Day 1114

Every time I have a doctor's appointment in a hospital environment, I am amazed at the sheer size of what we have come to call our healthcare system. I grew up in a small town and the only reason people went to the hospital was to have a baby or to get their tonsils out. What a different world we live in now. Hospitals have become small cities with thousands of employees and hundreds of ways to die.

I don't like to go anywhere near a hospital. You're more likely to get sick in a hospital than in almost any other place in the world. I got Hepatitis C when I received tainted blood products in a hospital during the 1970's. Back then hospitals routinely bought blood from winos and the medical community wouldn't even discover what Hepatitis C was for another twenty years or so.

I think things are even worse today. You hear stories almost every day about people going to the hospital with a very minor ailment and leaving with a nasty antibiotic resistant MRSA infection. I guess it makes sense that bad things happen in hospitals. That's where all the sick people are. Luckily, I didn't have to stay long today. It was just a quick trip for a second opinion. It took me longer to get in and out of the multi-level parking garage than it did to see the doctor. As you might expect, the doctor I saw today disagreed with the previous doctor. This happens a lot. It wasn't so bad though. I liked this doctor's conclusion a lot better than the first one, so I think I'll just go with it.

The stock market had a banner day today. Equities went up. Gold went up. Even my managed futures accounts went up. This financial trifecta almost never happens. It's kind of ironic to me that Wall Street is celebrating some last minute compromise legislation that isn't going to solve anything at all. Even though there wasn't a lot of logic in today's huge gains, I'll take what I can get. I learned long ago that the stock market is nothing more than a barometer that measures the world's collective fear and greed. Today, the fear subsided just a little, and the greed took over.

I got my warm coat back from the tailor today. The last time they put in a zipper for me it cost $16. This time it cost $40. As far as I can tell, the zippers on both coats look exactly the same. Go figure. I have a feeling that I was charged more for the zipper on today's coat because it was a more expensive coat. I didn't complain though. Maybe there's a zipper shortage.

At least I was warm then I took Dash to dog training class this evening. I don't think Dash was very warm though. He didn't seem to want to be at class at all. I put his sweater on before we left the house, but he still didn't want to sit on the cold ground. I don't blame him. If it was up to me, I'd just skip training class until spring.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day