as i've mentioned before, i started working out w/ raymond 'desade' desmarais several months ago to help the chronic back pain from which i'd suffered--upper back from 15 years of doing dentistry, lower back from 3 yrs of picking up kids. well, he knocked the pain out in a few weeks like he was swatting a fly, then he got serious about kicking my butt. we started w/ weight lifting. then he brought some pads in and let me kick him a few times at the end of a workout. then he got me some gloves so i could hit him a little. then he put it together and let me kick AND hit him.....and it's AMAZING.
i had luc come yesterday to videotape some. these are just some practice workouts. the really fun ones are 2-3 minute timed rounds.
it's interesting for me to see the workout from this perspective. i always thought i hit like rocky, but instead, i hit more like bullwinkle....if bullwinkle were a girl. and maybe really, really tired. in my defense, this was after a 45 minute workout. and i'd worked all day. and i'm pretty sure i had a papercut. sigh. i gotta work on my form.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
daniel schorr died today and symmetry
i've always had a special place in my heart for daniel schorr b/c of the obvious similarities in our names...and the fact that we both have had to go through life correcting people who try to spell it intuitively. him, shore, me schmoor.
i knew daniel schorr as a commentator for npr, not knowing that he was already in his 70's when first heard him on public radio in the 80's. he was 93 when he died today, his advanced age never evident in his voice. i had no clue he was that old and assumed he'd be around as long as me. didn't i just hear him on npr this week?
what i've learned about him today: he's been a journalist and correspondent for almost 65 years now. he conducted the first ever tv interview with nikita khruschev in 1957. he was number 17 of 20 on richard nixon's "enemies list"; a fact he discovered while reading the list live on-air. in 1976, he made public a suppressed report on illegal cia and fbi 'findings' and to this day, he has not revealed his source. he's been a staunch advocate for first amendment rights his whole career.
less auspiciously, he was born august 31, 1916, so he and i not only share similar names, we share our birthday (i'm aug 31, 1964. if you have any interest in chinese astrology, you'd know that we were both born in 'dragon' years. i think all this means that we both have a knack for occasionally pissing off the wrong people b/c of our beliefs and/or behavior). the schorr's are ukranian-jew, he was born in the bronx. the schmorr's are prussian-jew, my dad born in the bronx.
sigh. i'm just really going to miss his voice.
i knew daniel schorr as a commentator for npr, not knowing that he was already in his 70's when first heard him on public radio in the 80's. he was 93 when he died today, his advanced age never evident in his voice. i had no clue he was that old and assumed he'd be around as long as me. didn't i just hear him on npr this week?
what i've learned about him today: he's been a journalist and correspondent for almost 65 years now. he conducted the first ever tv interview with nikita khruschev in 1957. he was number 17 of 20 on richard nixon's "enemies list"; a fact he discovered while reading the list live on-air. in 1976, he made public a suppressed report on illegal cia and fbi 'findings' and to this day, he has not revealed his source. he's been a staunch advocate for first amendment rights his whole career.
less auspiciously, he was born august 31, 1916, so he and i not only share similar names, we share our birthday (i'm aug 31, 1964. if you have any interest in chinese astrology, you'd know that we were both born in 'dragon' years. i think all this means that we both have a knack for occasionally pissing off the wrong people b/c of our beliefs and/or behavior). the schorr's are ukranian-jew, he was born in the bronx. the schmorr's are prussian-jew, my dad born in the bronx.
sigh. i'm just really going to miss his voice.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
my laser rocks
this is really only going to be interesting to people either in the dental field. not for the faint of heart, but it's so cool!
this lady came in with a traumatic cyst the size of a marble!! i've never seen one even half this size before! she bit her lip, it swelled, causing her to accidentally bite it more, causing more swelling, etc etc. you see these pretty often, same location, but they're usually the size of a bb.
so i got her numb and lasered it. it was sort of a surprise assault, but she did great! here's immediately after--it's amazing!
here's one day later. she has a little residual swelling, but the tissue looks great. it's hard to believe i took a marble out of her lip yesterday. AND it doesn't hurt. little to no post-op pain. lasers are crazy magic.
this lady came in with a traumatic cyst the size of a marble!! i've never seen one even half this size before! she bit her lip, it swelled, causing her to accidentally bite it more, causing more swelling, etc etc. you see these pretty often, same location, but they're usually the size of a bb.
Monday, July 12, 2010
a new diagnosis: SUIT
this was forwarded to me by a friend several months ago and is one of the funniest things on the internet. jolene roxbury is a southern comedienne who does characters based on her bayou relatives.
fwiw, this is probably more of a chick thing than a guy thing, but i think it's relevant for this blog since SUIT (somthin' up in there) is now a commonly used diagnostic term in our office.
it's all audio...no video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-XhuFSQFs
fwiw, this is probably more of a chick thing than a guy thing, but i think it's relevant for this blog since SUIT (somthin' up in there) is now a commonly used diagnostic term in our office.
it's all audio...no video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-XhuFSQFs
Thursday, July 8, 2010
total dorks
a conversation we had in the office yesterday:
kassie's got a patient in the chair whose wife is a toxicologist. he asks about a stuffed creature she keeps on a shelf (it's supposed to be a 'halitosis bug') and mentions that he got one for his wife once; it's a bacterium or a spore or something.
i say: 'spores are amazing things. they're going to take over the world someday b/c they're so hard to kill.'
kassie, unconvinced, says: 'well, maybe, but i'm not going to hold my breath'
i say: 'you'd better if there's a spore around'.
yukyukyuk. we just can't help ourselves.
another conversation....'rent a liberal':
last week, we have a patient, also in kassie's room. she's a teacher at a local minority college; very cool, very hip, looooong dreadlocks, flowing shirts and skirts. we were discussing our mutual love for indian food. she said she'd like to go to india and be a serial wedding crasher just to try out all the buffets, which i thought was a GREAT idea. then we figured a way to do it for profit. if an indian couple wanted to diversify their guest list and show how progressive they are, they could hire us as a biracial, middle-aged, lesbian couple, thus covering a lot of bases in a relatively small, discounted package. we'd call our business 'rent-a-liberal'.
i love our patients....
kassie's got a patient in the chair whose wife is a toxicologist. he asks about a stuffed creature she keeps on a shelf (it's supposed to be a 'halitosis bug') and mentions that he got one for his wife once; it's a bacterium or a spore or something.
i say: 'spores are amazing things. they're going to take over the world someday b/c they're so hard to kill.'
kassie, unconvinced, says: 'well, maybe, but i'm not going to hold my breath'
i say: 'you'd better if there's a spore around'.
yukyukyuk. we just can't help ourselves.
another conversation....'rent a liberal':
last week, we have a patient, also in kassie's room. she's a teacher at a local minority college; very cool, very hip, looooong dreadlocks, flowing shirts and skirts. we were discussing our mutual love for indian food. she said she'd like to go to india and be a serial wedding crasher just to try out all the buffets, which i thought was a GREAT idea. then we figured a way to do it for profit. if an indian couple wanted to diversify their guest list and show how progressive they are, they could hire us as a biracial, middle-aged, lesbian couple, thus covering a lot of bases in a relatively small, discounted package. we'd call our business 'rent-a-liberal'.
i love our patients....
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
personal training
i've been in pretty good shape most of my life; exercise has ALWAYS been a part of my regular routine. then at 42, i got pregnant....with a litter of two.
but, ohhhh, i was going to be one of those women who exercised right up until the day they give birth. you know the ones i'm talking about of course. but then, at around say, 4 or 5 months into it, i was taking a ballet class (with righteous optimism, i'd bought a pre-paid card of 20 classes), and had already accepted that jumps weren't going to happen anymore, was at the barre, doing a port de bras (french for 'leaning backwards w/ your arm in the air') and realized i was stopped, by my belly, from going back more than 5 degrees from vertical. yeesh. fine. FINE. so there are other exercises. i can always walk.
but no one told me about the hip issue. 45 extra pounds sitting on top of 42 yr old hips doesn't make for a walk in the park. or up the hill. my office is one block from armadillo grill, a regular on our lunch circuit. at about 7 months into the pregnancy, i realized i couldn't walk the 300 ft, even with nachos as an incentive, so while my staff all strolled down the street, i drove my, sigh, minivan the block down to the restaurant and back.
by month 8, it was starting to look they would have to wheel me from room to room to see patients. fortunately, i went into labor before it got that bad.
ok, so my plan was start exercising as soon as the babies were born, right? yeah, right. i always scoffed at those stay at home moms who complained that they didn't get dressed until four in the afternoon b/c they were so busy, then i discovered that dressing by four was a day of over-achievement.
three-plus years of over-using a couple of weird muscles to do dentistry and pick up kids and not exercising the other 98% of them has led to chronic pain and muscle spasms. now that the boys are somewhat self-entertaining, i've been able to commit to a little gym time. one of my patients, it turns out, is a personal trainer who works out of a gym a few blocks from the office. his name is raymond desmarais aka the marquis de sade (french for 'you want me to lift what?!? how many times?!?). however, for all my whining, the improvement is amazing. it was about 2 weeks into it that i realized i wasn't in pain anymore. not just not sore from the workouts, but no neck/back/shoulder pain. yippeee!
raymond's still the devil though.
but, ohhhh, i was going to be one of those women who exercised right up until the day they give birth. you know the ones i'm talking about of course. but then, at around say, 4 or 5 months into it, i was taking a ballet class (with righteous optimism, i'd bought a pre-paid card of 20 classes), and had already accepted that jumps weren't going to happen anymore, was at the barre, doing a port de bras (french for 'leaning backwards w/ your arm in the air') and realized i was stopped, by my belly, from going back more than 5 degrees from vertical. yeesh. fine. FINE. so there are other exercises. i can always walk.
but no one told me about the hip issue. 45 extra pounds sitting on top of 42 yr old hips doesn't make for a walk in the park. or up the hill. my office is one block from armadillo grill, a regular on our lunch circuit. at about 7 months into the pregnancy, i realized i couldn't walk the 300 ft, even with nachos as an incentive, so while my staff all strolled down the street, i drove my, sigh, minivan the block down to the restaurant and back.
by month 8, it was starting to look they would have to wheel me from room to room to see patients. fortunately, i went into labor before it got that bad.
ok, so my plan was start exercising as soon as the babies were born, right? yeah, right. i always scoffed at those stay at home moms who complained that they didn't get dressed until four in the afternoon b/c they were so busy, then i discovered that dressing by four was a day of over-achievement.
three-plus years of over-using a couple of weird muscles to do dentistry and pick up kids and not exercising the other 98% of them has led to chronic pain and muscle spasms. now that the boys are somewhat self-entertaining, i've been able to commit to a little gym time. one of my patients, it turns out, is a personal trainer who works out of a gym a few blocks from the office. his name is raymond desmarais aka the marquis de sade (french for 'you want me to lift what?!? how many times?!?). however, for all my whining, the improvement is amazing. it was about 2 weeks into it that i realized i wasn't in pain anymore. not just not sore from the workouts, but no neck/back/shoulder pain. yippeee!
raymond's still the devil though.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
the circus and lil wayne
we went to the circus this weekend. the ringmaster had crazy good teeth. we were sitting near the front row, but wayyyy on the side. fortunately it was the side that the animals and acrobats came in. we had an excellent view of the cleanup of elephant poop.
anyhow, the ringmaster: i googled him b/c i wondered what his real purpose was besides to look pretty. he's one of the youngest ringmasters ever hired by barnum and bailey, at 23 and is a highly respected magician in his field. go figure. he says that in every show, he runs aprox 2 miles (one end of the ring to another, over and over) and drinks 2 liters of water. i had wondered why he looked more athletic than the acrobats.
speaking of great teeth: i have a somewhat morbid fascination w/ lil wayne. i've been watching the $150k train wreck of a grill in his mouth for several years now, enlarging images whenever i see a pic of him grinning like a cheshire cat. now, as an artist, i think the guy's got real genius. but holy cow! that mouth! all i can think of when i see him is the active gum disease, pus and inflammation he's harboring under all that bling. and let's face it...he gets plenty of action but who, really, is going to kiss that twice? i think i just threw up in my mouth.
so, his recent sentencing was postponed b/c of dental surgery, and of course i've been tracking it. he had to have 8 (EIGHT!!) root canals...and then something about implants....being redone? new ones being placed? oh, and they had to revamp the diamond and platinum hardware. i can only hope that a hygienist smacked him around and gave him several thousand yards of floss with stern instructions. if kassie had hold of him, he'd be begging her forgiveness w/ promises of reform within minutes (more than his judge got, i'm sure).
meanwhile, i'm still trying to convince someone to let me put a diamond inlay on their upper canine tooth. so far, no takers, but hope springs eternal.
anyhow, the ringmaster: i googled him b/c i wondered what his real purpose was besides to look pretty. he's one of the youngest ringmasters ever hired by barnum and bailey, at 23 and is a highly respected magician in his field. go figure. he says that in every show, he runs aprox 2 miles (one end of the ring to another, over and over) and drinks 2 liters of water. i had wondered why he looked more athletic than the acrobats.
speaking of great teeth: i have a somewhat morbid fascination w/ lil wayne. i've been watching the $150k train wreck of a grill in his mouth for several years now, enlarging images whenever i see a pic of him grinning like a cheshire cat. now, as an artist, i think the guy's got real genius. but holy cow! that mouth! all i can think of when i see him is the active gum disease, pus and inflammation he's harboring under all that bling. and let's face it...he gets plenty of action but who, really, is going to kiss that twice? i think i just threw up in my mouth.
so, his recent sentencing was postponed b/c of dental surgery, and of course i've been tracking it. he had to have 8 (EIGHT!!) root canals...and then something about implants....being redone? new ones being placed? oh, and they had to revamp the diamond and platinum hardware. i can only hope that a hygienist smacked him around and gave him several thousand yards of floss with stern instructions. if kassie had hold of him, he'd be begging her forgiveness w/ promises of reform within minutes (more than his judge got, i'm sure).
meanwhile, i'm still trying to convince someone to let me put a diamond inlay on their upper canine tooth. so far, no takers, but hope springs eternal.
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