Enter the Cyber Era

I went to my primary care physician today.  Since I have used them, maybe starting 2006 or 2007, they have had an electronic medical record.  They would print up a report on my report, so I had a copy of my record.   I liked that.

More recently, they have been able to electronically send my prescriptions to my preferred pharmacy. I like that!

Today, I set myself up to participate in their patient portal:  They will send me an email so I can access information about my visits.  I can email them for appointments, refills, and to ask questions.

They gave me options re: hard copy and letters (which is what they did in the past), text, voicemail and email. Email makes so much sense to me.  I am delighted with this new service.

I have not had a primary care physician I like this much since in the late 1970s.  Only then, they were called family practice doctors.  Things sure have changed.

Problems at Work

I had two very difficult situations at work this week, that I needed to deal with. I did not dive into them headlong, but spend some time thinking about them, and planning strategies to hopefully make them better.

I will tell you that that worked. I used to be the kind of person who dived headlong into a situation or problem. Now, I am the kind of person who thinks it through, does all of the preparation work, and then, dives in.  While I am doing the preparation work, I am chomping at the bit to dive in. But I restrain myself, telling myself how much better things are, when I have prepared properly.  I really believe in the value of preparation vs. unplanned action.

Random Thoughts

Maya Angelou http://mayaangelou.com/ died May 28, 2014.  I was going to write an entire blog about her, but realized that would be hypocritical.  I knew of her. I have read some of her poems.  I have watched her interviews and poetry readings on TV. But I am not well versed regarding her life, except to know that she was involved in the civil rights movement. I have told myself several times in the past that I want to read her best known work:  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  I have put it off, sometimes, because I think it will be emotionally difficult.  But, I did put it on my reading list.

There was yet another mass shooting this week, this time in Santa Barbara, California.  The perpetrator, Elliot Rodger, was known to have mental health problems, and left video evidence of his pre-meditated act. Some of these have been removed https://www.youtube.com/user/ElliotRodger, because of their content. I saw one on TV. It was sick.

The father of one of the victims spoke out regarding these episodes, and that we need to be proactive to stop this horror https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u38LLKgp_f4.

The last time there was a mass murder, I contacted my Congressman, Randy Naughebauer, and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.  The responses I received were non-descript.  In other words, they were not concerned about gun control or improving mental health services.

Texas is a law and order state, a state's right state, a personal firearms state, and a state that does not believe in spending money for mental health care for the low income/indigent population. Our current governor rejects Federal money: not for economy stimulation, not for medicaid expansion, not for anything. (I resent this: I continue to pay my Federal taxes, but my governor prevents me from getting maximum return on my investment. When I tell Governor Perry supporters my view point, they are astounded to realize what they are missing out on!  Duh!  They are so blinded by states rights, that they do not see what benefits they lose.)

Once again, I will contact my representatives and express my concern about these issues.

Depending on where you are in West Texas, the rainfall amounts we have received since last Friday are from 3 to 5 inches. This is a blessing for farmers, especially dry land farmers. This rain did not dispel our drought/water restriction problems. But, it did help the fireworks vendors, as they may be able to sell fireworks without concern for a ban. This is a big industry for July 4th.

President Obama addressed the graduating class at West Point today. http://www.usma.edu/parents/SiteAssets/Graduation%20Activities%202014.pdf. or http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/05/28/america-must-always-lead-president-obama-addresses-west-point-graduates One of my coworkers was present. Her nephew was graduating. What a thrilling experience that must have been.

We have been blessed as a nation:  A civil rights activist died today, but the President addressing the United States Army Military Academy (West Point) is a man of color.  While he generally does not use the presidency as a bully pulpit, he has let it be known what it means, telling the general public, that to be a black man who might be "profiled" by police when a crime has been committed causes much anxiety, fear, paranoia, and concern that his rights will be violated.

The reality is this could happen.  Our law enforcement people do over react sometimes to race, color, gender. Our law enforcement people are put on the line, over and over, asked to make split second decisions, so many of their decisions should not be second guessed.  But sometimes, once a suspect is subduedand in custody, thingshappen, and our law enforcement officers need to be second guessed.

Memorial Day, and Honoring Our National Heroes

This was on PBS on Memorial Day:  http://video.pbs.org/video/2318014363/  If you did not see it, it is well worth watching.  It talks about how there was not a way to bury and acknowledge the war dead during the The War Between the North and the South (I purposefully chose not to call it the Civil War or the War of Northern Aggression), and how, out of that grew the national recognition we now have for our veterans, deceased and serving.

Amazingly, but understandably, the recording, remembrances, and honoring of the dead was most attributed to the slaves and freed slaves. Honoring the dead, black or white,  was more important to them than to the Anglos at the time.  Also, it was due to the hard physical labor of the blacks that the bodies of the deceased were dug up and re-interned or otherwise recognized.  We had much to learn from the culture of the Afro-Americans, even then, that we ignored.

But this time resulted in the establishment of National Cemeteries.  And the acknowledgement of the war dead as national heroes.  President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm contributed so much to this recognition.

I agree with my niece it would be nice if we did not have to recruit and send our citizens in harm's way for the protection of our country.  Sometimes, as with the Native Americans, our efforts have been less than honorable.  Yet, also look at how many Native Americans have served the greater good of this nation.  Sometimes, with our more recent wars and conflicts, we have been the aggressors, often in an attempt to keep the aggression off our continent, or so we think. Do you want more attacks like the ones on the World Trade Center? Or the Pentagon? Or the airplane over Pennsylvania?

Although I would like to not have a military force and see us send our citizens in harm's way, I am a realist, and I am not sure that is possible.  And, harm's way can be recovery and rescue missions in the face of other types of tragedy as well as war: natural disaster, internal disruptive incidents of horrific result.  And, I am glad those forces are there to help when these incidents occur.

I am not ashamed to thank people for their military service on behalf of our country.  I also thank policemen, firemen, EMTs, and corrections officers.  We do not appreciate how important that is. I called the fire department a couple of years ago: At about 10 PM, my furnace motor burned up, and I was concerned that it might have started a smoldering fire in the heater closet. 911 dispatch  told me to vacate the house, and sent 3 fire trucks.  The firemen swarmed through my house, checked the heater closet, the pump outside, the electric line connections, the roof, the back yard, the fuse box (I had to go back inside to show them where it was) and the attic.  I apologized for the false alarm when nothing was found.  They told me they would much rather I call before I had a problem than wait till I woke up in the middle of the night with a problem. I took that sincerely.  I did not get a bill.  

Local police, county, state and national police (FBI) are the equivalent of the military forces in our country. What would happen if we had none of that in place, last year, on April 15, 2013, at the end of the Boston Marathon.  How do you prevent further destruction?  That broke my heart.   

We do not want to put lives on the line. But the reality is, lives are constantly being put on the line. Sometimes it is military, sometimes it police, fire, EMT.  Sometimes it is people who work on ambulance services, helicopter ambulances, and even teachers and social workers.

What I came away within from watching this show is that we are a nation that has learned a very difficult lesson, and have had to learn it more than once, that it is very important to acknowledge, recognize, honor and revere our public servants, no matter what role they have. We have learned to acknowledge them by monuments, cemeteries, ceremonies, rituals, medals.  Most recently, our communities have reached out and are starting to acknowledge them by special programs, services, and commerical and business options. 

Also, most recently I am aware of the scandal of the problems in the Veteran's Administration regarding of the veteran's health care system: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/05/15/a-guide-to-the-va-health-care-controversy/.  I do not know the truths of the Veteran's Administration Health Care System.  I want to believe it is well intentioned. But this is not the first time the VA has had a black eye regarding veteran's health care. Note this story about Veteran's Health care in 2003 http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/05/25/loc_VAhealthcare.html.  The point is we constantly need to strive to be sure that our Veterans receive the benefits and assistance they truly deserve.

And, I am so proud that this is a part of our national heritage.  I am not familiar with other countries. I wonder how this is handled in other countries.  It may be better, and we may have more to learn from other countries.  It is my dearest hope we are doing everything we can to help and acknowledge our service providers.

Weather Radio

I have a weather radio.  I was checking the settings a while back, and thought I had it set up so I would hear the emergency weather and Amber Alert announcements.

But, for the longest time these past few months, it never made a sound.  That has been unusual in the time I have owned this radio. Well, a few days ago, it went off.

And, today, it went off.  We are under a tornado watch. Which basically means that the conditions are right for tornadoes to develop, there was not one currently in existence in our area.  The probability of tornado activity is low. But there.

It was bright and sunny earlier, but with clouds in the sky.  A while ago, the rain started, and it has become a harder rain. The thunder is fairly constant.

The rain is hard enough that it is causing some satellite interference in the television reception from the cable company. 

The local information is that we are almost "caught" up with rain amounts for the year. 

Memorial Day Commemoration

I went to the Memorial Day Service at the City of Lubbock Cemetery http://www.kcbd.com/story/25611710/memorial-day-service-to-be-held-at-city-of-lubbock-cemetery. There were 3 ceremonies at 10 AM today, and a Catholic Mass at 11 AM.  It is unfortunate they plan the ceremonies to conflict with each other, but it is good that there are plenty of options for people to attend.

The crowd was small today.  That may be a function of the other available options.  I think it may also have been a function of the overnight rain, and the continued rain clouds in the sky.  People in West Texas do not do rain well. 

The ceremony was brief.  A prayer, the posting of the colors, "The Star Spangled Banner", the Pledge of Allegiance, the featured speaker, who was on an Honor Flight, closing remarks, including recognitions, and the singing of "God Bless America."  The group was invited to join in, and we did.

The rains was noted as a blessing.  Veterans and their families were recognized.

I am watching the Red Sox vs. Braves on TV.  At 3 PM, Eastern Time, the game was halted for a moment of silence, and a commemorative video, per order of President Obama.  I thought it was a nice touch.

I will watch the Yankee vs. Cardinals game next.  

It is pretty out: grey, cool, but nice.

Memorial Day

I watched the National Memorial Day Concert http://www.pbs.org/national-memorial-day-concert/home/ on PBS tonight.  This was a very good but very emotional event.  The stories of surviving families, and veterans who survived or died in service were shared.  There was good music, appropriate patriotic music, and the rendition of the Services Medley always hits me hard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L9g1n25HdY.

So, I cried through much of this concert.  And, I had cried through much of the movie I saw earlier today.  My jaw was very sore by the end of the concert, a function of how I hold my mouth while I cry.

The tears are sad, happy, proud.