The Buckeyes kicked off this evening and look very sharp. With the exception of a special teams miscue–everything is running like a well oiled machine.
Pryor appears to have grown and matured as a QB. The Buckeyes speed is also markedly improved.
The power of the sweater vest continues…
There were a couple of things that came together this AM to make me quite angry at work this morning.
Granted, my mood lightened as the day went on–but I still had a bit of a chip on my shoulder for a certain thing. No biggie.
Finally got a copy of the lab results from my visit in July to the Endocrinologist (which left me less than satisfied). The numbers, with the exception of my vitamin D levels disappointed me quite a bit–and I’ll have to look into how to address those.
Back to Football!
Thursday night college football–eh…
But when it means the start of tOSU’s season….let’s get the scarlet and gray apparel out, the sweater vest on, and it’s time for some football!
Woohoo!
/tSUN still sucks
In the past there were legends like:
“Scarface”, “Machine-gun”, Mugsy, “Sammy the Bull”, “King Blood”, etc.
However, Mexico had a gangster nicknamed: “The Barbie”
Ken was not available for comment….
The Sister was actually home last night and had on the Emmys. The Sister seems to like keeping the TV volume up rather high, so I could hear it in my room. No biggie. I barely watch network TV, so I didn’t really know what most of the shows winning awards were. Let me rephrase that, I know of them but I doubt that I’ve watched them.
At one point during the commercials, an ad for United Healthcare ran. It featured people lamenting how they always have to fill out the same kind of paperwork at different doctors offices.
I groaned.
True, the paperwork is a pain for both the patient and the office staff (the latter having to try and get the patients to complete the forms)> Alas, they’re somewhat necessary (registration, privacy rules, etc)–but still a pain.
The commercial seemed to be hinting at an electronic repository of sorts of information that would be available to all providers. That would be nice from a providers standpoint. Alas, it also alluded to the idea of seamless EMR intergration.
As I’ve learned, that’s easier said than done. EMR systems for doctors are rather pricey (for the software alone–not including the hardware to host and run the systems). Include the cost of migrating to electronic records, staff training, physician training, the hours spent in training and migration. The costs add up! Furthermore in an industry where costs are rising but reimbursements are staying level or decreasing–for many a provider an EMR platform is but a dream.
Had to retrieve some old (10+ years old) medical records today.
Found ‘em.
On a 3.5″ floppy disk! Remember those?
More difficult was finding a PC with a 3.5″ drive in the office!
Anyone got a recommendation for a good Physio, LMT or even chiro? Me thinks I have a recurrence of a piriformis syndrome which first was a pain in my rear 6 years ago.
If not, I’ve always got a lacrosse ball to self-inflict pain with.
From the Boston Globe:
Health care, job engine for state [Mass], is pulling back
….
The stalwart of the state economy is struggling these days as expenses rise, patient visits decline, reimbursements shrink…
QFT! This phenomenon isn’t isolated to MA either.
Such was the subject line of an email I got today from my awesome cousin: The Curious Jew
On my post below about the Queens man “tech detoxing” in his bathroom (just scroll down–and then scroll back up to this post)–she was able to clarify
It turns out that it was the Vilna Gaon who studied mathematics in the bathroom. (I got that part right). She consulted a source who is not only leagues more knowledgeable than me, but has a much better memory as well. It turns out that the story may have been as follows:
But I heard the story that he used to study secular studies while in the bathroom. But not that he went to the bathroom to study secular studies.
Shows how shot my memory has become….
You should definitely read The Curious Jew’s blog too. She is a gifted wordsmith, whose blog is full of both stories and insightful posts about the world around. [Unlike myself (I write more in the terse science style)]
Here’s a story the anti-vaccine crowd is sure to jump on:
“Finland Suspends H1N1 Vaccine
The Finnish National Institute for Health (THL) proposed suspending vaccinations for H1N1 swine flu, due to suspected links to increased narcolepsy in children and adolescents, the body announced this week.
Six cases of narcolepsy, a chronic disorder causing excessive daytime sleepiness and extreme fatigue, have been reported after patients had been receiving the Pandemrix vaccine.
Six cases of narcolepsy is consistent with annual averages, reports THL, but all of these patients were affected after being vaccinated, and there are nine additional cases that have not yet been confirmed.
Now since this is a mainstream media article versus a scientific publication, there are some questions that definitely need to be answered.
Was the diagnosis of Narcolepsy made by combination of history plus multiple sleep latency test?
Were any of said patients displaying any symptoms preceeding vaccination?
Did these individuals have either lumbar punctures or blood tests performed to detect the HLA-DQB1*0602.marker?
[This while not a diagnostic tool per say would however provide interesting immunological evidence]
What makes this all interesting, is that increasing research seems to be pointing towards Narcolepsy having an auto-immune origin in the body. In the simplest terms, individuals with narcolepsy commonly lack hypocretin/orexin [hcrt/ox] producing neurons. The lack of hcrt leads to a disruption in the normal neuro-chemical functioning of the brain which leads to the symptoms of the disorder. [A discussion of which is beyond the scope of this blog--however I can provide references]
Saw this story in AMNY today:
Queens man lives in bathroom to cut off tech addiction
Odd, but not as bad as say China where they have “tech addiction camps”.
Reminds me of a story one of my Rabbis once told our class about one of the great Torah scholars (I want to say of the Middle Ages–but I can’t remember exactly). The scholar was so focused on his Torah studies, that occasionally he would take himself into the bathroom to read and learn secular subjects–namely mathematics . (I think the individual was the Vilna Gaon?)
A project came to the building called the “Manhattan Free Lighting Project” this evening and gave out free energy efficient bulbs to our building. The Sister jumped at the offer.
Free CFL bulbs…plus saving $$ from our Con-Ed Bill = Win-Win situation!
With the potential to spark a riot on the UWS and heavily Jewish enclaves:
This is one of the ways the state wants to plug it’s budget hole….
(Note: unsliced bagels remain tax exempt)
Stupid Albany…..
After asking me for computer help…
“You must think that we’re all weird here [at work]”
*shrugged* fixed the problem and laughed (with my boss).
Got two very strange emails from patients this evening….
They’ve left me shaking my head…
[With hyper-deference to privacy rules, I won't say any more]
Definitely a way to cap off a Monday…
It was pouring and windy beyond compare today….killed any motivation I had to go outside this afternoon. The weather plus my inexpiable falling asleep on the couch that is.
So I spent some time on PubMed today–something I’ve not done in way too long. Found two papers of interest which I’ll look into later.
Pubmed–countless hours of querying fun!
[Paraphrased from a conversation between me and The Sister]
Me: So Sister, are girls really always “catty” towards each other?
Sister: Yeah.
Me: Is it a trend or a constant thing
Sister: Constant. Girls can suck sometimes.
Me: Thanks for the information…
[Yes, there's a back story to all this but the details are irrelevant]
Spent most of the day asleep today. No really! Couldn’t get out of bed this AM.
When I did, let’s not go into how I felt. Then I ate some lunch and zonk! Out again.
Alas, was that not what Saturday was made for?
So whereas yesterday I felt like crud all day…today was better.
I’m noticing a trend that on days after I train back, I feel like crud. Even lowering the intensity doesn’t help. Maybe if I drop the intensity and reps it will help? But at what sacrifice.
In my never ending quest to attempt to be “awesome”….even with the in-opportune cut on my foot, I attempted to squat. Had to abandon the lift earlier than what I would’ve liked, but squatting is a key element of being awesome.
Work was well the usual eclectic mix of chaos. Fortunately, we were able to laugh at a lot of it which helps the day go by faster.
Something that’s been on my mind as of late.
What is happiness? It seems to be an emotion which I have not experienced in way too long.
What does it mean to be happy? As opposed to being at ease or simply content?
Is one to actively seek out happiness or is it organic in nature and come on its own?
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