Exercise your right as a citizen of the United States of America to VOTE!  In Oregon, it is too late to mail in your ballot so take it to a ballot drop box or to your local elections office.

Some businesses are giving away free items to folks who vote — Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s.

Tuesday morning (10/21/08) at about 6:50 am I witnessed a cyclist taken down by a car that didn’t see her.  The cyclist was doing everything right — helmet, lights, etc — but still was nearly hit.  The cyclist was coming down NE Knott and a car coming from a side street to the cyclist’s right did not see the cyclist and pulled out in front of her.  It was a foggy morning and many drivers look for car lights and forget to look for cyclist lights.  I was coming the other direction, saw the cyclist and thought the car was going to pull out in front of the cyclist (and did). The cyclist did nothing wrong and still almost got hit.

Lately the number of articles in the Oregonian about cancer seems to be on the rise. A couple weeks ago there was a lengthy feature about a pregnant woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer, today there was an article about cancer blogs, and there have been many others.

Is the number of articles actually increasing, or am I just becoming more aware of them? Though I am now at an age where cancer is not completely uncommon, I know that cancer can affect individuals at any age. Those of us who are healthy make take our conditions for granted. Awareness is key, and so is involvement. There are countless organizations raising money for research and to increase public awareness of every type of cancer, and similarly, there are countless ways we can help.

The greening of America is big news these days, and Portland is certainly one of the leaders of the revolution. Not only do you hear about the importance of recycling and the pluses of alternative energy, but every day it seems the abandonment of cars for bicycles or public transportation comes up in conversation. It’s great that more people are making an effort to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels, but keep in mind that public transportation, specifically buses, has some drawbacks.

That was quite a heatwave we had here in Portland over the weekend! Even though it has cooled down for now, the issue of window safety is still important. The Oregonian reported that some seven children in the Portland-Vancouver region have fallen from open windows this summer. Many believe window screens provide a safe barrier for their children, but in fact children can, and do, easily push or fall through screens. Others who don’t have window screens think windows are out of children’s reach and thus safe.

We will miss you Daniel.  Our thoughts are with you and your family.   Here is Daniel’s obituary.  His celebration of life is tomorrow at Grant Park from 4-8pm.

July 21, 1983-Aug. 4, 2008

Daniel Clark-Rizzio passed away early Monday morning, Aug. 4, 2008. He was 25 years old and had been living with cancer for six years.

Shortly after graduating Grant High School in 2002, Daniel was diagnosed with liver cancer. Despite this diagnosis and time-consuming treatments, Daniel refused to let cancer dictate how he would live. He did exactly what he wanted to do, on his own terms, and insisted on being treated like everyone else.

Since I don’t know where to post such inquiries (and did put something on Craigslist) I thought I should post the information on the blog for anyone searching for the reunion information.

The West Linn High School Class of 1983 is having its 25th Reunion this Saturday.  Even though we grew up in Wilsonville my brother and I attended West Linn because Wilsonville did not have a high school yet.

Organizers: A few of your classmates! Joanie Kramer, Jane Paulson, Rhonda Coleman, Maureen Schreiber, BJ Mercer
Location: On The Deck Sports Bar & Grill - www.ondecksportsbar.com
910 NW 14th, Portland (Pearl District), OR 97209 US

From previous postings you may know our client won his jury trial against Willamette Dental for damage to his lingual nerve from a wisdom tooth extraction. The trial was in Portland, Oregon in June 2006. Willamette Dental was insured by Fortress Insurance and appealed the jury verdict. The case was argued before the Oregon Court of Appeals by Maureen Leonard for our client and we prevailed. The insurance company tried to get our client to settle for less than 1/3 the verdict and then less than 1/2 the verdict (not including the 9% interest that was running on the judgment). Insurance companies try to wear down clients. Fortunately, believing in the jury and the court system, our client stood up to the insurance company and didn’t blink. Last Thursday, July 31, 2008, over two years after the verdict, our client received a check from the insurance company for the full amount of the jury verdict plus interest.

Text messaging has become an integral and seemingly unavoidable aspect of society. While texting has many benefits, it apparently can be dangerous as well. The American College of Emergency Physicians Foundation recently publicized the hazards of texting and cautioned people to text with care. Teenagers and young adults in particular can become so distracted by texting that they are unaware of their surroundings. The Foundation reported numerous injuries and even deaths resulting from texting. Texting while walking can cause falls or collisions with other pedestrians, bicyclists, or even automobiles, not to mention collisions with stationary objects. The Foundation stresses using common sense while texting and also offers the following suggestions:

Who could imagine that dental care could be hazardous enough to cause death? Though uncommon, apparently there have been enough patient deaths resulting from dental care to prompt the state of Washington’s Health Secretary to ask the state’s dental board, known as the Washington Dental Quality Assurance Commission, to launch an investigation.

The Seattle P-I newspaper first published a story on July 15, 2008, that investigated three patient deaths. The article asserted that the dental board’s investigations of these deaths were inadequate.