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Spotlight On Weenies!
September 01, 2010 :: By Rob
So I haven't blogged in awhile. I hope you enjoyed the break from my incessant quacking. Corey will continue to blog as he sees fit. Which is great since it takes some of the pressure off of me to dance for you. But this past two weeks I really wanted to shine the light on Corey's new comic Wonder Weenies.
All in all it's been a pretty productive couple of weeks and I'm going to have a bunch of new reviews (about time right?) up in all categories soon. Lot's of good stuff. Not much bad.
It does seem strange right? I don't know about you but I'm far more inclined to talk about things that I liked when I say/heard/read them than bash the things I didn't care for. I wonder how that kind of reviewing/criticism got started. What was the impetus for telling people something was awful? For that matter what was it that motivated people to get really creative and mean in their reviews/criticisms? I know there is this belief that people like that catty, mean spirited behavior but I just don't get it. I'd much rather talk about stuff I liked and hope you will like too.
That said, if I see something I don't like I may mention it if the general consensus is that it's a good thing. Sometimes common knowledge isn't to be trusted (often actually) and if, in the past you have enjoyed the things I've recommended and agreed with me when I say things aren't so good you may value a warning about something that is perhaps trending in popularity with most folks but put me off. But I won't be mean about it.
Well... I'll try not to be mean about it.
So I've been pretty sick lately. Just bad genes and a rough lifestyle. I've been having loads of tests and all sorts of fun at the VA hospital (by the way, I know there are horror stories in the news about healthcare at certain VA facilities... the news media is not much good for anything but horror stories these days... but the people I've dealt with at my local hospital are, for the most part excellent... and it is the best healthcare I could possibly hope for for free... I realize my service supposedly earned me this benefit but frankly I don't feel I deserve something so good when so many others who did not serve get nothing... but that's a discussion for another day).
A couple days ago I had several appointments in one day. I had bubbles jammed into my heart to check for something... I didn't get quite what... all I know is that I was told I was fine (passed the "test" so to speak). I had a thing removed from my knee that was quite painful and I spent a long time with my endocrinologist being told I'm fat and therefore in danger of lot's of bad things but as usual not much can be done about it.
This time of year at a teaching hospital is a funny ol' time because the new batch of interns is in and there are wide eyed new faces everywhere. In the space of one day here's a sampling of things I got to hear from doctors that... despite their hilarity and my own ability to take them in stride, should probably not be blurted out in front of a patient.
"We're going to be putting air bubbles into your heart." (You see, I'm pretty sharp and yet I still completely missed this one... apparently air bubbles in a vein = no problem... air bubbles in an artery = you only deader... since I wasn't aware of the distinction and it wasn't made at the time you can imagine that I took a bit of wistful interest in the idea of air in my heart)
"Oh God! You're Bleeding!" (I was indeed... the IV they were forcing the bubble filled saline into had gotten borked and blood was pouring from the vein)
"See this is why I'm here... in case of trauma." (once again in response to the blood pouring from my arm although having been in combat situations where people had split open heads and blown off limbs I felt the need to point out that a blown IV and a few drops of blood on a lab coat hardly constituted "trauma")
"Oh Wow!" (from an intern in response to a doctor using a very neat little apple coring like device to pop out a chunk of my knee)
"We've never done this before." (from both interns when I remarked about how excited they were to see the apple coring on my knee procedure)
"You're problem is beyond the understanding of medical science as it stands today." (this roughly translates into "your a fat, fat, fatty and you need to stop being so fat" in plain English)
I actually enjoy these little reminders that medical professionals are human too. It can be tough talking with someone who is so steeped in professional distance and the veneer of an almost omnipotent confidence. I usually want to smack them until they turn back into a person. So these little anecdotes are in thier own weird way.. a comfort.
There's something to be said for an environment that isn't litigious. A VA doctor has to screw up pretty bad before the courts get involved and even then the government usually deals with it, the doctor, unless he/she did something criminal is pretty much protected. And I really think that makes for a superior environment in comparison to the private sector doctors who come in to treat you smiling but are wondering in the back of their minds if you are going to be the next patient to sue them and what it will do to their malpractice insurance.
But again, a discussion for another day. I hope your humpday is quick and painless. And we'll see you back here tomorrow for more Wonder Weenies and on Friday for another installment of Remedy. Have a good one.
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All in all it's been a pretty productive couple of weeks and I'm going to have a bunch of new reviews (about time right?) up in all categories soon. Lot's of good stuff. Not much bad.
It does seem strange right? I don't know about you but I'm far more inclined to talk about things that I liked when I say/heard/read them than bash the things I didn't care for. I wonder how that kind of reviewing/criticism got started. What was the impetus for telling people something was awful? For that matter what was it that motivated people to get really creative and mean in their reviews/criticisms? I know there is this belief that people like that catty, mean spirited behavior but I just don't get it. I'd much rather talk about stuff I liked and hope you will like too.
That said, if I see something I don't like I may mention it if the general consensus is that it's a good thing. Sometimes common knowledge isn't to be trusted (often actually) and if, in the past you have enjoyed the things I've recommended and agreed with me when I say things aren't so good you may value a warning about something that is perhaps trending in popularity with most folks but put me off. But I won't be mean about it.
Well... I'll try not to be mean about it.
So I've been pretty sick lately. Just bad genes and a rough lifestyle. I've been having loads of tests and all sorts of fun at the VA hospital (by the way, I know there are horror stories in the news about healthcare at certain VA facilities... the news media is not much good for anything but horror stories these days... but the people I've dealt with at my local hospital are, for the most part excellent... and it is the best healthcare I could possibly hope for for free... I realize my service supposedly earned me this benefit but frankly I don't feel I deserve something so good when so many others who did not serve get nothing... but that's a discussion for another day).
A couple days ago I had several appointments in one day. I had bubbles jammed into my heart to check for something... I didn't get quite what... all I know is that I was told I was fine (passed the "test" so to speak). I had a thing removed from my knee that was quite painful and I spent a long time with my endocrinologist being told I'm fat and therefore in danger of lot's of bad things but as usual not much can be done about it.
This time of year at a teaching hospital is a funny ol' time because the new batch of interns is in and there are wide eyed new faces everywhere. In the space of one day here's a sampling of things I got to hear from doctors that... despite their hilarity and my own ability to take them in stride, should probably not be blurted out in front of a patient.
"We're going to be putting air bubbles into your heart." (You see, I'm pretty sharp and yet I still completely missed this one... apparently air bubbles in a vein = no problem... air bubbles in an artery = you only deader... since I wasn't aware of the distinction and it wasn't made at the time you can imagine that I took a bit of wistful interest in the idea of air in my heart)
"Oh God! You're Bleeding!" (I was indeed... the IV they were forcing the bubble filled saline into had gotten borked and blood was pouring from the vein)
"See this is why I'm here... in case of trauma." (once again in response to the blood pouring from my arm although having been in combat situations where people had split open heads and blown off limbs I felt the need to point out that a blown IV and a few drops of blood on a lab coat hardly constituted "trauma")
"Oh Wow!" (from an intern in response to a doctor using a very neat little apple coring like device to pop out a chunk of my knee)
"We've never done this before." (from both interns when I remarked about how excited they were to see the apple coring on my knee procedure)
"You're problem is beyond the understanding of medical science as it stands today." (this roughly translates into "your a fat, fat, fatty and you need to stop being so fat" in plain English)
I actually enjoy these little reminders that medical professionals are human too. It can be tough talking with someone who is so steeped in professional distance and the veneer of an almost omnipotent confidence. I usually want to smack them until they turn back into a person. So these little anecdotes are in thier own weird way.. a comfort.
There's something to be said for an environment that isn't litigious. A VA doctor has to screw up pretty bad before the courts get involved and even then the government usually deals with it, the doctor, unless he/she did something criminal is pretty much protected. And I really think that makes for a superior environment in comparison to the private sector doctors who come in to treat you smiling but are wondering in the back of their minds if you are going to be the next patient to sue them and what it will do to their malpractice insurance.
But again, a discussion for another day. I hope your humpday is quick and painless. And we'll see you back here tomorrow for more Wonder Weenies and on Friday for another installment of Remedy. Have a good one.
Comments (0)
