Cataract Surgery Is Now Approved

Today I had my evaluation by a cataract surgeon to see if I need my cataracts taken out.  The appointment was at 10:00 this morning in Fairfax near Merrifield, and I had a friend drive me there since my eyes were to be dilated.  They tested my eyes with a couple of machines, and they tested them with a person making the measurements with the normal instruments used by an optometrist.  I told them that the cataracts were making it difficult to drive at night and that I needed to drive at night for some of my math tutoring appointments.  Bottom line, they agreed with me that I needed cataract surgery.  Hooray!

Now, I have to do somethings in preparation for the surgery.  I need to be medically cleared by my medical doctor no later than two weeks before the surgery. Tomorrow I will be taking the two-page form to my doctor and schedule the appointment for this.  I already have a follow up appointment scheduled with my medical doctor for Tuesday afternoon.  I don't know if this appointment can be used for this clearance or not, but hopefully I will find that out tomorrow.  The people at the eye doctor wanted me to schedule an appointment for the cataract surgery today, but I did not want to do that until I know when my medical doctor will be able to medically clear me for the surgery.  The cataract surgeon will perform the operation on my right eye first since that is my dominant eye.  My left eye will be done 3 weeks later.  There is a good chance I will be seeing better that next day.  I certainly hope so.

Of course I will be nervous about this surgery.  Who wouldn't be?  There is no surgery without risks.  My surgeon is an highly rated cataract surgeon, and he has done over 20,000 of these surgeries for 25 years.  I think he knows what he is doing, and I trust him.   I am looking for a great outcome when this is over with.  I have now taken the first step to seeing much better.

Old Age Is Starting to Catch Up with Me

This year I officially became a senior citizen.  I turned 65 this past January.  I am now on Medicare, and I am collecting social security as well.  I am an AARP member, and I get discounts at various establishments.  Yes, some of these milestones and events occurred before I reached 65 as there are various definitions of a senior citizen, but being 65 makes me a senior citizen by any definition.

I am also starting to feel the physical effects of being a senior citizen.  I have minor aches and pains which I deal with by a dose of extra strength aspirin, if needed.  I am trying to eat better with more salads and such.  I am exercising more with fitness walks and doing sets of push-ups.  I need to do more in this area, but exercising is not my favorite activity, I admit.  If I liked it better, I would be in better shape.  I do feel good about myself when I do exercise.  It is just hard for me to get started.  I am noticing one benefit of my doing the push-ups.  The bags that contain my GED materials for the GED classes I teach have become lighter.  How is that for results?  Maybe there is something to this exercising after all.

I am also trying to keep my mind active as I can.  Teaching my GED students certainly keeps my mind active.  I have to be at the top of my game when a student comes to me with a question, especially a math question.  I enjoy helping students understand how to solve a problem.  It is so cool when they do understand.  You see that light bulb turn on, and a smile breaks out on their face.  It is moments like that that keep me in the teaching game.  I play a computer game called 7 Little Words on my Nook tablet everyday, and I read a lot, the "Post" every morning, magazines, and books.  One fear of mine concerning getting older is the fear of getting some form of dementia.  Maybe I should not feel this way, but I am proud of having a somewhat sharp mind.  It is a major part of who I am.  I don't want to lose that aspect of myself, and that is the reason I fear dementia.  By keeping better care of myself both physically and mentally, I hope to keep that dementia devil away as long as I can.

The biggest senior citizen problem I am dealing with right now is my vision.  I have cataracts.  I have had them for quite a while, but this year they are causing real problems with my vision.  I can no longer drive at night.  The cataracts are causing glaring by the headlights and taillights of the cars.  It is impairing my night vision to such an extent that I don't think it is safe for me to drive at night.  In less than two weeks I will have an evaluation appointment with a cataract surgeon, and hopefully I will have cataract surgery and will then be able to see much better.  When I made the eye appointment, they told me not to wear my contacts for two weeks prior to the appointment.  Contact lenses change the shape of the eyeball, and they want my eyeballs to be in their normal shape.  That means everything is a little blurry for me.  I can drive okay without my contacts, but it certainly is not optimal.  Because of this, I am taking the train to Lynchburg tomorrow, and my ex-wife Jill will be doing the driving to Williamsburg on Monday (Yes, I said my ex-wife.  I am very lucky that we are still good friends.).  I will come back home on the train the following Saturday.  I am certainly looking forward to seeing better.

Being a senior citizen will have its ups and downs, just like any other part of being alive.  Certainly it is a lot better than the alternative.  They say these are the golden years.  I hope these coming years are golden for me.  We will just have to see.    

MYOB in DC

Yesterday on WTOP radio I heard Chris Core give one of his "Commentary & Analysis" broadcasts.  This particular broadcast was on DC Home Rule.  Why should I be concerned about DC Home Rule?  I don't live in the District of Columbia although sometimes I think about living in an urban area like DC.  I do live in Northern Virginia, which is next to DC.  I am concerned about DC Home Rule because DC Home Rule is an undemocratic form of government.  We should not have an undemocratic form of government in the United States, especially for the capital of the United States.  How can this be?  Let me explain.

In the Constitution of the United States, the District of Columbia is setup as a separate entity.  It is not a state.  It does not have representatives in Congress like states do.  DC has one, non-voting member in the House, and it has no members in the Senate.  States have two Senators each in the Senate, and they have voting members in the House, the number of which are based on population.  All members of Congress are elected by their respective states and DC.

Congress has oversight on DC's budget and laws.  Although DC has a city council which makes laws and budgets for DC, Congress has approval and can make changes to DC's budgets and laws.  The trouble with this is the members of Congress who make these decisions about DC are in no way beholden to the residents of DC.  DC residents do not vote for any of the members of Congress except for one, non-voting member.  Thus DC residents cannot vote out any member of Congress that makes these decisions about DC.  They can't do anything about any member of Congress they disagree with, unlike what a person like me ,or anyone else who lives in a state, can do.  We can vote the bums out.  DC residents can't do that.  Whatever Congress decides about DC, DC residents must live with.

An example of this was in Chris Core's "Commentary & Analysis".  Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland disagrees with DC's recently passed marijuana law.  Whether Mr. Harris is right or not is besides the point.  Yes, currently Congress does have the right to comment on and change DC laws.  However, Mr. Harris cannot make changes to local laws made by cities, town, or counties.  Only local leaders of those jurisdictions can make these changes.  It is not right that Congress can change DC's local laws.  Mr. Harris and other members of Congress are not elected by the residents of DC.  They do not truly represent the residents of DC.  Thus this is an undemocratic process, and it must be changed.

What changes should be made?  I am not a lawyer, nor am I a politician (some may say that is a good thing, especially these days).  Should DC be made a state?  Maybe, or maybe not.  Should there be voting members of Congress from DC in both the House and Senate?  Yes!  Should the DC council have final say on DC's budget and laws?  Yes, on tax money that comes from the people of DC.  The federal government does provide some money to DC just because DC is the capital of the US, so Congress does have a say on the amount and purpose.

There may be some other changes that need to be made, and none of these changes will be easy to make since everything becomes political no matter what the situation. Otherwise these changes would have been made a long time ago.  At least they should have been made a long time ago.  Frankly, it is shameful that we have people in this country who are not properly represented in Congress.  Congress has no business interfering in local rules and laws.  They don't do it anywhere else.  Congress, myob!  Congress, mine your own business!

Retirement. Yikes!

Yes, next month I will be reaching a milestone.  Next month, I will be 65 years old.  For a lot of people, this is the time when they retire.  Will I be retiring?  The answer to that is yes, and no.

One thing that most people in this country do when they retire is apply for Social Security and Medicare benefits.  I have done both.  I received my Medicare card this past week, and my Medicare benefits will start on January 1, Wednesday.  I will start receiving my Social Security benefits sometime in February.  To my consternation, it is not clear exactly when I will be receiving these benefits, but it will be within the next two months.  My point is I will start receiving these retirement benefits this year.

Another thing that retired people do is not work.  However, being retired does not mean that you only sit on your recliner, eat bon-bons, and watch TV all day.  Everyone needs a reason to get up in the morning.  If you don't have a reason to get up in the morning, you will not last long in retirement.  You will die, literally.  A lot of retired people have part time jobs to help pay their bills and/or to have a reason to get up in the morning.  I already have a part time job.  I actually have two part time jobs.  I teach GED classes at the Adult Detention Facility in Manassas, VA.  I also tutor high school and middle school students in math.

I will keep these part time jobs for two reasons.  I continue to need a reason to get up in the morning, and I believe I am making a difference in the lives of my students in my part time jobs.  When I retire fully by not doing these part time jobs, I will still be doing something, maybe volunteer work of some sort, that will give me a reason to get up in the morning and hopefully will enable me to make a difference.

Thus, this year I will be retiring in the sense that I will be receiving retirement benefits, but I will not be retiring from work.  When will I be fully retired?  I don't know when that will be.  I may stop working within 5 years.  I may not stop working until the day I die.  That is an open question, and in a sense, that is exciting.  I don't know what is going to happen, and that means my options remain open.  I may end up doing something I had no idea I would be doing.  That has certainly happened to me with my teaching career.  I never thought I would be a teacher, and now I am doing just that.  Who knows what will happen next.

I am Glad I Realize I am an Introvert

I really have known for a long time that I am an introvert, but it wasn't until this week that I have come to know better what that really means and how that relates to the kind of person I am.  This week I read the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.  This book has really crystallized for me why I do the things I do and why I relate to others the way I do.  I now understand better that it is okay that I am an introvert and that there is nothing wrong with me being an introvert.  As a matter of fact, Susan Cain says in her book that some of our greatest achievers like "Eleanor Roosevelt, Al Gore, Warren Buffett, Gandhi-and Rosa Parks" are/were introverts.  If they had not been introverts, they may have not been able to perform those accomplishments.  I am certainly not in their league, but I think I might not have done the good things I have accomplished if I had not been an introvert.

What kind of person is an introvert?  According to Susan Cain, an introvert is a person who does not like a lot of stimulation.  On the other hand, an extrovert requires a lot of stimulation.  I do like to be in quiet places.  My favorite time of day is when I get up in the morning to drink my morning coffee and read the Washington Post on my Nook with classical music in the background.  Right now as I write this blog posting, I am drinking another cup of coffee and am listening to classical music, and I feel happy doing this.  I only like to go out with one or two people.  If I am with a group of people, I tend to talk with people on a one on one basis.  I also tend to work on one task at a time where I can devote my concentration on the best.  I do not like to multitask.  I also do not like confrontation.  I tend to freeze when someone confronts me.  All of these things I like and dislike are traits of introverts.  Certainly this is not a complete list of introvert traits, but I think you get the idea of why I am an introvert.

Sometimes I have to be an extrovert, at least in some aspects.  When I was a teacher at Stonewall Jackson High School in Prince William County, Virginia, I quickly had to learn how to confront students when they were misbehaving in class.  When I worked at IBM, I had to learn how to run meetings, both department meetings when I was a manager and customer meetings when I worked in the program office.  In my current job as a GED teacher at the Adult Detention Center (ADC) in Manassas and the ADC Liaison between the ADC and the Adult Learning Center, I am the master of ceremony at the GED graduation ceremony that we have 3 times a year.  I have to keep this event moving along, and I even have to give a short speech at the beginning of the ceremony.  I did not want to be the ADC Liaison because of what I would have to do at these graduations, but I decided to accept the job anyway.  I knew it would be a challenge for me, but I also knew I needed that challenge in order to grow more as a teacher and as a person.

Now that I understand better what kind of person I am, I will try to learn more about what an introvert is and how I can use this knowledge to become a better person.  Hopefully, it will also help me know when I need to be an extrovert and how to do so when the situation calls for it.  I think that will help me have an even richer life.

New Year Resolutions?

Well, it is that time of year.  Time to make New Year Resolutions.  A lot of people go through this ritual every year.  We recognize that we need to make changes in our lives, and the new year offers a new beginning of sorts.  I use to make New Year Resolutions along with everyone else.  Doing so was almost a tradition.

If you get my drift, I haven't been making New Year Resolutions in quite some time.  I always had trouble keeping them.  I would get off track, get discouraged, and then forget about them.  I probably made my resolutions too lofty, too hard to obtain.  Maybe I would resolve to lose 50 pounds.  A better resolution should have been to loose one pound a week, both an easier resolution to meet and one that takes much less time to meet.  Knowing that does not mean I am going to make better New Year Resolutions this year, although I probably should.  To be honest, I have a fear that I would be just setting myself up for failure, again.  I don't want to put myself through that.  The thing is I would feel so good about myself if I succeeded with a resolution.  Once you do succeed at one, you might be inspired to make another resolution.  You then may start a positive cycle of successful resolutions.  The sky would be the limit.  The hard part is taking that first step, making that first resolution that could result in making a whole new life for yourself.  That is the dilemma I am facing.  Should I not make a resolution, and avoid failure, or should I make a resolution, risk failure, and give myself an opportunity to succeed?  What I end up doing will make this year a very interesting one for me.

Are You Going to Watch the Republican and/or Democratic Conventions?

The national conventions for the Republican Party and Democratic Party will be going on these next two weeks.  The Republicans will have first crack at getting the attention of the nation.  The Democrats will follow suite the next week.  My question of the day is, will you be watching on TV either of the conventions?

I remember as a kid that I hated it when they came on TV.  Thank goodness they only came on once every four years.  All of my favorite shows were not on, and I did not know what was going on with these people.  There was a lot of talking going on, there were a lot of cheering (and some booing), and sometimes, there were lots of balloons.  How boring!

As I got older as a teenager and beyond, I became to better understand what was going on.  Each party was trying to decide who they wanted to run for president.  Sometimes it was just one party who was trying to make that decision, because the other party already knew who they wanted to run for president since that person was already president.  For example, in 1964, President Johnson was already president, and he was a Democrat.  The Republicans had to decide who they wanted to run.  If my memory serves me well, Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller were the primary candidates.  Goldwater was more conservative than Rockefeller, and he was the one nominated.

The various candidates ran in various primaries, but it was a rare event, if ever, if one candidate won enough primary delegates to have enough votes to qualify as the nominee ahead of the convention.  Thus the nominee was determined during the convention.  It would be up to the delegates who the nominee would be.  A lot of back room meetings were held, and a lot of deals were made.  Sometimes a dark horse candidate came from behind and became the nominee.  Sometimes many rounds of votes had to be taken before a candidate had a majority of votes.  Candidates did not usually become the nominee on the first ballot.

In 1968, both political parties had to select a nominee since President Johnson decided not to run again because of the opposition to the Viet Nam War. (In case you do not know, Johnson became president after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.  Johnson was reelected president by a landslide over Goldwater in 1964.).  Richard Nixon was the Republican nominee at the convention in Miami, if I am not mistaken.  The Democratic convention was held in Chicago, and it was a very contentious convention.  There were riots in the streets of Chicago, and the delegates themselves were very divided, mostly over the Viet Nam War.  In the end, Hubert Humphrey became the nominee.  He was the vice-president under Johnson  It certainly was not boring TV.  I did not mind that my favorite shows were not on.

Now we have changed the process on how the nominees are selected.  More primaries occur in various states, many debates are held, and thus the nominee is determined usually before the convention.  This year Mitt Romney secured the Republication nomination well before the convention.  He even has already selected someone to run with him for vice-president, Paul Ryan.  That determination used to be made during the convention.  Thus there is hardly any drama during the political conventions.  The nominees are already determined.  There might be a small fight over a platform issue, but nothing else.  The only thing of interest might be the nominee's acceptance speech.  The nominee might say something then about his vision for the future, both for the campaign and for when the person might be president.

Thus to answer my own question, I do not think I will be watching much of either convention on TV.  There should not be any drama to get excited over unless something very unexpected happens, and that would not be a good thing.  The real drama will be the campaign itself and the election itself.  It looks like it will be a very close race for the presidency.  We might not know who the next president will be until the wee hours of the morning.  That is drama  I just don't want the kind of drama that occurred in 2000.  We did not know who won until several days after the election, and that decision was not made by the people.  It was made by the Supreme Court of the U.S.  No one should want that, or anything like it, to happen again.