Express Yourself

I get mad at work occasionally. When that happens, I take a few moments to myself, sigh and take a deep breath. Then I look at the clock and calculate how much longer I will have to be there. No matter what time it is or how many hours I have left, I know that it is less than what I had when I started. Sometimes I even keep a running tally of the time, counting off the minutes on a sheet of paper.

Well, a flight attendant for Eder Rojas, for Compass Airlines decided that he wanted to do more than take a personal time out. Instead he decided to set a plane on fire. So, because this guy was mad about his flight route, he set the bathroom on fire and forced an emergency landing. The plane was traveling from Minneapolis to Regina and had to make the emergency stop in Fargo. None of the 72 passengers were injured and Rojas will be charged.

The especially strange part about this story is that the flight attendant was on the plane himself. If something had happened, he could have been injured. This shows that the young man was acting out of childish impulse and should be doled out a punishment that will teach him a lesson. Flying in an airplane can be a dangerous undertaking if anything goes wrong. The passengers, crew and Rojas himself could have died if the pilot had not been alert.

Most of us have to work and chances are you will end up doing something on the job you do not like. This is part of adult life. You don’t set a fire because you don’t get your way. You do the job and start searching for another one if the regulations you have to follow are too much.

This young man is in the same age group as one of my co-workers. She is a great person outside of work but her work ethic is terrible. The other day she sat in her office and read a book for two hours. She is not my employee so it is not really my place to say anything. However, when I started running around making sure that everything was done I had to go and get her out of her office. “I’m tired” she whined. She works 27 hours a week and calls off at least three times a month. It was apparent that she had lazy confused with tired but I let it go.

There are days that I hate work and I want to pull my hair out, or start a fire in the bathroom, but I don’t. Life always has parts that you don’t enjoy but you can not react like a child when they come up. I hope that this silly flight attendant gets a sentence that will teach him how to be a grown up. Surely there has got to be some course of action that will help him grow up just a tad bit before he takes on his next job. He probably has some time before he has to worry about that though. Who is going to hire a flight attendant who started a fire on plane that is in flight?

I was reading an article about whether or not consumers truly understand the prescription medication advertisements that are shown on television. If you watch television at all you are sure to see a couple during just about every program that you watch. The drugs advertised range from prescriptions for weight loss, depression, erectile dysfunction and high cholesterol. I am sure that if you are struggling with any of these issues it can be easy to not pay attention to the end of the commercial where the list of possibly side effects is given in rapid succession. It can be easy to miss some of the risks associated with the medication.

I am not a fan of prescriptions and I do not take any long term drugs. If I need antibiotics I take them or if I have serious pain I will take a short run of pain killer, but really, I’ve found that many health issues are related to diet and lack of exercise. If you can lower your cholesterol with diet and exercise, why rely on a pill? If psychotherapy and St. John’s Wart works for you, why take Cymbalta? I mean, sure it is probably easier to pop a pill daily, but in the long run you will be better off making lifestyle changes.

Some of the side effects of the medicines that are being prescribed are worse than the ailment they are designed to treat. A few months ago some told me that they would sleep walk to their refrigerator and eat unknowingly. The only way that they knew they were snacking at night was because a family member told them. I nodded and took the comment with a grain of salt. Then the lady told me that it was because she was taking Ambien. I listened, not believing her, but taking in the information. After I heard the same thing about four more times from different clients, I thought, “Hmm…could this really be a side effect of Ambien?” So I asked a doctor and sure enough, there have been reports of people sleep walking and eating without knowing it. I think I’ll take my chances with a warm glass of milk the next time I can’t sleep.

I know that prescriptions come with a paper that outlines all of the side effects and reasons to call your doctor but do people really read them? I do, but that is because I am so suspicious of medications. If a person trusts what their doctor is telling them they may not take the time to go over the precautions. This could be a grave mistake. Remember, pharmaceutical companies make big bucks every time you take their medications. It is in their best interest for you not to know or understand the side effects of what you are taking.

Before taking any prescription drugs you should do your own personal research. Ask your doctor for information but remember, it is your health and ultimately you are responsible for it. If you are beginning a new long term medication, know what you are taking it for and what to be on the lookout for.

After days of recovering bodies from the rubble of an earthquake and realizing that entire towns have been destroyed, there is now a new danger threatening Beichuan county. There is a fear that flooding will be the next phase of terror to strike the region. During the earthquake mudslides blocked off the Qingzhu River, creating two large pools of water. Officials are very concerned about the 30,000 people that live downriver and have told many of them to seek higher ground.

The two lakes that were created are about 1.5 million cubic meters and 11 million cubic meters. If they should flood the region there will be no hope for many of the residents that live in that area. The government is considering creating holes with explosives to allow the water to flow out in a less dramatic fashion. If the mudslide releases one or both of the pools of water a second tragedy will befall China in less than a week.

There are only so many different places for people to live on the planet. Humans living in the line of potential disaster is common around the globe. The threat of danger is typically only noticeable when the danger is on the verge of happening. Most people that live on fault lines or near volcanoes do not wonder when the disaster is going to strike. It is in our nature to take such phenomenon for granted. Occasionally it can feel like we are in control of the earth but then the planet gives us a harsh reminder. We are truly at the mercy of the earth.

Recovering from the quake has not even begun and now there is another fierce force of nature to worry about. I don’t know if there was time to give warning about the earthquake or if that would have made a difference but now that the threat of flooding is in order, hopefully everyone that need to be evacuated is swiftly leaving the scene.

Of course leaving the scene could mean leaving behind survivors. Although it is unlikely that there are still survivors to be found, stranger things have happened. That must make evacuating the area twice as hard.

There are still shimmers of hope in the wake of all the sadness. Two more survivors were dug out from underneath collapsed buildings Saturday morning. That means that there could be more survivors clinging to life, waiting for someone to stick their hand through the concrete and pull them up. Hopefully the rescue workers will get there in time.

China will need many years to recover form a quake of this magnitude. In the aftermath I hope that whatever went wrong with the building of the schools where all of those children died is fixed. Hopefully the government and the builders will never let that happen again. I feel so helpless here on the other side of the world. I guess all we can do is hope for the best and offer any monetary assistance that we can.