Kafka and Healthcare Reform

I finally really understand what "Kafkaesque" means after reading The Trial. While K's tribulations are a bit unrealistic, they are not that far off the mark in some circumstances. Many government (especially pseudogovernment) agencies seem to revel in a similar type of obfuscation, deliberately muddying the waters so that nobody really knows what goes on there. Arbitrariness is the order of the day, with a side order of capriciousness. Accountability is thrown out the window, and consequently, responsibility.

How do we really know what is happening at huge government bureaucracies like the Treasury Department? They can't even account for how billions of dollars of stimulus funds given to banks was spent, let alone the effects of the spending. This kind of lack of accountability is what makes me nervous about rushing through healthcare reform: If this ends up being a huge government boondoggle, who will be the watchdog? Medicaid is rife with fraud, and unless a new public option for those without health insurance is built carefully, we'll see more of the same.

An Interesting Obit

While checking out the Jefferson County section of Ancestry.com, I stumbled upon this neat obituary from around 1910:


At 8:00 o'clock on Sunday morning, just as the day of rest was at its best, a beautiful woman entered into the last sleep to awake no more until the great trumpet sounds, when graves will be opened and the dead shall be raised. It was so calm a passing away that it seemed as though even death itself felt that its victim had already suffered enough, and strove to make the last moment one of joy.

Mrs. xxxxxx xxxxxx, with her husband, went to Dr. Walter Smith's office to have a tooth extracted; the doctor advised doing it under local anaesthetic but she insisted upon having chloroform, saying she had taken it several times and was not afraid of it. Dr. Smith advised against it as being contrary to his best judgement but she was determined and asked him to make an appointment with Dr. Forsyth to administer the chloroform the next morning. At 8:00 o'clock Sunday morning both doctors went to the home and found Mrs. xxxxxx quiet and composed and her husband assisted in the preparation and administration of the anaesthetic. She took it well and by actual measurement required less than one-half ounce by the drop method. The tooth was extracted and [unreadable] to spit out the bloody mucous from her mouth but [unreadable] gained consciousness when the heart suddenly failed and she died despite the efforts of the doctors and her husband to resuscitate her.

Mrs. xxxxxx has been very stout and the heart muscle had undergone a degree of fatty degeneration, which, under ordinary circumstances, was giving no trouble until some unusual strain like the anaesthetic caused it to break down.

In extending our sympathy we can also express the consolation that wife, mother and sister is past all suffering now, and for the first time in a number of years her body is at perfect rest. As to soul, it is well known that everything is right with God. The funeral services were held this afternoon at 2:00 o'clock from the Methodist church, of which she was a member, Rev. B. G. Miller officiating.

Deceased was a member of the Companion Court and Royal Neighbors. She leaves to mourn her loss a husband, mother and father, two sons and a daughter, two sisters and a brother.


You don't see them like that anymore.

The War of the Flowers

I just finished reading this book by Tad Williams and enjoyed it. I'm not a big fantasy fan, but my son recommended it (he reads a lot of fantasy). Without giving too much of the plot away, The War of the Flowers follows the adventures of Theo, a down-on-his-luck thirty year old musician who really hasn't done much with his life. That all changes when he is dragged into events on an alternate Earth that will have consequences for both worlds. As he stuggles to adapt to the other Earth he discovers things about himself that he never could have imagined before, as well as love and friendship like nothing he has ever had.

There is the usual magic (called science), fairies, goblins, nymphs, giants and other beasties you would expect to find in such a book, but the world they inhabit is really not that different from our own - Politics and power, murder, class warfare, even power outages. Theo's great-uncle even makes an appearance on the alternate Earth, but in an unexpected way.

Overall, it's a fun book to read, with plenty of action and a multi-dimensional main character. I give it about a 7 out of 10.

The King Raven Trilogy

I am in the middle of reading the King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead, which is a different way of looking at the Robin Hood legend. Robin (Rhy Bran) is now a prince in the Welsh forest called The March who loses his ancestral lands to a Norman duke and then organizes a band to try to recover his legacy. Robin teams up with many of the usual familiar characters, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and Will Scarlet, to steal from the Norman nobility and redistribute the wealth to the poor of his former lands, while at the same time scheming to oust the hated possessors of his kingdom.

The trilogy is comprised of Hood, which is from Bran’s perspective, Scarlet, which is from Will’s point of view, and finally Tuck, which is the good friar’s account.

They are very fast-paced books, with a lot of action, and are very readable and enjoyable if you like Robin Hood or other stories from the Middle Ages. Each book is around 450 pages long and can be quite easily read in just a few days.

Something to consider on Good Friday

Here are some links to articles about the historical Jesus Christ and the historicity of Christ. There really is little to work with, other than the Gospels themselves, which do provide some compelling evidence about His life.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30034168/

http://www.livescience.com/history/090410-jesus-the-man.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Jesus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Jesus

Most scholars agree that there was a real Jesus and that he was not just a fabrication of Messianic Jews.

Just something to read and think about.

Weekend From Hell

What a weekend we just had! One of those "Murphy's Law"- type weekends where just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

My family had a very busy weekend scheduled, with soccer tournaments and a trip to the SU game on the agenda. My wife and I split things up with me handling the more "local" activities and with her taking the girls to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid for the soccer tournaments.

Getting up to freezing rain on Saturday morning set the tone for what was to come. My son had indoor soccer at 7:30 am at the YMCA and after a slippery 40-minute drive I got him there only a couple of minutes late - Not bad, all things considered. Unfortunately, that would be about as good as things got for the weekend.

While I was dealing with my son's soccer, my wife and daughters (and a friend) headed out for Saranac Lake and a first game at 11:00 am. A 3-hour jaunt got them up there by 10:30 and in plenty of time for that first game. They shouldn't have really worried about getting up there on time, however, as it was a single-elimination tournament, and after getting beaten handily in that first game, they were done playing for the day. Well worth that drive through the freezing rain!

Back at home, my sons and I prepared for an early departure to the Syracuse game, given the weather conditions. Actually, the drive down could have been much worse (as we were to find out later), with crappy conditions only about as far as Sandy Creek, then changing over to only light rain. We still barely made it to the game on time, just getting into our seats at tipoff.

The game itself was the highlight of the weekend, with SU playing one of their best games of the season, against a top-twenty team in Marquette. The only downside was when the drunk guy behind us fell on top of me at halftime as he was heading to the aisle (probably to either buy more beer or take a leak). Luckily, he did not show back up for the second half. Regardless, a 15-point win left us flying high as we left the Carrier Dome back out into the rain. Optimistically, I thought we might have clear sailing all the way home. Boy, was I mistaken.

After stopping for a quick bite to eat at McDonald's in Central Square, we came out to a blizzard - Heavy snow and whipping winds. Great. After leading the pack up Route 81 for a while, I pulled off at Parish to clean off the windshield and to let somebody else lead the parade. After getting back out on the highway I found myself behind a Jeep with his four-ways blinking and I planted myself a little way behind him and followed him all the way to Watertown. In all, it took me almost 2 1/2 hours to get from Central Square back home. And that wouldn't be so bad if that was the end of it, but oh no, to put the icing on the cake we got stuck in the end of the driveway at 10:00 pm with about 1/4 of the car sticking out into the road.

We couldn't very well leave the car like that, so after putting my younger son to bed, my older son and I spent over an hour trying to dig out the car. We tried everything, but to no avail. It was completely hung up and was going to have to be pulled out. We finally gave up and went to bed, exhausted.

Sunday morning, things started out well. I got a hold of a friend who was not only able to pull the car out, but also plowed out the foot and a half of snow that had accumulated the previous 24 hours. Things were starting to look up. Then the power went out.

Not just a little power outage; a downed tree limb or something like that. Rather, a 9-hour outage, with smaller outages during the night. And all this with work and school the next day and with half of my family still up in the mountains working their way home.

Speaking of the ladies - They woke up Sunday morning to an inch of ice on the car and a 9:00 am game in Lake Placid. After getting some assistance from a helpful gentleman, they were able to get into the car and start the long process of de-icing. But wait a minute. Now the car won't start properly. At first, my wife only got that awful "click-clicking" sound you get when the battery has a low charge. Wonderful. After a couple of attempts, though, she got it started and they eventually made it to their game on time.

After a much more successful day of soccer (they made it to the semi-finals), the girls went to head back and it was "click-click" yet again. Once more, my wife got the car started and back home they headed. On the way home they decided to stop and eat in Tupper Lake and when they arrived there my wife called and told me about the problem starting the car, and another problem - Now the car seemed to be idling at very high revs. More great news! I told her to not shut off the car and to head directly back.

I had no problem telling when they got home (aside from the fact that because we had no electricity nothing electronic was running in the house and the entire town was dead quiet). High revs? Holy Crap - How about 2500 RPMs in Park! It normally idles at 700. It sounded like a frickin' jet engine running in the driveway. Everyone was safe, however, and none the worse for wear. A trip to LaFave Auto yesterday put everything right with the car and all is well in the world again.

Wait a sec.......I just looked at this weekend's schedule.

Crap.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I know. I lied.

I said when I started blogging again I would do it on a more regular basis. Hopefully, that will be corrected now. TSO is always a good thing to write about, so I'll begin by reviewing last night's show in Syracuse.

In a word - Different. Not in a bad way, but just a bit different than I expected. Our seats were almost exactly the same as last year: Floor level, about twenty rows back from the stage. Good seats, but visibility was a bit of a problem when you have a guy about 6' 5" in front of you. Next year we might go for seats in the first section up from the floor.

Anyhow, back to the concert itself. Either I am getting older or the band wasn't a loud as in years past. At first I thought it was just me, but other people I talked to after the show said the same thing. Not necessarily a bad thing, because I have come out of the War Memorial before with my ears ringing. Not last night. I do think they cranked it up a notch for the second set, and that was great, since that's when they really rock.

As usual, the performance was very tight. They are so good you would swear you were listening to the CDs. The lighting was spectacular, but sometimes a little out of sync with the music, and I noticed a couple of blown bulbs in the light show, something I had never seen before. A petty complaint, because it's not like it took away from anything.

The first set was the usual performance from Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Always great and a crowd pleaser. A couple of minor complaints about some of the song choices in the second set, though. I preferred last year's Layla to this year's Proud Mary. We were also disappointed by them not playing Queen of the Winter Night - A personal favorite of my family. I also heard a few people outside afterwards who said they regretted not hearing that one too.

Like I said......different. Overall, it was as good as any of their shows I've seen. I was also happy to have introduced TSO to several friends of mine who went to see them for the first time ever this year. Rave reviews all around. I am sure they (and us) will all be back again next year.

Adirondack Painting

We just had our house painted and I can't say enough about Adirondack Painting. They were simply phenomenal. They did everything we asked, and then some. The quality of their work was excellent, and they completed the job in a timely manner. The owner, Gary Galasso, kept me updated continuously on the progress and what they planned on doing next, every step of the way. Before we hired them we checked with other customers, and we did some price comparison. Their price was competitive, and everybody we spoke with gave them high praise, obviously deserved.

Without reservation, I recommend them for your next painting job. Gary can be contacted at (315) 493-6143. You won't be disappointed.