I love the New York Times, perhaps an unhealthy amount. If the NYT were a human male, I would totally marry it and have it’s very fair, high quality - yet ever so slightly liberal - babies. Or, in my case, date it for about 7 years and have it’s babies while cohabiting. Semantics.

However, it really busts my buffers when a stupid story makes it to the top of the NYT’s “Most Popular” stories list. I have to wonder (again): What is wrong with people?

The second most popular story right now is entitled “10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List.” It sounds like a pretty interesting, albeit vague, topic and hey - everyone likes a numbered list, right? So I perused this story. Number One was “Killer Hot Dogs.” Apparently, we don’t have to worry about nitrates anymore, contrary to all the hype. ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘that seems like good news. I’m glad I read that!’

And then it deteriorated from there.

Here are the Top 10 Things we no longer need to worry about (according to John Tierney):

1. Killer hot dogs
2. Planet-destroying A/C
3. Forbidden fruits from afar
4. Carcinogenic cellphones
5. Evil plastic bags
6. Toxic plastic bottles
7. Deadly sharks
8. The Arctic’s missing ice
9. The universe’s missing mass
10. Unmarked wormholes

You know, NYT, it really is okay to stop your list at 6 or 7. Please, humor me with a show of hands. Who out there is losing sleep over the Universe’s Missing Mass? And Unmarked Wormholes? I don’t know what that even means!

See, I’m worried about the economy. And how we’re going to fund the war in Iraq and how destabilized the world has seemingly become. Oh yeah, and things like whether I’ll have enough money for retirement and whether I will ever be able to afford to buy a house. I guess those are items we unfortunately can’t scratch from our collective worry list.

Oh well, at least I don’t have to worry about those pesky wormholes anymore.  

Dear God,

I know I proclaim not to believe in you. And while that is true, I hope you can overlook this small infraction, should you in fact turn out to be true, and help me. Please. (I would have added a “for the love of God” to the end of that, but I don’t know what your sense of humor is like.)

You see, a while ago you blessed me with a sweet, easy going baby boy who would happily and quietly drift off to sleep each night. Well, that boy is two years old now. And while he is still sweet and easy going, no longer does he drift off to sleep. Now, it takes anywhere between 2 - 3 hours from the time I announce “Bedtime!” to when he actually falls asleep.

First, we sit on the floor in his room and read a couple of stories. Then I put him in his crib and he reads quietly with his light on. During the next hour, he calls me back in, with every excuse in the world to come out.

“I need more apple juice.”

“I got an owie.”

“I need to change my diaper.”

“I need another book.”

“Mommy pick an engine.” (We play a game where he tries to guess the engine from Thomas and Friends that I am thinking of.)

The list goes on and on, God. Finally, I tell him enough is enough and he needs to go to sleep. (This is usually around 9:30 pm.) Realizing I am serious, he breaks into tears, which usually persist, on and off, for another hour or so. Finally, around 10:30 pm, Gavin *finally* falls asleep.

Two hours seems like a long bedtime ritual. How does he still have energy? His dad and I can barely keep our eyes open, but Gavin is going strong. Any chance you could help a tired, atheist mother out and return my easy-to-sleep baby to me?

Sincerely and tiredly,

Erica

Twenty years ago, Type 2 Diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure were virtually unheard of in children. Today, hundreds of thousands of American youngsters are being treated for these problems, which are byproducts of obesity. And they’re being treated by prescription medications usually reserved for adults.

I understand the seriousness of these problems and I fully support treating them, even in young children. But I think it is positively asinine to use medication to do so. Yes, some people have genetic predispositions to weight gain and its associated complications. More people, however, simply spend too much time in front of their XBOX and not enough time exercising. They eat processed foods and they live sedentary lifestyles. It makes me really angry when parents are too lazy or stupid to do the right thing for their kids and give them healthy foods and the encouragement to be active.

From the NYT:

Some experts have expressed concern that the increases in many of these obesity-related drugs reflect a systemic failure, with doctors and parents turning to them because they find lifestyle changes too difficult to implement or enforce.

You think? I mean, how hard is it to shut the TV off every once in a while, cook some veggies and lean meat, and encourage your kids to make the choices that will benefit them for the rest of their lives? Or, are we that lazy as a society that we’ll look for whatever quick fix there is, even if it’s not with the best interest of our children in mind?