Inflation!

People complain a lot about the high cost of health care, and in particular the high cost of drugs. I agree that both are expensive.
In order to deliver health care to you, I am obligated to get an annual license, which runs about $400 per year, and pay about $13,000 per year for malpractice coverage. It's so affordable because : 1) Idon't deliver babies and 2) I have never been sued.
But there is a third item needed: a DEA license. This is from the DEA, and allows me to write prescriptions for narcotics. I don't think there are many new narcotics on the market since I started practice in 1990, if any: just a few reformulations and strength changes.
So every 3 years you have to check off the reapplication questions. Were you convicted of a felony? Were you involved in ilegal drug activities? Has your license to practice been revoked or sanctioned? No, no and no. Same name, same address, same license #, same categories of drugs I have been prescribing since 1990. The ONLY thing that has changed is the cost of the 3 year license.
In 1990, I paid $60. Today, I filled out the form online and printed my own certificate (both should reduce the DEA costs, right). Cost to renew my DEA today: $551. Now THAT, my friends, is inflation! And to think that Medicare thought we deserved a 10% pay reduction for 2008. Hmmmmmmm.

New Years Ramblings

Greetings to all for the New Year. May it rule for you! I wish there were a bigger gap between Christmas and New Years. I mean we pretty much have obscured the celebration of Jesus with the commercialization of His birth, but then once the last present is opened it's "hey, what are we doing for New Years?". Someone check out the possibility of moving New Years back to February 1st and get back to me.

We had a fairly low-key holiday really, hanging with some neighbors. One neighbor, Chris, is a chef and he whipped up a dinner of filet (I had to pass on that) seafood ravioli and sauteed shrimp. Then he created 3 different sauces to go with the entrees; superb! As good as any restaurant I've been too.

In our old age, it seems that staying up for the stroke of midnight gets harder. In fact, ALL of our neighbors left the party early. We then felt obligated to stick around for the big acorn drop (that's right: forget a ball dropping. Here in the City of Oaks, we have a giant acorn!) But at 12:05 or so, home we headed. I had to rest up for the 15th annual Spin Cycle New Years Day ride at 10AM. The weather was sunny and cool and this brought out about 200 riders. We laid down almost 40 miles out around Jordan Lake at a "social ride"...."winter pace"of almost 18mph. I think the regulars enjoy showing the occasionals how fast they can go. Any way, it was a good way for me to start the new year off right.

2008 will be the year of healthy choices for me. Stay tuned....

Another one gone....

I was saddened to learn yesterday of the passing of musician Dan Fogelberg. Actually, I am always bummed out when I read that someone who has made great music dies, (Bob Marley, Frank Zappa, Robert Palmer, Nicolette Larson) but this is especially tragic. Like many of us, I was drawn to his music in the 70's and then his album "The Innocent Age", in the early 80's really increased his popularity. XM played his song "Same Old Lang Syne" often on their Christmas channel "Holly". My wife asked about the song last weekend while we were doing some painting and the song came on. We talked about how we liked the song and wondered if Dan Fogelberg really DID run into an old lover in a gracery store. News accounts suggest that he did not: he said that although his music had a mellow, brooding quality to it, that was not really his personality. In fact, he said one of his best friends was Jimmy Buffet. I"m going to miss this guy. I plan to download his greatest hits from the net.

Winter is here!

OK, I know I'm not having to put up with snow, or even with freezing rain. Nevertheless, Iknow that winter is here. How do I know this? Because of the boxes of Kleenex scattered about the house for the past 2 weeks. Some of those viral bugs people bring to my office daily have gotten to me. I was down for 2 consecutive weekends, just too weak to go out and ride (or do much of anything else, for that matter).
I did finally get a ride in this AM with my neighbor, Jukka. I scanned the weather channel website just before I left: not a speck of green to be seen. A light rain started less than 1 mile into the ride. Where did that come from?? Since it was quite cold (43) and real windy, it made for some less-than-desirable riding conditions. But hey, it was still a ride!

Thanksgiving

Once again, I ate too much. It's almost impossible NOT TO! Ther is just so much good food about, and you have to try a little of this and a little of that. Next thing you know... We spent the day with some of our neighbors. It was different, but it was a lot of fun.

I'm glad that there is nothing I need (or want) bad enough to get out of bed in the wee hours of the day and stand in line outside a store just so I can get a deal on something. I like getting a deal, just not that much. I got 2 new cell phones today BOGO free, $19.99. I also just picked up a new pair of shaped skiis. I got last years model for 46% off the original sale price. I think they will shred the gnarly stuff and plow through the powder just like this years model.

It was 77 yesterday and that made for a sweet pre-turkey ride. Tomorrow's high will be 51. Brrrrrrrrr! That's still better than 42 and rain. Later!

Great Riding

Five adventurous riders from Ohio made the trip down to NC last weekend for some winterish riding. The boys were in great form as we followed a nice loop out through the wetern fringes of Wake County up over Jordan Lake and back into downtown Apex. Although the weather was cooler than normal and the wind picked up, we had a pretty decent ride of just over 52 miles.

Sunday, we joined the local bike shop ride of 40 or so riders on the regular social ride. Two of the boys decided to run with the A group and all I knoe is that they finished the ride and did it faster than the rest of us. The remaining four of us stayed with the main group of B riders. I was amazed to see Bud pulling on the front for so long. He was followed closely by "Shoeless" Kevin B. on pulling duties. And not to be outdone, Todd finally let his legs do the talking by hammering up the final climb (which I still can't stand) to take the KOM honors. Give that man a polkadot jersey!

In between rides, we enjoyed some NC barbecue, a little Moe's and subs from Rudino's. The highlight of the weekend however was the Ohio State Buckeyes trouncing those pussies from Michigan. Ah, we had fun watching that game, didn't we???

Since its almost Thanksgiving, let me say that I'm thankful to have, among other things, a great group of riding buddies! Ride on.....

Rules of the Road

I've been thinking about the rules of the road lately. That is, the bicycling rules of the road. I've decided that most of them are unwritten, and most are learned by observation, trial and error. There was a guy on last weeks ride who had been disinvited because he broke the off-the-front rule. He rode most of last weeks ride...off the front. The response of the group was ultimately to pretend he wasn't there. If he was interested in riding at a faster pace than we were riding, 18mph, he had the chance to ride with the faster group. He CHOSE to stay with what he knew was the 18mph group. So why then act like we are going too slow for you, bro??
Another unwritten rule was highlighted last weekend: don't ride near a guy with a creaking bike! Chaz bought some high dollar Zipp wheels for his bike, but his front wheel was making an awful clicking noise. It was hilarious to see how someone would ride near him, realize HE was making that noise , then slowly drift back away from him like he had a disease. A wise mechanic decided it was an extra long presta valve stem that needed a little electrical tape to keep it from knocking on the rim.
Never ever ever talk on a cell phone in the peloton! This seems obvious to me but its amazing how many people try to do this. Apart from the huge safety issue, I don't know how you could hear with the wind screaming through your phone.
One of the most dreadful things I have encountered is a dropped water bottle. Especially when you're in a group with 30 plus riders at a good pace. Someone usually screams "Bottle!!!!!" and then the panic sets in and the collision avoidance maneuvers occur. If the bottle doesn't take you down, any number of people trying to miss the bottle can take you down just as effectively. And the WORST case senario is when the person who drops the bottle brakes hard like they are going to hop off their bike and pick up that bottle! Good grief! Dude, there are 25 people beind you going fast: now is not the time toi ris life and limb (yours or mine) to save a $5 watre bottle.
Then there is Dick (a perfect name for him) aka loud talker guy. This guy talks so loud that I know hes a financial planner, he has a lot of doctors as clients (really impressive, right), he is single(I suspect his wife left him) and he is thinking of retiring in the next 5 years and moving from his 2 acre lot to a low maintenance condo. Not that he's ever spoken DIRECTLY to me. He just likes to talk and he talks loud. I am not happy that I know all this about him but its like he forced it upon me. Kind of like second hand smoke.
There are lots and lots of other rules, but I'll save those for another post. Ride on!