I like travel

I like travel. I like going to different places, and staying at a hotel. It can be nice. Getting away from the daily responsibilities at work can be nice some of the time. Previously, we've been to Orlando, and stayed at a few different places near there, mostly to do Disney. Frequently, we would choose not to stay over, and make to trip back and forth. But Hotel hopping at Disney can be kind of fun. There are different restaurants near the different Disney properties, which is interesting as well.

I like food. I like the tastes, smells. I like a couple of the "better" grocery stores around. We pretty much enjoy the Publix Greenwise Marketplace, near the trendy neighborhood of Hype Park in Tampa. Last night we picked up some meals from the butcher shop, mostly just meat prepared, ready to be stuck into the oven.

We also have done the Fresh Market near Dale Mabry and Fletcher, which has some other pre-packaged meals waiting to be heated. I picked up some Thai Noodles which was surprisingly good. I thought that it might have been trickier eating, considering I am just about one and a half weeks following some oral surgery, crown lengthening, in preparation for some extensive crowns. Youtube has videos of many things. I wouldn't suggest looking for videos of crown lengthening procedures prior to having it done. The pain medications are okay.

I guess the big thing they worry about is the healing processes. Making sure the surgical site (mouth) doesn't get infected, injured.

I've found a few hotels here in Tampa with restaurants that have some nice things on the menu. I like the French Onion Soup at Mangroves at Embassy Suites on USF's campus. I've also found French Onion Soup at Crisper's (salad place) was pretty good as well.

Travel should be fun moving forward.

Affordable Care Act

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/09/19/health/the-high-costs-of-complexity-in-health-care-reform/?ref=HealthBox I get that healthcare is a big complicated mess. I get that it can be expensive to pay for health care services. I'm not sure that there is an ideal solution. I don't know that people who are unemployed will be able to afford even co-payments for doctors visits, and stuff like that.
I get that part of the reason that people go into Medicine for a career is so that they can get a pretty good job, and hopefully help others to live healthy productive lives, by encouraging the use of some medications to treat some conditions. Encouraging people to stop smoking, and not drink as many alcoholic drinks if one wishes to live a long life.
Some diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, come from eating too much.
There are still some people who choose to live in situations which are likelier than not to lead toward an earlier death. Many forms of drug addiction might fall into this category. Those who don't have a stable mailing address are perhaps also more problematic to engage with.
I don't think that the current proposal to defund the package of the affordable care act is particularly beneficial to those who are seeking to do so at this time. The fact that it was written and passed through congress is in and of itself impressive. If the republicans want to reduce funding provided for implementation, they can probably do that, but to try to eliminate the funding is silly.
Congress should pass bills, which keep parts of the federal government running. I believe they may have done so with the department of defense, but I don't think the other departments have had their funding levels approved. Which to me seems kind of odd.

Promising Events

Promising Events.
So much in life is lived with a hope for a better future. Trying to become part of that brighter future, for many probably is a big reason to continue. At work, there was a big innovation submission idea program, which used a lot of technology to accept ideas for proposals aimed at trying to improve efficiencies, and trying to improve conditions and help with cost containment.
I submitted an idea about trying to improve the communication between management and employees through greater use of blogs and whatnot, but what was really exciting was seeing a proposal from one of the R&D guys about trying to make use of Google Glass with some of the TBI folks to determine if it can help with way finding and situational awareness. Naturally, a goal would be to help increase the speed of community reintegration.
I engaged the R&D guy in some e-mail communication, and he's a big wheel in the organization, so I was curious as to why the suggestion was made, and he told me that as an administrator, he doesn't do research, the proposal would need to come from a researcher, and be peer reviewed and funded.
As I think I can see the value of the google glass proposal, I also recognize that the costs of the devices are likely high, but I'm just a consumer electronics guy looking at things, not really thinking about the quality of life improvements that could be made. How to justify quality of life improvements on in terms of rehabilitation potentials.
As a rehabilitating TBI survivor type-of-individual, I think it's an awesome idea. I am a big advocate of making greater use of technologies to improve Quality of life measures.
I've wanted to get involved with some of the stuff at work, but as work is, my supervisory chain of command can't allow me to do other stuff. Oh well. It is interesting to be aware of other things happening in rehabilitation spaces.
I like being employed. Contributing to the operations of the computer department by processing laptops is pretty good.

Chinese Tourists

Chinese Tourists.
I was reading, and I came across this from the NYTimes:
To judge from the grumbling across the globe, such guidelines may be necessary. But the greatest opprobrium seems to be coming from fellow Chinese. In May, a mainland Chinese tourist in Luxor, Egypt, discovered that a compatriot had carved his own hieroglyphics on the wall of a 3,500-year-old temple. “Ding Jinhao was here,” it declared. A photo of the offending scrawl spread rapidly on Chinese social media, and outraged citizens tracked down the 15-year-old vandal. The uproar subsided after his parents issued a public apology.
I'm sorry, but to me that seems pretty funny. I'm sure that the archeologists weren't appreciative of the vandalism. Still, it is a little bit humorous. Imagining the Chinese characters alongside the hieroglyphs.
I realize from our visits to other natinal parks, and have been scolded against taking souvenir rocks from death valley, or wherever, "Imagine what would happen if each of the tourists took a rock." A similar thing could apply to Chinese graffitti.