Health care


My wife and I were talking the other day about what passes for healthcare these days. As a runner, she gets some pain in her leg but the doctors are completely clueless as to how to fix it. It seems that more often than not doctors have no answers.

I’ve noticed the same in trying to get a diagnosis on various ailments I’ve suffered. When I bring some health mystery to my doctor for diagnosis, rarely do I seem to get my doctor’s attention. Doctors are great at being mechanics of the body – they can change a tire and even rebuild the occasional engine – but the deep insight into why something happens seems unimportant to them. The preventative maintenance isn’t a priority. I may be cynical, but if they can’t write a prescription for something they don’t want to bother with it.
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In Pittsburgh

I’m in Pittsburgh this morning for two days of meet-and-greets and training with my new employer. Looking forward to it.

The travel wasn’t bad at all, either, considering it was the last day of the Thanksgiving holiday. My fellow travelers were all in good spirits and the planes arrived on time.

I hope I get a chance to look around this evening to explore a bit more. It’s rainy this morning so that isn’t ideal but I’ll sneak in a little tourist time if I can.

Leaders need to tap into creative thinkers

Terry Sanford

I disagree. What we need to ask ourselves is, where are our own Terry Sanfords? Where are the leaders who are willing to take risks?

It was a pattern that [Terry] Sanford repeated for the rest of his career: surround himself with people who thought differently than he did, make time to listen to their ideas and line up the resources to follow through when their suggestions seemed worth the gamble. It all sounds pretty straightforward. And yet, too many leaders and organizations today do exactly the opposite, preferring the security of familiar notions, little ambiguity and minimal risk.

Now is not the time for status-quo thinking.

As we look to infuse fresh perspective into our state, communities and organizations, we should be asking ourselves this: Where are our own John Ehles?

via Leaders need to tap into creative thinkers – Doing Better at Doing Good – NewsObserver.com.

Thanksgiving, ice skating, symphony

The Turner/Hunter clan

Wow. What an action-packed few days we’ve had here.

Wednesday the kids were out of school so I had to figure out something fun to do with them. The weather was still warm (near 70, if I recall) and Travis wanted to go to the store to look at Legos. Rather than get in a car and drive there, I decided the family would bike there instead. The North Hills Target is about 6 miles from here via the greenway, so we hopped on our bikes and pedaled our way there and back, enjoying a smoothie after our window-shopping. That’s 12 miles of biking and a whole lot of fun!

Thursday was Thanksgiving, of course. Travis and I had started dismantling our garden Wednesday evening, so Thursday morning we finished the job. All the dying or dead plants were pulled up, the wire fencing that supported them was rolled up, the ground raked, and a weed-blocking cover placed over the garden. It was some work to clear it out but it was so satisfying to get it done!
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Break-in, one year later

Michael Darnell Green


Speaking of anniversaries, today is the first-year anniversary of the break-in of our home. Though Michael Darnell Green was arrested for a string of break-ins around our home at the time, our home was not among those that Green confessed to burglarizing.

Since that time, I’ve become convinced that Green was the burglar. Our burglar appeared to know what he was doing and by all accounts Green is a seasoned professional. He certainly fits the description offered by my neighbors and by the surveillance video that shows the suspect. It could be that Green didn’t remember our home because the detectives taking him around the neighborhood didn’t lead him through the woods the way Green most likely approached our home. Green also was unsuccessful in entering our home, so he might not have remembered it as clearly as the others. He allegedly hit so many homes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he couldn’t remember them all.
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Domain anniversary

Ten years ago today I registered my domain, markturner.net. I got it with eye towards blogging, bill I didn’t start blogging until January of the next year.

Bloggng is more than just a hobby, it’s an obsession. I could never guess how much fun would be ten years later.

Building Raleigh’s startup scene from the ground up

Officials from Raleigh and N.C. State announced a partnership Monday to make Raleigh a “city of innovation.” A conference, known as the Raleigh Innovation Summit, will take place on January 18th, 2012 to discuss ways to give the city’s startup scene a boost. Being that I’m not yet working again and I have experience with startups, I grabbed my camera and headed to the press conference, eager to hear more details.

The press has already done a good job covering the details, it turns out. Thus there’s not much I can add to this except a few thoughts after the fact.
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UC Davis pepper spray gets snarky Amazon reviews

Now this is funny. I always love the snarky Amazon product reviews, this time focusing on the pepper spray used on the UC Davis kids on Friday.

Amazon sells the type of Defense Technology police-grade pepper spray reportedly used on the UC Davis protesters. Customer reviews of the product are now dominated by snarky comments about the campus incident.

“Accept no substitutes when casually repressing students,” is the title of one review posted Monday.

via UC-Davis | Pepper-Spray | Amazon | The Daily Caller.

Pullen Pike

Things got a little out of hand at Saturday’s Pullen Park Grand Opening.

Pullen Park speech

Pullen Park ribbon-cutting

Here are my written remarks from the Pullen Park dedication Saturday. I frequently compose my speeches on the fly but Pullen Park is important so I spent more time on this one.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting for this day for 124 years!

Today we celebrate the grand opening of a park that actually opened 124 years ago. Hard to believe, isn’t it? I did a little research to get a better idea of what Pullen Park’s first grand opening must have been like.

On that day in March 22nd, 1887 when Mr. Stanhope Pullen donated the land that created Pullen Park, N.C. State University was a mere fifteen days old. Fayetteville Street – where this morning’s Christmas Parade took place – had only been paved for a decade. Raleigh sprawled to almost two square miles and had a booming population of 13,000; qualifying it as the fifth largest city in our state.
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