Blog Trek

New additions to Blog Trek

Hey there, it's me, Vikk, the one who rarely posts. If you aren't up to speed with all that's going on with our Heather, then you may not know that she had a new book published in 2008 titled ALL THAT GLITTERS. Take a look at the new ferris wheel widget on the side provided by Amazon and you'll find both of Heather's books listed, as well as mine. If you didn't buy her book last year, click through on the cover and do it now.

Now, I wonder what that woman is up to this year?

The Reluctant Voter

I rarely comment on politics, because there are numerous other blogs devoted to the subject, and the comments that my blogs draw are always from radicals with their own agendas--people for whom any view that deviates from theirs is totally unacceptable and to be attacked immediately.

However, on this election day I find myself unable to just accept things the way they are or not to record my feelings.  As I head for the polls, I'm really worried and totally frustrated.  I had no problems working my way through the local measures, nor the local candidates.  Everything was well set out--facts, statements, figures as needed for the bond measures.

What I'm waffling over is what to do with my presidential vote.  No--I'm not undecided because I have no sense, no opinion or no choice.  It's because the choices I have are both scary and marginally acceptable to me under any circumstances.  And not for any of the obvious reasons the radicals are going to be ready to ram right down my throat.

When the election season began, I was completely energized.  Finally, it looked like a woman was going to run for president.  Furthermore, she was a woman I had already seen in action.  A woman I respected and even admired, without having to be in agreement with everything she did, had done or was going to do in the future.  After years of standing on the sidelines, we women had Hillary Clinton.

Then suddenly, here came Barack Obama.  Oprah jumped on his bandwagon.  President Kennedy's relatives jumped, too (and Caroline Kennedy isn't even a politician, political pundit or otherwise has any kind of believable credentials to endorse anyone.)  People went crazy, like he was the newest rock star or movie star.  He apparently got caught up in all this frenzy, too, when he took off on a European tour like he was already The Prez of the US.  He held a giant rally in Germany that left me wondering who the hell was paying for this excess that wasn't going to net him more than a handful of votes from ex-pats and tourists.

The media kept talking about the Clinton Machine (I've never understood that term, except to know it's derogative and condescending) and asking what we would call Bill Clinton if he ended up as First Man in the White House.  Would he change the china patterns?  Would he redecorate?  Ha...ha...ha.

Michelle Obama was brought onto shows like The View, so she could chat about her clothing finds at local stores instead of the designer duds sported by the likes of Cindy McCain.  She showed us that she can't or won't shake hands with anyone in a regular manner, but instead likes to knock knuckles (is she really going to offer that method to heads of state and foreign royalty?)  The media fell in love with her--she was within their comfort zone--they could relegate the woman to the position of supportive spouse in the background, organizer of dinners, defender of her young childrens' privacy (but they could be trotted out with great success in the cute department when needed at the convention.)

Barack proved himself to be a great orator.  John McCain showed himself to be a witty old dude with terrific genes, evidenced by parading his mother, who is over 90, on the campaign trail.  Neither of them seemed to have concrete solutions for the growing disaster of this nation's economy.  McCain's ideas were the more declarative and measurable of the two.  What did Obama stand for?  I tried to watch the debates, but all I saw was a lot of talking around the issues but little that made me feel there was a good grasp on how bad things were economically, how the continuing war was depleting our nation in every way while taking countless of our young people and career military alike.

The only one who had actually made me sure of what she would do for us as President, the only one who even appeared presidential at the conventions, was Hillary Clinton.  She looked at ease in her own skin, her presence was commanding, her pantsuit (which had been a subject of derision, too) was a flawless choice of poise and comfort (just to prove that I didn't only check out Michelle Obama's clothing choices.)

With Obama beating Hillary in the popularity contest the Presidential race had degenerated into, I hoped he would at least pick her as his VP choice.  Whether he did and she refused or whether he just never did because he was afraid her personality was too strong or he didn't want a Clinton or a woman as a running mate, we will never know.  What was certain to me was that with so little experience in the political arena but a well-documented ego that demanded he be recognized as a political force from the time when he was a young man, he was going to have to find someone who could guide him with foreign policy decisions and he was going to be swimming in very deep waters with the stock market tanking, the banking and mortgage industries going belly-up and Bush figuring now was the time to bomb and invade everyone in the Middle East, Pakistan and any other country he didn't like the look of during one of his frequent whims or mental vacations.

So, he chose Biden.  A white-haired white male established part of the political establishment.  The Candidate for Change had picked the poster-child of Politics as Usual.

And then McCain, ever the self-proclaimed maverick, picked a completely greenhorn running mate who is a woman.  Whether it was done to show the Democrats that the Republicans could be edgy or because it was believed that the women shortchanged by the complete lock-out of women by the Democrats would charge over to the Republican ticket just because a female had been put on the ballot (any woman would do for the women voters, because we were shallow feminist cattle) still is an unresolved question for me.

So, as I head for the polls today, I am faced with an untenable decision.  Who do I choose:

A) The candidate who has no experience whatsoever but trails an establishment male behind him to prove he's covered his bases and can reassure us that what he lacks can be made up for by this seasoned politician, even though he's supposed to be the candidate for change (now there's an oxymoron.)

B) The self-proclaimed Maverick who stands for everything I don't believe in, which is epitomized in George W. Bush, who may be end up with the title of the worst president in this nation's history.

C) Completely go the cowardly way by voting Green or Libertarian or whatever Ralph Nader is using as his party this time around.

D) Excuse myself completely by saying the lines are too long?

Yesterday, the morning crew of one local TV station sent a reporter out to the early voting lines.  She assured us that the wait was probably worth it, because in the morning there would be angry people in line at the polling stations.  Is she clairvoyant, or just as sensationalist?

That's another blog.

What time do the polls close?

Catching up and the injustices of the healthcare insurance system

Time I got caught up.  I've been busy with a freelance editing job on a non-fiction workbook, have finally fought my way (pretty literally) halfway through "Rose Tattoo's" revisions and got released by my podiatrist.   All this and working on the day-job, too has kept me really busy.

My next goal, after spending the weekend in Huntington Harbor and watching the rain pour down at my friend, Brenda's home instead of my own, is to register for EPICon and the hotel before the deadline is in my rearview mirror.  I'm looking forward to a break in Portland.  Hopefully the weather will be kind, because the only part of Portland I've seen to date is the airport, and that from the inside of an airplane.

Brenda is planning a trip to Boston in the fall and would love me to go, too.  Could I make this an annual trip, since I managed to go last year?  By the time that season rolls around, I'm so ready to leave the heat of So Cal., I might run all the way to the airport and not check my financial situation before waving cash and/or a credit card.  However, I also have to be sensible (or at least I think I do) unless I want to claim senility and do it anyway.

Talking of senility, I just hurdled my way into another decade, and that gave Blue Cross an excuse, as though they needed one, to give me a substantial rate hike.  Now the agent says there will be abother across the board hike in March.  What are they trying to do--take ALL of my monthly take-home pay that the IRS misses by some fluke?  $621 BC wants per month for the privilege of giving me next to nothing.  Now my feet are fixed, I should be back to my regular, healthy state which requires very little routine maintenance, I'm really glad to say. 

As a matter of fact, BC has been doing nothing for me since a month after my last foot surgery.  Neither has the HMO who is supposed to be well, managing my care.  I have been forced to pay out of pocket for my post-surgical follow-ups, since retroactively being informed that my doctor had switched medical groups. 

I was then given a new MD who had actually retired (the HMO's fault, BC assured me--they didn't keep their list of MDs updated) and then when I was really determined to switch medical groups, I was informed that I couldn't until my podiatrist released me.  The fact that I wasn't receiving any coverage for the podiatry visits, and neither was my podiatrist, did not phase either Eastland, Healthcare Partners or Blue Cross.  They took my high premiums and spent none of the money on my care.  My grievance went to Blue Cross, who informed me that I could not change medical groups, etc., etc., yada, yada, yada.

Now I am completing an application for Blue Shield.  Will they accept me?  Who knows, because the name of the game these days in insurance is "find some reason to reject her, and then do it."  If that fails, then jacking up the premiums until I can no longer afford them is the next best way of not providing coverage.

Who doesn't want universal coverage?  Morons, that's who.

Surviving the Heatwave and other Random Musings

We're being told the worst of the heatwave is over, and the temperatures are dropping.  That didn't seem the case while I was dragging my bag up a hill today in El Sereno at 4PM, but I guess it was all in my mind.

Any drop in temperature will be welcome around here at this point.  Yesterday it was 101 degrees in the shade at my house at 1PM.  By 3PM, none of the rooms was anything better than hot, even with the window units cranking on high, and I was afraid to run too much else in the event I personally was responsible for overloading "The Grid" and causing a blackout in the neighborhood.  Saturday evening there were several flickers in the power, and supposedly the worst of the heat was over for the day when the sun went down.  Unfortunately, the air outside was still unbearably hot.

I just spoke with my supervisor, who said she hasn't been sleeping well, just like everyone else for the last few days.  I went to bed with my air conditioner pumping away for the last 2 nights.  Saturday evening, I couldn't take it and then awakened somewhere around 2AM, turned it off and forgot to open the window.  The dog woke me up at 6AM, panting on the end of the bed with the ceiling fan running over us.  Yesterday evening I again had to turn on the a/c for a couple of hours, and then I turned it off because I'm afraid of what my power bill will look like on the next statement.

People have died because they refused to turn on their a/c units.  One grandson this evening said his grandmother was stubborn and they found her unconscious with the thermometer inside her house reading 110 degrees.  Another elderly couple in The Valley also died with extreme heat in their house and an a/c unit in the window turned off but in working order.  Apparently they were afraid of their bill, too. 

There's only so much heat anyone can take, and I frequently hear as I go from house to house, people who say they don't like air conditioning and won't either have it in the house or if they have it, won't run it.  I always try to educate them that they can put on a long sleeved shirt if they feel cold or leave the a/c on low, but dehydration and heatstroke can lull people into some pretty crazy behavior, and it can happen really quickly.  The other thing I hear frequently is that people say they don't feel thirsty and they don't drink water.  I guess they also think that they can walk on water, too.

And just completely off-topic, I read about a 9 year old boy and a 15 year old who were accepted into college.  The little boy said he is already bored with his classes and that his classmates don't want to play.  I think it's a very hard thing to be a child genius.  Academically gifted far beyond their years, they are at the same time young children placed into adult situations.  They can never fit in as peers, they will never have the full college experience others have, and yet they will never experience childhood as other children do, either.  They straddle 2 worlds and don't fit in either of them.

Sounds like a good plot for a book, but not one that I'm interested in writing.  It would make one heck of an article, too.  But I'm really busy trying to get my blurbs ready for Awe-Struck, finish my book review for Blogcritics and get ready for my vacation next week, all while trying to treat patients and keep my paperwork under control.

Speaking of that, I have a new fax to download, which means making up a new patient file, and 2 discharges to write up, plus I need to make up my patient schedule for next week.  And then there are the 2 bills I originally came back into my office to pay.

Well, I'm not sleeping because of the heat, anyway...

A Disturbing Trend for Seniors?

My daughter forwarded me an article in USA Today about seniors moving to nursing homes in Mexico: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-15-mexnursinghome_N.htm?csp=34&POE=click-refer 

After reading it, I had to think about it for a while, and then several thoughts came to me: 

Why would American citizens feel they had to leave the country to get into nursing homes?  I've got to assume that this article is really only addressing assisted living facilities, which are definitely very expensive in the U.S.  The basic costs only cover room and board.  Having laundry done, vital signs taken, getting rides down to meals, etc., etc. are all extra.  Presumably, because labor is so much cheaper in Mexico, a number, if not all of these extras are included in the base cost.

Are all these seniors completely without family?  Otherwise, why would they want to isolate themselves in a country where English is not the primary language?  Granted, according to the article a number of the staff members do speak English, but with age frequently comes faulty hearing.  This increases the person's isolation and difficulty understanding even those whose English is impeccable.  I know this first hand--I hear complaints about my own accent, which is English from the Mother Country.  I hear people complaining also about caregivers, nurses, etc., etc. who are Latino, Asian, or any number of other ethnicities, and hearing aids don't help.

As people age, their digestions become less and less able to cope with any cuisine that is not within either the bland or habitually consumed range.  One lady is having meals cooked on a hot plate beside her bed.  I ask you--how safe is that?!

There's a pending crisis for the Boomer generation--how to continue living at home with the cost of caregivers, how to pay for assisted living facilities and whether to consider alternative placement, even in a foreign country. 

People are living longer, but not necessarily healthier lives.  Living to 90 or above is becoming more and more common, but let me tell you, most of these people are not able to live by themselves.  Either they are with siblings who are younger, spouses who are either younger, healthier or both, or they are living on the edge if they don't have outside help.  Wearing an alarm that can be pressed in an emergency is one thing, but being able to put together a simple meal, bathing, washing clothes and getting to the doctor are frequently necessities that cannot be performed, but the senior involved won't admit it (my aunt was a good example of that.)

Living in denial doesn't cut it.  Preparing for the future may mean making unpleasant and unwelcome decisions, but anything is better than sitting in the middle of a home that has become a prison, and a confining one at that (split levels, two story homes and those with multi-step entrances,) and trying to exist on Meals On Wheels (cutting back in many communities to only lunch, instead of supplying a sandwich also for dinner) and the occasional delivery from a neighbor or friend. 

Families these days do not remain in the home towns.  They migrate for job opportunities or warmer climates.  They end up frequently states away from the oldest generation of the clan, who cling to the familiar and do not want to uproot themselves for parts unknown when they are in their declining years.  They want to remain with those who know them: doctors, healthcare workers, neighbors and friends. 

Unfortunately, many of these familiar faces will also leave for one reason or another.  Again, my aunt is a typical example--she was living in her same condo for 20 years, but her friends moved away or became too involved with their own families to include her in their visits, phone calls, etc.  And after she became a little confused or forgetful, they may not have had the patience to deal with her mood swings and sometimes, borderline paranoia. 

Her healthcare workers moved or found other positions, so they all changed, too.  She refused to go to assisted living, because she said it was too expensive.  She did not eat the Meals On Wheels that were delivered (her freezer was filled to the top with meals dating back at least 6 months,) and she tried to fake her way through all of it, telling people she cooked an entire Christmas meal for multiple people, when in fact, she could not even bend down to get a casserole dish out of the oven and had to call a neighbor to come over to do it for her.

People have to wake up and smell the not so pleasant sides of their later lives.  But do they really want to do it in Mexico?  And why is it that American citizens feel they have to resort to such radical decisions in order to live decent, respectable and enjoyable lives once they retire?

My Ten Cents on the New Arrowhead Containers

I have now tested a crate of 24 Arrowhead bottles.  It's official--I hate them.  I have always loved Arrowhead water, and I appreciated the (somewhat) lighter load carrying the crate up to my house, but the first time I opened one of them, I took a mini shower.

Although I work in the field and it has been 100 degrees out for a couple of days this week, I don't want to go into a patient's home looking like I'm clumsy and missed my mouth. 

In order to open one of the bottles, the top has to be grasped firmly and twisted, which means the bottle itself also has to be firmly gripped.  When the twist off is accomplished, it's the same as squeezing a plastic condiment bottle--the contents spill out.

While I'm willing to do my part to save the planet, I can't see that bathing in the contents of my water bottles will make that much difference. 

I went out yesterday and bought a 24 pack of Crystal Gyser.  The wheels on my grocery cart buckled on the way up the driveway.  I broke my cart. 

Now I'm going to have to junk it and add to the trash covering the planet.  There's no winning, whatever I do.

An Offense Beyond Comprehension

I just returned from a wonderfully restful long weekend staying with friends up in Spokane, Washington.  It was a little strange, going into stores and restaurants, going for walks and rarely hearing anything but English spoken, after living in So Cal for the last 10 years.

On my return, I started going through my 225 pending emails, and I got to one that made my eyebrows raise a few notches.  There were 2 photos of flag raising at Montebello High School, where the Mexican flag was placed above the American flag, which was also flown upside down.  The second photo shows students waving festive odds and ends while smiling and laughing in front of this incredibly rude and degrading depiction behind them. 

This is a state-run school on U.S. soil.  It isn't the site of a coup or a revolt or anything close to it.  Student protests the world over have shown sometimes ill-conceived plans that border on offensive, but to cheer and advertise the fact that Montebello High School evidently feels it's perfectly reasonable to vilify the country that is paying for the education of these ingrates is past ill-conceived.  Every student in the photograph, and indeed every student on that campus who did not protest this profane act should be expelled immediately.  Quite frankly, I'd like to see them put onto their school busses for one last trip that would send them over the border to the country they appear to revere so much, where they can then spend the rest of their lives enjoying the amenities from which their parents wished to escape by coming to the United States.

No one who doesn't want to be here needs to stay, as far as I'm concerned.  I came here as an immigrant, and although I don't always agree with everything that goes on here, as far as the government is concerned, I certainly am not going to go out and burn the U.S. flag, trample it into the dirt or fly it upside down.  That is ignorance, a supreme act of arrogance and a failure to recognize and be grateful for everything you have been given in the way of benefits from this country. 

I'm appalled, and I hope an exceedingly huge amount of other U.S. citizens are, too.

Using The Media For The Common Good

I have frequently pondered the idiocy of people following what some call "C List Celebrities," but what are really non-celebrities:  people the media have decided to give a spotlight to, for some completely unknown reason. 

Name a few?  Joey The Philanderer and The Long Island Lolita.  Monica L., of "I lifted up my skirt and showed (The Prez) my thong."  Paris "I Want To Try Everything Before I'm Thirty" Hilton.

What in the world makes these people still news-worthy?   (I use that term extremely loosely.)  Is it slow news days, a belief that the public needs a few more dysfunctional people on their radar?  Or is the general public really that moronic, that people with absolutely no redeeming values whatsoever get in the limelight for what may be fifteen minutes of fame, but in reality stretch on for mind-numbing years of exposure on TV, in the print media and the radio waves?

Why in the world would anyone in his or her right mind care that Monica wants to design purses, that Amy and Joey are hooking up again (and thereby showing that ugliness and infantile behavior always belong together,) or that Paris thinks she can sing?

I want substance, and it should be given to all those who watch these non-celebrities and the likes of Jerry Springer, whether they want it or not.  Nothing will elevate the consciousness of the masses like actual celebrities using their clout for the good of mankind. 

I applaud those who are putting their money and their efforts into philanthropic causes, poverty, education, and even saving the hapless dogs and cats in the nation's pounds.

That's newsworthy.  The rest is voyeurism at its absolute worst.

Issues Versus Candidates, Anyone?

It's interesting to see how the media sources are spinning the candidates so early in the election: 

Hillary Clinton is representing herself as, well, a woman.  Duh.  What a surprise.  Now they are talking about how she has softened herself and showed clips this morning of her early days in the White House(when she said she wasn't home baking cookies) and how she is pushing herself as the first female candidate for President.

Rudy Giuliani, who used to be the media darling, and over the weekend was called The President During 9/11, Because Bush Wasn't There in New York, is now suspect because of his marital difficulties/sensations/infidelity. 

Mitt Romney is touting himself as the candidate who will have his wife on his arm, and oh, my, hasn't she been there for more than 30 years.

Barack Obama is enjoying a smooth glide right now.  God help him if he has any skeletons or missteps hiding deep within his closet, because someone will find those and lay them out, hoping to prove that he is not just human, but breakable.  Find a chink in the armor, and close in for the kill.

How many of us have skeletons in our own closets?  We have escapades in our youth we would rather leave well buried.  We have said and done things we're not particularly proud of at best, and secretly horrified about at worst.  Perhaps its easier to ask how many of us DON'T have said skeletons.

Go back far enough, and I bet even good ole Mitt has something in his past.  He used to be a world-class skier, for goodness sake.  He must have had some fun somewhere.  Otherwise, the man is a scary saint, and has no idea of what really goes on in the world.

It's not the scars I mind.  It's not even the scabs.  It's the thought that the only person fit to govern in the White House is someone totally without a history, and without faults.  I don't know where any of the past presidents fit, as they have all erred and been human.

I believe society as a whole loves to bring in someone new, hoping he or she will solve all the problems.  When that's not possible, then finding reasons not to like that person any more is the name of the game, and if the person is destroyed in the process, then so be it.  Out with the old, in with the new.

But the public has to look more carefully before deciding to vote for someone to step into Presidential shoes than whether he or she has been successful in marriage, looks handsome or beautiful, is completely charismatic or even loves dogs, old people and babies.  It's the issues that count, and how those are going to be addressed.  It's the amount of experience being brought to the table, and I'm not talking about just going through the Washington motions, I'm talking about understand the vital differences between domestic and foreign affairs, how to interact with foreign powers and nations, how to balance an intricate budget, how to avoid declaring war without sacrificing strength.

Our Governator had to learn a few things after taking office, and he is a much wiser man these days.  He stopped warring with Sacramento and trying to shake everything up at once.  Change is a good thing, but not everything at once.  Understanding and being able to work with your team is a wonderful gift--much better than any amount of charisma and promises of radical change.

We all want a better life with fewer interruptions, taxes and threats to our lives and personal happiness.

But we had better not be swayed by whether someone is still married after 30 years versus being on their third marriage, by their race or gender, or even their rank inexperience.  We had better think really hard before putting someone in such an important office, and ask whether that person really believes in the same goals we have for our lives, and whether that person has the experience to carry us there.

Last Word on a Travesty

Like most of the rest of this country, and probably some others, I have been watching the incredible drama of the Anna Nichole Smith tug of war between all the interested parties, who seem to have lost sight of the fact that there is a decomposing corpse waiting in a morgue.

The judge who appeared to want to have more than his 15 minutes of fame and turned what should have been a fairly short proceeding into a media circus that dragged on and on; Virgie Arthur, who scrambled to get herself on a plane and profess her love for her daughter, even though they had been estranged for years; the various men claiming to be the father of Anna Nichole's infant daughter, etc., etc., etc.

And when the decision had finally been made, here came Virgie with an appeal.  Funny how relatives react when things aren't going their way.  I've seen it in my own family. 

Was Virgie really thinking of exhuming Daniel's body from its resting place in the Bahamas and having that flown to Texas as well as Anna Nichole's?  Did anyone seriously believe that Virgie just wanted to be able to visit those 2 graves in Texas and cry over the remains? 

And those suddenly so-interested would-be fathers.  Where were they before?  Now that baby stands to inherit a fortune, Zsa Zsa's husband has decided to confess his infidelity as well as at least 2 other boyfriends.

I wonder how these people sleep at night.