On the Move

Interesting fact: I love listening to TED Radio Hour podcasts. I listen to them everywhere—at the gym, in the car…in the car… So, maybe not everywhere, but I usually listen to at least one a day. Co-produced by NPR and TED, the TED Radio Hour is based on talks given by expert speakers. Each show is centered on a common theme—sometimes it's the source of happiness, finding success as an amateur, Maslow's human needs, or what it means to be afraid—and features sound clips from...

I prefer working within the constraints of absolutes (just ask Liz when it comes to firming up layout guidelines for the HME News issues) and often struggle with ambiguity. Which leads me to politics—a topic I broach with much trepidation. I try to avoid politics when I talk to providers on the phone, because it usually amounts to a lot of soapboxing and a lot of “yups,” “uh-huhs” and “yeahs” from me—whether I agree with the speaker's view point or...

"I done fudged up. Bad." That was the text I sent to Editor Liz this morning. The text was more colorful. I booked my flight to Washington, D.C. for the CRT conference a week before I took a 7-week sabbatical to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Everything seemed in order and I congratulated myself for being so organized and efficient. This morning when I arrived at the Portland Jetport at 6:15 for my 7:30 flight, I felt cool and collected. After breezing through security, I moseyed over to...

I knew it had been a while since my last blog post, but I didn't realize it's been a month and a half (sorry, Liz). What's funny is that it will be at least another month and a half until I write my next one. Last May, Theresa challenged Liz and I to walk-off in honor of “Get Fit, Don't Sit” Day, which is held the first Wednesday in May. The plan was the three of us would count our steps for one week. Although last year's competition fizzled out (rather shamefully), I decided to kick...

This morning, Jo Ellen, the HME News sales rep, sent Liz, Theresa and I a very interesting email. While she was decluttering her house last night in preparation for an upcoming town-wide paper shredding event, Jo came across a receipt from when she was born in the hospital. I wasn't cheeky enough to ask her when exactly that was, but in Jo's words, “it was decades ago.” “My mom stayed in the hospital 3 days. The hospital room and board was $60.00 Medication was $3.65 Doctor was...

Theresa came back from Medtrade bearing gifts. “Want a selfie stick?” “Yup.” The answer was automatic. I don't know where I stand on the use of selfie sticks, but as I've said before, I love free things so I took it with the enthusiasm of a classically trained hoarder. As soon as she walked away I took it out of the box and snapped my first selfie stick selfie. real selfie.png I wondered if I would actually use it in public or if I would feel too self-conscious....

I love free things. Free samples, free food, free hugs. Free anything. But my favorite freebie? Knowledge. For example, Harvard offers free online courses through edx. Sure, I may not know the first thing about the nervous system, but that's not about to stop me from taking “Fundamentals of Neuroscience Part 1: Electrical Properties of the Neuron.”   neruon.png Actual screenshot from Fundamentals of Neuroscience Part 1: Electrical Properties of the...

Friday was a red-letter day for me and not just because there was birthday cake in the conference room—well, mostly because there was birthday cake in the conference room—but also because our publisher Rick Rector practically gift wrapped me a blog post when I overheard him telling our sales rep Jo-Ellen about the community-wide aging-in-place survey he received in the mail. cake.jpg Photo taken by Tim Purpura, publisher of Security Systems News, Instagram Filter Master-at-Arms,...

I like to play a game with Editor Liz to see how long it takes before I post a blog or she reminds me to. I guess it's more like a race? Hopefully, I'll win before our editors' meeting at 2 today. I have the greatest of intentions. I write down blog ideas as they come to me—after a particularly interesting interview, office joke or life experience—and then I put the paper somewhere “safe.” Invariably, it's written down on the back of a business card or scratched on the corner...

You wouldn't know it by the 50 degree weather we've been enjoying here in Maine, but its actually December, and I'm pleased as punch. That's because, barring the occasional rainy and/or hectic workday, I've been taking 30-minute walks during my lunch break (or as Liz calls it, “disappearing”) since April. I think it started when Liz, Theresa and I started a “who-could-accumulate-the-most-steps-in-a-week” competition. Not long after, the challenge fizzled out and there was...