Notes from the Motor City Part II

At the PR conference I sat in on one seminar regarding the health care industry. I had no idea the following figures were so high and thought that as the election draws near this may be of interest.

Before I state the facts, I must say that personally I think it's not going to be easy OR quick to change the United States health care industry. You cannot argue though, that something has to be done....we are the United States of America for crying out loud!

The number of Americans traveling outside the U.S. for medical procedures [this used to be mostly cosmetic procedures, where people could recover on the beach drinking cocktails, but now it has become major procedures such as hip replacement]

2007 = 750,000

2008 = 1,500,000

By 2018 = 16,000,000

U.S. providers will have lost $68 billion to outbound medical travel by 2010.

Concierge practices are growing more popular - I hadn't really thought much about this one before - practitioners are sending letters to patients saying they are taking fewer patients and if they would like to stay part of the practice they have to pay an annual fee - $2000 in many cases. I find this shocking.

Whether it's McCain or Obama in office come 2009, there absolutely has to be a change with our system.

Notes from the Motor City

I spent the past four days in Detroit for a Public Relations conference...learning new practices in thrilling seminars and catching up with my own personal Anna Wintour aka Christina. Detroit is an interesting city, that's for sure. Depressing economy, several Casinos, some nice suburbs, a mayor in jail.....

On Sunday, AW and I went to a lovely place for dinner, moved on to MGM Grand then ended up back at the bar in my hotel. Now, here's something interesting....all of the PR professionals treated this like a singles mixer - it was odd. The few men that were there tried to pick up every available woman. It just so happened that I DID meet a guy - but I actually remembered him from the previous night when we were both eating dinner at the bar, therefore it was not just another single pickup. Either way, he's cute, nice, and tall...but lives in Florida. Boo.

The bar scene at the hotel got a bit heated when AW made a girl flip out, cry, and run away - AW just couldn't stand the girls ugly yellow attire and her obnoxious attitude......

End of conference results: I learned an awful lot, though I feel that last years conference offered more appropriate seminars relating to what I do, I loved catching up with my fabulous friend and I might have made a new one.

Who needs a therapist when you have self-help?

Exactly. Who really needs a therapist when you have all the knowledge from the self-help section at the book store?

Yesterday I was picking up a poetry book for book club [The Subject Tonight is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz] when of course I wandered into my favorite section. The book that caught my eye this time was Don't Sweat the Small Stuff - and it's all small stuff by Richard Carlson.

Here are a few pointers that I was drawn to while flipping through:

Life is not an emergency

Learn to live in the present moment

Set aside quiet time, every day

Resist the urge to criticize

Be patient --> create "patience practice periods"

These points will probably all make my 2009 New Years Resolution list. I'm going to start working on them now, it's just hard right now because I'm so busy. Where will I fit in quiet time? I can easily give up some evening TV, as I've already done due to my obsession with the Twilight saga - can reading and quiet time go together? Resisting the urge to criticize is surely difficult. This is something we all do without thinking about it. I'm going to have be very conscious of that one. Living in the present, coincidentally, is something I've been working on all year. Why do I feel the need to always be thinking two years away from where I'm currently at? Patience will be the hardest. Short temper and non patient......maybe I should see a therapist for that one....

Lastly, I need to slow things down. Life is not an emergency. Enjoy each moment, no rushing, no stress, no anxiety......

Today

Today is October 20th. The first day since last March in which I needed to use my scrapper on window frost.

Today is the first week where my friend Linds gets to wake up every morning in blissful happiness because she is now engaged.

Today I will finish the second book in the Twilight series - my new obsession.

Today is 6 days away from my trip to Detroit for work where I will get to see my very fabulous friend Christina.

Today Sara and baby Logan are starting their first full week home from the hospital.

Today I've decided to live in the moment rather than plan every detail of my life out.

Today should be a good day.