Tradeoffs and lessons February 13, 2012
Posted by midnightzimadreams in 30-day resolution of 2012, Education, Fitness, Healthcare, Life.add a comment
I woke up this morning mad at myself. I slept in, knowingly. I have so much homework and so much reading to catch up on. Nate is right – I can’t go through grad school the way I did through undergrad – with minimal reading and paying very close attention in lecture and just reviewing the detailed notes I took in preparation for tests.
I was nervous about econ and a surprise quiz today. It happened, but luckily I did OK because the TA was awesome and went through stuff in quiz section and the professor repeated it in class, so my old habits form undergrad helped. But I know I can’t keep getting away like that and I don’t want to – I want to study and read and really grasp things, which means a lot more outside time dedicated to school work than I currently allocate.
That all leads me to my step class training fiasco. I was happy with my decision to take this on. And still am. But I need to make peace with the sunk costs, have fun for the rest of the quarter and gracefully bow out. For two reasons: primarily that the instructor training me doesn’t seem to think I’m capable of actually doing the job; and secondly, but perhaps even more importantly, I should be dedicating my time to school work and using exercise as a stress-relief mechanism, not a source of additional stress.
Nate is right here again – I shouldn’t let one person’s opinion (this trainer) get to me. After all, she’s been doing this for a lot longer than I have and I’m only now starting to learn how to teach step… or any fitness class for that matter… or anything fitness-related. And teaching is a lot different from doing. Not to say my fate is sealed either, but I’m also thinking I won’t be able to dedicate the extra time needed in training on my own through the rest of the quarter in order to just focus on being relaxed and energizing in the classes themselves. So, I will aim to learn as much as I can but above all – try to have fun for the rest of the term and then cut things off and switch to taking classes for fun, relaxation and focus (besides, the way my grad school class schedule is looking like for next quarter, I would have a conflict with the step class anyway).
I am afraid of this thought bubbling up because it feels hypocritical and snobbish at this time, but I also am not crazy about my trainer’s style of step coaching either… so in that sense, Nate’s getting to the heart of it in that people have different preferences. I do feel bad, though, that it’s turning out I may have wasted her time… maybe not entirely, but definitely somewhat.
Now on to the positive side of all this: I still am glad I took a chance on learnign this for 3 reasons:
1) It’s a safe environment to do it and I wouldn’t have taken on learning how to coach step if it were in almost any other circumstance;
2) I now know that it isn’t for me; at least not here and within this style; I may consider picking it up again another time, but most likely not – I have a new level of appreciation of just enjoying the step as a participant! There is something true about my trainer’s perspective that a large part of this type of work is personality; the fact that I have the technique down and that I am not afraid of getting up in front of a group of people anymore isn’t necessarily the same thing as being energetic and positively shining enough to inspire people to have fun;
3) I am re-learning, at a new level and in a new context, a lesson I already knew – a deep appreciation and respect for the work of others who are talented in their field; that goes especially for teachers who have to not only be experts in their subject, but be very good at teaching and that’s a whole other craft; and also for people like nurses or doctors who have to not only be extremely strong science students, skilled/talented practitioners, but also effective people-communicators (at least for most specialties) because without that last bit – patients wouldn’t get the full benefit of education and sustainable recovery.
Net: teaching is a rare talent. Like singing which I sorely wish I could do well, because it seems like it would be a lot of fun. I wish I had a knack for teaching because it seems like it would be very gratifying.
But knowing more and more that I don’t have that teaching chromosome (to mix my metaphors), oddly encourages me in my pursuit of education policy as a career. I think/hope that my regained level of appreciation for talent in teaching will help me prize that highly and work to protect and nurture it – both for the sake of teachers but also for the sake of students and society more broadly.
Recipes for healthier, older life January 15, 2012
Posted by midnightzimadreams in 30-day resolution of 2012, Fitness, Food, Healthcare, Life, Reading, Superfluous musings.add a comment
One of the themes really hitting home these last few weeks – around the winter holidays, really – has been the strongest metabolism drop I’ve experienced yet. It has to be something about almost-30. Maybe I’m half-imagining. Maybe less stress = more calories intaken. Maybe taking classes at the university gym is just less intense of a regular workout. But mostly, I think it’s eating the same as I always have. I need to really start cooking more at home and eating smarter when we go out. I’ve got to follow up on my from-scratch once-per-week minimum at home cooking goal and always making a sandwich or salad for school. I have *got* to drop off on chocolate or cookies – especially the store-bought kind. And I must fill up with veggies and fruit and lots of water. Another sure helper-way is probably sleeping better – i.e. go to bed on time, wake up early and get a lot accomplished.
For now, red wine and Downton Abbey, followed by “Pride and Prejudice” reading before bed time. Cheers and good night.
Nope, definitely don’t get why people do plastic surgery September 23, 2010
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Healthcare.add a comment
I’ve always thought plastic surgery was the strangest thing anyone could do to their body. I always said I would only ever have cosmetic surgery if it was for health or restorative purposes – i.e. in cases of breast cancer where a lot of tissue is removed or an accident that leaves a face or other body parts disfigured.
I underwent some minor, outpatient surgery earlier this week to remove a suspected innocent lump in my right breast and I have to say – now more than ever I don’t get it. It’s not that the pain was that bad. The incision is barely noticeable. What hurts is the bruise where they had to dig in and pull out the balled-up tissue. And mine was rather small, so I can’t even imagine the discomfort of having a huge foreign object *inserted* rather than removed… It’s all been a very awkward and unpleasant ordeal. Yet, strangely de-ja-vu-ish. Possibly because my only other surgery, as such, was when I was about 7 and it was for shortening the muscle in a lazy eye. Another very awkward surgery, if I may only be judging from a very limited set of experiences.
Perhaps even more poignantly, it has me wondering what it is about our (U.S.) healthcare system that makes a few hours’ procedure into a $10K+ expense. That’s just an estimate too, I’ll do my best to share the actual cost if I ever do figure out between my insurance agency’s confusing explanations, the slew of different invoices I’m about to get from the surgeon, from the hospital, from the anesthesiologist, etc. Only because I find it all fascinating. Perhaps it’s all about efficiency, but I spoke to at least … let’s see… 10 people from check-in 2 hours before the procedure was scheduled through check-out. And that didn’t include the lab that did my urine sample testing and the pharmacist because my mother came to see me and picked up the pain meds. There was also a lot of resources spent on me, things like pajamas, custom wrist band, paper bag for my personal clothes, cap for my hair, two pillows, countless warm blankets, all the tubes and devices for an IV, etc. So, I kind of get it and I can’t complain – I was comfortable and felt safe and all the doctors and nurses I interacted with were fantastic – my surgeon and anesthesiologist rocked. But $10K… really? How is this feasible and affordable? For a straight-forward, quick, outpatient procedure.
Oh, I didn’t even think about the lab that’s doing the biopsy and my pre- and post-op surgeon appointments, and and time spent with the surgery scheduler, on the phone with various healthcare industry staff trying to get an estimate from the surgeon’s office, from the hospital and from my insurance about the overall cost, all in pieces. *sigh* There has to be a simpler way.
Hodgepodge catch-up post July 28, 2009
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Civics, Gibberish, Healthcare, Life, Media, New Media, Superfluous musings, Technology.add a comment
Life has definitely been a whirlwind in the past few months. After a layoff, several long weeks of semi-disheartened job searching, grandmother traveling back to Europe, sister’s graduation, new job (which was a surprise and has become a great learning experience), and lots of reconnections with friends, one moving wedding, and finally an apartment selection (and one more wedding prep), I have decided I’ll never “find” time to resume blogging. I had even taken to sending myself e-mails from my new smart phone (wow, never had a pocket-sized computer that makes phone calls before; they’re truly come along way, despite all the criticism) during my long commute via ferry – all with subject line “blog” and a sentence or two on a topic that was capitalizing my attention that day. Well, I won’t get around to developing full blog posts out of each e-mail, so here’s a hodgepodge list, just to get it out there and hopefully start blogging somewhat regularly again:
Celebrity deaths – what do they tell us? – I thought about this when news about Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Walter Cronkite (and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone) hit within a few short days of each other. Beyond the stories I was reading about online journalism, mobile technology, etc. and how these worldwide (in case of MJ) news bits profliferated many new technologies, I was thinking that a lot of these folks were fairly young and succumbed to either cancer, heart disease, or drugs (prescrption and otherwise) – worth pondering what these trends say about U.S. healthcare issues in light of the healthcare reform debate currently playing out in government.
The world as a community – I’m not sure what I was thinking exactly here, but in that e-mail I’ve written: “Obama approach – the global community organizer? Will that work?” Pretty cool to think about how global of a community we truly are – global warming, global economic crisis, global flu epidemic (that spread lightning fast), global mourning of Michael Jackson, etc. If anything, the United States is lucky to have so global of a leader again (I think the last to be revered abroad was Bill Clinton).
Why are we so afraid of government meddling – This was a thought brought about by the healthcare reform debates I kept hearing on NPR on my commute to and from work. To quote myself again from that e-mail: “Isn’t that the point of representative government? If they really mean it, why aren’t (Republican) politicians declining their government health plans & buying their own – after all that is the ultimate free market.” No need to elaborate here, I think (except to reiterate how irritated I am by blatant and not unintentional hypocrisy).
Reaction to NPR healthcare story on All Things Considered (July 1) – “Gov $ already going more & more to healthcare & decisions are out of patients’ hands b/c of insurance rules & coverage patterns, not b/c of gov bureucrats… & it’s much costlier often than just treating…” – basically what I always take issue with when Republican (and some Blue Dog Democrats) talk about the danger of having the government make healthcare decisions for you instead of that being up to you and your doctor. Hah! Who makes those decisions now? Insurance companies. They must know better than the government. (And don’t even get me started on the whole argument of whether the government will encroach that much into the decisions anyway.)
Media splinters – As a PR professional, I started in fall 2006 targeting “top tier” publications; today, for the best impact, we target “niche” publications – audiences have splintered into specialized interests thanks to the bloggosphere, other new media on the Internet, a-la-carte news and opinion even on cable news TV networks. It took something like MJ’s death to bring the whole world’s attention to one story, like a lazer beam.
Are we all spoiled consumers? – “Do we expect too much from our technology, too fast? Can’t help but wonder, reading all the new smart phone reviews (partial to Palm Pre – small keyboard actually a + for me, but would like better/more solid hardware & more apps..)”
The return of yard and garage sales – Is this a sign of the (tough economic) times? I can’t remember when was the last time I saw a sign for a garage sale and they were everywhere in the late 1990s when my family first moved to the United States. All of a sudden this summer they’re everywhere again.
Confused and disappointed October 15, 2008
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Elections 2008, Healthcare.1 comment so far
I’ve been meaning to look at the AMA’s healthcare proposal for a while now… really every time I see their TV ad. So, I finally did. And I’m confused and disappointed. There aren’t many details included and sadly it reads to me like a vaugely disguised spin-off of the McCain health plan. I guess I should not be surprised, after all it makes sense that the AMA has a stake in the insurance companies’ well-being. Perhaps I don’t understand all of the intricacies of the relationship (vicious cycle, but it seems to me that malpractice lawsuits drive the need for doctors to get malpractice insurance, which drives business into the insurance companies’ doors), but reading the main points of their plan, it certainly hints at partiality.
There are many things that worry me about McCain’s plan especially – the tax credit is not going to begin to cover the actual costs of obtaining your own insurance; cross-state insurance shopping will encourage insurance companies to gravitate to the states with the least regulation allowing them to exempt more people for pre-existing conditions, etc.; it will lure healthy, young people to shop around for a cheap deal because insurance companies will give them better terms, but that exodus will leave all the sick and older people with employer-based plans that (as a result of the healthy people leaving) will face skyrocketing premiums; another side-effect will be a strain on employers to front even more expensive healthcare costs for the ailing employees who can’t afford to go out and purchase a plan on their own for anything near the $5,000 tax cut (per family, not per person, by the way) (oh, and talk about punishing companies and forcing them to outsource jobs to Canada because of healthcare costs, not to India or China because of labor costs); and I can’t comprehend how McCain who persists “why raise anyone’s taxes?” does just that in his health plan – unprecedented, he’s going to tax healthcare benefits as income. Yes, I know I’m rambling, but I have a hard time wrapping my mind around his plan. Not to say Obama’s plan is perfect, but it is by far the superior one.
I highly recommend reading the primary sources, though:
And check out this earlier blog entry where I linked to an interview with a health and policy expert who compared McCain and Obama’s plans.
Healthcare: McCain vs. Obama August 27, 2008
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Elections 2008, Healthcare.1 comment so far
The McCain and Obama healthcare plans are starkly different. Here is an NPR program that helps dig into the details and explains what each plan would do for people, employers, and health insurance companies. The interviewee, Jonathan Oberlander, has authored an article in The New England Journal of Medicine detailing the two plans.
