February | 2017 | Steve Tilford

You might agree 100% with everything that President Trump has said and done since running for office and getting elected. You think he is taking our country in the right direction. That is fine. But I challenge you to defend the way he acts.

He uses intimidation, arrogance, non-informed knowledge, and sloppiness to try to get “his” way.

I guess the easiest description is that he is just plain mean. When someone says something he feels is incorrect, the guy lashes out at them via social media. Or he tells one of his underlings to defend him, many times by just lying. It is so wrong.

And worse than wrong, it is disrespectful of the office of President of the United States. It makes our country look arrogant to the rest of the world. Thus, it puts us, the citizens of the United States, in very bad light to others. It reflects very badly on us.

The United States has historically been looked at as an empathetic country. We tend to try to take care of people who don’t have the freedoms that we have. I am proud of these actions. We were all lucky to have been born here, or at least end up here.

But that isn’t the case so much now. If Trump doesn’t think that the national media is covering the acts of terrorism enough, then the guy doesn’t watch the news or read newspapers. That is all I hear on a daily basis. But he calls our media “fake” and they aren’t doing their jobs.

Sure, there is bad news people out there. But outright lying to try to make your point makes the man looks either stupid or just confrontational. I think it is the later.

I don’t think that politics is a good profession. It is a very hard job and the people involved, usually, tend to be pretty thoughtful and smart.

I am sort of astonished that republican senators and house members have to sort of lie when being interviewed by the “fake” media. Maybe not lie, but sidestep the questions or say they can’t speak for the president. Just because you are in the same political party as the guy, doesn’t mean you have to lower your standards to his.

I feel our politicians should always try to tell the true. Don’t speak publicly if you’re going to lie. That is a pretty good mantra to have if you hold the job. That isn’t always the case today.

When our politicians start lying to the people of our country, the system comes under pressure. And when our elected citizens start treating others very badly, then the whole problem is exacerbated. That is where we are now.

This is an addition – This isn’t a left or right political deal. This is a manors or moral compass deal. We want our leaders to act the role of a leader. Not a mean-spirited, egotistical weirdo that seems more interested in how he is portrayed by the media than actually doing what is correct, or what he feels is correct. It is really basic, don’t be a dick trying to get your way.

I can’t understand why the smart, nice guys in Washington can’t explain to Donald that he is acting very badly and should try to play nicer. Maybe they have and he’s just fired them.

Seems like the German media likes us a lot.

I have feeling like I’m sick for a couple days now. I’m not sure if it is from flying or from hanging out at doctor’s offices. Or from something else. Bill is sick too, so maybe that is the deal. It is February and it isn’t unexpected.

It has been nice in Kansas weatherwise. Not today though. Or yesterday, really. It was supposed to be 63, but it was only 40 by the time I got out and it dropped from there. Today the high is 30, windy and a winter mix of precipitation. Ouch.

I went to a doctor yesterday that specializes in dizziness. He was good. His name is Dr. McKnight. He was a doctor like doctors of old. Took lots of time to talk to me. Asked me the right questions, I think, then explained the results of the battery of tests I took.

It gave me hope. Not really hope, but made me feel more confident in coming out of this TBI (traumatic brain injury) less scathed that could be the case.

I did a lot of balance tests. Some wearing goggles that recorded my eye movements, and some with complete darkness. I was pretty stellar when my eyes were open. In the 98% range, which he said you can’t score any higher because the earth is spinning. I don’t know about that statement, but I felt pretty stable.

I wasn’t as stable doing the same balancing with no sight. Only in the 80% range. Still not bad, but I know I have less balance here than before cracking my skull.

So need to do some vestibulo-ocular reflex exercises to help my brain compensate with the balance issues. I’m going back on Friday, my birthday, to see his guy that will give me some exercises to do at home to help.

He also said that I have loose crystals in my ear canals still, BPPV, which causes dizziness too. Loose crystals in liquid that throws off equilibrium. That is a supposed easy fix, but I haven’t had that great of luck with it so far. He did it again and I guess I’ll see if that worked.

So, that is good. I haven’t had any dizziness issues recently riding. Actually, only twice since I have been riding outside, have I even felt anything. Both times it was just for a second or two and not bad. That was awhile ago.

I’m going to KU Medical on Monday so see my neurology rehab doctor. She is great and I am looking forward to seeing her. I haven’t been there in 6 weeks now.

I am really lucky that I’ve had really good doctors that take time and seem truly interested in my health. I don’t think that is the norm so much nowadays in medicine.

Anyway, I have a head cold now and feel pretty crummy, but it is sort of funny, because before this head injury, I would have been pretty depressed about being sick. It is just a flesh wound, not even that, now, compared to what I went through the past 3+ months. I guess that is one upside to being really bad off for abit.