Hard to Believe--Spring Training is Near

Here in the valley of the Great Salt Lake it is a rather balmy morning. The sun is out, the temperature is sort of mild. I wonder if I shouldn't go hit some golf balls or something. But, I also know that March is near and the catchers and pitchers will be getting together soon, Spring Training is around the corner. Baseball is a nostalgic game for me. It has never been the same since 1980 though. My card of the day is Yogi. When I think back to my early youth the nostalgia of baseball always included the fact that there was a Yogi. He was born in 1925 and played through the great days of the Yanks. I always thought his character was apparent when he stuck to his convictions and not be involved with the team anymore because of the actions of the owner. Right or wrong they were his convictions. He played with that same conviction and exuberance. Joe Gariagiola was his friend, and in my view, one of my favorite color commentators for baseball. So here's to Hall of Famer Lawrence "Yogi" Berra.

I MIiiiiiiis Johnny

With all the turmoil and uncertainty in the world it is easy to try and lose one's self back in the safe and comfortable time of life as a child and youth. I was thinking about this the other day. And I suddenly realized how much I missed Johnny Carson. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was a show I watched as a kid almost every Friday night. Never did I understand how much I took it for granted. There is nothing like it on TV now and I doubt there ever can be. Thank goodness for YouTube. For fun watch this, this or this.

I know there are not the special effects that are on TV now, but they did not need them then. Johnny was the special effect. Go ahead, go to YouTube, search on Johnny Carson and watch some of the stuff there. I bet you have a hard time quitting in less than an hour.

55

55 revolutions around the sun. I had a birthday today. This picture proves it. 5 big candles and 5 little candles were on the cake. My grandson Weston is observing making sure the ceremony is performed properly. The little one Elijah just behind Joyce's arm gets a little ticked because he wanted to blow one out. Thanks to all who have wished me a great day. There were a lot. The best part was having all my loved ones there with us. This ranks as one of the all-time best birthdays. 55 is not a prime number but 5 is a prime number and so is 11. Rooster Cogburn would probably say I am 11 lustrum old.

What is "Quality and Affordable" Anything?

I hear this all the time from people griping and complaining about health care. They demand as a right "quality and affordable" health care. I wonder what that means. What is in the average persons mind when they think of quality? And what is affordable? In my profession of dentistry, which must be admitted is a form a health care there is a HUGE spectrum in Quality and probably a more NARROW spectrum of Affordability.

First, if you are going to a dentist what kind of equipment do you want used on you? Do you look back with fondness to the robotic, belt driven Ritter units with the belt driven handpieces? Or would you prefer to have some more modern dental tools? How about having a laser available for you to decrease discomfort and pain on some procedures? Do you want to go back to the cuspidor and spit into a little toilet bowl next to the chair?

What if you are in need of more complicated treatment? What about implants? Would you like to have equipment there that will facilitate proper placement of the device in the proper spot? Or do you want the dentist to take his best guess?

Everybody loves root canals. Would you like more modern techniques and materials used to prolong the life of the tooth, or do you want to go back thirty years when it took a lot of time and post operative pain was much more pronounced? And how about not having any auxiliary staff in the office? Wouldn't it be fun to have a lower molar extracted by the dentist without an assistant? That would be a barrel of laughs. Well all this stuff costs money. The real question that everyone, and I mean everyone who has talked about health care has left out is this:

WHAT VALUE WILL I RECEIVE FROM THE CARE I EITHER NEED OR WOULD LIKE?

What value in lifestyle, in feeling good, in comfort, in energy and in confidence will your health care provide you? This may relate more to dentistry than medicine, but there is a value to have the best and then taking care of yourself, whether it is your general health or your oral health. The real gorilla in the corner of the room is also How much does the doctor and his staff deserve to make? Would you like a happy provider who is making a good and decent living with all the responsibility and medico-legal challenges before him or her, or do you want someone who looks at the profession and the patient base as an absolute drudgery and tries to do the minimum possible?

I for one would like a happy doctor, receiving good and generous compensation with a desire to do the very best for the client. I submit that cannot and will not be achieved within the parameters of what I am hearing from the Health Care Reform Thing from D.C.

It's Hard to Remember What One Says

We know that politicians all say things that relate to the moment. I wonder if very many of them have a fundamental core value of being honest, particularly on the National level. This is a good example of what I am talking about. Does everything that comes out of the mouth of a politician have to be shaded, jaded or downright dishonest? I wonder if some years from now we will look at this Congress and this Administration and look at them as traitors? Can they honestly think that what they are doing on the course they are now on is good for our country? The mettle of the American people is going to be tested like never before.

Card(s) of the week

Man, what can a couple of years do for a hairstyle. Here George Brunet was playing for the Houston Colt 45's and then he goes out to LA and WOW things really change. The old flattop is gone and the California cool surfer-dude look takes hold. I am sure the sun there didn't hurt him and he probably looked pretty hot to the So. Cal babes while he was in the bull pen.

Spend a Little, Talk a Little

I guess after the "outrageous" deficits from the previous administration all that can be done is triple those deficits for at least a decade and carry on knowing everything will be fixed. I think when a male dog or cat hears that "they need to be fixed" we know what that means.

I get the feeling nobody cares in Washington about the country, the economy nor the people, they just seem to care about their image for the next election. Makes you wonder who is qualified to serve and what "qualified" means.

Utah Dental Association Convention

Today and tomorrow my staff and I are attending the UDA convention. There was a great turnout. The highlight of the day was a presentation to our executive director, Monte Thompson. For some months now dentists in Utah have been asked to send a small contribution to make a fund big enough to buy him a new, big, gorgeous Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He was shocked, surprised and amazed that the secret has been kept since September.

I attended a great class on root canal therapy. I know, it makes you cringe doesn't it? Well, technology, materials and techniques are improving so much that I think most root canal procedures are easier to do than some crowns.

We had lunch at Biaggi's at The Gateway with my staff. All in all, a good and worthwhile day.

A Great Visit

Yesterday my wife and I had the chance to visit with this wonderful woman. Her husband was a missionary companion of mine in Cd. Juarez way back in Feb and Mar of 1975. Sadly, he passed away last August of ALS ie Lou Gehrig's Disease. They have 4 wonderful children. Anyway Toni was extremely gracious and it was a delight to visit with her. We heard of the hard times, the good times and some of the fun times they have had as a family. We have a new friend and that is great.

Anybody Getting Stimulated?

I had a good friend in my dental chair today. He is a contractor who has been in business for over 35 years. He does concrete work, roads, lays pipe, etc. I asked him how his Spring is looking for work. He says he is all but dead. There is nothing going on out there. I asked about the Stimulus from the federal government with all the shovel ready jobs out there. He works with a lot of shovels, some of them big and are run by big diesel engines. He said that the Stimulus money that has gone out has gone to big jobs for big companies. A small business like his has not had any influence from that. Corporate America has received some benefit.

Two years ago he had 100 people employed. Now he has 10 and he can hardly keep them busy 30-35 hours a week. I asked him how this compared in the late 70's and early 80's. His reply was he has never ever seen it this bad.

If this guy doesn't have a lot of work, nobody is going to have much going on. He is a highly regarded, successful contractor who gets the job done right, on time and with very few complaints. This does not bode well for a bunch of people in the trades. If roads in subdivisions are not being built then the trades people are not working.

We had a local bank shut down not long ago that this man banked with and did business with for years. He borrowed seven figure amounts many times and paid them back in a timely manner. The bank appeared to be leveraged out on construction loans that were defaulted on. They had a plan and thought they could dig there way out, but the Feds swooped in and appeared to be determined to shut it down. He said this type of local bank was great to do business with because you could talk to them, present your plan, talk with the Board of Directors and get financing. You don't do that with Bank of America or Wells Fargo. So, I see some gloomy days ahead. I guess we need to play things close to the vest.

Ben and Melissa

It may be hard to believe but this girl likes this guy. Our son Ben and his fiance Melissa showed up today for dinner, Valentine's Day dinner. The menu was great, grilled pork chops, steamed green beans, spinach salad, rolls and Joyce's Peach Cheesecake. It can't be beat. As you can see they like each other and we are pleased as punch. Melissa is majoring in Psychology and Ben is doing Electrical Engineering with Pre Med thrown in for fun. He wrote a program to help study for his Anatomy class and it impressed the professor so much he had Ben present it and explain it to the class. It remains to be seen whether it will help him with his grade in the class. Anyway 45 more days until the wedding on 1 April.

Baseball Card of the Week

Having lived in Chicago for about 4 years while attending Northwestern University's Dental School, it was impossible to not be exposed to the legend of Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub. Of course as a youngster I watched Ernie play on TV occasionally.

It seemed like the universal theme of Ernie Banks was his enthusiasm for the game of baseball. It did not matter how bad the Cubbies were he was there to play, and he delivered. National League MVP in 1958 and 1959, a Hall of Famer, his statue sits in front of the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. It seems to be saying "What a beautiful day for a ballgame, let's play two!" I wish they did play two more often. Those were the good, old days.

Housing and Politics

I have wondered how the housing prices have been doing. This graph was posted on Powerline so I offer it here. Man, that sure is a big bubble in the late 1990's to 2007 or so. Being a layman and down in the mouth I noticed that the housing market was HOT and everything was going up, but I did not know it was like this. We had a mortgage processing office in our building. I noticed that more and more people were working there in tight quarters. One day I noticed there was hardly anyone there. I asked the manager what the deal was and she said the market on the sub-prime loans that they handle totally collapsed. I didn't understand the ramifications of that at the time. Having read Architects of Ruin by Peter Schweizer I understand now what has happened. I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more. It seems pretty evident that our government officials seem to think that the answer to everything is a program that they run and control and it does the same to our lives--except they don't do a very good job of it.

This Guy can golf

Ever feel inadequate standing over a teed up Nike, looking down the fairway at the narrow, stenotic strip of green grass you are trying to hit? Check this out!

Intellectuals and Society

I finished the latest book from Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society. It is well worth the time to read his thesis on how Intellectuals have affected society. I like his definition of an Intellectual, a person who produces ideas for the sake of receiving approval from his peers. So an Intellectual graces us with their thoughts from on high, anointed thoughts per Sowell, and never has to reckon or answer to how those thoughts and perceptions affect the lives of others. Over time I have seen this, you have Rachel Carson and the DDT nonsense that has cost of millions of lives from malaria, you have Paul Ehrlich and the Population Bomb. As I read and listen to some of the Intellectuals, ie Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky, Paul Krugman, etc. I know they must be Intellectual because they are devoid of common sense because being Intellectuals they cannot have anything common.

I give Intellectuals and Society 3 1/2 stars. An excellent read, to be combined with Architects of Ruin by Peter Schweizer, The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes and Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg.

Super Bowl Commercials

It was a great Super Bowl. The commercials were over the top. The Who were terrible. I think the NFL ought to get some good marching bands for halftime. These spectaculars are no longer spectacular. And what is it with the underwear commercials. Guys in skivvies marching through fields? If we cannot do better than that maybe we ought to quit trying so hard Madison Avenue. Anyway, good job Saints and good job Colts really. Now, let's get Spring Training going.

Holey tooth

I know Valentine's Day is coming and there is always the tradition of candy, etc. Hey, eat it up. This picture can show you what happens if you let your teeth get hammered. The red thing in the middle is the nerve tissue. Put a little sugar on that and you'll see the Aurora Borealis in your mind. This is the kind of stuff we love to deal with, easy diagnosis, easy treatment--root canal or cold steel and sunshine.

Henry Aaron

I intend to post a scan of some of my favorite players from my baseball card collection. These will be old cards because I quit collecting in 1966 or so. I hope you enjoy some of these cards week to week, especially because Spring is right around the corner.

Book of the Week

I started reading Thomas Sowell's Intellectuals and Society. In typical Sowell fashion he uses his articulate and varied vocabulary in ways that a lay person can appreciate and understand. Having read other of his tomes ie Basic Economics, Economic Facts and Fallacies among the rest I enjoy his style and appreciate the amount of information he provides the reader. A review will come later.

Subway Lines

It is tough to watch teenagers in a Subway line. Sure they are full of energy and they all want to talk to each other at once. What I am talking about is when a girl and a guy are together. I see this all the time. The guy stands behind the girl and wraps his arms around her. He pretends he is a human brassiere, squeezing and lifting her chest, blows in her ear and whispers something. I want to get up and tell him to show some respect. Am I wrong?