News From the Facebook Break

Overall, I think taking a break from Facebook has been a good thing.  Clarifying.

I had to login last night to find something and I found one friend in the midst of a cryptic meltdown, another left us hanging saying he'd gone to the ER with chest pains, and another had lost her sweet little dog.  I left sad.  I was sad that these horrible things are happening but even more I was sad that Facebook is the only way I know anything that's going on in their lives.  It made me wonder if we are really friends or something lesser with that label on it for lack of anything else to call it.  And if that's the case, it's just not good enough.

Time away has been educational.  The class I was dreading, I actually like.  And the one I had been looking forward to with some excitement, I really despise.  At least this term is half over now.  I'm still set to graduate at the end of August.  It only took 5 schools and 30+ years...

I've been doing some other than school reading, too.  And I think if you'll read these articles you'll walk away a bit smarter citizen of the world.  They might challenge your views and make you mad but sometimes truth comes to you in weird places.

• Yes, he says “magical” way too often.  Yes, it's an insult he directs at the liberal viewpoint in this piece about the Parkland shooting.  And if you are conservative, especially in deep on the right, you can wipe that smug smirk off your face.  Your side does the same damned thing.  And this kind of exploitation is morally corrupt.  Y’all need to just stop it!
• I would put a $5 bet that a majority of naturopaths and every traditional Chinese medical practioner on the planet is smacking their head and saying “Duh… ya think?” about this discovery of a new bodily organ.  
• The unintended consequences of getting it wrong run really deep.  You do need to read about China's former one-child policy.  If you're at all like me, what you think you know isn’t even scratching the surface of the political and social ramifications.

Jacky has been sick for about a week.  His sublingual lymph glands are hard and swollen, he's been packing on the pounds lately, and he feels so hot when I touch him.  Sometimes it seems like he wheezes but it's hard to call that a new symptom because he's always been breathy and melodramatic.  When he really needs to go potty, he's the one that will get right in my face and do a full body wiggle while he vocalizes "hhhhhoooooooouuuuuuutttt" like he's trying to say "out."  It's pretty hilarious but when he's such a goofball it also makes it hard to pick out behaviors that say this is what makes me think he's sick.  And the internet is no help.  The swollen glands could be anything from an allergy (we already have trees pollinating) to an injury (like from chewing on a stick outside) to a random bacterial infection to a thyroid problem like mine to cancer that would leave him about 6 weeks to live.  Sadly, I don't have unlimited funds to spend at the vet...  And he's eating, drinking, going potty, and sometimes playing with the other guys so I'm giving him a couple of baby aspirin night and morning to help with pain and inflammation and just trying to keep him active and comfortable in hopes it will work itself out.  And like chicken soup helps us feel better, chicken broth slurped from my big cup seems to do him good.

Reading about dog thyroid problems, which is somewhat prevalent in Dobermans, I learned they are treated with the exact same drugs I am.  But vets recommend breaking the pill in half and giving in two doses, morning and night, to keep blood levels more consistent. Makes sense.  And once again, veterinary medicine seems more advanced and patient-centered that people medicine.  I always said about our vet in Georgia, if he'd see me I'd go to him over my own doctor!

I’ve learned some new words, too.  Here’s a couple of them:

Pes (say w/long “a”) is a pretentious way to say foot, like that part you have running from ankle to toe.

Prepuce is the skin that covers your boy dog’s winkie.  (BTW if your groomer leaves a styled little frond of hair at the tip, and calls a Merkin, make them trim it off! It can cause all sorts of health problems like getting “it” stuck “out” which is a very bad thing and will require action from you that’s potentially quite disturbing. A Merkin is really a thing, a weird thing but… a thing, for people. If you want to know more, you’ll have to Google it for yourself. )

And I learned a couple of kitchen tricks!

If you are roasting cherry tomatoes, like for a salad, a very very slight dusting of powdered sugar preserves their bright red color and keeps the dish pretty.  Thanks for that tip, Alex Guarnaschelli!

Keep your plastic wrap in the freezer and it will come off the roll without sticking to itself.  You can actually get it to cover the dish just like Valerie Bertinelli did on her TV show.