Test drive a geriatric patient today!

2003-01-02 - 8:54a.m.

I haven't been in clinic for a whole hour yet and I've already whipped out my PDA for entertainment. Last night I had the presence of mind to recharge its batteries. This morning was pretty difficult to get out of bed. Yes, I let the alarm go off for nearly a minute before dragging myself out from under the covers. When leaving work on Tuesday I forgot that the next time I would be here would be for clinic so I left my lab coat in administration. So this morning I walked all the way over there to pick it up and then went to the library. The Thursday morning librarian has gotten used to me being there. She's a really nice lady. At any rate, instead of writing an entry this morning, I updated my archives. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to html so I'm actually sort of proud of myself that I made it look as good as I did. I did it through the guess and check method. Make a change in the code, see what changed on the page. It took me a good 45 minutes to do, but it's much better than the bright yellow page it has been for the last four months. Speaking of being clueless about html, the next thing I would like to learn how to do is to make my links open in a new window. If any of my faithful readers know how to do this, perhaps you could share your knowledge with me?

You know what I've been noticing recently? I've been noticing how much more beautiful the sky has been than it used to be. Of course, the increased beauty is probably only a change in my perception. But still, since summer there have been prettier clouds, more gorgeous sunsets, and more enchanting moons. Sometimes it just makes me feel better about the world. I was moving pretty slowly this morning so I didn't have time to read the newspaper beyond front page headlines. I just like to read to make sure the world is more or less in one piece before I go to work. This morning's main headline was about the anti-U.S. demonstrations in South Korea. Another was that we are "on the brink of mass exctinctions," which strikes me as somewhat amusing that this is front page news. "On the brink," in this case, probably means within the next several thousand years. Thinking of the poor little froggies ceasing to exist is a bit depressing, but I do have trouble getting worked up over something so far in the future. The Korea thing, though, scares me. For some reason, war with an Asian country strikes me as much more scary than war with a Middle Eastern country. Probably just my stereotypes of Asians being more intelligent than Middle Easterners. Or my proximity to the west coast. I know I am pretty naive about politics, especially international politics, but I don't understand what it is about the U.S. that people from other countries find so detestable. Maybe some of my international readers could give me a little insight.

I was thinking about banners last night. You know, those little banners at the top of the page from people who want you to read their diaries. And I wonder why? Why would you really want to advertise your diary? Most people expend a lot of effort making sure no one gets ahold of their diaries. When did this public diary thing become so popular? Maybe I don't make enough effort to mask my identity. From the information in this diary it would be very easy to track me down. I was considering changing names in here, but I don't think I could remember them. I don't mind people I don't know reading this, it's the people that do know me that I don't want hanging around. I realize I may already have jeopardized that, but why increase the risk by advertising? But at the same time, the idea of actually having readers is somewhat alluring.

During the first two weeks of January I have many friends who have birthdays. Yesterday was Snow White's birthday. She is 24 now. When we were in college she always said she planned to be married by the time she was 25. I wonder how she's doing on that. Today is Azuma's birthday. He is 25. Last time I saw Azuma was in the summer, just before he went to Japan. I haven't had more than occasional contact with him, mostly due to me slacking on returning e-mails. Which reminds me, I need to write to Legs. Azuma went to Japan to teach English. I think he really likes it there. You know, when most people complain about their parents I tend to think that they are exaggerating. But Azuma's father really is one of the biggest jerks I've ever met. And his mom is one of the greatest ladies I know. When I see them I always wonder how those two hooked up. Although he is not technically a friend, Mel Gibson's birthday is on the 3rd. Then between the 4th and the 12th I have five more friends with birthdays.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm excited to be going to Flik's this weekend. I haven't seen Flik since August either. She's been off getting her Masters in New York. I would love to go to New York to see her final recital, but I doubt I will get the time off. Maybe she will have a date set when I see her so I can find out for sure whether or not I can make it. The big issue is that I want to go to Houston in April to help my brother move and also I'd like to see Tigger's recital. But unless Tigger's is really close to Flik's I won't be there. I probably won't be at Flik's either, so it'll likely be a moot point.

At REI they have an obstacle course where you can test drive their mountain bikes. At the Land Rover dealership they have an obstacle course where you can test drive their Land Rovers. Today at lunch I went for a walk around the ambulatory care clinic building and came across an obstacle course. I can only assume that's where you can test drive your geriatric patients.