Category: A New Lifestyle

And so it goes!

Wow, what have I been thinking, it has been well over a year since we moved into our retirement home and I have basically been remiss in keeping this blog up to date. Spent a lot of time on the other, Old Virginian blog though, so sorry to any readers out there. Though I doubt there are any or not many at all who still read this blog since we had to sell the Misty Lady and moved back on shore because I my physical constraints.

We truly miss all our friends and acquaintances from our days afloat. Since selling our home in Northern Virginia and moving down to the Tidewater area, specifically into Williamsburg, VA, we have not been able to keep up with too many of those wonderful folks we lived among during our motor yachting days. We truly miss the comradeship and just plain friendly folks on the DC waterfront and the Capital Yacht Club.

Our retirement home is in a 55+ community and is a three bedroom, two/half bath two level town home. This is the largest home the Bride and I have ever owned. The closest was a town home in Leesburg, VA but the majority of our former homes have been condo apartments. A friend from Arlington, when he found out about our new home said that he was amazed, because seniors approaching retirement opt for much smaller quarters and we went the opposite. We like this place, because the entire community is composed of senior citizens, with extensive community facilities for all of the owners. We have a fine dining restaurant and a pub/grill in our community Clubhouse and a champion designed golf course and facilities.

We are within easy reach of the history triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. Additionally, we are very close to Hampton, the oldest continuous English speaking settlement in the country, having been settled initially in 1610 and occupied as a town/city ever since. Being a history buff, the old man is in tall cotton with all the great historical places to visit.

While I miss being close to my kids and grand kids, (140+ miles), we still get a chance to get up that way quite often. Seems like I see them more since we have been down here in Tidewater than we did when we were in Alexandria. We have a great car to make the round trip, our new GMC Terrain SLT SUV. We finally decided on a name for our girl, (yeah, we do name our cars, boats, etc). We name our SUV Boomer. She is a bright (Volcanic Red) red four door, AWD 2024 GMC and has many travel aids for old folks like us such as the driver assist, enhanced cruise control, and other goodies that make it a joy to travel in. And NO, I am not a paid person for GM. Just love my GM vehicles, especially because of that OnStar system. That system has saved out bacon a number of times.

Well, I have rambled on but hopefully brought some update info on our lives ashore, (we still hope to one day buy another motor yacht and go back on the water).

So, for anyone who still actually reads these words, thank you and please drop a note or just say HI! In a later post I hope to include some photos of our new home and special sites.

Till the next time, the old Curmudgeon signing off.

Getting Settled?

Well we are settled into our new retirement home, in beautiful Williamsburg, VA. We have a couple of tasks still outstanding, but one major pair will be completed before the weekend. A new bed with the ability for each sleeper to have their mattress positions in the most comfortable arrangement that suits their sleep habits and a dining table with matching chairs will be arriving tomorrow, Friday, January 31st.

But today, we will have two men from a company called College Hunks coming to do some rearranging for us in preparation for the arrival of the new bed. They will be moving a bed and chest of drawers from one of the upstairs bedrooms to the smaller of the two, and then moving our bed from the master bedroom on the first floor to the larger of the upstairs bedrooms. This is in preparation for the delivery of the new numbers bed arriving tomorrow.

We will also ask these young men to move out large SONY tv from the ground floor up to Char’s office area on the second floor. We were having some problems with connectivity for our television networks (we stream for a couple of services) and would up buying another large tv for the Great Room. Since our house is wired for whole house wireless internet connectivity, Char will have the ability of using the older TV upstairs in her loft office to catch news and other items of interest.

So this week, we will have been able to conclude a couple more tasks on our settling in checklist. Starting to get to the end!

Big Red, our new GMC Terrain SUV has been able to easily traverse the streets during our recent snow storms (not much of a storm, but we did get accumulations). Glad we paid the extra for the All Wheel Drive version.

Short Note: I just read an article about several of the right winger GOP Attorneys General attempting to force the new Trump assault on hiring practices for companies, this instance, on COSTCO. Trump and his political hack minions are attempting to reverse legislation established under the previous congress’ for diversity, equality, inclusion in our nation. This is actually an attempt by Trump and company to remove the ability of companies to act in their own interest regarding staffing their company facilities. In this instance, however, turned out the CEO and Board of COSTCO basically told Trump and his wrecking crew to go pound sand. Good for them and renews my faith in that business. We have been members of COSTCO for several Decades and enjoy shopping for necessities (of course we usually buy things in addition to what we started looking for) there.

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that the bigoted South African Musk is behind this blatant attempt to force the companies to bend to the will of the Fuhrer Trump and his burgeoning gang of ChristoFascist/Fascist authoritarian enablers that make up the once decent political party of Republicans.

On the Road Again

Well, soon we will live through the end of the 2024 year in our new retirement home in Williamsburg. We spent not too many months in a condo in Alexandria for a close distance to my wife’s new company offices. While she had been hired with a capability of work from home and some physical office visits, we felt if best to be in a much closer proximity to the physical building rather than subject her to a 400 mile round trip from our then home in Newport News. As it happened, she actually still worked from a home office a majority of time. Technical capacity as it was, in our home, she had the ability of face time, conference call, and still a drive into the physical office as necessary.

Things were working pretty good for her in performing her senior management tasks, performing her external activities (with company support of course), and even allowing us time for visits with my kids, grandkids and our super daughter in law. Then, my wife celebrated her formal entry into the senior citizen class, by turning 65. A super celebration party was created and hosted by my daughter, daughter in law, and a couple of the grand daughters. They made her birthday something truly magical. She was happy, I think to make this milestone. We had some great discussions and post celebratory activity (dinners, presents, etc).

Then one evening several days after the celebrations, she mentioned that she had seriously considered her entering the pre-retirement age group and decided that she really wanted to retire somewhere near the waters and most assuredly not in the Alexandria/Metro area. Her thoughts were that we were pretty happy in the Tidewater area (the Virginia peninsula cities and towns), and thought it would be best if we set up a retirement home in that area, from Williamsburg, eastward all the way to Virginia Beach.

After a short search, a consultation with our Federal Credit Union mortgage loan officers, and the recommended real estate agent, we found a 55+ community in the city of Williamsburg. Yea, us.

After purchase closing in late March, we found that we truly loved our retirement home in Williamsburg, VA and it’s surrounding area of historical significance. This city one of our nation’s most historical towns. It was here that the first legislative body of the New World was formed and functioned. The House of Burgesses was the beginning of our modern Congress, with a major difference, it represented the British Crown for the most part, and the representations were solely composed of white men who were property owners. The Bride and I are happy with the opportunity of touring this historical area and plan on many excursions for the triangle of history, Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.

Many firsts in our history are found in this area. Known to most as the Tidewater Area, we find the city of Hampton which is the oldest continuous English speaking settlement in the nation. Founded in 1610, Hampton was known by the name of Kecoughtan given from the name of the first settlers, the Kecoughtan tribes of native americans whose overall Chief was Powhatan.

Hampton was, until the stupidity of Congress and the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure), host to the oldest continuously active military post, Fortress Monroe. BRAC decided it was not needed and closed this very historical military base. The actual fort, built as a true fortress, including a moat, itself was preserved as a National Monument/Park, thank God for small favors, but the rest, including a great number of historical houses, office buildings and warehouses were turned over to a group of rapacious developers who will no doubt create a pitiful remainder of this once beautiful, gracious and honored facility. Hampton is also the home of the NASA Langley Research Center which boasted the oldest test wind tunnel in the country. Co-located with the LRC is Langley Air Force Base, where this author’s dad was stationed for a couple of years.

Also in our new home area is the City of Newport News which hosts the largest shipbuilding yard constructing massive ships for the United States Navy. The shipyard has been around for many many decades, actually over 100 years. A large portion of the working class income is brought to bear through employment at the shipyard.

We are settled into our new home now and our friends are surprised that we purchased a fairly large home in our senior years. Yes, I know most seniors downsize their living space, but we have increased our “final” house by a rather large margin, our previous “large” home was in the area of 1500 feet several years ago, in Leesburg, VA. This new town home in a senior only 55+ community and is slightly over 2200 feet. From a two bed condo, to a three bed and office/balcony town house we now have a large enough space to accommodate any visitations from family. Yeah, like that’s going to happen!

All is moving along though. My cancer chemo treatments have been changed to a stronger dosage, and of course with our current medical industry, a much higher price. My numbers, from the tests on my last visit with the oncologist are looking better he said. Still bothersome, but lower than the previous test. Yea ME.

So now, the Bride and I will try to do a few day or overnight visitations exploring our very interesting area, from the DelMarVa area, to the Outer Banks area and of course our very own Tidewater locales. Look for some words and pictures of our little Road Trips coming in Future Blog entries.

Take care of yourselves and your families, hold on to your sanity, things may get pretty bumpy for a while very soon.

What’s up with the old man and other dumb thoughts?

Well, nothing super that is certain. But I am still on this side of the grass, am upright and breathing! So that’s a pretty good thing.

Of course that’s not to say that the old man is in tip top shape, actually far from it. But what the hell, I am 82 years old and still ambulatory, I’m not in a care facility and still aware enough to drive a car. What’s not to like> well, things like the malignant tumor they removed late last year, the diabetes that I have been blessed with for over 14 years, the prostate surgery that I had just a few weeks ago, the cancer that they found in my prostate when they did the surgery. Oh and now, an aneurism found in my lower abdomen just a couple of days ago.

I tell you boys and girls, as that older movie star Betty Davis once said, “Getting old is not for sissies”. But we must travel on, until we don’t anymore.

ME? I am happy enough I guess. I live in a comfortable home, have a wife who loves and cares for this old curmudgeon, with children and grand children who are also glad the old guy is still around. And now I hear that I have a great grand child, born of my eldest granddaughter. So there is that!

Apartment Living

We now live in a high rise condominium building with a nice two bedroom unit in our name (and the Credit Union of course). We moved to this apartment back in late March of 2023 from a house in Newport News, Virginia. I thought I would deliver my thoughts on the differences in living in a single family home and neighborhood, as differentiated from living in a multifamily condo apartment complex. They are very different of course and here’s a few points for explaining the difference in my humble opinion!

We have during the course of our over 45 years together, lived in a number of apartments, both rentals and in condo owned. During our time together we have lived in many areas of the United States and offshore as well.

We once lived on a 54 foot motor yacht as members of a DC area Yacht Club and as live aboard people in the yacht club’s marina. Four years we lived on that boat and in that yacht club marina. We found the residents/yacht owners to be very friendly, helpful, considerate and watchful of our selves and our yacht. Frankly, every where we traveled on that yacht, in marinas large and small, we found the people associated with marine life to be egregious, outgoing, and welcoming in their attitudes.

In all of the apartment buildings we have lived in, some for several years, we never knew our neighbors other than to say hello on the elevator, in the lobby or garage. There was no welcome from our neighbors on our same floor, and the hello nods was pretty much the extent of our neighborly interaction. Sad, huh? Part of this was our fault, we are not party people and shy away from large gatherings. So this inhibits our interaction with neighbors in these settings. But by the same token, in the marina or in our single family house neighborhood, we quickly integrated ourselves with the community mainly through the resident’s inclination to be outgoing and welcoming us to that community, either water borne or land lubber.

EV vs ICE

Confused, well the EV stands for the all electric battery powered cars and trucks that are rapidly entering our world. And the ICE stands for Internal Combustion Engine or the motor drive cars and trucks we are all familiar with that use fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel.

Having lived through several instances of the oil and gas industry companies foisting phony crises on the driving public over the years, this latest one was basically the straw that broke the camel’s back for this old man. So we have arrived at the decision point, stay with our Buick ICE Small SUV, trade if for a newer model of the same car, or purchase an all electric drive vehicle (EV). What ever way we finally wind up, (heavy leaning toward the EV side), our next vehicle will be from GM. We have, over the years owned quite a few General Motors vehicles, from Chevy, Buick, GMC, Saturn, Oldsmobile, and even Caddy’s. We are staunch GM supporters, not only for the great cars, but also for the OnStar systems that comes with these vehicles. OnStar has saved our bacon for a number of instances, some minor and some intensive and worrisome.

But be that as it may, I am sick and tired of the big oil companies screwing over the American motorists. So, the EV is looming large in our next vehicle decisions. We will wait until the spring of next year to hope that the knuckleheads in the Federal Reserve get their heads out of their nether region and correct the idiotic high interest rates. The economy is in pretty damn good shape so those jerks need to stand aside, lower their interest rate back to where it was before they started their stupid game of manipulation.

EV? Oops

In the several months since I first began this blog entry, I discovered that the major auto companies are not really serious with regard to the EV environment. 

Ford has dramatically withdrawn from the EV production of their vehicle products. The Mustang EV is still being sold, but there are little indicators that Ford is really behind this product stream.

GM has also played games with the EV. This company had one of the best selling EVs to be made available. The Bolt and Bolt EUV were extremely popular even with the older type of battery packs. Yet GM decided that 2023 was the last year for this car, , , until they found out that the public was irate at their decision to kill this great small electric vehicle. GM then decided to bring the Bolt back in a new format, using GM’s newly designed batter system. They also promised an EV platform for the Chevy Equinox. It was to be priced in the same area as the Bolt. Every indicator had this small SUV to be released in the product year of 2024, but, times changed and GM postponed the release of this vehicle to the year 2025 approximately.

Chrysler (owned by Stellantis) was barely in the playground. Their focus was on their Dodge and Ram products both with ICE drivers. They claim to have a great EV coming soon. One simply must trust that this corporation will follow through.

WELL, this old man decided that he might be dead before any of these powerhouse vehicle manufacturers actually started moving EV cars for the masses, not the wealthy. So we will stick with the ICE class of automobiles for now. Going back to the GMC small suv, Terrain.

Facing my Cancer Spread

The blog writeup below was also posted on my other blog in my OldVirginian.com web site, my blog entitled Musings of a Geriatric Curmudgeon. Thought I would place it here as well on the off chance that someone might pick it up on this venue.

Yesterday, I had an appointment with an Oncologist! This was be the initial appointment since a set of tests over the past few weeks have determined that the cancer cells in my prostate have spread to the other areas of my body. My urology professional team and I had hoped mightily that the small level of cancer showing in the prostate would remain just another item to watch out for in my aging 82 year old body. Turns out we were wrong. Now it is going to be up to both my urology folks and my new Cancer specialists.

As some may know, back in December of 2022, when my wife and I were living in the Newport News/Hampton area of Virginia, I had a malignant tumor removed from my bladder. The urology/oncology physician determined that the entire tumor had been removed. He also discussed with me, during a subsequent follow-up to that surgery, the aspect of “shaving” or trimming the prostate gland in my abdomen. It had been diagnosed as being enlarged a couple of years prior to this and I had been taking medicine to reduce its size making my urethra more open. My wife and I had already made plans to relocate back up to Alexandria, VA because she had received a terrific offer with a company back up here, and had put our Newport News home on the market. Thankfully the first day of being on the RE market, we received several offers. We selected one and accepted the offer. I informed my Newport News area urology/oncology doctor of this and we agreed that as soon as we were settled into a home in Alexandria I would contact a urologist and have the prostate procedure performed.

Once we had completed the closing process on our new high rise condo apartment, I contacted my previous Primary Care Physician at the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group. He had been my PCP for more than 10 years before our relocation to Newport News and he was the first contact I made after we got our personal effects in our new Alexandria home. My PCP referred me to a VHC urologist and my first visit was scheduled. We determined that the prostate “shave” surgery should be performed very soon. The prostate surgery was performed by the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group Urology specialist on April 19, 2023. Lab analysis of the shaving samples from my prostate discovered the presence of cancer in the prostate. While it was a small amount, we felt that it was simply a case of monitoring to ensure that it would not spread in the prostate or elsewhere. Several months later, in October, a decision was made to test for the Cancer’s status using a PET scan test. Results of that PET scan caused the medical folks to schedule a biopsy of my lymph nodes to confirm the results found in that earlier scan. Turned out, the Cancer has spread from my prostate into other areas of my body and was found in those lymph nodes. I was informed of this status and an appointment with the Virginia Cancer Specialists organization was made for yesterday, November 30th.

I met with the Oncologist who would be in charge of my Cancer treatment plans. There were some tests performed and blood draws were taken. Turns out that the Blood Draw will be a regular event throughout the treatment process to monitor the red and white blood cells and other indicators, oh joy! Hate those blood draws.

Medications, both oral and injection were identified by the Oncologist and two other appointments were made with my new Oncology Team of professionals in this organization. One for palliative care and another for genetic evaluation; can my children be faced with the same type of cancer? Orders were placed for the specialized cancer medication, and another member of my new “team” will be responsible for interface with my insurance and my Medicare people. As they put it, the plan is to keep my focus on fighting this cancer and they will take care of the other things.

So, it seems this old man has hit another roadblock and now faces the aspect of the dreaded word CANCER. My father and one of my brothers died from Cancer so I just figured that this is perhaps a bit of Hodges male curse. I don’t plan on just rolling over and waiting for the Cancer to kill me through. With this great group of Cancer specialists, and my regular team of medical professionals in the Virginia Hospital Physicians Group, I hold great hope and confidence that we will put up a good strong fight and hopefully win this battle.

More on this as things progress. Just want to keep my cyber friends (primarily males because this is a male type of cancer), aware of prostate cancer’s danger and hope that they take lessons from this to keep awareness and evaluative testing to ensure that they catch any semblance of this disease in the early stage. Don’t ignore the danger, Prostate Cancer can be a horrible invasion, and in many cases a harsh end of life. I feel confident in my team of medical experts and specialists and do believe that this old curmudgeon will be around for quite a bit longer.

And so it goes; hurdles abound

Well folks, we are ensconced in our new home, in West Alexandria. Our condo purchase closing went off without a hitch, our financial broker helped us for a smooth closing by ensuring that the money required from us for the closing costs was wired into the title company’s bank on time. We then simply had to meet with the closing agent, sign a million times on the plethora of closing documents and then receive the keys and access fobs to our new home.

Our real estate agent, Alanda was fantastic in her efforts to ensure that we had all the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted. She is a true credit to her profession in the Real Estate Industry. So, now we own two homes, but one is on the market, and we do have an offer and supposedly a ratified contract.

So, on with the new condo home, and the moving company delivery of our worldly belongings. We have now seen a confirmation that when one moves from a large three bedroom house into a smaller, high rise condo there will be a chaotic scene of boxes, boxes everywhere and the furniture placements are frustratingly complicated by all of those boxes. The super problematic situation comes from when you need something that you packed, but now can’t find that particular box and panic ensues. Power cords for the tv, computers, printers, bulbs for the lamps and power strips for providing power for our mobile phones, my hearing aids and so forth and so on, oh my GOD!!!

The evening of our closing activity, moving company unload and STUFF, we both agreed that this was IT, no more moves, and we are going to reside in this apartment until the time comes to spread our ashes over the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Tuesday, April 4, 2023 – It has been a few hectic days since we closed on the condo and I opened this blog entry. So, having a few minutes before another task has to start, thought I would drop a few notes about where we are in the settle-in status.

First and most wonderful, we got the Newport News house sold and closing on that contract completed. Now to convince some of the utility companies that we no longer own or live in that house. Seems that Verizon has decided to send me a bill for FIOS service and we have been out of that house, with the service disconnect order in place for almost a month! But there you have it, another multi-billion dollar company that can’t find it’s butt with two hands and a flashlight. Funny thing? I tried yesterday to connect with them, first the chat/online service that they PREFER, and that stupid computer system kept going in circles, enter this information, now that info, oh enter the first again, now that, lets go around again G****** it all!

Oh by the way, ever try to call Verizon FIOS? Good luck with that. Couldn’t find a freaking phone number but will try that again today. Not going to pay the Fios bill for the people who bought my Newport News house, no freaking way. It is their house and their cable system, no longer mine!

So also on the hurdle overcome agenda for today, a trip to the recycle drop place AND to the COVANT trash drop to get rid of many cardboard boxes (recycle), the remains of our TV cabinet that the movers broke during the move up here, and several broken plastic tubs (again that the movers broke during the move), plus a couple of metal things left from the previous condo owner. Spoke to a very nice person at that facility and was assured that all of our junk/trash was acceptable and there would be no charge since we were Alexandria residents. YEA US.

So, after finishing my late start breakfast (had to make a quick trip to Panera Bread), I will gather the address and head out for the two stops to empty the Blue Baby, of the recycle and trash we put into her cargo space this weekend. Then back to attack more of the hurdles involved with our relocation from Newport News back to Alexandria. I do so hope that we will be at least marginally settled into this new home before my 82nd birthday on May 1. Would be nice to have some semblance of order rather than the current chaotic environment!

Thursday, April 6, 2023 -Well another couple of days have passed and we are only a smattering of progress of the settle in process. We still have a couple of major tasks that must be accomplished in the next day or so. First, I have an appointment with my Primary Care Physician for a PreOP checkup. I am scheduled for surgery on the 19th and the docs want to make sure that this old body can take the procedures that they are going to perform. See, the old man had a touch of bladder cancer a few weeks ago, while we were still living in Newport News. The urology surgeon found a small tumor that was determined to be malignant and during a surgery procedure, he was able to remove the tumor completely, they think.

The next important task is to change our address at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles for our car and for our individual driver’s license. Then a check with the City of Alexandria to ensure that the change of address was transmitted to them. The DMV is supposed to notify/update the local government entity of any vehicles or individuals who register their address into the area of the local government.

Third task? Contact the mobile veterinarian to schedule an appointment for our remaining fur baby, Ms Penny. It has been quite a while since she has been seen by a vet to check out her health condition. We just lost one of our furry girls in January who had been with us for over 16 years, just like Ms. Penny. House cats do live a much longer life than their outdoor counterparts, but at 16+ our girls are approaching that point where the Rainbow Bridge gets closer each year.

Now I have to divert my attention from this blog and have a Come To Jesus meeting with xFinity, our internet provider. Their service for internet, wifi and the television is, to be kind, sucks to high heaven. So I have to make a list of all of the complaints for my time in the Chat application for this internet provider. Wish there was alternatives, but as I understand, they have an exclusive agreement with the City of Alexandria. DRAT!

Monday, May 1, 2023 – Well quite some time has passed, my apologies for the delays. But in reality I would think that readers of my little blog are few and far between. I have seen a few stats of folks who have viewed the blog, but there is no entry on any of the items as for as comments go. Guess it is just as I had envisioned when I restarted the blog after our sale of the Misty Lady, our 54 foot motor yacht. There was some encouragement to continue to post blog entries so I have done so. I do admit that the majority of time, I write simply to put my thoughts and our actions into words.

Anyway, here we are, on the day of my 82nd birthday, settling into a comfy chair, keyboard in hand, mouse close by, and ready to relate our latest information of our relocation, settling in and activity of late.

My daughter, my son, and my daughter-in-law treated us to a birthday lunch yesterday at a restaurant called Coopers Hawk. It is a wine themed play, Coopers Hawk has various wines in their own label and the restaurant has a membership function that my daughter belongs to. The service was very nice, food was excellent and it was really great being able to join my kids for this type of gathering, without the travel of 200 miles. More like a 20-30 mile drive outside the beltway into the Virginia countryside.

Charlotte is settling into her new position with this company and she is pleased with the company, her direct reporting management and with the staff who are assigned to the payroll department. She is still able to work from home with a requirement for occasional trips into the office for meetings and other tasks.

Charlotte was asked by the American Payroll Association (APA) to be a presenter at their upcoming Congress. She will be presenting in two seminar activities. She is due to travel to that APA Conference in a few days, leaving on the 14th and returning on the 20th. As a speaker/presenter her costs and tuition fees are waived so her costs are covered by the APA and her new company’s education benefit. She continues to impress me with how much she has grown into her profession and how the payroll industry recognizes her experience, expertise and knowledge evidenced by a continuing call for her to share her knowledge by way of seminars, presentations, classroom and other means of payroll profession educational presentations.

Next up, the surgery on April 19 was successful, they found no more tumors in the bladder, trimmed the prostate and declared the operation a success. However, the after surgery instruction was to lift nothing heavier than 10 pounds for at least three weeks, I would experience some ongoing pain but it should subside in a couple of weeks. Oh also, the urology surgeon informed me on a phone conversation that there has been some traces of cancer cells in the prostate samples. He feels we can keep a close watch on this situation, and take any action necessary. Okay,,, but what does that mean exactly? Well, I will probably find out when I have the post operation appointment in a couple of days with that urology department. Hope springs eternal.

We are beginning to gain on the plethora of boxes, still have a ton of them laying about, but we plan on putting the majority in a storage facility and winnow them down over time, all the while having a cleared bedroom and other spaces.

We’re Baaaack!

Now we are in the new Condo apartment! The closing happened on Friday morning, March 10 and by 3pm the movers had unloaded their truck with all our stuff from the Newport News house.

Oh my! boxes, cardboard and plastic tubs everywhere. Where are the power and HDMI cables for the TV? Got the internet and television connected in the new place but can’t find those power plug cables or the cable to connect the computers to our large monitor screens. The cable guy provided the HDMI cables for the tv/set top box, but we still can’t find the power cable to actually get the televisions to work.

Wow, okay, this is the LAST time we will do this crazy thing, called relocation move. Nope, not gonna do it anymore, done too damn old to play that game and too crotchety to life and tote all those boxes packed with our stuff and somewhere there are the cables we need.

But now we need to reconnect to all the folks and businesses

We’re Baaaack!

Well here we are, back in the neighborhood! We have completed the closing actions for our new condo home located in the Northampton Place tower in west Alexandria. Our new home is just about 2.5 blocks from the condo where we lived before and sold prior to our move down to the Hampton/Newport News area.

Feels good to be back, familiar streets, grocery store and pharmacy just two blocks away, several eateries providing good food within a five block radius and a very nice, secure building with a 24 hour concierge service, front desk, package receiving and a great communications system for the owner/residents.

We also recognize the asshats who get into their cars and become totally rude inconsiderate and dangerous jerks. Yep, back in the DC Metro area for sure!

One of the folks we met down in Newport News asked why we were moving back to this crowded, high traffic, violent prone area. I responded that we were going back home! And truly, this northern Virginia area has been our actual home for over 35 years. Is there crowded environments here? Yep, beyond a doubt, but we also have some truly great places to visit, shop, eat, and get entertained. And yes there is violence here, with shootings, road rage, assault and battery, and burglary, but hey, those things were also in the Hampton Roads area of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, etc. Tie ups at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel were quite often as bad as trying to cross the I-395 bridge into DC from Virginia at most hours.

Never mind all that, Harv and Char and of course Ms. Penny Kat are back in Alexandria, ensconced in our high rise apartment/condo and will spend the next few weeks trying to unpack and find places for our stuff. Remember moving from 1544 sqft house to 1094 sqft apartment requires some in depth consideration of what you need to have versus what you can discard, donate, or put into a storage locker. We do expect that our condo will be a disaster area with regard to boxes and tubs to be unpacked for several weeks, we have that much junk and need to either find places, find donations, or simply take things to the landfill area.

Moving on Up

We have a signed offer on our Newport News Home. Our mortgage is approved for our Condo in Alexandria, VA. So like that old tv show’s theme song, we are “Moving on Up” but not to the east side, our new neighborhood will be in West Alexandria!

Our purchaser for this home in Newport News’ neighborhood of Kiln Creek has asked for a closing date of March 20 and we are in agreement. Our closing for the Condo is March 10 and that will be our moving in date as well.

We will be heading up to Alexandria on Saturday to do a walkthrough of the new home, and to get a better idea of how our furniture will fit into the new space. Moving from a 1544sqft home into one that is 1054sqft requires some serious evaluation of items retained (that will fit into the new living space), and items to be eliminated. The moving truck will be out front of our Newport News house March 9, and we want to ensure that only those items to be used in Alexandria are loaded and transported.

I was very impressed with the posting of our home for market, the first viewing appointment and the subsequent appointments on the subsequent days, until we and our real estate agent decided to accept one of the offers and shut down any following appointment requests. Our house went on the market at 8am on Sunday, the first viewing was that day, shortly after noon. On Monday we had three viewings, Tuesday we had four! Tuesday evening, we accepted one specific offer, and the Real Estate Agent prepared the acceptance contract. By 8 pm that evening we had a contract in place, signed by all parties.

And now we have a ratified contract in place for the Newport News house. A Home Inspection and a Termite Inspection will take place on this Friday March 3, and then on to a closing date of March 20. We have no doubt that the house will pass with flying colors but agreed to a 1% cover if something is found during these inspections.

We actually had another offer on the house from the very first prospect. But their requirements were extremely onerous from our perspective and since we were the sellers, we said no to the offer. We have not been expecting a sale process this rapidly and completed in such a short time frame. BUT we are happy that it happened, now the way is clear, and we are truly Moving On Up, that being back UP to Northern Virginia and the Alexandria City locale.

SP-UHC Why Not?

This post is going to be a major difference from the usual things. Frankly, it is an introduction to a new and different blog that I will be creating in the coming weeks. In my case, the idea of a single payer universal health care plan was almost always in my mind. I was a military dependent and then enlisted myself when I was age appropriate. So, I have been exposed to essentially single payer health care for a good portion of my growing years and into young adulthood. We always felt secure in knowing that our health situation was always going to be cared for because of our being in the military (US Air Force for both me and my dad).

When I left the Air Force and entered the commercial job market, I was fortunate enough to gain employment in a small California desert community where there was still the old company town environment. The insurance was provided by the company, the hospital and medical clinic were owned by the two companies in the valley. So, our medical care was still pretty much a worry-free deal. But then I left that area, moving back across the country and encountered the present world of corporate health care industry operations.

Many years ensued for my family and I (wife, one daughter and two sons), in our health care situations where we spent many hours discussing the rightness of care that the insurance clerk was denying their responsibility to cover. Both sons played football all though middle school and high school, with the older son continuing his football play into the first two years of a college athletic scholarship. Luckily for us, those schools had insurance to cover most injuries that the players might encounter, but kids are kids and adults get sick. And I kept thinking that there had to be a better way for the health of American citizens. But alas, could find nothing out there that even remotely resembled the health care of my military days. For example, birth of daughter (Chennault AFB, Lake Charles, LA.) total cost out of pocket $1.98 for meals my wife had just prior to the delivery and post-delivery. Birth of eldest son, China Naval Weapons Station, Ridgecrest, CA) $2.75, the Navy charged a bit more for meals for the delivering mother. Finally, birth of third child, youngest son, (American Potash & Chemical Corp Medical Center, Trona, CA), $1200.00 my cost and the insurance deductible. Oh yeah, that was for more than the meals. But even then, it was far less than what medical care in hospitals and outpatient care costs for the same thing.

Several years passed, encounters of higher and higher costs along with more reticence by insurance companies to pay for care as they “promised”. One exception that stood out was during my tenure at a major computer manufacturer in Minnesota. A new type of medical care was presented by this company, it was new to the industry as well. HMO or Health Maintenance Organization. When originally conceived, this was a very good approach. My younger son was having hearing problems and ear infections. We took him to the HMO center for our company’s insurance HMO plan. They operated on my son’s hearing (ear drum, etc) for five plus hours. His hearing was almost totally restored and imagine our excitement when he asked that the tv sound be turned DOWN. When I went to check him out, there was no copay bill to cough up. The HMO covered the surgery, housing and meals.

Of course, that was years ago, and it was a brand-new coverage plan. To my knowledge gained from the experiences of relatives and friends who use the HMO type health coverage, that is no longer the case these days the HMO is just a different type of regular health insurance and the majority of these medical groups do not deliver quality care and patient compassion. Simply, like the rest of the health care industry companies, collect the money and deliver minimally acceptable care. After years of fighting with insurance company clerks and managers, I encountered a new plan in the making.

In 2003, in my early days of political activism, I discovered the Congressman from Michigan, John Conyers and his brand new legislative bill for health care. It was then called a National Health Insurance program, eventually morphing into the Expanded Medicare for All. Bill HR-676 had just 20 cosponsors in the first reading back in 2003.

At each congressional session, Mr. Conyers would update the bill content to reflect the current environments and resubmit it for consideration and hopefully getting it to the House Floor for debate and passage. Through year after congressional year, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Kucinich of Ohio and a growing group of likeminded Congressional Representatives signed on.

Mr. Conyers fell ill and died and the 2017 version of his HR-676 was his last submittal and in truth the memorial to his efforts to bring true universal health care to ALL American residents of this nation.

As a longtime supporter of Mr. Conyers and his HR-676 bill, I made sure to download and retain many copies of the changes and each version as it was released. Today, while it is still available, I understand, now the Congress has reassigned that bill number to another pieces of legislation from a different congress person, and the thrust of her bill has nothing whatsoever to do with focus of the original HR-676 by John Conyers. I frankly admit that I do not understand the reasoning behind the issuance of that bill identifier to that congressperson for her legislative bill but is certainly has put a huge hurdle in bringing that Conyers effort to provide universal health care to the American people.

We are way Behind!

Bear in mind that rest of the developed world has comprehensive universal health care, and those programs covered every single citizen/legal resident of those countries. Most of these countries have had UHC for DECADES, while we have been worried about “socialism” or adverse impact to our health care or health research. Point of Fact, none of those cares are valid or worthy of refusing UHC, they are all propaganda from the medical industry including (not medical professions or facilities) the insurance corporations and other shadowy external forces, including much of the Congress and we as a nation have fallen for the sales pitches from those sources, hook line and sinker.

So, while the rest of the developed world enjoyed better health outcomes, no health care anxieties, NO medical bankruptcies, better live birth rates, more effective treatments, solutions, procedures and medications, the United States fell further and further behind the rest of the developed world for health conditions of its citizens. We are well behind these countries in almost every single aspect of health, from overall longevity of adults to lower successful birth rates even the overall happiness factor of these counties as opposed to the United States.

Actually, according to the WHO (World Health Organization), at this time France has the best health care in the world and most of European countries are right there alongside them. Japan leads the Asian nations in their UHC program, and even Cuba has a better health care coverage for their people, than the United States!

These countries spend less than half of the costs for health care that we do in the USA. AND they have better outcomes, happier citizens, and the fear of leaving a job because of health insurance simply does not exist in those nations. A recent study and report from the Commonwealth Fund that analyzed the positions of the developed nations regarding the health-related lifestyles of their citizens, was not complimentary to the Unites States. I will provide a link to that report within this blog post.

Some quotes or the actual highlight listing from that Commonwealth report is as shown below:

Highlights

  • Health care spending, both per person and as a share of GDP, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries. Yet the U.S. is the only country that doesn’t have universal health coverage.
  • The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates.
  • The U.S. has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions and an obesity rate nearly twice the OECD average.
  • Americans see physicians less often than people in most other countries and have among the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population.
  • Screening rates for breast and colorectal cancer and vaccination for flu in the U.S. are among the highest, but COVID-19 vaccination trails many nations.

The link to the actual report is here:

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022

Please read this entire report if you can, it is very enlightening. We are not the greatest, especially in the area of our citizens and their health care.

And even back to 2014, this organization rated the United States thusly:

Where we rank comparatively with the rest of the world.

The United States ranks last overall among 11 industrialized countries on measures of health system quality, efficiency, access to care, equity, and healthy lives, according to this Commonwealth Fund report, despite spending far more of its GDP on health.

FUND REPORTS / JUN 16, 2014

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally

Reading this report, from 8 years ago, and sadly from later editions, we have not gained, but instead lost ground in the overall health of our US citizens. More’s the pity.

In the near future, I will be bringing live a new web site that will focus on this Single Payer Universal Health Care program and why the United States and its people should stop with the rabid propaganda and implement the entirety of the HR-676 written by Representative John Conyers and supported by well over 140 members of the House of Representatives. This bill should be brought to the floor of the House and passed following debate. I will provide information and links to this website to my fellow senior citizens and others as I can find. My prayer is that we see at least, the beginning of a full SPUHC for all of the residents of the United States of America, before my time on earth is over.

The Congress, especially the Democrats in Congress should determine the best person to pick up the baton of John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich and the rest of those members who have supported this bill from it’s inception in 2003.

WELL PAST TIME!