There is a really disturbing trend developing in health care.  I can sum it up thusly: the insurance company will decide the fate of a patient’s treatment.
One company in particular seems to know better than any medical professional that has ever taken a medical class: Aetna.  You see, Aetna thinks that because the doctor didn’t do a sleep study on me and there is no “official” diagnosis, then he has no right to request that I obtain a prescription to fight the narcolepsy for a month while they line up some time in the clinic.  Therefore, there simply refuse to let me have it.
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Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/89665467@N00/3057326221">Fuschia Foot</a> via Flickr
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An old, old friend of mine runs the website Needcoffee.com.  It’s a fun website, full of twists, turns and cunning wit.  It also centers its existence around the thesis that humans do not need to sleep.
Two weeks ago I was in New Orleans, LA on a trip for work.  While we’re sitting at our chosen location pounding away on keyboards and debating serious elements of our system and the politics behind it, I found myself engaged in a conversation with one of my coworkers.  It was the chief engineer, of whom I highly respect.  When he speaks on all things NASA IT, I listen.
Today I turn 37 years of age.
I used to completely ignore the fact that I had a birthday and only acknowledge it to people who mentioned it, but today I’m openly declaring that I’m 37 years of age.
Why am I turning against my own tide and bringing this up?  I’m not sure.  It might have something to do with the fact that I need to openly declare that I’m in the final stretch to 40 and I need to GET OFF MY ASS and get healthier.
I don’t want this to sound too harsh, but sometimes I get tagged by these Internet memes and it just grates on my nerves until they’re raw.
What I mean to say is, of course, I’m flattered that my friends thought about me enough to actually want to know random facts about me and include me in the meme.  The problem is when I’m tagged with something like this, it lurks in my Inbox with a follow-up flag that waves at me every time I open my email.  “Hey, guy.  Remember, there’s some folks out there that want to know all kinds of random shit about you.  Isn’t it time you ponied up?”  It’s about as annoying as those bouncing icons in the dock that want attention.  “Hey!  You!  Me!  Click me!  Hey!  Hello!”
So just in case you are wondering if I’m conscious of the New Year… yes, I am.  Believe it or not 🙂
I have just three resolutions this year and they’re quite personal.  I’ll share them with you, intrepid reader, since you can keep a secret.
Think I can do it?  Who knows.  I have a gym membership, so I’m armed.
A while back, Tony challenged me to the Flickr photo-a-day thing. I intended to do it, but never really got the time.
I’m thinking that as the holidays approach and work continues to wind down for the holidays (we passed our decision points, which is good, so we’re not in Powerpoint hell anymore), I might have more time to explore this. I need to read up on the rules and decide if I can live with taking pictures of myself. We’ll see.
If you were subscribed to my Twitter feed, you would have known in near real time that today I had one seriously exciting treat. I managed to squeeze my way into a tour group being led by the incredible Jack Garman here at Johnson Space Center. Think I would turn down such a chance? Absolutely not. Not only is Jack Garman a wonderful friend and professional mentor to me… today I learned much, much more about him… and I’m in simple awe. (Read the Wikipedia entry).
What a wily month.
Not only did I have a new baby girl… I quit my job, signed on for a new job, got coaxed back to the old job, started the old job again and completely fell off the wagon with the gym.  Now here it is a month later and I’ve been working from home when I’ve not been playing Mr. Mom and I’m about to go back to the office for the first time since all of the drama.
Howdy from Dallas, Texas, where a new chapter of my life could be opening up. I’m not sure why or how, but it could happen.
I am nervous but then I am not. If the interviews are all about how I function under pressure, that’s fine I guess. We shall see.
Should I keep you up to date with how the interview goes tomorrow?
Sleep now. Study in the morning.
You may or may not know this, but I’ve been in Denver for the past week for a conference for work. The conference has gone well and most of the participants have flown home.
Originally I changed my flight because I thought that project management wanted to get together here on Friday to work on some issues, but that turned out to not be the case. I ended up with a free Friday. One of my coworkers asked if I was interested in hiking and I was immediately game… Yes!