When I Was A Kid...

no, wait I still do that.

Wednesday's Digressions

• When the headline to an article says, "He Is Not A Monster Say The Parents Of... "I am more than sure he actually is a monster but they cannot bear to say so.
• When we see a a headline that says, "Unarmed Teen Shot By Police..." it is probably highly revealing to ask, An 80 lb kid who turned 13 two months ago and was minding his own business riding his bike in his front yard or a a 6 foot 3 inch tall 230 pound guy who is two months away from being 20 and has a record as long as his arm and was actively involved in a crime at the time of his demise? Maybe neither picture of the dead person is true (or even matters) in any particular case but an attempt is being made to manipulate you into believing something by the title alone that may or may not be true- you have to do something to mitigate that and open your mind.
• When Tony Wilson signed Joy Division's contract he did so in his own blood.
• That is metal. 
• The first 3 points all started with, "when" making this post a when, when, when  kind of situation I suppose.
  

  

  Some hipster imagined he/she lived in Austin for a minute and had to go all political on Magnolia in Fort Worth

• Stroszek is an amazing movie by Werner Herzog.
• On a documentary running in the background a moment ago a scientist when speaking of the extinction of Neanderthal man said to the effect, Why did they disappear approx 49,000 years ago? It is obvious humans were responsible- we appeared about the same time. Not only is that ridiculous from a standpoint of reason- he might have been manifesting some odd guilt.
• Causality and correlation blows a lot of peoples minds.

  

  Just off downtown Fort Worth. I am curious as to how this building will be viewed in 20 years.

• In the misspent days of my ute I spent some time at Fort Gordon Georgia. Some of the buildings and the tents used for field exercises were heated by coal. My memory of that has been doubted when I related it in the past- I shoveled too much of said coal to have misremembered how, to whom and when that happened though.
• A connected thought: In Germany all the buildings were heated with coal and we had an elderly German man who wore all black and would go around and feed coal into the furnaces. He was a nice guy who spoke a bit of English. He had a heart attack while I was there. He smelled like sausage, stink sweat and cigarettes.
• It is impossible to overstate how drones will permeate and affect our lives from now on.
  

  

  I still love this pic taken at the overlook on Mineral Wells SP Lake

Bugalistic Moment

Egg sac of a garden spider, they are the big yellow and black ones that make the huge webs. Totally harmless to humans and beneficial as pest removers.

Happy New Yearrrrrrz

• I had a wonderful time for New Years Eve and in fact went to two parties with wonderful, amazing people.
• A lot of the talk centered around one woman's big fake boobs. The talk, woman and presumably boobs were the same as last year. It was funny though.
• Bewbs.
• We played Mexican Train dominoes. I don't know how/why Mexican figured in there- it seemed maybe a way to be vaguely and/or humorously racist but I could be wrong. It was complicated enough to be fun and challenging without being overwhelming or ridiculous.



So yeah- it involved a tiny locomotive and what could wrong with that?.

• An odd flashback: In nursing school a nursing home patient was a tough nut to crack. One of the guys in my class drew him for direct care and making care plans etc. To try and reach him he would play dominoes with him after he discovered it was something the patient really missed. The patient was a machine at the game. It was awe inspiring. I recall after just a few moves the patient would say, We might as well quit and start a new hand.  Why? my classmate would ask genuinely puzzled. With what I'm seeing in play, have in my hand and knowing the way you play and guessing what you have and what is in the bone pile- no matter what I'll win this hand.
• The female host's dog hates men and the neurotic beast would gnaw at my ankle if it sensed my foot getting too close to her mistress.



Not the ankle biter. I called this one George Jones as it looked like a possum.



Another canine in the house- also not the ankle biter. A terrible pic but a good dog. He is old and fat and cool. His name is Shooter. He digs ear scratches, eating tasty people food and sleeping by the fire. All you lady dogs he is available. Just click on the pic to contact him (just kidding- he is a confirmed bachelor).

• My lack of commitment is rubbing off on FG's friends: they serious-teased me about us getting married.
• There were recently deceased deer in the garages of both homes. They both died of a very fast acting lead poisoning.
• One mounted deer head I saw was a big whitetail buck that was shot out of a herd of 10 doe mule deer. The guesstimate is he was 6 years old at the time of his demise. I wonder what was making him shack up with the mule deer? It may be a common thing, I have no idea but I have never heard of it happening and wonder if the company he was keeping played into his longevity. He was ranged at 300 yards by my friend and taken down by a .300 Winchester Magnum. I know 300 yards?! Come on- it was probably more like 80- maybe. Nah, I believe him. After the jolt of the recoil all he could see was the does kicking up rooster tails as they split the scene. He was afraid he missed and the buck was heading for the next county with the does. The guy he was with said, Nah, he didn't move an inch. and handing the shooter his spotting scope said, See his feet up in the air? When they made their way to him he was lying on his back with his legs straight up in the air with Xs across his eyes as his spirit floated upward towards the clouds while playing a harp like a cartoon dead animal.
• Well, the last couple of things may not have been true to the scene but you get the idea.



FG's crunk cup.

• As it also happened last year we watched bad weather roll in and strategized about how to get home alive while still milking the evening for all  it was worth.                                .
• We ate pizza at one house and then at the next there was the hugest ham I have ever seen in my life. I mean really- I don't know why I didn't take a picture but wish I had. It was ginormagantuan.
• The second home had the largest television I guess I have ever seen in a private residence. I have no idea how large it is as every time the subject of it came up the guy host would add a few (or several) inches to the size.
• I sang and danced to this in front of FG. She laughed.



Not New Years but looks fun




Whoa, that is some big air



• Well, welcome to the new year. I'll assure you- this one will be both better and worse than the old.
• Good luck.

Things Your Doctor Won't Tell You

• If paying cash you can negotiate in most cases 25% or more off the cost of an office visit. It's not rude or unprofessional in the least to ask.




• Being a doc is nothing like he thought it would be when he started knuckling down on science classes when he was in high school with an eye toward medical school acceptance.




• You're not necessarily right if he folds on an idea you brought up by starting with, I read on the Internet...- he just hasn't the time or energy to argue with you over something you should probably trust his judgement over anyway.




• He assumes you'll lie over pretty much anything.




• A urinary tract infection in an otherwise healthy adult is a STD (now being referred to more correctly as a STI sexually transmitted Infection).




• When he says, We could test for______ but, I'm sure it's ______ He means, I know after seeing 10,000 cases of ______ that's what we're dealing with however, if I don't offer this test it could haunt me in a lawsuit...




• Many new, sexy and expensive drugs you'll demand after reading something on the Internet are no more effective than the cheaper, proven gold standard meds the new one is wanting to replace- it's just cheaper for him to not argue with you nor even attempt to educate.




• You won't change your behaviour- essentially no one does- so yes, you'll get a script for virtually any problem you present with to his office.




• When he leaves the exam room for an extended amount of time and returns with some samples- he was pretty sure of his instincts for his diagnosis however, he wanted to check the Merck manual or even call a more experienced buddy on the issue to be sure.




• In most cases if he has the guts to tell you to lose some weight- add 20% (or more) to the figure he recommends.




• The squeaky wheel does get the grease.




• Due to this and all the ninnies who wear the docs down with, I read on the Internet...  and demand this or that treatment or test- if you're stoic and don't ham it up real well- something could get missed.




• 70+ percent of all our medical woes would simply go away if we: managed our chronic diseases, ate like we had some sense, drank more water and exercised.




• Although the consumer will consistently report feeling that docs don't spend enough time with their patients- in 90% (or more?) of cases he can correctly diagnose and recommend a course of treatment in 10 minutes or less.




• In most cases if you can't trust him- there was no reason to visit him in the first place. He does not want to get in over his head.




• A female doc is no more likely to catch problems in a female patient and studies have demonstrated just the opposite.




• Unless a dermatologist he will often have no clue what he's looking at with a skin problem- without dragging out a reference book.




• Even a dermatologist is often making an educated guess at a course of treatment with a skin problem.




• In an E.D. on a Friday night the physician now attending your child just treated: a gunshot wound, two people extensively damaged in a motorcycle wreck, a teen overdosed on heroin, a suicide attempt, etc. and your child appears to have a fever and cough? It will be a pat on the head and, You're a new mom- don't worry. Give her Tylenol and ... . In these situations something could get missed. Children aren't small adults- in anything you think may be an emergency, take your child to a children's hospital if at all possible- especially on weekend nights.

Monday's Missives

• My nursing buddy can be be sarcastically passive aggressive and I'm never completely sure if he means it or not. and maybe that part is his intention
• A very short, slightly hot lady in a tall Jeep yielded to me in traffic this morning (08/13/2014). That is rare- normally I would expect that combination to lead to some aggressiveness.
• She yielded to me. Ha!
• A guy behind me yesterday was listening to the TICKET and was obviously so as he laughed only when Gordon said something funny.
• A woman in a new Volvo C60 was later listening to the EDGE. I know she was listening to it because I could read her lips as she misspoke the words she sang along to the song we were both listening to but her dancing was good and with the beat.
• An old patient crossed my mind this morning. He was an interesting study in how we view each other and how we interact. When we first saw him we gave him bad news and he became fiercely angry- literally in a rage. He was for some odd reason brought to my office to deal with. I felt small and weak. If asked, I would have guessed him to be 6 feet tall or even 6'3" and very muscular. When he was calm and I saw him later he was obviously only 5' 9" or even a bit shorter and had some old prison muscle but wasn't completely jacked.
• For some reason during my commute this morning an old girlfriend crossed my mind although that hardly ever happens. Years after I lost contact with her I was in some place I probably shouldn't have been and talking to some guy I normally would not. Oh, you're from _________? I knew a girl from there. She owned the _______________________  I said. You're talking about ________  _________ he replied. Whoa I said. Yeah, thats right. How do you know her? She was friends with my brother and sister in law (It was something like that at least) he replied. As soon as he said it I knew it to be a true-lie. He didn't want any trouble in case I was still holding on or whatever. He had been with her after me I'm sure and had been introduced to her by the aforementioned brother and sister in law. I asked if he knew how she was. Oh, uh-  did you know she had cancer? Her cancer came back and she died a couple of years ago.
• I know I've mentioned those last two thoughts on here before (although not sure if they published yet) it will be interesting to see how the details compare if I ever come across them again.
• A recent patient reported having sexual contact at 12 years of age. Nothing shocks me anymore but that doesn't mean it does not sadden me.
• A huge tomb has been unearthed in Greece.
• Most conspiracy theories are nonsense but one that intrigues me are those that suggest civilizations such as ancient Egyptian et al are much older than has been accepted.

My Brother In Laws

dog ugly dog. I call her Ugly Dogg- or Ugs for short. It hurts her feelings. I do it to strengthen her character and thereby build her personality- since that's all she has in this world really.