How could these guys have steered me wrong?

China is the place I always imagined I would end up if I simply started digging straight down and didn’t stop. I developed this conviction with the help of those stalwart researchers at Looney Tunes University (I seem to recall professors Fudd and Bunny demonstrating quite clearly how this was the case). But it turns out the actual spot is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean about a thousand miles south east of Madagascar.

See for yourself at freemaptools.com.

We hope it will look something like this.

We just endured our first quote from a paver salesman, and it was pretty awful. Pushy, aggressively ingratiating, and he could not stop talking about how great his company is and how he never loses a sale. And the price: hoo boy. We weren’t expecting this to be cheap, but wow those were some big numbers. I wish he could have just emailed them to us; enduring a second visit was a chore. As his mood changed from bubbly to maudlin (“I really thought I was going to make a sale today.” he said sadly), all I could think about was getting him out of our house.

We may go with stamped concrete, too. Although we haven’t gotten any quotes for that yet, we expect it to be cheaper.

Here’s the sketchup file.

The Humble Bundle returns with games from Frozenbyte, an independent game development company.

I don’t actually have time to play games much these days, but I love supporting DRM-free software. For my $50 (I picked the amount!) I got not only the games themselves, which I can download from their servers as many times as I need for whichever of three operating systems I need, but also the games’ soundtracks are included as folders of MP3s. And the tracks, all written by Ari Pulkkinen, are quite good.

To: Sean Camden
From: Doctor #2 MD
Received: 04/14/2011 5:39 PM

Sean,

I would make an appointment. Just as an aside, the email system should be used only if you can wait 24-48 hours for a response. It is not for more urgent needs.

Hope that helps

Doctor #2.

Which is interesting, since I can’t actually find anywhere on the site that says “Only use this if you can wait one or two days for a response.” It says, “Send nonurgent health questions to your doctor’s office.”

I’m unsatisfied with this. I want the interface to work. If the doctor is in, it should not say that he is out. And in the event that it reports things incorrectly, I would like the doctors to accept responsibility for their organization’s system and apologize for my inconvenience. And if I can’t expect what in my opinion is a modicum of service, then why am I paying so dearly for it? Shouldn’t this level of sloppy service be easily achieved by some socialist healthcare system?

Head Cold, 11 days
To: Doctor #2 MD
From: Sean Camden
Sent: 04/14/2011 1:47 PM

Should I be trying to infer something from your lack of response?

Head cold, 10 days
To: Doctor #2 MD
From: Sean Camden
Sent: 04/13/2011 11:49 AM

It’s been going on since Sunday the 3rd and my left ear hasn’t unplugged for any notable length of time. Doctor #1 still shows as being ‘out of office.’

Head Cold, 10 days
To: Doctor #1 MD
From: Sean Camden
Sent: 04/13/2011 11:36 AM

I came down with this Sunday of last week and it has not improved by any notable amount. Any new advice?

P.S. I really don’t blame you for being confused. The patient-facing interface of [this web based messaging system] is a train-wreck of unintuitive design, so I expect the doctor-facing side must be at least as bad. You still appear to be “out of office.” Of course, maybe you really are out of office and you simply neglected to mention that in your last email.

Here’s what all that wood looks like in Sketchup.

Here’s the Sketchup file: recovered-wood.skp

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Kelp Forest Web Cam.
Because sometimes you just need to watch the little fish swim by.

RE: Cold leading to ear ache
To:Sean Camden
From: Doctor #1 MD
Received: 04/07/2011 1:36 PM

Hi Sean

Doctor #2 and I are a bit confused as to who you identify as your Doc. Either way is fine but we request you only email one or the other to avoid confusion

Almost all of these illness are viral. Most take 5 -7 days for improvement and resolve on their own. Viruses do not respond to antibiotic. A true bacteria sinus infection is a secondary infection and actually a fairly unusual complication of a viral upper respiratory illness. These come on after 7 – 10 days. They are usually characterized by a cold which doesn’t improve after 7 -10 days or one that improves and then becomes worse.

Green or colored mucous is frequently seen in a viral illness, so we can’t differentiate viral from bacterial based on this.

I would suggest over the counter cold remedies and salt water nasal rinses. These are comfort measures and don’t speed up the recovery process, but can relieve some of the symptoms. Please inform patient to follow-up if any new symptoms, things worsen or fail to improve in the next 4 -5 days.

Take care.

Dr. #1