on life & other inconveniences

Last week, I had the flu. I’ll be the first to admit it was bad. After two days of Trick emptying his stomach into buckets, he was finally holding food down.

And the bug had passed to me. It wasn’t kind. On Monday night I passed out twice while being sick. I cut my head open, and gave myself a black eye.

This week, I was asked what the doctor said when I went to see him, and I was baffled. Why on earth would I go to the doctor for the flu?

Now, I was pretty sick, but I still didn’t feel the need to go see someone. Maybe if I’d still been passing out on Tuesday… but not over one night of passing out. I’m not the first person to get hit with a bug that’s kept them out of commission for the better part of a week, and I won’t be the last, but I knew what I needed. Rest. Fluids. And Pepto Bismal.

It helps that we have a few nurses in the family… but it also helps that I have the Canadian health care mentality. Unlike some of my American friends, I do not instinctively think I should run to the doctor for every little thing. I go to the doctor when I absolutely need to. Perhaps less than I need to. I don’t remember the last time I saw a doctor for myself.

With the raging health care debate in America, it’s impossible to turn on talk radio without hearing people trash Canadian health care. The media has dug up every possible negative story and milked it for all its worth. We don’t want to be like Canada. That’s the proclamation. Heavens, you’d think that Canadian health care was killing people at the rate of the black plague, the way some of these people talk.

And the misinformation is incredible. This week, it was about our Prime Minister going to Florida for medical treatment. Only problem was, Danny Williams isn’t Canada’s Prime Minister. And when you can’t get those facts wrong, it’s hard to take the rest of your points seriously because you don’t even have google-able, basic truths right. It’s the kind of ignorant statement that makes many roll their eyes at naval-gazing Americans.

Here are a few basic truths.
1. Canada’s health care system isn’t perfect. The American health care system isn’t perfect either. You will need to leave this earth to find one that is.

2. The medical needs of different countries are not the same. That stands to reason. Canada is the second largest country in the world, geographically speaking, but has a tenth of the population of the US. The need to transport patients over large distances is a reality. However, in other countries - say, Luxembourg - it’s pretty safe to say they don’t have the same transportation issues at play.

3. Everyone will feel differently about health care if they’re the one who’s sick.

Canada’s health care system isn’t perfect. It has failed people. But so has the American system. This isn’t about saying one is inherently better than the other, but it is about a fair comparison. I don’t say that I love Canadian health care and mean by it that all other health care systems suck. I also don’t mean that I think it’s flawless or that there’s no room for improvement.

But I love the fact that when I was seriously ill, I could go to the doctor without worrying about how much money treatment would cost me. I loved the fact that if I was in a car accident I didn’t have to worry about waking up in the hospital with a huge bill that would bankrupt me and keep my kids from going to college. I loved the fact that the small amount of money I paid for health care - because it isn’t free, most provinces have a health care premium you have to pay, depending on your income - ensured I would always have access to a basic level of care.

I’m personally not opposed to two-tiered health care. Hell, no matter how much some Americans want to delude themselves, they have two-tiered health. There’s free care for the poor through Medicaid. And they don’t just get free doctor visits; they get free prescriptions too. We know. When we assumed full custody we moved the kids off their mother’s coverage - medicaid government hand-out - and on to Brian’s plan, but before that happened we had a phoned-in prescription, and through their mother’s coverage it was free of charge.

I actually don’t think the current health care bill solves the right problems in the American system, and I feel very uncomfortable about it. The main reason I feel uncomfortable is because the politicians don’t seem willing to play by the normal rules and are changing voting procedures in order to get the bill through. That makes me nervous. That’s not democracy. And that makes me wonder how bad the bill is, if it can’t pass on its own merits.

I also don’t think you can fix American health care without a fundamental shift in the philosophical views of many Americans, and that will be a long time coming. A large percentage of the population wants minimal government involvement in their lives, and they don’t want the government interfering with health care.

For my part, with the Canadian system I know there was abuse. But there’s abuse in the US. A big part of the bill targets medicaid fraud. There are those who feel free health care is an entitlement. And there are certainly those who go to the doctor more for a social visit than anything else.

In the US, people also have the view that if they’re paying for health care, they may as well get their money’s worth. If you want to be tested for something, why should you be denied if you’re paying? In Canada, you have to earn those referrals to specialists for some legitimate medical reason.

Neither system is perfect, but at the end of the day, one thing I know is that if I’m in a car accident on this side of the border, I’m screwed financially. And sometimes, it’s hard not to think of the irony that the US is the presumptive leader of the world, setting the standards for other nations, when it’s a country that can’t even take care of the most needy within its own borders. Those who are seriously ill are least able to work and afford medical coverage, and it becomes the burden of the families to care for them. I never really worried about that in Canada. Now, I realize if I get sick here, I have to hope and pray my family has enough sense to let me die rather than incur the debt of my medical bills.

I think, to fully appreciate the pictures posted below, it helps to know that our house is built on a hill.

The driveway is a hill. The backyard is a hill. And so, when you look up at the house from the driveway, the snow doesn’t always look as high as it is, because of the deception of the hill.

The kids mastered the art of climbing the tree and jumping off into the piles of snow.

Not only do we have to shovel the driveway, we have to shovel the dog out.

Last night, and believe it or not, the kids were outside, making a trail for the dog. Gives you an idea of how much the snow was still coming down.

The trail was completely blown over this morning.

The driveway this morning.

From the driveway, our door snowed in.

Indy decides to dig a tunnel. Does this give you some concept of how high the drifts are? That fence is four feet.

I don’t usually mind winter, but I’m really tired of snow. And the forecast says we have more on the way…

And a Fed Ex truck got stuck in front of our neighbor’s house this morning. That’s how bad the roads are.

We’ve almost got the driveway cleared.

Indoor play now involves a wish to dye her hair red and have a trenchcoat. Just call her Scully-anna.

I took this from the garage Saturday morning. We couldn’t open the door to get out. That black part at the front is the wall of snow when we lifted the door… and it should be noted we shoveled twice on Friday night so that we wouldn’t have to deal with as much on Saturday when we got up!

“Gov. Martin O’Malley said it will take highway crews days to get travel lanes, ramps, shoulders and turn lanes clear along interstates, U.S. and Md. Routes. He said clearing this snow is more challenging than the Dec. 19 storm because the snow is wetter. Plus, temperatures plunging into the single digits at night is not helping matters any.” From Carroll County Times

In the wake of the Amazon-Macmillan war, I came to one inescapable conclusion: trust no one.

I heard so many varying reports on how royalties are paid, who did what to whom and the legal variables I ended up with a headache. As a result, I clearly stated some things (I think mainly in comments on Crimespace) that are probably incorrect.

I say probably, because everyone seems more invested in playing PR games than in the truth.

Scalzi has the post that wraps it up that’s probably the only must-read. Unless, of course, you’re on Amazon’s side. Then you won’t like it.

I do think this was a very dangerous game of chicken that Amazon and Macmillan played. I also think anyone who says this is about protecting consumers or about protecting authors is probably smoking something that’s probably illegal. This is about control, and I don’t think it panned out well for anyone in the end.

The one thing I’m completely willing to stand behind is my belief that if the iPad hadn’t launched last week, this probably wouldn’t have happened, and if it had Macmillan would have lost.

As an author, I have to take a dispassionate view of the selling side of the business. My books are carried at WalMart stores in Canada, at the very least, and major chains on both sides of the border. I will not fault consumers for where they decide to purchase their reading material, and I do understand the convenience of Amazon. When I lived in rural Alberta it was incredibly convenient, and less expensive, which enabled me to buy more books.

However, I fear for the mega-sellers and what they’re doing to Independents, and what they could do to domestic publishing. As an author, I’m glad my books are carried by multiple venues and wherever readers purchase them, I’m just glad they did.

As a reader, I’ll be keeping my primary purchasing in brick and mortar stores, and I won’t be getting an e-reader any time soon. Unless it’s an iPad. Which looks cool.

Amazon has pulled from sale books published by Macmillan. This includes books by - amongst many, many others - authors including Ken Bruen’s books published by Minotaur and Duane Swierczynski.

This is the first time I’ve seen such clear proof that adherence to publishing ethics (as per the guidelines of organizations such as MWA), quality of product, and consumer demand are completely irrelevant in book sales and distribution.

Actually, I find myself wondering if Amazon is doing this not so much because of Macmillan, but because of the new iPad, which has been called a Kindle killer by some.

One thing that’s clear to me is that this isn’t about consumer rights and protecting consumers. This is about control. I say let publishers decide how much their ebooks should list for, and let shoppers decide whether or not they want to pay the price tag.

But also let shoppers decide what device they want to read their books on - don’t force them to buy your product.

I’ve heard a lot of whispers over the past few years, about the fear that in the future we’ll see fewer books published, just the mega sellers. Amazon’s actions have convinced me that day may be closer than we think. As a major bookseller, pulling thousands of products from their inventory is clearly irrelevant to them. Kindle sales are reported as in the millions. This is what Amazon is making their money off of, and they’re using controlled pricing of publisher products in order to entice consumers to buy their big ticket item.

The questions are, what happens when we reach market saturation? With other electronic devices prices eventually decline. Once Kindle sales plateau, where will Amazon turn to replace that income?

I see two primary options. One is through the sales of the books for Kindle, which would mean they’d raise the prices, and consumers who’d already purchased expensive electronic devices to be able to read that way would have little choice but to pay the increase.

The other is by replacing the Kindle with an updated version with a few new bells and whistles, with a slight change in code that rendered new books inaccessible on the old Kindle, thus forcing Kindle readers to replace their Kindles.

Neither sounds like protecting the rights of consumers, does it?

This isn’t about my rights as a reader, or the rights of so many friends of mine whose books have been pulled because of this pissing contest. This is about Amazon cornering the market, pure and simple.

John Scalzi also has a post on the subject, which is well worth the read.

At Mysterious Matters there is an excellent post that cuts through all the blather and gets to the heart of the state of publishing fiction. It also addresses policies of organizations, review sites, discussion lists and I find that many of the sites they take issue with are ones I’ve had my own personal concerns about in the past. For every thousand people who recycle the sound bites, who believe the standard press of the party line, who are afraid to piss off the supposed ‘high and mighty’ of the industry, there’s one person out there, like the writer of this post, who’s willing to call it like they see it.

Highly recommended reading.