IN, Bang and soforth

Two things have been on my mind lately: the Mineshaft and Chuck's. For those that don't know, the Mineshaft is a small bar in Indy and Chuck's is a restaurant in Terre Heute. For some reason, I'm thinking that the name of the restaurant is actually Charlie's, but everyone calls it Chucks- I don't know, but what I DO know is that they have one of the best burgers around--the Tweety! They give you all sorts of options as far as toppings, which is good for me since I like a lot of messy stuff on my burgers. It's inconvienent that there isn't a good, quick, direct route to the Heute from our house. Ben was there yesterday shopping for an intern at Rose and I almost asked him to bring me home a Tweety. Yum!
I've heard that there's a chinese restaurant called 1st Wok that is BANG!, but I've never been there to know for sure.

As for the Mineshaft, that was a place, pre-Ben, that I used to go to on Thursday nights with friends to take advantage of their weekday beverage specials. It was cozy, had a decent little dance floor adn the bartenders were cool. I think it reminds me of a bar back home that I used to frequent.

I don't know why they're on my mind so much lately, but they are. Maybe a trip to both places is in order. Who's in?

Going In Public

I hope I'm not alone in this.

I don't know why it is, but I hate using the facilities when there are other people in there. Clearly, I'm refering to a public restroom situation. As soon as you enter, you pretty much know whether or not there are other people in there. If no one else is around, I walk in, head straight for my favorite stall and do whatever I need to do. If anyone else is in there, I walk in, head straight for my favorite stall and sit and wait (sometimes in agony) for the other person(s) to leave, then do whatever it was I needed to do. At work, our bathroom is shared with two other small companies down the hall. Every now and then I walk in to find someone applying makeup, fixing her hair, doing their taxes, any and everything imaginable to make my wait even longer! It gets so bad that I'm sure they think something must be wrong with me since I went into the stall minutes earlier and there's still no sign of release. I usually win out and as soon as hear the door close, it's off to the races for me!

Why do I care so much that other people are in there and what they might hear? They're in there to do the same things as I am. It's not as if I'm using the restroom as a cover for some heroin addiction or anything.

If worst comes to worst I will edge myself forward towards the front of the toilet, where the water is lower, and proceed with my bidness. Thus causing minimal noise for others to hear.

This has been a blog about taxes and toilets.

Update: Made Up Words

I had an appointment with a neurologist yesterday on my doctor's recommendation. Ben, being teh good husband he is, went with me. I think he was at least mildly curious about what all those $50 medical terms meant too. I tried, just now, to type out what we learned, but it's too hard to esplain here. It's all pretty technical and specific so I'll just give you the basics:

The disc's, which are the cushions in between your vertebrae, should be like steak; moist and juicy; able to bend and provide cushion. My lower four disc's are beef jerky. Those were his words by the way; his analogy.

Because those disc's have deteriorated so much, they have allowed a few vertebrae to slip out of place. It's called spondylolisthesis. It's not like totally out of place to where I'm immobile, but enough to be noticed by the naked eye on an MRI and by occasional twinges of pain.

In everyone, there is a jelly-type substance in the middle of each disc. Around it is another, tougher substance and the very outer ring of that tough substance is called the annulus. In my lowest disc, that jelly-ish substance is pushing upward into the bottom of the vertebrae and also downward into the vertebrae below. That is called a Schmorl's node. And that annulus I was talking about has a tear in it, so that jelly-ish stuff is about ready to asplode. Probably won't happen today or tomorrow, but from what I could tell, it may not take too much more to make it burst open with painful goodness. If the jelly comes out the front or back, then that's called herniated; just a little fyi for you!

The best part was the wrap up the doctor gave us about all this. He said that overall, for being 27, I had very advanced degenerization in my lower back. Considering I have never had back problems before and no major injuries to speak of; I've never broken a bone or been admitted to a hospital for anything. He also let me know that my chances of having back surgery in my lifetime were extremely high.

So his recommendation for now is to get some different x-rays to see some different angles, then physical therapy and then we'll see what's next. I'm trying to be optimistic, but it just hit me off guard. I was absolutely not expecting him to say what he did. Ben did some ninnternet research and found out that there's a good chance that the therapy will possibly move that one really bad vertebrae back into a better position.

Here's hoping.

Radio Presets

I thought it might be interesting to let you all know what presets I have in my car. Actually, now that I see that thought typed out, it doesn't sound all that great, but let's just go with it.

In no particular order:

88.1 wnas--this is the New Albany high school station. Sounds crazy, but these kids pull off some great blocks of music every now and then. I've heard their radio set up is one of the best in the area, they claim to have 10,000 songs to pick from. I believe it too, there's no repetition here. They don't play new music, so you can hear some obscure bluegrass song then they'll follow it up with Motownphilly by Boyz 2 Men. This station is like a box of chocolates...

102.3 wxma--this is a Louisville station that plays 90's and today music in the top 40/adult contemporary categories. They're alright for playing at work since you won't hear any offensive lyrics and whatnot. This preset actually took the place of 100.5 which was one of those stations that didnt' have dj's, few commercials and lots of 80's music. It totally rocked, then somebody decided they should have dj's and I had to boycott it due to that being the main reason I liked the station.

107.7 wsfr--this is Louisville's main classic rock station. Nothing spectacular here, just your run of the mill classic rock station. Lots of Led, Pink Floyd, CCR, etc. Good times.

99.7 wdjx--they play "today's best music". I don't always aggree with that, but I don't say anything. Here is where you'll find top 40, whatever happens to be hot this week and some hip-hop...ad naseum.

98.9 wzkf--this is the station you want if want a good amount of hip-hop and rap. They also play whatever happens to be hot right now and they play it and play it and play it until I never want to hear the song again. You can almost tell what time it is based on what song is playing. I think I tune into this station once a week on my way into work just so I can stay on top of what's cool in music so I can talk to my sister about something.

105.1 wlrs--this is one of Louisville harder rock station. It's a good change of pace from the others. I like that they don't play Metallica every other song like the other rock station does. One can only hear "Enter Sandman" so many times in a 24 hour period.

So there you have it. Tell me what you think or what you listen to.

Jake

The new vacuum works like a champ. The floor practically gleems, which is something considering it's carpetted and all. It seems that Jake, one of the cats, does not like the level of cleanliness though. I usually vacuum at night, then in the morning there are plenty of patches of his hair lying all throughout the house. It's like he just rolls around intentionally leaving hair cause it should be on floor.

Jake, if you're not familiar, is the oldest and hairiest of our cats. He's also the only boy out of the four and he's the most friendly. He'll walk up to anyone that comes in the house. Especially if the person happens to be holding the door open, but that's a whole nuther story.

Jake was a scraggly, matted cat that wondered into my parents backyard about 6 years ago. My parents neighborhood consists mainly of dogs, so this cat clearly didn't belong out and about. Jake walked right past two big, barking dogs like he didn't give a shit. Clearly he was malnourished and/or sick; you could see his bones easily. I took him to the vet who said one of two things could be wrong with him. It could be some long-named disease for which there is no vaccine, or it could be a simple tongue infection. The tip of his tongue was bright red, which would explain his inability to clean himself and eat. The vet actually suggested that I "put him down" since there was no attachment to him and to prevent spending money to treat something that's not curable. That was not an option for me. I told him that I would feel horrible if we didnt' at least try and assume it's just a simple infection. So about four days of shoving pills down his throat later I saw him start to clean himself! That's the indication we needed to see to prove that it was just an infection and not some other disease. After a few more trips to the vet, he got a clean bill of health and he's been great ever since then.

I love all my cats, but when it comes to character Jake just has the best. Mozz is a close second though. I really think it has to do with both of them having been strays at one point. The other two are just spoiled beyond any recognition.

What is it about people with cat allergies that makes cats only want to come up to those people? Are they a truly evil species? Have you ever noticed this phenomena?

This has been a blog about Jake.