Well, it's later. Still up, of course. Got the paper mostly read already. Gonna be cooler today, not a good day for being outside but, like all days, a good day for sleeping.
I was enjoying myself just playing on the web, but at 05:00 I lost contact with the earth... the cable service went out.
Ah well... I've had worse things happen to me. Really.
Anyway... McCain, Bush and Keys. The scariest is Keys. Straight from the bible, he is. With sincerity and force. A black Gary Bauer. He seems to be reasonable in all other aspects, however... which makes him even scarier.
Bush, of course... very scary in his own right. Yet another religious nut who wants to run the country the way god intended for it to be run... well, with concessions, of course... those necessary to get the votes.
McCain... I really want to like John McCain. He appears to have a mature sense of humor, anyway. And he doesn't appear to be a religious right-wing conservative... just a right-wing conservative, which, a few years ago, would have been enough for me to dislike him. He actually made sense a few times.
The demokrats, though... Gore and Bradley. I actively dislike Al Gore. I don't really know why, and it has nothing to do with Clinton, who I still kinda like. I like Clinton because he replaced Bush, who replaced Reagan... both of whom were leading the country to ruin.
But Gore? I'm afraid that he's just laughable, and not in a good way. Not the kind of laugh that leaves you feeling good, but a sick laugh, like, haw haw, I just ate something that's gonna kill me.
And Gore has made his own concessions to the religous right.
Bradley... let's see... he has two strong points: 1) He's not a Republikan, and 2) He's not Al Gore.
No, I don't know what's with the weird spelling of the parties... I just thought it was appropriate, I guess.
Gore, I'm afraid, is the most likely winner, and that scares me.
18:11...
I got this today from Brother Dan, and I though that I'd pass it on, along with some comments:
The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a phone and, between breaths, call
for help.
Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!
Coughing will stop PVCs just as well as a sternal thump... I've done that myself, actually, on a couple of occasions, the first when I was in ICU after my first heart attack. I started a run of PVCs (I was watching the monitor) and I saw the nurse coming towards me with that look in her eye... that look that says I'm gonna have to thump this guy. The second time was last spring, when I started having runs of PVCs at home... simple arrhythmias, but the principle is the same.
The problem is remembering to do that when you're having a lot of pain...
pain is very distracting. Of course, it might not work, but hell, what do
you have to lose?
Another thing I just thought of... to tell for sure if you're having a coronary, use the Valsalva maneuver... bear down like you're taking a shit... and if that relieves the pain, that's what's happening. The Valsalva compresses the aorta, sending more blood to the coronaries, so if there's any circulation at all, it will be increased and the pain will be temporarily relieved. Of course, if there's NO circulation, you're shit outa luck no matter what you do.
Also, the nitro is very handy to dialate the coronaries, but most people don't carry it around with them unless they've had a previous coronary...
There! See how easy it is to save lives? And FUN too!
Speaking of work... I need some more training in CT, for some of the less routine exams that are done, but the boss wants me to come in and waste several whole days. I'm pretty much opposed to that, since, like I said, the exams are infrequent, and the liklihood of having any to do on any given day that I choose to come in is unlikely.
On the other hand, it would be overtime...
All the same, I hate being there during the daytime. Too much routine, boring stuff going on. Not much fun, and the people are all way too serious. Work is supposed to be fun, and a lot of people act like it isn't. That bothers me to no end. At night I can avoid the sourpusses, mostly, but during the day they're just everywhere! You can't escape being around them.
So, we'll see what happens. My preference is to just call in the CT tech when I get a weird exam and pay attention... that's mostly how I learned how to do CTs in the first place, after all, and that's how I've learned how to do every non-routine exam that I've ever learned. It takes longer, and maybe there's some pressure to get everyone trained in everything before the next big inspection or something.
Odd... earlier today, I was not looking forward to going back to work, but now I am. Not really... eager... but anticipatory. Back into the groove. Jeez, I'll be such a mess when I retire, if that ever happens...
I think that I'm one of the very few people who actually enjoys working. Yeah, it's a major character defect, I know.
The problem comes in when the work... much as I love it... is just too much for this ageing body. That part I don't like at all, at all. Not because of the reminder of my mortality... I don't really need reminding of that... but because of the pain.
The pain that's assuaged but not cured by sleep... the legs, the back, the feet. None of which hurt right now, but I know that they will by the morning. And they will constantly by the end of the week.
O'well. There are worse things. Like not being able to work at all...
More tomorrow...
Damn! I just heard on NPR news that Gary Bauer has endorsed John McCain. Now I'm really worried.
Without help the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel Faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without
let up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating.
Back to real life, the thing that gives people coronaries to start with...
I went to bed about 09:00, but I didn't get to sleep until after 10:00, dammit, and then I was up at 14:00 and 16:00 and finally got up about 17:30. Not too bad, I guess. Enough to get me by tonight, anyways.