10.20.98

No amount of physical affection can replace the curative power of a well mixed cocktail.
--David Sedaris

How do you know if I'm in a really fucked mood? Look at how I'm dressed at work.

If it's a good day, the scrubs are outside the trousers. The tops are kind of an ugly smocky thing with two bottom pockets for holding shit that I do not use, but carry around.

Mildly bad days have me tucking the whole damn thing in, including the drawstring on the trousers. I look like a big smurf with attitude. Psychologically, I'm making the transition to "Dr. Bob," cold and clinical.

God help you should you spy me with everything tucked in, and a big white bow hanging off the pants. There's probably a sparkling lab coat covering the whole damn thing, and a very expensive black stethoscope around my neck. You are addressing "Dr. Bob" now, and there is no mistaking it. I've crossed the line, and it is set in stone. Hmmmm, this comes from one of the girls at work. Don't worry, it is someone that I "honi-honi" with every morning without fail.

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Perhaps you are wondering why there is no gallery. There's one on the index page, but the link leads nowhere. That is due to a number of factors. Firstly, I want it to look right. With my limited knowledge of this, that has proven a daunting task. If the "look" isn't right, you won't see it. Secondly, I am hampered by the lack of an empty parallel port to connect a scanner. I have a port lying around, but the idea of taking the back off this thing is daunting to say the least. Perhaps after a cocktail or two. "Plug and pray"...thanks, Mike. Why dontcha come over and do the damn thing for me? Please don't let 3500 miles stop you....

A guy named Robb came up with an interesting ramble in his most recent entry...Universal health care. He is employed by a health care entity of some sort, so his take is only slightly skewed in relation to how I look at it. Nonetheless, he has hit the nail on the head. Look north, young man! Canada! It's the nearest and dearest (at least to the USA) country with a socialized medicine system that "works." I'm not saying that the Canadian system is flawless -- it is not. Far from it, in fact.
I recall a conversation with a fellow employed by Health and Welfare Canada at one of the annual gatherings of the American Public Health Association. It seems that there are more MRI machines in Chicago than in the whole of Canada.

Then again, there are more people in California than there are in Canada.

The guy was positive, though, and he defended his country's system eloquently. Proper health care is not a luxury to be enjoyed by a few insured. It is a basic civil right. Unfortunately, whenever you mention 'socialism' McCarthy era stereotypes come to light, and the negative thoughts come a-flyin'.

I work for what the US Food and Drug Administration considers to be a manufacturer of biological drugs (its blood, guys...) As such, we have to follow the same manufacturing guidelines as say, one who makes aspirin. The final product must be safe, effective, potent and pure. The basis for this is a set of laws set forth in 1913 after a typhoid epidemic in Chicago. Of course, there have been changes here and there (such as the birth of modern blood banking) but the set of rules we fallow is damn near 100 years old.

Because of the myriad of things which I must store in this feeble little brain of mine, I scowl a lot when I work. It scares people occasionally, especially when you stop to consider that I am not from the "warm & fuzzy" school of medicine. So I scowl. That's bad, cuz it will make my nasal labial fold more prominent, and god forbid I should look my age.

Then, I tuck in my scrubs.....