Scrubs

I assume alot and maybe you do too. Nurses wear those different colored 'scrubs'. Some have designs or colors, many are blue or green and seem to be made of cotton and kinda baggy like pajamas. I figured they got the term 'Scrubs' because that was what you changed into right before surgery and you scrubbed the crap out of your hands and arms like they always do on TV.

Philadelphia is home to many many large hospitals, and alot of the nurses who staff those facilities live in my neighborhood. You see these people at littleleague games, wrestling matches, Diners, and Barbeques wearing their scrubs. They wear them into food stores, on the train, and out in front of the building for a smoke.

I understand it's a uniform like everybody else has, but I thought the idea was to change into them just at the hospital so that you reduce the pathogens going into and coming out of that medical environment.

I'm not a germ freak so I'm not bothered by it other than the realization that I had the complete wrong impression about this. Did they used to do that, or did I get that idea from TV? Sounds to me like a good idea if they did do it.

Wing Bowl 13

She thinks I'm Ben Afleck
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.

I dont think I posted, how the Wing Bowl went. It was pretty freaking insane. Oh, yeah, Wing Kong did really well eating 66 Wings in the first round and just missing the Second round. Here's a shot of me with a 'Wingette' which is French for 'Stripper'. They were the girls who brought the wings to the contestants. This particular Wingette happened to win the Wingette competetion...I'm guessing because she is very good at serving wings?!?!?


Wing Kong's Homepage

Dork with an Ipod

I bought one of these ishuffle things after scorning those around me that have had them. Their pompous smiles as they nod their heads to unknown music on the train make me crazy. Now I too place the iconic white earbuds in my head. It's only the size of a pack of gum, and weighs less. The controls are simple...very simple.

I love the stupid thing and it has quickly become a permanent fixture with me. Like my watch, my pda, and my wallet, i gotta have it with me. It's so easy to use, and the itunes software is written so well, that I cant help built gush guiltily about my purchase.

The sound quality is excellant, but the earphones slip out too much when I'm walking. I'm researching earphones with that metal band over your head. They sell an armband that will afix it to your arm so it wont get in the way when I lift ot jog. Despite marketing it as a random MP3 player, that is only a feature. It plays your music in the order you designate in your song list. I have the bottom rung version that still has an impressive 512MB of space. Typically it holds about 115 songs or so, which is 3x the music I need each day. Another nice thing is that after you turn it off it will pick up exactly where you left off, mid-song. This opens the door to 'books on tape'....another thing to obsess about.....

I'm already developing playlists for different moods, and downloading music every chance I get. My kids are trying to swindle it out of me but I gnash my teeth at them. They will have to scrounge their own $99 together for this purchase. I want them to invest their own dough so they will respect it and take care of it.

I'm a tech guy, and I have used a MAC for 15 years but have a PC as well. I dont however buy all of the BS that comes out of the Apple PR machine. The ishuffle however, it an elegant simple product, and finally at a resonable price. It's a gateway drug for a more robust ipod, and ipods are gateway drugs for Mac Computers. Apple is finally getting their shit together and will have some stability and Market Share for years to come.

"Today I was called a Retard, by a Retard"

was what she said when I turned out the light. I laughed for a full minute, and never found out why.

"The World is My Toilet!"

was the pronouncement my 8 year old makes at the table during our Valentines Diner. He is immediatley shot with one of those old school roll cap guns that my wife had bought all of them with their candies. Bits of burnt red paper fell onto their plates as a fullscale three way shoot-out errupts between my boys. They are laughing histerically and firing as fast as they can. Sparks and smoke fly out of the tops of the cheap plastic guns. I note that they hold the guns palm down like they do in the 'Gansta' Movies & Videos.

I look up from my Chinese Food and give a no-hearted
"knock it off..."
I'm laughing as hard as they are

Golden Dragon has a smoky flavor to their LoMein so when it mixes in the air with the gunpowder it becomes very interesting.

I can remember a thousand moments smelling burnt gunpowder. Endless hot days, taping a rock onto an unrolled strip of caps, making buildings out of popsicle sticks and bring them down with firecrackers, firing my Dad's .22 rifle up at the farm.

I hope that someday a million years from now they will smell gunpowder again and think back to this moment. Maybe they'll order some LoMein for Dinner that night too.

All that you love will be carried away.

This is the title of a short story by Stephen King. The story is about a traveling salesman sitting in a hotel room about to kill himself. The story wasnt bad, but I found the title to be profound

Some of my compulsions

This entry is inspired by an article on the following blog
You Are A Cog.: Compulsion, Part One

I dont think my compulsions are as interesting as Birdy's, but maybe somebody will get a laugh. I'm not even sure if all these are compulsions...some are just quirks.

* If we are leaving the house as a family, I have to be the last one out the door. Even though these people go in and out of the house all day when I'm gone, when we leave together, I'm afraid they may forget to fully close the backdoor, and the dogs will get into the backyard and bark at the neighbors the whole time we are gone. If someone leaves is still in the house, I'll go back in and make sure the back is fully shut and then wait until they get into the car.

* I cant swallow pills. I've never been able to this. Even the tiniest of pills I cant swallow. I can try to sneak it into food, or swallow water really fast, but my mind wont let it go down. I used to spend 20 minutes trying to swallow a pill and it would completely dissolve and I would be stressed. Sometime in High School I decided I would chew all my pills from now on, and I've been completely happy ever since. The irony for people that know me is that I dont really chew my food. I kinda take a bite and throw it back.

In college I used to test drugs for a pharmaceutical company. They would give me a pill, a coated pill, and a caplet...all of the same medicine, and then test my blood and urine every hour to see how fast my body absorbed each of them. I would pretend to swallow the pill and then chew it when I the nurse walked away. I probably completely skewed their study!

I can tell whats in most over the counter drugs by the taste now. Ibuprophen and Tylenol are tolerable Dont ever chew tetracycline, it's the worst tasting thing on the planet. I actually like the taste of Aspirin.

* I love the smell of gasoline

* I crack my neck every 10 minutes or so. I know exactly when I started too. I was in Mrs Jahn's math class in 7th grade (sometime in January 1984) and I twisted my neck and it cracked and felt really good....I kept trying to recrack it and havent stopped since.

I'm sure I have a few more that are glaring but I cant think of them just yet....