SWCAMBORNE

This idea came from the very beautiful wedding of Kathy G. and and Brian H. in Tucson last month.

In the area where the guest book is they had a sideboard covered with the wedding pictures of the bride and grooms ancestors.

It was a beautiful way to illustrate the historic importance of the days events.

The brides parents on their wedding day.

“By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.”

-Robert Frost

Thanks to Paul D. for this quote

We ate dinner one night at True Food Kitchen a very healthy restaurant in Phoenix.  Our friend Debbie F. took us there and it was good different.  They have wine as well as agave nectar natural drinks.  They have Turkey sandwiches and vegan dishes.  The atmosphere was modern and bright the service was excellent and the food was much better than I anticipated.  My favorite things were a few of the decor items.  The astro turf hostess stand was excellent:

And the birch bark vases also caught my cameras eye:

True Food is a Fox Concepts Restaurant. They are trying some very creative new food concepts mostly in Arizona but also a few other places in the West. Not a public company yet

These days we are all worrying about the skyrocketing cost of healthcare.  I had this idea while I was thinking about the cost in our current system of having the doctor inserted in the process for a personal connection with the patient at the beginning and the end.   We have built into the system and the payment structure an almost mystical reliance on the doctor seeing and touching the patient.  It used to make sense.  Before there were reliable diagnostic tests an experienced expert was the only reliable way to diagnose problems.  Now that is no longer the case but the system has not changed.  So to try it a new way I have invented:

MyDoctorIsInIndia.com

The Snail Medicine System:

If you get sick in the USA and you don’t have insurance.  The process goes like this:

Call Doctors office for an appointment

Doctor visit for an examination

Order tests

Revisit Doctor for test results, diagnosis and treatment recommendations

Get prescriptions

Total elapsed time two to five days depending on urgency

Total cost without the prescriptions in the range of $250.00

The I-Medicine System

If you get sick in America and you go to MyDoctorIsInIndia.com the process will go like this:
Mail in test kit

Get email from your doctor in India for consultation

Answer email inquiries and receive diagnosis and treatment recommendation

Get prescriptions filled and mailed to you by a pharmacy in Canada.

Total elapsed time two to five days

Total cost without the prescriptions in the range of $75.00

Read the rest of this entry »

We have had some fun with the names of cabs in San Diego and Lillian had mentioned the elusive Maipu in a taxi post in February. Finally Heidi I. got a picture:

Read as three syllables Ma-I-Pu it sounds like May I Poo.

And the answer is no you may not.

In the east this is called a Redheaded Woodpecker.  But out here in the west we call it the Acorn Woodpecker:

Acorn woodpecker (taken from my office window)

I can’t even imagine how it got the name Redheaded.

Life is Good

Back in mid August I reported on the Algae Bloom in the pond.  I’m now very pleased to report that the bloom is over and the pond is clear again.

clear water

It appears that the new UV light has done the trick.

happy and visible fish

This incident did give me an idea for a new product.  Since a UV bulb can continue to give off  visible light after it stops emitting UV rays, we need a simple inexpensive UV detector. It could be strips like ph paper or a meter like an amp meter.  The market is fish and pond supply stores but could also be worried moms and people at the beach.  Maybe super sensitive skin is the answer.

“If you have no wealth, you have no liberty.”

Unknown

Rebecca and I were hiking up the Mount Wilson Toll Road last Friday and we saw this deer near the upper slide.

We walked up the newly bulldozed road (Click here to Read that wonderful story) and we saw him peeking at us over the ridge:

Then finally as we looked down off the road we saw him again wandering off:

Clearly this is a deer who does not feel threatened by humans.

I don’t usually read science fiction books but his one was selected by my book club.

Read my full review on Amazon and then read the book.  There are new ideas in The Unincorporated Man that make you think about current social structures in new ways.  Dani and Eytan Kollin are to be commended for a great first book.