Is big brother watching?

It's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, and the temperature is right around 50°F. It's a perfect day for a bike ride, if only the roads were somewhat dry. But just like last Thursday, the roads are soaking wet from last nights rain, and I refuse to subject myself to those conditions. So here I sit, bored to death (so wanting to be out on the bike) composing one of my meaningless posts, this time about Facebook.

I don't get the fascination with Facebook. Sure it's a great way to stay in contact with old friends from high school and elsewhere, who may be light years away, but what else is it good for? And what's this new craze of friends pointing out where they are at every given moment in their life? Who cares when someone checks in at the grocery store?

Anyways, yesterday we went to my niece's house in Granada Hills for Christmas dinner, and for whatever reason we were discussing the "places" app on Facebook, and I ended up "checking in at Kim's house". (Which I couldn't delete.)

What was even more surprising, when I checked my Facebook page this morning, I discovered someone actually liked it. Now I could understand someone liking it, if I had checked in at some fabulous resort in Tahiti or other exotic location, but this was just my nieces house. Why did they like that? Or did they think I was doing something more sinister? :) But I digress.

More importantly though, I have another app on my Droid which I downloaded from the "Market", also called "Places", and was testing it out as well. And what surprised me here was, it knew exactly where I was. Not just a longitude and latitude, or a general vicinity, like Granada Hills, it knew the EXACT street address?

How did it know that? And who has the ability to write the programs to accomplish this? Can you imagine how much time that must have taken? Think about it. That can't have been easy. And should I delete it? Will it do any good?

And what is really the point? Is this just some government plot to track our every move and thought. Was George Orwell just ahead of his time?

This is scary!

The results are in

And I am iron deficient, big time. [Which would account for my low hemoglobin] Test Result Ref Range IRON 30 59-158 mcg/dL TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY 231 250-420 mcg/dL IRON SAT 13 20-50 % My Ferritin levels were good, but that could be because Ferritin is also an "acute phase reactant", that is sometimes increased with acute or chronic disease. Folate and B12 levels were also within the normal range. The only problem now is determining what is causing the iron deficiency, which in the case of men, is [very] rare. My oncologist has given me a Globin Fecal test to perform, and has scheduled me for a consultation with a colorectal surgeon to discuss performing a colonoscopy, which could be problematic because of my large spleen. In the mean time, I've decided to start taking an iron supplement, it's only the quantity that is causing me some consternation. I've been told by a very knowledgeable person that to overcome an iron deficiency, I need to be taking 300 mg o...

This is just one of those days

It's one of those days you just want to sit around the house and do absolutely nothing, or watch some movies you have recorded. It might even be a good day to read a book, if you were so inclined, which I am not. As you should be able to see from the view out my bedroom window, it is raining outside. The rain started last night, and hasn't let up since. I can't complain too much though, as this is the rainy season, and we do need the rain. Plus Monday's are typically my day off from exercise, so I will surprise everyone, and not complain. I just feel sorry for anyone who might be visiting from, say Argentina, like a friend of mine (fellow MCLer), who happens to be in Cambria today. He might be a little disappointed. Fortunately the rest of the week, when he will be in LA, will be nice, and the real intent of his trip was to visit his son in Tahoe, who works at one of the ski resorts, and ski, so I know he's not complaining too much either. This weather will actually...

Stop the stupidity!

Rural medical center (in Georgia) suspended from vaccination program after inoculating school district staff. Give me a break! Trying to get kids back to school, while protecting teachers, bus drivers and other staff, is exactly what school districts should be doing. If they have vaccines, give them out. We should be giving out vaccines to all who want them, whenever available. Trying to adhere to rigid guidelines will only result in fewer people getting vaccines, resulting in the discarding of precious vaccines, and less protection for everyone. Of course we should be giving first priority to healthcare workers, and any other essential public service employees, such as policeman, fireman, etc. first, but when they're not around to receive shots, or refuse shots, then give them to anyone willing to take them. What I would have objected to is the medical center trying to capitalize on the pandemic to make a profit, from giving vaccines to people far down the list of recipients, but ...

LIVING WITH MCL

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