GZ Expat, Part II

Cancer Update...

There hasn't been much news about our cancer patient...as she is in the waiting game between chemo shots...here is the latest...

...had blood test Wednesday and saw her doctor. The doctor was pleased blood cells
coming back up slowly from being rock bottom last Friday. Also, no fever,
which is very important. As long as she has no fever she can stay at the
hotel.

Next test on Monday and the next lot of chemo will probably be 11Th Feb.
It will follow the same course as last time.
After the next chemo she will have another MRI scan.
Anyway as she needs hi-dose chemo treatment with transplant, this is very
aggressive and doctor wants her to go to New York.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York is the pioneer of this
type of treatment, they have had some success and have had some survivors.
It is a very difficult chemo treatment, but we have to go where they will
give her the best chance of a cure and survival.

As you can see, their lives have been turned upside down by all of this.  The plan is in place...but it all depends upon how the cancer reacts to the treatment.  This, is what your prayers are for...stop the spread and hope the chemo kills it.

Again, as last time, they have to deal with business matters.  In preparation for their New York trip, this...

So as we do not know just now how long the treatment will take we had to
apply for visitor visas to the USA.  As UK passport holders we automatically get 90 days in US without a visa but we may be there for longer than that.  So off to the US embassy here (Singapore) this morning to apply for them.

Our patient did not need to attend as she is under 12. We went as walk in
applicants. This meant standing in line and waiting until your number is
called. You then have to have an interview, lots of people were asked many
questions and were at the windows for quite some time. They need to ensure
you are not a flight risk, that you will return to your own country, also
that you can support yourself financially.  We were in the waiting room 2
hours and then our interview was only 1 question, 4 minutes; visa approved.

We will go to New York beginning of May.

There has been much focus lately on immigration policies of the USA and I have written about the subject as well.  But, this is a prime example of how to do it RIGHT!  While millions flow across the border illegally for financial interests only...Stevo and family only want to take advantage of the best health care in the world...and go home.  And the USA responded with...'C'mon in...the door is always open for you.'

Dangerous times...

...we live in a dangerous time when the survival and triumph of freedom are not self-evident. If freedom is to endure and expand, it will only be because we understand the lessons of history and the nature of the implacable enemy that confronts us globally.

Letter of acceptance of the resignation of Casper Weinberger; Ronald Reagan 1987.

CNN's continued slide

This is just fun to watch from the sidelines...

TVNewser reported In the first quarter of 2006, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann beat CNN's Paula Zahn Now in the 25-54 demographic. "This marks MSNBC's first quarterly primetime victory over CNN in the demo in almost five years," MSNBC's press release said today.

Fox still beats both of them together, but CNN continues its slide down, and now is in third place.

Heh...

Believe it or not...

I miss Sunday mornings in the garage...tinkering...

Bird Flu update...

The news on the Bird Flu front has been rather quiet.  The virus has slowly crept across the globe and the media seems completely disinterested now, as it has become apparent to them that milions people are not going to die tomorrow as a result.

We receive updates on the health situation around the world from International SOS.  Below are the updates for SE Asia and East Asia, where the disease continues to infect farmers who work closely with fowl.

How does it end up like this?

You start a week off with a laundry list of important things to do at work.  And you check them off as you do them...tick...tick...tick.  And then you reach the final one...usually the biggest one you have put off because you just don't want to deal with it.  And you stare at you To-Do list...

Motivation...don't fail me now.

I need to go through my hard drive on my laptop and back up my files.  It's one of those tedious tasks that you know you need to do...but, it just gives me a headache thinking about it. 

And then I think...is this the extent of my problems.  Pretty small and petty compared to this if you ask me.

Required Reading

Here is a great post at the Weekly Standard about immigration...

Patriotic assimilation occurs when a newcomer essentially adopts American civic values and the American heritage as his or her own. It occurs, for example, when newcomers and their children begin to think of American history as our history, not their history. To give a hypothetical example, imagine an eighth-grade Korean-American female student studying the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Does she think of those events in terms of they or we? Does she envision the creation of the Constitution in Philadelphia as something that they (white males of European descent) were involved in two hundred years before her ancestors came to America, or does she imagine the Constitutional Convention as something that we Americans did as part of our history?
We implies successful patriotic assimilation. If she thinks in terms of we, she has done what millions of immigrants and immigrant children have done in the past. She has adopted Americas story as her story, and she has adopted Americas FoundersMadison, Hamilton, Franklin, Washington, et al.as her ancestors. (This does not mean that she, like other Americans, will not continue to argue about our history and our heritage, nor that she will ignore the times that America has acted ignobly.)

Living overseas has always given me a different perspective of America in which many Americans cannot see themselves. I like to tell my employees...I cannot become Chinese, but anyone can become American. That is the difference between American and nearly every other country.

Immigration has made America what it is...many want to shut the door completely. I would like to shut the door on illegal immigration...but specific, monitored immigration is a positive thing for America. And the assimilation program spoken about in the Weekly Standard article is essential.

Work Hard...

   and be rewarded. Great feel good story from Autoblog...

39-year-old reservist Spc. Bob Metcalf, returned from a one year stint in Iraq to a surprise gift from friends and relatives: his basket-case 1967 Plymouth Barracuda restored in gleaming, patriotic style. The once rusty and fenderless musclecar has been reworked featuring a sparkling blue paint job with red and white stripes. In Overhaulin'-esque fashion, volunteers worked for six months to realize "one soldier's dream."

Go to Autoblog to see the picture of the finished car...beautiful.

Now...if only someone would do that for my Cougar!

Two More Revolutionaries Pass

The Reagan Revolution introduced to us many revolutionaries in government and politics during the 80's...we lost two of them today:

Lyn Nofziger, the irascible and outspoken aide who served Ronald Reagan most prominently as communications director during his two terms as California governor, died Monday. He was 81. A raucous man who often sported Mickey Mouse ties and other colorful apparel, Mr. Nofziger was so irreverent at times that he was considered ill-suited for the role of White House press secretary after Reagan was elected president in 1980. Mr. Nofziger became assistant to the president for political affairs instead. But Mr. Nofziger's finest hour, Spencer said Monday, was after the president and his press secretary, James Brady, were shot outside a Washington hotel a little more than two months after Reagan took office. Mr. Nofziger stepped into the breach for the fallen Brady and served as press secretary during the early days of the crisis.

also...

Caspar "Cap" W. Weinberger, President Ronald Reagan's secretary of defense from 1980 through 1987, died today in Bangor, Maine, following a brief illness. He was a resident of Mount Desert, Maine. He was director of finance under California Gov. Ronald Reagan from 1968 through 1970, when he was appointed by President Richard Nixon as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Later, he was named director of the Office of Management and Budget and then secretary of health, education and welfare. He stayed on in that role in President Ford's administration. He returned to the private sector in 1975, becoming general counsel and a director of Bechtel in San Francisco. When President Reagan began his first term in 1980, he named Weinberger secretary of defense. Weinberger held that post until his resignation in 1987 due to his wife's ill health. President Reagan awarded Weinberger the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the time of his departure from the Pentagon. The Honorable William C. Clark, Reagan's secretary of the interior, called Weinberger "a great American patriot, and the man most responsible for helping Ronald Reagan bring down the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union."

Great men who were integral parts of Reagan's political life...RIP gentlemen.

Football and Diving

I watched a great broadcast of Football Focus on ESPN Asia last night.  The main subject of the evening centered on diving.  It's not only a problem in football, but many other sports.  In football, many promentant English representatives of the game have stepped forward and called it what it is...cheating.  I also found this from Sir Alex Ferguson

"The problem has been there for quite a few years and it is obvious it has got worse," said the United manager. "The difficult thing is how do you stop it. The players diving have an advantage over the ones making a tackle because a lad going to make an honest tackle can receive a red card yet referees can only give the guy who cheats to win a penalty or get someone sent off a yellow, which is an amazing thing."

But yet, the games number one team and number one coach this season, doesn't necessarily agree...

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that star striker Didier Drogba is a "fighter" not a diver after the Ivory Coast international faced renewed criticism Monday about his on-field conduct.

For me, the focus of this conversation has clearly been that of culture.  The game has changed...it is no longer 'English' football...rather, it is European football.  The stars in Englands game are dominated by 'foreigners.'  The guys that are at the top of the list for diving are primarily French and Italian players, where diving is an accepted part of the game.  As above, the number one coach (Mourinho) on the number one team (Chelsea) with the number one diver (Drogba) are both foreign on a team dominated by foreigners.

I see the problem as a problem with the game, and also a problem with the players.  The game needs to change.  Players need to have a little more freedom in taking these situations into their own hands.  Does that mean fighting, as in hockey?  No...  But, does that mean knocking someone on their ass when they blatantly cross that line?  Certainly. 

Baseball has the high and tight pitch to those that would show disrespect for the game.  Hockey has the well timed crunch into the boards.  Rugby has...well...RUGBY!  Do you ever see a rugby player excessivly celebrating a goal?  Never...because he knows what is coming to him if he does.  Football needs something to allow the players to police the game themselves. 

Excessive goal celebrations, shirt pulling and diving are things that don't belong in the game and no amount of referees can rid the game of it.  Players need the power to take care of it themselves.  And, it starts with the captains of each team.  What is Frank Lampard doing about Drogba's diving?  I know what Alan Shearer would do about it...he'd be in his face at halftime or after the match.

Clean it up guys...its YOUR responsibility.  Don't wait for the FA. Or else...clubs should stop signing foreign talent and get the game back to an English dominated sport.