Health Update

  This past Tuesday, I went over to my oncologist's office to have my blood drawn in order to check my PT-INR and a1c levels. My primary care physician, Dr. Boerger, said that my a1c was 7.3 which was slightly on the high side for someone with type 2 diabetes. At her suggestion, I arranged an appointment with an Aurora opthamologist to have my eyes examined. For the most part, the eye exam was uneventful. My prescription has changed slightly since last year's exam but not enough to warrant new glasses. The early stages of cataract development have been detected. There's the possibility that 10 to 15 years down the road I may need cataract surgery. Since diabetes is a risk factor for cataracts, I'll have to be more careful controlling my blood glucose levels. The only noteworthy item from the exam was an unusually twisted artery near the optic nerve of my left eye. I'm going to see a retinologist on June 22nd in order to get a better idea as to what caused the arterial twist and whether or not it's going to be a potential problem. The opthamologist said it might be due to a blood clot.

Gen Con Update

  The plans for Gen Con 2017 are proceeding along nicely. My 4 day badge has been ordered. The hotel reservation has been made. I had to wait 7 hours and 5 minutes before I could reserve my room and thus ended up about 10.5 miles outside of downtown Indianapolis. Since I don't feel like driving into downtown Indianapolis everyday and paying for parking, I'm going to see what mass transit options exist and use those. I've set up a wish list of 8 events that I will submit when event registration goes live this Sunday at 11:00 am CST. Hopefully I won't end up way back in line like last year. I had to watch as most of the events I wanted filled up and I had to wait until I got to the head of the line before I could secure what events were still available. Then I had to pick other events to replace the ones I didn't get into and get in line again. I asked for this Sunday off so I could log in early and submit my wish list.

The Republican Healthcare Plan & Trump's Budget Proposal

  After more than 60 attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Republicans have finally revealed their healthcare plan. This plan, called the American Health Care Reform Act of 2017 is their answer to the ACA. In typical Republican fashion, this bill sticks it to the poor, sick and elderly while giving massive tax cuts to the rich. Some questions and answers regarding the Repuclicans health care plan can be found here. Needless to say, the majority of people disapprove of the plan. Senate Republicans still don't like the plan and the CBO reports that while premium costs for young, healthy people would go down, for many others, like the elderly and those with pre existing conditions, the rates will increase significantly.
  Trump and the Republicans seem to love fucking over the average American citizen while dumping large sums of money into the pockets of the extremely wealthy. Trump's budget asks for deep cuts to social programs and Medicaid while providing tax cuts that benefit primarily himself and the top 1% of the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The people that elected this tangerine turd blossom are the very people he's screwing over the most. And, to make matters worse, many of these idiots will likely vote for him again should he run for reelection in 2020.