Value Added Leader

Collier ‘at peace’ with aftermath of shooting

Great story:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AszqHKCVu.xMf3aIzW9FVqFDubYF?slug=jc-collierrecovery112309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

What Did you do for your 16th Birthday?

What did you do for your 16th birthday?

Who knows?  I turned 50 this year!  This was a much more memorable time than 16 if you ask me.  I know I had to have fun at 16, but 50 was awesome.  The funny thing is I still have a lot of the same friends, but there are new friends which makes it more memorable. 

My sister turns 52 today, so hopefully, she has a geat day!  Make it memorable and spend it with friends. 

The bottom line is life is about relationships, so enjoy your friends and family.  Nothing else really matters.

The Big Move

As most know, my wife and I closed on the sell of our house last week.  This was originally a difficult process, but once we got into it we looked forward to the change.  The change is an adventure, and we are now looking forward to this new chapter in our lives. 

 

I go back to say that all change is positive.  Maybe it is that there is a silver lining in everything that happens in our lives.  We are looking forward to what the future brings, and we are glad to get the burden of the house past us. 

 

The last few times we have moved in our lives we hired movers and my wife pretty much managed the whole process.  I made the decision this round to move us, so I hired a friend of my son who was a great hand.  I am still sore and still have a few injuries from the move.  I have a great respect for people who do physical labor for a living.  The problem with this move is everyday I would rent a UHAUL for $19.95 and think that I had one more load; this went on for almost 2 weeks.  Finally, we got it done, and are into our new rental. 

 

I know that no one knows what the future holds, but I can tell you that we are looking forward to it.  I have a great family, and a great group of friends who have supported me through this move and change.  I am excited and I look forward the future.

New Article on Consulting

http://tinyurl.com/ybgx3u3

I wrote this article a few weeks ago, and I failed to post it anywhere.  I am in the middle of moving, so I have not been diligent in my blogging.

I hope you enjoy.

State of US's Health Care

State of US’s Health Care

 

I received a survey from the Republican Presidential Task Force who is chartered with finding out what Republican’s want regarding health care.  The survey is very black and white and really not practical.  The survey is more styled as “us against them”.  Our problem is not Health Care but rather cost and responsibility.

 

Health Care in the United States is wonderful; it is the best in the world, bar none.  The issue is tort law, “cover your ass” medicine because of tort law, controlled and noncompetitive insurance industry, abuse by the consumer of the entire medical system which falls on the insurance, and finally unhealthy choices and lifestyle of the consumer.

 

1. We must reform the tort law, and limit this piece of the cost equation.  Most doctors and hospitals do the right thing most of the time.  Medicine and doctoring is not a zero sum game, it is not an exact science, things happen.  I think it is ridiculous that the consumer has no responsibility in this part of the equation.  Doctors are not gods, hospitals are not Utopia.  The consumer has got to bear some of the responsibility on this side of the equation, meaning they cannot act like a limp piece of meat waiting for the gods to make them better without doing their part.  If something is so negligent that someone should get millions of dollars, maybe the negligence is criminal versus civil.  The point is there is negligence and then there is life.   We have to create a spirit where doctors do the best that they can with what they have.  This part of the cost equation needs to be carefully studied and thought out.  I assure you this is the biggest issue with health care in the United States.

 

2. The insurance industry needs to force “Wellness” onto the consumer by offering choices.  The consumer who actively participates and performs proper wellness should be rewarded for this by lower premiums and lower cost.  This is critical not to be cruel, but simply pain and pleasure philosophy.  The consumer moves towards the least painful most pleasurable solution, “Wellness”.  This is becoming and industry and if our system rewarded “Wellness” it would spur growth in this part of our economy.   By “Wellness”, I do not mean taxing things that are bad for you.  I assure you if you charge the Insurance Industry with this mandate and promote competition amongst the industry; they will come up with a solution.  Consumers who practice wellness pay less, plain and simple.  Companies who promote wellness pay less, plain and simple.  I assure you this is the second biggest issue in the United States with Health Care.

 

3. The consumer has to bear some of the responsibility of his or her health care.  I think that by promoting “Wellness”, by not allowing runaway judgments in law suits, by having the consumer consciously making decisions and these decisions affecting his or her cost and or wellness will undoubtedly put the responsibility in the consumer’s hands.  This too has consequences for example we may need to cover all children under the age of say 18, because we do not want some penny pinching parent not taking the kid to the doctor; however, again, promoting wellness.  The point here is there are people in our country who are addicted to doctors and hospitals for what ever reason.  We all have them in our family.  We may have an elderly person who every time we visit them they are talking about going to the doctor and this is wrong or that is wrong.  There has to be pain for this behavior.  You cannot simply run the doctor every time you sneeze, and have no consequence. 

 

4. Competition is going to make things work.  Look at a system that works not only in the US, but the world.  Cosmetic Surgery is as evasive as anything on the planet, and it is not covered by insurance, and it is competitive.  There are cheap boob jobs and expensive boob jobs; you can choose to have your recovery in your living room or in a resort.  It is up to the consumer to choose the price and the service.  The only problem with cosmetic surgery again is the tort issue.  There is still the risk of runaway law suits.  The consumer who has cosmetic surgery knows the risk when they go under the knife, and in most cases bears the burden; however, because of our crazy tort laws the doctor is still not protected, and the insurance companies still are not protected from accidents. 

 

5. Catastrophic/ Preexisting conditions are a problem that we all need to help solve.  There are people who are deceases that they are born with usually because of something we put in the environment or something their parent took (a drug) or whatever.  The point is some people are sick and need help and health care.  We need the country to set up a pool to support these people.  This pool or insurance needs to be funded by all Americans, by all businesses, by all insurance companies, by all doctors, and by all hospitals  This group of people is not that large and rules need to be carefully thought out and discussed.  I do not know how big this group is, but the point is if you have someone who can have a surgery and wake up better they need to have it if it is decease caused issue which has nothing to do with wellness and bad choices by that individual. 

 

6. This last item comes from my conservative nature, but I truly believe it and I believe that if we really want to attack the issues that run up the cost of health care we have got to realize our moral consciousness as a country and our lifestyles affect our health.  It is proven time and time again diet and exercise is good, but the number one factor in good health is happiness.  The number one factor in happiness is relationships and family.  They family unit in the United States is not the same as in other countries.  We do not have 3 generations living under one roof, at least in most cases.  We do not go to church as a family on Sunday.  We do not sit down for dinner as a family and say grace before we eat.  I hate to tell the law makers cannot ban “God” from our schools and then work on health care.  You cannot promote “Wellness” and forbid the “Ten Commandments”.  I can go on, but I think I have made my point.  You cannot promote health, but pay for abortions.  These things do not flow and go together. 

 

In summary, I agree we must control the cost of health care, but we must not look at health care in a vacuum.  I am not a health care expert and do not pretend to be.  I have not read the health care bill, yet, but I will.  I did just get through reading the book “Outliers:  The Story of Success” which is a great book and actually does touch on the “happiness” issue.  In the first chapter, it talks about the Italian immigrants who settled in Bangor, Pennsylvania who are the healthiest people in the world and honestly, do not particularly do much different in terms of diet and exercise than the rest of the world, but they are happy because of family and friends.

All Change Is Good, But It Does Not Necessarily Feel Good

I am sad / happy to say I have a contract on my house.  I am selling my dream house, for less than I would like, but non the less I am selling it.  No matter how I look at it, it initially depressed me a bit.  After a good night sleep, and a lot of prayers, I am now excited about the adventure of moving on.  I know that what I am going through is necessary to grow and to get to the next phase of my life.  I suppose the point of this posting is to stick with the theme that "All Change is Good", but I had to add the point that it does not "Necessarily Feel Good".  Now I know that after I go through the initial pain and work hard through meditation and prayer that I will get my mind right.  Because after all, it only hurts because of my thoughts.  Once, I get my thoughts right, then I get my feelings right. 

I am absolutely excited, Now, about the adventure of moving on.  It all depends on my thoughts, and my thoughts now are about excitement and adventure. 

AMAZON Kindle

 

I am not endorsing a product here, but I have to tell you I like this Kindle.  My buddy gave me a Kindle for my birthday which I thought was kind of useless until I started using it.  I was very skeptical when I received this new device thinking it was just a gadget.  I thought I would make him feel good and order a couple of things and tell him how great it was.  I am now hooked on my Kindle and I love it.

 

The Kindle for those of you who do not know is an electronic wireless book which you can wirelessly download books, magazines, blogs, newspapers, etc.,  anywhere, anytime.  It is small, fast, and convenient.   When you download an item, it is almost instantaneous. 

 

The cool thing is that everything I have downloaded since I have had it is cheaper than the bookstore and or the news stand.  You do not pay for the wireless service it is included with the device and or your purchases.  I like to pick up a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, or Financial Times occasionally, but I would never subscribe to them because I would not read them everyday, with the Kindle I can just download one when I want one. 

 

I have to tell you, I read so much faster on the Kindle; as well.  It must be because of the font or the format, but I promise I read substantially faster. 

 

If you are like me, one thing I have always enjoyed about Amazon is the way they profile you and push books that fit your profile.  With the Kindle, they continue to profile you and push content that they know I am interested in which again is very convenient. 

 

I wanted to say something about it because I really did not think I would enjoy it as much as I have.  I am not a gadget person, and I doubt that I would of ever bought it myself.

I am sure you can do much more with the Kindle, but so far all I have been doing is reading tons of books.  If anyone has a Kindle, and knows what else you can do with it let me hear from you.  I am pretty sure you can surf the web and get your emails from this device as well, but I do not know how to do it. 

 

 

It works

Ok, I remember now that I can post to my blog from my BlackBerry, cool.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Test

Can I blog from my BB? I am testing this, I know I have done this before, but I do not remember what or how I did it.
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Fitness Goals

What are your fitness goals? What is helping or preventing you from accomplishing them?
Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.

I use to weigh 300+ pounds, so since I lost more or less 100 lbs, I am very motivated to exercise everyday.  The main goal these days is to do something everyday that I enjoy and like.  I love to jog, bike, swim, and clean my boat (wax on/was off).  I tolerate weight lifting and try to do it a couple of days a week, but it is not my favorite.  I really think the key is to do something everyday, and don't kill yourself.  Do something that you enjoy, and that you have fun doing.  Walk or ride your bike instead of driving the car.  Park in the back forty when you go to the store or the mall.  The point is to move and do little things that increases your movement.

I also think that you have to eat right.  I try to eat 70% green, alive food that is full of water, lots of salads.  I do not eat much if any animal fat- no meat, cheese, etc.  Drink lots and lots of water and eat lots and lots of green alive food.

The main thing is no stress.  Stress is the worse thing in the world for your health and fitness.