via Property tax: Benefits of tax break for homeowners are not spread evenly across Baltimore – baltimoresun.com.

Franchot, O’Malley are you listening? Where have you been? Spending the money I think. So Democrats in Annapolis are redistributing the wealth. Stop it. Get this fixed.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

Opens horizontally, keeping juices in the shell.

Now anyone can open oysters, safely!

via Gear and Gifts at Chesapeake Bay Magazine.

(DougWeb: Just when you thought it wasn’t possible to find the ultimate gift for the shucker in your life.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Michelle Malkin » Document drop: What Scholastic is teaching your kids about the Occupiers.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

The little man had just learned to fly having grown in all of his flight feathers at just over one year of age. He had a vocabulary:

“Hey Ravelo”
“Hey Baby Bird”
“Hey Tink”
“Wing tickle, wing tickle, wing tickle, wing tickle” among others.

He loved to tease his big sister Tinker and hum “You’re in the Army now.”

We only had him for a year. He was a happy loving little boy bird with a gregarious desire to please us. Rav Man as I called him helped me through my terrible time with dystonia loving me and cuddling asking only for water and pellets in return.

I love you Ravelo. I miss you.

Ravelo, our Moon Conure. Rest in Peace.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Fire Paddle 2011 | Sup Journeys.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Jay Hancock’s blog: BGE flipflops, says it won’t again shut AC completely – Business news: Stock markets, banks and economic observations with columnist Jay Hancock – baltimoresun.com.

(It is a long time from 1130 to 8:00 PM and counting. We did opt for it to save money and this is the first time we have been inconvenienced by it. If we are at 50% instead of 100% then we probably have a long time yet to go.  When does 50% end exactly?)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

Like hell.

You have a local alarm system installed in your home. You paid about $1500 for it. The alarm company you purchased it from went out of business. One element of the system is malfunctioning. You misplaced the manual. The beeping is driving you crazy.

My first idea was to go through the Yellow Pages. I like to try and focus on local business so I start there. The first company doesn’t call me back and when I call them the guy on the other end is too busy to talk to me. “Click.”

The second company, up front, makes it CLEAR they are selling subscription service and isn’t interested in servicing a local system. $85 per hour and almost twice what I first paid for the part five years ago. Total cost for what will amount to a 30 minute visit – about $300.

American business hasn’t figured it out yet. There are all kinds of customers. Maybe the ones like me are in the minority but wouldn’t it pay in the long run to help folks where you could? Holding out for boom economy rates in a busted economy is a sure sign the business just doesn’t get it. There is more to staying in business than sticking to a script. And they probably wonder why business is bad!

Apparently I will not get help with a local alarm system in Calvert County Maryland installed by a long-gone company even though the system is a well-known GE product still in use in hundreds of thousands of homes. Why? Because business insists on selling you something you cannot afford and committing you to a contract you do not want – whether you like it or not. When you stick to your guns they price your work as if it was a fine or punishment for not cooperating with the sales pitch.

All I need is a smoke alarm alarm replaced and a new manual for the control unit. Thirty minutes. Heck maybe a photocopy of the manual will allow me to bypass the malfunctioning element.

The alarm industry in America is steadfast! No subscription you pay – big time.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via ‘Moustache’ Graffiti Artist Arrested – Local News – AllMediaNY.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via ALERT: Job Screening Agency Archiving All Facebook.

(Remember, Facebook is NOT the Internet. None of us has to use it, it’s just that everyone seems to.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Federal Judge Prohibits Prayer at Texas Graduation Ceremony – FoxNews.com.

(It’s a sad day for America, or is it spelled Amerika? I’m sorry but there are now a majority of people offended and suffering irreparable harm in Texas. One fringe family has a smile on their face. I hope their kid has his way and later discovers that the government won’t care for or guarantee  his idiosyncratic ideologies every time. This ruling is ridiculous.  It’s not Constitutinal and it is AMORAL. America is feeling more and more like Amerika.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

It’s no wonder the first two boating deaths of the season were off Breezy Point. Folks around here just haven’t the sense, have not taken a boating safety class, or we are just too far off the beaten path of law enforcement. Like I said, the wild-wild west of the Chesapeake.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

The computer mouse. When I use mine my parrot objects. It must have something to do my hand spending more time on the mouse and less time giving her a head rub. Parrots are peculiar that way.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

Today the search reveals:

1. Accused top graffiti vandal arrested in Phoenix

2. North VGancouver RCMP Tag Graffiti Vandals

3. Police Make Arrest in Church Graffiti Spree

4. Teen Arrested in Connection with Racial Graffiti in Wales

5. Graffiti Spree in Central Park

6. Graffiti Artist (sic) Killed by D-Train (There is no such thing as a graffiti artist.)

7. Anti-Graffiti Lawyer Gets Message Spray Painted on HIs Building

8. From Mastadons to Graffiti

9. Teen’s Graffiti Causes $11,000 Worth of Damage to Property

10. Photo Mural Showcasing Humanity Defaced by Graffiti

The truths of graffiti vandalism are always evident in the news.

There is no honor among vandals. Graffiti vandals deface art and vandalism and claim to call it art. The difference, however, between graffiti and art is and always will be – PERMISSION.

Young vandals are still being killed pursuing their criminal thrills.

Community structures, including churches, are victims of senseless vandalism.

Racial and hate graffiti is always going to be used by cowards to make their point in shameful anonimity.

Vandals are ultimately arrested, convicted, and sentenced for their crimes.

Graffiti is still tied to archaeology to help us feel better about it. Obfuscations of vandalism still abound.

Is there still an anti-graffiti sentiment in our communities? Do our communities still have citizens cleaning up after the vandals, teaching our children to respect the property of another, and insisting on vandalism enforcement? It might be time to look at our communities to make sure we have not been taking these things for granted.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via CTV Montreal – Juvenile graffiti murderer sentenced to six-and-a-half years – CTV News.

(Fifteen-year old graffiti vandal kills another graffiti vandal for writing over graffiti and then is tried as a juvenile. This is a VERY sad story.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via ‘Revok’ graffiti writer sentenced to 180 days in jail | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times.

(Like I keep saying, the difference between graffiti and art is permission.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Martin O’Malley applies for federal high-speed rail funding | TBD.com.

(Your progressive Democrats at work. This is funny money. It’s borrowed. It isn’t real. The money is part of the outrageous national dept we cannit repay without harsh cuts and a major change to our way of life. O’Malley and his cronies in Annapolis and Washington continue their spending spree despite the writing on the wall. We can’t afford this now.

There is no money there to grant. It is nothing but feel-good politics, smoke and mirrors.

Get your hands out of my wallet.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

Maryland Senator Brian Frosh felt a provision to fine utilities $10,000 a day for each violation wasn’t enough.

His amendment would allow the Public Service Commission to fine up to 2 and a half percent of their gross revenue, which is equivalent to tens of millions of dollars.

via WTOP.com – Md. Senator proposes steep fines for outages.

(Great idea! Barely Gas & Electric left our power out 22 hours last month. The first 14 started late in one day and wasn’t fixed until the next. The ONLY thing wrong was a tripped switch on a transformer. It took one lineman five minutes. I’m just guessing but I suspect it had something to do with calling people out on overtime or some other financial reason. Only four houses were out on this circuit so they probably figured we could wait. Our money must not be as good as the rest of the customers.

I recall in California that the Public Utilities Commission went after PG&E for not adequately maintaining infrastructure after long outages. Power outages have been an issue for us for years on the BG&E grid. It’s very frustrating.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Doctors Warn about ‘Facebook Depression’ – Live Tweets.

(Despite what you may have heard, Facebook is not the Internet. the Internet is a big place. Facebook is the current favorite among the largest segment of the population as AOL was in the beginning. There is really good content elsewhere. Find yourself stuck on one service try an internet search and explore.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Skype Scam Alert – Fake Virus Call from System Alert.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

Botox is a very expensive drug used to stop dystonic movements in muscles.  Many dystonia patients require it every three to four months. That was the regimen I was placed under until I started asking questions about my treatments and wondering if the treatments were worse than the cure. There is some truth, in my mind, that the treatment was worse than the cure but that it didn’t have to be that way. Had the clinic used a better approach toward a standard of care, I might still have a job and a great burden could have been lifted more quickly than it was.

My botox treatments cost the insurance company over $2000 each and individually between $280 and $300 depending on the quantity of the botox injected. (Easiest earnings for 15 minutes work I’ve ever witnessed.)  The overall performance of the clinic, their finance people, staff, and ombudsmen was, in my opinion, not worth the price.

Dystonia patients were recently presented with the alluring possibility that pharmaceutical  companies may be willing to help dystonia patients with the prices of their medicine. That may be great for a very small percentage of patients with no or poor insurance. It does not speak to the over arching problems faced by rare disease patients seeking diagnosis and treatment for the very first time. It doesn’t even begin to deal with the question as to whether or not such injections are even the first best approach.

Having one spouse unemployed is a hardship even when paying an out of pocket cost of $1200 a year. Maryland property taxes have tripled since 2003, food prices are up, heating oil is outrageous, Annapolis is thinking of new exciting ways to take more of our money, and gas prices! Need I say more? When seniors are faced with escalating costs and then discover that the treatment for their condition is a quarterly contribution of $300 not including any other health condition even a family with some income is pinched.

I finally had to decide whether the pulling, discomfort, and the pain of dystonia was easier to deal with than having the disease decide my economic future. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of thought and prayer. There’s no way that many dystonia patients like me would qualify for drug assistance from a pharmaceutical company. I’m sure these companies would all insist that we spend retirement savings, sell a home, hock jewelrym or change lifestyles rather than “qualifying.”  But again the cost of the botox was just part of the expense.

My spouse and I have worked hard all of our lives. We cannot support the outrageous costs of the medical industry. We want to deal with our frailties and yet have a decent quality of life.  We want the opportunity to make these decisions based on knowledge we glean from our clinics, our own research, and our own personal response to the disease. I never felt like the clinic offered us any other option other than injections and continued expense.

The sudden generosity of pharmaceutical companies toward dystonia patients may have some PR advantage for those companies  but those of us already dealing with the disease and paying for services are feeling pinched, big time.  These gestures won’t help us. What dystonians  are without is a Bill of Rights that protects us from clinics and drug companies that might be over charging or using the checks from our insurance companies to fund research.

Our insurance companies are paying a fortune for dystonia treatments.  The patient’s contribution is no small cash amount either. As a dystonia patient, my return on investment was not what I expected. The medical provider made a ton of cash in my first year with dystonia. Last year’s treatments did absolutely nothing to improve my quality of life, in part because the the treatment had no basis in a standard quality of care. It was pure guess work. The injections actually made my quality of life worse and in fact made it impossible to seek employment.

The clinic never set financial expectations. My family went into the treatment not knowing what it would cost and it would be eight months before we clearly understood. Alnost two-thirds of a year’s bills came due at one time. The clinic never once spoke about the money. Dealing with their accounting departments was a horrific experience. Misinformation and confusion ran amok.  Not only did I have the onset of dystonia to cope with but I was also at war with the medical provider.  (The medical provider frequently blamed the insurance company, but in my research on all issues I investigated I found that not to be true.)

There was no defined standard of care for a new dystonia patient, billing practices were confusing and inaccurate, and doctors could not explain why repeated telephone calls made to them by my primary family physician were never returned. The arrogance was stifling. As I told one doctor at the clinic it was like being a bad episode of House.

As a dystonia patient, I think I’d rather call it like I see it. Dystonians remain victims to the disease and their providers. I’ve talked to many that have gone from doctor to doctor and clinic to clinic for years getting no help or bad help. It made no difference that I supposedly selected one of the best clinics. Like many dystonia patients I’m back on the road, perhaps from doctor to doctor, looking for one that can include me – the patient – in on their plan for my treatment. All I ever wanted was a doctor to care and to set my expectations. Oh yes, and not make the situation worse e.g. do no harm.

Strangely enough I’m back to work part time. It’s getting easier every week. I continue to believe that the poking, prodding, filming, and injecting had more to do with research than patient care.

Dystonians with insurance may be an easy mark to some clinics. I fully understand why insurance companies push back, and insist on accurate medical information,  something my clinic failed to provide and which caused the excessive billing delays. My last bill for an appointment in mid-November arrived in the first week of March. What has the clinic said about their “practices.”  They said something to this effect and I quote from memory, “Well yes I have heard that. The money we get primarily goes to research and to fund clinics. No one likes to endow administrative staff. The administrative functions then tend to suffer for lack of funds.”

While I can, I’m living with this disease. The physically-limiting side effects caused by botox drug experimentation have subsided. The effects of the mind-altering drugs are gone because I no longer accept that a person in pain has to remain numb and stupid the rest of their life in order to suit the medical profession’s latest whim on pain therapy. The ONLY anti-pain options ever suggested  by doctors were more or different useless drugs. (Some of them potentially addicting and one that caused unbelievable side effects.)
I’m happier now, coping as I have all through life with any difficulty that confronted me. I am all for being positive, but I’ve decided I’m not going to submit to the power of medical authority without asking questions. I’m going to walk when I feel cheated, argue when I’m not being heard, demand an audience when I feel ignored, ask for an accurate prognosis, and make sure they clearly understand what hurts and when. I refuse to remain a pin cushion on which doctor’s experiment using over-priced drugs. I came to this opinion after asking my doctor to briefly discuss my pain concerns and then hearing her say, “Well hurry up. I have other patients to see.” Listening to what I had to say was not part of the treatment nor was reading any of the written communication I provided.  Oh and calls to the ombudsman go to voice mail. Go figure.

Dystonia advocacy groups push back on the unsatisfied dystonia patient when negativity is perceived. Their theory is that if we all remain positive everything will be good someday. It’s not up to me, the dystonia patient, to publicly speak my truth or debate the standard of care. In so acting, the advocacy groups tend not to deal with reality and in turn alienate the people they most care about. Well I am inherently positive. I’ve just developed an, “I’m not going to take bad treatment anymore,” philosophy.  But out of negative experiences come positive change. Here’s my shot at that change:

I believe in this very positive Dystonia Patient’s Bill of Rights:

1. Dystonia is a rare disease. Planned, individual treatment is a necessity. A treatment care plan should be established. Clinics should make sure a physician is taking the time evaulate a patients progress during treatment, responding to patient concerns, and evaluating the success or failure of treatments. When one neurologist is scheduled to inject many patients with botox in one day another evaluative session should be scheduled. Doctors should avoid treating based on typical patient or averages. There is nothing typical about a dystonia patient.

2. Dystonia patients have personal physicians they trust. Telephone calls made by those doctors to neurological clinics should be returned and the doctor’s questions answered.

3. A hospital financial counselor should sit down with EACH new dystonia patient and outline the potential costs, billing periods, expected waits, and patient responsibilities. The dystonia patient should have the right, and be encouraged to have, a responsible representative with them at this meeting.

4. A dystonia patient should expect to get answers to questions when calling the dystonia clinic with questions in between visits.

5. Patients should be given forms on which to describe pain, muscle movement, mental acuity, vision, exercise, pain medicine intake, and success or failure of recommended approaches to pain therapy.

6. Mind-altering depression medications should be given only for clinical reasons and the patient monitored carefully.  There is a difference between being scared, unhappy under the circumstances, and being clinically depressed. Use of such medications as a pain therapy  should be discouraged.

7. Patients should learn early on what if any effect this disease will have on their job or their ability to work and the doctors should be ready to support the patient with a disability application in the event the patient’s condition warrants.

8. Alternative approaches to pain management and pain in general should be discussed and offered.

9. Use of addictive drugs, in cases where such use is not warranted, should not be the primary approach to pain management.

10. The patient may have a representative with them in any dealings with their clinicians or therapies. Patients and their representatives may take notes or or make recordings for later review.

11. A fair price is charged for services to every patient.  The clinic shall provide a place at the clinic where patients can discuss billing issues and make payments while visiting the clinic during normal business hours.  A customer management system shall track all calls made to or received from the patient.

12. A hospital ombudsman follows up or makes unsolicited contacts to rare disease patients to survey the patient’s concerns or lack thereof.

13. A clinic should remain aware of the patients past experience with previous doctors and the journey, positive or negative, that brought them to seek treatment. Having compassion for the rare disease patient is essential.

This list of very positive expectations evolved from a list of negatives encountered in my first year of Dystonia treatment. I encourage every dystonia patient to share what they would add to this list.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

The publicly-funded news outlet just announced that its CEO, Vivian Schiller, has resigned. However, as news trickles out it appears more that she was ousted.

via Developing: NPR CEO ‘Forced Out’ Amid Undercover Video Scandal | The Blaze.

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.

via Liberal Site Tries to Tie Shocking Muslim-Taunting Video to Respected Conservative | The Blaze.

(This is REAL CHRISTIAN HATE.  So-called believers taunting a prayerful Muslim. This particular Muslim visits the White House a few times a week and prays.  He hurts no one.

Along comes a group of religious zealots of another faith and taunts the man by throwing crosses at his feet. Do you think for one minute that after everything Jesus endured on Earth that he would condone or approve of the kind of behavior exhibited yesterday in Washington D.C?

Perhaps you call yourself a Christian. Examine the tenants of your faith and the behaviors your church leaders ask you to emulate to promulgate your faith. Do those behaviors make sense?

As a Catholic, I have been on the receiving end of religious hate. Tracts from an intractable Christian sect placed Catholic hate literature on my car, that was parked in a parking lot where I worked. No one else’s car had the pamphlet. Just my car.  I tore up the pamphlet and called the State Police and discussed the personal insult with my Priest.

In case the hater’s missed it, in the United States of America, the country  was created with the understanding that citizens could worship as they pleased. Whether I believe in your faith or not does not give me the right to treat you badly because of my disagreement.

A suggestion is that whoever these “Christians” were that they refrain from publicly humiliating others and confine their hate to their private prayer.)

©2012 Faster, better.... All Rights Reserved.