Catching Up

I realized it's been quite a few days since I posted! Been busy around here; I'm especially more occupied now that I'm back at Pine Rest. It's going well and I have to say, it's fun to be back in clinical work. If you all remember, Clay and I volunteer at the Human Society. The picture above is a darling kitty (in the midst of a meow!) from last week - she was gone this week, which is a great thing because she was adopted! She was sooooo sweet: a really friendly cat that loves to play.

Harrison and a friend went downtown to the winter sports fest at the BOB. I drove because I didn't like the idea of Harrison driving downtown in the dark with all the bars around there. Glad I drove, too, because it was rocking downtown - I wound up sitting in traffic! There wasn't any parking either - one would have had to park at least 6 or 7 blocks away. The arena had Disney on Ice, the convention center had Harley's, all the restaurants and bars looked jammed, Rosa Parks was full of (at least 40) ice-skaters, people all over walking - just a busy, busy downtown evening. It's really fantastic that we have such a lively downtown. So, I came around to get them and they weren't at the meeting spot yet - I drove around the block once and then noticed cabs lining up with flashers on outside the BOB ... so I wedged myself in the cab line and put on my flashers - hoping the cops wouldn't notice! The boys arrived in about 5 minutes or so and we were on our way.

Electronic Woes

Oh my gosh!! Our DVD player was dying ... making this high-pitched squeeling noise about 50% of the time a disc played. I ordered a new one over a week ago; it FINALLY arrived today (even though it was shipped last Tuesday morning). The boys and I spent 2.75 hours taking apart our home theater system ... taking out all the wires, labeling them for which machine, which hole, bundling and tying with twist ties for each maching until we finally made it down the stack to the DVD player! So ... we connected the new one, stacked and reconnected all the crap on top (video player, digital box, etc.) ... and tried it out. PURPLE. So, there's Adam Sandler with his lovely medium purple skin, dark purple hair, standing on the almost black-purple grass against the pink/lavender sky with pink clouds, smiling with his pink teeth. It was like a purple/pink/fuschia fest! So I called the manufacturer ... of course their "help" line was in India, so it was tough to understand the person ... spent about 45 minutes on the phone, yup our connections were all correct and after all that time he FINALLY answered my question (Is there a color adjustment since I can't find it in the instructions) - no color adjustment. He told me to MAIL it to the service center for repair!

So of course, I said "no way." I took the dang thing to the local store (of the online one where I purchased it) and returned it. I bought a new one (a Panasonic). It took Harrison and I just 20 minutes to connect this one and IT WORKS!! Better yet, no squeeling and it's not all shades of purple! What a waste of an afternoon. I wish we had started with this one!!

A Very Good & Educational Video

Tourette's Disease is a disorder near and dear to me; it's surprising how common it is, yet at the same time sooooooooooooooooooooo misunderstood. Tics can be anything from repetitive eye squinting to complex movements to vocalizations. I saw the video (ran across it by happenstance) on youtube and thought they did a really good job. Tourette's is caused by too many alleles (copies) of 2 dopamine receptor genes (DRD1 & DRD4).

Some well known people you probably never knew had or have Tourette's:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Dan Ackroyd, Jim Eisenreich (major league baseball), Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (NBA), Steve Wallace (NASCAR).

GR Symphony & The Eagles

We attended the GR Symphony Friday evening and had dinner with some wonderful friends. The Symphony was featuring "A Night with The Eagles" or something along those lines for a title! I have seen the symphony do other types of music, including playing music to a large screen showing cartoons - I expected them to play Eagles tunes. Actually, the three guys pictured above (well one looked very gender-challenged in person and I'm still not convinced it's a man) sang - did a concert and the Symphony played. They both were very, very good. The only problem for me was the deafening noise level. I would never have imagined the Symphony would crank the amps like that.

I am (and always have been) very sensitive to loud noise. I don't like it and it physically bothers me. I went to a concert as a teen and said I'd never do it again - it makes me feel like I'm going to die. Well, this was that loud. It was tough to sit there. I don't understand why concerts are loud. If you enjoy someone's company and conversation, don't you want to talk with them? I doubt you want them SCREAMING YELLING in your face. I want to listen to music I enjoy - NOT be ASSAULTED by it.

I know that for some time, scientists have connected loud noise (all loud noise, not just loud music) to increased risk of heart attack and increased blood pressure. Excessive exposure to loud noise also increases the risk of psychological disorders, especially depression. I have just been reading it can also cause heart arrhythmias and lung collapse. I couldn't find anything about how I feel - I get chest pains (but pulse OK), breathe with more difficulty, my head hurts enough to make me teary-eyed, body tension off the charts and this feeling - I don't know how to describe it - like I'm in serious danger of dying. I have to use self-hypnosis to talk myself down and stay calm when I'm around such horribly loud music or other noise. At the symphony I just focused at a point on the wall and concentrated on breathing slowly and chanted internally. Even though it lasted just 1.5 hours, it felt like 10 to me. Such a shame because really and truly the Symphony played beautifully and the singers were great - sounded just like the Eagles (when I could hear them/distinguish it from just loud loud nothing coming at me).

So someone please tell me why other people (other than me I mean!) like to be physically asaulted by music. I realize I'm more sensitive to it than others, but honestly - my question is do you like to be talked to or screamed at? Isn't music the same? Listen to it or assaulted by it?

On the upside, dinner was GREAT, walking downtown with friends was AWESOME, conversations were FANTASTIC and it was also fun to see everyone ice-skating at Rosa Parks Circle! Advice to the GR Symphony: turn down the amps.

Dentistry

Well! How irritating ... I chipped off a piece of an upper left incisor last Tuesday. No big deal; small chip. So, I was to go in on Wednesday to dentist, but they called and cancelled because the dentist was sick. So, I was rescheduled for Thursday, first in the am, then in the pm, then cancelled again. They don't see patients on Fridays. So, finally I went today and guess what? THEY WOULDN'T FIX IT!!!! How irritating. They put in a temporary filling (which fell out exactly 40 minutes after I left) and want me to come back next week on Wenesday. I pushed while there to get it done; I can't see any reason not to do it! They said they didn't have time because I only had a 20 minutes appointment - but they also called me at home and asked me to come early because they were ahead. So, I arrived 15 mintues early and I was GONE before my actual appointment time. I pointed out I was early and there was that extra time. They said it would take 45 to 50 mintues to fix.

Well, I have not got the best teeth in the world and I only have 6 teeth that don't have fillings - all my molars have multiple fillings. I have NEVER had a filling take that amount of time, not ever. I can't see how this tiny little chip off an incisor could take that much time! I think they could drill the &*%$ tooth out of my head in less than 10 mintues, because the tooth isn't very big!

Am I pissed enough? Well, I'll go back next week and see how long it takes. And I WILL point it out when I am out of there in less than 30 minutes.

As a person who has seen patients (not for dental work though!), I go out of my way to accomodate them. If they are there, why send them away and make them come back? Just get it done - I'm in the office anyway! I can't understand why anybody would turn away a client (business) and inconvenience them. There are plenty of dentists (or psychologists, or doctors, or whatevers) out there.

So I'm going back because they've done a good job on all of us up until now. In 9 years, this is the first time they've been weird. I'll give them the opportunity to redeem themselves, but I won't keep my opinion to myself!!

Just about all the cats had colds (upper respiratory) today at the Humane Society. Clay and I scrubbed our arms and hands like 15 times! Hope they all get better soon.