Ramblings for the Evening (02/01/06)

Oy very, everybody. What a day.
Instead of giving you a story, you get a short ramblings. Come on, you love it.
So, without further ado: WOOOOHOOOO!
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A Fun Link For When Work Is Boring:
This is a lot of fun. At least to me. Go and enjoy.
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Damn Dentists:
Ok, I went to my six month checkup (like a good monkey), which was fine (I have good teeth, apparently), but the overall quality of it was horrendous.
First of all, the dentist's office that I go to has been bought out by a large conglomerate. So, instead of being the friendly neighborhood dentist, they are now part of a chain. The new bosses fired almost everyone I got along with and have new policies that are driving the employees nuts.
Now another aspect of this office is that I am apparently considered a curse to them. You see, every dentist who sees me, quits within six months. When I was there in June, I saw The New Guy. He's already gone. The dentists there are seriously considering not seeing me anymore.
I also have a new hygenist. The previous one (shock of shocks) quit. This one is great, but she talks the entire time and then asks me questions...while the tools are in my mouth.
"Isn't this great weather?"
"Uk huk."
"You're a teacher, right?"
"Yeak."
"Do you have any recommendations for books my son should read?"
Sigh.
The absolute best part, however, came when they had to take new "panoramic x-rays" of my mouth. They have this machine that goes around your head (Look at the picture). As you can see, they lock your head in place and the camera spins around to get the complete shot. Seems simple.
Well, there should be one warning: Do not wear a hooded sweatshirt.
Why do I bring this up?
Ok, I put my head in and the hygenist locks me into place. Everything seems fine. The camera starts to spin. No problems yet. However...as the camera comes around behind me, the edge of it catches the hood on my sweatshirt and continues to spin. The hood is getting pulled and the sweatshirt starts to ride up against my neck. I try to tell the hygenist, "Ummm. It's pulling at my neck and starting to hurt."
"Nonsense," she says. You're fine. The camera is not done moving yet, but my whole neck is starting to lift out of the harness.
"Could you PLEASE not move," she says.
"My...hood...is.....CAUGHT."
When the camera finally stopped moving, I stepped back quickly and rubbed my neck, which had a red mark. The hygenist looks at me and says, "Oh, come on. Don't be such a wimp."
Then, after all that, the dentist sees me for two minutes.
"Hi, I'm Jerry (not his real name).
"Hi Jerry. Leab."
"Well, you're teeth look good. Open. Close. Is it safe? (Just kidding, he didn't say that.) Everything looks good. Nice to meet you."
And off he goes.
No chitchat. It almost felt like there was no point in seeing him. I should have just seen the hygenist and gone home.
Is this what our patient care has become? See you for a second, say it's all good, and boot you out the door? What happened to at least knowing your name? Maybe it's just me. I don't know.
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State of the Union, Part Deux:
Ok, so I got mail last night...from people who were unhappy with my takes on the State of the Union speech. I guess I'm, "not a patriot."
I guess I care....
And finally....
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Damn Snowplows!!!!!:
Ok, I'm glad they do their job. It's great that the roads are clear, but come on, guys. Watch the road. When I go home tonight, I discovered (and I will have to post a picture of this tomorrow) that the guy who plowed my road today stopped paying attention at one point and plowed MY LAWN. There is now a portion of the front of my lawn where the grass was taken out by the edge of the plow (and a tire, it looks like).
Not cool. Do you know how much work it takes to maintain a nice lawn? Quite a bit, actually. I never really had a lawn to take care of before moving into this house. I take pride in how it looks. That's why I painted the house and that's why my wife and I have been fixing the place up over time. We love living here.
Look, guys: I appreciate the service you do. It's absolutely necessary in order to get around this snowbound state. All I'm asking is that you watch where you're going. When I left this morning, the street was not plowed. This means you did it while the sun was out. Just watch the lawn....Please.
That'll do it for tonight folks. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about the review of my blog that was done for a class project.
Namaste.