Health care & the uninsured
Today’s Game Plan expresses my thoughts on health care, speaking as a life coach and as a formerly uninsured American. I think there are too many misconceptions about what this segment of our population looks like.
Check out One Formerly Uninsured Voice Speaks Out on Health Care.
I knew this one would draw some interesting comments. The very first reader response calls being uninsured a “dumb” life choice but suggests putting insurance payments on a credit card if you can’t afford them. Hello! Putting things on credits cards that we can’t afford got this country into this mess in the first place.
I feel another column coming …
Fever & chills & sweats, oh my
Words you don’t want to hear from your doctor: Boy are you sick.
Those words rung in my ears this morning as he gave me my diagnosis — strep throat.
But I guess his first clue was the fact that I couldn’t keep my head up on the examining table so when he walked in I was lying down and groaning. Two prescriptions later, here I am, hoping the drugs kick in before the journey to the beach tomorrow.
A funny guy, the doc said, “You haven’t been here in a while. Don’t you like me?”
“How long has it been?” I asked with a laugh.
“2002,” he said.
I take some solace in that.
Snapshots in my mind
This Game Plan column was such a no-brainer. I talk about Italy, people ask about my pictures. I guess I’m odd in that I like to experience what I’m seeing rather than snap away.
In any event, here’s my take on why I don’t tend to take many photos on vacation: Learning to Savor Life’s Moments.
Game Plan update
For Game Plan readers who rely on this space to direct them to the links, please see columns called Discipline Over the Long Haul, A Recession is a Terrible Thing to Waste, and Give Your Professional Confidence a Boost on my Columns page.
Back on American soil
I’m back from Italy!
Regular readers of this space will not be surprised to learn that when I struggled to get Wifi going on my laptop in the mother land I decided to take it as a sign to disconnect. It was a blessing, really.
Over the next few days, weeks, months (probably), my rich experience of Italy will be seeping into this space and across my work. I can’t possibly capture it all here and now, although I’m thrilled I journaled every day the old-fashioned way.
I was hosted by two wonderful families and in two weeks I took in: Lake Como, Stresa (Lake Maggiore), Lake Orda, Milan, Pistoia, Lucca, Pisa, Florence, Rome. What I ate ranged from simple and fresh to rich and decadent; honestly, each time I ate something I thought it couldn’t get any better — and it did. Risotto with porcini mushrooms, homemade coconut and lemon gelato topped with Limoncello (hello!). Seriously, in Tuscany I had eggs for breakfast that a neighbor’s hen had laid the night before.
Duomos, the heart-pumping art of Michelangelo, a field of sunflowers, shopping at a flea market in Rome with three fun women I met from Australia. Waiters who act like they’re doing you a favor every time they grace your table (Is there a difference between French and Italian waiters? I saw none.)
While I enjoyed my trip immensely, I must say I almost broke out into America the Beautiful when I saw the Manhattan skyline from the plane.
Stay tuned for more …
Love when that happens
OK, too weird. Just wrote my last post on going to Italy and then went to my horoscope for tomorrow:
For August 10: You’re like a freight train of butter and brown sugar, passion, inspiration and magic, baby. You’ve got so much going on in that head and heart of yours that there is no beginning or end to it. It’s a continuous loop of miraculous art, dreams, sound, and awareness. Don’t stop that train. Keep it going, and learn to sway with the ride. Something big is going on – big life changes that you’ve intuited but tried to avoid. Well – too late, sweetheart: some things are just plain bigger than you are – and a whole lot more potent and rewarding than your fear.
Bring it.
Italy bound
Off to Italy tomorrow. A bit of city, a bit of country, lots of art, delightful food. Luxury, simplicity, beauty.
And I’m open to the rest …
Gray on the Hudson
So often in this space I talk about the Hudson River. I live just over a block from the waterfront and it is, on a day-to-day basis, a wonderfully comtemplative and meditative place. I enjoy it the way others enjoy their backyard — to journal, to think, to chat on the phone, to have coffee — only it just happens to have a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline.
This day, on my morning walk the day after a plane and helicopter crashed, it was somber. Gray everywhere. The tip of the Empire State Building was not visible because of cloud cover. Even Sinatra Park, the hub of all the media activity, was quiet. Remarkable considering the teams of emergency personnel, the Eyewitness News, News 12, CBS, Fox News and other vehicles present.
It seemed appropriately respectful as the boats engaged in the recovery operation went about their work.
I keep thinking about those Italian tourists. One minute you’re about to get a breathtaking aerial view of Manhattan on one of the most gorgeous days of the year, the next you’re gone.
Almost every time I’ve been at the waterfront since January, I’ve had a feeling of exhilaration because of Captain Sullenberger’s miraculous landing. You can’t help but think of it when you look at the river. That was layered on top of the experience down there on and after September 11, 2001, that feeling of always looking at Lower Manhattan as empty sky.
Now the Hudson holds yet another story.
Sobering, really.
The pesky Alaskan
I must believe that a heroic American like John McCain is banging his head against a wall every night since inflicting the loose cannon from Alaska on this nation. After her latest “death panel” comment on health care, I won’t even type her name in this space. What a disgrace.
Cake Boss inspiration
Sometimes the most fun I have with a Game Plan column comes from a natural place — my daily life. Ever since Carlo’s Bakery has become a national, even international, sensation on TLC’s Cake Boss, I have seen the growth with my own eyes here in Hoboken.
This was my second interview with Buddy Valastro and again it was a pleasure. He’s inspiring and oh so real. Check out Piece of Cake: A Taste of Real in Reality TV.
To get more background, here’s my first interview back in April: Getting to Know the Cake Boss.
