The Things on My Mind

Yeah, so I ended up doing the one thing I didn’t want to do: I started a blog and then left it sitting idle for months. So here I am, recommitting myself to posting. I’m not setting as schedule for myself (although I probably should) and I’m not planning on rethinking my overall philosophy of why I’m doing this. I guess I’ve actually read/saw/heard a few things recently that I want to talk about.

First, it’s been an up-and-down time for President Obama. The latest flare ups revolve around health care, the economy, and whether or not he’s a participant in a 48-year long conspiracy to subjugate the electoral process and impose a Stalinist dictatorship on these United States. That last one doesn’t require much thought really so we’ll leave it behind, except to say read this to see how all three of the above could plausibly tie together. The economy is showing signs of not getting worse as fast as it had been. The stimulus has been taking effect slowly but surely and there’s some light at the end of that tunnel, even if it ends next year. The biggie right now is health care reform.

Now, I can understand how some people with vested interests in the status quo (your insurers, your pharmacuetical companies, your lobbyists) can have issues with how the Obama administration is going about changing how health care money is doled out. I can even understand when progressives say that the proposals out there don’t go far enough and that it should be a single-payer system or bust. The thing I just don’t understand is how many of those would benefit are the loudest ones saying “Don’t do anything with my health care!”. People who are either afraid of the government doing anything for them (unless it’s defending our borders or, you know, actually providing them health care). People who are (in most cases) simply repeating talking points or just looking to disrupt the proceedings where there should be open debate. In my opinion, reform is necessary and single-payer systems make a lot of sense but I’m always willing to listen to the other side. But when the other side spends all its time shouting down reasoned arguments and spreading lies*, they’re giving up a lot of credibility.

OK, on to more personal matters of health care. I’ve taken up running (not quite at a regular schedule but enough to say I “run”). Luckily I convinced my wife to join me in this quest so at the very least, I’m not lonely while I’m doing it. I’ve also started a diet (again it’s only day one). It’s called the Shangri-La Diet and I’d been kicking around the idea of it for a while. And by “kicking it around”, I mean “reading about the diet on a few blogs letting the book sit on a counter for a year and finally opening it this past Saturday”. It seems strange but hopefully, having something to report on will get me posting again.

A few other random thoughts to close this out:

• I’m trying to be more organized. I picked up this notebook from Muji. I think I like the idea of a cool notebook more than actually noting things. Any suggestions on how to get that changed around?
• I broke down and reinstalled PokerStars on my computer. I don’t play for real money since it’s just inconvenient enough to get money on there but I’ve been spending my time playing the 8-game mix with decent results. Just trying to round out my game. I’m playing in a home game in a couple of days so hopefully, there will be something to report.
• I went to the eye doctor for the first time in 11 years today. It was just like I remembered: dimly lit and involved sticking things in my eye, which I still don’t like. But the drops he gave me should help and he was a nice guy so maybe I’ll go back. Especially since he employed the scare tactic of telling me about someone who nearly lost an eye because they didn’t go to the eye doctor on a regular basis. Sometimes I am, in fact, a eight-year old.

OK, my wife has pointed out this has gone on for a while. I’ll wrap it up and say that there will be more to come and soon!

* I’m totally going to steal the idea of using a dialogue as a blog post