Well, maybe not all wet, but NASA confirms that there is water on Mars.
It's no earth-shaking announcement, but it is interesting.
That's all for now. I've been pretty tired lately, I'll try to post more in the future.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Whatshisname
All right, here's a quick test.
Name the three major credit reporting agencies.
I bet you missed one.
Name the actors who played the Magnificent Seven*.
I bet you missed one, and it was the big guy who was sure there was gold there.
Are there other groups of things where the same one is always missed? I can't think of any others myself right now.
There should be a name for this phenomenon.
* I love a good Horst Bucholz movie.
Name the three major credit reporting agencies.
I bet you missed one.
Name the actors who played the Magnificent Seven*.
I bet you missed one, and it was the big guy who was sure there was gold there.
Are there other groups of things where the same one is always missed? I can't think of any others myself right now.
There should be a name for this phenomenon.
* I love a good Horst Bucholz movie.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
July 27th, 2005, revisited
Three years ago today I called in sick to work.
In 20+ years as a professional I know I called in sick at least once when I wasn’t, maybe twice, but I didn’t make a habit of it. When I called in sick I was sick and I had certain criteria for doing it. If I were too sick to function well and actually work, or if I was too sick to safely get to or from work, or if I had a fever (which had to be high enough to feel like I had one before I even checked it anyway) I would consider calling in sick legitimate. There were times when I felt too sick to work, or when I was just sick but not really bad, that I went in anyway. If I got anyone else sick on those occasions I apologize.
I bring this up because there are those times when you wonder if people at work really believe that you are sick or if they think you just want a day or two off. When I called in it was late July, the weather was nice, and some may have thought that I just wanted to get out of work for a while. It was a Wednesday, so I could get a few days out of it. Like I said, I didn’t do that sort of thing, but the thought has crossed my mind.
I guess if anybody thought I was slacking off they that time changed their minds. Sometimes I put it as: I called in sick and never went back.
There’s something related that I, in my darkly humored way, find funny. After a certain number of days, my work, reasonably, wanted a doctor’s note explaining what was going on. I saw the form that my wife sent in to work to confirm that I was too sick to be there. There’s a space on it for the doctor to fill in the reason. The doctor wrote in “Critically ill”. I guess that’s a good reason.
Also, some time after I got home from the hospital, I was going through my email and I came across some from the 27th or the 28th, I don’t remember at this point. Apparently people at work were looking for some information about a project and they got in touch with me about it. As most people at work did, when I was home sick I still took calls and answered email and sometimes even worked from home. What I found funny was that I was being asked questions, and people were accepting my answers, but looking back on it with perspective I realized that at the time I had a fever of at least 102 and climbing. I hope I was giving them the right information.
Anyway, that struck me as funny as well. I told you I had a sick (pun intended) sense of humor.
In 20+ years as a professional I know I called in sick at least once when I wasn’t, maybe twice, but I didn’t make a habit of it. When I called in sick I was sick and I had certain criteria for doing it. If I were too sick to function well and actually work, or if I was too sick to safely get to or from work, or if I had a fever (which had to be high enough to feel like I had one before I even checked it anyway) I would consider calling in sick legitimate. There were times when I felt too sick to work, or when I was just sick but not really bad, that I went in anyway. If I got anyone else sick on those occasions I apologize.
I bring this up because there are those times when you wonder if people at work really believe that you are sick or if they think you just want a day or two off. When I called in it was late July, the weather was nice, and some may have thought that I just wanted to get out of work for a while. It was a Wednesday, so I could get a few days out of it. Like I said, I didn’t do that sort of thing, but the thought has crossed my mind.
I guess if anybody thought I was slacking off they that time changed their minds. Sometimes I put it as: I called in sick and never went back.
There’s something related that I, in my darkly humored way, find funny. After a certain number of days, my work, reasonably, wanted a doctor’s note explaining what was going on. I saw the form that my wife sent in to work to confirm that I was too sick to be there. There’s a space on it for the doctor to fill in the reason. The doctor wrote in “Critically ill”. I guess that’s a good reason.
Also, some time after I got home from the hospital, I was going through my email and I came across some from the 27th or the 28th, I don’t remember at this point. Apparently people at work were looking for some information about a project and they got in touch with me about it. As most people at work did, when I was home sick I still took calls and answered email and sometimes even worked from home. What I found funny was that I was being asked questions, and people were accepting my answers, but looking back on it with perspective I realized that at the time I had a fever of at least 102 and climbing. I hope I was giving them the right information.
Anyway, that struck me as funny as well. I told you I had a sick (pun intended) sense of humor.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
July 26th, 2005, revisited
Three years ago today I started to feel sick.
My wife and I had taken the cats to the vet for a routine visit. We left the vet late in the day, but it was still light out. The sun was low in the sky, but the sky was still blue, the clouds lit from beneath in that nice burnished orange from the setting sun. It had been a warm, somewhat humid summer day, and the sky was full of clouds. I can see that image in my head.
As we left the vet and loaded up the car with cats, I was feeling sick. Nothing too bad, just a little weak and a little light-headed. I was hoping that I was just tired, but I knew that I was probably sick. So, since my head wasn’t very clear, I asked my wife to drive home and I got in on the passenger side. There was nothing remarkable about the day at that point. I don’t really remember anything else from that day, and I wouldn’t expect to. It was just a Tuesday night.
Nothing remarkable at the time but as I sit here typing this I am beginning to shake. I have been trying to get my head around what happened to me, and lately I have been doing better at examining things more closely, as a personal experience and not just an abstract memory. The better I get at that the harder it is to face.
It is hard to accept that I almost died. It is even harder to try to accept it. I need to face this and I do not want to. I should go on and work this out, but I can’t. I don’t want to deal with the consequences right this minute. I’m going to stop now.
My wife and I had taken the cats to the vet for a routine visit. We left the vet late in the day, but it was still light out. The sun was low in the sky, but the sky was still blue, the clouds lit from beneath in that nice burnished orange from the setting sun. It had been a warm, somewhat humid summer day, and the sky was full of clouds. I can see that image in my head.
As we left the vet and loaded up the car with cats, I was feeling sick. Nothing too bad, just a little weak and a little light-headed. I was hoping that I was just tired, but I knew that I was probably sick. So, since my head wasn’t very clear, I asked my wife to drive home and I got in on the passenger side. There was nothing remarkable about the day at that point. I don’t really remember anything else from that day, and I wouldn’t expect to. It was just a Tuesday night.
Nothing remarkable at the time but as I sit here typing this I am beginning to shake. I have been trying to get my head around what happened to me, and lately I have been doing better at examining things more closely, as a personal experience and not just an abstract memory. The better I get at that the harder it is to face.
It is hard to accept that I almost died. It is even harder to try to accept it. I need to face this and I do not want to. I should go on and work this out, but I can’t. I don’t want to deal with the consequences right this minute. I’m going to stop now.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Assholes
Just like health insurance companies decree that anyone can be healed after 10 visits for physical therapy, my long-term disability insurance company has decided that I can return to work.
Yep, apparently I can go back to work because there isn't really anything wrong with me. Just like that I'm all better. All they have to do is decide that I can work and suddenly I can work.
Assholes. Do they really think I'm doing this because it's fun? Just because it's hard to understand what's wrong with me doesn't mean that there isn't something wrong with me. Looks like I'm not the only one in denial.
Yep, apparently I can go back to work because there isn't really anything wrong with me. Just like that I'm all better. All they have to do is decide that I can work and suddenly I can work.
Assholes. Do they really think I'm doing this because it's fun? Just because it's hard to understand what's wrong with me doesn't mean that there isn't something wrong with me. Looks like I'm not the only one in denial.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Cough, wheeze
Hey guess what. I have asthma!
Ain’t that great?
I had a breathing study done a little while ago and the doctor decided to test for asthma. I passed, or failed, or whatever. Now I get to try new medications: Asmanex and Singulair.
Interestingly, my primary care doctor just gave me a prescription for Singulair. I think he was going to give me Asmanex (he mentioned an inhaled steroid but not by name), but decided to use the Singulair instead. I have to ask him about that. At the time he didn’t know about the asthma, he just thought it would help my breathing.
Anyway, I just thought I’d post the new info.
Also, today I hit doctor visit #17 since the end of May. Yipee.
Ain’t that great?
I had a breathing study done a little while ago and the doctor decided to test for asthma. I passed, or failed, or whatever. Now I get to try new medications: Asmanex and Singulair.
Interestingly, my primary care doctor just gave me a prescription for Singulair. I think he was going to give me Asmanex (he mentioned an inhaled steroid but not by name), but decided to use the Singulair instead. I have to ask him about that. At the time he didn’t know about the asthma, he just thought it would help my breathing.
Anyway, I just thought I’d post the new info.
Also, today I hit doctor visit #17 since the end of May. Yipee.
Hoarse, but still a cat
Just a quick update to say that the oppressed cat who was dragged to the vet is doing OK. He made himself hoarse complaining so much in the car, but he is otherwise OK. He hates taking pills, but he's not violent about it. So things should be good with him, we'll just keep an eye out for any more problems. Right now he's asleep on the bed.
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