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Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Skin Cancer

My kids finished up their school year today.  Ideally, this means they'll be spending more time outside in the sun - which means:  sunscreen.  My wife and I are adamant that our kids wear sunscreen.

Listen up:  I'd like to ask you to always wear sunscreen when you're out in the elements.  If you have kids, please force them to wear sunscreen (don't give them an option, and get them to develop the habit early).

You see, 6 years ago this month, I was diagnosed with skin cancer - malignant melanoma.  Melanoma accounts for about 4% of skin cancer cases, but it causes about 79% of skin cancer deaths.  Melanoma is a scary type of cancer because it spreads so quickly - but treatment is quite successful if you catch it early.  The farther along the cancer is when you find it, the lower your odds of living for more than 5 years, as this table shows:

Stage

5-year relative survival rate

0

97%

I

90% to 95%

II

85% to 44%

III

45%

IV

10%

This is one time procrastination will not do you any favors.  I was lucky - I was at Stage I when I was diagnosed and treated.  Since my skin cancer, a rogue mole, hadn't spread or gotten too deep, they were able to cut it out. 

I have a pretty gnarly scar right in the middle of my chest where they removed the cancer.  It's pretty large since they also have to remove "clear margins," which means they remove all skin within 1 inch of the cancer site. One inch around, and one inch deep.  Not fun, but it beats the alternative. 

I've made it past 5 years, obviously, so I'm in good shape.  Nonetheless, I am a high-risk subject for skin cancer.  And I've left that nifty legacy to my kids, so they are automatically at high risk.

Did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body? It's true.  And, did you know that any sunburns you experience as a child are believed to increase your risk of skin cancer for the rest of your life?

Skin cancer is treatable, but the best news is that it's preventable.  Start with prevention, which involves wearing sunscreen and hats to protect your skin, and wearing UV-blocking sunglasses to protect your eyes (yes, the sun can cause cancer in your eyes).   Sunscreen is cheap and easy to find, and you should wear SPF 30 or better.

And, by the way, you can get sunburned even when it's cloudy - better safe than sorry.

Tomorrow, I'll write about what to watch for so you can recognize skin cancer.  Meanwhile, if you're curious, you can find out more at the American Cancer Society's web site.

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Paypal or rewarding credit cards?

Slackmaster Bren has some Paypal tricks to share, along with the reasons he like to use Paypal. For example, he likes to use Paypal to buy stuff on iTunes.

While I like Paypal, I tend to use it only for eBay purchases. In most other cases, I use credit cards that earn some kind of reward points. I don't carry a balance so I don't mind putting things on a card just so I can earn points or air miles Just as Bren's earned a few things about Paypal, I'd like to share a few observations on the rewards points side of the equation.

Air Miles Cards - Air Miles cards are a great way to earn miles that you can later cash in for "free" airline tickets, upgrades, etc. Some considerations:

  • Bulk up the easy way. These cards can be especially lucrative if you take advantage with the associated airline's "specials." Many airlines will offer bonus miles for things like booking online with the card, dining out at specific restaurants, shopping at certain stores, etc. - if you plan to spend the money anyway, this is an easy way to get more miles.
  • Use the card enough to offset the fee. If you are going to keep the card in your wallet and not spend much on it, these "loyalty" cards may not be a good deal for you since they often have higher annual fees than non-air miles cards. You'll need to earn (and use) the miles to offset the fee.
  • Elites can "waive" goodbye to their fees. Many airline cards will waive your annual fee if you reach one of their elite levels in their mileage program. This is a nice perk - look for it.
  • Airline hoppers may get diminishing returns. If you fly several different airlines (or a different airline for business and leisure) a loyalty card that is tied to a specific airline may be a pain. If, for example, you fly United a lot for business but always go on vacation to a city where United doesn't fly, you may have a tough time using your airmiles to reduce your vacation travel costs. Note: If the two airlines you frequent are partners, you may be able to transfer miles from one to the other, but look before you leap.
  • Beware the mileage cap. Last year, I favored my United Mileage Plus Visa, but I found out I missed out on something like 40,000 air miles because I hit their annual cap on earning miles around September because I was operating under the mistaken assumption that the mileage cap didn't apply to "United 1K 100,000 mile" members. I didn't realize my mistake until end of November. This year, I'm using a Rewards Point card instead.
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Enjoy - that has “joy” in it, right?

"How can I bring laughter into the lives of others facing adversity?"I'm a fan of Raj Setty's blog , and I really like the "Quought" series he's started. A Quought is essentially a thought-provoking question, and he's asked a bunch of people to provide them.

This weekend, I read a Quought that I really liked a lot - provided by Christine Clifford Beckwith:

"How can I bring laughter into the lives of others facing adversity?"

This hit home with me because I think we make a huge difference in others lives when we do things to make them happy. Even little things can make a difference.

On a related note, this reminded me of something I overheard at my kids' school a couple of years ago. One kid in the class was making fun of one of the other kids in the class, and the teacher told him: "<name>, please stop that. At this school, we don't steal other people's joy."

Thanks for sharing your Quoughts, Raj.

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Get to the point

Got a presentation or message to deliver? Get to the point. To get the message to a more "crisp" state, here is a tip that helps me:

If the message, slide deck, or document is running too long, I pretend I have to deliver the message in half the time. I then go through a process that goes something like this:

  1. Decide on 3 to 5 main points you want your audience to remember.
  2. Print out the content (working from hard copy helps for the next step).
  3. Go through the content and highlight key points.
  4. Discard any content that is not essential to delivering and supporting your 3-5 points.
  5. If you find any points that don't directly support the main points, but you feel they are too important to delete:
    • Use the "So what?" test to figure out whether each point warrants an exception, or whether I feel compelled to add another main point.

It pays to be aggressive during this process, particularly when you identify and remove embellishments, non-critical modifiers, and other "fluff" from the message.

You, your message, and your audience will all benefit from this approach..

Related items:

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Smashed up cars in the snow

We had an unexpected snow storm here in Portland today, and it meant dangerous driving conditions. The big entertainment today amongst our local newscasters is watching a video captured by one of their viewers showing a bunch of cars behaving like bumper cars on the slick, snowy streets.

Check it out here - you'll get a feel for what I saw on my commute today!
[Note - the site is getting lots of traffic so if you don't see it, try again in a little while]
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Copyright 2005-2015 Dwayne A. Melancon, all rights reserved. Licensed under Creative Commons - see the "About the Author" page for details.