“What, me worry? ” – Alfred E. Neuman 1959
Yesterday I did something about all the worries I have.
What worries?
1.Debt to China – Our stock market had an up-tick today because the China economy improved more than expected this past quarter.
2.Debt ceiling – My children and grandchildren are already in hock up to their eyeballs, and their grandfather doesn’t want his Medicare benefits cut.
3.Medicare fraud – CMS has hired only 41 of 649 needed analysts needed to implement their new anti-fraud computer programs that cost $130 million plus. Why can’t Medicare be like Visa or Capital One. Capital One just announced a 50% increase in their profit this quarter, so I don’t worry about them.
4.Netflix just raised their prices by 60%!
5.My next colonoscopy? When? Two years, five years, when the gastroenterologist sends me a reminder letter, or never? At least I don’t have to worry about when to get a mammogram!
6.I am over one PSA screening age threshold according to some studies, so I don’t worry about that anymore, … though my internist thinks differently. Maybe I should worry about which study of PSA screening is right for my prostate.
7.Bears! No, no that is Steven Colbert’s worry, not mine.
8.Why does autism seem to be increasing despite our country’s declining immunization rate? They must NOT be related.
9.How come I can’t find the time to do all the things I want to now that I am retired? How did I miss writing my blog for July 1? Did anybody notice? I worry that it may be related to the decreasing energy of increasing age.
10.Global “weirding”, previously known as global warming, now includes droughts, floods, unexpected tornadoes, and severe winters or melting ice depending on your geography and it all makes me worry about my environment.
This is the worry I did something about.
Yesterday I collected five water samples from Buzzards Bay. I keep my boat on Buzzards Bay.
Samples from the bay have been collected for the past twenty years by over 700 volunteers from the Buzzards Bay Coalition. The samples reveal increasing amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous and other compounds that are earmarks of “pollution”. I felt that volunteering would be a concrete way to contribute to pollution solutions, other than “dilution”.
The sampling was more complex than I thought,and it took the better part of a day. It was 90 degrees with a honking wind out on the bay. There are other steps I take to combat the deterioration of our environmental, but I felt particularly good about this concrete contribution to a local effort. Attending a public hearing about the pros and cons of wind turbines would not have been nearly as satisfying.
HUB's LIST of medical fun facts 