Read carefully!!!

Happy belated birthday wishes go out to Catherine Bell who turned 41 years old yesterday. (August 14th) Catherine Lisa Bell was born in London, England and is of English/Iranian descent. She is married to actor Adam Beason and has a daughter, Gemma, who is 6 years old. They currently live in South Carolina.

Catherine started out as a model while she attended U.C.L.A. where she studied to be either a biomedical engineer or a physician. She dropped out to work full time as a model. Her big break came when she was a body double for Isabella Rosselillini in the 1992 movie, "Death Becomes Her" with Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis.

She is probably best known for her role on the television series "JAG" as U.S. Marine Corps Major Sarah MacKenzie. She was on JAG from 1997 to 2005 and can still be seen in reruns.


She currently stars in the television series "Army Wives" where she plays the roll of "Denise Sherwood", the wife of an Army major.

Her hobbies include skiing, snowboarding, Kick-boxing, cross-stitching and making model cars.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Concert held on a dairy farm outside Bethal, New York. The three day festival, originally billed the "Woodstock Music & Art Fair", had thirty-two acts perform before approx. 500,000 people. 186,000 tickets were sold for between $18 to $24 for the weekend. Woodstock Ventures didn't make any money on the concert.

Reports indicate that there were two reported deaths during the concert, a heroin overdose, and a guy run over by a tractor who was asleep in an adjacent field. There were also two births and four miscarriages.

It rained a lot during the concert adding to the shortages of food, water, and adequate bathroom facilities. That didn't seem to stop those who attended from having a great time.

I didn't attend, in fact, I probably didn't even know it was going on. I was, however, a fan of many of the groups that performed there like Crosby, Stills, & Nash, The Who, and Credence Clearwater Revival

I listened to President Obama's town hall meeting in Montana yesterday on CNN. It was directed at the health care debate.

First I must say that I didn't see any teleprompters for his prepared remarks and there were definitely none when he answered questions from the audience. I thought he handled himself very well.

He answered a couple of tough questions from the audience like how he planned to pay for his program and if there were going to be cuts to medicare or Medicaid. He said the program will be an American plan not the Canadian plan or the French plan. He said many of the insurance companies are on board with the changes.

President Obama said that 80% of the reforms were already agreed to by both sides of the congress. That has not been the feeling I have gotten from the blogs or from the cable news programs. I don't see where government is trying to take over health care. If you have insurance you can keep it. If you don't, you have the opportunity to purchase it from a variety of companies at a reasonable rate.

There will be changes put in place to stop insurance companies from suddenly revoking your coverage if you become sick, or milking the system with unneeded tests or procedures. It seems to make sense to me.

I thought President Obama did a good job.

Psychologists repudiate gay-to-straight therapy
AP Associated Press
August 5, 2009

The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.

Instead, the APA urged therapists to consider multiple options — that could range from celibacy to switching churches — for helping clients whose sexual orientation and religious faith conflict.

In a resolution adopted on a 125-to-4 vote by the APA's governing council, and in a comprehensive report based on two years of research, the 150,000-member association put itself firmly on record in opposition of so-called "reparative therapy" which seeks to change sexual orientation.

No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the report, and some research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.

The APA had criticized reparative therapy in the past, but a six-member task force added weight to this position by examining 83 studies on sexual orientation change conducted since 1960. Its comprehensive report was endorsed by the APA's governing council in Toronto, where the association's annual meeting is being held this weekend.

Interesting!!!

Quote for the day:

To limit sexuality to biology makes it more like digestion than dancing.
I chose dancing.

Dr. Leonore Tiefer
Psychologist, Marriage and Family Therapist, and Sex Educator

My back continues to be on the mend. I was able to mow the lawn in my front yard on Sunday. I'd say that my back is back to where it was before the big blow up at the beginning of July. Still trying to be patient about getting back on my bike.

It was a quiet weekend around here for the most part. Karen worked most of the day on Saturday and a good part of Sunday. School started for her district today (Monday) and they just finished open enrollment for district benefits which is her desk in the personnel office.

I kept busy by donating blood to the Red Cross on Saturday and visited a book store afterward.

Corey started his new job today. He was hired by Karen's school district as a classified substitute and worked today in the warehouse. He came home tired from lifting and moving boxes.