

Asking how much of an unknown chemical mixture we want near our groundwater is akin to asking how much soot we want on our porches.

I also know this; any spill of frac water, especially when water trucks roll over (as they have several times in our area), is usually treated like a HAZMAT incident, and the energy companies have tried to keep these occurrences quiet. That's all I need to know to support energy industry accountability to the people.


Finally, Ralph D'Andrea wrote one of his better blog posts yesterday, this time about hypocrisy.
He had some excellent observations, and one of the more salient quotes in recent months:

"There is no shortage of narcissistic hypocrisy in politics."

Time to get some rest, and continue to take stock of my own affairs. I'd rather have my own ducks in a row rather than try to line up anyone else's. There's a lot to do.

Have a good day and weekend ahead.