What are your goals and how can I help you?

Read a fantastic piece on WPO - very often PCP's (primary care physicians or your family doctor) for elderly patients do not ask a basic question.

Read more here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-i-discovered-an-important-question-a-doctor-should-ask-a-patient/2015/03/09/ca350634-bb9c-11e4-bdfa-b8e8f594e6ee_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop

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Then I remember a visiting palliative-care physician’s words about caring for the fragile elderly: “We forget to ask patients what they want from their care. What are their goals?”

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A wonderful geriatric nurse practitioner’s words come to mind: “Our goal for younger people is to help them live long and healthy lives; our goal for older patients should be to maximize their function.”

Why I cut cable tv long ago and why I even have internet at home

2 reasons

1. I am afraid of the wife and her temper (ohh so fiery!)
2. sad but true story of the utter greed of companies like comcast, so much that you had to hire someone full time to constantly wipe the drool dropping down the chin!

Here is an illuminating article from the WSJ, which obviously, I have been waiting for years - unbundling pay tv brings new questions.

This is a trend that has birthed in the USA (obviously haha!) and the winds of change will blow all over the world.

One of the things that really grinds my gears is - I pay comcast for a bunch of channels that I DO NOT WANT. To add insult to injury, I have to sit through ad after ad after ad. Have you ever seen TBS super-station. It is mind-boggingly utterly ridiculous and frustrating. In effect, you are paying to be displayed ads. Ohh wait, it gets better. Some smart people decided to cash in on yet another ludicrous (see, I already used ridiculous) idea -

1. pay for tv, 
2. pay to watch ads
3. pay for a device that will help you get past item2.

Now, any sane person would have plainly said no. Since, Americans are such nice people (read suckers), they sign up, "ohh what the hell is a few bucks?".

Wait, but wait, there is MORE - It is not as simple as 1,2,3. It is more like 1,2,3,4 and 5.

1. pay for tv
2. rent the cable box
3. pay to watch ads
4. pay for a device that will help you get past item 3
5. rent the device.

If you haven't guessed what the device is, you are living in the stone ages. welcome to 21st century, it is called a DVR (digital video recorder, hope it is correct).

I can understand business and understand a capitalist mindset. But, to base whole companies on such frustratingly and greedy models grinds my gears to no end.

I cut off cable tv and still held hostage to comcast high speed internet for a basic service, that is apparently the cheapest @ $39.99  per month. I keep the internet because I am afraid of the wife. Happy wife Happy life!

I havent even begun talking about an ITSP (internet telephony service provider) like vonage. I spent hundreds on vonage over a 8-10 year love affair and cut the cord with them and happy with OOMA!