iPod morning commute music: The Rolling Stones, Singles Collection, The London Years, discs 1 & 2 (1989)
A great 3 disc box set, this has every single, A & B side, the Stones released in the 1960s. While the A sides can be found elsewhere, the B sides are hard to find apart from this collection. Really cool stuff.
This morning, as I left my car in the parking lot and began walking to the station, I found myself looking back to check if I'd turned off the lights. It seems a silly precaution; once, just after getting married, I left my headlights on in the morning, went to work, and of course came home to a dead battery. Ever since then, I daily check the lights as I leave the parking lot, even in summer, in broad daylight. On those rare occasions when I don't check, I find myself worrying about it all day. This can't be normal.
I guess a lot of us worry about these types of little things: locking the front door, turning off the gas.
Tomorrow I have my annual health check-up, done through my village. For the princely sum of $17, they'll run me through a battery of test, including chest and stomach (eck! Barium!) X-rays. This type of health care, availabe to everyone in Japan, is one of the main reasons I'm beginning to realize I can't retire full-time in the States: I just don't have health insurance there.
Anyway, like I worry about the stupid headlights, I worry about my weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and all the other tests they'll run on the two vials of blood they'll draw tomorrow. But at least I'll feel better knowing I checked.
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3 comments:
Good grief, Craig. Am I the only one who comments on your blog regularly? Actually, I find it a nice way to have a pseudo conversation with you. Unless you're coming to the states this next summer, probably won't see you for awhile.
I agree with you on health care in the states. It's gotten worse, not better, with insurance companies holding patients and, in some cases, doctors, hostage. I could relate several horror stories that I know of personally. I suspect everyone knows several. These aren't "friend of a friend" urban myth types, but personal experience and/or the direct experience of close friends or relatives. Until or unless the system gets fixed, things will only get worse. When you compare healthcare in the US to that of other industrialized countries, we are woefully behind. If you look at only materal and natal deathrate, we rank we third-world countries in many cases--far behind the low rates of Europe and Japan. Disgraceful, I think.
Well, my personal good news is that though my finger ended up very bruised (I'll probably lose the fingernail), it is not broken. It's still sore, but starting yesterday, the swelling had reduced from the whole hand being swollen to mostly just the finger. I could do some limited typing, but it was still quite painful to do so. Today, I find I can type again with only some minor discomfort. I was extremely thankful for a couple of days that about 90% of the tasks I need to do on the computer at work are mouse driven, as the injury is on my left index finger, and I use the mouse with my right. Tell Alicia I can sympathize with her injury. My son, Aaron hyperextended his middle finger on his right hand (he's right-handed) as a teen and ended up breaking it. He didn't just have to have a splint, but actually had to have a cast on his arm. What a pain! I don't think a cast has been invented that won't itch!
Take care, Craig, and good luck (have fun?) with your tests.
S
Yes, Susan, apparently so. I think most people don't read blogs on a daily basis (I don't, but I'll read yours if you start one!), but rather log in once a week or so. I appreciate the fact that people are reading, that you are commenting, and that others put in the two cents worth periodically.
If I tell you that I am coming to the States this summer, will that mean you'll stop commenting?
Concerning health care, I just read in this morning's paper (Saturday morning, 5:45 here in Japan) that the current Japanese health care system works like this: Those people under 70 pay 30% of their medical bills (this includes dental work, doctor visits and hospital costs that aren't cosmetic in nature; for example, a crown on a tooth made of metal is covered, but if it's made of porcelain I would have to pay 100%); those over 70 pay only 10%. The government is trying to increase the percentage paid by the elderly, but are meeting resistance as most elderly are on a fixed pension.
Finally, concerning the States, it is disgraceful that more money per capita is spent on medical care, yet we rate behind more than 20 other countries in, as you noted, infant death rates. Also, it is awful what health insurers can do in America. My own parents no longer have dental coverage: Their provider just decided to cut that little benefit from their health care package 5 years after my father retired FROM THE MINISTRY (the Christian thing to do!).
Need I rant on?
C.
I'll still comment, even if you are planning on a stateside visit this summer. I couldn't meet with you the last time you came because that was the summer I had to babysit my then 79 year old mom who was recovering from cancer surgery. Hopefully, that won't be a problem again.
The insurance companies are the only ones winning the healthcare game in the US. I know my mom also has neither dental nor optometry, even with a fairly good supplemental policy. I think her policy pays a small amount toward glasses--like 50 bucks for both frames and lenses. Ever know anyone over the age of 60 who doesn't wear glasses, unless they are totally blind?
Ridiculous!
I guess this is my way of engaging in online chatting without doing so in realtime. That's probably why I check in and comment daily. Besides, your's is the only blog I read, anyway!
S
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