Later

Beef stew turned out excellent (and it's even better the second day.) The best ever. Up until I started making this recipe, the best I ever had was when I was a Boy Scout (Troop 222) and we made a huge pot of it for a fair (a meet?) at the Tropicaire Drive-In at Bird Rd. and the Palmetto. (Maybe it was Gaston Beef Stew.) (It's an old recipe.)

Regarding the Bill Moyers show and what the insurance executive said. The health insurance companies have no incentive to do anything about rising medical costs. That's not their job. As costs rise, they'll pass more and more of them on to the policyholder. All they care about is keeping their outlay for medical payments at 80% (or even lower) of what they take in in premiums (with 20% for dividends and overhead, including private jets, etc.). It was noted that the percentage was 95% back in the early '90s, when Clinton was trying to pass health care. If a public option passes, the companies will have more pressure to pay out more of what they take in. The overhead for Medicare is 3%. But the important thing is that costs have to be contained. See "The Cost Conundrum" here.

Watching "Renovation Realities" now.

Today I decided to rearrange the furniture in the bedroom and clean as I go. Where the bed is now, sunlight comes through the door in the morning and streams directly into my face, waking me up too early (even though I wear a blindfold). (The blinds on the slider in the living room are closed, but the light seeps in at the edges.) (I keep the bedroom door open to allow the cats to come and go.) I'll move the bed to the opposite wall and rearrange everything else accordingly. I should have done this years ago. I already have a light-blocking shade at the bedroom window and keep the hurricane shutter closed. (The windows are floor-to-ceiling, one in each bedroom.)

Tomorrow I go to the dentist at the end of the day. Tuesday morning the Home Depot contractor comes to fix something in the kitchen.

Tired!