Being Eight

Whenever I have to have serious dental work done, I feel as if I'm an eight year old kid again about to be scolded.  Even when I reluctantly admit to myself that it's mostly not my fault - does anyone floss as well as dentists would like? - I still dread it.

Right now I have two things coming up. Turns out that the reason I've felt strange around one tooth is that a huge filling is about to pop out; the dentist wants to cap it, which sounds right to me - even though I remember that that was how all of my problems with my upper teeth started; one day its just a cap on one tooth, then the thing comes off twice (once over a three day holiday); later, the dentist says yeah, you're going to need an implant there, remarking that he was surprised that I'd kept the cap as long as I did. You mean they're not forever? And you knew that? And didn't tell me? And then the you're going to need an implant there morphs into lets just pull them all and put in implants. Two years, it took to do that.

I mentioned to the dentist, a while back, that I really expected to eventually need dentures and/or implants on the bottom, too, and he tugged on my teeth, then said no, I don't think you will.   Which leads into this: while they were taking xrays of that tooth, they got the one next to it, too,  the one that occasionally aches for no apparent reason, and the dentist said Well, you've got some infection under that tooth, and you've already had a root canal done there, so I think you need to have an implant put in.

See the progression?


Which is where I start to feel like an eight year old again. And I just want to hide.

Bond vs Bond

Music

And people say chamber music isn't accessible.....

Found here.

Captain....QUI?

Found here.

Zen Pencils

Mal de Dent

A couple of months ago, I had a filling come out.  When the guy replaced it, he remarked that it was pretty big, and if it had problems, he'd want to put a cap on the tooth.  Okay, no problem (though I know from sad experience where that can lead). 

About a week ago, I started to have intermittant pain in the tooth next to that.  After a few days where it would come and go, I went back and had him look at it.  He had all sorts of good news. First, the filling was coming out, and yes, he did want to do the cap. (That always sounds so lightweight!)  But the xray also showed the tooth next to it, and, hey, is that some infection down there, under it?

So now I'm getting an implant there.  Which is no big deal, really - speaking as someone who's got a full upper row of them (though now I know that even though there are seven implants up there, only two are actually 'in use'; delightful.  I paid for that. ) - but it means I get to go to two dentists a total of five times, if I'm lucky. Twice for the cap.  Three times for the implant.  The first is particularly cool -- it's a 'consult', which I think is dentist-speak for 'here's a chance for me to make you pay for the time I take to tell you that yeah, you need an implant'. And possibly lay a load of guilt on you, at the same time.

Have I mentioned how much I hate dentists?

Clothing

Now that's an awesome brother....

Wiring

Several months ago, we noticed that the cordless phone, whose base is plugged into a kitchen socket, was having static problems -- sometimes, severe static problems.  Another phone, plugged into a socket in a different room for the same phone number, did not have problems. At first, we thought that the problem was with the phone itself -- the other phone being plugged in was a regular landline handset - but after plugging the landline handset into the kitchen socket -- static -- and the cordless base into the other socket - no static - we concluded that it must be something to do with the physical wire from the junction box to the kitchen socket.

I just poked my head into the attic crawlspace. Oh yeah, I forgot - , we have layer of blown-in insulation up there. We suspect that when the guys were doing that, they did something to that wire.  So, we think, replace the wire.  How hard can that be?

When we had the kitchen remoded, I got to go up into the attic, pull the wire across the rafters, and drop it down into the channel where the new socket would be.  It wasn't easy, but it wasn't incredibly difficult.  Now I'm fifteen years older, twenty pounds - easily - heavier, and much less limber. Plus, of course, there is blown-in insulation everywhere.

I am sure that it's possible.  Got any trained chimps?

Crowded

I dislike crowds.  But there are times.....

Rollins

You wouldn't think that someone who looks like this would be both funny and terrifically insightful.

He is, in fact, both. And well worth an evening of your time.  If you have the chance to listen to the thoughts of a nationally known politician, or listen to the ramblings of Henry Rollins.... choose Henry.  No kidding. His Capitalism tour is amazing.

Prep

I'm starting to assume that Romney is going to win, and wondering what that will mean for my future.  Outside of the obvious ha you just THOUGHT you were going to get the same health care as the rest of the world!!!

Yeah, except that.  

Safety

This, from the Not Always Right series of sites, is a good example of what I see as a well-motivated but poorly thought out idea.  That you can't take a picture in a public area of your own child....stupid.

Children’s water play park
Buckinghamshire - England
the water park i work at has a strict, no photography rule while at work i see a man standing next to one of our signs with a digital camera, so i approach him..
ME. Sorry sir you cant take photos here,
MAN. Why not?
ME. its a privacy issue, other parents might not like it if you get their children in the background
MAN. okay
(2 minutes later i see said man with his camera out again and i approach him again)
ME. Sorry sir i’ve told you once already, you cant take photo’s here
MAN. i’m not, look
(he shows me the screen of the camera to show me that he’s not taking photos … he’s filming. i have to explain that he is not allowed to film either)

Valve

I wish that I was smart enough to work at Valve.

A Measured Reflection

I am simply amazed that, once again, significant numbers of my fellow citizens -- or, as I like to think of them in this case, idiots, though lemmings works, too - are once again thinking that yes, conservative policies will make their lives better.  That the efforts to save the country from the effects of the last conservative administration were worthless -- the revitalization of Detroit, the saving of banks from foreclosure, the maintenance of Wall Street, all of it.  And of course, that the idea that insurance companies should be allowed to decide what to cover, and what not, just, as the saying goes, when you need them the most -- yes, that, too. They are not just simply drinking the Kool-Aid, they're bathing in it.  Those who bathe, anyway.

Its possible that Obama will win.  I hope he does.  If there is any justice in the world, he will. And if he does, I hope he takes a leaf from Romney's playbook -- and shafts those bastards.

Bodyform

So...

Guess who is spending four of the next six days in a hotel in Virginia, visiting his daughter?  Guess who woke up with a might be/could be/hope not toothache?  Guess whose dentist is out of town for five days?

Guess who, on an upcoming road trip, is taking a big bottle of Advil, and Thinking Good Thoughts?

Doing the Math

I think the part I like the best is his expression when he says the very last thing.

Surprised

Found here.

Young Yoda

The Corps

It now appears that my daughter may stick with the Corps for the full year.  Apparently, things are better now, and she's noticed that upperclassmen seem generally happier than freshmen, so hanging around to become one -- which, technically, you are for the last month of freshman year - is not out of the question.

I am astounded.

Franch

How weird is it that I enjoy reading books about French grammar, but I really don't 'get' much of what they're saying? Yeah..I think so too. Does that stop me?  Heh.

Are you addressing me?

Jingle

Did you think of the Budweiser jingle, too?

Mitt<>Mitt

snark

Watching Obama's projected lead shrinking.... feeling hyperglum as I see health care slipping away. 

Um...Thanks?

This is, of course, a parody.  Never happens.  In either direction.

Now you see it...

Driving home from the college yesterday, my daughter realized that her phone would not turn on.  This afternoon, we took her to get a new battery installed.

This evening, she lost the phone.  We think it's within a quarter mile of the house.  We think.

Cheering

Some cheer squads are better than others.

Sticky

This story comes from Not Always Right, and it happens in France.  It could have happened anywhere, I know, and if it had happened to me, I wouldn't have been as pleased as I am now, reading it.  Still, I like it.


(Supermarket | Montpellier, France)
(At the checkout counter, a mother and her son are behind an elderly lady in line. The kid keeps bumping on the elderly lady with their shopping cart.)
Elderly Lady: “Excuse me, young lady, could you please tell your son to stop pushing your cart on me?”
Mother: “No way! You must not upset children! That’s how they get traumatized!”
(The mother indeed does nothing to stop her son. Suddenly, another customer—young man standing in line behind them—takes a jar of jam, opens it, and pours it on the mother’s head.)
Mother: *shocked and dripping with jam* “Are you CRAZY? What the h*** are you doing?”
Young Man: “Listen, lady. You see, I was also raised like this, with no limits. I did everything and whatever I wanted… and I still do!”
(The mother quickly leaves the store with her son, angry and covered with jam. For the record, the elderly lady insisted to pay for the jam.)

Awesomeness

(This is lifted directly from PVP because it is so awesome.)

It’s been a year since Steve Jobs convinced the world he died even though I know that he’s secretly alive and creating a glass and titanium space station where his chosen will be called to join him shortly. The rest of you, condemned to live outthe rest of your life on earth, should try to remember that Steve Jobs never compromised and always lived his life on his own terms. He set out to “put a dent in the universe” and he did it by destroying anyone that got in his way. That dent, I’m told, is viewable from our new orbital utopia and I can’t wait to see it.

Fishy

" My fish died when I wasn’t home. Asked my cousin to give him a proper flushing. 

She sent me this."

Found here.

Wallpaper

BTW....

Owning a Canadian

This is several years old, but I still like it.

Minor Point

We've been trying to go to the local gym every couple of days.  We don't do a lot - perhaps 20 minutes -- but we do it consistantly.  We missed the last two days due to travel and other committments, so we went today.

I did 20 minutes on the eliptical alone, at a higher rate than I've been going, and then I cooled down on the treadmill for another 10 minutes.  I am mildly pleased.

Just Sayin'....

Found here.

Want my Cornbread?

Intrigued by the difference of attitude between the parents of college students (corps of cadets)  who've just completed a long hike (~10 miles) and the students themselves.  The parents are all yee-hah, outstanding, so very proud, go for it;   the students are more subdued, laconic.  Course, they could just be tired, or maybe they just don't want to be seen agreeing with their parents.  My daughter said MREs aren't all that bad, but "don't eat the cornbread - it's nasty!"

Hulking

From the Unshelved strip.

Wheelin'

I once had a coworker who had had polio as a child, and who, consequently, lived in a wheel-chair during the day and an iron lung at night. (I didn't even know that iron lungs were still in use.  Or even if they were still called that. ) 

His motorized wheel chair had two batteries -- one to power the chair, one to power a breather apparatus.  One day, a coworker came back in from the parking lot and said he was calling AAA because his car battery was dead.  I suggested that my other friend motor on out and use one of his batteries to start the second guy's car.  He would of course, have to either immobilize his chair or 'frog-breathe' while this was going on. The second guy was aghast, but the guy in the chair thought it was pretty funny.

The chair had two speeds.  We called the second 'turbo', but it really wasn't all that fast.  We wanted him to buy a Saab wheelchair, which he said would  go faster.  Not as fast as we wanted, though - we thought he should have a chair that, when he hit turbo, would rock back and have flame shoot out the rear.  Now that, we thought, would be cool.

But that was before I saw these.  In particular, the Boss Hoss.