End of the Road

The end is nigh!  Well, for this blog, anyway.  After we moved back to the states, I had some hopes to keep this blog alive with reflections and observations about life in the US, and especially how it compares to life in the EU.  Given that I have managed to make about three posts in the six months since we returned, I'd say that isn't working out too well.  Mostly it is a problem of time - The crucial imperative to get working again and restart the pipe business here in NC has eaten up all spare time I might spend on side projects like this, and this is unlikely to change anytime in the near to middle future.

Another problem has been content, because while it is very nice to be back in the states, it is also pretty easy, and I can no longer count on getting entire humorous blog articles out of trying to mail a box at the PO, or getting lost in French backroads, or having to fight off mobs of gypsies with a walking stick.  Being able to go have a fun meal at a Cajun restaurant is wonderful, but it does not a riveting read make.  Ergo, about the only posts I have made since returning have been goofy humor or random web jokes, and this sort of thing works much better on my Facebook account.  In fact, most of what I might have posted here has migrated to my Facebook page - It's just easier to update, and the micro-blogging nature of FB fits my limited time schedule much better than having to compose entire articles here.  And if I want to just chat nonsense and bad movies with friends, I do that on our Pub Crawler forum... again, there instead of here. 

The decision to kill this blog was made during yesterday's reworking of our main website.  A lot of old content is getting yanked, and Emily and I decided it was time to pull the plug on this blog too.  The Pipe Blog will carry on, since it gets all the hits anyway, and I will be much happier in only having one blog to keep updated

For those who have followed us through our last seven years of struggle, thank you for your time and interest! 

NY Times on French Health Care

I've mentioned previously that my main regret about leaving France is losing the excellent French health care system. Here in the states, we have NO health care - no insurance, no ability to get affordable insurance, and if I get injured in the shop, I may as well put a bullet in my head because that would pretty much be the end of things, with no means of paying for expensive hospital treatment. This is why it continues to surprise me that there is actually such a controversy over the possibility of national health care here, even though admittedly a lot of the resistance is based on outright lies and propaganda by the insurance and drug industries, not to mention fanatical right wing opposition who simply don't want to see Obama succeed on anything, no matter how much good it might do the country. The NY Times had an excellent article on this subject today:

Get Real on Health Care

Some snips below...

I don’t think there’s much to debate when France spends 11 percent of its gross domestic product on health care and insures everyone and the United States spends 16.5 percent of G.D.P. and leaves 20 percent of adults under 65 uninsured. The numbers don’t lie: The U.S. system is wasteful and unjust.
...
So I’m convinced there’s no real argument. As President Obama put it last week, “We spend one and half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren’t healthier for it.” Why would the United States cling to the dubious distinction of being the only wealthy nation that does not afford basic health insurance to all?
....

Toes

What is life in North Carolina like, ask my European friends?

It is just like this:




This could be my theme song these days...
Oh, and here are the lyrics, for those who have trouble with country-accented singing vocals:

I got my toes in the water, ass in the
Sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. life is good today.

Well, the plane touched down just about 3 o'clock
And the city's still on my mind
Bikinis and palm trees danced in my head
I was still in the baggage line
Concrete and cars are there own prison bars like this life i'm living in
But the plane brought me farther.
I'm surrounded by water
And i'm not going back again

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. life is good today.

Adios and vaya con dios
Yeah i'm leaving GA
And if it weren't for tequila and pretty senoritas
I'd have no reason to stay
Adios and vaya con dios
Yeah i'm leaving GA
Gonna lay in the hot sun and roll a big fat one
And grab my guitar and play

Four days flew by like a drunk friday night as the summer
Drew to an end
They couldn't believe that i just couldn't leave
And i bid adieu to my friends
Because my bartender she's from the islands
Her body's been kissed by the sun
And coconut replaces the smell of the bar and i don't know if its her or the
Rum

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. life is good today.

Adios and vaya con dios
A long way from the lake
Its where all the muchachas they call me "big poppa" when i throw pesos their Way
Adios and vaya con dios
A long way from GA
Someone do me a favor and pass me the jaeger
And i'll grab my guitar and play

Adios and vaya con dios
Going home now to stay
The senoritas don't care-o when there's no dinero
You got no money to stay
Adios and vaya con dios
Going home now to stay

With my ass in a lawn chair
And toes in the clay
Not a worry in the world, a PBR on the way
Life is good today. Life is good today