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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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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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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.

 

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Lufkin VA back open and bed bug-less, delivered here in a wave of HST nostalgia

Some good news for veterans who use the Lufkin (Texas) VA clinic just appeared on my mojo wire. Actually, it came by e-mail which sometimes seems to bring mojo of one sort of another. Hunter S. Thompson actually used the term “mojo wire” in his classic “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72.” My estimation of who knows Hunter S. and who is reading this blog is not imaginable. So Thompson, whose style of work as a writer was called “gonzo journalism,” was probably the first gonzo journalist. All of those young writers — Me? Guilty — whose instinct was to fight the “system” emulated Thompson. In the end, only Hunter S. was Hunter S. His ashes shot from a cannon on a 153-foot tower shaped in a double-thumbed fist holding a peyote button, and all. Forgive me, I was cast adrift on a wave of nostalgia.

Perhaps it isn’t appropriate to make a blog post about a VA clinic reopening with references to a drug-addled maniac. But Hunter was an Air Force veteran, where he began his writing career as a sports reporter. I think that means something or other here.

My point is that a news release from the Department of Veterans Affairs came to me this afternoon announcing the Charles Wilson — of “Charlie Wilson’s War” or “Good Time Charlie Wilson” fame — VA Clinic in Lufkin is reopening after a good debugging.

 ” … a veteran came in to the clinic seeking medical assistance for a rash, the press release said. Clinic staff found bed bugs on his clothing and wheelchair. While the patient refused help and left, the staff immediately took action.”

The clinic reopened today after exterminators “extensively fumigated the building” and found no more bed bugs.

This dispatch raises several questions. One is, why did the patient refuse help? Was it because they planned to fumigate him? A Wikipedia article on bed bugs said the insects were a big problem on U.S. military bases during World War II.

Initially, the problem was solved by fumigation, using Zyklon Discoids that released hydrogen cyanide gas, a rather dangerous procedure. Eventually, DDT was found as a “safe” alternative, said the Wikipedia article.

I am not insinuating that the VA would use the WWII method on the bed bug-ridden vet who sought treatment and touched off warning bells. Some vets just don’t have the patience one needs at times to travel the road to VA assistance. “It’s socialized medicine,” said a VA employee awhile back. And so it is. But it is all many of us veterans have.

A VA microbiologist/control specialist noted that bed bugs have become a problem again due to increased travel and reduced usage in pesticides, said the press release. DDT? Remember running behind the mosquito trucks in the smoke as a kid?

Bed bugs were pretty commonplace when I was a kid and gradually they were gone and now they are back and they are pissed!

Oh well, if you are a veteran and have been bitten by bed bugs or think you have, here is a good article from a reputable source (The Mayo Clinic.) Make mine with mayo on the side … I’m sorry I don’t know what gets into me. And after reading the Mayo article, if you need help, then get it!

 

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Sick, sick, sick of it

Bill Clinton was in town last night but he didn’t stop by to see me. The former president did mix and mingle with about 3,500 folks at the Lamar University baseball field, according to local media reports. The visit wasn’t about the presidential race though. Clinton was here to get out votes for Democrat Nick Lampson who is running in the Texas 14th Congressional District contest.

If you’ve read this blog before you might have heard of Lampson. He is the former county tax assessor-collector here in Jefferson County and served twice in Congress. Twice the Democrat has served in Congress, once representing the district that had long been held by the infamous dancing crook Tom DeLay.

 Lampson is in what some polls show as a dead-heat right now, much like polls that characterize the presidential race in the same manner. I don’t like it, these close-as-cousin races. I used to like the excitement of a close race as long as it was for candidates with whom I had a marginal relationship. I also don’t mind my favorite football teams playing close, at least until they gear up for a comeback.

I’ve grown tired of the closeness, or at least perceived closeness of this presidential election. It’s non-stop election everywhere you look on cable and very few humorous TV commercials are presented, showing that we have become a nation that has lost its humor as well as its mind (I’m refer to a recent propensity over the years of electing dunderheaded Republicans to high office.)

Yes, I t hink I can finally say that I am sick and tired of this s**t. I will leave the letters blanked even though I think the president deserves to call a bullshitter a bullshitter every now and then! Oh and spare me the outrage you self-righteous sons of bitches. Yeah, I talk to you Ari Fleshier! Ari was noting his disdain for the president’s off-color remark while the illustrious VP with whom Ari dropped the “F-bomb” on a distinguished U.S. Senator on the Senate floor. So there!