By Michael, on September 8th, 2009
Saturday morning brought gales of laughter. The first day of the last three day holiday weekend of summer and it’s raining strong and steady. How Portlandesque. Adding to my glee was the prospect of yard work I was to do, my Labor Day weekend was scheduled to be filled with manual labor. This rain was going to make the digging and sidewalk edging much easier. And so the Labor Day holiday went – yard work alternated with hours of cleaning, organizing and sorting in the garage and basement.
By Sunday evening my muscles were so sore it woke me up at night. How was your weekend?
By Michael, on August 11th, 2009
When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realized that the Lord doesn’t work that way, so I stole a bike and asked Him to forgive me.
By Michael, on August 11th, 2009
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) just released their paper on health care costs for 2009. You can download a handy PDF summary. This material should be required reading for anyone asking “How will we pay for universal health insurance under Obama’s health care proposal?”
The real question is “How can we continue to afford paying more of our Gross Domestic Product than any other industrialized country?” Consider these points about the 30 member countries of the OECD:
- On average countries spend 8.9% of GDP on healthcare
- The US spends 16.0% of GDP on healthcare
- Second place spender France spends 11.0% of GDP
- Among the European Union countries Ireland spends the least, at 7.6% – less then one half the US level
All of the other countries have a form of single payer. All spend significantly less of the GDP than the US. Most have better health (measured by infant mortality and expected lifespand) than the US.
We’re paying more for worse care. How can we afford to keep doing what we’ve been doing?
By Michael, on August 7th, 2009
Steven Pearlstein is fed up with the nature of the health care debate in Washington.
As a columnist who regularly dishes out sharp criticism, I try not to question the motives of people with whom I don’t agree. Today, I’m going to step over that line.
The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they’ve given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They’ve become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.
There are lots of valid criticisms that can be made against the health reform plans moving through Congress — I’ve made a few myself. But there is no credible way to look at what has been proposed by the president or any congressional committee and conclude that these will result in a government takeover of the health-care system. That is a flat-out lie whose only purpose is to scare the public and stop political conversation.
[many examples of the lies and truth]
Health reform is a test of whether this country can function once again as a civil society — whether we can trust ourselves to embrace the big, important changes that require everyone to give up something in order to make everyone better off. Republican leaders are eager to see us fail that test. We need to show them that no matter how many lies they tell or how many scare tactics they concoct, Americans will come together and get this done.
Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform: Read it and think.
By Michael, on July 31st, 2009 At a recent town hall meeting, a man stood up and told Representative Bob Inglis to “keep your government hands off my Medicare.” The congressman, a Republican from South Carolina, tried to explain that Medicare is already a government program — but the voter, Mr. Inglis said, “wasn’t having any of it.”
That nugget comes to us from Paul Krugman at the New York Times. Such is our public debate on health care reform. People love an existing government run health care program. People are adamant that government keep its hands out of their health care.
Well, some people feel that way.
This combination of attitudes – a love of Medicare (people on it are more satisfied than people with private insurance) and a distrust or hatred of goverment programs – has complicated the health care reform debate.
Some people would prefer employers to give cash and let employees buy insurance on the open market. That, it seems, is very inefficient in paying for health care.
In the individual insurance market, where people buy insurance directly rather than getting it through their employers, so much money goes into underwriting and other expenses that only around 70 cents of each premium dollar actually goes to care.
If you are an insurance company employee that 30 cents on the dollar keeping you employed is a good deal. [easy for the bank employee to write…]
Krugman concludes with:
To the extent we have a working health care system at all right now it’s only because government covers the elderly, while a combination of regulation and tax subsidies makes it possible for many, but not all, nonelderly Americans to get decent private coverage.
Now Mr. Obama basically proposes using additional regulation and subsidies to make decent insurance available to all of us. That’s not radical; it’s as American as, well, Medicare.
By Michael, on July 24th, 2009
I’m not a very good rider in the heat. I can work up a sweat in the shade going under 15mph when it is under 60°F (16°C) outside. When temperatures rise I turn into a portable salty stream.
Next week it’s going to be over 100 (38°+ C) in the afternoons. This lead to an conversation with a co-worker.
| Rose: |
are you going to be riding in the 100+ |
| Michael: |
Probably not. |
| Rose: |
I was wondering how nuts you were |
| Michael: |
it’s only an hour of riding [my mind was already bending] |
| Rose: |
100+ |
| Rose: |
yuck |
| Michael: |
I might bring in my camelback and load it up with ice. |
| Michael: |
When they’re breaking down the salad/sandwich bar. |
| Michael: |
I’ve riden in 100+ before. It is doable. |
| Rose: |
nuts |
| Michael: |
A camelback full of ice and a bandanna tied to the back
of the helmet. Might even be OK. |
| Rose: |
nuts |
That could work well. A backpack full of ice each afternoon and some portable shade could make the ride close to comfortable. I’ve got to give it a try.
By Michael, on July 24th, 2009
On my ride to work this morning I passed my weight. Yay!
A change this month, since the pounds are starting to come off I’ll base each month’s weight target on my weight at the start of the month.
Weight : 240, measured at work on the doctor’s office scale.
Miles : 244, after the morning commute 255 or more by the time I get home
Making this month extra special is that I didn’t ride at all on the 1st through the 12th. The first three days were “relaxing” after hitting weight day on June 29. The next week I got caught up in following the Tour de France and telling myself I couldn’t be late for work so I “had” to drive.
On Monday the 13th however I had a doctor’s appointment. My doctor strongly encourages bicycle riding. No matter what I ride to my appointments. Riding one day, or even for 240 miles in June, does not reverse the months off the bike. Dr. Yates and I talked about the higher cholesterol levels and the weight gain. He asked what was going on.
I quit riding consistently.
What do you attribute that to?
It’s the daily decision. It comes down to that ten or fifteen minutes in the morning when I decide to ride or drive.
We talked about the nature of the daily decision and what it was like each day. Then he started in on the big talk.
What you said about daily decision is very prescient [presceint? I've thought about it for years] Because that is exactly the problem. Making the decision now to ride. What happened yesterday doesn’t count. What you plan to do tomorrow doesn’t count. Every morning when you make the decision the decision now is what counts.
This is something alcoholics, recovering alcoholics, know. You have to rededicate yourself every day.
I’ve been riding every day since.
By Michael, on July 19th, 2009
The light is red, so I come to as close to a full stop as I can while staying upright. The plan is to turn right zip down 39th (soon to be César Chávez Blvd.) for a block and turn left onto home street. I’ve been out for an hour and a half of riding on a Sunday morning. Between sunup and the time Jennifer sleeps in to is a marvellous time to ride. It is especially marvellous with temps around 60°F (15°C) instead of the projected 90 (32) forcaste for later today. There’s a baguette straddling the handlebars and a pair of scones in the h-bar bag. I’m looking forward to breakfast with Jennifer. It’s the end of a pleasant Sunday morning ride. A little pause here at the red light and I’ll be on my way.
I look to the left and don’t seen a car coming. I start forward and into the turn and recheck now that my line of sight is better. Oh! Cab coming! Snap! The brake lever bottoms out.
It’s really wonderful that bikes are made with two brakes. I normally use the back one only to trim speed. Now I use it for full stop while I turn into the curb. The cab wizzes by with a honk.
Wouldn’t it be great if all catastrophic front brake failures happened at two or three miles an hour on a flat bit of road in low traffic two blocks from home? This is as good a piece of luck as the bit I had with the flat tire right before the crest of a hill on a street with well tended, grassy medians. The hill with road kill in the bike lane and cars flitting by closely through the S curves. It was great to bomb down that hill with a freshly patched and pumped tire instead of a flat compromising my bike handling.
Good luck doesn’t last forever. I’ll enjoy mine while I have it.
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