The Old Thanksgiving Flip

I may have mentioned that I love the holidays. Christmas is my favorite, but Thanksgiving kicks some ass also. My wife is a planner (sure she doesn't always tell em the plans) and we planned to go to my brother and sister in-laws in Oregon this year. My brother-in-law was going to make a gourmet meal that he learned from his cooking club. Freaking sweet. I don't need to cook, I can watch football, and I don't clean up afterward. What a deal.

Well we found out this weekend that plans have changed. They are now all coming here for Thanksgiving on their way back from Canada (my sister and mother in-law are Canadian). So we are now eating dinner at noon, and doing all the cooking ourselves. right after we eat they need to head back to Oregon. Talk about eat and run.

So we now have our tiny condo, 10 people, and a 22 pound turkey. I'm sure it will be fun, but it seems like a lot of work for 3 hours of company.

The good news is that because they are leaving early, I will be able to put on the Christmas music and decorate my condo. Bring on Christmas.

Leia Mais…

My Birthday

Well I am officially 30 Plus years old. Funny thing is I don't feel any older. I thought when you hit 30 it was all down hill. Looks like I may have been wrong.

So my birthday was not one of my most memorable. The weekend before I got together with some friends and drank some beer. so that was actually what I would consider my party. The day before my birthday I came down with the flu. I knew it was going to be a fun one.

I went to the office on my birthday at 6:30am because I was actually feeling fine. I ate a sandwich during lunch then all hell broke loose. Needless to say I canceled the rest of my day and went home. There I sat on the couch and played on the computer until Evie got home. There was also a trip to the bathroom here and there.

Evie got home, we talked for a bit then I proceeded to go to bed early and try to sleep this flu off.

So it was not the most exciting of birthdays, but a hell of an introduction to my 30's. I think for my 40th I am going to throw a hell of a party. All that read this will be invited. See you in 10 years.

Leia Mais…

It's a boy to be

To my faithful readers. I wanted to let you all know that Evie and I went to the hospital today so Evie could get an ultrasound. The baby is healthy, has all his appendages, the heart is beating. Everything checked out.

So what we learned today. Well first of all its got a hell of a package. Or so a father would like to think. Hell, I honestly didn't have a clue what I was looking at. But the lady says she is never wrong and she sees the penis and scrotum. Of course there is a chance she is wrong. So I think I will stick with stuff that is not gender specific. Secondly we learned that we are right on as far as how far along Evie is. Evie is at 21 weeks now. That puts the birthday at the end of march, or beginning of April, depending on if he wants the fuck out or not. 9 months is along time in the hole.

So today was a great day. Very reassuring to know that as far as we can tell everything is going smoothly. I will keep you all updated as we progress.

Leia Mais…

One long ass day has just ended. For this to make sense, let me explain a typical day.

I get to work at 7am, and my first patient usually cancels, so I then wait until 8 or 9 and do a little filling. While I wait, I check my email, write a blog, go to face book. You know, the important things. Then my next patient shows up, something like a crown, so I spend a little time with them. By this time its time for food. I get a bite to eat. Then maybe do an exam or something. At that point I call it a day and go home.

NOT TODAY!!! I get here, and I have 2 patients. One an emergency, the other is scheduled for 4 fillings and 2 crowns. So I extract a tooth, after getting my other patient numb. After the extraction I go ahead and finish up my restorations. The whole time I am also doing exams. As soon as I finish with my patient the next was there. So I see them.

So now its lunch time. I have a meeting with the banker here at the office. Well About 10 min into the meeting I find out my partner is an hour behind, so I need to go do an extraction for him. We cut the meeting short, and I precede to do one of the hardest extractions I have ever done. I finish that up thinking I must have a break. nope. next patient is here. I do the filling, next thing I know its 3pm. My day is done.

I am pooped. Good news is we were busy and the day went by fast. So I may bitch about it, but in the end I am happy. :)

Leia Mais…

Somethign new I will try but probably give up on later

So I was looking at my profile and thinking, "Sure everyone loves to read my writing, but we need some visual changes." So I will be periodically changing my profile picture to match my mood for that blogging day. For Example, the picture on there now is showing me receiving gifts. I am in a receiving mood today, so that is why I put it up there.

The issue I will have is I do not have a picture for every mood that I have, so I occasionally will have to take a shot with my phone to capture the essence of my mood.

Now if wanting to read my blog daily wasn't enough to get you to come back, now you get a chance to see pictures of me no one else will ever see. Hell you might get to see pictures I would not want anyone else to ever see except the two readers of my blog.

I might even add the picture to the end of the blog after I move on to the next so you can all remember what type of mood I was in that day. It may help explain why I wrote what I wrote.

Now if you think this idea sucks, make sure you let me know.

Leia Mais…

It's that time of year

So it's November, thanksgiving has not even happened and Christmas is everywhere. I can't go into a store without seeing some sort of Christmas advertisement, or in some cases here Christmas music. In fact, I went to Costco and they had a lady singing Christmas karaoke.

Here is the problem with all this. I don't care. In fact I love it. I love Christmas. This time of year for some is very stressful, worrying about who to get gifts for, if you are going to be able to afford them, what you will get, getting the decorations up.....

Well I love all of that stuff, of course this year Christmas will be a little light in the gift department, but that to me is not what Christmas is about. I love the feeling of joy that seems to come with it. Call me old fashioned or what ever, but that's how I feel.

If I could have my way, my dental office would be playing Christmas music right now. Patients I think would get a little pissed, and I know the staff would be livid. So We will wait until after thanksgiving.

So here's to Christmas, and here is to the yule tide joy that I will be spreading.

Leia Mais…

Dentistry and economy

Today I want to talk about the state of profession.

In times of hardship dentistry is one of those fields that suffers because priority's change. Having a beautiful smile is not as important as feeding your children.

I understand that, at least the cosmetic stuff. What I don't understand is people waiting to get a filling done until the pain is so bad they have to. It happens all to much.

So what is this visit like for me as a dentist. I am the one that gets to tell that patient that because they waited until it was in so much pain that they could not bare it anymore, the tooth now needs a root canal and a crown. So what would have cost 200 dollars to do if they had not waited, or cost even less if they continued to get their cleanings done, is going to cost them 2000 dollars.

This has happened more in the past 4 months than I have ever seen. So here is what the patient does. They ask me how much it costs to just take it out. WTF. You are now going to loose a tooth because you chose not to take care of the problem or see your dentist earlier. So I tell them and almost always they get it pulled. They then get mad at me, like it is my fault.

The real kicker is they still are spending tons of money on their cigarettes, beer, pets, cable TV, movies, what ever it is, but are now mad at me because they took to long to get their work done.

So I do sympathize to a point. Dentistry is important and can be expensive. People need to understand though, even in times of hardship your health is so important. Cut other places, and make sure you are keeping healthy.

Leia Mais…

80's come backs

So New Kids On the Block or NKOTB are back in full swing and singing some awesome songs (so they think). Well it got me to thinking. what other groups would you love to see rockin your home town. Here is my Top 10 list of 80's bands or groups that I would like to see.

10. The B52's - Rock Lobster - need I say more
9. Devo - Who would not love to see a revised version of whip it?
8. Hewey Lewis and the News - I want a new drug has never meant more to me.
7. Yes - really it would be just to hear one song. If they came out with any others im sure they would all suck also.
6. UB40 - Another one that played a large role in my life. Still drinking Red wine to this day.
5. Tears for fears - just an all around good group
4. INXS - Why is it Australians can sing so well?
3. Toto - Makes me want to hold someone
2. Wham - I mean really. The pink gloved rocked.
1. Journey - I relate to every freaking song. I'm sure they have another 20 - 30 good songs left in them.

So tell me who you would like to see grace a local venue near you.

Leia Mais…

Vote Vote Vote

Let me be honest with you (well the 2 people who actually read this thing). 8 years ago I voted for Bush. I was a Student and he had a great education plan with all these tax breaks and bla bla bla. Well none of that happened. So I have to take partial credit for the state of the nation. Now I know that it's not Bush who got us where we are, but he certainly didn't help.

So now here is a chance for all of us to make a difference. Honestly I don't care who you vote for. I will tell you that Barack Obama will be the person I am voting for. I have many reasons for this, and if you ever want to give me a call we can go into it. The important thing here is, you just need to get out and vote.

I think this will be a record year for voters. People of all ages will be turning out this year. I am excited for us as a nation. People are starting to realize that what we do, how we vote does make a difference, good or bad.

The one thing I ask is that people make an educated choice. I talk to family and friends who have always voted one way or the other. I ask them who they are voting for and they tell me "The Republican of course," or "The Democrat of course." I then ask them why and they don't have a clue.

So please get out and vote.

Leia Mais…

Time change

My body was not made for this. I just start getting used to the way things are then we go and switch up the time. Why I ask, Why. Really it makes no sense to me. I actually just read an article that said after daylight savings ends the number of heart attacks increase. They think it is because circadian rhythms are all fucked up. I believe it. I am like, it's five but my body says its six. Why is my body wrong, when really it is right.


I have friends who have had to prepare their child for the time change by keeping their child up later and later so when we change the time their child does not go crazy (or they them selves) from having to go to bed an hour later. We do this for what? Save some energy? Make our summers seem so much lighter?


There are 2 states, Arizona and Hawaii that don't observe it. they seem to be doing fine. Also If I am not mistaken we lived thousands of years without it. Last time I read the bible I don't remember reading anything about Christ setting his sun dial back an hour.


I make a motion that we abolish this time travel. All in favor say Aye.

Leia Mais…

Talking about the economy...

My wife's family is in town for the weekend, and I mean pretty much her whole family. They are all staying with us in our tiny place (a story for another time). So I wake up this morning hung over from a crazy Halloween, and need some good hangover food. My wife had left for work, so I suggested to the rest of the guests that we go out to this greasy food joint.

As we were sitting there waiting for our food we started talking about the economy. My wifes cousin tells us they will probably have to move soon to someplace where nurses make more so they can support their family. Her husband is in the construction business and has not had work for some time. They have lived in there home for many years, now they must uproot there whole family, which includes 2 children, 8 and 6 years old.

As I practice dentistry I hear this story over and over. I have also been talking to friends, and peopel seem to be getting ready for a whole world of hurt. Cutting back here and there as far as expenses go.

My wife and myself are now doing the same. With a child on the way we need to make sure we are stable when he/she comes.

The hard part is trying to figure out what is important and what is not. Somethings I can lie without, and something I'm not so sure about. We will see over the next couple months what our priorities are. I have a feeling that cable and the gym are going bye bye. Thank god I have Rock Band to keep me busy. In times like these its good to have an activity you and your friends can do together.

To close, here is a quote to ponder,

"He who will not economize will have to agonize."

Confucius

Leia Mais…