Health Care Summit

Anyone pay attention to the health care summit today? Yeah, me neither. I mean, I paid attention in the sense that I knew it was going on, but did I really have any hope that anything would be achieved? Absolutely not.

I was quickly tallying the number of liberals, moderates and conservatives that read my blog, (assuming I know most of the readers and have an accurate idea of their political philosophy) and I determined that I probably have more conservative friends than one might think. So in the spirit of friendship and pacifism, I am going to attempt to keep the blog as apolitical as humanly possible for Jon Cattey. But I feel like this whole health care thing needs a little discussion.

First: this health care summit is just dumb. Does anyone actually think that putting a camera in front of these people is going to spur some form of agreement? I'd be more in favor of the summit if there weren't cameras involved. The cameras just entice the politicians to try and get the most one-liners out.

Some of my favorite lines from today and my response to them...

"This is a car that can't be recalled and fixed and ... we ought to start over." — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Wow, nice allusion to the current Toyota problems. Do you have anything constructive to add? No...ok, then shut it.

“This will take courage to do.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. I'm sorry, but am I the only person who is just so tired of Mrs. Pelosi? She is supposed to be one of the leaders in Washington who can actually help get stuff done, and she offers up meaningless quotes like this. Right, the Republicans just don't have the courage that you do. Got it.

“People are angry. We promised them change in Washington,” — Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona I guess my biggest problem here is just McCain in general. Yes John, you promised us a lot of things during the campaign. Unforunately, you lost; so nothing you said matters.

“The health insurance industry is the shark that swims just below the water and you don’t feel that shark until you feel the teeth of that shark.” — Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V. I just like this metaphor! I have no idea what it means or really how it applies, but it sounds good...haha.

“Doctors are risk averse to the tort system and the extortion system that’s out there today.” — Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. Right, this is the reason you are a Republican from Oklahoma. This quote actually really angers me. Anyone who thinks that the tort system, specifically medical malpractice, is the main reason or a major reason for our health care problems is totally delusional. Furthermore, to somehow insinuate that the current system amounts to extortion is ridiculous. The vast majority of people who are injured by their doctors never receive any form of recovery. The statistic in Wisconsin is something like the average doctor will have a claim made against him or her once in every 125 years of practice. This idea that doctors live in constant fear regarding potential litigation is a fallacy.

I would hope we could all agree that our health care system needs serious reform. I even agree that the tort system could probably benefit from reform as well. But let's not make "tort reform" out to be the savior of a seriously screwed up health care system.

At my current job, I see clients who have medical bills well into the millions of dollars. Often times, they personally owe a large portion of these bills. That is wrong. It's wrong on every level to think that we (society as a whole) don't have an obligation to care for people who have serious medical needs. Yesterday, I saw a statistic that every 12 minutes someone in the United States dies in large part because they don't have health insurance. Obviously, we can quibble about the study, but there can be no doubt that the number of uninsured individuals in our country is unacceptable. For the sake of these people and my kids/grandkids/hopefully great-grandkids at some point, we need to get something done.

So, I urge everyone to think about these things. I know most of you are fortunate, just like myself. We are fortunate that no matter what happens or doesn't happen, we will be fine. We can afford insurance even with outrageous deductibles and premiums. But that isn't reality for most Americans. For that reason, something needs to be done, fast.

Lakefront!

Quick blog for Monday. As you hopefully all know from reading my post on Local Acre, I am a huge fan of Lakefront Brewery. Well, the awesome news to start the week is that Lakefront has a new beer that will be available for purchase tomorrow. It's called Fixed Gear American Red. To be honest, I don't really know anything about the beer other than that I want to drink it.

Like Local Acre, it's available in the 22oz bottles. So, invite me over and pour me a pint. Is that so much to ask????

Brew Crew

Not sure how many of you knew, but I was pretty sick the past couple of days...hence, no blogging. Just lots of TV, some good books, olympics and some napping. So I'm going to keep this one short.

Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training this weekend with the rest of the players coming in shortly. There is a good read in the Journal today (yes, I'll continue to call it the Journal until I die...Sentinel always sucked anyways) http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/84873517.html

It's important that all of us Brewers fans keep the inherent limitations on our team in perspective. We have done a very good job building a team given the current structure of MLB. I think that Attanasio has done a valiant job of spending as much money as he smartly can. Unfortunately, we will always have to compete with the crap teams that happen to have payrolls twice our size but still manage to suck. (Yeah, I'm looking at Chicago)

Anyways, that's really all I have for today. I'm trying to get the last bit of this illness out of my system before the next week starts up. Btw, 6-10 inches tonight??? Did they just make that up because I swear I saw no snow on the forecast for the whole weekend until yesterday at like 5pm? We'll see I guess.

Bi-Weekly Beer Blog

Hey World,

Yep, it's me...again. A few days ago, I mentioned that I wanted to reserve a spot in my blog for beer. Well, here it is. I am hoping to feature a different beer every two weeks or so. The two week time frame provides me with a chance to select a worthy beer; plus, it just adds some good alliteration with the three B's. I actually had a request for Local Acre to be featured as the first beer, and being the kind soul that I am, I obliged.

For those of you who don't know, Local Acre is a relatively recent product of Lakefront Brewery. If I can be honest, there are a number of Lakefront beers that may appear in this blog at some point. The brewery is just too cool, and it's about a mile from my house. Aside from that, Lakefront just puts out good quality beer that makes life worth living. The brewery tour is a must for anyone visiting Milwaukee. If there are any readers who have never been on the Friday night tour, shoot me an email, and I will personally take you. (I'm being serious too. Btw, now would be a good time to mention how excited I am for Ben and Theresa's wedding this summer, which is going to be held at Lakefront.) So let's discuss the beer.

Local Acre is a lager with a hazy gold color. It has a significant malt taste with a bit of bitterness. I think most beer drinkers would be surprised by the taste of the beer. I know I was. I wouldn't call Local Acre an easy drinking beer. It has a particular hoppiness and flavor that might take some beer drinkers a little while to get accustomed to. But, push through. It's well worth it. Another positive(or negative depending on your personality and tolerance) is that this lager comes in at 7ish% alcohol by volume.

I should also note that possibly the coolest feature of the beer is that it is made using 100% Wisconsin ingredients. The barley is organic and comes from Columbus according to Lakefront. The hops are also grown in the state. Lakefront claims Local Acre is the first beer since prohibition that is made with ingredients entirely from Wisconsin...pretty cool, eh? So, on top of supporting the best brewery in Milwaukee, you can support Wisconsin farmers, all while drinking great beer...sign me up. It's certainly better than supporting some goofy apricot beer from Vermont or some crappy beer from Colorado that will remain nameless. There is a reason we live in Wisconsin, because the beer is fantastic.

I have heard some people complain that the beer is only sold in 22oz bottles. (you can find it on tap at some local bars, but not many) Honestly, I don't mind the 22oz bottles. It gives the beer some good character, and provides the opportunity for sharing! Beer should be about socializing. So grab a 22oz of Local Acre. Pour 11oz for your date (ladies first), 11oz for yourself, and start getting to know each other.

I want to also provide some potential food recommendations with each of the bi-weekly beers. In honor of the Wisconsin goodness that is Local Acre, I can see pairing it with some really great Wisconsin sharp cheddar. I can also see it fitting in quite perfectly at my Brewer tailgates this summer...that means brats. I know. I know. "Jon, what about your diet/lifestyle change?" Exceptions are certainly acceptable for the Brewers, and I plan to make many exceptions this summer.

Bottomline: Drink Local Acre. We should all be in favor of supporting local products. And this is one local product that deserves support. I've had a relatively easy time finding the beer at various liquor stores around Milwaukee. So go buy some, and then invite me over. See you soon.

Pizza Night

Alright, so as some of you may already know, I have kinda, sorta been on a diet for the past 3-4 months. I guess at some point it quits being a diet, and just becomes a lifestyle change...I'm not sure when that point was, but I'm pretty sure it already happened. So in honor of this change, I am going to include a bit about the food that I have been eating. My goal is to impart the very few cool things I have learned about being/eating healthy. Hopefully, some of you will see some cool stuff on the blog that might make you want to expand your culinary horizons. Enough about me though, let's get to the food!

So Saturday night C and I went over to our friend's place to make some pizza. (ok, her name is Alex. I know she has been patiently awaiting her first mention on the blog...so, there you go Al; in the interest of fairness, I should probably also mention Stacie, another friend of C's and mine who partook in the food as well.) We made two kinds of pizzas (see pictures. Haha, clearly we were hungry because we ate half the pizza before remembering to take a picture.) and drank some pretty decent wine while watching the two Koreans take each other out and gift Ohno a silver medal. A pretty successful night if I do say so myself.

First off, purchasing pizza dough from behind the counter at Whole Foods was definitely a good way to start the night. It's relatively cheap compared to the other options, plus none of us really want to put the time in and make our own pizza dough. On top of that, it just tastes really damn good and gets nice and crispy. In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably mention that C and Alex pretty much made the food; I just sat there and got made fun of.

The recipe for the first pizza can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/health/26recipehealth.html?_r=1

Ok, ok, I know. This first pizza seems weird, and to be honest, it kind of is. I believe one of the reader comments says something like, "it's like eating pizza and salad at the same time." Probably a pretty accurate statement. I would encourage everyone to try this pizza. It tastes great, and it's simple. Just follow the instructions from the NYTimes. If there was one thing to add, it would be some carmelized onions. But, overall, a good item to impress your date with. I mean who doesn't like goat cheese, mushrooms, arugula and walnuts?

The second pizza was a Christina original. If I am remembering correctly, it had a organic pizza sauce that was pretty much what you would expect from pizza sauce. It also had mozzarella, feta, spinach, basil and tomato. I'm sure if I left out one of the ingredients, one of the ladies will kindly remind me. ;o) This pizza was great as well. I actually ate a piece last night, and it still tasted great. If you want more info about either pizza, shoot me an email.

We also had a little greek salad with the pizza, which can be seen in one of the pictures. The hairy arm in that picture is actually mine...eww, how does C put up with me? Not sure. As always, Alex's salad was great. I conveniently left out the part about the apple-zucchini crostinis...wink wink.

Well, that's all I've got to say about pizza night. I'll try to come up with some other good talking points in the next few days. Drop me an email if you have any burning blog needs that are unfulfilled.

Until next time, best to all.

Cory Chisel and other V-Day Goings On

Hello all,

Well, Valentine's was a success in most respects. First, the family met Mom at Roots for brunch. Fun was had by all. Mom was surprised, obviously. Food was great. Good way to start a Sunday.

Then, C and I went to dinner at North Star American Bistro in Shorewood. I say the day was a success in most respects because some of the food left a bit to be desired. However, there were some highlights. Goat cheese appetizer with apple coleslaw was great, and the flourless chocolate cake was pretty much out of this world. (Think cake bathed in bourbon caramel sauce with some gelato) Nothing like a little shared, romantic dessert on Valentine's.

After that, C and I went to the Turner Ballroom to see Cory Chisel. (my dad would be proud...haha) For those of you who don't know, Cory Chisel is an awesome singer-songwriter from Appleton. He is just starting to receive the recognition that he definitely deserves. We took a bunch of pictures that I will post at some point and on some place in the internet, but for now, see the one above. Cory Chisel is approaching man-crush level along with Josh Ritter and a few others.

To hear and learn about Cory, please visit http://www.corychisel.com/

It's nice to see some Wisconsin musicians making good music that speaks to the people of my great state. If I were you, I would seek out all of Cory's acoustic songs...definitely some very impressive stuff.

Needless to say, a good day with my wife...but honestly, most our days are good...haha.

In other news, I am hoping to start a bi-weekly beer portion of the blog where I can post some info about a beer that has piqued my interest. This should go nicely with the food elements of the blog that I am hoping to get going in the future. Let me know if you have beers that you want to submit for consideration. Obviously, this harsh critic might shoot your ass down in like two seconds, but it's worth a try.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and has a great start to the next week. Best wishes to all.

-Jon

UPDATE: More Cory Chisel pics and other odds and ends from the weekend can be found here

2010-02-15 Valentines Weekend

Valentine's Day

Good afternoon family and friends,

It's Valentine's today, which means a special blog post in honor of my lovely wife. The picture included with this blog is from our first real date freshman year of college. (2004) If you notice, we are standing in Christina's dorm room. As you probably also noticed, not much has changed except that we are married.

Without being too sappy, I just want to make it known that I owe my wife a lot, and I can't imagine what I would do with her.

I encourage everyone to thank all of the people in their lives who they love today.

Christina and I have dinner plans in a few hours. Then, we are off to a concert. I'll let you know about those in the near future.

Side note: Bday brunch for Mom at Roots was great.

Early Saturday Morning Blog

Hey all,

So, I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because of work and other various things. But, I wanted to make sure that I mentioned my mother's birthday (even if it is a day late). She is a great mom, who deserves some special recognition on this blog. Luckily Christina and I got to see her last night for a little bit, which was nice. (see picture above)

Personally, I think the three ladies look good in that picture. If only my huge, goofy grin wasn't messing the whole thing up...story of my life. I've got a couple more pictures from last night if anyone wants to see them.

Anyways, Happy Birthday Mom.

The jury is still out on Whiskey Bar. The music left a lot to be desired, and the whole vibe is probably a little too "cool" for me. I just can't pull that off. Maybe I'll go back sometime to say hi to Joel the Bartender....we had a good connection...

I'll post again in the near future, but right now, I'm gonna hit it and quit it.

Quick Vent

Ok, so most Brewer fans realize that keeping Prince in Milwaukee longterm is a highly unlikely. However, I refuse to believe that it is as unlikely as some people think.

Regardless of any of this, did anyone see Garry Howard's column from today's Journal?

For those of you that have not seen it - http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/84071437.html

I started reading the column and about three lines in I thought, "What the hell am I reading?" This man is seriously THE Sports Editor at the Journal????

Can anybody really make an argument that this is a well-written piece? Garry Howard writes about one column a month, and it is usually the worst column in the newspaper for that month, sports or otherwise.

It just continues to boggle my mind that he is still in this position.

On a positive note, baseball season is approaching, and I (the eternal optimist when it comes to sports) believe that the crew has improved since last year. I will save any real sports discussion for a blog that isn't about Garry Howard.

Film Festival

So I'm not sure if everyone knows this already, but there is a group in Milwaukee that worked pretty hard to bring a film festival to the city in the fall. Well, they are doing a little mini winter festival from March 12-18. One cool thing about the festival is that all the films are being shown at North Shore Cinema in Mequon. (So that is pretty convenient for some of us.)

The lineup of films looks pretty decent, and there doesn't seem to be any obligation to buy more than a single ticket to each showing.

Tickets go on sale this Friday.

All the information is at www.milwaukee-film.org/winter.shtml

Maybe some of you can invite me to a showing :o)

By the way, will people throw out ideas to help improve the readability and appearance of the blog. I tried a couple of different things, but I'm not sure I am sold on it yet. Thanks.

First Try

Hello,

I've never done this before, but I assume the point is to be as witty, charming, funny, and interesting as possible...I think I can do that.

I am mostly hoping that this blog can occupy my time during/between classes and provide any readers with some good perspectives and thought-provoking topics. I am going to try and keep a good mix of topics. As most of you probably guessed, sports will have a place. But politics, food, drinks, music, movies, books, tv, life, love, hate, humor, and sadness will probably all have spots as well.

Hopefully I can update this thing every once and awhile. A couple times a week seems like a good starting point. In the relatively near future, I might have a full-time job. So this is probably my last chance to do something like this. If I were you, I would check daily (obviously), but that might be a little bit much to ask. So just try and check a few times a week. I can't always promise a lengthy and detailed explanation of quantum mechanics, but I'll try my best.

I hope anyone/everyone will comment and challenge me as much as they would like. I would also appreciate some friendly comments as well. Examples include, "Hey Jon, I saw you at school today. That cardigan was hot," or "Wow, Jon how did you get blessed with such a beautiful wife???" I think you get the point.

Also, if you feel like you have something that you want me to share with the limited world that will be reading this blog, shoot me an email. I try to be receptive to everyone, and I will always appreciate a good lead for a blog. It would be cool if people commented and became involved with the blog. (more of a discussion than a lecture) So if you have anything to say, say it.

Until my next post, do something good in the world.

P.S. I'm sure someone is thinking, "What does the title of the blog mean?" Well, honestly I'm not all that sure. The title is the same as the title to my self-released cd from my high school years. Just a quick representation of me "in a nutshell." I always liked that phrase, and hopefully, this blog will sort of sum me up quickly.

P.P.S. Just noticed that I can add other authors, who would then be able to post blogs of their own without having to go through me. I hope someone will take me up on that. However, I want to see some good comments before I just hand over the keys to the car to some wannabe blogger.