My back hurts. Something fierce. I’m glad we didn’t end up going down to the store yesterday (and from what I hear, we really weren’t needed), but we did all the shoveling out yesterday morning and the left side of my back hasn’t yet forgiven me. I’ve been consuming Advil like candy, but this morning forgot to grab and spares and now we’re sitting in traffic and I’m squirming like a dagget on a sunspot.
Apparently it was – and as with the real thing – it demonstrates that under the effects of both the passage of time and liquid nitrogen that my head CAN be shrunk in size. 
My open mic is the best open mic – because sometimes people take their 10 minute slot, bring some cream, sugar, and liquid nitrogen – and use it to make ice cream. (thank you Brian the Science Guy). 
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA 
IO (Rowan and Sharif) performing as my featured artist at the Java Mammas open mic in Reisterstown, MD. They were really a fantastic show, deciding upon Irish accents for the night – and many people asked me if they were real – and whether or not Sharif was Available. You know – for parties and Bar Mitzvahs.
Can I get a TOS BSG what what?
Such a change in me. Less than five years ago I wouldn’t take painkillers of any sort, rarely took any kind of medication… now I’m more than willing to participate in the consumption of a couple things here and there, even stuff that makes me feel a bit fuzzy if I don’t have to get up the next morning. I guess headaches win over principle? No – I guess it was kind of a stupid principle.
I was thinking about generic medications this morning, and the unavoidable topic of “health care reform” reared its ugly head while I was trying to peacefully have a shower. I put that in quotes because as far as I can tell, it’s still simply health insurance reform, not anything to do with the actual cost of the health care itself. In any case, I’ve heard both arguments about generics – that they’re identical to the original OR that they’re simply the same ingredients, usually in similar packaging, totally not as effective. I’ve experimented with both, but don’t take enough medicine to be really sure of one vs the other. My purchase of one over the other generally has more to do with my bank account at any given time than it has with any particular overarching rob-policy. The only doctor I’ve heard really push a brand-name over a generic was recommending the drug that was printed on her stationary, pens and on the little booklets by the door, so I imagine she had some financial interest there.
Dressed up for the Christmas Party!!! 
… also! 
During the party, we had to keep warm as best we could, eventually resorting to Alien eggs and dragonfire – which being red and green are both quite festive. 
As an artist I believe strongly that no-one should be able to produce a song that sounds an awful lot like mine, with lyrics that are similar but not quite the same – that no-one should be able to Xerox my artwork and claim that they’ve created something new. I put my work into it, others should have to pay me for that work… similar argument for the Real Thing vs the generic. It’s my understanding that that the main reason the copyright of the original drug only lasts so long is so that a cheaper generic can eventually be put into production specifically so that more people can afford it. The higher cost of the original reflects the amount of money put into its initial creation, testing, research, etc. It’s protected from generic copies for x amount of time so that they can recoup their costs, after which they hope that brand recognition and brand loyalty will keep them from incurring too many losses to the generic.
Time for a Christmas Party!!! 
I wonder what those numbers are. How many billions of dollars went into the advent of the hot new anti-depressant? What’s the advertisement budget that they now use to battle the generic and make sure people still believe in THEIR product? A lot of insurance companies will only pay for a generic, and so I imagine that a lot of money is lost there – and so I wonder if it’s not sensible to put government subsidies further into the initial creation of these chemical… if the original companies weren’t trying to recoup these huge investments, perhaps their products would be more competitive with their generic counterparts. A huge part of health care cost is of course the price of all the drugs – and it seems that if that cost that could be brought down dramatically, that would see a huge trickle-down effect all throughout the health care industry.
Orion, our grey cat, got this far into an escape attempt out through the front door. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a feline radiate “wtf?!” quite so clearly. He stood there with one cold paw for about 10 seconds before feeling back inside. 
The snow began late Friday night during a holiday party we were throwing at the house. Right about 10pm the cry went up that the snow was here – and people went and caught albino brain chiggers on their tongues! 
Snug inside.
Brand names would certainly always cost more, but I’d think that the same product, made comparably, should only cost… perhaps 10-25% more than the generic, rather than what I see in the drugstores now – where the cost for the brand name can be 200 – 1000% greater than the generic.
I know I don’t understand the world all THAT well – but I still think it makes a LOT more sense to try and make our magic purple pills less expensive, rather than keep trying to look for ways to pay the spiraling cost of them. But just like most of our problem-solving, we’d much rather treat the symptom than the disease.
