MRI opener

After sending hundreds of patients for MRIs, I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about. So...two weeks ago, I sprained my thumb catching a football -- or perhaps I should say not catching a football -- and sustained a possible Stener's injury that can only be diagnosed with MR images and only fixed with surgery. So long-story short, I sat for 80 minutes in the MRI tube last night face down with my arm outstretched until basically my entire R arm was numb. They were having trouble getting the right 'cuts' so they switched the MR coils three times adding 50 mins to the quoted 30 on top of the fact that they started this process an hour late. What is this, Canada?

Road race

Turns out the ability to spin webs and stick to walls didn't help Spidey much here as the best he could do was a bronze medal even against 7-12 year olds. Owen's first race was marred by a stomach cramp that led to some tears, thankfully after crossing the finish line. Luckily, the trauma was erased by some quality time with the Edgerton Park festival's bungee-trampoline, rock-climbing wall and zip line.

Barnstorming

We're on a mission to get to as many town festivals and county fairs as possible this Fall. It seems that Owen has a nearly-unquenchable desire for rotatory carnival rides and fried dough.Daddy went three rounds at the 'throw baseballs at beer bottles' stand without breaking a single bottle.

Speaking of which, I won't pretend to have not seen Jay Cutler's inauspicious debut last night for Da Bears. I'm going to look on the bright side here which is to say the offense was in sync most of the second half and Cutler looked pretty sharp. He threw four picks and the Bears were still winning with 3 mins to go. That's impressive -- just ask the Panthers.

I got Zoomeranged

It's weird how I knew that going on the Zoomerang would give me a near panic attack and a 24 hour dull headache -- and yet I was drawn to it.

They back the cars up to the top of the near slope and then you whoosh down through a cork screw, then a loop-the-loop and up the far slope. THEN you whoosh back down and do the whole thing facing backwards. Waiting in line, I was getting sweaty palms and the yawns (same symptoms as opiate withdrawal -- was does this tell you about endogenous endorphins and anxiety-ridden states?) but then all the way on top of the first slope before the fall, I felt oddly at peace. Julie had the exact opposite experience. Then 48 seconds later it was all over except for the headache. Five more years til my next roller coaster.

Healthcare

Isn't the debate really just 'is universal access the primary goal or not?' Is access to basic healthcare a right or not? there are perfectly reasonable arguments on both sides but what is the point of debating other more distal or technical questions until we answer -- by a vote -- the fundamental question?