Wednesday, March 29, 2017

LAZY DAY REMINISCENCE -- BETRAYALS

BETRAYAL OF ONLINE PRIVACY 

My online privacy has been betrayed by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. The ultimate betrayal will occur if President Trump signs their bill as he is expected to do.  No longer will Internet service providers be required to get my permission before collecting and sharing/selling my data.  Will voters remember this betrayal in 2018 and 2020 elections?


BETRAYAL OF EARTH'S HEALTH

Earth's health is betrayed by President Trump  as he rolls back climate regulations and protections causing the U.S. to be more dependent on polluting fuels affecting our water, air and climate making my children, grandchildren and me more ill.  Will voters remember this betrayal in 2018 and 2020 elections?


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Recently I came across this draft I wrote six or eight years ago but never posted here.  I decided to share this then fond reminiscence of my husband, my mundane day's activities and thoughts about work, patients I was serving then,  my future and whether I wanted to retire.  I did finally retire three or five years later, but continue currently to maintain requirements for my state license and national certification.   

Lazy Day Reminiscence - Pondering My Future 

This wasn't the first time I experienced a lazy day.     I had these days rarely in my young single adult life.  Then, when I married, for many years I had no lazy days,  particularly once we had children.   Years after the children left home my husband and I quite accidentally had a lazy day that was so successful we began to  increasingly share more the older we became.  

Initially, we felt a bit guilty deciding to indulge ourselves, so hesitantly sought mutual reassurance from each other that lazing around all day in our sleeping attire was acceptable  behavior.    Hopefully, no one would come unexpectedly to our door.   There was an unspoken sense that such an out of the ordinary activity  might best be kept secret lest others wonder about our judgment.

I suppose whatever guilt we felt was strictly self-imposed, arising partly because of an inherited strong work ethic we had both pursued throughout life.    Arising early each day we had dedicated hours to our employment -- work outside and in the home,  sometimes until quite late into the night or early morning.   Meals might on occasion  be rushed or even skipped when we were single, or before out children were born.   Recreational, relaxation and vacation time carefully scheduled still might be subject to cancellation​ due to unexpected sudden work needs.

Also, there was the knowledge a multitude of activities or chores were likely  awaiting undertaking with resultant concern we would be leaving them  undone for another day.    Sleeping late is one thing, but to lounge about all day and evening attired in pajamas and robe without having  dressed was quite another matter.   But that's what we occasionally did in our later years after he retired and I was working only part time.  

There's just me now -- awaking one morning, I  glanced at the clock's time while foggily reviewing in my mind my must-do's for the day.   I recalled from the previous day the sadness I felt that a therapy patient younger than me had to be discharged to comfort care only.   She had experienced a fluky minor medical problem when on a vacation trip with her husband in a faraway  English-speaking nation.    An infection developed unexpectedly becoming significantly more serious after they returned home.   Now she was living through her final days.    

Contrasting with a more positive outcome, an older patient I discharged that same day had been successfully safely  transitioned to regular food.   A day later she has been up in a wheelchair for the first time since admission to be wheeled outdoors into the warm sunshine by her husband.    Her expectation is to return home to independent living soon.

My remaining patient wasn't scheduled to be seen for expressive language, understanding and cognitive issues until the next day.   This meant I didn't really have to leave the house except to retrieve my morning newspapers, unless I received a phone call notifying me of any new physician referrals.

I leisurely reach across the bedside night stand to turn on L.A.'s all news radio station, KNX before making a brief trip to my contemplation/powder room.  Returning to the bedroom I thought I was up for the day but was lured, then succumbed to my beckoning bed's seduction.    Several hours later I re-awakened  to reporters voicing the continuing current local, national, international news, weather and traffic reports.   Eventually arising I finally  wander down the hallway, pausing to raise the house thermostat's temperature a few degrees.

Peeking out the front door as I slip a jacket on over my P.J.'s to make myself half-way presentable, I gamble I can sneak half-way down my driveway and back to gather my newspapers before any periodic passing cars come traveling down my street.    I like this daily outing regardless of my attire and whatever the weather conditions --  sunny, rainy, foggy, hot or cold.      Having safely scurried back inside I realize it's lunchtime.   I choose to have  breakfast which can be quickly and easily prepared in the microwave oven -- oats, ​a teaspoon of cinnamon​, nonfat milk.  

Opening the microwave door I'm greeted by a dark interior.  What's this?  The microwave power is off, so away I go to the circuit box where I determine I have to reset the breaker.   Why this breaker turned off I have no idea -- power surge or what?    Returning to the kitchen I'm relieved to find the oven's light on.   A few cooking minutes later  I sprinkle a thin layer of bran buds on the now hot cereal,  add a diced ripe banana half,  a layer of blueberries and a few luscious red raspberries.    I'll leave the refrigerated strawberries and blackberries for my evening dinner.

By now I have consciously decided, considering the time of day and my lack of any appointments, that this will be a lazy  day -- and so it became as the hours flitted by.  

Dinnertime's menu decision consists of a choice between a previously cooked braised chicken breast with a colorful vegetable mix , or an individually prepared healthy organic dinner quickly radiated.    I chose the later consisting of a nice sized salmon fillet with spanish rice (I prefer wild rice) and fresh green beans which I garnish with a handful of cherry tomatoes.  The aforementioned fresh fruits complete the meal.

Opening the refrigerator door to gather my food items,  I'm again startled by another dark interior that was well-lit earlier.  Oh dear!  No power.  I wonder how long the unit has been off?   The refrigerator was alive at breakfast.    Back to the circuit box, this time a flashlight in hand to slice through nighttime's darkness.   Locating what I think is likely the specific offending circuit breaker, I repeatedly attempt to reset it but this troublesome one does not seem to cooperate.

Discouraged, I finally return to the kitchen ruing that I hadn't discovered this problem earlier in the day since I didn't want to incur emergency rates calling an electrician at night.    I thought about food life in the freezer section as I opened the refrigerator door half hoping for a miracle.   Amazing!   The interior light was on -- the ancient breaker had caught in place despite outward protruding appearance.
The rest of my lazy day/evening would pass without complication.

Early in the evening a phone call comes with physician orders to see a new patient the next day. The person is known to me from treatment I provided several years ago.    I know the individual  has declined somewhat since  then, but I wonder what has transpired now that necessitates my being consulted?   Nursing and her private duty aide with whom I've long interacted will up date me on the cantankerous lady's status tomorrow.

Days or weeks sometimes pass and I have no appointments since I cut back my part time work schedule even more, mostly serving only one facility now.   Still, I'm on call weekdays which prevents spontaneous personal trips out of town.       Perhaps a driving trip temptation is best avoided given the increasing cost of gasoline which is well over $4 a gallon now and predicted to rise to over $5 here in Southern California USA.    Yesterday I overheard a colleague say in  a southeastern gulf coast city drivers were currently being charged $7 for as gallon of gas.  

Sometimes I think that perhaps I should fully retire, but then I think that during those times I'm at home, I might miss working some few weekday hours.    There's much I should, could or, would do here at home so I know I 'd have no excuse for being bored, but how much would I actually do?
Still.....maybe that appointment commitment minimizes the risk I'll be tempted to increase the number of my lazy days.    But,  continuing to work, yearly state license and national certification require attending the necessary all day continuing education seminars periodically to which I often must commute some distance.     Yet, I think,  I do thoroughly derive pleasure being part of my mostly aged 50 to 100+ years elder patients life transitioning process.    I like interacting with them, their family and friends who may live nearby or far away.   We all learn so much from each other.

The experience makes me very aware of how unexpectedly anyone including me might experience some of these debilitating  medical issues I see with others.   I'm not without a few medical issues of my own.   Should my health situation alter I wonder just how well I would cope and adjust to challenges similar to theirs?    I'd like to believe I'd be motivated to maintain a positive attitude and treat those around me genially, but I can certainly understand how difficult that might be.   No doubt one day I will clearly determine either by choice or otherwise that full retirement is my primary desire, but until then I'll likely augment my days with an occasional lazy one.

23 comments:

  1. Gone forever is even the delusion of online privacy ...
    With me, every day is a lazy day, but not by choice.

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    1. Of course there hasn't been absolute privacy but failure to allow individuals to try to maintain what little might be left from further commercial exploitation is my objection.

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  2. It upsets me so much to see the proposed EPA cuts that will increase polluting our water, air and climate. That's not where most people want to go. The Great Lakes clean restoration project will lose 97% of it's funding and millions of people depend on the lakes for our drinking water plus the commercial fishing and boating that will go backward again.

    You did such important work that it must have made it hard to leave your profession. I spent a lot of time around future speech pathologists at the college where my husband went for six years for therapies and you could see their dedication even as students.

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    1. I recall not too many years ago Lake Erie had to be reborn. Also am aware of a specific fish imported from another country that's invading The Great Lakes they've been trying to prevent from going further. We hope in California to be able to maintain the gains we've made in reducing man-made air pollution and progress even further, but it likely won't be accomplished with any support from this Administration.

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  3. That's ironic that you thought you had privacy online. I never did. Many sites, as part of the deal to use them, require cookies. This week all my ad sites, alongside everything I read, have beach rentals (I went to VRBO to find a beach house that we will share with friends in April. Before that it was ads for hearing aids (husband had to buy a new one after losing one of his buds-- and he didn't use my computer for his search). I guess for those, who didn't realize, this is a good warning. Those like me consider it part of the cost of 'free' computer searches or reading papers to which we didn't subscribe. It's not just Facebook that does this. What we don't want advertisers to know we are doing, we need to make it the phone, brick or stick stores (that don't record our data), paper news, garage sales, and magazines.

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    1. You've jumped to an erroneous conclusion that I haven't known about privacy issues, including cookies, as they relate to the internet. I've been well aware we haven't had absolute privacy online, but there are areas I believe the individual user should have the right to "opt in" or "opt out" if we choose to use the service. An administration that removes that right from their citizens demonstrates betrayal of the individual IMHO by supporting even further erosion for commercial exploitation, however many examples and reasons to the contrary are cited.

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  4. I said i never believed we had it and thought from your use of the word betrayal (a strong word) that you had felt you'd lost something important. sorry for misreading your post. I don't think this changes anything significant, not after all we've learned about how we are spied on. I guess the difference is who is doing it.

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    1. I don't think it makes a difference who's doing it -- for me, it has to do with protecting individual rights -- that should be a bipartisan perspective, I think. Those -- especially in our government -- who don't protect individual rights are betraying the people and should be called out for doing so. For example, our banks had to give customers opt out rights years ago though politicians managed to water down that requirement at the time. We shouldn't have to request to opt out. Should be a simple yes/no check off. Banks need to be the ones to solicit us to opt in when we open accounts and periodically in the future if they wish. Instead the banking assumption is you're "in", putting the burden on the account holder to advise they want "out". So, we regularly get all these little printed privacy brochures adding to banking costs, which we, of course, pay for one way or another. When people lose their rights, it typically occurs in small increments over time -- the acts seem innocuous at the time, but culminate in a much larger picture in the future.

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  5. So you'd rather pay something for the elements online that you want to use? I think that's a viable choice but nothing is free. So if advertising doesn't pay for it-- targeted advertising, we should expect we will

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    1. There's also the possibility quality criteria could be adhered to by a provider of a service -- maybe, just maybe, they could be a bit less greedy about how much profit they feel compelled to make, so they don't need to abuse the privacy of their users to such an increased degree. Some of the blame for that excessive profit pressure can be laid at the foot of Wall Street which has run capitalism amok, but that's another topic.

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    2. I do know what profit they make. Some think my books should be free because they are online and how much can that cost for someone to get one! I've heard the argument and it ignores the work a writer put out to get them there but there is mentality that all online doesn't cost anything or shouldn't. I have yet to pay for a newspaper online, but am looking for one that I feel has an unbiased reporting. For now, i get mine for 'free' but inevitably that would mean, unless advertising paid off for them, that they disappear or can't allow even 10 reads a month. As was said above-- nothing is really free. It's an illusion when it seems that way. For writers, giving away books, which we all do sometimes, adds to the illusion and makes some readers angry that they aren't all free. We are funny creatures, us humans ;)

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  6. I was PMd by a friend in another province setting our time for a long chat when up popped a message asking if I wanted an event reminder.

    I've never seen anything quite that blatant before.

    Yes, the world of Big Brother has always been with us but today it is insidious.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. Yes, the intrusions all too often become increasingly insidious with the desire for more and more profit.

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  7. I think the most alarming part of the latest sale of our privacy to the billionaire business interests is that it allows ISPs and the like to sell our information back and forth as a commodity, directly linked to our specific identity. It also allows them to give priority bandwidth, loading time, etc., to interests that they choose, depending upon criteria of their own.

    As a citizen who lives practically on the shore of a Great Lake--and has her whole life--that issue hits home, literally. I remember when Lake Erie was actually a dead lake. I remember when industries on its shores spewed filth and superheated water from cooling steel molds back into it, killing it.

    And the fight against the zebra mussels, the nonnative species that arrived in the hulls of ore boats as ballast water, is ongoing. Or was, now. My heart is breaking.

    I want to comment about your Lazy Days, too. But this is already so long!

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    1. I share your concerns on the selling of our information by the ISPS & others -- much more intrusive. I remember the shock I experienced when I heard about Lake Erie's tragic state -- wondering, how could this be allowed to happen? All the Great Lakes need our protection as do all our waterways from pollution by chemicals, refuse, sewage, nonnative species, oil spills/leaks. We've seen the consequences of all these problems, so I would think would have learned the need to prevent such in the future.

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  8. There is so much thought-provoking content here. Glad fellow bloggers are hanging in there!

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    1. Glad to have you stopping by. Yeah, we're hanging in there and glad you are, too!

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  9. Online privacy is a concern to me as well, but the part I liked best about this post is the incidental way your 'lazy day' came about! It's good to be able to seize the moment, and take advantage of whatever comes your way!

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  10. Trump just added another betrayal by cancelling our financial contribution to the UN population control effort. My only positive take is if he keeps up the negative actions he may ultimately tick off just about everyone and we'll be able to get rid of him and go about the process of restoring sanity to U.S. policy.

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    1. Yes, his actions that fail to address so many issues, actually imppedes them, will surely resonate with more people who will reconsider supporting him further.

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  11. I also enjoy doing a part-time job even though I'm now 70. I couldn't see myself just pottering around the house all day. If or when I'm forced to retire from work, I shall need to find something substantial to occupy my time or I can see myself vegetating into one of those lifeless, mindless oldies!

    I'm not worried about online privacy or the lack of it. I don't say anything especially controversial online so I don't really care who reads it. But I'm sick of the torrent of online adverts that pop up every ten seconds. One or two I don't mind, but the sheer volume of ads drives me nuts.

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    1. The privacy issue for me has little to do with concern over anything I might say on the internet. I intentionally do not reveal real time accounts of my daily activities since it is known that information can be a source of information inviting criminal activity. What I protest is the gathering of personal information about me without my permission, web sites I visit, the selling of that information to companies stealthily compiling files on each of us. Some analyze us, making assumptions that influence how we're viewed. I recall for a while I was receiving popup ads for some curious products that must have been based on some medical sites I had visited that in no way reflected a problem I had, but were often that of a patient I had, or an issue I simply wanted to learn about for one example. There are other issues of even greater significance with the potential for violating individual rights that may not surface until after the fact in the future, but by then it will be too late to put the genie back in the bottle.

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