Donald
Trump is causing a lot of high blood pressure, but he doesn't seem to
have any himself -- based on his recent physical..... The doctors said
he was overweight but otherwise fine. To me he shows a remarkable level
of energy for a man his age and that puzzled me until I figured it out.
Trump
doesn't read or think. I could save a tremendous amount of energy if I
did not read or think. I could get up at 5 a.m. and blast off some
Tweets if I didn't think or read.
Enough about Trump. I
called the Sansum Clinic here in Santa Barbara because my blood pressure
showed an alarming increase. I asked to see Christine, the Nurse
Practitioner, rather than Bryce Holderness, the MD.
I
called the clinic and they put me on hold for twenty minutes, but my
attitude was pleasant so I just put the phone on speaker and went about
doing other things while I waited.
What did please me was
the result. I told them my BP showed an alarming increase and I would
like to come in to see the Nurse Practitioner, choosing her because she
was more likely available. Dr. Holderness is a fine fellow but his time
is portioned out in minutes. With Christine you get 15 even 20 minutes.
They
said I could come in the next morning at 8:30. Isn't that good? I
called the doctor with much less than an emergency, and they said I
could come in the next day. This is why I like the Sansum Clinic.
And
the problem was easily resolved. My BP had not increased, it was quite
normal. Rather, my battery-powered wrist monitor was faulty, and too
old, and giving false readings..... The nurse said it was time for a
replacement.
I said I could use my girl-friend's plug-in
electric monitor instead. I had brought that better monitor with me and
it showed the same result as the one they use at the clinic.
Isn't that sweet? Now Laurie and I use the same BP monitor.
And
it is time to explore lower salt options. Two days ago we had boiled
potatoes with dinner. I put butter on them but no salt. It wasn't bad at
all. The butter has enough salt in it to go around.
And cheese. I gotta think about that. Most cheeses are very salty --- I might have to cut back there.
What
about cholesterol? Not a problem for me. My annual blood test and
physical shows very good scores in that area. Basically I have a license
to put mayonnaise on everything. That is my good fortune.
This is probably as much as you want to know about my health.
I
manage my own blood pressure, and I try not to aggravate other people..
I do a lot of thinking and reading as well. In that sense I am in much
better health than that clown in the White House, although we are the
same age.
Mudslide in Montecito
We are
six miles from the mudslide and scarcely impacted. It was a furious
downpour that caused the debris flow. But the fact is it only amounted
to an inch or two or rain. We are still in a drought. In Southern
California we can have drought and flood at the same time. Most of us
Californians know that.
Home prices here are astronomical.
The median price in Santa Barbara is above $1.4 million. That prices
cops and school teachers out of the market. A good town is where the
cop, the school teacher and the nurse can all afford to buy a home. The
police force has a hard time hiring people -- they even advertise about
job openings on TV..... "You can start a career in law enforcement," the
ad says. But if they take the job, where will they live?
California
has too many poor people. If you factor in the cost of housing, then
California has a poverty rate near to Mississippi. But you don't see
that poorness here in blessed Santa Barbara.
It's a
problem. I don't have an answer. I wish some elected official would say
just that, "Housing is a problem and I don't have a solution." That
would be the honest thing to say.
That's one of the ways
you can find out if a politician is telling the truth -- if they admit
their limitations. Donald Trump has a solution for any problem you can
think of, but I don't believe him. I prefer a dash of humility in our
elected leaders.
Santa
Barbara is an affluent community -- good schools, a beautiful
environment, a sound economy and a gracious social climate. We have the
beaches, the mountains, the fine architecture -- and good doctors.
Getting
a quick appointment at a place like Sansum Clinic is one of the perks.
We have lots of good doctors -- they like living here too.
So it's easy to skip over the alarming poverty in other parts of the state.
Californians
voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a huge margin --- as if
we believed in ourselves. But the rest of the nation -- or larger parts
of it like Pennsylvania and Michigan -- aren't falling for the
California Dream.
It used to be you could be
living back east, but you told the boss to take this job and shove it.
Then you packed up the station wagon, piled in with the dog and the kids
and headed out to California, where you quickly found a good job and
the start of a sunny new good life.
You can't
do that anymore. Our affluent coastal communities are getting too
exclusive. The folks in Scranton are stuck there now and cannot escape
from dreary winters, so they become angry and vote for Trump or they
become addicted to Fentanyl. I don't know how to fix this.
St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. I
went to this excellent school in Canada. I belong to the class of 1968.
We are celebrating 50 years now. I am unlikely to attend the Re-Union
at this point, but I kinda wanna go.
The Fishtown Woods Massacre. That
was 30 years ago, in 1988. They cut all the trees, tore down the cabins
and kicked all the hippies out of Fishtown. Nobody wants to remember
that awful day.
You're Not Even Jewish. "You're Not Even Jewish"
is a story I wrote that has been published in the January issue of the
Jewish Literary Journal. The story is about how I took an interest in
learning to read and write Hebrew, how I taught myself that language and
went on to a three-year participation in Jewish culture. It was very
interesting. That's what Harvey Blume said. Harvey actually is Jewish
and he said what he liked about being Jewish is that it is so damned
interesting. He's right.
That's all for now. If you want to buy a subscription to Frog Hospital contact me for the particulars.
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