Book hoarders, college date..disaster

Paul first experienced the Planned Parenthood book sale Thursday and he saw them first hand. They're either book hoarders or people incredibly gifted at taking other people's stuff and parlaying it into millions by selling it on eBay. They cart it out by the grocery cart-load.

Here are some of the finds we didn't take with us. (Paul has a few hoarding tenancies but my inner Pat Bullock will not allow it to take over) We did find a few gems though - books for our Florida trip. I have an E-reader and like it, but there's nothing like real paper in my hands if you ask me. In fact I just received word from Barnes and Noble that my coupon from a settlement due to price-fixing by publishers is now in my account. I was excited to see it. It's a whopping $.73!
(I must admit I haven't spent a lot on E-Books but wow - that's almost 3/4 of a dollar special book.)

Ahoy matey! That's a real compass on the cover



This is why I have a rule that Paul cannot hunt animals that hunt him back...



A tempting find for a graduate or a worrier
 

What's trending on my iPod? Speaking of the library, I like to pick up tune-age there in the form of music CDs to listen to at work. It's been especially loud at work with utility guys moving my co-workers into new cubicles all week. Bang, crunch!

I picked up:

Robin Thicke - The Evolution of Robin Thicke
Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream
Dave Matthews - Away from the World
Ella Fitzgerald - Cole Porter Songbook

Wow - what a variety of music! I don't always listen to them in that order.

Why Cole Porter songs? Crank up the "Way Back" machine. When I was in college I once had a date with a guy named Jerry King. He had dated a gal that lived next to Vic and me and the dorm - 6th floor Maple. By now we were living at 230 Campus Avenue  -  It must have been our junior year. Julie had broken up with Jerry.

Jerry asked me on a date. That was rare for me - unlike our roomie Sal, I wasn't the type of girl guys randomly asked on dates. Sally, on the other hand, had them lined up. (and she routinely shot them down). We were going to a Cole Porter Review at the Maintenance Shop - the club located at the Memorial Union on campus.

There was a live band with horns etc. and singers. It was marvelous - and unlike most things I'd gone to during my years on campus. Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, and disco was hot then too. I must have been nervously handling the program as we sat and watched the show. At one point I went to the restroom and found that the ink from the thing was all over my face! Argh. Later, when he took me home, my roommates hovered in the kitchen like 3 mothers as we sat in the living room. Needless to say, we didn't really hit it off. But I always think of Jerry when I hear Cole Porter. Such clever lyrics. Check out De-lovely here.  



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Planned Parenthood leaves Creston (for the most part)

Deb and Brenda (swiped photo from Larry's Facebook page)

Here's a letter to the editor I sent to the Creston paper recently.

I'm sad my friend Deb is losing her longtime job at PP. Teens from throughout the area have gotten "supplies", have had their first pelvic exams and probably have gotten good somewhat motherly advice from these two ladies - without feeling judged. Deb can talk about sex to anyone! It's like talking trash for me - it's second nature.

Now Deb is job hunting. I don't spose she'll need her sex talking skills for any new jobs around Creston. But her great people skills will come in handy! This will be quite a change for her - she's been working at PP since she and Larry moved back to Creston in the early 90's. I wish her luck in finding a new job that makes her happy (and pays okay too).

My letter - published Tuesday:  

From Leslie Bullock Goldsmith, former Creston resident

West Des Moines

It’s a sad week in the Creston area for many. Planned Parenthood – the source of health care and birth control services over several decades – is losing two dedicated workers as the result of funding cutbacks. In my view, the forces attacking this organization have been very short-sighted if their goal is to make life better for women and children.

Deb Peterson and Brenda Sedlmayer, the Creston Planned Parenthood staffers, have served the residents of this area without judgment. Our children and family members have gone there. Staffers have provided factual information, reproductive health services and considered no question stupid – everyone was treated with respect.
 

I’m disappointed that reduced funding due to targeting by groups and legislators has caused Planned Parenthood (to) draw back from rural locations like Creston and Red Oak. I am aware that some of the clients may not have dependable transportation and will be hard-pressed to travel to a Planned Parenthood in Des Moines for some of the services not available in the new system in Creston.

The tragedy is that some people may see this service cutback as a victory.

I question how forcing those who have depended on Planned Parenthood for pregnancy prevention, physicals, and other services such as prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases can be considered a “win” for any of us. There were likely fewer unplanned pregnancies in the area thanks to the work done at the center. In my opinion it follows that there were fewer people needing to consider legal abortion as one of their options.
 

I hope people everywhere don’t let hard fought women’s rights fall by the wayside because we’ve had it so easy thanks to the hard work done in the past by others. Speak up and vote.
 

Thank you Deb and Brenda – you served us well.

Plagiarism

I just watched a story on plagiarism on the Sunday Morning Show. I thought I better fess up that my whole blog is plagiarized. Yep. I am stealing this stuff from some other chick who has a wierd life and thoughts...so don't blame me. Except for the stealing part. haha

Aww...I'm just teasing. You can't make this stuff up. It's my life and welcome to it. Sometimes it's funny when I start telling someone what I'm up to and they already know - because they read my blog! I'm an open book. Blog.

That happened just last night at church when my friend Cheri told me she knew we'd sold our Creston home. Before I told her in person. It will be a good way for people to keep up on what the Goldsmiths are up to...if they continue to care once we move to the big city. Now if I can just figure out a way to keep up on their lives...

Prior to moving, Paul and I are cleansing - our home of stuff we no longer want or need. I texted Amy yesterday to see if she still wants the 2 boxes of stuffed animals we had stored downstairs. She texted back, "Well I just saw Toy Story 3 so it's an even more sensitive subject than usual!" I'm sure she was half-serious. The kid loved her stuffed toys. In that movie, the little boy donates his toys to a daycare where they're doomed to the baby room and they get drooled on day after day...I split the difference and picked out a few faves and put the rest in the "give away" box.

Then it was time to go through books. Many memories there - the beloved ones I read the kids must stay. But there are others I have no emotional ties to. The back of my car is full of stuff destined for my buddy Deb to take to the staging area for the Planned Parenthood booksale. They accept videos puzzles and games too - so they're getting all our old VHS tapes. (I took some to Creston's Friends of the Library Booksale too) Disney to Adventures in Babysitting. There are many memories with the kids there too. I also bagged up all my leftover feminine hygiene products - pads/tampons to give to Deb for use at our local Planned Parenthood. Those products are expensive - no use tossing them out!

I'm keeping the Playmobiles, the Duplos and Legos and other toys that will be fun for little ones who come visit our home someday. Amy's old dolls will be there too - the American Girls and the Cabbage Patch - all well played with, complete with the little hair care kit she made. Jud's "guys" superhero plastic things and some metal vehicles will stay too. He saved the "important" to him stuff - electronic games. How sentimental!

Pelvic Politics

I'm fired up again. Last week it was the Susan B. Komen Foundation cutting off all possibility of funding women's health grants to Planned Parenthood (PP). Wow. I haven't Raced For the Cure for the Foundation for several years in Des Moines, but have in the past. Breast Cancer is something that has touched all of us.

But it seemed to me the event here in town was becoming so huge - over 20,000 walkers in DSM at last count. Then everywhere one looked the Komen name popped up. I saw it on products, with the trademark "for the cure". And pink ribbons everywhere. The Foundation was big stuff.

Prior to last week, I didn't know the back story of the pro-life "new hire" of the Georgia politician hired by the foundation CEO. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being pro-life in my eyes. I'm all for it - just not at all costs. Which is what got in the eyes of the Foundation I believe. The new goal, to strip funding from PP became a new side-mission. Though they won't admit it. They came up with a new rule that said an entity couldn't receive grant funding if it was under congressional investigation. And Surprise! That was PP.

Finally - something I've been waiting for. The women of American woke up! They found their voices and spoke up. SGK wasn't ready for the backlash - on Facebook, in the media, and most importantly around coffee shops and water coolers. I was pissed. This is a Foundation that in my mind should not be political - yet here it was, getting dirty with the best of them. I'm so sick of it.

In Creston, Iowa, where I live, the only access that some women have to a breast exam is through PP. They can't show up at Creston Medical Clinic and expect a free or reduced cost exam. Nope. So to cut that off, putting women at risk, because SGK now decided that PP isn't a pristine enough supplier of these needed health services sucks. 

The backlash was immense, and SGK was forced to change their policy. Some board members have resigned. They have egg on their faces. It's still not clear whether PP will receive future grant funds from the foundation. I don't trust them - and I'm not sure many others do.

On to the whole Catholic Church/Contraception thing. I couldn't say it much better than NYT Columnist Nicholas Kristof, who writes an evenhanded column.

I've been back and forth on this issue. I've read lots of articles on the topic. I disagree with the way the Catholic Church handles the whole issue of birth control - head in the sand (the fact that 98% of the flock uses birth control). I must admit I can't argue the theology of the whole thing as I'm not an expert in that area. All I know is people are people - and they aren't going to use the rythym method...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/kristof-beyond-pelvic-politics.html

It's been an interesting couple weeks.

Got an offer!

It was a pretty good day today, for a Thursday, even though I didn't get to go home. The 9.75 hour work day went by pretty quickly, actually. It was chilly out, so I didn't mind staying in at lunch and eating tuna. I kept busy finishing up designing a Survey Monkey survey for our stakeholders. Kinda fun really.

We had a pre-EMS (Environmental Management System - with a 9 member Council made up of a variety of stakeholders) meeting meeting today. The EMS meeting is tomorrow - and is bound to be contentious. A couple meetings ago a kinda got emotional and spoke up too much. But hey, last meeting I did great! So, note to self - zip lip again tomorrow. My boss Brian gave me "the look" today when he said "let's all keep our emotions in check" or something to that effect. What?? Me, lippy?

After work I attended the Planned Parenthood book sale. I got a cookbook, a couple books for Pablo (poolboy books on pool maintenance) a couple novels and a CD.

And I got the best phone call I've had in a long while! Jud called once - we discussed his job hunting dilemma - he'd gotten a call from a recruiter advising him of a job he should apply for at a coffee maker manufacturer 60 miles SW of Des Moines. Jud gulped - That's in Creston! Ick! I told him not to rule anything out - perhaps this was how he could break into the working world...and it's not that far from KC where his girlfriend Kara will be living. My maternal pep talk. He agreed to at least apply.

He also had an interview lined up in Minneapolis Monday. While he was in class, he'd had a call from the Altec Company rep he'd interviewed with two weeks ago, but had missed it, and the guy was gone for the day when he returned the call after 5 PM.

Jud and roomies - and, oh look who's in the back ground!

Five minutes later he called back jubilant. He has a job offer from Altec in St. Jo, Missouri! It even came with a signing bonus. St. Jo is just an hour from Kansas City. And isn't that far from Creston either. Yep - a pretty good day...