DC Metro Moms

He has a higher security clearance than the school bus driver. So shouldn't you be able to trust him with your kids?

Being in the the shadow of the capital, one might think every public school within 50 miles of the Beltway would be showing the speech President Obama delivered on the first day of school. A speech delivered in Arlington Virginia. Can't get much more local than that. Well, think again.

Last week my son's elementary school principal sent home a note to all of the parents informing us the president's speech to children will be shown in a couple of days. The note stated it was being sent home in response to several parental inquiries regarding the showing of President Obama's speech to school children in Arlington. It included information for parents who may wish to request an "Opt Out" for their child. The note shared that an alternate activity would be offered to those children who would not be watching the president's speech. I heard my grandmother's voice in my head, "What has gotten into these people?"

Indeed. Something is seriously amiss.

We're Lucky We're Insured, But...

My partner sprung a bombshell on me last week.  His health insurance, which covers himself and our son, would be jumping almost $200 a month for his part of the contribution; from around $450 to $630.  He works for a small company (less than 30 employees), and apparently their insurance provider felt their company had too many claims over the past year so rates were going to be raised.

Now we have a dilemma.  My company's insurance will cover domestic partnerships, so I could add both of them to my plan.  My coverage costs are significantly less than his.  However, my coverage also isn't as good.  I have high co-pays, higher prescription costs, fewer in-network doctors, and most importantly, an extremely high co-pay for emergency visits ($200 for ER and $500 for a hospital stay, plus 10% of costs).  His plan charged nothing when our son had an ER visit that turned in to a hospital admittance last year.

I know we are extremely lucky to not only be covered by insurance, but to have options when it comes to how we're being insured.  However, we're still having to make the same types of decisions as those without insurance.  Namely, how much of a gamble do we want to take with our health?  If we're saving $300 a month on premiums, but then have a hospital stay, we'll lose.  Then again, we've had 1 hospital stay in the past 8 years, so what is the likelihood of having another one in a short period of time?  What about surgery?  Mine charges 10% of costs for outpatient surgery.  What is the going rate for an outpatient surgery?  What about my partner's knee surgery he had earlier this year? 

Memories of Michael

Thriller was the first album I ever purchased with my own money.  I remember walking by the music store at the Hillsdale Shopping Center while out shopping with my parents when I was 10 and needing Michael Jackson’s album so badly.  At the time, Thriller was all over the radio, along with Madonna and Huey Lewis and the News, but I wanted Michael’s album more than any of the others. I handed over the $8.99 plus tax and proudly carried my tape home with me.  I pulled the cassette out of its plastic box so many times to listen to Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Wanna Be Startin’ Something, and others over and over again on my Sony Walkman, memorizing the lyrics to all the songs on the album. 

Tonight when my husband came home, we talked about the death of Michael Jackson as we were preparing dinner.  We reminisced about some of his great songs, our failed attempts to learn to do the moonwalk, humanitarian efforts through the recording of We Are the World, and all the sensationalistic news that the media loved including Michael’s hair catching on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial, rumors of sleeping in an oxygen chamber, a marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, and his appearance on an MTV awards show to accept a fabricated award.

What a loss - Michael Jackson has passed away.

I can't believe that I am saying this out loud, but I was and always have been a big fan of Michael Jackson, In middle school I wore the black Members Only jacket. In middle school I had the big MJ poster in my room - three of them actually. In middle school I owned the silver glove - never took it out of the package because I was really a closet MJ fan.

My appreciation for the genius never really left my bedroom. - not even my closest friends even knew that I was a fan. It just wasn't cool. As I grew older I realized exactly what he brought to the music industry, and exactly what he brought to the world. He was a musical genius, and as with most geniuses, slightly crazy.

He wasn't ever really right in the head, but that added to his allure - at least until it got really weird when he was a bit older. Then he was just another weird musician - it was kind of like watching a car accident - you just can't turn your back on it. Dangling kids out of hotel windows, skin lightenings, substance abuse, hair catching on fire filming a commercial, allegations of child abuse at his home, you name the strangeness that accompanied him as he got older. Still, through all of this I really appreciated all that he brought to the table. He was indeed a cultural icon, and he certainly brought some light into my life during those tough middle school years. Sad to say that today he passed away. The world lost a musical genius, and for the first time as an adult I'm admitting out loud for all to hear that I was a Michael Jackson fan.

Original DC Metro Moms post. When not mourning the loss of a cultural icon, Suzie also blogs about daily life with a gang of kids at Confessions of a Not So Well Behaved Woman.

Talking to Children about the DC Metro Tragedy

At breakfast every morning, I read the newspaper with my children.  Over my cup of coffee and their mouthfuls of Cheerios, we talk about the weather, we read the Kids Post, and we glance at the pictures on the front page.  If I find an interesting story, like Monday’s motorcycle-riding dog, I’ll read it, and we laugh about it, talk about it, wonder about it.  If we need more information on something we’ve read, we do a little internet or library research to try to find some answers.  As a Reading Specialist and former high school English teacher, I know the value in showing my children, even though they are only 5, 3, and 2 years old, the importance of reading for enjoyment and to gain knowledge of world and local events. 

Today’s front page had a heart-wrenching photo of rescue workers standing on top of one Metro train in order to free passengers from the mangled train above it. The article detailed what happened; a second train rear-ended the first that had stopped on the tracks, and nine people were killed and over 70 were injured.  There’s a very clear “M” on the train in the picture; the headline of the paper is much larger than normal, as is the case in any major news event. 

The Metro As Icon of My Life

The very first field trip I remember happened when I was in second grade, when the DC Metrorail system opened its redline operations in Montgomery County in 1978. As a class we all got on the Metro train, rode it to the other end, then turned around and rode it back. I thought it was the most magical thing in the world. And I was hooked.

Metrorail was always the go-to assumption on how to get into the city. My family hated to go into the city, so it was mostly field trips or when my friends' parents generously invited me to go to a museum with them, but it was always there, and as soon as I was old enough to travel by myself, that's how I got around the city.

A New Reality

One of the things that I do as a professional trainer in the American of martial art of gunfighting is teaching our officers and agents how to use their weapons in a fight, you already know this, right?  Well, one of the things that goes along with that is teaching them WHEN to use their weapons.  Believe me… the when is almost as important as the how.  I addressed some of this in a fairly recent post, so I won’t talk about details and laws and so forth, today.

I want to share a really sad incident that took place recently, as I was conducting some scenario-based training for a class of newly-hired personnel.  All of these officers have finished their academy training, and I am teaching several sections of their post-basic training, which consists of additional modules on use of force, advanced pistol, rifle, shotgun and submachine gun.  Anyway, we use interactive audio/video based training for the use of force stuff, and one of the scenarios that we use covers suicide bombers.  One of the young folks in the class (he is all of 22 years old) reacted exactly as he should have, and as soon as he saw the bomb-belt that the suspect was wearing, he rapidly delivered four well-aimed shots to the suspect’s upper chest and head, killing him immediately.

Hooray for the good guys, right?

Barack Obama as "Cheesecake?"

It's no secret that some ladies around the country find President Barack Obama attractive, in addition to being a good politician with fresh new ideas for the country.  One of my favorite bloggers has actually dubbed him Barack O'Boyfriend!

While I wasn't initially an Obama supporter, I am a Democrat and know that President Obama has many fine qualities.  But, truth be told, while he is handsome guy, I've never thought to myself, "Hey, I'd love to see Obama's pecs!"  So, I was a little shocked to see him bare-chested on the cover of a magazine.  Who do the editors think he is, Miss California?

I'm pretty sure no one ever thought it would be a good idea to put a picture of Richard Nixon on the cover of a magazine sans polo shirt!

And Reagan? Carter? Clinton? Nope, uh-uh and not so much. Not what I'd call "cheesecake" material.  But apparently there is a demand to see President Barack Obama and his bare chest, because he's on the cover of Washingtonian Magazine, strutting his stuff for all the world to see.

Swine Flu is in My Montgomery County ‘Hood- Let the War Begin!

While Yahoo News may be proclaiming that Swine Flu cases are leveling off in Mexico, there’s a case of suspected swine flu in my neighborhood.  This afternoon Montgomery County issued a press release saying that there is a probable case of swine flu in our county and the location of the newly suspected case?  In a high school student who lives right behind our house.

I’ve been following the news and tracking the instances of Swine Flu through the realtime Google Map that updates suspected cases in the country.  Three days ago there were no reported cases and now news reports indicate that there are 8.  All week I’ve been feeling like it’s only a matter of time until Swine Flu comes to the DC Metro Area.  Now that it’s here, I wonder about the possible implications for me and my family.   

I’m not taking Swine Flu lightly.  To me, it is like the enemy who is ready to make its move on our family at any moment.  I’m determined to keep the foe at bay by battling it at work and not letting it infiltrate our home.

Thanks for plugging in the Easter Egg Roll!

Dear Mr. President and the rest of you White House Folks,

Thank you for the opportunity to get tickets to your annual Easter Egg Roll. I know this is the first year that you will be in attendance of this tradition, but we have not yet had the opportunity to even participate in the whole process of getting tickets up until you decided to put it all online. In past years folks had to come down to the Mall to get tickets about a week before the event. And wait in line...and wait...and wait. And if you lived out of town? Well, you were stuck either coming into town a week early and waiting in line, or you were just out of luck. Locals? Well, we had the option of hanging out with our closest "friends" for hours and hours and hoping that we were far up enough to get one of the 18,000 or so tickets that were handed out. But you changed that all this year.