I Flunked the Hearing Test

Both my mom and dad wore hearing aids. I’ve been asking my husband to repeat himself much too often. When I had my annual doctor appointment I learned that my ears were perfectly clear. So that meant only one thing. I needed to finally get a hearing test. We live right across the street from Hearing Associates of Northern Virginia. Since we are all about convenience, we thought this would be a great place to start. Our insurance has some hearing benefits, but nothing to speak of. So I scheduled an appointment, went through all the tests - ears were clean, and test results showed moderate to severe hearing loss - especially at the higher frequencies. So I saw hearing aids in my future. We discussed the options - in the ear, behind the ear, etc. I went home with an Oticon brochure and things to think about. Since I don’t know anything about hearing aids, I researched whatever was out there including Lively - an all on line experience. I even took another hearing test on Lively and it compared - followed by an immediate phone call from them trying to sell me their product. Since I made up my mind about sticking with the place across the street, I studied up on Oticon More. There are very expensive so I decided on the mid range level 2. All the while I was emailing the audiologist back and forth trying to make up my mind. So the hearing aids were ordered and an appointment was made for a fitting. They are behind the ear, silver, rechargeable, and stream to my phone. Stay tuned - another life changing experience. 

Senate Hearing on Iran Sanctions at the Dirksen Building

We took our friends from Milwaukee to a senate hearing a few weeks ago when they were here in DC visiting. Before and since then we always look for various programs to attend during the week to get out and about, and may be even learn something to boot. Generally we go to the Library of Congress for programs and topics that we find interesting. Lately there have been a few about Madison, and the last one was about the presidents and the relationship they had with their children which was really good. So yesterday we decided to head to the Senate Dirksen building to observe the hearing about the Iran sanctions. All I can say is that it looks a lot more impressive on tv than in real life.  It was well attended, but the people who were supposed to be listening and asking questions kept leaving, particularly when they were finished with their turn. So the same questions were asked by several people because they weren't around to hear either. Some people showed up just to make a point and storm out of the room. As an observer there were a lot of flaws in this process. Makes me wonder if this is all for show. Oh - I forgot where I live! 

Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing

Having company from out of town gives us an excuse to see and do things we may not typically do. So we looked at the Senate and a House hearings to see if there might be an interesting topic to hear. Really the idea is to go to the office building and see how the hearings feel and sound apart from the news or CSpan. The armed services committee hearing was scheduled for this morning at 9:30 AM. Because the weather has been so uncooperative this week, we drove over and found parking near the Hart Office Building. After passing through the magnetometer, we headed to the second floor to the hearing room. It obviously wasn't as busy as the major appointment hearings we have attended, but was interesting all the same. Things always look different when you see things up close and personal. For a lot of reasons we just are not impressed by any of it - but still is a great way to spend time with our visitors. Since we had a full schedule of things to do, we left after an hour and found our way to our favorite breakfast spot. So far, so good!