Yodit's Advice

Yodit gave me a little talking to last night, telling me I should ask more of my aides.  She noted some aides at the nursing home where we met did the bare minimum, and sometimes worse than that-- which I saw myself.  She said an aide should do for a client what that aide would do for themselves, and I shouldn't be shy about asking them to really work while they're here.

She's right, of course.  I'm satisfied with the aides I have now.  Many of them do work here on their own initiative, but I could ask them to do more.  I'll have to work on that.

Being Sociable

The state, in its bureaucratic wisdom, uses some of the money available to those trying to live independently to encourage them to be sociable, to be engaged in their communities.  Of course, arbitrary rules define what being sociable is for the purpose of accessing that money.  It turns out that if, for example, I leave my apartment, get my mail, and say "hi" to whoever might be there, that counts for being sociable and getting the money for the aide hours I need.  If I talk to my aides and get to know them, that seems not to count.  If I email people all over the world, engaging in discussions with them to accomplish a social good, that is not as sociable as saying "hi" to random strangers.

This is what happens when bureaucrats and politicians get too much time and too much power.  Its also what happens when individuals can't figure out ways to support themselves.

Hawaii Conference III

A conference in Hawaii next year examining ways to settle and industrialize the Moon is gaining people in the group trying to make it happen.

Better yet, that conference may be the first in a series that would seek to lay a phiosophical foundation for humanity's expansion into space.

Shopping At Marsh

Yodit and I took the Monon Trail to Marsh grocery again last evening, and this time I bought some stuff.

I didn't keep track of how much I was spending, and it turned out I could've gotten more than I did.  That's okay, though.  Now that we've established I can go over there, I don't need to get every last thing every time.

Controlling Public Money

Congress and the President still have yet to address Medicare/Medicaid reform, even though they all say doing so is essential to the long term economic vitality of the United States.  When-- if-- they finally get around to it, the safest bet is to assume, to pick one program, that money helping people live more independently, out of institutions, will be cut.  Penny wise, perhaps, but pound foolish.

That route would bring us to how the public money spent should be overseen, to have a minimum of waste and fraud.  One way would be to allow bureaucrats to write lots of rules for the recipients of the money to follow.  Politicians and bureaucrats are comfortable with that approach, and it's not unreasonable.  Another way, however, would be to write fewer rules, allowing more flexibility at the case level to tailor approaches to meet the needs of each individual client, as far as possible, with fewer dollars, and fewer bureaucratic resources.  We'll see which approach wins out.

Finding Marsh

Yodit and I went out on the Monon Trail last evening, and I finally found a Marsh grocery store and the several eating places Laura had told me were near the Trail.  It was a Christopher Columbus moment.

So, now I have more options I can reach in my power chair without fooling with getting the power chair into and out of a larger vehicle.  Getting there and back takes a while, so finding the time to shop at Marsh is a problem, but I now know it's possible.

Pirate Power

My beloved Pittsburgh Pirates are on a roll, having beaten the St. Louis Cardinals four straight games so far.  The fifth and final game of their series is today.  Currently, the Pirates have the best record in the major leagues.

I just wish I could see them play more.  Neither Fox nor ESPN has carried many Pirate games this season.  Presumably, if the Bucs keep winning, that will change going down the stretch of the season.  And then, hopefully, there'll be the playoffs.