That's it, it's official. I'm now an Arizonan (again). My car is registered and my license is brand new. And get this, it doesn't expire until 2034!

Go Cats!

The fun thing about reading the recent whitefont here, as someone who watches ER maybe twice a season, is having it confirmed that it really is a soap -- I missed 99 percent of the arcs mentioned, and the show STILL makes sense when I turn it on. (I am mildly sad to read about some of the deaths, though. They killed Carter's baby with the African woman?)

I don't ask for too much reality on serial TV.

Allyson's link makes me worried, not because I'm a smoker, but I'm afraid that if they make smoking a legitimate excuse not to hire someone, what will stop them from moving onto the obese? Or the diabetic? Or the asthmatic? Not that they hire too many obese people now anyway, but at least it's not a legally permitted bar to hiring.

I'm an obese smoker. I am so totally screwed.

the problem is people that you've already hired. for example, I am clinically obese according to some charts. However, I can count on one hand the number of times that I've been to the doctor in the past year. I know skinny people with more health problems than me.

I know skinny people with more health problems than me.

Pointing fingers is RUDE.

I know it, Vortex! Out of my coworkers just in my aisle, and not including absences due to families' illinesses (which was quite a few for the past year for everyone else except for me), one slender lady was out for over a month with a back problem, my boss has a chronic heart condition, and another was out for a few weeks with migraines. But, if the average person took a look at everyone in the aisle, they would most likely pick me out as the highest absentee due to illness just because of my weight. Instead, I was the only one out of the group to lose sick/vacation days at the end of the year because I ddn't take them all.

Have they factored the costs of retaliatory workplace arson into these "forcing employees to quit smoking will save money" scenarios?

Yeah. But do I want to work here for the rest of my life? The rest of the year?

They start firing people for obesity, and my workplace would be but good and empty, starting from the execs down.

I'm not sure I need to punished for my genetics. ( You don't get diabetes if it isn't in the genes- unless you lose or damage your pancreas)

or that someone needs to be fired for non-work habits /ways of living that don't effect productivity.

I've always been very healthy. this year I was sick for a month and a half. I missed 4 days of work. Mostly trying to keep my germs home.

I just reread Vortex's post. Even with being that sick and diabetes I have been to the doctor 6 times this year(2004). 3 were regular planned checkups.

I am more expensive than I used to be, but not nearly as expensive as other people I know that don't have chronic diseases, but just happen to get sick a lot.