Flu Shots Don’t Forget To Get Yours

I Blog on this every year.  Normally I get my flu shot at Walgreens, in middle October, but now is a good time as well.

Medicare covers all costs, or maybe they are free, I don’t know for sure.  This year I got one today as part of my annual physical exam, so I didn’t have to make a special trip anywhere or wait in line for it.

In 2014 the shot was not as effective as in other years, but my Internist said he hoped this year’s would be better, but getting the shot is not optional.  It is a must. 

I believe it also helps with the spreading of flu.  The more people who get the shots, the less chance of spreading the virus. As always, older people are even more vulnerable than younger people.  There are two strengths, I believe, normal, and a high strength for older persons.  Check your Pharmacy or MD’s office.   Mayo Clinic link on Senior Dose  

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/flu/expert-answers/fluzone/faq-20058032

I had the full blown flu once -- it is much worse than a bad cold.  I was in bed for 10 days it seemed, and miserable. Also had a fever much of the time. 

Iodine A New Website For Drug Information

www.iodine.com is a new concept website, I read about this web site and the founding company in INC Magazine, October 2015 issue. It is a start up, but it looks like a winner to me. 

It allows a person (after sign up) to participate and share their experience with various drugs they might be taking. It organizes the experience by age and gender.  I signed up and have posted reviews of my two drugs already.  As more people review, the site will be more valuable.  Even for non-registered persons, it shows warnings, and side effects of most all drugs, and what explains what each is used for, even if there are no user reviews yet. The founder hopes this concept will spread real user information to potential users (or present users) of each drug, so they can benefit from hearing of other person’s side effects, general effectiveness, or warnings.  This will add to what they might have learned from their prescribing MD. The company is also building a mobile APP that might bring an even higher level of information and service to users.

Green Mountain Grill - Davey Crocket Model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5huHfS5cHA&list=PL94Onbf7D5F0Hnzd2HWzZOVmen4eRhym_

Nice video .. Green Mountain Grill.  With Wi-Fi to your phone, high tech for an outdoor grill.  And very easy to use, self starting, pellets run it, temperature is very accurate, internal thermometer, perfect for camping or football tail gating. Pellets are 10% water, so it is a steamy system, and has other advantages.  Cooking with tech ?  folksy guy in the video owns it, but it must be a very high tech product for its category – "outdoor grilling".

A friend on Facebook tried his tonight for the first time, he said it did a wonderful job, so I took a look at the product video.  Not a cheap grill, however. 

Flight Tracking Apps

I have long used Flightrack Pro, but it seems to have been reduced in quality by some recent updates (based on on-line reviews), and may no longer be supported in the format I presently have on my iPhone. Therefore I started a search for the perfect replacement APP for some upcoming trips. I think I found it.

MacWorld magazine recommended (Dec 2014) FlightView – which has 3 options, free with ads, $1.00 without ads, and pro for $4 showing the complete airport flight arrival and departure boards.  I chose the recommended $1 version.

I put in my two upcoming flights, and so far, I love it.  It has easy to use features, and of course does all the good stuff, keeping the departure times updated, and arrival times, and tracks the flights on maps if needed (suppose you are picking someone up and wanted to see that).

If you touch a flight you have entered, it will give you the 7 day weather forecast at that location, and I was impressed with how it did that, and the nice detailed information it gave.  Other options upon touching a flight will tell you the arrival gate (closer to the time you take off) and so forth. It is cosmetically good as well, pleasant to view.

There are other apps more specifically designed for those who mostly (or only) use them to pickup passengers at the airport.  Think Uber services, or taxi cabs, or family members who pickup other family members.  These apps use large fonts so they are easy to read while driving. And send email sounds and alerts for delayed flights.  The FlightView does something similar (if you allow it)… pushing information to your smart phone about flight delays or gate changes with sounds to alert you to the change. Soon the boards on the wall of airports will be obsolete?  Maybe.

I heard from a pilot that these flight apps are so accurate they use them in the cockpit, as sometimes they tell about delayed departure before the pilot’s more secure system of communication gets that information to the pilot.  One pilot in Albany NY (while we were delayed on the ramp) told the passengers to download the app and it would tell us when we were leaving and the new late arrival times so we could call our friends picking us up.  He assured us it would be accurate and he would not need to give us verbal announcements every 5 minutes.  Which were annoying. And that was 5 years ago.