I'm going to diverge a bit from trying to figure out health care and talk about my life. It's time for me to find my own place. A real place where I'm going to live by myself for an extended period of time. YIKES! I've never lived by myself before but I'm actually really excited about the prospect. Scared but excited.
There are a lot of things for me to consider. 1) traveling for work 2) safety 3) price 4) location and 5) longevity.
What I know for certain is that I need a new place by August of 2013 and that I don't know where I'll be working full time until after December 2013. 4 months in a temporary location sounds really exhausting. I've done it before...but do I really want to do it again?
So after some thought, I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to start looking for my dream apartment and of course I turned to the internet for help.
I came across this great article on lifehacker!
Five Best Apartment Search Tools
I'm going to try out the search tools and see if I can find my next home!
The top rated on the blog is MyApartmentMap (don't mind the inaccurate bar chart in the article, just look at the numbers) so I'll start there.
*** Edit***
Just saw another great article on life hacker!
Hack Attack: Apartment Hunting 101
Set up RSS feed on craig's list!! Great tip!!
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
double double toil and trouble
good & bad...how these labels interact and can easily be clouded over by other variables like lust, greed, and gluttony...
Going to in'n'out is a scenario that can illustrate how this phenomena affects my life:
When I go to In'n'out I walk up to the cashier and order a "Double double, no cheese, whole grilled onions, chopped chilies, no sauce, ketchup & mustard instead, protein style." Done! Easy. I wanted a burger, I got a great quality burger that falls in line with my optimal fueling guidelines, at a good price point, the way I wanted it. This scenario is simple, it is a good situation.
Life is good. Then the damn teenager goes and asks me if I would like to add an order of fries. My eyes see the fries, my soul wants the fries, (cue slo mo of salt being rained down on a mountain of crisp goldens), BUT my rational side that protects me from danger says I shouldn't order fries every time someone offers me fries (those polite and evil geniuses!)
Now my simple scenario is complicated because I'm faced with a more difficult choice to make, immediate pleasure (YES PLEASE) or long term health (eh...ok). With the introduction of fries, a new variable has confounded my good situation. Now what do I choose to label as good or bad? How much value do I put into immediate pleasure and how much value do I place on my long term health? Being healthy is good. Fries are good, wait no, fries are bad, good, bad, good bad...ahhhh!!! Mind is blown. Now good and bad become irrelevant and it comes down to what I want? Do I want the fries or don't I want the fries? "Slap them on young grasshopper, Meesus Miyage is going home with fries, animal style."
Everyone has a set of foundational values which allows them to filter the world accordingly. I have my own set of principles, motivations, and desires that let me navigate my life according to how I see fit. Now what becomes of great interest to me is when people in power positions make HUGE & IMPORTANT decisions when their good, bad labels become blurred and skewed by other variables.
For example, the military needed to improve screening of traumatic brain injury due to the multitude of exposure to IED blasts experienced in the ongoing war efforts in the Middle East. They had a good idea, to get a baseline for every soldier. GOOD! But once the process of implementing this good idea began to unfold, other confounding variables started to affect the straightforwardness of the process. The goal was to improve care provided for soldiers that are risking their lives to carry out missions of national importance. (real goal: cover up the asinine treatment of traumatic brain injury in the military in the first place). But then one ineffectual decision was made one after another based on political ties/power structures and profit incentives. Read/listen to how this story unfolded at the following links:
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Square 1: LA County
POPULATION (1)
~Most # of millionaires as well as the most # of people who are homeless
***
Resources:
1) http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County,_California
World 7,044,872,282
U.S. 314,553,796
California 37,691,912
Los Angeles County 9,889,056 (.1% of world population)
retrieved: 00:31 UTC (EST+5) Oct 11, 2012
retrieved: 00:31 UTC (EST+5) Oct 11, 2012
COUNTY VIEW
Major Cities View (google map LA COUNTY)
interesting tidbits from wikipedia
~over a quarter of Californians live in LACounty~Most # of millionaires as well as the most # of people who are homeless
***
Resources:
1) http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County,_California
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Information
Alright, if ya'll know me I'd rather watch Top Chef than do my homework but sometimes I'll get it together. We had a reading assignment before the tour, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid. I highly recommend reading this book. It will answer a lot of questions but if you want some information now, watch this Frontline report, read this Washington Post article and check out this chart.
Highlights:
1) We spend more on health care than any other industrialized nation (15-17% of our GDP) and get the least return on our dollar.
2) We are the only industrialized nation that doesn't offer universal health care.
3) We have the only purely socialized version of health care in the world in the form of our veteran care.
4) We have the highest infant mortality rates in the developed world: "The Infant mortality rate, the rate of deaths per 1,000 live births, remains higher in the U.S. than in most other developed nations. The infant mortality rate in Japan is 2.8. The infant mortality rate in Germany is 3.9. The infant mortality rate in Switzerland is 4.2. The infant mortality rate in the United Kingdom is 5.1. The infant mortality rate in the United States is 6.8."
5) More people die in the US from curable diseases such as lupus and untreated cancers than in any other developed country.
After getting somewhat informed, I still had questions: what will work for America? Do we really want universal health care? If it is really beneficial for everyone AND cost saving for the nation, why are people fighting it from happening?
Highlights:
1) We spend more on health care than any other industrialized nation (15-17% of our GDP) and get the least return on our dollar.
2) We are the only industrialized nation that doesn't offer universal health care.
3) We have the only purely socialized version of health care in the world in the form of our veteran care.
4) We have the highest infant mortality rates in the developed world: "The Infant mortality rate, the rate of deaths per 1,000 live births, remains higher in the U.S. than in most other developed nations. The infant mortality rate in Japan is 2.8. The infant mortality rate in Germany is 3.9. The infant mortality rate in Switzerland is 4.2. The infant mortality rate in the United Kingdom is 5.1. The infant mortality rate in the United States is 6.8."
5) More people die in the US from curable diseases such as lupus and untreated cancers than in any other developed country.
After getting somewhat informed, I still had questions: what will work for America? Do we really want universal health care? If it is really beneficial for everyone AND cost saving for the nation, why are people fighting it from happening?
Seacouver
I was sitting in class one day and I thought to myself, "you know, as a future health care professional I should really figure out the mess that is the American health care system." I had many questions... What are these people talking about?! What is single payer? Is a universal health care system feasible? Is it even a good idea? Does everyone really deserve access to health care? Who should pay for health care? Am I biased about the situation? If I'm biased, does that mean what I'm thinking is wrong? Am I being led to the slaughter? Am I leading myself to the slaughter?...and not enough information. The familiar feeling of confusion and the overwhelming desire to curl up on a couch with a fluffy blanket and a big bowl of carbohydrates began to set in. Where was I even going to begin to figure this one out?
The clouds of confusion began to part and a ray of potential understanding shone down on me in the form of an e-mail about a study tour with the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). I jumped at the opportunity.
The clouds of confusion began to part and a ray of potential understanding shone down on me in the form of an e-mail about a study tour with the American Medical Student Association (AMSA). I jumped at the opportunity.
SeaCouver is a five day program taking place in both Seattle and Vancouver. This study tour aims to educate health professional students on the intricacies of the US and Canadian health care systems going beyond basic facts to delve into the core of the systems and their impact on patients, families, and communities. Participants travel to some of the premiere medical institutions in both countries including the University of Washington and the University of British Columbia hearing from experts in the field and discussing policy. Participants will also visit hospitals and clinics to witness health care firsthand and will later dine with the local physicians and health professional students to informally discuss their opinions on health care. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of Seacouver is the opportunity to interview pedestrians on the street in both Vancouver and Seattle to hear firsthand how their lives have been affected by illness and the health care system, and also their perceptions of the two systems.My experiences on this study tour were illuminating. I'm collecting related stuffs and thoughts in this blog!
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