Doc (vaguely TMI)

Just came back from doctor's visit. I was 20 minutes late (note to self: stop optimistically making morning appointments), so it was just contact-establishment, with no examination; that will wait until my next visit. I now possess a permission slip to get my blood & such scrutinized by a nearby independent lab some morning (and now I know what happens inside all those mysterious "Quest Diagnostics" buildings). Not doing it this morning because I don't think I could muster a sample-sized amount of pee right now; next week I'll pick a morning and prepare.

Things I learned and/or observed:

• A man's risk of testicular cancer decreases with age, with highest risk apparently at younger years than mine. (But vigilance is still necessary.)


• The doc was not impressed at my admission of withdrawl symptoms when I eschew caffeine. (Not that I've tried this lately... maybe after a couple more weeks of my reduced-caffeine experiment, which I also mentioned to him. Not that I'd ever give up coffee entirely, but it'd be nice to say I didn't have a physical dependency on it.)


• Doc otherwise seemed happy at my lifestyle description, agreeing that I follow what the lazy person's nutrition and exercise plan: at the very least, try to eat all kinds of things, and get out and move around briskly every day.


• There is a paste, available through prescription, than can help make canker sores go away quickly. I have been saddled with these my whole life, getting one or two bad, week-long sores every couple of months or so, and never thought to seek treatment, so this was interesting to me.

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Typing this in the cafe across the quad, and two people came up to ask me about my computer. Just like old times! One was actually the person who maintains the wireless connection here, and he was happy to see someone using it (I have observed that there are few seem to do so) and another was a woman asking me how I liked Jaguar. I didn't pitch my book at her, because... who am I to broach this topic with strangers? Maybe if she had sat down and really wanted to know everything about Mac OS X I would have mentioned it offhand. (This behavior has been displayed at least twice before to me by strangers ogling over my laptop. IANMTU.)

Maybe I should start carrying a copy around with me. And I can read it in public, while shouting, "Huh! WOW! COOOOOOL!" at it.

(no subject)

These things are probably not connected:

A truck parked on Longwood was pouring smoke from an exhaust pipe into my path, so thick that the cloud was opaque, as tall as I was, and stretching for a good block down the sidewalk. I held my breath while dashing through the worst of it, but it was still flavoring the air when I had to inhale.

A small circular scab thing has appeared on my forearm, for no reason I can recall.

Now, of course, I feel phantom itchiness all over my body, and my eyes feel swollen, and I'm feeling dizzy and weak, because obviously I have received a lethal dose of flesh-eating smallpox-anthrax.

Blargh. I could probably do that pee sample now.

(no subject)

Dara just test-drove my ICCB project around the block a couple of times. Actually, she would like to take it around the block; with my dummy data, it was more like driving around an empty parking lot. But still, it worked without a hitch, and her feedback has made my next step clear. I am really happy to have gotten this far -- so far nobody except me has "used" it, and I certainly don't count -- and am hopeful that this is my first major application developed under salary, at any job, that will stand the test of time. (None of the MINT/Adelphia e-commerce projects I worked on lasted beyond my employment there, and I think O'Reilly flushed poor Fox for good when they laid off Erik. (I note, anyway, that my name doesn't appear in the colophon of The Book, as it did for all colophon-enabled ORA titles published in 2002.))

Boss rewarded me by tossing me an interesting combinatorial chemistry problem to solve, maybe (he suggested) with the Perl tools I was last seen working on a few months ago. The problem more involves general math and puzzle-solving than it does specific science, though the science makes it more interesting. There may be a paper in it if I can wring some significant results out of it. Neato.

I am going to take the weekend off, if that makes any sense. Andy is arriving for a visit tomorrow, and on Sunday thru Monday we'll be at SF28. Tonight I think I'll play Civ, and watch at least one of these Netflix DVDs I have been ignoring. Mr. Show!