Razzie Awards

This morning I woke up and turned on the TV to see one of the worst movies of the past few years on TV - 2 Fast, 2 Furious - which made me wonder how John Singleton let his career slide so low. Boyz in the Hood was a landmark film. It also got me wondering about who won this year's Razzie awards.

Gala 25th Annual Golden Raspberry (RAZZIE®) Award “Winners”

WORST PICTURE

CATWOMAN (Warner Bros.)

WORST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

George W. Bush / FAHRENHEIT 9/11

WORST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Halle Berry / CATWOMAN

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Donald Rumsfeld / FAHRENHEIT 9/11

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Britney Spears / FAHRENHEIT 9/11

WORST SCREEN COUPLE

George W. Bush & EITHER Condoleeza Rice OR His Pet Goat / FAHRENHEIT 9/11

WORST REMAKE OR SEQUEL

SCOOBY DOO 2: MONSTERS UNLEASHED (Warner Bros.)

WORST DIRECTOR

“Pitof” / CATWOMAN

WORST SCREENPLAY

CATWOMAN Written by Theresa Rebeck and John Brancato & Michael Ferris and John Rogers

WORST ‘MUSICAL’ of Our First 25 YEARS

FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY* (2003/Nominated for 8 Awards, “winner” of 1)

WORST ‘COMEDY’ of Our First 25 YEARS

GIGLI* (2003/Nominated for 9 Awards, “winner” of 6)

WORST ‘DRAMA’ of Our First 25 YEARS

BATTLEFIELD EARTH* (2000/Nominated for 9 Awards, “winner” of 7)

WORST RAZZIE LOSER of Our First 25 YEARS
Dis-Honoring The Performer Who’s Amassed the MOST Nominations w/out “Winning” a RAZZIE

Ah-Nuld Schwarzenegger (With 8 Nominations, including one for 2004)

I personally love how they gave Brittney her second Razzie for the quote, "honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens." Classic.

Vets on Sleds

I just watched an amazing segment on HBO's Real Sports program about this program that gets disabled vets on the ski slopes. I absolutely love skiing and I love my country, so this story just about brought me to tears. Here is HBO's description of the segment (although it doesn't do it justice);

"Kirk Bauer understands better than most the pain and discouragement felt by soldiers now returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with a permanent disability. As a young infantryman in Vietnam, Bauer lost a leg in an explosion. He found himself lying in a veterans' hospital pondering a hopeless future when a group of veterans who were fellow amputees encouraged him to try snow skiing. That first confidence-inspiring experience on skis changed his life. Today, Bauer is executive director of Disabled Sports U.S.A., a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of disabled veterans by offering them the same motivating experience that got him out of his own hospital bed 36 years ago. Mary Carillo follows Bauer as he visits severely injured soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center and takes them on all-expenses-paid ski trips that include their equipment and instruction."

Now, those of you who know me, also know that I am a huge critic of the justification for going to Iraq and then the utter lack of planning for the stabilization of country after we assumed control of it. But I hold the soldiers who went there with the utmost esteem and respect. Modern technology has developed better body armor to protect the lives of our soldiers, however, explosions that would have killed soldiers in the past are now leaving them without arms and legs. So the program the Kirk Bauer runs aims to get the disabled soldiers on the ski slopes where they can experience freedom and speed unlike any other place. They are no longer held back by a disability, but able to fly down the slopes. It was amazing to see the reactions of the soldiers after they had had made a few runs down the mountain.

Now the federal government doesn't give a dollar to this program. In fact, the government has even become more stingy with veteran benefits in the past four years. So I am encouraging those of you who read this to give to organizations that support our troops and veterans, such as Disabled Sports U.S.A., Disabled Veterans Corporate Center, or Disabled American Veterans.

Environmentalism

Bear with me, this post is going to go all over the place and ramble about, but I am in a writing mood. I just returned from a 22 hour visit to another state. It was one of those long days, where you head to the airport at 4 in the morning, quickly perform some work, head back to the airport, and return home at 2 am the next morning. I headed down to do some soil sampling and collect a water sample from a well at a site that has become the focus of some public scrutiny. The site consists of two abandoned mines that have extremely high levels of metals such as lead and arsenic. There are also some open mine shafts that are unmarked and unfenced. The site is rapidly getting engulfed by housing, schools, and qwicki marts - the typical urban sprawl. Somebody realized that this site might be unsafe and decided to take some action to handle the problem. Now most of you are probably thinking that some piles of dirt and rocks left behind by some mining aren't that big of a deal. In fact, it is probably the kind of place you would have ridden your bike to as a kid far adventures and exploration. I used to have think the same thing until I started working in the remediation industry. Here is story about one site.

Some folks down in New Mexico had moved out into the hills and were living in an old mining region. There were some tailings piles with their characteristic lack of vegetation here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. This family had a small child that used to like to play in the sandbox at the back of the house. The kid soon became sick and the parents couldn't understand what was causing the child's illness. The doctor's eventually diagnosed the illness as cyanide poisoning. But it was too late and the young child passed away. It turned out the fine grained sand in the sand box was actually mine tailings. You see, one way to remove gold or other precious metals from the rock is to apply a sodium cyanide solution to crushed ore rock. The gold is leached out of the rock into the cyanide solution and collected for further processing to remove the gold from solution. This process had been performed at the mine where this family lived and thus the fine sand near their house was used for the childrens sandbox.

When most people hear that I work for an environmental consulting firm (in Boulder Colorado of all places), they assume I am some granola eating, birkenstock wearing, patouli smelling tree hugger. Environmentalism can cover a huge variety of beliefs and ideals. But our main concern is protecting human health. Too often, profit goals and stockholder expectations are put ahead of the common good of the people. Sure, I love it when my 401K exceeds expectations, but I don't want to enjoy it while my niece battles leukemia developed from breathed hazardous vapors due to a chlorinated solvent spill that seeped to the groundwater table and spread underneath her house.

You might have heard Libby, Montana mentioned in the news lately. See, quite a few people in Libby were employed by the W.R. Grace Company which mined vermiculite in the region. The vermiculite came from a mine about six miles from the town and was transported to town for processing. The vermiculite mined in that region contains amphioble minerals similar to asbestos. Inhalation of asbestos fibers suspended in air can result in lung diseases such as asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. The workers were exposed to the fibers and when they came home, their families were also exposed to the contaminants. The thing about asbestos and similar materials is that they consist of very small knifelike fibers that when inhaled become deposited in your lungs. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that one of the processing facilities was right next to a youth baseball park. Pretty much the entire town was contaminated with the material. So you think the execs at the W.R. Grace Company might be concerned about their workers or the townsfolk. Well, turns out they didn't really give a shit. Thankfully, they are under federal indictment charges that they were aware of the dangers surrounding the airborne release of asbestos and knew that they were placing the workers and community in imminent danger of death or illness. Guess they were more worried about profit than the people who worked hard to make the company profitable.

So what am I trying to say here. There is a consciencious attack on environmentalism right now by individuals and companies that are more concerned with income than you or me. Remember, they are also the ones with the money to influence politicians and legislation to protect their bottom line. Environmentalism isn't just about saving some mouse or tree. That might be an area of environmentalism, but at its core, it is about keeping you and I safe from the hazards that surround us.

Miggity Mac

Cherilyn and I sold my old laptop and have been looking into what to get next. After purchasing an iPod last year and absolutely loving it, we decided to check out Apple computers. Cherilyn's cousin Jenna is dating a cool guy named Brett who works at the Apple store in Denver. He sat down with us and went through all the advantages of a Mac and answered a bunch of our questions. We went straight to the store that afternoon and picked one up. So far I am really liking it. It is taking some adjustment getting used to the differences between the two, but it isn't too tricky to pick up. After using it for a couple of days, it does make you wonder why more people aren't using Macs. Bye bye Windows. See ya later (except for work).

Trifecta

Bono at grammies
Originally uploaded by niallu2.

Matt McGee at www.atu2.com reports;

"Vertigo" swept all three categories in which it was nominated at tonight's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles:

- Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
- Best Rock Song (songwriters award)
- Best Short Form Music Video

Only one of the awards was given during the TV broadcast, and U2 made the most of the brief time allowed for acceptance speeches. Edge spoke first, holding up his Grammy and dedicating the award to his daughter Sian, who is "reportedly suffering from leukemia", according to a Reuters article tonight. After Bono said he was "genuinely surprised" by the award, Larry talked about the uncertainty that U2 would be able to perform tonight, and the uncertainty they'd be able to tour at all this year. He also apologized (again!) for the recent ticket sales problem -- an unnecessary and classy move.

Earlier in the evening, U2 performed "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own", and near the end of the awards, Bono joined an all-star chorus in singing the Beatles' "Across the Universe" as a fund raiser for victims of the Asian tsunami in late December.

Frisco Kids

We just got back from a very fun weekend at a friend's cabin in Frisco. We went up there with the Laras, McCrarys, Urbachs, and Houghton/Hudsons. We were planning on skiing but everyone drank a little too much on Friday night and we never made it to the slopes. The guys' poker game that night lasted until the wee hours of the morning and there was one interesting non-monetary bet made that night. On Saturday, we ended up nursing our sore heads by napping and watching movies all day. That afternoon, Joe, Ryan, and I made a trip to Dairy Queen and were endlessly entertained by the staff and customers. We got parfaits and sat like sardines in this odd booth placed in the middle of the store facing the cash registers. It was the most bizarre trip to DQ I have ever experienced. There was a militant cook, who must have been a distant relative of the Soup Nazi, shouting out people's orders, a pregnant women telling her to shut up, kids running around, and Joe, Ryan, and I providing commentary while trying to guess peoples orders. Saturday night, the girls decided that it was their turn to drink too much. I have never seen so many glasses of wine and strawberry margaritas spilled. We played Catchphrase and Cranium, and at the end of the night, John decided to "pay up" on his bet from the previous night. So all of a sudden, John comes running out of the bathroom wearing only a towel and Sorel boots. When he hit the door, the towel dropped, and a buck ass naked John goes running around the cabin for the required three laps. The girls were all hollering, and I think John survived the few falls (ouch...brrrr) he had running through the snow. It is not every day that you see a neurosurgeon who is the father of two go streaking.

Uniball

Speaking of Tort Reform, just how do you put a value on one of yer little fellas?

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A man is suing an area hospital and one of its surgeons, claiming one of his testicles was wrongly removed during surgery.
Danny Curtis claims Dr. Albert McBride, a surgeon at Kern Medical Center, did not conduct a biopsy before arranging urgent surgery to remove a testicular tumor in July 2004, according to the lawsuit filed in Kern County Superior Court.
Doctors later discovered that the tumor was not malignant and did not need to be removed, according to court documents.
Curtis is asking for an undisclosed amount of money for damages. His age was not immediately available.
The lawsuit claims he "has been caused to sustain severe and permanent physical and emotional injuries, including but not limited to the loss of plaintiff's testicle, as well as residual disfigurement, scarring and pain."
McBride and hospital officials declined to comment to The Associated Press on Thursday, referring all calls to their attorney, Robert Woods. Woods did not immediately return a telephone call.
McBride left his private practice in San Diego to head the urology department at the medical center in 1997. He received his medical degree from George Washington University and previously served as a lieutenant commander on a naval hospital ship stationed in Vietnam.

Where to start?

Eaney, meaney, miney, d'oh. I thought that I would put up a little political post about what is going on with our current administration, but I can't decide which issue is most important. Is it Social Security Reform, the way overestimated Medicare reform, Iran, Korea, corporate control of America, Tort Reform, the new budget, or the weakening of environmental regulations, and thus, human health and safety? Notice that I didn't even mention Iraq? I guess I will have to spend some more time thinking about which issue I want to write about. My head is hurting just thinking about all these changes to our country.

First Entry

Well, I guess I better write something for my first entry, so that I can see how my blogpage looks. My buddy Colin shot me a link to his blog (http://outsideitsamerica.blogspot.com/) and I got kind of curious about this whole blog thing. So I decided to try it out, and here it is. I guess I now need to start customizing this puppy. Cheers.