Sunday, November 01, 2015

Here's a question

When we push the clocks back to gain that extra hour do insomniacs get an extra hour of non-sleep?

67 comments:

  1. Does the graveyard shift get an extra hour of pay? BTW, my one-eyed cat Mikey
    doesn't observe the daylight time change.

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  2. When you work the time change you either get an extra hour's pay or lose it depending on which time change it is. And yes, I got an extra hour of non-sleep because I'm wound pretty tight. This is disturbing because it doesn't usually happen on our vacations when we travel together.

    Anyway, in my usual 180 degree change of subject Colonial Williamsburg is like above and beyond awesome. I have wanted to go here my whole life, since I was a little kid. I actually busted out crying in the Visitors Center this morning because I was just so moved at finally being here. We spent the morning there in drizzle and it was great. We also found a restaurant called Food For Thought where I can actually have menu items to choose from. The only downside so far is the high pressure attempts to get us to a timeshare promotion (we are at the Wyndham resort in a timeshare). We are going to Jamestown and Yorktown later this week and back to Williamsburg to see things that weren't open today.

    It really does give you some new perspectives on not only history but the state of today's politics. The people who were agitating for the revolution were the progressives. Ergo, this country was founded by liberals. Nuf said.

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  3. I was having some data issues the last couple of days. The other night I was googling health insurance for older Americans and thought I was downloading a few PDF pages instead of this massive document that ate up all my data. Ah technology!

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  4. Now we learn from the WHO that McDonald's hamburgers may cause cancer. I just thought they were fattening.

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  5. In the news & entertainment department, we note that an armed citizen is a free citizen , even if deceased. This episode took
    place in Idaho's Weiser valley of which we note obscure trivia. The Weiser River was named after Peter Weiser, a member of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Although in their 6000 mile 2 year trek, they never came close to that river, young Weiser returned to the western wilderness (thrice), the first time his group of trappers being
    all killed by Blackfeet, the second time solo. He returned to St. Louis and discussed his 1845 travels with Captain Clark, who recorded Weiser's River on his map of the west. Weiser went broke trying to farm, returned to the far west by himself and was
    never heard from again. Odd, how running into a cow reminds me of stuff.

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    1. A typo- that should be 1815; heck by 1845 they were getting ready to open
      the Oregon Trail.

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  6. With the exception of the first night I've had poorer quality sleep AFTER this time change that is supposed to benefit sleep.

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  7. I think Saty is right, my PCP is obsessed with colonoscopies. So I was a good boy scout and had this procedure done. I called it a fob but it felt more like a 1 minute version of a colonoscopy. No major discomfort but mentally unpleasant. So my doctor called me the other day and said if I could try to schedule the procedure again. WHAT do you want from my life???

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    1. Sounds like your doc got one of those new colon apps.

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  8. Come to think of it during our initial interview he kept glancing at his smartphone alot.

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  9. I had these medical ruminations last night. CRC screening needs to be revolutionized to get more people in the door. This 2-day theatrical production of the classic colonoscopy deters people. Ya gotta take time off from work and the whole workplace knows. In obstetrics we now have transvaginal ultrasound which is far better than your traditional ultrasound. Why not trans-rectal ultrasound and so a quicker colonoscopy
    procedure to screen out the majority of folks who don't have polyps? Free up the doctor's time for the most pressing patients.

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    1. I'm thinking you may show up in an episode of' House, MD' one of these days. "The trans-rectal ultrasound showed two tacos and a cronut, House".
      "OK, run a jejunal enzyme screen, sample for pyruvic transaminase and, what the heck, run a CNS scan>" "But, Dr. House, it looks like patient Z-Man just came from Rudy's Pizza" "Yeah, well, we gotta make the episode run a full hour....anybody seen Cuddy?"

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    2. My friend sees a podiatrist regularly. About the most non-threatening doctor I can think of. Worse thing he can do is prescribe you a prescription for Lamisil and people don't have that sense of existential dread the night before. My friend says before a doctor gives you a colonoscopy he should buy you dinner and take you to a movie first.

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    3. Podiatry is not without its problems .
      Always wondered about foot specialists; seems simple say compared to a
      veterinarian, "Who's next, the pit viper with the bad tooth, the giraffe with
      neck problems or the leopard in labor?"

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    4. So basically under my House scenario you'd have a fairly quick trans-rectal ultrasound, it gets stored on a DVD for later review and if you don't get a phone call in a few days go fishing or play golf.

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  10. I was talking to a psychologist before. He's an occasional neighbor who comes up from Florida. I'm always vaguely uncomfortable when chatting with a shrink even in a social setting. I always feel like he's analyzing me.

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    1. Doubt it: he would charge you $50/hr.

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    2. Between getting your car fixed and seeing a shrink a person could go broke.

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    3. I have an appointment to get a sensor in my 2000 Ram pickup. It is for
      Friday the 13th and I feel bad vibes.

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    4. Doctors and car mechanics have alot in common. They're always looking for other problems

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  11. Have you landed your dream job yet? Maybe personal chef to the Donald?

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  12. Consider for a moment the lack of logic of the pro-colonoscopy position. Roughly 50% of the population over 50 don't have them. Let's say 100% of the AARP crowd had them. GI offices would be flooded, lines snaking around the block like Black Friday. How do we fit the guy in who ate bad Chinese food? Dulcolax would make a killing though.

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  13. No dream job yet but the Donald should have my resume on file somewhere.

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  14. In this locale, the colonoscopy dudes seem to prefer 'Go-lytely', a polyethylene glycol
    gallon with requisite electrolytes. You drink 8 oz every half hour and your colon gets
    cleaned out. Since I only drink coffee and booze, I have a hard time drinking the stuff. But it works sort of constantly. I have a friend, an accountant who didn't want
    to miss work, then drank the gallon then sat in a business meeting for two hours. Since I had to run to the stool after one swallow, I was amazed. I address the guy
    as 'Super Sphincter' now. Accountants are that way, ya know?

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    1. I was trying to find something in my blog but my blog is so vast needle/haystack. It was when you remarked upon European colonoscopies and how so many patients forego the anaesthesia and walk right out of the office later. What's different or is it just the Nordic sphincter is tougher?

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    2. I am from hard Eastern European Slavic stock so I'm interested.

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    3. I remember
      the topic, but not when. I actually asked the colonoscopist about it the
      first time I had the procedure done about 15 years ago. He got a funny
      look on his face and intoned, "Oh, you wouldn't like it". It isn't so much
      that Americans are weenies as that US practitioners are rushed and a
      zonkered patient doesn't mind the rough stuff. I was curious at the time
      to see my innards on camera. "No, you wouldn't like that either"

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    4. I'm guessing the Europeans don't have those corny colonoscopy helper apps either.

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  15. Wondering if you have run across Karl Rove during your job search; I suspect he is
    looking for a position someplace.

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    1. I don't have one of them golden parachutes though. It could wind down to either install fences or live under an I-87 overpass.

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  16. I think Putin wanted to show Obama how to deal with ISIS. He's finding it's not so easy.

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    1. Putin doesn't have an opposition congress, so he is free to be Putin. I look
      for a shirtless ex NKVD guy on a horse, sort of a Russian Lawrence of Arabia, swigging vodka and shooting up ISIL, Hamas, Israel, Qatar, Islamabad and perhaps accidently, New Jersey.

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  17. Considering the 'Spring Forward' & 'Fall Back' adjustments, whatever their doubtful
    purpose, would it not ease the unpleasantness to adjust the clocks say fifteen minutes every other week for a couple months? BTW, that would help me remember how to change my digital watch, rather than fiddle with the controls
    twice a year. (plus think of the fun of watching the major TV networks try to work
    though that one)

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    1. The latest studies say with the fall back crime goes up and we use more energy. I always think it's later than it is.

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  18. It looks like Ben Carson is the latest GOP leader. Better or worse than Trump?

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    1. Something tells me a former neurosurgeon should stick with medicine and not enter politics. It's like if Stephen Hawking ran. Just a hunch.

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    2. Conspiracy Theory 1227: The former neurosurgeon has promised
      mandatory lobotomies on all Progressives. Yikes!

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  19. That link within a link you provided where we read a woman WSJ reporter had an unsedated colonoscopy and shortly afterwards went home and hit the home gym. I question the accuracy of that. I would have vetted the article better.

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    1. I don't doubt the veracity of that, given the commonality of the drugless procedure in Europe. I DO question the good Dr. Cohen, when he notes,
      ""This is a big country with a population that's incredibly diverse with respect to age, gender, risk factors and the anatomy of the colons." An incredibly
      diverse anatomy of colons? Like what? Upside down? Itty bitty? Plaid?
      Left-handed? I'm of the school that ya seen one colon, ya seen the all....

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    2. I absolutely do doubt its accuracy. It's embellishing your resume.

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    3. Yeah you'd think he was talking about penises.

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    4. It's just a touch of the Brian Williams for me, a wee bit creative license. Sure you're probably better off w/o the funky stuff, you can function and walk and even go to work but the old bumhole is gonna be sore for several days. The home gym? A Brian Williams one would go something like I had one for 30 minutes w/o any propofol or even a Tylenol and then went downhill skiing immediately afterwards. Just sayin'

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    5. No, no bumhole pain, at least on the couple I had. In fact the anesthesia
      drip wore off quite quickly too. On the other hand, for me to go skiing or to the gym would be embellishing indeed: you wouldn't catch me in those places even on my best day. Used to XC ski all over the upper Great Lakes area, but have degraded to the point I have trouble bending over to
      latch the bindings. Gyms? I'd look like one of the balloons in the Macy
      Parade in my chartreuse spandex. (Note: the last two sentences are examples of negative embellishment)

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    6. Well anyway when I read the prep instructions they seemed overly complicated and I said as much. My first reaction was these are the spoof instructions good for a laugh, honest. My impression from the doc's comments was many people aren't too good at prepping. My other impression was many people want the procedure more than the doctors want to perform them.

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    7. I mean wouldn't it be easier for many people to simply have a transrectal ultrasound colonoscopy (cue the House music).

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  20. Is it just me, or is Mr. Trump the high poo-ba of all embellishment gurus? Example,
    The Donald as a reporter, "Hi, Wonderful Don here at the site of the nuclear meltdown. Hey, pan the cameral off the bodies and onto a good view of my hair.
    We got yer Polonium, yer Cerium, yer beta radiation...gosh we're cooking. I gotta
    tell ya, if I ran that reactor there would be no meltdown, no. But fer certain I would
    have doubled the output while kissing babies and it would be wonderful, just wonderful. Cuz I said so. What do you mean cut for a commercial? My face brings your ratings, my reporting concepts are superior, almost heavenly and to the director back in the studio--you're fired! This is SuperDon, ace reporter at the site of...er...
    where the heck are we again?" That IMO is embellishment. :)

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    1. Well if it's someone with business experience who might know how the economy operates or a former neurosurgeon who do you go with?

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    2. John Kasich? At least he ran a state.

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    3. Do any of the candidates believe in ancient aliens?

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    4. Jim Marrs isn't running.

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  21. I was in K-Mart the other day and they have shelves of discounted Cosby Show dvds. I don't know what to make of it.

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  22. The thought occurred to me some people don't see doctors at all, I'm seeing doctors too much. I can join the old-timers at McDonald's and talk about the reputations of various doctors, post patient reviews and give recommendations or not. Am I getting old???

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    1. Not unless you leave your teeth on the table.

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  23. So, you been checking real estate beneath the I-87 overpass yet?

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    1. I'm looking at the Woodbury Commons area, maybe hang out at the shopping center all day.

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  24. You posted pretty early this AM. First mass at St. Joe's?

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  25. Here's the candidate, Dr. Carson, that the Right thinks we're "scared" of: A man who wants to be President of the United States of America and who doesn't know the basics of our American history.

    Dr. Carson on his lack of political experience:

    “You are absolutely right — I have no political experience. The current Members of Congress have a combined 8,700 years of political experience. Are we sure political experience is what we need. Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience. What they had was a deep belief that freedom is a gift from God. They had a determination to rise up against a tyrannical King.”

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    1. Dunno. I'd rather my accountant have financial experience. Is a food store gonna hire a reference librarian as its store manager taking in the bread and Entenmann vendors in the morning?

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    2. We note in passing:
      " The Founding Fathers: A Brief Overview
      The 55 delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention were a distinguished body of men who represented a cross section of 18th-century American leadership. Almost all of them were well-educated men of means who were dominant in their communities and states, and many were also prominent in national affairs. Virtually every one had taken part in the Revolution; at least 29 had served in the Continental forces, most of them in positions of command.
      Political Experience
      The group, as a whole, had extensive political experience. At the time of the convention, four-fifths, or 41 individuals, were or had been members of the Continental Congress. Mifflin and Gorham had served as president of the body. The only ones who lacked congressional experience were Bassett, Blair, Brearly, Broom, Davie, Dayton, Alexander Martin, Luther Martin, Mason, McClurg, Paterson, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Strong, and Yates. Eight men (Clymer, Franklin, Gerry, Robert Morris, Read, Sherman, Wilson, and Wythe) had signed the Declaration of Independence. Six (Carroll, Dickinson, Gerry, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, and Sherman) had affixed their signatures to the Articles of Confederation. But only two, Sherman and Robert Morris, underwrote all three of the nation's basic documents. Practically all of the 55 delegates had experience in colonial and state government. Dickinson, Franklin, Langdon, Livingston, Alexander Martin, Randolph, Read, and Rutledge had been governors, and the majority had held county and local offices."
      In addition as serving as elected representatives, among the founders were 13 merchants, 6 land speculators, 11 bankers, 12 slave owners with plantations and 5 scientists. Nary a physician, let alone neurosurgeon.

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  26. Still another type. Someone I know was trying to help me and said go to Docs they do them. Meanwhile he's in the age range, never had one and I don't see him dialing the GI office.

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  27. Wow! It is 4AM here. Wife snoring awoke me at 2AM. Went down to the basement bedroom, couldn't get back to sleep, got up and went to work on the model railroad
    at 3:15. (sort of like real engineers do). When I'm sort of groggy at those hours, my
    railroad organization gets out of kilter, like a caboose that was supposed to be in
    transit out of Omaha according to the card file is still actually sitting in a railyard at
    Cheyenne. With 30+ cabooses, 120+ locomotives and 650 rolling stock the card
    file should match the operations. So when the sun comes up, I will likely be doing
    both paper and actual inventories. Minor problem compared to working for a living, can't complain. Regarding medical folks, a lot of them out this way are 7th day Adventists, health nuts and considerably of a vegan bent. My NP lady is like 5'11"
    and probably weighs 135 or so...I'm always embarrassed to get on her scale, ya know? So, I'm in the fighting to keep the weight off stage after losing 25 lbs over the
    summer. But what the hell, come 5AM I think I'll grab the paper, head down the
    hill and stop in to Shari's (a Pacific NW franchise chain) and tackle a Denver omelet.
    Regarding obesity and professions, we maybe need a study. Those guys in construction hardly ever look fat and come to think of it, I haven't seen that problem
    among the food service people either. I was talking with an engineer friend who came back from 3 weeks in Europe and he was astounded that most people there
    are not overweight. (my wife says because they all smoke). Ever notice that the
    weight seems to be sort of familial? You seldom see a family where some are hugely obese and some are real thin, with the exception of Jack Sprat and his Mrs.

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  28. For the Yonkerite smartphone owner that has everything , a free app for Nez Perce language. Have fun, chew out your boss
    in nimipoo phrases and he won't understand, and be the star attraction in the old guy
    circle at morning McDonalds.

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  29. Most people are proud of their colonoscopies ("I had five") but how well was your prep. I confirmed this with a GI doc but the day before is pretty much a juice or liquid diet although apparently gelatin is allowed if it's not red and also no milk. OK so one day I wanted to knock off a couple of pounds and so tried an experiment. I wanted to see how far into the day I could go drinking nothing but juice. No biggee I thought, Hollywood celebs are doing it and apparently those colono preppers got it down pat. It was extremely hard and I'm a veteran dieter. About halfway through the day I abandoned the plan due to extreme hunger and got a sandwich or whatever. Just sayin' to add some perspective here. Chances are your GI doc ain't gonna say anything later if your prep wasn't 100%, just found nothing and see you in five years so before you brag about your procedure just sayin':)

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  30. Coffee has to be black and no toast, not even a slice. Clear liquid broths are in and you may even have a certain kind of ice pop as a treat. Drink liquids until midnight which could cause insomnia I guess because of too many bathroom trips. NO painkillers for FIVE days prior 'cept Tylenol is ok. A natural sleep aid the night prior is ok. I'm probably forgetting some stuff. Happy prepping!!!

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