Tomorrow (12/20/07) at 11:15 AM we'll have a new Secretary of Veterans Affairs. General James Peake was fast tracked through his Senate confirmation and has some great ideas concerning telemedicine & a standardization of patient records across both the VA and DOD platforms. As it is now, a wounded soldier moving through a Army hospital...say Walter Reed...once discharged and classified a veteran, perhaps moving for post care into the VA Hospital system, is now required to be re-evaluated and start from scratch with his medical history.

General Peake, who is also an M.D., proposed an electronic card that carries everything from the past year of blood pressure readings to prescription history to the most detailed surgical records...all readable within both the DOD & VA system with a protected barcode card. The incoming Secretary is also the first Doctor AND General to serve in this post.

Having been a part of the IT, telemedicine and security broadcasts within the VA Knowledge Network, I can tell you that there is a great buzz within the VA about the new Secretary.

In the same room that former Secretary James Nicholson delivered his farewell speech (shown above in pre-production today), the President, Vice-President and Cabinet members will welcome General Peake as the next head of VA on Thursday...and it comes at a time when news reports about the VA's cost effectiveness, lower percentage of mistakes and increased levels of care shine a positive light on a department that was tainted by the shadow that recent negative news about Walter Reed Army Hospital cast upon it. (Walter Reed is under the DOD not the VA)

No matter your political position on the war, you've got to agree that those who sacrifice themselves for us deserve the topmost medical care. To quote "M*A*S*H"..."Best care anywhere!" I take great pride in being asked to be a part of the broadcast crew tomorrow.

Postscript...the White House advance team was great to work with. After the event itself, which was marked by the rarity of having the President & Vice-President in the same place at the same time, the WHCA staff asked if anyone wanted pictures taken at the POTUS podium. (Actually one of the spare "road podiums") In the pictures above you see it wrapped in blue cloth for protection, and below in it's very recognizable form. A tip...for the next time you see the podium in use...the POTUS seal is not placed on the front until the President is actually inside the building where he is appearing. Again, an honor to be a part of the swearing in ceremonies for Secretary Peake. "VA News", which will feature clips from the event, can be seen on the Pentagon Channel and resumes production right after New Years Day.

Thanks to the White House Communications Office
America's Worst Nightmare hahaaaaaaaa

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Never Leave Early - This Ain't Dodger Stadium & We Don't Serve Lattes!

One helluva rain delay at RFK.

Just short of three hours in the first delay & just under an hour as we headed into the bottom of the 9th. For those who left early that night, they missed the first "inside the park" Home Run in Nationals history from Austin Kearns (and the first at RFK since Tom McGraw on May 17, 1971 for the Washington Senators)...and the icing on the cake...Ryan Zimmerman hitting a walkoff Grand Slam Home Run in the bottom of the 9th at somewhere near 1:40 AM Sunday morning.

Lesson learned? If you buy a ticket, stay for the whole game!

RFK STADIUM MAY 12, 2007

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Rumble & Grumble - Or How I Lost Sleep Over Bad Gas & Old Pipes

Oh how I hate losing sleep.

It seems to be a more valuable gift than almost anything but love itself. Miriam and I love to take advantage of a relaxing evening, and we are really looking forward to the end of the baseball season when we can enjoy a full weekend or two of sleeping in until Spring Training rolls around again in March.

We enjoyed watching the first night of NFL football on NBC last night & having "newlywed time" on the sofa, staying up later than usual to the end of the Colts win. (BTW she is far from being a sports widow & can actually not only hold up her end of a sports conversation but kick yer ass if you don't like it. Gawd loves a feisty broad!) And to top off our great night on Thursday, we knew we had a full day scheduled away from work & all to ourselves on Friday.

Surprise, surprise! 6AM rolls around on Friday morning and what do we spot outside the window? A full DC Parking Enforcement crew wrapping signs around the poles & trees with red ribbon and right behind them, a full crew from Washington Gas!

It seems that we're the new home away from home for 30 guys who will be tearing up our street until the middle of October. Say hello to my new friends every freakin' morning around 7 AM and right up until 4PM . This morning was particularly loud since they had to start jackhammering up the street to get to where the pipelines are. I thought maybe...just maybe...they'd be finished with that portion of the day's work by 9 or 10 AM and start going down in the holes.

No such luck.

I had to call the programming assistant at Vegas Radio/1520 AM WTRI, where I record voicetracks for the midday show, and tell them I couldn't do the Friday show because of the vibrations and noise coming in, even with the windows shut, blinds and curtains drawn & soundproofing panels in place. The vibrations coming through the floor were so strong it made my ass feel like I was sitting on one of those cheap motel beds dropping quarters in the slot, instead of sitting high in a leather chair on a sprung floor in the studio.

Visual proof of the first after effects of Washington Gas's handiwork:

New Link

After almost 5 years of working at the Bonneville radio cluster here in Washington, at 2 stations that are now defunct and all but one of the five, they put a link up on the WTOP news site...under Traffic. Now granted, this is the least amount of involvement I have with any of the stations, and it's thru another company providing news & traffic services, but it's a nice gesture nonetheless.

LINK HERE TO WTOPNews.com

Damn...I was actually young once!

⇔ As with everything in life...this site is under constant devlopment. ⇔
All Rights Reserved. All photos, graphics, audio content ™ ® © 1995-2007 Domain Owner

Vanity websites are...

A) A pain in the rump to update & a quick way to blow $20 every month
B) For people with way too much time on their hands & a mother with a closet full of old photos
C) A great way to make yourself feel important, even though most visitors will find your site by mistake when entering the keyword "shithead".
D) A wonderful way to pick up women who like to be near famous people. In radio we call 'em "groupies".
E) A very public way to share private thoughts, stories and uncensored tales about your buddies who don't pay up on the first ransom demand.

To reach me via e-mail:
SteveRay@SteveRay.com

Voice-over services & demo:
http://steveray.voice123.com

Sitting in as Sports Anchor for the Al Jazeera English Service - from the DC Bureau.




What? Is it too bright for you in here? I love photographers who think radio guys should be mysterious faces behind the voice. Here's what one female fotog thought I "sounded" like when she translated the old saying
"...a picture is worth 1000 words."
Oddly enough, I can only think of two words.