Christmas ecard 2019

   Wisner Family (et al) December 2019

"May His Blessings light your way and bring joy to your hearts this Christmas"

Blue Mountain e-card

It was a year of medical matters – major malaise, mishap, Medicare mystery and DM- Diabetes mellitus.  Yet, even with physical and spiritual attacks, we relied on faith, family and friends to emerge Brave, Bravely, Bold and Fearless this year.   Read on:

Ellen (BRAVE) – The i-fly flight didn’t cause shortness of breath but convinced Ellen she would ignore Dad’s advice and become parachute “worthy”.  Luckily she will stay in the plane when she drops into see D’Lane and Ann in Scottsdale.  Crossfit groupies felt a partial identity loss when Ellen accepted an internship at the Sports Mall. Just three semesters from early graduation at U.C. the key question is will her Finance degree stabilize or will she Master something else?

Jenna and Paul Robinson (BRAVELY) – “I see you” is not a juvenile game when blood sugars are high.  Jenna is now attached to the medical device industry in addition to her excellent patient care at Christ Hospital.  Paul steadies the Robinson/Wisner roots by intertwining Emmaus Walk #103 with a USI promotion.  BRAVELY this pair takes on the challenge of T1D management even with auction accidents, Dexcom outages, and healthcare enrollment math.

Susan – (BOLD) – Nothing this year was easy – not even Emmaus Walk #123.  Drains, phones and falls, oh brother it was a challenge!  She reluctantly accepts no more Lipp and remained silent at the Abbey using her spiritual backup to fight Screwtape’s attacks.  Even the Tahoe’s have blind spots.  Her BOLD motherly protection instincts have combated the obstacles that medicine can’t solve. 

Garen – (FEARLESS) – A man without fear, Garen needed to re-subscribe in several areas.  He hit the oil jackpot only to tie for second place (in a field of three) for the Jefferson Award.  Testing his own blood for three months made him wonder How God Makes Men.  Sixty-five years forced him back into medical money mania – code named IRMAA.  Needing time to research Medicare, he dropped Miami Mock Recruiting to sign up for the ILR (Miami Institute of Learning in Retirement). Garen chose Lord Byron’s Drug Plan Z – “Always laugh when you can – its cheap medicine.”

The family zipped down to Austin for Dayna and Sam’s wedding and travel this year was exclusively concentrated on family affairs (Naples, Akron, Derby, Scottsdale, Chautauqua).  May we know that “family first” is an important prescription..

The Grinch of 2019 has not dried up our spirit.   We are so grateful for our family and friends support.

Love is the antidote to suffering. We pray that the medicine of Christ will heal your spirit and put joy in your heart also.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones”.   Proverbs 17:22

Screwtape Letters Revisited

Last night Susan and I attended the performance of Screwtape Letters by the Fellowship for Performing Arts.  Theatre from a Christian worldview that engages a diverse audience was worthy of consideration for gifting.  It was about 6 years ago that we attended the Great Divorce by the same group and we both hope to see C.S. Lewis on stage: The Most Reluctant Convert when it comes to Cincinnati.

Most enjoyable was hearing from Max McClean the actor and founder of the Fellowship for Performing Arts.  His question and answer postlude was enlightening.  When asked about the humor in the performance his quote (which I will butcher) was that "the laughter of people allows the truth to enter their open mouths".

The number of performances that FPA does at college campuses creates ministry of Christian nudges for a broad audience of students and particularly for those aspiring to enter the field of theatre.  What a wonderful way to seed the very souls of individuals that may never have been exposed to the great religious philosophers.

I think the plays are more meaningful for those who have read the C.S. Lewis books. It was surprising the number of people who raised their hands when asked who had not read Screwtape Letters.

C.S. Lewis said "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once".  Watching Screwtape Letters will cause me to read it for the third time.

https://fpatheatre.com/

Double Tithe-ation

Crossroads Church is almost done with a Sermon series based on the book "The Blessed Life" by Robert Morris.  It is an excellent spiritual book that addresses the Biblical "rules" for giving.  Giving the FIRST 10% of your treasure - the tithe - is explained in detail.  Too often the devil is in the details. People ask - "Is the tithe on Gross Earnings or Net Earnings" or "Should my tithe be on AGI or Taxable Income"?

Susan has a friend that even created a more complex variable - what to do with 401K pretax earnings saved- since at retirement these distributions will be income (and taxed that way also).  If one tithes on Gross Income before 401K savings deductions and then tithes on the distributions during retirement is this....... Double Tithing?   Double Tithe-ation :)

I'm sure the answer is: "Tithing is in the eye of the Beholder" and "We Become what we Hold".

Just remember who the Ultimate Beholder is.

Rules of Life

It was my 13th Spotlight for Vistage (10/17/2019) and I decided the theme would be "Rules of Life".  Inspired by my original thought to have a mathematical equation depicting each rule, instead I performed an audible and had each Vistage member provide their own "Rule of Life".  Stay tuned for a blog about each of those rules once I have interviewed them and got the story behind their rule.

Not willing to give up on my original idea, I did present one equation (a rule of life)  that I hope I have passed on to my girls. 

I have already blogged about this magical equation - the power of compounding principle.  The Urban Myths that Einstein said this principle was the eighth wonder of the world, or the most powerful force in the universe is worth spreading.  I've already blogged about this with graphs included:

Mysterious Compounding and Powers - Growth or Patience  (4/15 &16 2012)

J.D. quipped - "Just like you Garen to make a Rule of Life totally financial".  "No"  I replied.   Delivering an act of kindness or one of your character principles to influence someone else can also compound.  Just change the variables:

P= What principles are you delivering to influence people in your life?
r = What ROL (Return on Life) are you using to grow those principles in others (e.g. what % of the people that you touch receive your gift)
n = How often are you being deliberate about your influence - yearly, quarterly, monthly, daily or continuously
t= Over what time period are you doing this and how much time do you have left?

In a providential way, I happened upon the book "Make your Bed" by Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy Retired) and discovered it's origin from his May 17, 2014 University of Texas Commencement Speech.  He said what I've always felt about the power of giving to others and changing one individual at a time - in less than 300 words:

"The University's slogan is 'What starts here changes the world". I have to admit, I kind of like it. "What starts here changes the world!"

Tonight there are almost eight thousand students graduating from the University of Texas.  That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.com, says that the average American will meet ten thousand people in their lifetime.  That's a lot of folks.  But, if every one of you changed the lives of just ten people, and each one of those folks changed the lives of another ten people - just ten - then in five generations - 125 years - the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people. 

EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION people. Think of  it: over twice the population  of the United States.  Go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world, eight billion people.  If you think it's hard to change the lives of ten people, change their lives forever, you're wrong.

I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.  A young Army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad and the ten soldiers in his squad are saved from a close-in-ambush.

In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a non-commissioned officer from the Female Engagement Tam senses something isn't right and directs the infantry  platoon away from a five-hundred-pound IED, saving the lives of a dozen soldiers.

But, if you think about it, not only were these soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children yet unborn were also saved. And their children's children were saved.  Generations were saved by one decision, by one person.

But changing the world can happen anywhere, and anyone can do it.  So, what starts here can indeed change the world, but the question is: What will the world look like after you change it?

There's a spiritual message embedded deep inside this mysterious principle of compounding.  Maybe Einstein really did think this was the most powerful force in the universe. What is behind this mysterious powerful principle - who created it and for what purpose?   It is worth spreading - Belief in our Creator, his infinite love, and his gift of salvation.

Hurricane Tracking

Watching the path of Hurricane Dorian (now one of the worst Hurricane's in history- above Category 5), caused me to recall the only Hurricane that I have experienced first hand.  When living in Slidell Louisiana (near New Orleans), our family sat through the "eye" of Hurricane Betsy in 1965.   Only a Category 4 in winds, based on the Hurricane Severity Index it is still tied for #2 Most Severe Landfalling Atlantic Hurricanes.

My memories were playing football out in the back yard during the early stages (it hit New Orleans the evening of Sept. 9, 1965).  Mom and Dad called us inside and within the hour a large pine branch had fallen directly where we were playing.  D'Lane and I both remember the large pine trees (trunks with diameters of 3 feet) with the tips bent totally to the ground.  Luckily no tree snapped or hit our house.  Dad had taped the windows but probably wished he had boarded them instead. Mom said that not evacuating was one of her poorest decisions.  Luckily no disasters for our family.

What amazed me is the path and predicted path of Dorian on MSN interactive site:

Dorian August 31 - Sept 4, 2019  10am

And the Historical path of Hurricane Betsy 1965:

Hurricane Betsy  Aug 27 - Sept 12 1965

I wonder if they predicted the path of Betsy 1965 with any of the precision that they now have for Hurricane Dorian 2019.

As a 10 year old child this was just another exciting day to remember.  The innocence of not being aware of natures power and potential destruction at that age, coupled with no tragedy of experience, allows that memory to be a good one.  I'm sure there are others not so fortunate.

Boston Legal #17 - Proverbs 11:29

Last night I hosted the Boston Legal tradition #17.  A tradition that started the summer of 2013 of three guys just enjoying company, conversation and good dining. I imposed on the guys the showing of two simultaneous movies - "Inherit the Wind" produced in Black and White in 1960 with one of the three (yes three '65, '88, and '99) remakes - the MGM 1999 version.  What an all star cast - Spencer Tracy, Fredric March and Gene Kelly ('60) and Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott and Beau Bridges ('99).

While the 1999 television version stayed true to the script,  there were some scenes changed that I would characterize as stronger feminism statements. After reading the Wikipedia "facts" about the
Scopes "Monkey" Trial,  I think the fictionalized movie did an adequate job of depicting the 1925 trial - even the "deliberately staged reason" for the small town of Hillsboro (really Dayton Tennessee).  However there were some radical inconsistencies with the actual facts - but that's what movies and revisionist history is all about.

I got "wind" of this movie during the Sunday sermon at ACUMC on belief and faith.  Also my breakfast book club with P.N. and R.M. on Ancient Faith and Modern Physics and my recent read of  "Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind" has spurred my thinking about apologetic arguments for Christianity.

The Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy about the inconsistency of evolution and religion continues to this day.  I haven't been to the Creation Museum (right here in Cincinnati) but have been to the Ark Encounter several times (Ky - but a short drive from Cincinnati). It becomes a tension (like the courtroom) of education and ideas.  Is the Bible the inerrant word of God?  the inspired word of God? or just another set of ancient texts to be read as mythological stories by unenlightened ancestors?

I prefer how C.S. Lewis would have answered the question above if he had been in the courtroom:

“We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on our theology. We must not be nervous about "parallels" and "pagan Christs": they ought to be there-it would be a stumbling block if they weren't. We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome. If God chooses to be mythopoeic-and is not the sky itself a myth-shall we refuse to be mythopathic? For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: perfect myth and perfect fact: claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one of us no less than to the moralist, the scholar, and the philosopher.”

The yearning for knowledge points us to some ultimate source.  The tension of arguing about that ultimate source allows each individual to explore their faith and beliefs.  What better way to draw closer to God?

I loved the ending of this movie (watch the last 5 minutes):

Drummond:   I pity you.

Hornbeck:     Ha Ha You pity me.

Drummond:   Isn't there something...  What touches you?  Warms you?  Everyman has a dream. What do you dream about? What do you need?   You don't need anything do you? LOVE, and IDEA … maybe to just hold on to.

Drummond:  You're alone and when you go to the grave there will be nobody to pull the grass up over you.  Nobody to mourn you.  Nobody to give one damn.  You'll be what you've always been. ALONE

Hornbeck:  You're wrong Henry.         You'll be there.        You're the type.  Who else would defend my right to be lonely?

A 10 Hour BIble

It's been about a year since I was introduced to the Bible Project www.thebibleproject.com .  As a teen comic collector and fan of comic art this graphical web based narrative of the Bible was an immediate hit with me.  

Timothy Mackie and Jonathan Collins are God inspired and gifted to put each book of the Bible (and other narrative series and themes) in 8 minute YouTube summaries that help a novice (and even experts) understand the timeless complexity of an interweaved unified story.

Now anytime I begin to read a book of the bible - I pop over to this website to watch the 8 minute summary prior to reading that book myself.  I even bought the coffee table book that has all the final artwork - what a conversation starter.

If you sat down and watched each book of the Old Testament it would take 5 Hrs and 24 minutes;  The New Testament 4 Hrs and 34 minutes.  WOW - The Entire Bible in 10 hours!

Mom reluctantly permitted comic books in her house - the Bible Project would have convinced her that any media that ignites the Holy Spirit is glorious.  She is smiling now about my love of comics.

No Country for Old Men

It was Boston Legal #16 (or Cincinnati Legal) on Thursday May 23 hosted by J.P.  and serendipitously the movie picked was No Country for Old Men.  As K.C. pointed out we are just Old Men talking about politics when the Millennials are now a larger eligible voting block vs the Baby Boomers.  Of course the skeptic in me had to look it up:

Yes Millennials are now 32% vs 30% Baby Boomers.   Adding in Gen X and the younger generations are 57%  - THE MAJORITY.

SO …. this is NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN :)

National Day of Prayer

It was a small gathering at Stephen Field Bicentennial Monument for the National Day of Prayer this morning.   The Men of Armstrong UMC showed up to add our prayers and support to this traditional day.  My memory fades but I believe Fred and Lois Owlett encouraged a prayer vigil at the Old Chapel for the entire day.  I also remember attending prayer breakfasts downtown around this time also.

The U.S. is an outlier according to the Pew Research Center:

I remember reading Will and Ariel Durant's book The Lessons of History -  in Chapter VII (Religion and History) they end the chapter (paraphrased) - as long as there is poverty, religion will flourish.  Clearly Will and Ariel felt History did not support a belief in a "personal" God and  therefore the need to pray: 

“Does history support a belief in God? If by God we mean not the creative vitality of nature but a supreme being intelligent and benevolent, the answer must be a reluctant negative.”

—Will & Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History (1968)   see ffrf.org 

Yet - why does the majority of the world pray?  Why is hope embedded into the soul of human nature?  Conversely why does wealth correlate inversely with prayer?   

I like Patrick Morley's quote in his book "How GOD makes Men:  "Suffering compels us to seek the God that success makes us think we don't need"     Wealth is the illusion of independence from GOD yet that very distance extinguishes the very significance the heart yearns to achieve. 

Numbers Matter

Thomas Piketty's book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century is only 685 pages (200 pages less than Wolff's).  It is exactly why Introductions and Conclusions are the best starting points for determining whether to even fan through the pages or even look at the table of contents.

What fun for an latent Economist/Mathematician/Statistician to see after chart of empirical data captured from best available historical sources.  However a sample size of less than 300 years is a difficult foundation to theorize mathematical/economic premises.  Piketty uses the intuitive r>g (return on capital greater than rate of growth of income/output) to conclude that divergence in inequality of wealth will likely outpace convergence.

I did enjoy Piketty's justification for a bias to the French data (vs USA) based on lower population growth and other factors.  Also entertaining was his comment about the discipline of economics in "childish passion for mathematics and for purely theoretical and often highly ideological speculation, at the expense of historical research and collaboration with the other social sciences."   I admit in my studies, I hated the expression "with all other things being equal".

It's always interesting to read the last words.  Usually it ends up being what the author really wants you to understand.

"Yet is seem to me that all social scientists, all journalists and commentators, all activists in the unions and in politics of whatever stripe, an especially all citizens should take a serious interest in money, its measurement, the facts surrounding it, and its history.  Those who have a lot of it never fail to defend their interests.  Refusing to deal with numbers rarely serves the interests of the least well-off,"

In my Vistage 2011 presentation on Risk/Luck I said "Manage your investments or they will Damage you".  It was my way of saying if you don't pay attention to your money your interests will not be served. 

"Manage your money,  or it will manage you"

2019 Jubilee

I just picked up Edward N. Wolff's book "A Century of Wealth in America"  from the library.  It is 865 pages of empirical data and statistics about wealth in the United States from 1900 to 2013 but with most of the attention to the last 50 years.  I read one or two chapters and then lazily decided to listen to any recent  lectures that might be on the internet - thankfully I found one:

Warning - the book and this lecture is not for the faint of heart.  As Wolff himself warns in the preface of his book - "aimed at a more scholarly audience" and "follows the Baconian method of inductive reasoning rather than Descarte's method of using mathematical reasoning:.

With recent political posturing and preliminary 2020 election market testing, the start of the debate of Income and Wealth Inequality is beginning.   Whether this topic will sustain into a 2020 top three debates will be determined soon.  Since it naturally morphs into the political camps about taxation, my prediction it will survive and thrive.  It is especially hot right around April 15th. 

So -  I may spend some blogging time putting my spin on this topic in the future.  Like religion, this one is full of mystery, faith, and tension and full of prophets, teachers and high priests.  The Bible talks more about money than hell and maybe even heaven. Maybe some of the political candidates will recommend a "year of jubilee"  (now when is that really).

Winning in Losing

The results are in -  Lawn Life and Tim Arnold heads to Washington D.C. for the National Jefferson Award ceremony.  Thursday's Cincinnati Rotary celebration and announcement of the three finalists - Lawn Life,  Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank, and SVP Cincinnati from the 39 applications was quite an honor.  Ironically both Lawn Life and Sweet Cheeks were winners in SVP Cincinnati's Fast Pitch Contest (2015 and 2018 respectively).   Lawn Life was also selected in our three year investee programs (see Passionate Tie Breaker - Nov. 2013) and SVP Cincinnati sent Lawn Life to Austin Texas for the SVP International Fast Pitch Competition (see Pitching Joy in Giving - Sept. 2015).

So - for SVP Cincinnati and me personally - it was Winning in Losing :)

Thanks to Glenn Bitzenhofer (SVP Partner), and Lauren LaCerda Merten (SVP Cincinnati Executive Director) for their kind words about me in the Channel 12 video.  Now as a competitor, I hate to Lose (even with the Win Win comment above) and especially when SVP Cincinnati was in the race.  But when I reflect on our purpose -  Invest Differently.   What better outcome than to see one of our Investee Non-Profit not only show sustainability - but excellence in growth and delivery to their mission.

Congratulations to Tim - Hard Work Counts!   Thanks to Cincinnati Rotary for recognizing the Non-Profits in Cincinnati.

Thinking More or Less

Headed back from the SVP Cincinnati All Partner meeting, J.R. and I started discussion the challenge of individuals with chronic pain, illness or conditions - Back/Shoulder/Knees and Joints; Diabetes, Crohn's, Parkinson's, etc.  Only when the reality of these conditions hit you personally - as the individual coping with the condition;  a care-giver living this condition with you;  or a family/friend who sees the condition through the lens of the person affected - do you really understand the daily life challenges and the long term implications the individual faces.

J.R. (one of the most humble people I know and someone who has a chronic condition) had a great response to my own "enlightenment":

"It's not a big deal....  but it is".

How true!  Individuals that persevere; draw the least attention to their condition; live life to the fullest with whatever handicap they have been dealt; demonstrate the ultimate humility.

 It is that very courage that cries out in humility -  "It's not a big deal.

Yet - for those of us close enough to see the adversity they face and deal with - "It is a big deal"!

It's only when you think less about yourself - that others think about you more!

FUN in Funding

Just got back from Family Nurturing Center a Social Venture Partner Investee from 2013 to 2015 and still an Investee that the Partners feel connected to in many ways (in fact P.G. is now the Board Chairperson).  Today's purpose was to highlight what SVP Cincinnati does combined with showing a team that I worked hands on helping in their infrastructure.  Channel 12 was compiling a short video for Cincinnati Rotary in their selection for the Jefferson Award.

It is an honor for me and SVP Cincinnati to be named as one of three finalists this year.  Only through serendipitous discovery, did I come to realize that the other two finalists are connected to SVP Cincinnati through our Investee Investment and Fastpitch programs.  Wow - what a bonus -  everyone is a winner!

SVP Cincinnati "Invests Differently"  - and since June 2007 our 60 partners (and 40 Alumni) have helped over 100 Non-Profits in Cincinnati giving over $1.5Million in our time, talent and treasure. 

Our grant money is unrestricted; our coaching is strategic; our time is focused on critical non-profit back office needs freeing the non-profit's time for programs.  The organizations we touch become sustainable, efficient, strategic and better in their delivery of good to the community. 

One of the most important word for a non-profit is funding.  So how do you put FUN into the word funding?   That is the mystery of philanthropy - "The mystical mingling of the Joyful Giver, the Grateful Recipient and..... the Artful Asker".   Giving is serious business - deciding how to steward and avoid CAREless gifts. The real gift is the opportunity to serve - it takes two.  Giving was never meant to be a individual sport and joy multiplies exponentially with a team.  

Discover your return on life - join with others in giving.

Morning Meditation - Heaven Board #14

This is the picture of the quiet meditation environment I am blessed to have each morning.

On Friday October 13, 2006 (yes a lucky day for me), I took a nudge suggestion from Pastor Greg Stover (a God Wink) to begin a spiritual journal.  About a year later (Dec. 3, 2007) I began a Gratitude Book (see my blog Dec. 3, 2012 Grateful Place).  The fountain pen (now a collection of four) and the pendulum of sand with my newly acquired Sisyphus table, add to the ambiance of the sun that streams into my window each morning.  

A Tim Keller sermon referenced our quest for peace - flourishing.  He said that the Hebrew word Shalom can be translated as peace and flourishing - physically, emotionally and spiritually. I believe that on this world we only get a glimpse of that and never 100%.  Everyone is deficient in one, if not all three, of these areas.  Yet,  we all need to find the tools, the visuals, the environment, the best attempt at the moment that provides that glimpse of Shalom.

Find yours - share yours.  Be at Peace.   Another glimpse of Heaven.

Sisyphus Delight

First it was a surprise gift and Christmas - then a shipping delivery on Valentines Day - a 22 inch Cherry Metal Side Table - a beautiful Kinetic piece of art, technology, and design merged in stunning meditative beauty.  It can't really be described with words - so watch the video:

I discovered this art at T.&L. B.'s  house about a year ago and was totally envious.  Now, the side table version sits in my office as yet another gadget in my collection.  It's almost hard to get work done if you happen to glance over at it.   The mystery of the desire to watch the art in action draws you into a meditative state.  

From Sisyphus Industries   (invented and owned by a good friend of T.B.),  this artwork is a must have!  Now for the real detective and Ancient Literature buff - look up Sisyphus :)

Volatility in my Blood

For less than a month, I have been testing my blood glucose levels.  As an experiment to understand, in a small way, the intrusion of mandatory activities that a Type 1 Diabetic must perform, I decided to buy a glucose monitor (Accu Chek Aviva Plus) and the necessary strips, lancets, and control solution.  

Today's rude awakening of the cost of test strips occurred when I ran out this morning and drove immediately to Walgreens to buy another set of 50. I was not using any insurance card for this purchase.

The pharmacist rang up the ticket - $109.99.   I nearly fell over (my blood sugar must have dropped suddenly)  since I had spent only  $22.95 for my first set of 50 test strips from Amazon.com.  And I had another 50 test strips on order for $15.00    How could there be a variation of over 7 times the cost?

That led me to an internet search to understand Why Test Strips Cost so Much -  $2.20 a strip.  Should I be upset with "Big Pharma", insurance subsidies, or the drug retailers?   The marginal manufacturing cost is less than $0.15.  But the technology needed (R&D) and the quality necessary (and different by vendor) is evident in testing the various Pharmaceutical companies.  In fact, this research raised my awareness that not all strips read accurately, there is significant potential user misuse (wrong strips, expired strips, etc.) and recalibrating and checking your monitor and batch of strips is a necessary part of the process.  Even the need for  a backup monitor is a good idea.

Now that Jenna has a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) from DexCom, we have found several times where it's accuracy does not match her stick glucose monitor.  As a Statistician this has heightened my awareness of the whole subject of false positive readings and variations.   When your monitor reads 100 -  that really means 80 - 120.  The FDA requires more precision at the lower level but: " For results below 75 mg/dl: 95% of test results must be within plus or minus 15 points of the actual blood glucose level. So a reading of 70 means 55 to 85."

So - there is much to learn in this world of Type 1 Diabetes - physical, emotional, and ----  financial.
I guess volatility occurs in all the areas - glucose readings, confusion about data, and cash register/pocket book impact.


PS -  Why Test Strips Cost so Much - Part 2

Snowflake Theory - Snowed?

Wednesday morning Men's Fellowship took a turn when the two scientists in our group corrected my cheesy statement of the wonder and beauty of every snowflake being different.

PHOTO: Ken Libbrecht

Had my memories of Abstract Algebra and Group Theory about Crystallographic Groups and the associated mathematical proofs been mixed up and confused with the elementary teacher claim of snowflake uniqueness?  Was it my lack of physics knowledge ( I was never really good at physics anyway) that created this misconception.

Using his smart (alec) iphone, J.B.  used Siri to resolve the dispute.   Yes,  Siri said that this claim was wrong!  While very improbable (10^24) there is a probability two could be identical.  Wow - that struck my Statistics nerve!

Off to the internet I independently went.  Only to find no real answer:

Decoded Science - No Two Snowflakes are Alike
Huffington Posts -  It's True That Now Two Snowflakes are Alike
NBC News -  Two Snowflakes may actually be alike
CBC TV - Chasing Snowflakes

Just like arguing about Global Warming - how can one "prove" and find the truth?

Regardless of the source there is always a way to weasel out of the facts.  As Kenneth Libbrecht, Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and the world's foremost expert on snowflake formation -
"It really depends on what you mean by snowflake and what you mean by different".


So -  I will continue to believe in the wonder and beauty and state the uniqueness of snowflakes until someone shows me a duplicate.  Yet another question for God when you arrive at the pearly gates.

Darkness is my closest friend

I call a coincident -  a God Wink  (first learned this from Rock R.).  I have been listening to Tim Keller Sermons (Get his Free Sermons Here) now for two years (in my car). Monday, "Heman's Cry of Darkness" began playing and seemed to be the whisper from God to me about my feelings last week.  The last word in Psalm 88 (in the original Hebrew translation) is translated - Darkness.  In the ERV translation the last line translates to  "Now darkness is my closest friend".  Very unusual for a Psalm to end in darkness, without any hope.

Keller flips the dark and hopeless view of this Psalm into the very opposite view - that Darkness is also the cry to God - your closest friend. God's friendship is a choice - are you just a friend for his utility, or are you his friend regardless of anything - unconditional!

https://pixabay.com/en/at-night-gloomy-clouds-pale-141458/

Keller uses Tolkien's Christian Mythology Mastery to illustrate this darkness paradox:

“ ….the place near the end of The Lord of the Rings, where Sam Gamgee is with Frodo and they’re going to the mountain and suddenly Sam realizes, “We’re going to die. No matter what happens we’re going to die.” The thought comes to him, “Well, then, just give up. Curl up in a little ball over here and go to sleep.”

Then the text says (this is in the text, not the movie), “But even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to die, it was turned to a new strength. Sam’s plain hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue.”

When he said, “I’m going to go to the end. I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do. I don’t care the consequences, I don’t care if there’s no hope; I’m going to do it,” he felt through all his limbs a thrill as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue. It’s in the darkness you’re most able to become a great heart, a brave heart, something of greatness.”^[1]

---

^[1] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

The vast and infinite valley of darkness can be a place you can forever fall.  It takes words of encouragement, a helping hand and voice of love to light the way. That - is a friend.

Kinfolks Always Welcome

Jenna and I had an hour long discussion with my oldest Cousin, K.W., who has had Type 1 Diabetes for over 30 .  K.W. like his dad (my only Uncle) is funny, direct, and open.  Just what we both needed.  He provided the good, the bad, and the ugly stories of his own journey spiced with tips and encouragement about the worst is in the rear view mirror.

A conversation like this shows the power of sharing your vulnerabilities with others - a gift of therapy, compassion, and service.  We are made to help each other and it is when we isolate ourselves under the guise of independence that our souls decay.  A gift that is the mystery of love - transactional because it requires someone in need (a gift requiring courage to ask for help) and someone to help (the gift of providing service to someone requesting help).

In some cases it becomes a trinity - with an intermediary connecting the two.  In philanthropy it is called the Artful Asker (see 3/3/2010 "Artful Asker") - grateful recipient, joyful giver, and Artful Asker.

At the end of the conversation, I told K.W. that for the near future, I would be traveling to Florida on likely a regular basis and would likely show up at his door at anytime requesting and delivering a hug.   His response - Kinfolks always welcome!

Diabetes Downer

It has been quite a week of emotional challenges for the family.  Jenna now faces Type1 Diabetes and the family now enters a new journey of learning and support for this chronic condition.  Like first learning a new vocabulary word, buying a new model car, or any other newly learned (or acquired) item, suddenly the incidence of occurrence all around you seems greater than ever before.  Almost as common as every other part of your life.

For Diabetes the numbers are large but still a small percent of the population - 422 Million (2016) or 8.5% of adults. 90% of those have Type 2 so those with Type 1 are more rare  (1.25 Million in the USA).  Even with so small a number, as people we know have compassionately reached out to us, we have found numerous friends and their families with Type 1 Diabetes (8 and counting). Even though Type 1 is usually diagnosed at an early age (Juvenile), our connections were all diagnosed in their 30's.

Causes of Type 1 are unknown, but they have found some genes (HLA genotypes)  that influence the risk.  Other theories include environmental factors - possible viral infection or diet (gliaden a protein present in gluten).  But there is no real evidence for any of these yet.

As I told Jenna, knowing the cause (without any cure - preventative or post) does the person with the condition no good. Any anger associated with it just becomes self defeating and an unproductive use of time. Better to move as quickly from this emotion and from grief (which will occur)  to an emotional equilibrium with this new condition and hope for achieving the best future possible.

Easy to say (especially from a person that doesn't have the condition), but in reality everyone of us has some condition or weakness (inherited or created) that we must live with, cope with, and use to the best of our ability to achieve the purpose we were created for by God.  We maybe equal in the eyes of God, but we are all unequal in our own eyes. Only when we look at others, are we tempted to judge our own circumstances.  We can either let envy flood our thoughts or compassion redirect our attention into service and humility for our blessings.

The Need for Speed

Paying attention to phone (cellular and wireline); internet, TV services has become a yearly exercise.  My run in with Time Warner (now Spectrum) years ago (well documented in ripoff reports and other internet sites) was reinforced when I had to intervene to correct the billing situation for Dad with Cox Communications.  I would have cancelled Cox (like I did Time Warner) in a heart beat if it had been my personal account.

In all cases, it takes persistence, negotiation capabilities, and in some cases threats of ending service to get the best deal possible.  For my personal situation using Cincinnati Bell, the end of year call resulted in a lower bill by $35/mth and increased internet speed from 50 Mbps to 500 Mbps.  But the promotional price I was given is only promised for one year which will require another year end call around 2019 to get the best deal.

Luckily Cincinnati Bell doesn't realize that my threats of discontinuing service would never happen as I promised to never ..... ever become a customer of Time Warner again.

My first task today was to determine if I was actually receiving the 500 Mbps negotiated speed.  That is tough since most speed test applications are 50 Mbps.  I found a site the record speeds up to 1Gbps www.openspeedtest.com .   My speed is only showing 96Mbps.  That will require a follow-up phone call with Cincinnati Bell. 

When I asked my Tennis buddies what speed they are getting - the common answer "Don't know, Don't Care, its good enough for what I need".   I'm just not satisfied with that!

As Tom Cruise said in Top Gun..... 

                     Maverick -  "I feel the need"
                                                                    Goose - "The need for speed"

Password Hell

Source:  http://www.stevemasters.co.uk/general-thoughts/user-friendly-passwords/

I try to be very organized about passwords.  Careful not to use a common password for all things, I keep a list of them available just in case (and it is always the case) that I forget to update a password that a web-site requires me to change.

Such was the case with HSA Bank.   Trying desperately to reset using their system of email retrieval was constantly being stopped by a message of "inactive timeout" on the logon screen.  UGH!!!  Then calls to the call center are at the worst time (beginning of the year) and during a major snowstorm in Wisconsin (I later found out).

After four dropped calls (each of 30 minutes on hold) at end of day a representative was able to send me an email with a temporary password.  The reset required 12....  yes 12 characters with at least one Capital and one special character.   Who can remember 12 characters!!!!

Naturally they also will not allow a previous password either.

I wonder how much wasted call center time occurs in companies that have over securitized their web sites!   That in addition to the unproductive time of all of us that forget passwords.  Even trying to remember Dad's (now 93) stuff becomes a yearly exercise in effort.

I have a new definition of what my version of Hell will be (no longer untangling Xmas lights attempting to find the one bulb out).  It will be losing all my passwords and needing to access all the accounts rapidly.

Welcome to Hell.....  please enter your username and password :)

Amateur Night

2019 will be the 10th year of blogging (my first entry 8/2009).  What has happened over the 10 years?   The interesting blog development curve shows the classic exuberance followed by sustaining entries that tail off at about year 5 (both entries and page views).  At about the 1000th entry my blogging energy started to wane as illustrated by the yellow line of diminishing returns.   Or could it be running out of things to say?

Last night was fun with M&M L. hosting the New Year Dinner with friends.  Plenty of laughter and discussion.  There was a round table of New Year's Resolutions with prizes (MegaMillion Lottery tickets) for the best resolutions.  A winning ticket would erase the blues of 2018 stock market performance.  Susan and I continued our streak of sleeping through the New Year - leaving the party early.  As J.R. always said -  get home early because New Year's Eve is "Amateur's Night".