Tag Blog

This or That

Michael 8 Comments

I hadn’t planned on doing this today. I was going to do that. When I discovered eventually I’d have to do that, I thought today would be a good day for that. In fact, I even said to myself, “Self,” I said, “Thursday would be a good day for that.” And indeed, it would, but so would Monday be, so instead I’m doing this.  And equally indeed, on Monday I’ll do that.

This is promoted by yesterday’s Uplift post. No surprise there as usually Thursday RRSB posts do recall Wednesday Uplift posts. Not always, and it wouldn’t have been had I done that instead but I’m doing this so that’s that.

This, about as far as I can tell, is an absolute original thought Diem and I had and posted yesterday. Quiet Change. I’m capitalizing them here although we didn’t there because the more I think about it, the more I think this concept of Quiet Change is something special.

A few sentences from the post:

So which is it – change is all around and within us as a natural part of our existence, or change happens when we take the steps to initiate it? It’s probably more neither than both. Yes, we are closing our ears to the noise about change, both the change being inevitable and change being instigated. Change is self-fulfilling. So we say.

Too often we use change as an excuse for our actions, or inactions, rather than an impetus to them. We call for the need for a change then wait for others to do the hard work of change. Or we explain away lapses in performance or even in judgement by citing something that had changed without our knowledge. We’ve turned change into the noise that detracts, distracts, and deflects us from responsible action.

The quiet side of change too often is overlooked.

We contend that people make change artificially difficult and use it as an excuse for bad or incomplete decisions and procrastinated or poorly executed action. The magic to Quiet Change is it allows us to work with it, appreciating the positives of the process and progression.

If I say so myself, “Self”, I’d say, “that’s something on the Internet well worth the time to read.” So why don’t you Listen for the Quiet.

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My 10 cents worth

Michael 12 Comments

In honor of Dr. Peter Marks’ last few days as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research I present to you what is possible when there is a compassionate, empathetic occupant at the White House.

Dr. Marks was given the choice of resigning or being fired for not agreeing with HHS Secretary, AKA the black sheep of the Kennedy clan. Dr. Marks wrote in his resignation letter, ““It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.” Dr. Marks’ last day will be April 5.

It’s significant all this is happening in April. Just a week after Dr. Marks closes his office door for good, we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  It will also be the 70thanniversary of the announcement that the Salk polio vaccine was safe and effective. It is clearly not the most remembered thing about the Roosevelt administration, but had it not been for his instigation, Jonas Salk may have never had the funding behind his monumental research and discovery.

It is no secret that President Roosevelt suffered from polio. He was stricken with the disease in 1921, at age 39 and 11 years before being first elected President of the United States. Polio left him paralyzed from the waist down for the remainder of his life.

During his presidency he founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), a philanthropic organization dedicated to treatment and care for polio victims, raising millions of dollars through “Birthday Balls,” fund-raising dances held across the country on his birthday.

In the late 1930s, the NFIP began soliciting contributions directly from everyday citizens through a counter display program known as the March of Dimes. Through the 1930s and 1940s, through the March of Dimes, the NFIP raised enough money to support the care of every polio patient in the United States and began setting aside funds for preventative care.

With funds raised through the March of Dimes, Dr. Jonas Salk began research in 1947 into a vaccine against the poliovirus, an extremely contagious viral organism in the enterococcus family of viruses. Five years later, safety trials began on human volunteers. After three years of testing, on April 12, 1955, the polio vaccine was determined to be safe and effective for human use.

Within two years of its release, polio in the United States had declined over 90% from 58,000 cases to 5,600 cases. By 1961 only 161 cases of polio were reported in the U. S., a decrease of 97.7% from the 1945 baseline.

Dr. Salk was the single largest beneficiary of the NFIP March of Dimes fundraising efforts, began because of the philanthropic efforts of the man in the White House.

A couple parting thoughts. Roosevelt’s image appears on the American ten cent piece, the dime, because of his efforts behind the March of Dimes campaign. In 1945, Congress voted to feature his likeness on the dime, specifically in honor of his role in the March of Dimes.

If you have an interest in virology, public health, or just curious about what research looked like 80 years ago, an exhibit of Salk’s lab equipment and memorabilia is on display at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, in the common areas of the lobby and second floors of Salk Hall, Fifth Avenue, in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, PA.

Some may argue Roosevelt would never have been so active in pursuing research for the fight against polio is he himself has not contracted the disease. A valid point but also a petty argument. Nearly all research and funding for research is accomplished through endowments made by patients or patient families. Fortunately sometimes those afflicted with diseases are prominent and/or wealthy citizens who do not mind giving of their time and fortunes to see good is done. Good that can be experienced by all.

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Dr. Jonas Salk

Is there any possible way to work in my weekly plug for the latest Uplift post. Hmm. It would be stretch. Last week we published, Coming Attractions, a discussion on balancing progress with the present. Fortunately for us, there are people like Dr. Salk who will always be looking for that next big thing.

Waiting for Summer

Michael 10 Comments

I can really not wait for summer. I had to run out yesterday. Afternoon. The warmest part of the day it was snowing!  I want a day at 72° sunny warmth. It’s not that I don’t appreciate Spring and the necessary rains that lead to burgeoning blossoms, or the cool nights and warm days that get the maple sap flowing that eventually finds its way atop my breakfast pancakes.

We are clearly in the early throes of global destruction. Before you know it, we’ll all be standing around in prehistoric looking rock lined canyons while pelting rain, roaring thunder, and brilliant flashes of lightning become the new white noise that is, or will be, the backdrop to our soon to be extinguished existence(s).

As an aside (you who watch science fiction will understand this), have you ever noticed how when our future space explorers land on a far out there planet, with more intelligent life than we have here, the planets all look like unused sets from Jurassic Park and the intelligent life has tails. But I digress…

How much longer will we have to wait for real warm weather? Up here. Not down along the Gulf of Mexico. Oddly enough, for as ancient as I am, and as many trips as I’ve made south of the Mason Dixon Line, there are only 3 cities in the Gulf I’ve been too, Houston, New Orleans, and Clearwater.  Clearwater was my favorite. Maybe again someday. Now, where was I? Oh right…

When will we get back to reasonable weather? I suppose I should be grateful I’m alive still to see any weather. It sort of reminds me of how always looking to the future we lose our appreciation for the present. And that reminds me of this week’s Uplift post Coming Attractions. Take a look.

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This or That

Michael 11 Comments

Disingenuous. That’s a great word. It sounds almost polite but there is no mistaking it means you’re about as trustworthy as a fox in a henhouse, as loyal as a Benedict Arnold fan club member, and/or as honest as a politician. Let’s take an average Joe, or your average Donny who rants and raves about immigrants and wants to see them all deported, yet two of his three wives and one of his one mother are immigrants, his loyal assistant’s wife is an immigrant, and his best buddy is not only an immigrant but an illegal one, entering the country on a student visa but never matriculating to any institution of higher learning. That is a good example of disingenuous.

It also doesn’t sound like one, but disingenuous is one of those black or white, this or that, yes or no type words. There aren’t many shades of gray to dishonesty, disloyalty, or distrustwrothiness. (By the way, do you know the difference between gray and grey. One is a color and the other is a colour. Hahahaha!!!!)

Anyway…back to shades of gray. It seems unless one is discussing their own sketchy behavior (behaviour), people don’t like ambiguity. We want a definite yes or no, good or bad, yea or nay, do you or don’t you. I could go on and on. Or on and off.

Of course the worst of the either/or scenarios are when we assign good or bad, plus or minus, love ‘em or hate ‘em qualities to people. Seeking absolutes divides us into “us” and “them,” limiting understanding and the ability to find a common ground. And believe it or not, we’re all pretty common even if we aren’t necessarily all grounded.

This week’s Uplift post explored the idea that in a world where everyone believes themselves to be right, everyone might be wrong, and that admitting the possibility of being wrong can encourage discussion and collaboration to uncover the real truth. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look. It isn’t too long yet not too short, and neither is it our best work, nor is it our worst. Take our word for it, there’s more right than wrong in it and we genuinely can say that. (By the way, tomorrow’s Friday Flashback further explores this idea. If you join our mailing list today you’ll get an email notice of that tomorrow.)

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When eyes are smilin’

Michael 10 Comments

A chance encounter reminded me of an old post here that led to a new post there. It’s been a couple of weeks since I visited the walk in wobble out same day surgery center at the local big time hospital. It was on the way in that I had my mind’s eye opened.

Almost exactly 8 years ago (March 30, 2017 to be exactly exact) I posted about The Hi Guys. What could have happened all this time later to remind me of that ancient text. A near exact (there’s that word again) encounter as the one that led to the post. Back then it was a grocery store, this time it was a hospital. Both life saving institutions in their own way. But what was it. It was the greeting and the smile of an absolutely complete stranger that turned a day of anticipated dread into one of realizing the world really isn’t such a bad place after all. (Except for Washington, DC. There it’s the pits and will for always and ever and/or until January 2029 be so.)

Anyway, to see what that was, take a look at The Hi Guys and see how a simple nod or hello can become a powerful incentive to making someone smile and maybe, just maybe making their day.
While you’re there, sign up to join the ROAMcare community. It’s the only way you’ll get to see what tomorrow’s Friday Flashback will be.

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Positively Impossible

Michael 11 Comments

Every day can bring new reasons to be positive, and to connected with yourself and the world. Unfortunately, every day can also bring myriad opportunities to confirm the world really has gone bat shit crazy.

Take a look at the screen shot I’ve posted below. This innocent looking post violates Facebook’s terms of use or service or appropriateness or whatever they want call it. When I clicked in the “click here to find out how we arrived at this decision” the answer is, “this post does violates our community standards.”

I’ve had issues before with anti-social media. I’ve posted literally hundreds of posts for ROAMcare with artwork I’ve generated myself to have several of them removed because of suspicions of being AI generated without declaration. I’ve had posts removed because they included links to websites and therefore are spam and I’m trying to “trick” people into clicking to potentially dangerous sites.

So far, Instagram and Blue Sky are the only sites that haven’t come up with some stupid excuse for removing or limiting any posts.  Give them time.

Now, here’s the most annoying part of all this. We at ROAMcare make nothing from the site or posts. Nothing we do is monetized. We don’t ask people to for access, we sell no ad space. We don’t even ask people to “buy us a cup of coffee.” Everything we do is because we truly believe in what we post and publish and want to spread awareness that it is possible to be enthused about life.

Take the blog post that this post is about, Positively Powerful. A thoughtful discussion about the power of positive thought. Am much as I believe every word that we printed, I get increasingly discouraged by the blatant double standards of the social media world. Unfortunately, most of the outside traffic to our site is generated by the Facebook posts. Oh well.

Perhaps you can look at Positively Powerful or any of the other posts and clue me in on what community would be offended by our work.  While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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Re-discovering my center

Michael 10 Comments

There is an old cartoon, so old I can’t find a copy even on the Internet and you can find almost everything on the Internet. It is set in what I suppose is a yoga studio and features a croissant, a Danish, and a donut. The instructor at the head of the room is saying, “Find your center.” I always felt sorry for the poor little donut. And this week I empathize to the highest degree with him.

It’s not been a good week. Tuesday I had some minor vascular surgery done on my arm. Not difficult, not painful. the used a nerve block that make my arm something just to drag around for 2 days. Fortunately I had a tight sling that kept it from any random movement that I might not have been aware of.

Unfortunately this all took place at the same time poor Jingle, the daughter’s beloved tri-paw, lost his battle to bone cancer. There will be more about him int he coming weeks. He was doing very well after the amputation and chemo last September. About a month ago a new tumor appeared, this time going along his spine. He kept being him, happy and puppy-like despite being close to 10 years old, not young but not yet ready for retirement. He went on his own terms, peacefully. He just picked the wrong day to do it. A day or two longer and I’d have been able to provide more help than just comfort. But a day or two longer might have meant a not as peaceful goodbye for him.

And so we go on. Yesterday’s Uplift was about finding your center, looking for the calm and peace that you know is inside you. Take a look at Location, location, location.

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I need to slow down

Michael 1 Comment

This week has been a doozy for me. First I’ve been trying to work in as many antiquated, quaint expressions (like doozy) into my communications as I can and boy has that been a doozy! (I really need to research more antiquated, quaint expressions.) And so has been my schedule a dooz- … you get the idea.

Tuesday I did a breakfast program, yesterday evening a short speech, tonight a presentation. All three different topics, different audience types, different venue types. And there was work and shopping and a doctor appointment packed around them. It really was hard to find some time to call mine and ready myself for the onslaughts and/or decompress from the activity.

Being busy is not an excuse for not taking care of yourself. Especially not taking care of yourself beyond the physical necessities. We all have some days that the schedule blows up on and find ourselves losing on the self care front. That’s usually not so bad until you start stringing days like that together.

I used to string weeks like that together and when I finally came up for air, I was not a fun person to be with. (Nor a pretty sight I would imagine.) I found a solution. If you were reading me in January and heeded my suggestion to check out the Uplift post from New Year’s Day, you read about it. In yesterday’s Uplift, Life in the Slow Lane, we revisited our plan for daily resolutions and how they can keep us centered and present to ourselves. You should take a look.

While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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Golden Oldies

Michael 17 Comments

I have an anniversary coming up. A silver anniversary. Rosemary and I will be together for 25 years this spring. I don’t bring her up too often in this blog, but you might remember me speaking of Rosemary on a couple occasions. She is my little red roadster, and is the longest adult relationship I’ve had.

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Have you been with any one, or any thing, for any appreciable length of time. We did an Uplift post at ROAMcare on long-lasting love. I was inspired to write it when I read an article in the local paper about how scientists have “figured out” what makes some relationships last. Actually the article had little to do with the headline. It was really a discussion about some scientific studies that are tracking the neural responses in long term relationship couples, but its bend, as is with much of what will pop up in the news in February, is toward romantic love, passion, and sexual attraction.

Considering we hadn’t read anything in mainstream media about the other 6 kinds of love, we thought we needed to point out that there are other long term relationships out there. Some even invovling people, like normal, regular, everyday people!

If you’d like to see what we had to say, pop on over and give But do you love me a quick read. While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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Do the right thing

Michael 11 Comments

I saw a blurb somewhere in the last week. I don’t recall if it was a social media site or one where intelligent people write the articles. It must have been on a social site because it made no sense to me. Among the things you should and should not keep in your car for emergencies, power banks to power your phone was included in the ‘do not keep in your car’ list.

I rely on my phone so much that I live in mortal fear of finding it less than 50% charged. I have a power bank in each car, the one in my daily driver a solar powered bank so it is constantly charging and ever ready (umm, that’s a description, not a brand), on my desk, and on the catch all table just inside the front door. Those are in addition to the corded charges in the office, living room, and bedroom.

It might be an unnecessarily pessimistic thought, but of all the things you”d want in an emergency in your car, an emergency source of power seems to fit that list. Some might say it’s because they are fire hazards. Uh huh. So it the gasoline, diesel, or battery packs powering the car. You don’t see anybody saying don’t keep gas in your car. Of course, speaking to the point of safety, that would make it difficult to get into trouble. It would make it difficult to get anywhere!

To be honest, it probably is a good idea otherwise not keep extra ignition sources in a closed vehicle, but I will continue to keep a power bank in the phone. I’m a rebel that way. I also will continue to have a bedtime snack, watch TV in bed before sleep, read in dim light, eat the occasional ultra-processed food, skip a meal now and then, and occasionally fail to signal a turn. Those things happen. In general though, I try to do the right things.

February is coming and love is in the air. Do the right thing and spread your love to everyone, even strangers. We talk about that very thing in this week’s Uplift post, All We Need is Love, Part 2. It’s all natural, requires little effort, and makes big differences. Check it out.

While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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