Ok, so it's been a while since I wrote on here. I've had a couple people pester me about it. Well, the time has come once again...
Oh, but it's rant time...
So I hop in the shower and I reach for my "shower gel" and I start to think about why nobody uses soap anymore. I just can't figure it out. I mean, people have been using soap for thousands of years. Have we, as a species, evolved some sort of chemical immunity to its effectiveness, or some sort of negative reaction to its substance? When was the announcement made (outside of advertisements, that is) that soap is harmful and/or ineffective? I have heard arguments against soap bars due to possible bacteria that can live on them (though an antibacterial soap should take care of that), but liquid soap should have no such susceptibility.
So why the trend toward other so-called "cleansers" and "detergents"? I'm no chemical expert, but how are we to know that these products and their components are less harmful and more effective than the dreaded soap. It wasn't that long ago that I remember seeing ads for Ivory soap touting its 99.44% purity ("A clean that's real as Ivory!") and how it was such a good thing for it to be pure soap. Now it's all about having as little soap in it as possible. I find it interesting how quick we are to adhere to the proclamations of advertising. Is there more to this than I know of?
I would love to get comments and information about this.
Thanks
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Saturday, November 29, 2008
One man’s opinion (namely mine):
We can’t go outside because the sun gives us cancer. We can’t stay inside because the dust gives us cancer. You can’t eat butter because it’s fat and salty. You should eat butter because it’s natural and contains nutrients. You can’t eat eggs because of the cholesterol. You should eat eggs for the protein. You should run every day to strengthen your heart and tone your muscles. You shouldn’t run because it’s bad for your joints. So use a low impact exercise machine? No thanks, heavy breathing of indoor air is bad for you (dust). That said, breathing outdoor air is bad for you too (pollution). I’ve heard bad reports about just about every type of food, beverage, activity, location, and even medicine out there.
I’m of the theory that I just would rather live my life not stressed about these things. I understand the need of some people to be careful of the products they use because of potential toxic influences, but that’s not me. I don’t go seeking harmful chemical either, but let me put it this way…
I personally don’t care about all these contradictions, and I just do what I feel comfortable with. I’m not trying to convince anyone to do the same, but rather just expressing my opinion. We can’t live in a cocoon our whole lives protected from the elements of the world, and even if we could, that’s not the kind of life I’d want. I take notice and add to my awareness these kinds of reports, and I might find that it subconsciously affects my behaviour, but I don’t stress about it.
Thoughts?
I’m of the theory that I just would rather live my life not stressed about these things. I understand the need of some people to be careful of the products they use because of potential toxic influences, but that’s not me. I don’t go seeking harmful chemical either, but let me put it this way…
I personally don’t care about all these contradictions, and I just do what I feel comfortable with. I’m not trying to convince anyone to do the same, but rather just expressing my opinion. We can’t live in a cocoon our whole lives protected from the elements of the world, and even if we could, that’s not the kind of life I’d want. I take notice and add to my awareness these kinds of reports, and I might find that it subconsciously affects my behaviour, but I don’t stress about it.
Thoughts?
Monday, November 17, 2008
Slowly walking on broken glass
So this is an update on my last story...
Today I felt a little out of sorts again. This time the pain had moved to the left side. So after work I decided to go to the hospital and get checked out. I checked in at the Emergency desk, explained the situation, and had a seat in the waiting room. When I entered the waiting room there was only one person ahead of me. I figured I might be lucky and get in to see someone in a relatively short time. I sat and waited. And I waited. I saw people show up who looked in better/similar condition compared to me arrive and be taken in to see someone.
Just as I was beginning to wonder if I'd been forgotten (about 90 minutes after arriving), my name was called. The nurse quickly checked my pulse and temperature and asked an assistant to take me through to "Fast Track". That sounded good, I thought.
I was guided to a fairly large L-shaped room. Along the wall were about 9 or 10 chairs opposite a counter with a sink and a variety of medical supplies. Around the corner there were 2 beds and what looked like a dentist chair, each able to be separated by curtains. Across from the beds were more racks of medical supplies. Virtually everything that could possibly be used to create a splint, cast, sling, bandage, or a Frankenstein-esque creature. How could I possibly know the contents of this room in such great detail, you ask? Because I was there for more than another hour!!! I would've much rather spent that hour out in the regular waiting room.
I spent the first 45 minutes completely alone in this room, aside from one moment when a nurse, whom I actually knew, came in to get some supplies and assured me that it wouldn't be too much longer. Pretty soon a mother came in with her young daughter who had apparently had an x-ray taken already, and was waiting for the doctor to come and have a look. Then a girl in her late teens came in and was told to sit on one of the beds, as the curtain was drawn around her. She was left there alone, however, for a substantial time.
Eventually a doctor came in and called my name. I stood up and was asked to sit on the bed. She asked some questions, poked my stomach a bit, and told me everything was fine. She did offer the choice to me to have x-rays taken to be sure, since glass apparently will show up in an x-ray, but she said they wouldn't make much difference to any sort of treatment since there didn't appear to be any major pain that would be the result of any internal injury due to glass shards in my GI tract. I thought about it for a moment, and I realized that if it was just my stress that had caused me to feel all this pain, then the uncertainty of not having x-rays taken was not going to alleviate anything. I opted to have the x-rays taken.
I was called out into the hallway, given a gown, pointed to a bathroom and told to put it on. (Luckily I was told to keep my pants on, as this thing, despite being wide open in the back, also barely went beyond my hips in length.) I was directed to follow the green line (I felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz) back to the x-ray area. There I had three x-rays taken: one chest and two stomach. They then handed me a piece of paper to take back to Emergency (back down the yellow brick road) and then to return to my room. I went back to the bed and listened to the doctor explain the splint to the small girl with her mother. The doctor came back in to see me and assure me that there was no glass in the x-ray. While this alleviates a lot of the worry, I still felt (and still feel) a bit uneasy in the belly. Hopefully a good night's rest will cure this.
I suppose that lawsuit will have to be put on hold. (But I think I'll write the company anyway to explain just how dangerous this is. The doctor told me of the horrifying pain I'd likely be in if any glass did get in and cause any damage. Er... not pleasant.)
To sum up, I spent more than three hours at the hospital today, and could've walked out with nothing more than a couple pokes and an "it's nothing". Hooray for forced public health care!!!
Today I felt a little out of sorts again. This time the pain had moved to the left side. So after work I decided to go to the hospital and get checked out. I checked in at the Emergency desk, explained the situation, and had a seat in the waiting room. When I entered the waiting room there was only one person ahead of me. I figured I might be lucky and get in to see someone in a relatively short time. I sat and waited. And I waited. I saw people show up who looked in better/similar condition compared to me arrive and be taken in to see someone.
Just as I was beginning to wonder if I'd been forgotten (about 90 minutes after arriving), my name was called. The nurse quickly checked my pulse and temperature and asked an assistant to take me through to "Fast Track". That sounded good, I thought.
I was guided to a fairly large L-shaped room. Along the wall were about 9 or 10 chairs opposite a counter with a sink and a variety of medical supplies. Around the corner there were 2 beds and what looked like a dentist chair, each able to be separated by curtains. Across from the beds were more racks of medical supplies. Virtually everything that could possibly be used to create a splint, cast, sling, bandage, or a Frankenstein-esque creature. How could I possibly know the contents of this room in such great detail, you ask? Because I was there for more than another hour!!! I would've much rather spent that hour out in the regular waiting room.
I spent the first 45 minutes completely alone in this room, aside from one moment when a nurse, whom I actually knew, came in to get some supplies and assured me that it wouldn't be too much longer. Pretty soon a mother came in with her young daughter who had apparently had an x-ray taken already, and was waiting for the doctor to come and have a look. Then a girl in her late teens came in and was told to sit on one of the beds, as the curtain was drawn around her. She was left there alone, however, for a substantial time.
Eventually a doctor came in and called my name. I stood up and was asked to sit on the bed. She asked some questions, poked my stomach a bit, and told me everything was fine. She did offer the choice to me to have x-rays taken to be sure, since glass apparently will show up in an x-ray, but she said they wouldn't make much difference to any sort of treatment since there didn't appear to be any major pain that would be the result of any internal injury due to glass shards in my GI tract. I thought about it for a moment, and I realized that if it was just my stress that had caused me to feel all this pain, then the uncertainty of not having x-rays taken was not going to alleviate anything. I opted to have the x-rays taken.
I was called out into the hallway, given a gown, pointed to a bathroom and told to put it on. (Luckily I was told to keep my pants on, as this thing, despite being wide open in the back, also barely went beyond my hips in length.) I was directed to follow the green line (I felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz) back to the x-ray area. There I had three x-rays taken: one chest and two stomach. They then handed me a piece of paper to take back to Emergency (back down the yellow brick road) and then to return to my room. I went back to the bed and listened to the doctor explain the splint to the small girl with her mother. The doctor came back in to see me and assure me that there was no glass in the x-ray. While this alleviates a lot of the worry, I still felt (and still feel) a bit uneasy in the belly. Hopefully a good night's rest will cure this.
I suppose that lawsuit will have to be put on hold. (But I think I'll write the company anyway to explain just how dangerous this is. The doctor told me of the horrifying pain I'd likely be in if any glass did get in and cause any damage. Er... not pleasant.)
To sum up, I spent more than three hours at the hospital today, and could've walked out with nothing more than a couple pokes and an "it's nothing". Hooray for forced public health care!!!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
I suck at blogging...
Man, I've been terrible at this lately. I guess having a girlfriend is taking away all my blogging time. (That's right, I said it. I'm dating someone. If you want details, ask me. Don't ask on here as this isn't what I'm about to blog about...)
So... A couple days ago my girlfriend, her roommate and I all go out for the evening. We went to the University for an Opera Workshop. It was entitled The World Of Operetta. Essentially it was a collection of pieces from Operettas from various composers from around the world: English, German, French, and American. It was SO GOOD!!! But this isn't what I'm blogging about...
After the show, we went to Earls for a bite. We shared a pizza and then had desserts. I had ordered a ginger ale, which will come as no surprise to those who have eaten out with me in the past. (I love a good ginger ale!) Anyway, after the pizza was finished, I took another sip from my now nearly empty ginger ale. I noticed that I had sucked up a bit of ice through the straw, but that's nothing unusual. This one small sliver of ice, however, didn't seem to melt. In fact, it didn't even feel cold. I was about to crunch down on it, when I got the thought to pull it out of my mouth. Good thing! Turns out it wasn't ice at all. It was a small shard of broken glass!!! Of course I put it down and stopped drinking from the glass. Then it occurred to me... What if I had unwittingly swallowed some broken glass?!?! What do you do for that?!?! I sat there, nearly in shock at the mere thought, consumed by worry over the possibility that I could've just damaged my entire digestive system. As the waitress came by, I mentioned the problem. She took the shard to show the manager, and the pizza was comped, and a fresh ginger ale was supplied, which I carefully and hesitantly drank. I ordered my dessert, but ate only the ice cream, leaving the chocolate cake and toffee to be taken home and eaten at my leisure. (It still sits in my fridge awaiting its consumption.) As we nervously left, I felt a little nauseous, but purely due to my nerves. I eventually got my mind off of it, and I felt better.
The next day (Saturday) I hardly thought about it all day. I had breakfast. I went shopping. I had a greasy lunch when I did think about it; I figured I might as well lubricate the glass. I went grocery shopping and watched the fights. No stressing about it. I figured I must have been fine.
Then this morning as I got out of bed I realized that I felt a pain in my gut. At first I thought it was just my body deciding it didn't feel like getting up. But as I began to move around and wake myself up, the pain didn't subside. I'm not claiming that this pain had anything to do with any glass, but after a few minutes I started to wonder. I stayed at home most of the day and tried to get my mind off of it. The pain has mostly subsided, but there's still a definite discomfort. If it's not gone by tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to see a doctor. I'll keep you posted.
Oh, and if it turns out that I did swallow glass, I'm totally suing!
So... A couple days ago my girlfriend, her roommate and I all go out for the evening. We went to the University for an Opera Workshop. It was entitled The World Of Operetta. Essentially it was a collection of pieces from Operettas from various composers from around the world: English, German, French, and American. It was SO GOOD!!! But this isn't what I'm blogging about...
After the show, we went to Earls for a bite. We shared a pizza and then had desserts. I had ordered a ginger ale, which will come as no surprise to those who have eaten out with me in the past. (I love a good ginger ale!) Anyway, after the pizza was finished, I took another sip from my now nearly empty ginger ale. I noticed that I had sucked up a bit of ice through the straw, but that's nothing unusual. This one small sliver of ice, however, didn't seem to melt. In fact, it didn't even feel cold. I was about to crunch down on it, when I got the thought to pull it out of my mouth. Good thing! Turns out it wasn't ice at all. It was a small shard of broken glass!!! Of course I put it down and stopped drinking from the glass. Then it occurred to me... What if I had unwittingly swallowed some broken glass?!?! What do you do for that?!?! I sat there, nearly in shock at the mere thought, consumed by worry over the possibility that I could've just damaged my entire digestive system. As the waitress came by, I mentioned the problem. She took the shard to show the manager, and the pizza was comped, and a fresh ginger ale was supplied, which I carefully and hesitantly drank. I ordered my dessert, but ate only the ice cream, leaving the chocolate cake and toffee to be taken home and eaten at my leisure. (It still sits in my fridge awaiting its consumption.) As we nervously left, I felt a little nauseous, but purely due to my nerves. I eventually got my mind off of it, and I felt better.
The next day (Saturday) I hardly thought about it all day. I had breakfast. I went shopping. I had a greasy lunch when I did think about it; I figured I might as well lubricate the glass. I went grocery shopping and watched the fights. No stressing about it. I figured I must have been fine.
Then this morning as I got out of bed I realized that I felt a pain in my gut. At first I thought it was just my body deciding it didn't feel like getting up. But as I began to move around and wake myself up, the pain didn't subside. I'm not claiming that this pain had anything to do with any glass, but after a few minutes I started to wonder. I stayed at home most of the day and tried to get my mind off of it. The pain has mostly subsided, but there's still a definite discomfort. If it's not gone by tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to see a doctor. I'll keep you posted.
Oh, and if it turns out that I did swallow glass, I'm totally suing!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Seven Random Things (tagged by Vicky)
(England post is coming soon, still getting pics up on facebook.)
Seven random things about me:
1. I love to play my guitar, but I get bored of it and go months without playing sometimes.
2. I love to ride my motorbike, but I get bored of it and go months without riding sometimes.
3. I love running, but I get bored of it and go months without running sometimes. (I'm noticing a theme here.)
4. I'd like to go back to school in a couple years and get a Masters Degree.
5. I think my next vehicle will be either a sports car (Mustang maybe?) or a small pickup truck (Tacoma maybe?), but I haven't decided which yet.
6. I love my iPhone, but it so hard to find a case that I like for it. Griffin has one called the Elan Clip, which I love, but I've broken three of them already. If they made the belt clip mechanism out of metal instead of plastic I'd pay twice as much for it.
7. I'm a very picky eater, particularly when it comes to veggies. I love broccoli but I hate cauliflower. I love carrots but I hate celery. I love cucumbers but I hate pickles.
Tag seven people:
I don't even think I have seven people who read my blog; if you read this and you haven't already done it, consider yourself tagged.
Seven random things about me:
1. I love to play my guitar, but I get bored of it and go months without playing sometimes.
2. I love to ride my motorbike, but I get bored of it and go months without riding sometimes.
3. I love running, but I get bored of it and go months without running sometimes. (I'm noticing a theme here.)
4. I'd like to go back to school in a couple years and get a Masters Degree.
5. I think my next vehicle will be either a sports car (Mustang maybe?) or a small pickup truck (Tacoma maybe?), but I haven't decided which yet.
6. I love my iPhone, but it so hard to find a case that I like for it. Griffin has one called the Elan Clip, which I love, but I've broken three of them already. If they made the belt clip mechanism out of metal instead of plastic I'd pay twice as much for it.
7. I'm a very picky eater, particularly when it comes to veggies. I love broccoli but I hate cauliflower. I love carrots but I hate celery. I love cucumbers but I hate pickles.
Tag seven people:
I don't even think I have seven people who read my blog; if you read this and you haven't already done it, consider yourself tagged.
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