This entry is about a story I received on the Politech mailing list. The story is concerned that HIPAA, the new law intended to protect the privacy of personal health information. You probably know about it if you have been to the doctors or dentists office recently. They are now required to publish and make available to you a copy of their privacy practices, among other things. So most offices are handing you a sheet of paper full of legal-speak and require that you sign something indicating that you have received the materials. (To be fair the sheets I have read are not packed with jargon, and are easily understood if you take the time to read it carefully. YMMV)

But anyway, aparently the press was distrought with this new law arguing that it would limit their ability to cover certain events, or to be effective reporters. The posting at politech was an excerpt of this article. Basically the report said there was a tragic porch collapse and it lamented the fact that reporters were unable to pump the hospital for any information regarding the victims of the collapse, therefore were unable to give as rich of a report as they had been able in the past.

If the result of this law is that random people claiming to be press are unable to get personal information about me from my dealings with medical establishments, I am all for it. I hadn’t ever considered the fact that someone could walk into a hospital that I visited and expect someone to divulge any personal information about me. The argument made in the article is ridiculous , reporters should have no reasonable expectation that trusted medical personel would hand out information on their patients. As far as I am concerned if a reporter wants to use any of my personal information to sell newspaper advertising, they can come request it directly from me.

Certain other people felt the need to respond to the posting, and Declan will often aggregate responses and publish them to the list. (If I hadn’t been so far behind reading Politech, I might have been counted among the respondents.) But some Privacy and informath consultant Robert Gellman also felt my outrage and responded in kind, with quite a bit more detail and precedent. The remainder of the follow-up including a response by the author of the article to some criticism can be found here.

Basically the response to Mr. Fitzgerald’s article is, we do not feel your pain, and as a matter of fact are outraged to know that your profession has routinely requested and even received, and gasp even published personally identifiable information about the victim’s of tragic accidents without their knowledge or concent. So bugger off, jerk.

Apparently buying a house is the thing to do nowadays. But man there are some people that are out of their mind with their listings. They have houses that just a couple of years ago were worth maybe $125k. And now they are asking $225+. Obviously the astoundingly low interest rates offset that by increasing my buying power. But it makes it nearly impossible to put 20% down which means I either need to get Personal Mortgage Insurace or arrange a separate deal with my lender to get a second mortgage which just covers the difference between my downpayment and what it would take to get to 20%. Not to mention the effect it has on tax.

And the other factor is that a house is an investment. Is there any possible way that the cost of a house will go up from what I purchase it at now? It looks to me like RHAT at $160/share or QCOM at $400/share or whatever their outrages all time highs were. If I settle for something I don’t really want but can afford, I may be stuck there for a long time unless I want to sell at a loss. (I wonder if there are any tax breaks for people who lose on property investments? And are they limited to some value like $2K a year such as securities investments on the Schedule D). Just more research I need to do.

Well I think the primary key here is patience. Houses are flying on and off the market, I just need to find the right one and negotiate the right deal. If anyone wants to give me 30 or 40 thousand dollars let me know.

BTW, if anyone out there wants to hire a teacher who is excellent yet underpaid and under appretiated by the rotten Philadelphia School district. Let me know.

Well its been 11 days, and so far so good. The wedding went great, The people at Cedarbrook Hill Country Club did an exemplary job. The supporting cast was also good, particularly the videographer who got some of the best compliments from people, those being, “I don’t remember the videographer at all.” So he did a great job staying out of the way. Thanks to all my friends and family who made the day great.

Honeymoon: Disney World was awesome, the AAA Romance package is worth it, especially if you are going to eat at a fine restaraunt like “The Yachtsman Club” at the Epcot resorts, the filet mignon was tremendous, and the Oyster’s Rockafeller were very good. And Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba was quite an interesting and entertaining time of living it up. I also recommend the Wilderness Lodge as it was a great place to stay. And I got to ride the new Epcot attraction which isn’t scheduled to open until August 15, Mission: SPACE.

All I can say is: it is one of the top 3 rides in all of Walt Disney World, it is up there with the Tower of Terror, and the Rockin Rollercoaster, although not quite as extreme as those two. It involves clever repurposing of the old carnival concept of spinning you fast so that you stick to the wall. But with all the requisite Disney Imagineering to make it from a simple ride into an experience. And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that it starred Lieutenant Dan.

I have a bunch of pictures that will be added to my gallery when I get a chance. I had a great time, and I am sorry to have it end. Of course if it didn’t end, a couple more days of paying for food in Disney would surely have bankrupt me.

Well the time is almost upon me. It was December of 2001 when I proposed to Michelle, and the wedding date is tomorrow. Despite my outward appearance and my frequent denials, I am starting to get excited. As far as I can tell the plans have all come together and all of Michelle’s hard work in planning this wedding will finally come to fruition.

Its a very strange thing; all this many months of planning and hiring people to perform different tasks which are woven together into a 5 or 6 hour tapestry (or maybe wirlwind) of heart touching ceremony, friends, family and a big, loud, noisy party which will be over almost as quickly as it has come. I hope Michelle and I are able to heed the advice of all the married veterans who have told me to focus on enjoying the day, and not worrying about the minor things that may have gone awry. Because this important day, like so many in our life, will flow past with such speed and remind us again of our regretfully limited memory if we don’t stop staring at the overwhelming minutiae and try and enjoy the whole of what is happening.

Thank you to all of my large group of family and friends who have supported us throughout our entire lives. You have made this joy possible, and I am proud that you will be there to share my greatest day.

And then Sunday: Walt Disney World or bust!