Category: Personal

There’s a definite routine to blogging, generally.   Morning, noon, and night basically, and my dentist appointment this morning disrupted morning, and also morning work, which cascades into everything else.

Tomorrow is do something pro-gun day.  It doesn’t really matter what it is.  Just remember to do something as a “screw you” to Jesse Jackson and Paul Helmke.

I thought I was going in for my crown lengthening today, but it turns out it was just a consultation.  The actual procedure is September 12th.  There’s some uncertainty as to whether the tooth can be saved, or will have to be yanked and replaced with an implant.  Either way, it’s going to be a lot of chair time, and a lot of cash out of my pocket.  Argh!

I needed two things.  I needed electronic blow off cleaner, and a USB hub.   I go to Best Buy.   The only USB hub they have is 30 dollars.  In addition, the very small can of blow off they have, is more than 8 dollars.  I can get a big can two pack for 16 dollars, but that’s more than I want.   So I think “Screw Best Buy and their prices!” and I go to Wal Mart, where I get an extra jumbo size blow off cleaner for 4.99, and get my USB hub for 9.99, and they didn’t even try to sell me an overpriced extended warranty.   Capitalism at work.

Best Buy’s prices for computer peripherals, particularly cabling, are way way higher than they ought to be.  If you can get it at Wal Mart, or even Radio Shack, do it.  Best Buy as a last resort, because they are typically everything except the Best Buy.

I am a dental phobic. If you gave me a choice between shooting myself in the leg, and being in that chair, I’d have to think about it for a minute. But now I’ve gotten myself in deep.

I waited way too long to get my wisdom teeth removed. I just had it done last November, and only then because I had to, or I faced losing more teeth if I didn’t get it done, since they were starting to decay the teeth they were impacting.

Well, the time as come to pay the piper for that, both in money terms and in chair time terms. In order to repair the tooth my now absent wisdom tooth had impacted, I need to have a crown lengthening done, then a root canal, and then have a crown fitted. All in all, I expect my out of pocket cost will be a small fortune. Given that I use my teeth all the time, I don’t think I have much choice.

So how painful is the aftermath of this crown lengthening crap, for any of you who have ever had one? It is like having tooth filled? Or are we talking about having to get more happy drugs like I did for the wisdom teeth?  Root canal doesn’t scare me too much.  Been there, done that.  But any unknown dental procedure invariably makes me lose sleep.

OK, Idaho Progressives. This is how you disagree with someone without calling them names or becoming hysterical. Clayton wonders why more homosexuals can’t free themselves from the bondage of their sin. I think because for some of them it’s not a conscious choice, and they can’t simply reject it and hope to lead a normal life. Ask my friend Andrew, or any of the other gay people I know, and they’ll tell you that he is just plain not attracted to the opposite sex at all.

How many of us have known people growing up, who we meet later in life and have them tell us they are gay, and end up saying to ourselves “Well, that’s not a shocker.” because even from the time we were kids, it was just kind of obvious that something was not quite “normal” with them?

Does this mean there’s a genetic cause of homosexuality? I don’t know. If there is a “gay gene”, evolution is going to demand that it be rare. Mutations that prevent organisms from successfully reproducing don’t get passed on to subsequent generations, and eventually work their way out of the gene pool. This is the reason childhood cancers are relatively rare. It is possible that social pressures have contributed to the passing on of a “gay gene”, which, ironically, would mean greater societal acceptance of homosexuality will cause the there to be fewer gays in subsequent generations.

To what extent sexual orientation is or isn’t a lifestyle choice is important to consider, because that hinges on whether or not it’s appropriate for the government to prevent discrimination on the basis of it. I think for many people, it’s not a choice. They can’t simply get therapy, and become straight. They could refrain from having intimate relationships, sure, but that seems hardly fair if it’s something they have no real control over. I have no beef with someone who wants to give up homosexuality for a life of religious fulfillment, but I don’t think most homosexuals I know could make that choice and be happy. I’ve seen too many people who struggle with sexual identity, who take years to accept that they don’t feel right with heterosexual relationships, to believe that it was entirely a lifestyle choice.

I’m off to head down to Bitter’s.   This weekend, we’re doing a shooting class with her coworkers at the shooting range in Quantico, VA.  I have the car loaded up with enough guns and ammo to fight World War III.

I was reminded of something peculiar about myself when I was riding into work today.   When I see a dead animal, in this case a raccoon tits up on the side of the road, with it’s little raccoon feet sticking up into the air, I think it’s really funny and can’t help but giggling.

I guess I should feel guilty about this, but let’s face it, if you were in the same situation, and a raccoon could laugh at you, it would.  It’s unfortunate that animals have to die for my amusement, but I figure all the people who think that’s a sad spectacle kind of balances it all out.

It was only a matter of time before the shit awful drivers on I-95 between DC and Philadelphia nailed one of us. Bitter called me and told me she had been rear ended. She’s OK, but the car is screwed. Don’t know if she’ll be able to make it up now. Might have to go in a rescue mission, though she says the car is drivable, but I don’t know how drivable. More later.

UPDATE: Bitter called me back.  She’s resumed her journey.  The MD State Trooper said the car was road worthy.  Doesn’t sound that bad.  They hit the rear tire and shattered the windshield.   The door is probably toast, but the main body, I’m thinking, is probably OK.   Door and window will have to be replaced.   The question will be whether to get it done here, and have her rent a car to take home, or drive the car home and get it taken care of there.  The State Trooper said it was the 9th accident today, the tenth happened while Bitter was off to the side, and she witnessed it.   I’ll need to be careful when going through Baltimore.   In my experience, drivers along the I95 corridor in the Northeast are among the worst in the country.

I get bored on the way to work, and the bridge collapse in Minnesota got me thinking about how many bridges I drive over every day.  The answer is 23, on my morning commute.  One or two less on my way home.  You never really notice 99% of the bridges you drive over.