Well, apparently there are still tribes left in the world that “civilization” hasn’t contacted. This really surprises me. I thought by now, surely, we had done our duty and converted all living humans on this planet to our way of life. What an outrage!

Seriously, this is quite surprising to me and a bit of a relief.

You can read the rather short article here.

This week’s radio podcast for This American Life is all about the sub-prime mortgage crises (or the credit crises as you hear about it now). With all the news in the past year or so about this “crises” I found this more human approach to the topic much more helpful than listening to people argue that “corporations are evil” (aka the evil corporation theory) or “people getting the mortgages need to be more responsible” (aka the stupid people theory). It’s a big mess and has taken me quite a while to have an inkling of what was behind this “crises.” This podcast (originally aired on radio last week) is rather informative and doesn’t really take sides, which is a nice change of pace.

You can stream the show or download the podcast here at This American Life’s website.

I just had this dream. We were all back at the house on Phaedra, the house I grew up in. The house that is now being sold. The family I grew up in was there. Mom, Tim and Lindsey. Richard, Lindsey’s husband, my brother-in-law, was there too. It was normal. We were just talking as usual about nothing. Then my Aunt walked in. My father’s sister, one of three. She smiled and seemed appy, greetnig me with warmth. And then, unbelievably, my Grandmother walked in looking like she did when I was a child. The look is not surprising, but the fact she was walking is. My father’s mother has been partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair for a number of years now. More or less since I have been in Colorado. She was smiling and laughing and moving with such freedom. I kept commenting on how nice it was to see her standing up, waking, and being so happy. My grandfather, oddly enough, wasn’t there.

And then they went to leave. Walking out the front door, we from the house followed to the foyer. As I stepped out the door I could no longer see my grandmother, who a moment before I had seen walking away from me toward the car.

And that was that. It’s easy to wake and think, even now, that she was saying goodbye to me, or I to her. But she is still alive. Or so I haven’t gotten the phonecall yet. Regardless, it forced me to think about what I will remember of my grandparents, who, presumably, are closer to leaving this life than anyone else I love.

My dream was a good representation of my grandmother, if only a snippet. Smiling. Definitely smiling. As a child there was one thing that I always knew about both of my grandmother’s. They were two of the nicest peope I have ever known. I’m sure many grandchildren feel this way, I hope, but my father’s mother was something else. She was always kind and sweet. So much so that my gruff grandfather once mentioned he had met an angel, he had married her.

I think what I’ll take from my grandfather isn’t so much his personality, but I remember, frankly, movies the most. Staying over their house and watching ol’ Clint movies. Kelly’s Heroes. Where The Eagles Dare. Two of my favorites. Two of his favorites. I can’t watch a Clint Eastwood movie without instantly thinking of my grandfather. And in my head, I hear him saying “ol’ Clint.”

Fairly random, yes. I can’t help but feel like I want to be closer to my family. Here in Colorado I’ve done a good job accumulating things, setting a life up for myself, but I haven’t felt like I’ve been living for quite a while. Still searching, somewhat. Mostly passing time. All to find out that I left behind what I truly need most? No, I pretty much knew that leaving. I guess I’m just too damn stubborn and bullheaded to even admit that I may have made a mistake. I don’t believe I have. I don’t think I have, really, but I’ve never once thought of Colorado Springs as my final stop. I always wanted to find that right place for me. It definitely isn’t here, but I cannot help think that it is somewhere closer to home. Somewhere a plane isn’t between hugging my Mother or to see my grandparents that one last time.

Well, in the past, we all assumed that smoking marijuana was just as likely (or more so, if you listened to certain rumors) to give you cancer as smoking cigarettes. Apparently, that’s not true. In fact, marijuana may be a cancer-fighter. While the letter finding isn’t news to me (there are numerous studies going on for this right now), I fully believed that smoking pot was increasing your risk of cancer. Hell, I pretty much think smoking anything equals cancer.

This is one of those times I wish I was in school so I could actually read the published article, but for now I’m stuck with Associated Press releases. Perhaps in the near future I will post up some of the actual findings, not just a summary, but you can check out the Washington Post article here.