I should start by saying that I am a glass half full kind of a person. I sat down to write this post with optimism in mind and list easy, everyday steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint, such as:  unplug your appliances, use cold water (for laundry, not in the shower), keep your tires properly inflated, bring your own grocery bags, etc. But during a twitter distracted moment, I found a link to a website listing the top 100 effects of Global Warming. I started reading down the list. It covered a wide spectrum from animal lives being endangered to the end of good French wine. As I kept scrolling down, my eyes widened and my heart whimpered as I read the words “Say Goodbye to French Fries”. The description read: “Scientists from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research say warmer temperatures are killing off wild relatives of potato and peanut plants, ‘threatening a valuable source of genes necessary to help these food crops fight pests and drought.’” What! I love animals and I am part Italian, so I love my grapes, but Global Warming is threatening french fries! Almost every child old enough to eat solid foods knows the golden arches of McDonalds. You bet they would be unplugging everything in sight if they knew it would save french fries! How many times have you said, “Lets grab a burger and fries”? I bet more than a few. So lets try reusable water bottles and compact fluorescent light blubs, if not for the animals or the grapes or any of the other 97 reasons, lets do it for the fries!

* Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be one of the largest-ever social change events on the web. www.blogactionday.org

* Top 100 effects of Global Warming www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/09/climate_100.html

It felt good to be back at Plains Borough Hospital in the midst of a medical conundrum… but without House?!? When House announced to Cuddy and Foreman that he was quitting, I thought, “What are those writers up to?” Well for one, trying to find House a new hobby. In House’s need for distraction from his leg pain we found ourselves getting hungry in the kitchen with Chef House and his roommate Wilson. As always, the intelligent and witty dialogue between House and Wilson was exemplified in the cooking class scene with House’s adolescent references prevailing. It was refreshing to see that House’s rehab had not taken away his urge to pull practical jokes on Wilson; House just wouldn’t be House if he weren’t obtain dog urine to pass off as his own.

In House’s absents as the head of the Diagnostics team, the trio, Foreman, Thirteen and Taub, show signs of hardship as they try to settle into the new hierarchy. With Foreman at the helm, he and thirteen have issues finding Switzerland in their professional lives, causing road bumps in their personal lives. Can their relationship last like this? I guess that’s what Foreman was pondering too when he fired his girlfriend from the Diagnostics team. Come on Foreman, that’s just cold. And Taub? He tells Foreman that he came to work with House and is leaving the hospital for private practice. Is that his final answer? With all this action about, the writers managed to throw in a dig at Jeremy Piven in reference to mercury poisoning.

As the show came to a close, we found ourselves back in therapy with House who was still searching to find something to hold his interest and his pain at bay. In session, House revealed a reward check of $25,000 for solving the Diagnostics team case from his computer. In revealing his discovery that practicing medicine can squelch his pain, I smiled and thought: He’s back! I can’t wait for next week to watch House take on James Earl Jones.