Dry Roasted Hank

I should probably bring an oven mitt with me so I can open doors without burning my hand for the next four days.

Squeamishness

I wish I had taped the two teenage girls as they removed my stitches this evening. Kathy showed Stephanie and Ericka how with the first stitch. Then they each removed one with the tweezers and scissors.

"Ewwwww! Eeeeeee! Ewww!"

Facing The Inevitable

This article concerns Sir Terry Pratchett's consideration of ending his own life.

Sir Terry, 61, author of the hugely successful Discworld books, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2007.

He said that no one has a duty to suffer the extremes of terminal illness and set down his admiration for the sick and dying who have travelled to Switzerland to die in legal suicide clinics. They have displayed ' furious sanity', he said.

The article came about because a woman who wants to end her life on her own terms wants to know if her husband will be charged with a crime if he helps her go to Switzerland.

The Lords ruled on Thursday that the Director of Public Prosecutions must give Mrs [Debbie] Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, guidance on whether her husband will face prosecution - and a possible 14-year prison sentence - if he helps her travel to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich to die.

The judgment means the DPP is likely to set down rules which will clear those who do not have selfish motives from the threat of prosecution - a major step towards legalisation.

Powerful stuff.

If I were terminally ill or had some disease that slowly destroyed my mind, would I choose to end my life on my terms or wait for the inevitable end? That's a question I ponder every once in a while. More so since, especially as I and my family grow older, I know there will be a time when my children will have to attend their father's funeral just as I attended mine.

That which seemed so distant and impossible as a teen--death--inches closer carried on the back of cold and callous time. It's a topic that should be discussed and not hidden away to "protect" the children. Death need not be the hardest life lesson we learn.

It's easy for me to answer the question of the choice I would make in the here and now because there is no imminency, no sense of urgency insisting that I decide before my faculties have finally waned or the pain is unbearable. But what would I do when I have to decide? That is, if I have that opportunity.

I find it to be a very personal issue. So much so that I would have great difficulty deciding for someone else even if they made their wishes known beforehand. Regardless of what my decision for me would be, I think it's important that I have a choice. If nothing else, I find that comforting.

Barefoot Running Update

I'm still running barefoot, but I can only comfortably manage two runs a week without shoes: one 2.5 and one 5k. My callouses are thick but they don't seem to be getting any thicker. It's like I wear them down as fast as they grow which does seem to make sense given the rough asphalt on the Centennial Trail from Riverfront Park to Mission Park.

However, I have a theory. I think that since I wear shoes during the day--you know, one of those silly work requirements--the heat and moisture trapped there keeps the callouses soft so that when I run at lunchtime the softer tissue wears away faster than normal.

Yep, I thunk that up all my myself. That's genius with a hard "g".

So I'm putting my theory to the test. Come Monday I am gone for three weeks. I have a conference in Arizona next week, a conference in Washington, D.C., the next, and then a backpacking trip the third week. For the next two weeks I can get away with wearing sandals. That will allow me to keep my soles drier and presumably tougher. I'll let you know how that works for me. During the backpacking trip the terrain will determine whether I'm barefoot, wearing sandals or wearing boots. I'll play that by ear. My brother, John, already told me that he's not carrying my sorry ass if I hurt myself by doing something stupid like walking barefoot in the mountains. Brotherly love in response to brotherly insanity.

See that dark line on my right big toe? That's a splinter from one of the wooden bridges in Riverfront Park. I also had one in the ball of my foot but it finally worked its way out. I was going to dig them out but stopped. They didn't hurt and digging into the thick skin would just expose tender skin. So I left them to come out on their own with time. It's been an interesting summer.

Shirted

Last night Josh received his shirt from the Flying Irish Running Club at O'Doherty's. After six runs, you get to stand on the bar and tell an Irish joke and pay $10 for a very nice dry-fit shirt. Wearing the shirt gets you a 50% discount off food and drinks after the run. I received my shirt a couple weeks ago. The joke I told was rather long and hard to follow since a lot of people in the place were talking. So from that Josh decided that it's best if the joke is short and sweet. And to cheers and high fives, here is the joke he told.

An Irishman walked into a bar and the bartender, seeing something odd, says, "Hey, you have a steering wheel on your pecker."

The Irishman says, "I know. It's drivin' me nuts."

Much-Feared Government-Run Health Care

This is horrible news.

The Defense Department is projected to reduce spending by $1.67 billion on prescription medications sold in retail pharmacies in fiscal 2010, following the full implementation of Section 703 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2008.

...

For the past several years the DoD has paid commercial rates for prescription drugs purchased in the Tricare retail pharmacy network; however, the DoD is included in the 1992 Veterans Health Care Act as one of the “big four” government agencies entitled to federal prices when it purchases pharmaceuticals for its beneficiaries.

The DoD currently receives federal ceiling prices, the maximum price that can be charged for brand name drugs in military treatment facilities and the Tricare Mail Order Pharmacy. Through authority provided in Section 703 of the 2008 NDAA and the “final rule” implementing the regulation, the DoD will now get these same discounts in the Tricare retail pharmacy network.

Don't they realize that the pharmaceutical companies are already hurting enough in this economic downturn. When faced with a decision to buy food or treat their toenail fungus, erectile dysfunction and restless legs, what are most Americans going to do?

Next someone will get the idea to apply the savings towards the Medicare Part D donut hole victims.