Yeah, good news. My doctor called me while I was on the way to work today and told me that the extra check-up we have done due to my trip to Mexico has shown that my heart has shrunk by a centimeter and my left ventricular is improving it´s productivity or something.
I didn´t follow everything, I just heard it was good but he said my heart was something like 73millimeters in size back in April when the disease was discovered and now it´s 63.
There was never any guarantee that the heart would start to improve because getting the defibrillator/pacemaker implanted only meant that the heart would be assisted in normal function. Now, it seems that the right conditions exist for it to repair some damage caused by the symptoms.
The disease will not go away unless some fantastic new discovery is made in medicine but at least I know that my heart is functioning better on it´s own than before, which might mean lowered drug expenses or less frequent surgeries to change the defibrillator.
We will see but I just thought I´d share this with all my friends out there who were with me back in april and may when the shit hit the fan.
It finally has happened! I am sold on Obama. I wanted him rather than McCain but above all I wanted Hillary. Barrack´s acceptance speech is inspirational and I am truly sold on the guy now. I am just amazed that he didn´t win by a huge margin.
I look forward to seeing him bridging the gaps to other nations etc. I don´t have a whole heck of a lot to say actually. I am just relieved that fucking Sarah Palin ain´t gonna get nowhere near the darn White House.
Congratulations America! I am looking for the results of Proposition 8 in California now. That is a proposition to ban gay marriage. It will never cease to amaze me how Americans find the time to take to the streets and organize themselves to protest and lobby for things that have absolutely nothing to do with them.
Do people in that country really think that if gay people get to live happy full lives, that the rest of society will collapse? Will everyone want to be gay and some sort of armageddon will ensue? Get real people!!! Now, more than ever, we have bigger fish to fry. Gay rights are human rights! Everyone deserves to be happy and all people deserve the right to marry the one they love.
NO on PROPOSITION 8 (I know it´s a tad late but I can´t vote anywho).
After a very promising start to the season for my Broncos, tonight I left Maggi´s house at 2am, just before the half time whistle went at 0-20 for the Patriots. Fumbles here and there and, after sneaking back online to watch, a turnover thrown by Cutler, shows that the team just collapses when things go against it.
If we cannot start the game firing on all cylinders, we are doomed and tonight Cutler busted his finger on the first play, Champ Bailey injured himself, Andre Hall turned the ball over on his first two runs. The list goes on.
I haven´t been a Bronco for long but I think I can say that a Bye week has never been more welcomed.
The light in the dark, besides the Chargers faltering every week, is rookie Eddie Royal, drafted 42nd overall, putting his head down and catching for a decent amount of yards. I salute you!
Finally, I have accessed the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report here in Iceland. Every episode is available online and I love it! Maybe that is why I am getting a little more concerned with the reasons for people over in the US are voting for each candidate. Larry Miller said he was voting for McCain because anyone who is a prisoner of war for 5 years deserves to be president. Idiot! There was a woman on BBC World Service saying she was voting Republican to support Palin but she was going to vote Hillary if she would have won the nomination on the Democratic side. She said it straight out that she was supporting the women!!! What a bunch of bullshit. The politics of a whole country should not be controlled by sex!
And the video on the daily show and all over YouTube of McCain putting the brakes on several deleriously ignorant people at his rallies is a very alarming sight. "I´m afraid of an Obama White House", "I´m afraid, he´s an ARAAAB" etc. Props to the old guy for putting the brakes on as Sarah Palin sure isn´t. Sad, sad state of affairs in America that people are so mislead and can really be manipulated to believe something wrong so strongly.
I am really concerned that if Obama indeed gets awarded the presidency, and he will be voted president, it´s just a matter of whether Bush and his pals manipulate the results (a la Zimbabwe) again, he might be assasinated soon after that. I can´t begin to imagine what would happen to America then but it is a sad state of affairs when that is a real possibility in 2008!
Unfortunately, despite the US being a melting pot of cultures, the racism and segregation most countries have gotten over is still rampant in the US. Just like I mentioned in the last post, there are people devoting a lot of their free time in fighting causes like being against gay marriage and against abortion and against black people when these issues just don´t concern these people. They are forcing their values on others.
It´s also very clear that minorities, especially large groups of African Americans, are superaware of it and call people out on the slightest remark they make. This makes for a tense atmosphere between everyone. Nowhere was that displayed better than in the movie Crash. It was just an accurate account of how things are in many places over there. Even me accusing African Americans of being supersensitive is off limits by most standards in the states. But from my time in the US, I noticed that the only thing that was absolutely, postitively off limits was talking negatively about Jewish people. It´s like the insanity that ensued Mel Gibson´s drunk driving arrest. It seems that the Holocaust gave them immunity from any criticism (not that Gibson was right or anything. He was just drunk for God´s sake)until the end of times. Political correctness has become some bullshit where nothing is allowed.
I slept through the Presidential debate last night but on the way driving Elizabeth to work I heard on the BBC World Service that the issues were varied but included abortion. In the VP debate they also talked about Gay marriage. That is absolutely not the point for America in the next 4-8 years. It´s superfrustrating to see these politicians not just say "This is not an issue right now!".
Whether it will be McCain or Obama sleeping in the White House come next year, I think the world, and especially the USA, are so screwed that putting out the burning fires are going to take up all their time. I really believe that they are not going to have time to convince people on either side of the Gay marriage or abortion issue to change their mind. These are just "Christian people" with way too much time on their hands. These president is just going to have several more important things to do.
I hope it is clear to everyone who knows me what my view on these issues are. I am not strongly for or against abortion but I know they are not going away and the world is not going to be destroyed by the wrath of God because of them just because some women feel up against the wall and have them performed on them. But Gay marriage is clearly a matter of basic human rights. If someone is going to quote the Bible and pretend to know what they are talking about I ask them to bite their tounge because the Bible is one of the most manipulated books in the world. It´s easier to misunderstand than the Coran.
At the end of the day, these people should concentrate their efforts on something worth while. If you are truly Christian and your family too, just ignore gay people and feel sorry for women who need to have an abortion instead of organising rallies against them. Just like in global business, people are going to start thinking about number one and not have time for other peoples problems.
At work we got a mail from one of the Hotel managers in Iceland. Basically saying it´s sink or swim time for the whole industry in Iceland. I guess you could say that about every company in the country but it is true. I just have a hard time seeing how we are going to increase tourism revenue in Iceland at this time. Here are my points.
-Yes, the pound, Euro and dollar is kicking our ass, making it much cheaper to travel and stay here and that will, hopefully, bring us added revenue in the close future. But long term I don´t think it will do much.
-The reason being that the credit crunch is hitting everyone. It just hit and bankrupted us first. Even if the people of Britain, USA and the EU countries want to come here, they are also facing tough times ahead and they need to buy food and pay their mortgages with their money, not take random trips to Iceland.
-Also, when the truth dawns on the regular Joe in the street here, that we are all fucked, I´m sure we won´t be much fun to be around. Say you book a trip to Iceland around 15th November. I think you will see very depressed and worried people walking the streets of Iceland.
I know this is a negative view but I think it is a realistic one. By all means, please visit me in my home country friends! It will never be cheaper for you than now and I will bring my smile to the party but don´t expect many others to play along in a couple of weeks. There are dark times ahead.
Trying to get my mind off the economic meltdown here in Iceland, I bought the Empire magazine with the list of 500 Greatest Movies of all time. That got me thinking about my favorite movies of all time. Here is my top 20 Movies:
1. Goodfellas 2. Fargo 3. Forrest Gump 4. The Big Lebowski 5. Snatch 6. Schindler´s List 7. Trainspotting 8. Carlito´s Way 9. Taxi Driver 10. The Shining 11. 300 12. Boogie Nights 13. Scarface 14. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 15. A Clockwork Orange 16. Almost Famous 17. The Incredibles 18. Magnolia 19. Grosse Pointe Blank 20. Shawshank Redemption
I was going through my cd´s in the living room and found one with the Total Glion video on it. I had already put the last part on YouTube but now I have all 3 parts and I have renamed the last one. I now call it The Glion Boys Part 1-3.
I don´t know what has come over me but I am eating up the news everywhere I can get them. I don´t have any property to speak of so I have nothing really to lose here in the credit crunch but I am interested in knowing exactly how it will all go. Those who know me, know I am a socialist and I am at a loss of words to understand what sort of history of brainwashing has prompted Americans to think that socialism or the extreme version of communism is some sort of tool of the devil. I must be clear to all parties concerned right now, that capitalism DOES NOT WORK and the Frankenstein monster Wall Street and all investment banks all over the world have created is out of control.
I watched the vice-presidential candidates debate at 1am Iceland time on Thursday night and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am happy to see that most Americans saw through the folksy bullshit coming out of Sarah Palin´s mouth and have called her out on dodging the questions. Most alarming of all to me was that she thinks the solution to energy dependency on oil is to drill for more in America. It´s more of the same if Americans vote for this lot. Joe Biden was cool calm and collected and showed an understanding and discipline towards the conductor that evening.
I must admit, I have been slow to make up my mind of Barrack Obama and I really prefered Hillary to him. I do think Obama has had too much hype on him for my taste but Biden sold me on his candidacy, or maybe it was Palin who got me off McCain. I really thought McCain was an okay guy as far as Republicans go and I really think experience is needed at this time but him choosing Palin for what must be purely decorative reasons has put me firmly in the corner of the democrats.
Come on America! Vote correctly! Vote My Way! Vote Democratic!
