"Smile..."

Smile...it goes a long way!!!

I smile a lot!!! I am told that I do.   People come up to me and say "You are always smiling...You must be one of the happiest people I know...You light up a room when you enter...Are you on something?...You are "the mayor"...Your Mom is always smiling too..."

It makes me look and feel younger!  It makes face to face business and personal dealings go smoother!

 

Try it...

"Prostate Cancer Treatment..."

After months of research, and speaking to a number of treatment options specialists, I selected External Radiation.  An investment of time (nine weeks of daily Monday through Friday sessions) is made in exchange for one of the least "invasive" treatments.  No surgery or seed implants are required. From leaving the house in the early morning to return is only one hour.  The fairly new state of the art radiation oncology facility is beautiful and staffed with excellent doctors, nurses and administrators. I joked that  the only nurses  that I have seen as caring as these, has been in hospice.  With similar schedules, the same patients are seen daily...our "morning club"!).

 

The treatment has a 98% chance of a complete curing for prostate cancer caught as early as mine was.  Symptoms include being increasingly more tired.  Even after doubling my daily sleep from three to six to seven hours, by the end of the first week, I find I need a short nap.  Nevertheless, I am still working out daily...cardio and lifting 4 times, and distance swimming 3 times per week, doing my job, my volunteer work, and a fairly active social regimen!

 

I received my first statement from the radiation center from my insurance company.  $4,400 (times 45 days equals $198,000!!!) was billed for the first day, from which $1,200 (times 45 days equals $54,000) was approved, and $180 was paid by insurance, with the balance due from me!  Luckily, I have an insurance maximum annual out-of-pocket outlay!  

 

Tomorrow  is the end of three or the nine weeks!

 

 



"Wednesday, Late September Observations..."

Today's Business headline read: "DOW, Worst Drop In Three Months...and continued...After the Fed's effort to support the economy (by printing more currency) failed, and this has undermined future Fed action..."

 

"Staples is shutting 60 of its U.S. stores and will close its European ones by the end of the fiscal year of 2012"...

 

"In NYC this year, over 7000 teenagers have been given "the morning after pill" to deal with their pregnancy..."

 

"China just launched their first aircraft carrier to build their navy..."

 

"An Israeli rabbi urged the burning of their country's I-Phones to keep out of contact with the negative Internet news..."

 

To renew a subscription to our local paper, or not...that is the question?!? 

"September Weekend Observations..."

Saturday night, at twilight, the beauty of nature was in full force!  Driving south along US 1, there were double rainbows over the ocean to the left, and a golden glow on the facades of the buildings and vegetation, as the intense multi-colored sunset pierced incredible billowy cloud formations!  Air was refreshed from two previous weeks of daily rain, and the humidity was indicating the beginning of the Fall season in Florida!

 

Sunday's Business Section of our local newspaper had a full front page article on the Business of the Week...It described a 49 year old man who started another on-line porn site!  His earnings were reported at $25 Million in three months!  It also reported the fourth murder in West Palm Beach in two weeks...The main section contained page after page of reports of the international scene in violent unrest...

 

The local news station was describing the 2012 Presidential election campaigns as the nastiest in history...while both candidates are wasting incredible amounts of money and time on these campaigns...and it appears that the nation is evenly divided (with combative strong opinions) between both.  For me, this reinforces a one-term presidency...six years would be a good number...and ideally if both houses of the Congress would be totally replaced with new members with a one-term limit that would be good too!

 

An e-message from my domestic and cellular phone (bundled TV and Internet) company, stated that my e-mail capacity was exceeded, and I should click on the attached link or my e-mail account would be canceled!  Suspicious of a possible virus, after three calls to customer disservice were dropped, I managed to get through to an overseas gentleman who informed that my suspicions were well-founded and that the e-mail should be deleted!

 

I checked the previous day's mail to discover an envelope from the Florida Department of Corporations.  It had all of my corporate information on a form that was to be signed and returned in the enclosed envelope to a post office box in Tallahassee, with a check for $125 to fulfill my annual report legal requirement!  A check of my check ledger showed that I had paid the Department of Corporations Annual Fee of $150 five months prior.  A further check of the Florida Department of Corporations web page warned of this mailing as a records-violated additional scam!

 

 



"Consumer Education...1953"

As a child I remember sitting on my maternal grandfather's lap while he read through extensive records on costs in the United States in its Post-Depression period.  He constructed a four-story brick Colonial home and medical office with a detached two-car garage with a slate roof, two kitchens, beautiful interior and exterior finishes and detailing for $7,000! 

 

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to read my Mother's college senior "Consumer Education" class "Life Time Budget" report for which she was given an "A" grade.  It was divided into "life period" chapters on "Savings and Establishment of Family"; "Child Bearing and Pre-School"; "Elementary School"; "High School"; "College"; "Recovery"; and "Retirement").    Mother had met my Father, and they were engaged to be married the following summer after her graduation.  After a post marriage military assignment in Virginia, they planned to move to Westchester County to raise their predicted family of three children (and they had four).  It was VERY interesting to look back to compare the economic predictions with the life that unfolded for our family...

 

In 1954, Dad would be earning $240 per month as an Army First Lieutenant, and Mother would be earning $200 per month as a bank teller.  This placed them in a 20% tax bracket.  Their partially furnished two-bedroom rental home with utilities and homeowners insurance was $80 per month.  Groceries were budgeted at $70 and meals out at $10 per month were budgeted.  Their Chevrolet convertible cost $279 per year for gas, oil, maintenance, license and registration, and his and her insurance policies (note, that Dad's was $40 and Mother's was $100 per year). Their combined annual health insurance plan with Blue Cross was $42 per year! After expenses, $1,203 ($600 in US Bonds) in savings of their $5,280 combined annual income was budgeted!

 



"Danube River cruising..."

I just returned from cruise # 91...this time on the new (placed in service 2 months prior to our boarding) Avalon "Vista"...This was my 3rd river cruise, after Germany's Rhine, China's Yangtze, and Egypt's Nile. River cruising provides a different experience from ocean vessels. It tends to attract an older group, is VERY relaxing, offers a very personal "reach out and touch it" regional awareness, usually with educational lectures, and local dance and musical evening performances and cuisine.  The ships are very long and narrow (single-loaded corridors), and are usually three levels. The public areas contain an entire length roof deck, and possibly a small spa or a small "dipping" pool; a meeting lounge with bar; a formal dining room; a less formal cafe lounge; and fore and aft small deck seating areas; and possibly a tiny fitness center with a few cardio pieces of equipment, stretching area, massage room and sauna.  The lower level is crew for 1/2 and less expensive cabins, both with small fixed windows.  The upper two levels might have small balconies, or the recently possible floor to ceiling sliding glass doors with "french" (no seating areas) balcony  railings.  The cabins and baths tend to be larger than cruise ship standard ones.   The "Vista" had a very sleek luxurious contemporary decor and exterior design.  Upper deck shade canopies and the  navigational bridge "collapse" to allow passage under low bridges.  Maximum occupancies range from 100 to 160 passengers and 50 to 60 crew members (good ratios!). 

 

The flights thru the night from Miami to Frankfurt and  then on to Budapest were long (11 hours), and as I traveled in August (the busiest month for Europe), they were full and fairly expensive!  After Hungary recently lost their national airline (related by the Mercedes taxi driver), and Budapest closed its second airport, only two major carriers regularly fly to Budapest.  This has reduced the tourism, that is the number one industry for this wonderful, surprise city.  The Danube bisects the city into Buda (the older) and Pest (the newer) sections of the city.  Arriving at 10 am, and despite not sleeping on the trip, I went directly to a hotel to meet a local couple.  After living world-wide with, and retiring from,  United Nations careers, they decided to spend 1/2 of the year in Budapest and 1/2 of the year in Palm Beach County.  With good reasons, they love the city, and I concurred!  it is spotless; with beautiful historic and modern architecture; with great indoor/outdoor restaurants and cafes; and REASONABLY priced!  If this is your starting or ending point of a Danube cruise, plan to spend a few days before or after the cruise.  Unfortunately, I did not, but thanks to my friends tour-guiding, I got to get a good "taste" of it, to wet my appetite for a future visit!

 

To be continued...