A broken sound bite

I’m sick and tired about the constant news of whether the Federal Reserve Board will or will not raise interest rates. 

Quite frankly most people, and I’ll stick my neck out and say most businesses, are really not that interested in the latest headline about how “A lack of interest-rate action – and no firm sign of when to expect it – is playing on nerves at home and abroad.”  This is according to a recent U.S. News and World Report article with an intended nerve-wrecking title “As an Anxious World Turns, the Fed Stands Pat”.

We’ve been fed this broken record news headline for way too long by the media.  Has anyone ever asked us if we want to continue being bombarded with this rerun news? 

Nobody has asked me and I haven’t met one person who’s nervous about this.

Business and financial news has become one big yawn in my opinion. 

People are more interested in who’s going to win the World Series this time of the year. 

One day the stock market drops due to fears about the Federal Reserve Board raising interest rates and then the next day it rebounds because some member of the Federal Reserve Board thinks rates should not be adjusted upward until next year. 

I’ll tell you what I think.

But for the most part, people don’t care; this I really believe. 

Yet the media continues to report this old news. 

Perhaps because it’s an easy script to write and it easily fills space they have available to report the news.  They have a dozen templates out there of this news story so all they have to do is just update it with a few current figures and statements some big shot has made.

Every news-reporting agency is drinking the same Kool-Aid and reporting the same old news about interest rates and I’m tired of it!

This interest rate stuff and whether the Federal Reserve Board will or will not raise interest rates has become one big bore and a broken sound bite.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Somewhat of a nuisance

There comes a time for many middle-aged men when the hair on the top of their head isn’t thick and lush like it used to be.  Some suffer from no hair at all on their north pole.  It’s all part of a gracefully-aging packaged deal. 

Well my crown is still covered with hair but some of it now sports a Centrum Silver shade of gray color as if I was a “Peter Graves cadet” in training.

But all is not growing slowly in my hair department.  I’ve noticed new and increasingly ever-present ear hair and nostril hair being my now thick and lush claim to fame.  

I consider these middle-aged man onset fur outcroppings my badge of honor of having made it this far.

However with their glory comes a commensurate labor of keeping them groomed and presentable.

Quite frankly, I must confess they’re somewhat of a nuisance.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Tame the beast

Let this middle-age man cut to the chase and tell anyone who may wonder why he exercises the way he does.  Why does he do some of the workouts he does?  Why does he favor intensity?

Certainly at his middle-aged man chapter of life, he's not training for some athletic competition although some middle-aged men are still in that game.

All the evidence suggests that something simple like a daily brisk walk may be all that is necessary for general health and wellness.

So why does he prefer to strap a heart rate monitor around his chest and subject himself to short-duration and grueling workouts of the high-intensity flavor?

His answer is very simple.  Within him is this character that needs to be kept in check. 

This character is known by different names to different people but this middle-aged man knows his inner-character as the beast.

And this middle-aged man wants to tame the beast.  

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

As fast as they did

Recently I viewed a discussion forum topic titled “20 years ago I never would have thought” to which many people shared their reflective replies.

Some were very sad while others were fun to read because people were living a life better than they imagined 20 years ago.

This topic made me thing about what my reflection might be and after much thought I came to the conclusion that twenty years ago I would have never thought that the next twenty years would go by as fast as they did.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Taking my exercise pills

The physical and psychological benefits of regular exercise can’t be disputed and those who regularly do so are the best witnesses of how it contributes in a positive way to their health and wellness.  

Let’s toss yours truly into the witness brigade.

Recent research by a group of Australian university researchers has revealed new discoveries about a thousand molecular changes that occur in our muscles when we exercise.  This research provides the world’s first comprehensive exercise blueprint according to an article appearing on the University of Sidney’s website.

The co-author of this research shared his enthusiasm about this research finding by commenting how it’s a major breakthrough because it allows scientists to use this information to design a drug that mimics the true beneficial changes caused by exercise.

In other words, perhaps down the road will be a new pill that one can take providing many of the same benefits of exercise without having to do so.

And when that day comes, asking your regular workout partner that it’s time to head to the gym may generate this reply:  “You go by yourself.  I’m staying home and taking my exercise pills.”

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Important information to know

In a continuing mission of taking responsibility for and managing his middle-aged man health and wellness, this middle-aged man has been reading a lot including leading causes of death in his age group.  

It’s not that I’m necessarily planning ahead, but it’s nice to know the cause of death for middle-age men in my decade of life - age 55 to 64 - based on statistical information available.

What I've learned is the top ten leading causes of death in my age-decade are as follows:

	Ranking	Cause of death
	1	Coronary heart disease
	2	Lung cancers
	3	Liver disease
	4	Lung disease
	5	Diabetes Mellitus
	6	Hypertension
	7	Stroke
	8	Liver cancer
	9	Colon-rectum cancers
	10	Suicide

Yikes!  Did you notice number 10?  Is the burden of being a middle-age man driving us to an edge of a cliff with some choosing to jump?

Seriously though, the above list gives this middle-aged man some perspective as he plans and lives his remaining life being aware of the causes that may lead him to his eventual meeting with the Grim Reaper.  

It's nice to know these leading causes of death and perhaps they might influence lifestyle choices I make that may affect the rest of my life.      

Here’s a website link if you’re interested in other age groups:

USA Causes of Death By Age and Gender

In managing his health and wellness, this middle-age man believes this is important information to know.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Eating too many doughnuts

In a world in which just about everyone uses a computer to do business, we all rely on gathering data  and then using some kind of coding system to classify and summarize the data.  This creates information that we use to make decisions.

An updated coding system monster recently “hit the streets” that will greatly impact our lives.

Our federal government now requires health care professionals to use the World Health Organization’s updated medical diagnosis coding system.  It's named the International Classification of Diseases, 10^th revision.  In the world where it’ll be used, ICD-10 is how it'll be known.

It’s an updated and very comprehensive list of classifying diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases.

There are now over 70,000 diagnostic codes for our health care system to use in creating an addition to our permanent health care records of what’s medically-wrong with you and me.  That’s a five-fold increase from the old system which had a mere 14,000 diagnostic codes.

There’s so much more variety available for our medical doctors to diagnose our “gone to the dogs” health.  General medical diagnoses will no longer get the job done for our dear doctor who must now conclude with a very specific medical diagnosis like “calling a spade a spade.”

This middle-aged man believes we need to take a more vested interest as a result of this new encyclopedia of medical diagnosis codes out of fear of being branded with a condition that can scar our medical records for life.  

In some cases, an error in labeling us with a false medical diagnosis code may be more damaging than the ailment itself.  Furthermore, getting an incorrect medical diagnosis code off our medical records may be harder than us getting well from the ailment. 

Factors like the high-volume of patients a modern medical doctor is required to see in a day, health insurance reimbursement economics and research motives of special interest funding sources such as the pharmaceutical industry create enormous potential for carelessness and false medical diagnosis coding in our health care records.    

This new medical diagnosis coding “monster” joins another scary creature known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 as it’s known my mental health professionals) produced by the American Psychiatric Association.

So while you and I may be considered “ordinary average citizens” by our elite political leaders and those who want to be one – i.e. candidates for President for example – there’s no longer such an “ordinary average” medical diagnosis available for you and me on those days we just don’t feel well. 

We’ll have to be branded with some condition much more specific.  I’m not sure what this is and worry that a hurried 10-minute visit to our medical doctor now facing this monstrosity of a medical diagnosis coding system may sometimes not know either.

Let’s make sure we’re on guard once the doctor’s office visit paperwork is completed.  Ask to see a copy of it, read it, zero in on the medical diagnostic code that has been “etched in stone” in our medical records and ask questions, disagree and protest with anything not seeming correct. 

This middle-aged man does plan on eventually taking a peek at this new ICD-10 bible to learn more about the specificity of these 14,000 plus codes.

One newspaper article about the new ICD-10 shared about how the codes are so specific that they have become the subject of much humor among those who have studied it.  For example, one code is for relationship problems with your in-laws while another is for being bitten by an orca. 

I’m sure when I eventually study this new ICD-10, I’ll learn about an onslaught of very specific diagnostic codes applicable to middle-aged men describing their very-specific and unique medical ailments.

Like being a middle-aged man fatso caused from eating too many doughnuts.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

All I want to do is dream

A couple dreamers catching a siesta in Puerto Vallarta circa January 2011

Last Friday my son shared about a dream he had the night before.  He shared how vivid it was and unlike most times when he doesn’t remember his dreams with clarity and detail.  I shared with him that, most of the time, I don't remember my dreams either.  

Anyway, he had this lucid dream about playing on a hockey team and scoring two goals that put his team ahead two to zero.  He was feeling good about his stellar performance.  Interesting is that he has never played hockey in his life and like his father, doesn’t even know how to ice skate very well.

As the game progressed while his team was still leading, he got injured and had to leave the game. 

The next thing he remembered was being in a hospital watching the game on television.  Eventually the other team scored two goals and tied the game.  Then a hospital nurse told him it was time to have some medical procedures done so he wouldn’t be able to watch the game on television any longer.  

That was the last he remembers about his dream.

I’m sure a dream interpretation expert would have a good old time telling him about his dream’s message.  I could probably fake an explanation if I tried hard enough but that doesn’t interest me.  But the thought of having a wonderful dream does after listening to his dream’s details.

Having a very lucid and vivid dream is a wonderful experience.  I like the feeling the following morning after awakening and feeling so cheerful and relaxed; maybe euphoric once in a while.  

It's sort of how I feel when listening to the following classic song by the Everly Brothers:

When listening to someone else share a great dream, it makes me feel like all I want to do is dream.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Will emerge for the rest of my life

Earlier this week I read a news article that really touched the inner depths of my emotions.  It was about a very special baby who recently celebrated his first birthday.  

What’s so special about that?

Well this special baby was born missing a large part of his head and skull and most of his brain.  He wasn’t expected to survive more than a few days after he was born last year.

Little Jaxon Buell was born with a birth defect called anencephaly.  It’s a defect that occurred because the beginnings of his nervous system formed incorrectly while he was growing in his mother’s womb.

One of the things I read that really touched my heart was about how Jaxon is actually talking and teaching himself how to communicate in his own way.  Like a normal baby, he cries when he’s hungry.

Jaxon’s condition is extremely rare because he has a combination of both a small head, malformed brain and no brain hemispheres.  He and his parents face the sad prospects of no known cure.

I can’t help but wonder how many parents wouldn’t have been brave as Jaxon’s parents were in choosing life for their precious little birth-defect baby.  In the abortion-on-demand world in which we now live, perhaps some would have chosen an abortion to spare themselves of the misery witnessing a birth-defect baby.

Truly Jaxon’s parents believe, as does this middle-aged man, that life begins at conception and ends at a natural death only God knows when that’ll be.  I admire Jaxon’s parents for their powerful witness of the sanctity of life.

Another thing that touched my heart deeply was reading what Jaxon’s father said about the experience of being his father.  He shared how Jaxon's tiny footprints will have a lasting impression on this world, and that little Jaxon has already touched and inspired more lives in one year than most of us ever will in our lifetime.  

Dad also added that thanks to Jaxon’s life, he is better, blessed, grateful and one proud father.

Thinking about how life would be without a brain is unimaginable and makes me privately reflect in disgust about the times I do not use my brain and intelligence to their fullest potential for benevolent purposes.  Like times when I allow my thoughts to loiter in the depths of malcontent, idleness, negative thinking and other malevolent states of mind with no lasting intrinsic value. 

I hope in this private reflection, brought on by learning about little Jaxon Buell whose life with all its challenges is nonetheless a precious gift from God, that a better me with better thoughts and use of my brain will emerge for the rest of my life.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Who wore a cane and derby hat

At this point of his middle-aged man fit life, I have a hard time imaging that one day things might be different.  

Yes, there may come a day when doing something simple like walking from here to there could be a challenge.  They say people generally lose their balance when aging.  But is this true?

A few years ago, Dr. Anthony Komaroff of the Harvard Medical School, was asked this question:  “Why does balance decline with age?”

He replied there are several changes that come with aging that can affect our balance.  Inside our ears is a balance center called the vestibular system.  It’s connected to centers in our brain that control our balance.  As we age, cells in our vestibular system die off and this affects how accurately we detect our position in space.

He further added that declining eyesight, blood pressure, and our loss of muscle mass and strength are contributing factors.

Finally, our reflexes and coordination generally slow as we age.  Thus, we’re both more likely to stumble and take more time to react when we do.

Closer to home, this middle-aged man finally witnessed his father swallow his pride and confide that he needed a cane.  My father was dying a slow and painful death from a rare cancer and after taking a fall one day; he realized that his fragile and weakened body needed some balance assistance.  It took a fall for him to finally buy and use a cane which he used until the day he died.

Fast forward to the present, my mother now uses a cane but it took knee replacement surgery and some kind coaxing to get her to acknowledge that using a cane might not only be helpful but very wise. 

Now if only my wife and I can convince her father. It’s time for him to own and use a cane, not only for his physical safety but our own peace of mind.  The macho male in his octogenarian psyche thus far is stronger than his need to be physically-safe from the perils of a fall that seems to be just a matter of time.

So just like the stubbornness observed in both my father and father-in-law, who am I to think I’ll be any different?  Will my jokester-like behavior of saying how I see a 16-year-old kid when looking in a mirror fool and seduce me into really believing it? 

Just because I can chew gum and walk at the same time now, and even with my eyes closed, doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to do that in ten, twenty or thirty years from now if I've blessed to still be living.

What’s the old saying?  Here today and gone tomorrow.

Well maybe my lack-of-balance day of reckoning will never come but if it does, I hope I learn of it the smart way and not the hard way.  I hope I’ll do a good job of acknowledging that my time has come; that my balance isn’t what it used to be and that I’m at risk for a fall that may cause me an injury that could be serious.

If and when that day comes, then maybe I’ll do so in style like Bat Masterson, the yesteryear western television show character played by now-deceased actor Gene Barry.

Like Bat Masterson, I’ll then one day be known as a former middle-aged man with a little bit of old-man style, who wore a cane and derby hat.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum