Sunday, June 28, 2015
Still above water
Miami Beach, in case you didn't know, is a very bizarre place. The strip where I am, in the Eden Roc resort, next to the Fountainbleu, is in most ways that matter to me a wasteland. There are no stores or restaurants within easy walking distance, and even that's something of an understatement. Seven blocks to the south there is a Subway, a small cafe and grocery store, and a liquor store. That's all for maybe a mile in all directions -- well, there are only 2 1/2 directions available, actually. Five blocks south you can cross Indian Creek and get to an actual urban neighborhood, albeit a slightly odd one.
So you're pretty much a prisoner of the hotel, which is how they want it. $30 for breakfast, $20 for a hamburger. A margarita is $14, although it is big enough to drown in. Across the street, in Indian Creek, there's a marina full of enormous yachts, and, on the other side of the creek, enormous, ostentatious villas, with their own piers. The people don't seem to be home right now, presumably they are only here in the winter.
Anyway, I can't help where they send me. As I contemplate this gobsmacking week, I am here on business, so I'll tell you that this morning I attended a symposium on technology in support of self care in HIV, and HIV prevention. I expect that more and more, you'll be interacting with apps in place of conversations you might have had with your doctor. Or at least they're going to try to make that happen. I'm not convinced that it will. If I hear anything of more immediate interest, I'll let you know.
A final observation for now. If there is one category of human that airline employees hate, it is airline passengers. It would be so much easier for the planes to fly from point A to point B if they just didn't have to put up with fucking customers. So true, it would be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi Cervantes,
I think that interacting with an application that influences self-care among people living with HIV or interested in HIV prevention can really take flight. I say this because I feel that HIV is still such a taboo subject, especially here in the U.S. and among the population that it affects. When I don't feel comfortable discussing a personal issue or health issue with a doctor I don't know or even close friends and family, I tend to just shy away from the topic all together. I would feel much better educating myself about it and learning how other people live with it either through an app or internet research of my own. An app developed specifically for the prevention and treatment of HIV sounds like a stellar idea; placing HIV education and treatment options in the palms of most everyone's hand could have a major impact of the progression of this type of infection. I believe the health care sector needs to jump on the technology train using any and every avenue that is safe and secure. Perhaps if healthcare providers were to push out education in the form of apps and use other terms to describe STD's- like STI's instead- society would have an easier time embracing the facts and treatment options available.
Chad
Post a Comment