News from Auburn: Friday Oct 31, 2008
The election is this Tuesday! I'd love to
make an endorsement of some kind, but I think most of my relatives would shoot
me if I spoke my mind. Oops, I just did. Well, anyway, don't forget
to vote! Especially you Victor - Ohio is an important state this
year!
In this issue: Health update,
News, Feedback from last week.
Health
update
I'm back home and doing well.
I even spent a bit of time at the office today. "What's different
about you ... oh, you have HAIR!" I'm walking (slowly) with the aid of
oxygen and my lung volume is nearly back to where it was before I was weaned off
of steroids the last time. I have a CT scan on Tuesday (after I vote for
the other candidate). We'll see what that shows. For now, steroids
and O2 are my
friends.
News
Lots
of people told me to start playing the flute again. We got the flute out,
but I haven't played it yet. It'll
come.
However, I've achieved a goal now
that I've had for over a year: I finally finished memorizing Paul's letter
to the Galatians. I 'd have finished earlier in the year, but chemotherapy
destroys one's memory. I had to take a good part of September to review
the stuff I'd learned last year! Next stop is a demonstration of "oral
tradition" to our church's college Bible study (probably in early
December).
My next memorization job
will be a bit different: I made a deal with a door-to-door missionary last May
that if she'd memorize Galatians I'd memorize 6 chapters of her choice from her
book. (I wanted to get a feel for what's important in her faith so that I
can better understand it.) She gave me 8 instead. Well, I'll do my
best with that. Maybe after that I can memorize a bit of the Q'uran.
It's amazing how many different documents you can download onto an iPhone!
(I was reading the Constitution today ... wow, that's a worthwhile
read!)
Workwise: since I'm fairly sure
I've got November to work with, I'm going to be trying to get a few things done
for my grad students and my research sponsors. After 6 weeks of
steroid-withdrawal I have my brain working (mostly) again. Mmmm.
Fun.
Feedback from next
week
On men getting common sense
through a sex change:
[Now
that's a topic I didn't expect to be discussing at any length when I started
this newsletter ...]
Viva's oldest
brother writes, "This myth is shared by most women. You can't blame them
they just don't know any
better."
An Auburn nursing
professor informs Viva that a sex change will not give a man common sense.
"Once pathways are rooted in the nervous system, even surgery does not
always reverse the damage."
Yep,
there's some sharp differences of opinion on last week's comments. Here's
some more:
On the question of "are
you sure?"
My sister and
sister-in-law, both of whom have the first name "Mary," have a common opinion:
"When a women asks a question to the needs of others, whether it be male
or female we ask the follow up question “are you sure” because we
wonder if the person is just being nice and just does not want us to go out of
our way to help them."
Many men
informed me that they also have those "are you sure?" conversations. Some
of my favorite comments:
From Eric: "Are
you sure?" "No, but that's my answer....."
From Sean: She says: "We still
haven't discussed [issue X]. He answers: "We've discussed it several
times. I just haven't agreed with you
yet."
Ok, guys, I don't know what
you've been doing to these poor girls to make them think all men are liars, but
it's got to stop! We have to reach the point when we tell someone that we
really want to have water to drink that they will actually believe us - we don't
need a complete inventory of what's in the fridge. (Does anyone else
notice that you don't get the inventory until AFTER you answer the question?)
On the other hand, the common
sense question above makes me think that the problem is bigger than merely
doubting our word: I think they actually question our judgement. Yes, I
know that will come as a shock to many of you, but sometimes I think Viva thinks
I'm crazy.
Look, girls, we had the
sense to marry you, right? At least we thought it was our idea at the
time, anyway.
The difficult thing for
me is that a lot of our medical personnel are also women, and I think they have
a union or something. The united front can be intimidating. For
example, one of my doctors last week, on her way out of my hospital room,
asked me "Would you like a blanket?" then, with no pause, "Are you sure?"
Hit a man when he's down.
:-)
I'll write again next
week.
Posted: Sat - November 1, 2008 at 07:13 PM
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