I was reading this article on artists and health care yesterday, and it really got me to thinking about how fortunate I am. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't take my access to health care for granted at all. It comes out of my check, and when I go to the doctor or dentist for whatever reason I GLADLY pay the co-pay. When I broke my hand two months back, I had all kinds of x-rays and specialist appointments, but my co-pay never exceeded $20, which felt like a steal. This is a far cry from my way of life for 2 years after I got out of college. When I turned 22, I was no longer on my parents insurance, and it wasn't until I was 24, that I got a full time job with benefits. During that time, I was just hoping nothing happened and luckily for me nothing ever did. But I knew people around that time who did NOT have the same luck that I did, and they would have to pay huge amounts of money for something simple, and it would set them back big time. The sad part about this, is that once I turn 65, I may have to worry about this again..not just for me, but for my parents too. Medicare is in a constant state of peril, and even with that, there is no guarantee your health problems will be completely covered. My grandparents have all types of health problems right now ranging from prostate cancer, to a bad case of high blood pressure, and they are struggling as bad as my friend was back when I was 22. Luckily for my grandparents, all of their kids are chipping in to help them out. I'm quite sure my brother and I may have to do the same for our parents. I used to not want to think or talk about this, but the reality is my parents are knocking on the door of age 60, and to not think about or plan these things out is just not wise.

I heard a touching story last night during the Utah Jazz's victory over the Golden State Warriors. Well before I even get to that, let me say that these are GREAT games, and if you like basketball even a little bit you should watch. Now most of the games come on at 9pm or later, but still it is worth being sleepy in the morning. Now, Derek Fisher, who plays for the Jazz, learned recently that his daughter had a tumor between her eye and her brain. This had caused him to miss some playoff time, and it was believed that he would miss last night's game, because of the surgery his daugther was scheduled to have..But, after his daughter had successful surgery, he received his wife's blessing to go to the game. So Derek took a flight from New York to Utah, got off the plane, went straight to the arena and changed clothes, was inserted in the lineup midway through the 3rd quarter, and ended up hitting a big shot in the overtime victory. And this all happened in one day, and as you can imagine, he was quite emotional after the game. As much as I like sports, it is nice to see the human side of these athletes...sometimes. Too much of it would be like a Barbara Walters special, but a little bit is not too bad.

And to end my health-themed blog, I'll mention this story linking oral sex to throat cancer. I resent stories like this for a couple reasons. One, whenever studies like this come out, there are always about 3 or 4 more that refute the initial claim that never get as much publicity. So when I'm about to get some oral sex, I have to break out the press clippings just so the woman doesn't think i'm full of shit. Two, this type of story gives power to women who REALLY don't want to go down on men anyway..they just do enough to get the party started, and then they abandon the phallus...not cool. Now if this story is true and it holds, then we have an issue on our hands...no pun intended. I'll be monitoring this story closely.

Clipse of Doom - Ghostface

Yesterday was Ghost's birthday, so I'll post this song today. I highly recommend you download it so you can laugh, be confused, and be amazed at his flow all at the same time.