December 10, 2003
Better late than never
Flu shot - For the second time in about 10 years, I went to see the doctor today. About 2 weeks ago I called Milford Family Practice asking if I could get a flu shot. Since they didn't know me from Noah, they asked if I could select a primary care physician within the practice and meet with him first to review my overall health. Although my initial thoughts were along the lines of "it's just a flu shot", the thoughts passed when I realized that my last major physical was in my last year of military service. I agreed, chose a doctor, and said that I'd plan for a general physical as well in the weeks following the initial consultation. It almost seems a shame to have had good health insurance for all of these years and never have used it on myself for basic maintenance.
While my weight has been slowly going up over the past decade (as is pretty common when men hit their 30's), I was happy to learn that at least I've inherited my father's genes for low blood pressure. Despite doing customer technical support of hardware and software issues in embedded designs, and despite having five small children, my blood pressure still weighed in around 110 over 80. When I come back in a few more weeks, I'll have the lab work done for the other common tests.
Legacy of the handshake - My doctor jokingly blamed Thomas Jefferson for the bulk of colds, fevers, and flus that occur in the US. He mentioned that when Jefferson came into office as President, he found the tradition of bowing to be too formal. He replaced the bow with the handshake since he felt it more democratic. A brief search of some history sites seems to confirm this. Some medical sites also claim that we get sick more from hand to hand contact (in conjunction with rubbing our eyes, noses, etc) than coughs and sneezes. Anyone have some polite ways to greet someone while refusing a handshake -- besides having a pair of twins in your arms!
Accident - I learned last night about a full size television sliding off an entertainment center onto my six month old nephew. I won't go into details. I was relieved to learn that he wasn't seriously hurt although it gave me a serious case of the shakes. As parents we are trying to be mindful of our kids' safety with reasonable measures -- blocking the driveway entry so the kids don't drift into the street, securing book shelves to the wall, safety nets on our trampoline, covers on the electrical outlets, etc -- but you don't want to get obsessive about it and drive yourself crazy either. You realistically can't keep your eye on them every minute. Scary incidents like this recent one are frightening reminders that kids are very creative at breaking things (not unlike my customers...), themselves included. I loathe the day when I'll get a call to meet my wife at the hospital because one of my own was just rushed there. Ordinarily having decent brood of children helps you relax a bit and take things in stride a bit more than a parent of a single child, but incidents like this remind us not to get too complacent.
Re-discovering Chesterton - About half a dozen years ago I read a handful of books by early 20th century author GK Chesterton. I read Orthodoxy, The Everlasting Man, parts of Heretics and What's Wrong with the World. Thanks to the audio archives at EWTN of "GK Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense" (both the first series and the second series) I've suddenly had a desire to re-read some of his masterpieces again. It's not unlike a book or movie that you see in a new light upon second reading/viewing. There's even an American Chesterton Society for more information on his life and writings. If you want a brief sampling of his style, look over some of his choice quotations.