June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson, We’ll Miss You

Earlier this evening Doug and I were watching the news and heard that Michael Jackson was rushed to a hospital and that paramedics were performing CPR on the way to UCLA medical center.

“Drama, drama, drama…” I said. “I do hope he’s alright.”

And then for a split second I thought about the tragedy, should Michael Jackson die.

Not more than a minute ago I saw the news while checking e-mail, and I was in absolute shock. I had to turn on CNN just make sure the news was true.

I’ve always loved Michael.  I’ve been a fan since I was a kid.  I first loved the Jackson 5 (my mom had a few albums) and when my brother and sister and I were younger we’d do our own version of their music and called ourselves the J3 (Jurgella 3).

Little bro Nathan and I used to beg mom to put the Thriller album on in the 80s.  We loved all the songs.

I’ve never understood some of Michael’s crazy antics in his later years.  I’ve attributed it to depression or an inability to handle his mega stardom that began when he was young.  Still, it’s tragic that he has passed away.  He was only 50 years old.

I keep thinking of Elvis.  Mr. Presley died at 42.  I’m a huge Elvis fan, too.  In many ways, the two musical greats were similar in many ways.  Both took (and abused) prescription drugs, both suffered heart attacks (according to Larry King, Michael Jackson suffered cardiac arrest.)

I can’t even believe it.  Such a horrible tragedy.

Rest in peace, Michael.

June 14, 2009

AIG: Arrogance, Incompetence and Greed, Indeed

I used to work for a company called Travel Guard International, based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  It’s a travel insurance company that protects travelers from most of the things that go wrong on a trip.  Cancellations due to illness or injury, trip interruptions due to inclement weather, baggage loss due to airline incompetence, etc.  Many readers have probably purchased this insurance.

The job was wonderful for the first few years.  But when AIG bought Travel Guard, things were quite different.  Management was quite different.

The merger brought many changes and problems and ultimately I’d had enough.  I was no longer an employee of a small town company with a national and international client base.  I became an AIG employee and I hated it.

There are many other reasons why I quit, but some of them are too private to share and I really don’t want to rehash it three years later.  Not only that, they do sell a great product.  I use it whenever I fly.  It’s just too bad that the management, well… sucks.

After AIG received bailout money from that fabulous government we have, Travel Guard dropped the AIG name.   I’m think it was because Travel Guard CEO (and original owner of the company), John Noel, was embarrassed by the big corporation’s schemes and bad dealings.  Of course I’m merely speculating because the local newspaper reported that PR exec Dan McGinnity stated the Travel Guard name sold more insurance than the AIG brand.

Go figure.   AIG has a bad name? Insert sarcasm here.

When I read that the AIG company is refusing to pay claims to the passengers of US Airways Flight 1549, I wasn’t at all surprised.  Instead I was furious.

[But] aviation liability insurance is different. It is activated by a finding of negligence on the part of an airline. If there is no negligence, then arguably there is no liability, and no obligation to pay claims.That poses a problem for the passengers of US Airways Flight 1549. They suffered real losses and injuries, but they are widely perceived as having been saved from sudden, violent death by their heroic and quick-thinking flight crew, led by Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger.

While I’m sure the passengers of the flight are grateful to Capt. Sullenberger for saving their lives, they still suffered many injuries and inconveniences.  They lost luggage and laptops and other valuables that, yes, can be replaced, and should be replaced by the airline’s insurance company.

When I worked with claims at Travel Guard, the company insured some of these items at face value minus depreciation.  I don’t think the passengers are asking for too much by requesting reimbursement for medical expenses and compensation for lost or damaged luggage and electronic items.

AIG needs to belly up to the bar of responsibility and buy a damn drink.  They’ve got government money they so desperately needed (again, sarcasm) to stay afloat and pay outstanding claims (or maybe it was to pay all those billionaire salaries?).  Now they’re going to bulk and screw over the very people paying for that damn bailout?

I’m so mad I could spit nails.  Thank God, I don’t work for that company any longer.

June 5, 2009

Honestly, Who Drives Without Pants On?

I don’t want to be sad today, I’ve got dinner plans with Doug tonight, and a graduation party and wedding to attend tomorrow, and I keep reading my last post over and over again and it’s making me cry. 

So, I logged on to the StevensPointJournal.com and read this local news story and nearly peed my pants laughing.  Perhaps I’ll hang them out my car window later to dry them off.

Pantsless woman arrested

A 29-year-old Plover woman who was talking on a cell phone and driving without pants was arrested for drunken driving following a crash in the town of Port Edwards, according to the Wood County Sheriff’s Department.

Jessica L. Jackson, who was driving her pickup truck east on Highway 54 just before 8:50 a.m. Sunday, had her pants hanging out the window to dry when the vehicle hit the highway shoulder, and Jackson overcorrected, according to the Wood County Sheriff’s Department Accident Report. Jackson crossed the centerline, entered the ditch and rolled the vehicle.

Jackson was transported to Riverview Hospital, where she was treated and released. She was arrested for drunken driving, Wood County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Dave Laude said. The preliminary breath test showed an alcohol concentration of 0.18, more than double the legal limit.

Now, the act of drunk driving itself is not funny.  Not funny at all.  I’ve lost many friends to this kind of tragedy.

But when I read the headline and then the part where her pants were hanging out the window, I could not stop laughing.  I can’t help it.  I just find that part hysterical.

I can’t imagine the look on the cop’s face when discovering a pantsless woman in a car accident.  Maybe because this woman is from Plover (where I live) that made me laugh even harder. 

Only in Wisconsin…seriously.

May 2, 2009

Even Small Towns Aren’t Safe

A couple days ago we were watching the 10 o’clock news.  “Three people found dead in a Portage County home,” was the top story.

In Nelsonville, Wisconsin, a town with a population of less than two hundred, a man killed his girlfriend and two of their three children.  He then poured gallons and gallons of gasoline throughout the home.  When police entered the home, he was sitting on a chair with his infant child, and both persons as well as the sheriff’s deputies were overcome by the fumes.

This story is absolutely devastating. It’s a case of domestic violence.  It’s another example that this type of violence happens every single day, and women and children are most often the victims.  Small children.  Two and three years old. It makes me sick.

Nelsonville is 15 miles away from my home.  This woman and her children may not be my next-door neighbors, but they were members of my community.  This woman was ending a relationship with her attacker and he killed her and their children.  The rumors around town are flying, the most common one being that he shot the victims and planned to burn the house down.  I can’t even describe how sad and angry I am.

It’s stories like these that make me check the locks in our house two and three times a night.  It’s crimes like these that make me aware of how common domestic violence is, even in small towns.  It’s tragedies like this one, that me me realize that men and women need to be educated on domestic violence.  We need to raise our sons and daughters with the notion that domestic violence will not be tolerated any longer.

I still can’t understand how this man could just take the lives of his children and their mother.  I hope he rots in jail.  I know it sounds harsh, but he deserves a punishment that neither you or I have the right to grant.  I’m not a believer in capital punishment, because I don’t believe any human has the right to play God — but when children are murdered, death is the only punishment for the criminal that seems just.