I've said that I enjoy reading the thoughts of Neo-Neocon, even though I frequently don't agree with them.
"This is part of a pattern I’ve noticed in the Obama administration, that of distrusting those with hands-on experience in a given field in favor of smarty-pants generalists with no track record—such as Obama himself."
Smarty-pants, indeed. Damn book-larnin'!
I find it distressing that even the bright opposition drops to this level, though it does tend to explain why people like Limbaugh are popular.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Dental? Elemental
The highlight of my dental appointment this morning was seeing their new computerized Xray imaging system, which, in addition to your traditional 'xray', can take a 3D CT scan -- meaning that he can zoom in on specific implants, rotate them to look at them from all angles, and slide up and down to see how they're placed in my jaw. It was very cool.
As for the checkup itself, it was okay. Things are not perfect, but they're 'good enough'. In two weeks, we get another look.
As for the checkup itself, it was okay. Things are not perfect, but they're 'good enough'. In two weeks, we get another look.
I'm President, And You're Not
At a meeting with senior bankers, Obama kicks ass and takes names. I like it.
Chaotic
It's been intermittently raining heavily here, and the people are moving slowly. My daughter groggily asked to sleep another ten minutes, and I gave her twenty, driving her in (and following the school bus just about all the way, too). My wife decided she would take a shower while we were gone; I returned to find her still in bed, though she staggered out a little bit later.
While we were eating breakfast, she handed me a check that I'd sent to the local hospital, which had returned it with a note to the effect that this had already been paid. Which it had, but since I'm not in the habit of just sending them money, this means that they sent me two bills, and, like the well-trained doobie I am, I just paid them, no questions asked. Nice work if you can get it.
Interesting New York Times article about the slow death of voice mail systems. Ask not for whom the beep tolls....enter your code...press pound sign.....
Damned Blogger spell checker is being coy again - drops down, blip, gone again. Whereas the 'hide' taskbar in XP isn't -- you have to tap it to get it to go away again.
My left knee occasionally hurts. I am trying not to be paranoid about it. Good luck with that.
Not thrilled with the 'Obama bowing to the Saudi king' deal. I thought we didn't do stuff like that.
I was dismayed by the comments yesterday regarding Verizon's customer service level. Not surprised in the least -- when was the last time that a large company cared about that? -- but dismayed. I suppose it's the Reagan view of customer service -- that customer service is best which is invoked the least. And if you make it sufficiently awful, people will avoid it. After all, there are so many alternatives to the big boys in the telecommunications market.
An article in yesterday's Washington Post mentioned that the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel had offered the opinion that legislation granting DC a voting seat in the House of Representatives was unconstitutional -- whereupon the Attorney General asked the Solicitor General's office for their opinion. They obliged by saying that it could probably be successfully defended in court. If Bush had done that, I'd be outraged. As it is, I'm just mildly disappointed -- guys, is this acting ethically?
This morning I get to go see the oral surgeon. I assume he'll nod and smile, right up to when I ask when I can start wearing - and eating with - the interim dental appliance again. Then it'll be frowny face time.....
While we were eating breakfast, she handed me a check that I'd sent to the local hospital, which had returned it with a note to the effect that this had already been paid. Which it had, but since I'm not in the habit of just sending them money, this means that they sent me two bills, and, like the well-trained doobie I am, I just paid them, no questions asked. Nice work if you can get it.
Interesting New York Times article about the slow death of voice mail systems. Ask not for whom the beep tolls....enter your code...press pound sign.....
Damned Blogger spell checker is being coy again - drops down, blip, gone again. Whereas the 'hide' taskbar in XP isn't -- you have to tap it to get it to go away again.
My left knee occasionally hurts. I am trying not to be paranoid about it. Good luck with that.
Not thrilled with the 'Obama bowing to the Saudi king' deal. I thought we didn't do stuff like that.
I was dismayed by the comments yesterday regarding Verizon's customer service level. Not surprised in the least -- when was the last time that a large company cared about that? -- but dismayed. I suppose it's the Reagan view of customer service -- that customer service is best which is invoked the least. And if you make it sufficiently awful, people will avoid it. After all, there are so many alternatives to the big boys in the telecommunications market.
An article in yesterday's Washington Post mentioned that the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel had offered the opinion that legislation granting DC a voting seat in the House of Representatives was unconstitutional -- whereupon the Attorney General asked the Solicitor General's office for their opinion. They obliged by saying that it could probably be successfully defended in court. If Bush had done that, I'd be outraged. As it is, I'm just mildly disappointed -- guys, is this acting ethically?
This morning I get to go see the oral surgeon. I assume he'll nod and smile, right up to when I ask when I can start wearing - and eating with - the interim dental appliance again. Then it'll be frowny face time.....
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Bother Me Not
We're contemplating switching from Comcast for cable/Internet and Verizon for phone to Verizon for cable/Internet/phone.
The driver is price; we pay about $140 a month now for all three, and Verizon will charge us $100 for it, plus give a $150 rebate. Comcast offers all three, too, but their price is $114 for a year, and $130 after that.
Going with Verizon means having to change email addresses; it also means getting converter boxes for the two TVs. We have a second phone line; if we chose to keep it, we'd pay extra for it, though we don't know how much.
Going with Comcast means possibly having to change phone numbers, and saving less money.
We're leaning toward Verizon, even though their marketing stinks; the letter says call between 8AM and 12AM (ie, midnight), but calling at 8PM gets you a robovoice that says Ain't nobody here, Bill. We want you, but we don't want you that much.
The email name switch thing makes me think again about hiring an email forwarding service. Apparently, if you want to do that using your own domain name, you - surprise- need to buy the domain name, and pay for it every year. You also have to find a service to do the hosting/forwarding, and do it reliably, using decent spam filtering and god knows what else.
This makes my head hurt. My touchstone is that I only want to go through such a conversion once. Actually, I don't want to do it at all, but the idea of saving about $500 a year, even if its only for one year, is goodness.
But I want someone else to take care of it.
The driver is price; we pay about $140 a month now for all three, and Verizon will charge us $100 for it, plus give a $150 rebate. Comcast offers all three, too, but their price is $114 for a year, and $130 after that.
Going with Verizon means having to change email addresses; it also means getting converter boxes for the two TVs. We have a second phone line; if we chose to keep it, we'd pay extra for it, though we don't know how much.
Going with Comcast means possibly having to change phone numbers, and saving less money.
We're leaning toward Verizon, even though their marketing stinks; the letter says call between 8AM and 12AM (ie, midnight), but calling at 8PM gets you a robovoice that says Ain't nobody here, Bill. We want you, but we don't want you that much.
The email name switch thing makes me think again about hiring an email forwarding service. Apparently, if you want to do that using your own domain name, you - surprise- need to buy the domain name, and pay for it every year. You also have to find a service to do the hosting/forwarding, and do it reliably, using decent spam filtering and god knows what else.
This makes my head hurt. My touchstone is that I only want to go through such a conversion once. Actually, I don't want to do it at all, but the idea of saving about $500 a year, even if its only for one year, is goodness.
But I want someone else to take care of it.
File Hippo
File Hippo tells you about downloadable freeware. It has an optional package to put on your desktop which will scan your PC, and tell you if it has software to replace or upgrade software you have on there now. Looks pretty good, I'm thinking.....
Arch Comments
I have always enjoyed 'good' architecture. I'm sure that people who do it for a living have ways to differentiate good from bad -- uh, Bob? Isn't there supposed to be a .... roof? -- but for me, its just whether I just like looking at it. When I realized that I was lingering over the webpage for a specific firm, I thought why am I so fascinated with this? And the answer was obvious.
Some of their work --
Some of their work --
Choices
I was looking at the RSS reader, and two new articles popped up -- one from the White House Blog on Obama's trip, and one from a baking web site on a recipe for muffins. Hard choice.....
Spaced
Last night, for a while, I was more of a space cadet than normal. I think it was the drugs.
I normally take long-acting insulin before I go to sleep. That stuff kicks in slowly, and works over a lengthy period. By contrast, I take fast-acting insulin about half an hour before I eat. It works in about an hour. The quantity of long-acting that I take is about six to twelve times higher than the fast-acting.
Last night, I think I took the correct amount, but I took it of fast-acting rather than long-acting. Two hours later, my blood sugar level was headed for my socks. This morning, its value looked like the national debt. Which means I'm in for about five days of having to watch it very, very closely. Because in five days, I have the recurring appointment to get the quarterly blood check.
Oh, joy.
I normally take long-acting insulin before I go to sleep. That stuff kicks in slowly, and works over a lengthy period. By contrast, I take fast-acting insulin about half an hour before I eat. It works in about an hour. The quantity of long-acting that I take is about six to twelve times higher than the fast-acting.
Last night, I think I took the correct amount, but I took it of fast-acting rather than long-acting. Two hours later, my blood sugar level was headed for my socks. This morning, its value looked like the national debt. Which means I'm in for about five days of having to watch it very, very closely. Because in five days, I have the recurring appointment to get the quarterly blood check.
Oh, joy.
Crime Pays
"Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens vindicated as feds drop case"
Course, no such vindication occured -- it was proscecutorial incompetence that rendered the whole effort irreparably tainted -- but you can bet that this is how that sleazemaster will play it. Argh.
Politicians.
Course, no such vindication occured -- it was proscecutorial incompetence that rendered the whole effort irreparably tainted -- but you can bet that this is how that sleazemaster will play it. Argh.
Politicians.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
April Fool - That Would Be Me
I was grousing to my wife this evening about the performance of a fund in which we're invested. "Seems like it's always going down", I said. My wife pointed out that the market's been terrible, the last six months, and I said "The fund's been lousy for way longer than that". We dragged out the statements, and I saw where it had peaked at the end of 2007, and had been going down since the first quarter of 2008. "This fund is broadly invested in growth stocks that are in the Dow "she noted. "Why don't you look at the Dow's overall performance for that period?"
So I did.
Oh.
So I did.
Oh.
Better Than You Found It
When I worked at EDS, the local managers had (for a while) a drive to make things better. It was well-intentioned, but poorly executed.
A major part was putting a slogan in big letters on a wall, saying something like Working Today For A Better Tomorrow. When I would see that sign, I occasionally wondered why it was never a better today. One of the managers tried to promote the slogan 'Make It Better Than You Found It', which is an admirable goal, though that effort bogged down, too. In fact, the whole experience was a microcosm of something that I've noticed before -- when you read about things like that working elsewhere, it almost seems pre-ordained. Of course it will work, of course we will join together in common purpose. Its when you get up close and personal, trying to do it yourself, that you find the grottiness of it - find that, for example, that while the guy who's the facilities manager is in favor of improving the availability of conference rooms by keeping a master schedule, and not allowing reservations more than a week in advance, he's also in favor of keeping one room off the schedule -- which room just happens to be right next to his office; when you find that while one guy is in favor of removing hassles in the workplace, his idea of hassles are 'things that bother him', whether others are troubled by them or not. All that people seemed to really care about were the things that affected them. It was very difficult to get a unifying vision, to think past the daily routine.
One thing that I took away from that period, though, in readings that I found, was the idea that it is possible to do things better, even in places where you might assume that the way things are is the way things are. When I read about post offices where they occasionally decorate the building, or put out cookies for customers, I think Gee, what a nice idea. When I read about school district offices that make a point to answer the phone cheerfully, I think Gee, I wish ours did that. I don't have a Grand Unified Theory as to why things like that work, though I suspect they're because people at the grunt level, or just above, wanted to do it, not because some pooh-bah up in Corporate said to do it. The grunts came up with the idea, and they made it work.
So when I was thinking the other day about my experience as a Judge of Elections, I found myself wondering: how can I make that a better experience for the people coming? How can I exceed their expectations?
Part of it will be better crowd control: we're going to lay out the tables differently, so that there's only one line, and so that the longer line is in front of the table; if you want to bug out and come back later, you can. But that's really a benefit for us, running the place -- it doesn't make the voter's life any better. So I thought Cookies? Well, yeah, maybe, except that the church that owns the hall sells food -- I don't think they'd look too kindly on the competition. What about information about the ballot and the candidates? The voting office hands those out; so do the political party volunteers. Valet parking? Um...maybe not.
Surely there must be something!
A major part was putting a slogan in big letters on a wall, saying something like Working Today For A Better Tomorrow. When I would see that sign, I occasionally wondered why it was never a better today. One of the managers tried to promote the slogan 'Make It Better Than You Found It', which is an admirable goal, though that effort bogged down, too. In fact, the whole experience was a microcosm of something that I've noticed before -- when you read about things like that working elsewhere, it almost seems pre-ordained. Of course it will work, of course we will join together in common purpose. Its when you get up close and personal, trying to do it yourself, that you find the grottiness of it - find that, for example, that while the guy who's the facilities manager is in favor of improving the availability of conference rooms by keeping a master schedule, and not allowing reservations more than a week in advance, he's also in favor of keeping one room off the schedule -- which room just happens to be right next to his office; when you find that while one guy is in favor of removing hassles in the workplace, his idea of hassles are 'things that bother him', whether others are troubled by them or not. All that people seemed to really care about were the things that affected them. It was very difficult to get a unifying vision, to think past the daily routine.
One thing that I took away from that period, though, in readings that I found, was the idea that it is possible to do things better, even in places where you might assume that the way things are is the way things are. When I read about post offices where they occasionally decorate the building, or put out cookies for customers, I think Gee, what a nice idea. When I read about school district offices that make a point to answer the phone cheerfully, I think Gee, I wish ours did that. I don't have a Grand Unified Theory as to why things like that work, though I suspect they're because people at the grunt level, or just above, wanted to do it, not because some pooh-bah up in Corporate said to do it. The grunts came up with the idea, and they made it work.
So when I was thinking the other day about my experience as a Judge of Elections, I found myself wondering: how can I make that a better experience for the people coming? How can I exceed their expectations?
Part of it will be better crowd control: we're going to lay out the tables differently, so that there's only one line, and so that the longer line is in front of the table; if you want to bug out and come back later, you can. But that's really a benefit for us, running the place -- it doesn't make the voter's life any better. So I thought Cookies? Well, yeah, maybe, except that the church that owns the hall sells food -- I don't think they'd look too kindly on the competition. What about information about the ballot and the candidates? The voting office hands those out; so do the political party volunteers. Valet parking? Um...maybe not.
Surely there must be something!
Baking? No...I don't think so
But it was a close call.
A few minutes ago, I read a blog post wherein the author spoke about having made a 'baked chocolate fudge'. I'm not a big fudge eater -- just a microbite wipes out any hope of controlling blood sugar for a couple of days -- but still, it is food porn, so I read it....and started daydreaming. Well, I could make just a little....maybe my wife would take the rest in to work. But I was strong, said No way, Jose.... and then I noticed a comment to the effect of 'is this crumbly fudge?' Oooh, I thought. Now, I do like crumbly fudge. It has the same effect on me, but still.... so I find this recipe, and looking at it, I'm thinking that there is no way I will make this, I'd have to bathe in insulin just to offset it.....and then I notice that off to the right, they mention Dark Chocolate Fudge. Oh, hell.
I'm going to go read Audacity of Hope for a while, in the hope that the cool cerebral quality will get this fudge out of my mind.
A few minutes ago, I read a blog post wherein the author spoke about having made a 'baked chocolate fudge'. I'm not a big fudge eater -- just a microbite wipes out any hope of controlling blood sugar for a couple of days -- but still, it is food porn, so I read it....and started daydreaming. Well, I could make just a little....maybe my wife would take the rest in to work. But I was strong, said No way, Jose.... and then I noticed a comment to the effect of 'is this crumbly fudge?' Oooh, I thought. Now, I do like crumbly fudge. It has the same effect on me, but still.... so I find this recipe, and looking at it, I'm thinking that there is no way I will make this, I'd have to bathe in insulin just to offset it.....and then I notice that off to the right, they mention Dark Chocolate Fudge. Oh, hell.
I'm going to go read Audacity of Hope for a while, in the hope that the cool cerebral quality will get this fudge out of my mind.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wired
It appears that we can do what we wanted to, with the lamp post, and it won't be too difficult. No digging, no punching cable holes, none of that.
We just replace the existing light switch with one of a two-switch set from SmartHome, and then put the second switch anywhere -- we'll likely put it just inside the front door. That switch will wirelessly communicate to the first one, letting us control the lamp post light from the entryway, rather than having to go downstairs to switch it on and off. About the only odd point is that the wireless switch runs on batteries. Course, given that the transmitter will only be used four or six times a week, I'd imagine they'll last for a good long while.
Neat.
We just replace the existing light switch with one of a two-switch set from SmartHome, and then put the second switch anywhere -- we'll likely put it just inside the front door. That switch will wirelessly communicate to the first one, letting us control the lamp post light from the entryway, rather than having to go downstairs to switch it on and off. About the only odd point is that the wireless switch runs on batteries. Course, given that the transmitter will only be used four or six times a week, I'd imagine they'll last for a good long while.
Neat.
Dicky
When I was in high school, I bought what was called 'a dicky'. I put it that way because I have no idea what they're called now, or even if they're still sold. It was, essentially, the top of a soft wool turtleneck -- from about three inches into the 'shirt' part, and up. I got it because I was under the impression that wearing one would render me hip, slick, and totally desirable. I didn't yet understand the concept of a 'lost cause'.
Last night, we were going to go out for a walk when I mentioned to my wife that I hoped it wouldn't be windy. The temperature was cool, but not bad, unless the wind whipped up. I didn't want to layer up or wear a scarf, because it wasn't all that cold, otherwise. What I need, I said, is something that's light and protects my neck, without being particularly bulky. Do you still have that dicky? she asked. I gave her a blank look. I have no idea, I replied, and then went off to finish getting dressed. When I came back, she had it, and I put it on. Throughout the whole walk, I was amazed at how warm it kept my neck. I mentioned more than once how glad I was that she'd thought of it.
And I think I look cool, too.
Last night, we were going to go out for a walk when I mentioned to my wife that I hoped it wouldn't be windy. The temperature was cool, but not bad, unless the wind whipped up. I didn't want to layer up or wear a scarf, because it wasn't all that cold, otherwise. What I need, I said, is something that's light and protects my neck, without being particularly bulky. Do you still have that dicky? she asked. I gave her a blank look. I have no idea, I replied, and then went off to finish getting dressed. When I came back, she had it, and I put it on. Throughout the whole walk, I was amazed at how warm it kept my neck. I mentioned more than once how glad I was that she'd thought of it.
And I think I look cool, too.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Booked
I like to read, I really do. But there are times...
I've been reading Tales of a Female Nomad; I've been reading The Audacity of Hope; I've been reading a New Yorker article on the Iraq war (thats one of those I'll just print this off and read it later things); I've been reading about the concept of Patient Navigators.
Last night, we went to the local college's book fair, and I picked up six books -- including one that I leafed through, said Huh - I'm surprised I haven't read this one, got home, opened it, and recognized the scene - dammit! I put the books next to the five I've been meaning to get to any day now...
So when the opportunity to read something with dinner comes up, do I take one of these eleven? I do not. I grab an old mystery and read that. It's comfort reading. It makes me feel like I'm keeping up with the stuff I intend to read real soon now.
But not right now. Because, that stack? It's a little overwhelming.
I've been reading Tales of a Female Nomad; I've been reading The Audacity of Hope; I've been reading a New Yorker article on the Iraq war (thats one of those I'll just print this off and read it later things); I've been reading about the concept of Patient Navigators.
Last night, we went to the local college's book fair, and I picked up six books -- including one that I leafed through, said Huh - I'm surprised I haven't read this one, got home, opened it, and recognized the scene - dammit! I put the books next to the five I've been meaning to get to any day now...
So when the opportunity to read something with dinner comes up, do I take one of these eleven? I do not. I grab an old mystery and read that. It's comfort reading. It makes me feel like I'm keeping up with the stuff I intend to read real soon now.
But not right now. Because, that stack? It's a little overwhelming.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Em...Urrr...
I''m usually up for some casual reading on the subject of Electronic Medical Records. I emphasize the casual; I'm not looking deeply at it, because a) I'm not very good with details unless I work at it, and b) I don't do this for a living - it's just an interest of mine. The current writing in Musings of a Distractible Mind suit that bill (and this Bill!) because there's detail, but not a lot of it. It's more an overview, with thoughts.
He makes the case that implementation of an EMR is not impossible, and that it can be done without impact to the functioning of a practice provided it is done carefully, with an eye toward function rather than implementation : "Probably the main lesson we learned is to put office function ahead of implementation. Since we are a business, we must stay profitable while implementing. Since we are practicing medicine, we must never compromise quality in the process. This meant that we implemented over time, focusing on parts that would either improve our process or at least not bring us down." This is a detail that processes which are driven by software types tend to miss. We like software; we can't imagine that there isn't anything wrong with a process that can't be fixed by the application of mo'bettah software. (Dilbert: "We like databases.") Business types struggled for a very long time to tame this attitude, and subject software to the needs of the business. They're stilll fighting that battle today; likely always will.
Having successfully implemented, though, he now finds his multi-doc practice in an interesting area - they can begin to daydream what else could be done with EMRs. He wants to do two things -- improve the quality of customer care (sorry; I have this thing about calling the people who bring in the business as 'patients') while maintaining or expanding the efficiency of the business. He wonders, for example, if he can expand the access of the customers to digital information, letting them update some of it as needed, passing others to staff or doctors for information and/or resolution. Could he have kiosks in the waiting room where people can, if they wish, write down their medical condition, answering some common diagnostic questions along the way (I immediately think: artificial intelligence?) so that the doctor can scan these prior to entering the examination room, and be already thinking about them.
It's an interesting article.
He makes the case that implementation of an EMR is not impossible, and that it can be done without impact to the functioning of a practice provided it is done carefully, with an eye toward function rather than implementation : "Probably the main lesson we learned is to put office function ahead of implementation. Since we are a business, we must stay profitable while implementing. Since we are practicing medicine, we must never compromise quality in the process. This meant that we implemented over time, focusing on parts that would either improve our process or at least not bring us down." This is a detail that processes which are driven by software types tend to miss. We like software; we can't imagine that there isn't anything wrong with a process that can't be fixed by the application of mo'bettah software. (Dilbert: "We like databases.") Business types struggled for a very long time to tame this attitude, and subject software to the needs of the business. They're stilll fighting that battle today; likely always will.
Having successfully implemented, though, he now finds his multi-doc practice in an interesting area - they can begin to daydream what else could be done with EMRs. He wants to do two things -- improve the quality of customer care (sorry; I have this thing about calling the people who bring in the business as 'patients') while maintaining or expanding the efficiency of the business. He wonders, for example, if he can expand the access of the customers to digital information, letting them update some of it as needed, passing others to staff or doctors for information and/or resolution. Could he have kiosks in the waiting room where people can, if they wish, write down their medical condition, answering some common diagnostic questions along the way (I immediately think: artificial intelligence?) so that the doctor can scan these prior to entering the examination room, and be already thinking about them.
It's an interesting article.
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