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Beaumont, other VA clinics, in need of volunteer drivers. Why doesn’t anyone answer the call?

At the moment I am sitting here in Beaumont rather than awaiting my appointment at the Houston VA hospital. I cancelled the appointment I had with the Sleep Clinic yesterday. I haven’t had a follow-up since I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2000. Everything is okay in the sleep department. I just need a follow-up so I have had to reschedule — to a June appointment. My reason for rescheduling is a lack of transportation.

I have a pick-up truck and a work car, the latter is for “Official Use Only” if you get my drift, the truck is a 1998 Toyota Tacoma. It gets me around town but it also needs some work. I am just not sure about taking it on a 80-mile trip,  most of which is interstate highway and Houston traffic. I took a Greyhound last time. The trip wasn’t bad at all. I took a Metro light rail train and switched to a bus, all in all 30 minutes to the hospital. The same on the way back. I left about 8 a.m. that day and got back around 6 p.m. And, I didn’t have to drive in that ridiculous Houston rush hour traffic. The cost was $36 round trip. When I looked last week, the price was up to about $45. Still, not a lot but higher than I could cough up at the time. I even put an ad on craigslist.org and got no reply.

So why didn’t I take the van that takes patients from the VA clinic in Beaumont to the Houston VA hospital? Well, the lady who is firmly in charge of the program at the clinic, a volunteer, told me the month of December was all booked up. What are the rest of us supposed to do? Cancel, I guess.

The reason, I was later told, is that the volunteer driver program through the service organization Disabled American Veterans, is down to only one driver. There is another van sitting in the parking lot of the Beaumont VA clinic but it doesn’t go bye-bye because there is no volunteer driver to make it go bye-bye. It has been that way for awhile. That makes me wonder why? There is a flyer posted on the Houston VA Web site with the following information:

 Voluntary Service Van Drivers


Help pick-up outpatients receiving treatments or therapy and other outpatient appointments. To fill this role, you must have a current, valid Texas driver’s license, must be 18 years or older, have automobile insurance and pass a physical exam. Hours vary.
We are looking for volunteer drivers for the following locations:


Beaumont, TX               Willis, TX
Woodville, TX                Conroe, TX
Lake Jackson, TX           Texas City, TX
Galveston, TX                Bay City, TX
Brazoria County, TX       Cleveland, TX
Waller County, TX

If you would like to become a volunteer van driver please contact the volunteer office at 713-794-7135.

I am at a loss as to why, that in a metropolitan area of almost 390,000 people, one volunteer cannot be found to drive the other van. It doesn’t look all that demanding although most drivers I have seen in the past were a little older veterans. Whether it is more demanding on them, I can’t say. I don’t know whether the VA really finds that veterans getting to their appointments in Houston is a priority. Surely this Web page isn’t the only site where this call for volunteers can be found? If I didn’t have the physical problems I have, I would volunteer. Or so I think.

In the end, I don’t suppose I would find out the answer to what the problem is unless I ask. Even then, I am not so sure I would get the full explanation. Whether there are ulterior motives at the Beaumont Clinic, the Houston VA hospital or both, I can’t say. I just hope the problem gets solved in time for my next appointment.

 

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Sausage anyone?

It is off to work I go in about a half hour so I shall be brief on today’s topic, the “fiscal cliff.”

Over the weekend it appeared that the President and Speaker of the House were on the verge of a deal. The President has raised the threshold for new taxes on the “rich” from $250,000 to $400,000 apparently after Boehner wanting the rate raised for everyone who makes more than $1 million.

The GOP says that it is not the taxes to which they object but rather the spending cuts. It’s always something, Rosanne Roseannadanna said. That is suspicious to me because anti-taxation is a religious tenet for the Republicans.

You asked for openness in government. You got a little of it. Sometimes, it seems as if political negotiating would be better if the big dogs were back in the smoke-filled rooms. The old saying about watching laws being made is like watching sausage being made is pretty close to the mark. The exception is that with sausage, you have something to eat. When laws are made you may not have enough money to buy sausage.

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Best and worst Christmas songs

After living in different parts of the state I returned home to Beaumont (Texas) seven years ago and found that it really isn’t Christmas ’round my neck of the woods without hearing the soulful Charles Brown classic: “Please Come Home for Christmas.” Brown grew up in Southeast Texas between Houston and Beaumont and his record soared up in the charts a number of years during the holidays. Other artists recorded the song as well, including the Eagles. Even as much as I like the Don Henley (a northeast Texas boy) vocals, I still think Brown’s version is the one that makes me remember listening to the song on jukeboxes this time of year in little cafes from Bon Wier to Buna.

With that said, here are a few picks for my faves and not so fave Christmas tunes.

EFD’s It’s Christmas time ya’ll

“Please Come Home For Christmas” — Charles Brown; Numero Uno

“Merry Christmas From The Family” — Robert Earl Keen; For all those dysfunctionals, Feliz Navidad

“The Story of Santa Claus And His Old Lady” — Cheech and Chong; “He had a suit on with black, patent leather choos … ” Not really a song, but, it’s a holiday classic.

EFD’s Most Despised Christmas Songs

“Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” — If you want to find the You Tube version, be my guest. What an awful song!

“Little Drummer Boy” — “Pa rumpa pom pom,” or however you spell it. This song makes me want to be locked in a room listening to Led Zeppelin. “Me and my drum. Rumpa pom pom.” Okay, got it. Thank you. Got it a long time ago.”

“Jingle Bells” — The Dog Version. I got to admit, it was pretty cute the first time I heard it played on a TV car dealership commercial. After awhile though, it makes you want to be locked in a room listening to Led Zeppelin.

 

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The count goes on; Mass killings don’t discrimnate against little children

The count: 28 here, two there, and another 12 and another 32. Just another day in America with our sacred Second Amendment. Yes I am talking about the 28 people, mostly children, who were killed this day in the Connecticut school shooting. And I’m talking about the mall shooting in Oregon earlier this week and the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting and the mass killings at Virginia Tech. That is not even counting the domestic and criminal killings which happen in this country every day in which multiple — “2, 4, 6, 8: Who can we assassinate?” –shootings.

Yes people could have been blown up, or stabbed, or poisoned or attacked by trained dogs … Yes we have heard it before. Too often.

I kept having to preface a thought like this with, I like guns. I do. I like the power of shooting them. The raw macho feeling of bringing down beer cans or bottles or skeet or making aluminum cans dance. I am not convinced the right to bear arms is explicit in the Constitution, no matter what the courts have ruled. I believe the “fathers” were talking about state-organized militias like the Texas National Guard.

But this shit keeps happening every day. And I don’t give a rat’s ass if you hate Obama or not. What he said today in reaction to the mass killing was right on:

 “As a country, we have been through this too many times, the President said. “Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago — these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children.  And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”

Guns have almost become a religion in itself just as the anti-abortion movement has often transcended religion and forsaken its own Christian dogma.

But what about protection? Yes. What about deer hunting. Yes. What about so I can go out and slaughter more than a dozen innocent, unarmed little children? Does that one stump you?

I usually like to end the weekend on a happy note. But I just can’t do it knowing so many heartbroken people out here in our society can find little to smile about this weekend.

For your reading displeasure: Here is a list of some of the deadliest mass shootings compiled by ABCNews.com.

Peace.

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Colder ‘n a well-digger’s a**s? Hotter ‘n dancin’ bobcat? Find out from NWS

It is no surprise to those who know me or who have read this blog for awhile that I have a fascination with weather. I think I have mentioned a million times before that I watched TV weather hoping someday to be behind those cameras delivering with a grin that “Presidio, Texas, was the hottest spot in the country today with a high of 105 degrees!” And that was on Christmas! Just kidding.

Remember times BI (Before Internet) when you had to get your temperatures from TV and a man pointing with a stick? And maybe the weather guy wasn’t even pointing at the place where you were flying to tomorrow or where it was that your loved one might have popped his or her head on a pillow this evening. Well no more of that!

There are a million places which one may get temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, humidity, visibility, time, and your cholesterol and EKG to boot! But for basic weather, there is nothing better than the local pages of the National Weather Service. Those folks, a part of NOAA and the Department of Commerce, are worth every penny taxpayers spend on the agency. Yes, I know some want to privatize weather forecasting and information delivery. I even read some of those products. When one looks deeply into the many aspects of meteorology that the Weather Service produces for the public, the one difference found is in the delivery aspect.

Many private weather products are written in news style or online news style. Some of the NWS products found are delivered in “geek speak.” But, the NWS often has an online glossary link handy on most reports. And, as a former newspaper reporter who often felt embarrassed writing down for readers. I didn’t at all think a reader would be harmed if he or she would look the damn word or phrase or concept up in a dictionary or encyclopedia! Who was it who said “the masses are asses?” Well, that isn’t really true. But people these days often have the attention span of a duck.

One must also remember the NWS has been around a long, long time — longer than the Internet by far.

Dismounting my high horse, when I decide to check out the current weather and forecast, I go to my local NWS site. I’ve been using the site so long it is old Stetson to me.

You can start here. And don’t get distracted by all the ‘purty’ colors which might just be dangerous winter or tropical storms, depending on the time of year and your location.

Just use the pointer (or fat little fingers) to point to the area you are looking for on the U.S. map. “But I don’t know where it is.” Then go back to elementary school and study geography. In the top, upper left of the NWS page type the name of the place or the zip code, or the same for somewhere near it. In my case, I’ll type “Beaumont, Tx.” Why? Well … Okay, it is where I live. How about that one?

I have friends who live all over the U.S. and even the world. But let’s stick to the U.S. Whenever I am just wondering how the weather might be where, say, Sally lives, in Pittsfield, MA,” I just type it in and, let’s see, today, whoa hoss, it’s 26 degrees at 7:05 Eastern time. Looks like a good chance for snow and freezing rain at the end of the week. Better bundle up, Sal.

If all that isn’t good enough for you then perhaps you can rent your own weather person. Good luck with that.