True story

I went to the dentist yesterday. Since I hadn't been to the dentist in at least three years, I was extremely nervous. I was convinced my gums had receded to the point of root exposure, a few teeth would need to be removed, and I would be a candidate for early dentures.

This was the first time I'd seen a dentist other than Dr. W., who had been my dentist since the womb and must be at least 85 by now. I opted to switch to Ray's dentist since, in addition to good reviews, I'd heard he uses all the latest gizmos, is generous with the laughing gas, and "has a chin like Viggo Mortensen."

They took about 800 x-rays when I got there...all digital, which is much better than those horrid little cardboard-covered film pieces my old dentist made me bite down on. Ewh. After the x-rays, Dr. L. came in and quietly looked at them. A few minutes passed. The longer the silence, the more I prepared myself for the worst.

"So, er...how do they look so far?"

"Actually, a bit of a snooze. I don't see any problems..."

No way.

After going through the x-rays, he took his poker-hook thing and started prodding around.

"Nice looking teeth. Gums too. You've been doing a good job..."

No way.

The rest of the visit went similarly. The hygenist used words like "lovely" and "very nice" to describe my teeth. Good thing I was laying in that cush dentist chair, because I would've fallen over. She did end up finding a wee cavity in the back, but Dr. L. took a look and said, "There's no way you could've done anything to prevent that one...it's in a really deep groove."

All in all, it's a new age in dentistry. Not only do they use supersonic vibrations and digitized images as part of their regular check-ups, but they've caught on to a little thing called Positive Reinforcement. Excellent!

One problem: my daily dental regimen was based on fear and paranoia. What will be my motivation now?

Product Pitch

With Jana's foray into individual-sized wine boxes (Petit Chateau Carton?), I'm inspired to pitch my own latest discover: Trader Joe's Organic Limeade. It is very nice and refreshing by itself, or makes any cocktail experiment tastey. (Haven't tried it with Jagermeister or that Cinnamon-flavored crap, but I'd almost say this is universally true.)

Since I'm concerned that TJ's will pull this product off the shelf, please buy some and try for yourself.

Lime & Da Coconut
One cup Limeade
One shot Malibu Rum

Stir or shake with ice, adjust to taste, drink up. Serves 1.

12th Ave Sling
Juice of one orange
Juice of one lime or lemon
Limeade
Shot of Amaretto
Shot of Vodka
Seltzer optional

Shake with ice, adjust limeade, alcohol to taste. Add seltzer for fizz, drink up. Serves 1-2.

Moving on*

Probably one out of every 8 posts I find annoying after I put them up, which is handy as it compells me to keep writing. I started working on a Best Of list, but it's just so dull I'd have to push it down if I posted it, just like I have to push the cutesy critters from the top of the blog. Sorry guys.

Anyway, since summer is upon us, and my schedule is starting to fill up, it'd be useful to do another To Do list. And what possesses me to make my To Dos open for public** consumption? Doesn't matter...it really does help keep me on track.

TO DO THIS SUMMER (June 20 - September 25)

1. Study for GRE, Sept 2
2. Train for the triathlon, Aug 20
3. Finish cleaning the garage
4. Paint the bathroom (done)
5. Possibly redo the bathroom and kitchen floors and counters
6. Help plan Ray's dad's move to Seattle
7. Decide about pursuing Ph.D. (got more info: urgency off, decision later)
8. Paint the bedroom
9. Paint the living room
10. Rip out plants in back planting bed
11. Deep clean area rugs
12. Host a BBQ
13. Lose 20 lbs.
14. Box up some cds
15. Go to Henry Art Gallery
16. Get body work done on car (done)
17. Make Iranian rice
18. Figure out research project for next year (done)
19. Fix 2 clothing items
20. Do clinical observations

*Moving On makes me think of Movin' On Up, the title song of that classic TV shoe, The Jeffersons. I have no idea why I loved this show so much, but thinking about the theme song immediately puts me in a good mood. Is Sherman Hemsley still alive? I think Wheezie (sp?) died.

**Public as in all 7 known readers of my blog.

Cute OD, or Great Ways to Waste Time

adopt your own virtual pet!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Spring break list

I don't know what to call this break between spring and summer quarters, but since it's technically still spring until June 20-something, then why not another Spring Break. Anyway, I'll post another To Do list and pretend it keeps me on track.

1. Clean the house (good go of it)
2. Clean my office space for next quarter (done)
3. Buy better running shoes (done)
4. Run twice (tennis once, 2 runs)
5. Swim twice (check)
6. Bike once (Sunday)
7. Paint a room (only looked at/thought about paint so far)
8. Clean up that one bed in the front yard, and put new plant in (this week maybe?)
9. Buy an odometer (done)
10. Buy GRE prep book (done)
11. Watch 5 DVDs (3 down)
12. Watch 1 in-theatre movie (Mission Impossible 3)
13. Take stuff in garage to Goodwill (first round done)

That's a healthy list. I'll be pretty durn proud if I get all this done.

Shark Reef, Lopez Island

Scene from a hammock

Ah, this is the life. The quarter is over, tests are taken, papers submitted, we've gotten outta Dodge, and I can finally relax in this hammock with nothing to do but listen to the woods. I wish I knew something about birds since I can hear several chirping around me. Let's see, there's one over here to my right, and another different kind over to my left. I'd say the one on my right is at about 40 degrees and the one of the left is at about 200 degrees. But then how does the elevation factor work, since I'm laying down, and at least one of them is several degrees "elevated" from the azimuthal field. And both of them are in my "cone of confusion" which means that I probably have their locations way off. Argh! Stop it! Stop. It.

Necessary ridiculousness

Last final tomorrow. I've been studying like a mad. However, I am going loose my last cognitive twinkie if I don't write something utterly ridiculous and silly right now (besides "cognitive twinkie").

There once was a little girl named Shirley who walked 4 blocks to school every day. One day she took an alternate route down a shadowy street in her neighborhood. It had lots of tall trees with big trunks and walnuts to kick on the ground. While she was looking down for walnuts to kick, she spotted a tube of toothpaste. It was orange and glittery on the outside, unlike any tube of toothpaste she'd ever seen before. She opened the lid and put one eye right next to the little round opening. Inside it looked like pink satin and marshmallows. Being so close to the little round opening, she couldn't help but get a whiff. It smelled like marshmallows, but better -- like marshmallows and birthdays and a Christmas tree. She had never though Christmas trees could be edible before, but somehow she had an overwhelming urge to taste the paste. She squeezed out enough to fit on the tip of her finger, and stuck it in her mouth. Wow, it was good. She closed her eyes trying to place the other flavors. It made her think about her favorite dreams where she could fly. Those dreams always came with a vivid sensation of weighing nothing at all. Shirley marveled at having that feeling during daylight hours, and opened her eyes to squeeze out a little more paste. But wait a minute! What happened to the grass and the ground and the walnuts. Shirley looked up just in time to avoid a big leafy branch of one of those big trees. She was floating!

Just like in the dreams, Shirley kicked her legs and flapped her arms a little. She could maneuver just like she'd been doing it all her life. Pretty soon she could see the roof tops, and then the flag pole at the school. Not wanting to be late, she floated her way over to the building. As she set down on fenced part of the school yard next to the cafeteria kitchen, she tucked the toothpaste into her pocket, and went to class.

Feliz Aniversario

I like being married to someone who always buys and reads Real Change newspaper when he gets a chance.