The Rowdy Tao

Posts

August 29, 2016

2016: James Madison and the Margins In September 1787 while waiting for the arrival of others, James Madison began drafting a blueprint which would eventually be known as the Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan proposed a bicameral legislative branch and set the stage for creating the idea of representation according to population. Madison was no stranger to these questions haven already given long study to historical forms of government, much of it in solitude at his home in Montpelier, VA. While not a behavioral scientist, James Madison knew his man; or better said he knew the tendencies of men and women by studying the various forms of governance and the corresponding behaviors. His review of past governance failures challenged him to devise and propose a new system which would promote the best outcomes while minimizing the worst outcomes. His ability to arrive at his personal conclusions and thereafter propose and have them accepted are central elements to what make

Summing up 50 years post high school......

February 14, 2015

Like others, I ventured out of OTHS (Oakwood Township High School) 50 years ago looking for some unearned freedom and ran right smack into Viet Nam. I luckily survived that experience and in the process found a vocation and set some goals. To achieve what I set out to do I became a student for real. As I did medical things in the military I did that kind of work during school, married a sweetheart who became my 1st wife and eventually prepared to embark on a new career. Turns out the new career start and the end of the 1 st marriage arrived nearly at the same time. I worked in several jobs picking up good experience and also met my 2nd wife who has been my wonderful partner over the last 32 years. I continued in a rigorous career of managing healthcare usually doing assignments less attractive to others but appealing to my tastes. In 1994 I had my first symptom of cardiovascular heart disease that continued to worsen through 2005 when I decided after 40 years, I

The Interesting Birthday Party

August 21, 2012

In 1975 I graduated from UCLA with a Masters in Public Health/Hospital Administration. My first paying job as an administrator was as an assistant administrator at Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center . One of my departments supervised was the Les Kelly Family Clinic for the community. Quarterly I met with Les personally and gave him an overview of operations and how many clients we were able to serve as a result of his generous donation for which we named his clinic. You will likely know of Les indirectly as he founded a service to evaluate the value of used cars known as the "Kelly Bluebook". He was a nice guy and he also built the lake for the Bell Air Country Club so he ran in celebrity circles. The story is about a birthday party we hosted for Les at the hospital Auditorium. I won't bore you with the details but one example is while walking through the group I bumped into a guy that looked familiar playing an accordion which turned out to be

Let’s see, how much time did I spend on yard work today? Let me break it down:

May 06, 2012

1) 10 minutes calculating that I could prune a limb from a tree and Jean would not notice it until way later; 2) 10 minutes prepositioning the tools and ladder to reach the limb; 3) 5 minutes cutting (including 2 minutes thinking I may have dulled the chain saw cutting out a tree root buried in the dirt last time) 4) 2 second to determine that the limb would not be falling in the direction I previously calculated; 5) 5 minutes clearing brush and tools; 6) 1 second for Jean to spot the blood smear when she discovered the “project-in-progress;” 7) 10 minutes wound debridement, cleansing and bandaging; 8) 10 minutes to finish and put up tools; 9) 1 second to self-congratulate myself and walk back into air conditioning thinking it went pretty well this time……LOL

Healthcare Liberty Rights….

April 25, 2012

Personal healthcare is so; well, personal when it touches you as an individual. It really lights the lights of protest and is ripe for sound bites. The one that gets me a little edgy is the cry that individual rights are infringed with any plan that is related to health care and people should be allowed to make all their decisions unilaterally. I have a sympathetic ear for such concerns but in reality there is a catch and it is likely you will not hear much about it because it sounds radical or uncaring. You hear a little piece of it when you read a boring spending statistic that Medicare spends the greatest amount of one person’s lifetime care costs in the last six months of life. The tricky unknown in the formula is calculating exactly when your personal last six months of life begins. Real boring stuff unless it is your life, a loved one or you are saddled with the payment policy to fund the spending. Here is the unpopular point; when the person wh