Emperical/Schmempirical!!

Included below is a summary of the definition of empirical (research) from  Thesarus.com.  and the ever famous Wikipedia   (in other words, don't take my summary for it, do your own research :)  )

Empirical is an adjective meaning that something is observable or may be experienced.  This is a practical method of research, as in the evidence or research is based on factual and observable (practical) results which are documented and either support or decry the original claim.  Data are collected, they should support the theory or question which should be clearly defined and answerable with data pertaining to the theory.  The Empirical method is one part of the Scientific method for proving or disproving any number of theories our learned minds come up with.

Why I am blathering on about this?  As you will note from the above photo....my flexible, digital thermometer has been molested!  No worries, it still works!!  I use this thermometer to test the water temp before I get in the tub.  My temperature sensors are all off and I generally end up either scalding or freezing myself in the tub.  Enter the thermometer.....I digress.....


Our dear son, "DS", decided that he wanted to use our jacuzzi tub.  No problem,a little teenage body can get achy too.  We caved like wet paper towels and gave him the green light.  We went up later to take a bath.  I noticed my thermometer looked odd.  I inquired after its health.  DS denied any knowledge of the thermometer, then feigned shock at the sight of it.  He went so far as to say "It looks like someone chewed it!  After a few more days of raised eyebrow interrogation and some water-boarding  he finally fessed up to chewing on it.  His "theory" that he "proved" through "empirical research" was that......"there is nothing inside the bendy tip"  I informed him that the information needed to go from the metal tip to a micro processor and thermistor inside the thermomer.  (Actually I forgot the words thermistor and microprocessor and said it something along the lines of)  "Are you insane?  Of course there is a strip or small cable relaying the temp to the circuitry"  his answer "Nope I chewed it really well, there's nothing in there!"

I' told DS that when the thermometer breathes it's last (yeah I know it can't breathe) that we will gently slice open the flexy tip to see the inner workings.....

Stand in awe of the next generation of empirical research  "I chewed it really well, Mom!!"

Onomatopoeia

tick tock, oink, plink, meow, tinkle, purr, shushing, shushing (skiing)...real onomatopoeia are all weird words and kind of fun words to say.  But there are other words, real words, tangible words that often people find themselves repeating because they either sound so nifty are fun to say or are just plain weird.  Like the word onomatopoeia....that's just plain weird!  I understand the root and all, but the name doesn't conjure that image up for me.  It makes me think of some incurable infection.

doctor~  "I'm sorry ma'am, I hate to be the one to tell you but you have..."
woman (interrupting)~ "oh no! don't tell me it's bubonic plague!"
doctor~ "No ma'am"
woman (sobbing) "oh thank heavens!"
doctor~ "It's worse than that, I fear!"
woman (gasps) "tell me it's not..."
doctor~ "I'm afraid that it is"
simultaneous~ "onomatopoeia!!!"
woman (wailing)

Mourners at the funeral solemnly place the blame with the day she went shushing down the slopes accompanied by the merry tinkle of bangle bracelets, while listening to a sound track of cats meowing and purring in time with the tick tock of a clock.   The only one who would ever know how the woman contracted the deadly onomatopoeia infection was her pet cockroach. The truth lay concealed behind her headboard...it was the chewing gum she was too ashamed to continue keeping on the bedpost over night.  The cockroach saw his chance, ate the gum, promptly contracted the deadly onomatopoeia infection and wiped out the entire apartment complex's roach population.

Other words I find irritating are duty, lugubrious, scissors, studio, apple, bucolic, dog, serendipity, camaraderie, calisthenics, aerobics, donkey, bowel, medicine ball, 'tude (short for attitude) zenith because it reminds me of Judith,(not that there is anything wrong with the name Judith, I just had a nasty run in with a Judith and it scared me until along came Judith Light in Who's the Boss...it kind of dispelled the Judith scare but not entirely...I guess that's more a phobia than a word aversion) pizza pie, supper, there are more...my insanity runs deep.  I try to avoid saying those words.  (yes I am entirely sober)  I don't think I like that word either, sober.

Words I like are diaphanous, cumbersome, nebulous, zephyr, nadir, linoleum, pizza, pie, lemon, Antigone, radio, television, tv, dinner, honey (but I don't really like honey all that much unless I have a sore throat) rhubarb, blueberry, cherry, cat, lion, wolf, hamburger, horse, down, up, down pillow, pillow, ball, bell, glia, pencil, play, pond, pussy willow, willow tree, tree, worm, dirt, grass, plastic, paper, cradle, cuddle, gel, jelly, bread, milk, potato, sunflower, flowers.  Those are all really fun words to say.  I like the way they roll off the tongue, the way the sound when said.  I like words that tend to sound like the beginning of a song, or are lyrical.  What's lyrical to me may certainly be poison to your own ears.

I will try to find a way to work one or more of my favorite words into a conversation.  There are times I sing the "L" is such a lovely letter song because so many favorite words are in there!  Linoleum, lollipop, lemon, lightbulb.  I may have already done something similar with a post about liking the letter "L" but this goes beyond that.  There are entire words I actually will go out of my way to avoid saying.  If I hear one it really annoys me and I find myself looking for a word to cancel the irritating word out.  Wow...I may need therapy after a re-read!  Pity my husband and son!

What are your words of avoidance and words of choice...I know you have them.

A Cure??

I see a cure as further than I ever imagined…..

Just sounding off on this....I used to think that a "cure" for SCI was just around the corner, especially after Christopher Reeve was injured and that Super bowl commercial came out.  Now that I've been dealing with a mild cord injury and an odd one at that, I never would have understood (still don't really, it seems too odd) that spinal cord injuries came in more than one basic type.   I don't see a "cure" as really coming any time soon. There are so many variables.  I have horrific burning nerve pain, I can't process sensory information worth a darn, my motor coordination is good most of the time but things don't respond quite right....

Now imagine that a person with the SCI has zero function, zero sensation and has been dealing with that for let's say 2 years also.  They still remember walking, moving, going to the bathroom and long for it more than anything.  That person gets "the cure"  but they wake up to nerve pain burning off the charts, nothing responds the way they remember it or expect it, they don't always need to cath but don't understand that they need to time bathroom functions or find other methods to empty. 

How can that be a cure for them when it plunges them into a new form of nightmare oddness.  In my sci groups people say they'd do anything to be "cured" to "walk again", "go to the bathroom again”, but when I ask them if they would pass it to their children...they clam up.  When I ask if the "cure" left them nearing insanity from the sensory overload and hypersensitivity...they also clam up. 

I think people are mistaken when they think a “cure” will mean a return to normal.  I no longer see that as happening.  I see that perhaps the most people can expect is some return of feeling, maybe some muscle movement, but how long will it take to build those atrophied muscles back up?  Will they get enough messages to the muscles to build them up or will it leave people in a greater state of disability than before, because of too much information and no way to process it?  What if a person is married, has kids, a job and a full life by most definitions…then all that goes away because the cure ruins the peace they had.  I can see that happening in some cases.  There are so many types of paralysis and incomplete paralysis, things I never considered until I met more people and they met me. 

What would a cure even be considered?  Walking? Feeling? Going to the bathroom? Etc….(wink wink).   Some people even have full sensory ability but zero motor function…what if the cure left them with no feeling but the ability to walk, but in the process they lost (wink wink)  So may what if’s! 

How long will it take to figure this out?  I am aware there have been many strides with stem cells, I know there are other trials going on.  I can’t help but wonder what this will mean for so many people.  It’s exciting and sobering.   

Tamales.......mmmmm........

I've been making tamales for days now.  It's a bit more tiring than it was before, but the reward is so yummy!!!

Spring is broken

Well spring was springing.  Now our crocuses are lying sad, frozen and dead.  I'm not sure what the rest of the flowers have done, are doing, are planning on doing, or if they really care.  I attempted to help the guys mulch a bit (gee won't the neighborhood lawn nazi's be happy) in a vain attempt to keep down some weeds.

Spring is ok, I don't mind it....but it brings summer.  My most dreaded time of year.  The horrible, bright shiny sun, the heat, those stupid May bugs that people insist are June bugs, but they can't be June bugs because June bugs are cute little scarab looking things around the size of an oat.  That's what Mama told me and I will swear that's what they are.  The others are just hideous May bugs.  They shouldn't even be able to fly!  Hideous brown unwieldy things.

Our cat LOVES spring, and summer....from 5am until about 9pm we hear canigooutcanigooutcanigoout, outoutoutout, in various forms of meows, groans and attempting to chew open windows.  He loves to eat grass, chase bugs and until summer before last, enjoyed playing on a swingset.  The swingset was taken down and he was FURIOUS.

Spring is a crazy time here, for some reason when our son goes out...he comes home smelling like some type of odd fish, covered in mud, swearing he was no where near the frog pond.  I'm not even sure how frogs live there, because the lawn nazi's all fertilize the living crap out of their grass for the 2-3 months it grows.  All of this fertilizer runs into the frog pond.  Algae blooms EVERYWHERE in every pond in every yard with a pond because of this insane need to fertilize.  Why can't nature just take it's course and leave grass dry in the hot summer the way it should be.  If things were supposed to be green they would be green naturally...(that does not apply to hair color!)

I refuse to spend well over $1,000 between water and fertilizer to make my neighbors happy.  I got the thistles (love them!) because of them and their insane need to feed birds thistle seed.  At this point if they don't like my thistles which have now hopefully blown into all their yards then they can stop feeding thistle seed or come weed my yard.  I'm medically not allowed to weed my lawn (yay bad neck!) the guys don't have time....so lets put that neighborly gossip train and back stab bandwagon to work helping out people.

I tried to and did shovel my driveway and walk with my cane winter before last (that has been disallowed too!  again yay neck!) people stopped, stood, watched and commented to their kids...but not one single person (all men) even offered to help.  So neighbors who want nice lawns....work on your own, and leave my weeds alone!

The fact still remains spring is broken and can remain broken until well into July!  I can't tolerate heat anyway   :)

I am raising myself

I hear the sassing, whining, nasal snottiness and it's like I'm listening to 14 year old me.  I am positive I have written about this before.  I am also positive I was every bit as sassy and horrible as my son is.  I can hear me coming out of his mouth.  Not grown up me brimming with some wisdom, but horrible teenage me brimming with imagined logic and wisdom.  Kind of the way future me will be laughing at how ignorant and self important the now me is.

It still amazes me that I am alive at all.  The Grandmother curse is true.."I hope you have a child just like you"  My sassy brat thinks this would be just fine.  "Good! I hope I do, because I like me!"  I am glad he does because he is down a few fans in the form of parents at the moment.  Today was just so horrible it was comical.  6 separate times he was asked to put away his clothes.  Those are my emergency pants for summer, those are pants I might wear to school tomorrow, that's a shirt I might wear to school tomorrow (you wore it yesterday) ok then I might wear it the day after, those are socks I might wear tomorrow.  I can't put any of that awaaaaayyyy!!!  I NEEED a shower!  Don't you understand?  I DON'T NEED TO PUT ANY OF THIS AWAY!  You're such a jerk!!  No one asked you to do my laundry anyway!  I had clothes!!  This goes on in spurts from 2:40 until 8pm

Did you clean the litter box?  Yeeeesssss!  Gosh!  (I recleaned the litter box and left the non existent litter in a bag on the stairs) What's this??  (the litter you must have missed)  FINE!!!  2:45-2:50pm

Fortunately we didn't have any dishes to put away tonight I can't imagine where they would have ended up.  I have rewashed clean dishes because he didn't feel like putting them away, taken down dirty dishes he put away because he was "In a hurry because you're being so mean to me!!!"  usually about 45 minutes to put away a dishwasher load of dishes

I am wondering if I can plead some sort of insanity, perhaps sign myself into some treatment program.  I wonder if I could quickly become an alcoholic or drug addict for a brief stint in treatment?  The sad thing is..about 15 minutes after deciding running away or homicide might be a good idea...I no longer want to throttle him, but I find myself wanting to hold him and tell him I love him, then spend time with him.  Perhaps I really AM insane?  What sane person would want to hug this rapidly growing, teenager, sassy, annoying sometimes idiotic thing I live with?  I must be totally insane.  Nothing has taught me I'm insane any better than parenting has. There should be a parents only halfway house where we can run for a few hours a day or a week as need be.

I am going to kind of enjoy the day when my sweet little angel calls to tell me "I am ready to strangle this brat child of mine!  He REFUSES to put away his clothes!!  Gosh!"  I'm sure I will still be finding underwear he has hidden in various places throughout the house with him on the phone complaining about my darling, wonderful grand child who will of course do no wrong.....hahahahahahaha

I know my grandma is in heaven just LOVING this!

Our cat hates us

Yesterday was not a happy day in the life of our kitty cat.

For the past year our cat has been struggling with allergies.  It's been a real fight because he had some bacteria that went undiagnosed.  When he was finally diagnosed after a few unsuccessful rounds of antibiotics we were told that he had likely damaged his nasal structures and would have allergies.  They did blood work the results only showed high allergy markers, we were told what otc's were safe for him to take, how much and how often.  The poor kitty has been sneezing large volumes of mucus for months.  The last month I noticed it didn't seem the same.

Suddenly the mucus stopped. He still sneezed, but nothing came out.  Then his eye started to look runny and puffy.  I washed it with a warm cloth.  It didn't get better, the swelling increased.  I made an appointment on Tuesday for Saturday.  I can't navigate him in and out of the building by myself.  I needed my son or husband with me.  Saturday was the only day.  Later Tuesday he was looking like he had gone a few rounds with an MMA fighter.  I called that evening, they could see him Wednesday evening.  He just looked worse the next morning.  I seriously began to wonder if he was sneaking out and having cage fights.  By the time his appointment rolled around his eye looked very pink near the tear duct, his forehead was swollen and to touch his face would illicit the big paw.  (the big paw is when he makes his paw as large as possible and sticks every single claw out, then pushes)  I got the big paw when I tried a warm compress before we left.

We got him to the vet.  I got my son to lacrosse practice then came back to find an unhappy cat with a grumpy husband.  Cat had lidocaine on spot on his forehead.  Eventually the vet came back.  She was brandishing a needle to aspirate his forehead bump.  Cats are bendy.....very bendy, they are also part liquid...very liquid.  Eventually she got the needle in, nothing seemed to come out.  She left.

We were pointedly ignored after several snorts, tail twitches and in general pissy cat behaviour.  Apparently she did get a few cells out and the news was good.  Nothing horrible was wrong.  We got antibiotics for bruiser and some steroids.  He already looks better after one antibiotic.  He ate a lot of ham tonight but still isn't very happy with us.  He seems to no longer be plotting our demise, but I did get the big paw tonight giving him his pills.