That Jar of Evils in Everyday Ramblings

This is the left side of one of the rainbows I saw walking with S on Friday afternoon along the riverfront. I posted the right side shot up on Facebook.

The sky was that glowering green gray it gets sometimes when there is storm activity. We were both geared up and it did rain but not too much so Frieda the poodle had a good walk too.

There is something else interesting in this photo as well. We have this arena that for years was called “The Rose Quarter”, as we are considered the Rose City. Three years back one of our local health insurance companies went through a rebranding campaign and bought 10 years worth of naming rights for the center that is now called “Moda Center” for $40 Million. You can see the sign in the picture.

It is supposed to represent an active lifestyle.

Now Moda, who is my health insurer, is broke.

They say that it is because the government didn’t live up to their Affordable Care Act commitments but one has to wonder based on the locally unpopular decision to help underwrite our local basketball team was, umm, like maybe, a huge blunder.

My employer is helping to bail them out this year but it means significantly higher premiums next year and my health insurance is not cheap, it is barely affordable now. And because I am trapped in a salary freeze, I made less money in 2014 than I did in 2013.

At this rate next year is going to be scary. I am glad I am having the dental work done now. Well, from a financial perspective.

I am not looking forward to getting used to a whole new oral perspective. But my specialist says he is pretty sure that my general health will improve once we get the problem teeth out.

Kes came up and spent the weekend. Today is our older sister’s birthday and we wanted to honor her together. I must say I think the cats were the biggest beneficiaries of this arrangement. :) They love Kes and were able to actually sleep with her.

We had a very relaxing and easy visit. I made slow cooker comfort food and we had lots of fruit (Diego enjoying picking one grape at a time out of the bowl on the table and inventing his own bank shots across the floor.)

Kes came to church with me for the first time ever. It was a good service and our senior minister was all fired up and gave a very inspirational sermon about the state of racism and xenophobia that was very inspirational. This is a man who actually met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a young man at a national Unitarian conference in Florida.

Our minister talked about how maybe we had been riding on the coattails of this dream that love is the answer, because we think of ourselves as virtuous liberal and yes loving people. While in spite of the accomplishments of a few extraordinary people, including our President, people who do not look like those that hold the reins of power are in every way shape and form discriminated against 50 years since MLK first had that dream.

He said it better than me.

He also said we don’t have to do all the work to make the change happen, but we need to do some of it… that was very reassuring and hopeful.

And boy am I glad that when Pandora opened her jar of evils that hope got caught in the lid and was released into the world as well.