Yesterday, our daughter woke up with a temperature of 104 F (40 C) and throughout the day she complained of stomach pain and didn’t eat or drink much. By late afternoon, her fever had come down, but she was still not interested in eating and complained of stomach cramps.

The advice nurse and on-call physician indicated that it was probably flu (there’s a nasty bit of that going around right now) but that they wanted to rule out appendicitis. So we bundled into the car and visited the Emergency Room at Mills-Peninsula hospital in Burlingame. Not being a frequent visitor to ERs, I hadn’t realized how much they are used. And this one seemed to have a disproportionate number of solo seniors; that is to say, very elderly people with no personal escort of family or friends. In one instance, a taxi dropped off a clearly ill gentleman who had to be helped into the ER.

While it wasn’t a scene from a movie where there are bleeding people with body parts hanging off and fluids oozing all over, it was a brisk night. We made it in around 6:30 pm and checked-in. We then waited for about 30 minutes until a very nice nurse performed initial triage and recorded vital signs and administered some children’s ibuprofen. After that, we had another few minutes before the admission and insurance procedure; my daughter thought the plastic bracelet was cool at first. But that didn’t last.

After another 30 minutes or so they moved us from the waiting room into a small room inside the ER where a series of nurses, physician’s assistants, and physicians visited periodically over the time of our stay collecting more information and specimens culminating in a diagnosis that wasn’t flu and wasn’t appendicitis, but another treatable infection. Thus armed with a prescription for antibiotics we went to the local 24 hour pharmacy to acquire the treatment and headed home where we arrived about 12:30 am.

The points to this story? One, the Mills-Peninsula staff is really fabulous. They treated our daughter and us as parents with respect, dignity, and a sense of humanity. Two, sometimes an unexpected diagnosis can occur and it’s worth getting defects/symptoms checked out. And finally, with the health care crisis we’re facing in this country, we don’t often hear about the plight of these solo seniors, let’s not forget them as we change the system.

All in all, while it was a long process, I’m pleased with the outcome.

It has been over a week since the incident involving the US Air flight over New York in which all 155 humans were recovered from the freezing water. However, as depicted below, the geese still are in the dark about the fate of their family members….Prominent Goose spokes-bird Gary Goose is quoted as saying “Honk, honk — HONK, Honk, honk – honk – honk.” The Goose whisper indicates that the translation of this is “The FAA has done nothing for us and we’re considering a civil suit against alleged ‘hero’ Captain Sullenberger.” Neither the FAA nor Capt. Sullenberger were available for comment.

HT: Bruce

As previously stated, because I’m lucky enough to have a job, I didn’t get to see the inauguration. But I did read the speech and I have to say, I’m glad that our new Chief Executive struck a serious note, called for unity, called for sacrifice and service, and began to conjure the right tone and attitude that will be required to fix this mess we find ourselves in.

Aside from the mention of god a few times and the religious palaver, it was a good speech and I did particularly appreciate the reference to “non-believers” in the text.

One other fear I have, the government can provide some framework and catalysts, but after that, it’s up to us, the citizens and residents to take the initiatives forward and to their conclusion. I’m not interested in a government that necessarily does more, I am interested in a government that is efficient in what it does and helps us take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.

All things considered, it’s a good start – let’s get to work Mr. Obama. Let’s get to work Legislators. Let’s get to work fellow Americans. The time is now.

I didn’t see the ceremony mind you, unlike many Americans, I’m still lucky enough to have a job that requires my attention. But, this is pretty much like I imagined the religious part of the ceremony…

Well, it’s here. The inauguration. And while I’m very excited to have regime change at home (of the orderly sort) I fear this entry will rain on many people’s parade (so to speak.)

It’s clear our new President is bright, driven, and capable. He has admirable views and challenges us to be better people. I like that, very much. However, I think that many are losing sight of three vital facts about the man and the situation:

1. He’s just one human – You can’t expect just one human to do super-human things. He’s not a god. He’s not a super-hero. He’s a smart guy who can hopefully help lead us out of the myriad messes we find ourselves in.
2. He’s a politician – Even in the short time we’ve seen him on the national stage, there are signs of it all over. FISA, Rick Warren, you name it. To be a good politician means compromise. For those thinking we’ve got a new ballgame in town, just wait, he’ll be more moderate and centered than you think. Even so, the rabid dogs on the right won’t acknowledge that.
3. The country is in big trouble – Arguably, no President has taken over a bigger mess since FDR inherited the Depression from Hoover. In fact, in our household we characterize it as a “shit sandwich.” The actions required to recover from this set of problems may well serve to make Mr. Obama a very unpopular President. However, seeing items #1 and #2, he may compromise on what really needs to be done to secure his second term.

What to take away from all this? Mr. Obama’s inauguration along with the seating of the new Congress gives us a chance. Let’s hope we don’t see it frittered away. Hope was the platform that got you into office, let’s see it translated into meaningful and pragmatic action in foreign policy (end the wars,) energy policy (let’s give up foreign oil,) and economic policy (fix the basic problems of overspending on things with zero benefit.)

Now that you’re taking the mantle, I will be every bit as hard on you Mr. Obama as I have been on your predecessors. The free ride is over. Now, convince me that we really need to spend $825B more…..I wish you well selfishly, because I’d like to wish us all well. Good luck, you’ll need it.