Discouraging

I've been discouraged from blogging because my posts are being corrupted upon publication and I don't like spending the time it takes to fix them. I thought it just started happening this year with my last post about my mobile survival kit and the other survival kit lists I recently updated only to find it's been going on since last November when I updated my car survival kit :(.

When I fixed it a few minutes ago, instead of omitting chunks as before, all the spaces were changed to plus signs ("+"). Fortunately, as a result of the corruption, I had started saving my posts as html so all I had to do was paste my copy back in and republish, hoping it wouldn't get corrupted again.

Yay! It worked.

Now, let's see what happens to this post.

Sugar-free Salt?

Thinking to buy more salt yesterday, I was surprised and dismayed to find every box of iodized salt in a local grocery store also listed dextrose as an ingredient.

When did they start doing that? My old box of salt has only salt, iodide, and something to keep the salt free-flowing.

It doesn't do much good for people trying to decrease the amount of sugar they consume to have it added to salt.

Since sugar is addictive and since there's no good reason to add sugar to salt, why did the salt companies add it? What were they thinking? Is it to keep people tied to their product who would otherwise decrease the amount of salt they're putting in their food?

Are we going to have to demand sugar-free salt?

N95 Masks

I opened a package of N95 masks to see how well one folded to see if I could put it in my mobile survival kit. Reading the enclosed literature, I learned to my dismay that it's good only for non-harmful particulates such as sanding dust. So, instead of my risking not being protected from something by taking "only a bandanna" for my air travel exposure kit, I actually wasted money by buying N95 masks instead of packing a simple cotton bandanna in my regular exposure kit.

I'm annoyed the Powers That Be advise us to buy bulky, expensive, specialty items we'll use infrequently, if not rarely, instead of inexpensive, easy to EDC items many people already use on a daily or other frequent basis.

Since N95 masks only filter out non-harmful particulates such as dust, more reasonable alternatives are cotton bandannas, those keffiyehs or shemaghs the military are finding so helpful in Iraq and Afghanistan, or cotton pareos. Shoot, when I encountered dust storms without protection, a dampened paper towel from the ladies' room held over my nose and mouth was enough although inconvenient because it wouldn't stay in place by itself.

"Romeo & Juliet"

Feeling like I have a great love story to write, but not knowing anything about how to write one, I decided a good place to start learning is to read "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare since I've seen two movie versions several times.

Do you remember the story? A teen boy and girl from feuding families fall passionately in love and the only way to solve the mess is to fake their own deaths so they can run away to be together.

More or less.

It turns out to be much more.

First of all, Romeo is already in love with Rosaline to the extent that he crashes a party thrown by Daddy of the feuding Capulets in order to see her.

Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, spots Romeo and reports him to Capulet with the intention of having Romeo thrown out or worse.

Surprisingly, Capulet thinks Romeo has a decent reputation and tells Tybalt to leave Romeo alone. Perhaps Capulet is feeling magnanimous because Paris asked to marry Juliet who told her parents she's willing to think about it and they'll get to know one another at the party.

Except Romeo and Juliet do the love-at-first-sight thing at the party. Rosaline and Paris are forgotten as they pledge their love, not knowing anything about each other.

They must've been hot-hot-hot to fall so fast for each other, don't you think?

Somehow (you need to read or see it to learn how if you don't already know), they learn they're from rival families, decide to overcome it with a secret marriage, and the rivalry breaks out again with Tybalt killing Mercutio and Romeo avenging Mercutio's death by killing Tybalt.

As a result, Romeo is exiled and Juliet mourns his leaving.

Understandably, Capulet assumes Juliet is mourning the death of her cousin, Tybalt. However, it's beyond me why he thought getting married to Paris in two days would end her grief. It's also beyond me why Paris would agree to it. What decent man wants to consummate his marriage to a grieving young woman, sobbing in their marriage bed?

So, there are the main male characters of this love triangle:

1. Romeo, an outrageously rude party-crasher whose fickle-mindedness causes him to dump Rosaline for Juliet in a heart-beat

2. Capulet, the father who thinks getting married will dry the tears of his grieving daughter, and

3. Paris, who wants to wed and bed the grieving Juliet.

In my opinion, they're nuts.

Flashing Light

My Dell laptop's battery status light is repeatedly flashing red-red-red-red-green.

It's supposed to flash only orange when the charge is low, and be a solid orange when critically low. I've never seen it orange before, only green since I don't use the battery much.

The green light is on when I'm working off of the battery. It flashes when the battery is recharging. The light is off when I'm working off the AC and the battery's charged.

However, I'm on AC and have been for several weeks. The Power Meter says the battery is charged 100%.

Also, the light on the power brick is green, so I know the AC is coming from the electrical outlet just fine. Thus, the puzzlement and concern of my previous post.

With the help of my good friend, Google, I learned where to click and finally found a message on my laptop that says:

"Your battery is able to charge normally. However, you may begin to notice reduced operating time because your long-term battery life is reducing."

After that, there's a button to order a new battery online. Evidently, my battery's health is diminished so while it can still be charged, I won't be able to run my laptop off the battery for as long as I did when it was new. No big deal. As much as I use my battery, I can afford to wait and get a new one sometime next year.

[Updated 5/27/11 - The message started popping up, so I finally ordered a new battery.]

It surely would have been easier, and less alarming, if the combination of flashing lights I'm seeing was described in the User's Guide.

"Prey"

I watched the movie, "Prey," this morning on HBO and can't contain this rant. I didn't know it was supposed to be a horror flick which is okay because it isn't. It is, however, the type of movie that has great scenery, excellent animal action, and an encounter with natives that had me tense up.

It's also the kind of flick that's great to hoot and holler at and for throwing popcorn at the screen.

For those who have yet to see it, "Prey" is a survival story about a woman and her two step-children, all seemingly fairly typical American tourists, who go off on a game safari in Africa for a day.

Got that? I don't want to spoil the story for you so it's important for you to get those parts. Game safari, in Africa, for a day.

Oh, heck.

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Who in their right mind goes off into the WILDERNESS in AFRICA without WATER? Sure, they hired a guide and he should have had a large container of extra water, but he didn't and they didn't think to check. I didn't see a can for extra gas, either, and he certainly didn't have a radio or a satellite phone, nor a first aid kit not that the latter would have helped considering the way the lions were killing off the people.

The guide dropped his keys in the grass and the step-daughter used her camera's zoom to verify that the bright shiny thing is one of the keys so they know it's worth leaving the vehicle which may put them at risk of being attacked by the lions that kept them in the vehicle on the afternoon of the first day and all night.

Why didn't they use the camera to check for lions before leaving the vehicle to get the keys?

Why didn't they have binoculars with them in the first place? It wasn't a visit to a zoo where the animals are sure to be closer than they are in the great outdoors of Africa. The guide didn't have any, either.

Unbelievable. No water and no binoculars.

Yes, they had a little water with them that quickly ran out, but when the girl went to get water, she didn't take any containers with her. Surely, she wasn't planning to carry water back in her palms, was she?

I don't mind when what goes on is plausible such as when the woman panicked driving away from the attacking lion, got them lost, and damaged the vehicle by driving too fast off-road.

I didn't mind so much that they didn't have whistles or red bandannas to signal for help or didn't think to gather enough grass from around the vehicle to make a fire on the roof of the vehicle to signal the helicopter or use a mirror from the vehicle or a compact, if either the woman or teen step-daughter had one.

I didn't mind that no one thought to take inventory of what was available to them until the third day...except they waited until the THIRD day.

However, I did mind that they didn't think to even try to collect rain water during the first night so they'd have something to quench their thirst.

Come on movie people, especially the writer(s). In the WILDERNESS, in AFRICA, without enough WATER to last them through the first afternoon.

Puh-leeze, gimme a break.

Black Saturday

Before Thanksgiving, I had a couple of topics I thought I'd write about. However, with the surfeit of feasting and napping, I've forgotten them completely and have only a few stray thoughts to share:

1. As we were getting ready to leave the office on the day before Thanksgiving 1999, my office mate asked me what I was planning to do on Thanksgiving.

"Write my letter of resignation," I replied.

It's hard to believe that was ten years ago. For a moment, I was despondent that I still don't have a book ready to submit for publication, but considering that I've been away from home for nearly six out of the ten years and learned a lot about the craft of writing during the rest of the time, it doesn't seem so bad.

2. I laugh at the TV commercials that say, "Black Friday starts on Saturday..."

3. If I didn't already have a good vacuum cleaner, I'd be tempted to buy the Shark Multi-Vac that's advertised during the infomercials played during the wee morning hours.

4. I don't think I'll miss the TV series, "Monk," but I will miss seeing Natalie Teeger, Captain Leland Stottlemeyer, and Lt. Randy Disher. I keep thinking of Hector Elizondo, the actor who portrays Dr. Neven Bell, Monk's psychiatrist, in the role he played in the movie, "Pretty Woman," so haven't gotten used to him in this role. I never did like Sharona.

5. Although I still have a couple of stores to check, it looks like I'll have to order my toothpaste online because three local stores no longer carry it. My guess is that because so many people want whitening toothpastes, a gentle toothpaste such as Arm & Hammer Dental Care doesn't sell as well. Why people would brush their teeth with silica, i.e. sand, a high abrasive that contributes to the wearing down of enamel much more than baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), the mildest abrasive that also happens to be an excellent cleaner, is beyond me. It must be because they don't read the ingredients and don't know that sand is silica.

While I'm at it, I may as well mention that it's so much simpler and less expensive to swish with water after eating to rinse out sugars and acids than to use a so-called "restorative" toothpaste that may also, oxymoronically, have silica or hydrated silica as an ingredient.

I've thought about brushing with plain baking soda, like people used to do back in the old days, and using a fluoride rinse to prevent cavities until I read the label on a rinse that said "sodium fluoride" which is a toxic industrial waste by-product.

Unfortunately, sodium fluoride is also the active ingredient in my toothpaste and others which is the reason for the warning to immediately contact the Poison Control Center if more than the amount used for brushing is swallowed. (All you need is the size of a pea, not the long, toothbrush-covering strip shown in TV ads to persuade you to use, and subsequently buy, more of the product.)

Of course, we're not supposed to swallow toothpaste. However, I can't help remembering that the inside of our mouths are so much more effective at absorbing that sublingual tablets for everything from vitamin B-12 for energy to nitroglycerin for angina are used instead of pills that need to be swallowed.

And, haven't we all seen a movie scene in which a drug addict rubs cocaine on his or her gums?

No, please don't try to tell me we're not getting any sodium fluoride in our bodies because we don't swallow toothpaste.

I remember when stannous fluoride, the safer, quality fluoride, was used in toothpaste. When did the toothpaste companies switch to the toxic waste by-product? Was it when the type of fluoride for fluoridating public water supplies was switched from sodium fluoride to hexafluorosilicic acid that's considered to be even worse than sodium fluoride?

Maybe I should look for a toothpaste with stannous fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate. The problem is that I haven't found any without silica or hydrated silica. What are the chances of my finding a toothpaste with one of the good fluorides that also doesn't contain silica?

So, either I put poison into my mouth or wear down my enamel with an ADA-approved product that's supposed to be good for my teeth that really isn't or let my teeth rot by not using a product with fluoride. Some choice.

Maybe it's a good thing that I drink tea that has fluoride naturally.

That's all I have. I hope your Thanksgiving was full of thankfulness for the blessings you have and that your holiday shopping is hassle-free.

Bell's Palsy or Stroke?

The pizza arrived at 7:30 P.M. on the Wednesday before last. I relaxed, watching TV and sipping water until I had an urge for a box of vanilla milk shortly after midnight.

But the left side of my mouth couldn't close around the straw.

I started to freak. Had I had a stroke?

I checked myself to see what else was different and prayed, "Lord, did I have a stroke? What do I do? What is it?"

The answer came back, "Bell's Palsy," in that still, small voice within my spirit.

Wanting to make sure it wasn't a stroke, I got on the Internet. Everything I read at the Mayo Clinic, MedlinePlus, the Merck Manual, WebMD, and other sites Google gave me said to go to an emergency room immediately. Feeling a check in my spirit for that course of action, I continued to study the pages and was gradually reassured.

Men are the usual victims. I have no family history of stroke or heart disease. I'm younger than the typical age range of those women who did have a stroke. I've never been diagnosed with hypertension. Most of all, stroke affects the lower left part of the face and is usually accompanied by the left arm and/or left leg being affected as well, while Bell's Palsy affects an entire side of the face, only, from forehead down, and from nose to ear.

Wondering what might have caused it, I checked the web sites for Bell's Palsy before calling my chiropractor for an adjustment. Everything fit.

However, my D.C., said there wasn't anything he could adjust to fix Bell's Palsy and he wasn't about to adjust my neck, anyway, because he didn't know that it wasn't a stroke and didn't want to make it worse, if it was.

Fair enough.

On Monday, I called my regular M.D. for an appointment to get an official diagnosis for Bell's Palsy. However, because of him taking time off, his appointment book is full until Nov. 10. The nurse asked a series of questions and relayed them to the doctor. When his answer came back, it was that he'll see me on Nov. 10th and if I wanted to get checked out sooner, I may go to the walk-in clinic he named.

Off like a shot, I arrived at the walk-in clinic and was given a five-page intake form to complete that inconsiderate, partial idiots must have designed. For example, instead of allergies to medicines being filled in on page 1 where doctors like it for quick reference so they don't prescribe something that'll kill their patients, allergies were to be listed on page 2...and page 4.

What the...?!

Yes, allergies were to be listed on page 2 and listed again on page 4 with the reactions. If I had been smart, I would have reviewed all five pages before starting to complete the form so I could list them on page 4 that wanted more information about the allergies and enter "See page 4" on page 2. But I didn't have that foresight.

Returning the clipboard to the receptionist, she reviewed my pages. "You didn't do this section," she said about the two-inch square box I had left blank.

I didn't appreciate her tone of voice. Was she copping an attitude with me?

"I didn't understand it," I replied.

"It's your Family History." She read, "Father/Mother/Grandparents/ Brother/Sister..."

Yup, she had an attitude.

"I know that," I sniped back. "It's all those initials that I didn't understand."

"Oh!" She went on to interpret:

Heart disease.

(No.)

Stroke.

(No.)

Cancer.

(That must be the "CA" that I saw; the others still didn't make any sense to me.)

"You didn't sign this," she said in a better tone of voice, pointing to a signature block on the last page.

"Sorry, I don't sign for things I haven't received," I said.

She handed me a privacy policy statement and I signed, acknowledging receipt.

Sitting back down to wait, I couldn't get into "Judge Alex" on the TV although the case sounded really funny. What would Jesus do about this twit of a receptionist and the stupidly designed intake form? There are people who definitely should not be interfacing with the public and I don't subscribe to the "Turn the other cheek" philosophy because it's for a conquered people of which I am definitely not a member. Him raging in righteous anger seems more like it except flinging the receptionist's papers about and driving her out with a whip of cords (John 2:15) would be drastic overkill as well as get me arrested for assault.

One of my college professors who taught computer programming also functioned as a group therapist after hours. We had gotten close enough for her to invite me to Christmas dinner and one year she advised, "I can be angry and you can be angry, but it's a lot better for me if you're the one who's angry," as a way to deal with aggravating people.

Thinking about her advice, maybe I should have put the monkey on their backs by filling the Family History block with "NTIKOBIDUTFLAADKFWYL" ("None That I Know Of Because I Don't Understand The Freaky Little Abbreviations And Don't Know For What You're Looking") and let them sort it out.

Before I could calm down, the nurse called me in and took my blood pressure: 208/103.

The doctor saw me immediately.

After I explained what happened the week before and finished with what my doctor said that morning, the young East Indian doctor said, "You can't diagnose Bell's Palsy over the phone and with your high blood pressure, I'm concerned you may have had a stroke. I'm going to send you over to the county hospital emergency room and they'll do CT scans and an MRI..."

"To diagnose a stroke," I interjected having learned that from my research. You can't treat a stroke by yourself because it may be caused by either bleeding or a clot and incorrectly treating one will accelerate the other that actually caused the stroke and make things worse.

"No, to diagnose Bell's Palsy," she lied, not knowing that I already knew how Bell's Palsy is diagnosed.

I kept silent. I don't know what her background is, but she was sounding a lot like a couple of doctors who left the Canadian health care system to practice here in the U.S. who did nothing but prolong my pain some years ago. The first was a French Canadian orthopedic surgeon who ordered chest(!) X-rays when my hands suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome, a worker's comp case. I switched to another doctor, an American Chinese, as soon as I could.

The second was a few years after that, an English Canadian HMO (spit!) family practitioner who ordered three MRIs with a prescription for a narcotic when all I needed was a $35 chiropractic adjustment that I finally went and got for myself out of the network. After that, I immediately submitted paperwork to change to an American Hispanic doctor whom I'm still with although I'm no longer in an HMO.

The walk-in clinic doctor continued, "I'll call over so they'll expect you and we'll get an ambulance to take you there."

An ambulance to go two blocks? I don't think so! The one time I needed an ambulance, it cost me $400 and my PPO insurance didn't pay any of it.

"The problem with an ambulance is that I'll be over there and my car will be over here," I hedged.

"Do you have a friend that can get it for you?"

"No," I lied back at her. Bad form, I know, but expedient since I wasn't going to discuss my finances with her nor let her argue with me.

She had me sign a waiver for the ambulance and sent me on my way after making me promise to go straight to the emergency room. On my charge sheet, she had written "N/C" for no charge and "Bell's Palsy" for the diagnosis.

So, diagnosing Bell's Palsy needs CT scans and an MRI?

No, she had manipulated me because, my guess is, she didn't want me stroking out in her little clinic. At least, I didn't have to pay anything. I never did mention the receptionist nor the form.

At the hospital's triage station, I was relieved to see that their form was done right. Allergies to medicines right in front, up top. For complaint, I entered, "Referred by [name of walk-in clinic]: Bell's Palsy or stroke? High blood pressure."

I was seen right away. Blood pressure: 156/106.

After the doctor had me wrinkle my forehead and nose, smile and frown, check my eyes and ears, etc., he diagnosed Bell's Palsy, gave me a prescription, and instructed me to keep my appointment with my regular doctor on Nov. 10 for follow-up. No CT scans. No MRI.

Hah! Evidently, Bell's Palsy CAN be diagnosed over the phone if the right questions are asked.

About my blood pressure going over 200? "The 156 isn't alarming and blood pressure fluctuates, but you should discuss it with your doctor if you're worried about it," he said.

While waiting to get my prescription filled at Wal-Mart, I used the blood pressure check station that's next to the pharmacy: 149/85.

After I was done shopping, I checked again: 117/96.

Good.

As far as the Bell's Palsy goes, the cause is unknown. The facial nerve (Cranial nerve VII) passes through a tiny channel (facial canal) through the facial bone. The nerve gets inflamed which pinches it and causes paralysis on the side of the face where it is located. Most people recover spontaneously within a few days to six months. Some recover in a year. A few never recover. Corticosteroids such as Prednisone are believed to speed recovery.

The major concern is that without a full blink and not being able to close my eye (other people may not be able to open the affected eye), it may dehydrate and sustain permanent damage. My Rx included over-the-counter (OTC) eye drops for the day and an OTC ointment for while I sleep to ensure protection and hydration.

Living with it is inconvenient and awkward, but bearable as long as I don't have to talk too much since I can't enunciate as clearly as before.

The doctor also prescribed an eye patch to keep my eye closed while I sleep. The nurse recommended using paper tape instead. The nurse was right. The eye patch doesn't keep my eye closed although it does protect my eye from dust and other flying objects since I can't blink or close my eye to protect it while I'm out and about.

The moral of this story? At this point, I'm not really sure. All I can say is that I'm getting more prejudiced against non-American doctors who are practicing in the U.S. and know only that God doesn't lie.

Of that, I'm utterly convinced.

Another Obamination

Standing in the grocery store's check out line on Friday, I was surprised to see the Globe's headline reporting that President Obama's birth certificate was forged.

"Good grief," I thought. "Talk about being behind the times. I read that on the Internet before the election and that the State of Hawai`i verified that his birth certificate is legit. Must be a slow news day."

Later that night, I read the ABC News article, "Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash" which has a line on the second page saying that the Secret Service "officials told ABC News that the President's daily threat matrix has yet to reflect a sharp increase in threats," making me wonder if ABC News was experiencing a slow news day, too.

While I didn't vote for Obama and think his stimulus and health care reform ideas are terrible, I get annoyed when he, who spent his formative years with a white mother and white grandmother and was educated at top-notch, private, predominantly white schools, two of which are Ivy League, is categorized as black only because the color of his skin is darker than the typical white person's.

Sure, he identifies himself as an African-American. However, it's only because "that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed." He also calls himself a mutt.

(Technically, Obama is one of the few true African-Americans because his father was a Kenyan and his mother an American, but let's not get into splitting hairs since the term is universally accepted as meaning an American of African descent.)

Although treating people differently solely because of their race is deplorable, thinking of Obama as black is so wrong that it gives another definition to "Obamination," a made-up word I used in an earlier post. Yes, it would be odd to call him white and awkward to call him half-white or half-black. Why does he have to be either/or? Why hasn't Obama been categorized as biracial or Afro-Caucasian, Eurafrican, or mulatto? Are the members of the media purposely fueling the flame of racial hatred to decrease the number of slow news days?

Race shouldn't even be a consideration because it's morals, ethics, ideals, and goals and how they're achieved that matters. The only time race is necessary is for a physical description, as for a fugitive hiding from the police. Since we all learned what Obama looks like before he was elected President, references to his appearance should have ceased by Inauguration Day, but for some reason, people ignorantly perpetuate the racial card when it doesn't mean a thing.

Or maybe not so ignorantly.