Barbaraok

So, you are doing preventative care.

HA1C has become the standard for monitoring how the body is using glucose. What your describing is a glucose tolerance test which isn’t used very much anymore. Fasting blood glucose is a single draw after at least 8 hours without food. Done at the same time as the lipid panel for cholesterols, etc. yes, I had the glucose tolerance test done, because my fasting is usually around 105. However, my A1C is 5.3, and my fasting glucose hasn’t changed in 30 years. Having several years of tests provides a level of what is normal for you, and thus when something changes, it indicates further investigation may be needed.

Didn't make me scared, made me determine to make sure that I know what my body is doing and what adjustments need to be made. You're never cured of cancer, just in remission. I'm still waiting for a list of routine tests that are unnecessary. I suppose if one just wants to roll the dice, then not making sure all systems are functioning as well as they can, or need some help, that's fine. Of course 5 years down the road, when what would have been an easy problem to treat, the glaucoma is so advanced that the person may lose the sight in one eye. Or one passes out and ends up in the ER with a blood glucose of 450 because they never bothered to have even a yearly check of their fasting glucose level nor notice the increased urination. Or a stroke occurs and the cholesterol level is 280 and small clots have let go in various parts of the body. Or you are dead because it was just a sort of mole and no need to get it looked at. Tell me Linda, do you get a mammogram every year or two?

Yes, I will say that as they age if they don't get at least annual checkups they are dumb. And I'm still looking for a list of routine annual checkup tests that think are unnecessary. And part of the annual check up process is for you to review with your primary care provider any changes you've notice, especially those little nagging things that you just aren't sure about - - usually they are nothing, but often enough they indicate a problem that can be managed easily with some simple lifestyle changes and sometimes medication. Could you please indicate what you think is unnecessary. Now, there are some tests that go away as you get older, such as colonoscopies after 80 if one has never had any problem, because at that point you are much more likely to die from something else. So what other tests do you think are unnecessary and why.

I believe CC in this case is credit card, but could be wrong. We have Sirius in the car and listen to smooth jazz when we are driving. Use to have a lot of smooth Jazz FM stations, but not anymore, so we listen to Water Colors on Sirius (channel 66) in the car, and Channel 851 on Direct TV for our Smooth Jazz when at home.

I think you will find that most RVers have a much smaller carbon footprint that one would think. And I was pointing out that using more efficient anything in terms of energy is better for the whole planet. BTW, we now drive a hybrid BY CHOICE. It is our way of doing something to reduce our carbon footprint AND save some money we would spend on fuel. 50 mpg when involved in mainly urban/suburban driving. Obviously we have too many who are too young to remember when LA was having daily smog alerts and you couldn't see the San Bernardino mountains, or when the Cuyahoga River burned in Cleveland, or black snow and ice on Lake Erie, or the horrible yellow haze and smell in Phoenix during the summer when the Copper Smelters were going full blast with no pollution controls.

A choice to pollute more? Because that is what you are advocating. Since most power generation includes some pollution, shouldn’t we do everything possible to reduce our need for more electrical power plants.

So you’re ok with speed limits so that we don’t kill each other, but going to more efficient light bulbs to reduce power demands and help to reduce carbon pollution and maintain a livable planet for everyone is a bridge to far?

I think that most people were surprised when they read the articles and saw that it really wasn't an RV, so wondered why it was posted in an RV forum. I realize that some papers did say RV, but the pictures I saw and the description isn't one of an RV. There are some videos of it being pulled out of the creek and if there was some type of structure on the back it disappeared without a trace. We're in Mesa, AZ and it is in the newspaper everyday, the 3rd little girl still hasn't been found, though they have found one of her shoes and her pants. After this many days and the conditions in the hills, it is unreasonable to expect the child is alive and they may not find the remains intact. One question that does keep coming up is why the adults have not been charged with child endangerment for driving around the barricades. Those that live in the area have been trying to get a bridge over that area because of flooding when it rains, but the $20 million price tag is too much for the county and there are too few people for it to built using federal grant funds. The family is from Arizona, so the adults should have know what happens when you have big rain storms.

I don't even know where to begin when someone is so entrenched that they have no concept of community. How sad for you.

And without government mandate seat belts would be an expensive add-on and other safety items would never have gotten off the ground. Without government regulation, think what we would all be paying for in terms of lung cancer deaths. Or drunk driving deaths. Sometimes we have to mandate that people change their habits in order for everyone to be safer. Or would you rather have lead in your drinking water pipes? Setting standards has opened the door to new ways of doing things, new industries, with each leading to new ways of thinking and the promise of further development of the human potential.

Not hard to change autopay at all. Just cancel the service, following the steps on their website (they all have the steps even if they don't like it) and if they don't follow through, contest it with your credit card issuer and let them fight it out. Another way, get the card company to issue a new card and cancel the old one. Then when the firm emails you that you need to give them a new card, tell them no. Our electric bill for our park model is on autopay, as are our phone charges, things that are always the same and thus I don't have to go online to pay each month. BTW - we did have Sirius for several years and then when our unit for the car (wasn't built in) stopped working, I cancelled the service without any problems and it was on autopay.

So you advocate going back to energy inefficient appliances, going back to leaded gasoline, going back to no seat belts, going back to burning high sulfur coal in plants with no exhaust filtration?

I'm sorry, I was trying (and obviously not succeeding) to comment on how after one is on the road for a while they learn how much they will typically use as they go about their daily routine.

Ah, but not all sand is SiO2 (silicon dioxide). Sand can also be calcium carbonate if the source of the rock that has eroded away came mostly from decaying organic matter. Sand is actually just the size of the rocks. Most sand from non-organic sources will be from quartz, but there are also other minerals that erode away to form sands. BTW - not all glass is just from SiO2. Look up Soda Glass, Borosilicate Glass, leaded glass, etc.

Actually there are microbes that 'eat' plastics and some engineered enzymes that break down plastic into shorter chains that bacteria/fungi can use. This is a very hot area of research - we have a friend involved in some of the engineered enzymes, very intriguing.

Because people in the USA would continue buy them because they are cheaper even if they harm the environment in the long run. That's what being scientifically illiteracy does to a country. Short-term, what's in it for me versus long-term, what is good for everyone on the planet in the coming centuries.

Packrat, would you please give me the link for your statement: Because as a chemist/chemical engineer I want to see the research on this phenomena. Yes, there are sands than contain volcanic glass, but under the microscope those are glass bits, not sand grains. Now, if you use pressure and heat, say in a volcano, then you would form magma, which might flow out as molten rock which when cooled, would go through erosion and finally become sand (and sand is different all over the world). And the type of sand would depend upon the types of other minerals beside SiO2 in the magma, which is dependent upon the place on the mantel that the hotspot occurs.

Read the fine print in your contract for the 0% promo - - something sounds fishy.

When you are first starting out you really don't know how much of anything you will use and either underestimate or overestimate usage, and probably rely on the indicator panel lights as being 'right on' rather than 'in the neighborhood'. I know that the first year we filled our 40 gal propane tank (in a motorhome, with 32 gal onboard when full at 80%) twice when the light indicated just a 1/4 of a tank left. Each time it took 15 gallons or less. That's when I started to compare the lights on the utility panel in the coach with the actual gage on the tank. Now I know about how much we typically use (not much as we almost always have full hookups) and we refill tank once a year, usually about 20 gallons. We maybe run the furnace twice during the spring in Western Washington if it is cold and damp just to get the chill off everything. We avoid cold weather and use electric space heaters (front and back) for cool evenings in the northwest.

There were warnings out all day BEFORE the storm hit the we were in for a lot of flash floods and to stay off the roads if at all possible! 3 tornados touched down in the Phoenix area, it was a BAD storm. The adults need to be arrested for child neglect!

This is the kind of thing one normally asks their primary care physician about, or at least the ophthalmologist (or optometrist) they have been seeing for a few years. I often ask "who would you send your mom to" if I haven't know the person for long.

It must have been 15 years back, because 13 years ago when we did Q there were no bargains to be had during the RV show. Maybe the end of March when vendors were leaving, but not in January.

Yes, we were covered (well still are except it is now our supplemental for Medicare) by the university system we worked for. And I am not sure how that is relevant. I didn't say it was a good idea, but that if an HMO was all the was available, the one would have to look at it as others who belong to that HMO do - it will cover emergencies out-of-state but the expectation is one has to return for followup care. My mother had Medicare Advantage (not that she picked it, it was covered by her pension) and had care in case of an emergency out-of-state. So yes, I have dealt with an HMO-style health plan. But my mother didn't travel out of state except for short visits to us and never after 2006 when we retired, we went to her. And you are the perfect example of how someone under the HMO would have to deal with a chronic illness, they have to go back to their 'home' area for treatment. I thought that was what I said. I never said a all serious illnesses can be detected early, but there are enough of them that can that to NOT have at least an annual checkup as one ages is really dumb. We always make sure that we have copies of our last blood work when we hit the road in the spring just in case one of us becomes ill so that they can see what our blood chemistry levels were at the last check. We also often have scripts for blood work to be done while we are traveling so that we can monitor to make sure our meds are working as designed and that we not showing side effects from any of our meds. I would be interested in what people think are wasteful tests run as part of an annual checkup.

Obviously you’ve never had a life threatening illness. Congratulations, hope you never do. What tests do you consider unnecessary? Knowing what your homeostasis levels of blood chemistries is important. If you ALWAYS run a little on high or low side of the normal range that is important for any blood chemistry. Routine mammograms are unimportant? Your cholesterol level is unimportant? Pressure check for glaucoma unimportant?