Noel by Josh Groban

The local radio stations (Sunny 100 in particular) have started playing all Christmas music already which I actually enjoy as it gets me in the mood for all the preparations necessary at this time of year. I've noticed that although the radio station has included a couple of older Josh Groban Christmas songs in the playlist, they've totally ignored what is clearly the best Christmas album ever, NOEL by Josh Groban. This album was #1 on Bilboard 200 for FIVE weeks straight in 2007 which was a first in history. The album is listed as #1 again on several of Bilboard's charts this year and currently is listed in the top 10 best sellers by both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Strange that the local radio stations would not include even one song from the album. I thought payola was dead but that's the only reason I can think of for not including any of the songs from this album in their playlist. Oh well, over four million copies have been sold since mid October 2007, 35 thousand just last week and it's a year old so lots of people are enjoying it, airplay or not.

End of the World?

I was talking to someone at work today and he mentioned something he planned to do in about five years to which I replied that according to the Discovery Channel, the world may come to an end as we know it on December 21, 2012, so maybe he should revise his time-line, lol. It seems that all the ancient calendars end on that day even though the people who created them were in different parts of the world and had no contact with each other. Spooky! There was some discussion about the flip-flop of the magnetic poles and the fact that this has happened before and may happen again with catastrophic results and that this may be the reason for the end of the calendars. Nothing you can do to prepare for such an event. Maybe I should give some thought to retiring earlier than six years from now, lol, or I may never get a chance.

NEvergreen

One of my co-workers was in a really bad auto accident about a year ago and the doctors had to reattach her ankle. For several months since she came back to work she's been in excruciating pain and knew she needed either an ankle replacement or fusion and the best doctor in the area certified to do this type surgery doesn't operate at the hospital approved by our Evergreen (called Nevergreen by the health community) insurance so the insurance company wanted her to see a less qualified doctor. This stalling by the insurance went on for months while she was walking around with a cane and apparently a broken leg since that's what the surgeon found when he finally operated Monday morning. Maybe now her leg will finally heal and she'll get some relief from the constant pain.

I really believe that only the very rich get adequate health care and the rest of us just have to make do with mediocre health care or no health care at all and those who're in a position to do something about it don't feel pressured to do so because all their health care is provided at little to no costs to them. It's amazing that the US is one of the greatest countries but probably has the worst health care system of any major power and all you hear is rhetoric about changing this situation, no actual changes.

Remembering Family Veterans

Eighteen members of my family served in World War II and although all were involved in the hot spots of action, incredibly all returned alive. They've all passed away now but I'm still alive to remember them and hopefully with my scrapbooking maybe my grandchildren will honor them too.

Barack Obama Has A Tough Job Ahead

Corporate and individual greed have just about wrecked the economy, we're in a war we have no business being in, and we're definitely in a recession if not an actual depression. Yes, tough job ahead for him but having read the stand on the various issues by both Obama and McCain, I think Obama's attitude of taking action stands a better chance of improving the situation than McCains "do nothing, wait and see what happens" attitude.