Health

In my family we've had our fair share of doctors visits lately. These things seem come in bunches. I supposed I started it all off last November, when I bashed my face in and broke off part of my tooth. Long story short, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling ill, went to the bathroom, fell or blacked out (I don't remember) and woke up in the dark wondering why my nose and mouth were bleeding, and what happened to my tooth?! Last week it was my kindergartner's turn to faceplant, which fortunately did not break any teeth, but did require a stitch in her lip. And then there have been the customary waves of cold and flu that our girls seem to bring home from every school, event, or party. Our two-year-old currently has a perpetually snotty nose and a dry, barking cough that sounds very sad in such a small body. 

Despite all that drama, it hasn't been all doom and gloom. For starters, we have a great dentist, and we've all gotten to know him and his staff quite well over the last year. I now have a shiny new capped tooth in the front that looks and feels just like the old one did, and my other teeth won't need any repair in the near future. Which is great news, because we were afraid they had cracked badly when I had my crash landing, and I really wasn't looking forward to having a root canal or implant. I know no one enjoys going to the dentist, but they sure are great to have around when you need them. And at least we had dental insurance coverage at the time.

Similarly, it was nice to have a good doctor check my daughter out after she took a tumble. Becca ended up spending the whole day taking her to the dentist, a pediatrician, and the emergency room at Vanderbilt Children's. The 6+ hour wait at Vanderbilt wasn't exactly fun, and in some ways it showed a lot of what is broken with the American medical system, but it didn't make me any less grateful for it. My daughter's lip already looks a lot better, and pretty soon you'd never know it happened.

As I listened to our two-year-old hack and cough last night in bed, I thought about how not too long ago, that sort of thing would strike fear into the hearts of parents. Even in my parents' and grandparents' generation, serious illnesses were part of growing up, and they inevitably took their toll on some young children. Nowadays, I don't worry about whether she has whooping cough, or whether my kids will get the measles or polio. My kids won't even get the chicken pox like I did, because they've been vaccinated. Which isn't to say that all diseases have been fully eradicated, or that they won't get sick, and that I won't worry about them. But that mortal fear of losing a child doesn't hang over me in the same way it would a hundred years ago. The worst I am likely to experience is some lost sleep or for her to pass it on to me (both of which have probably happened by now). But I'll be okay, and so will she.

I sometimes lament the alienating and complicated way we live our modern lives. There really are some down-sides and costs with being always connected, always in a hurry, all the time. But modernity and technology have brought innumerable benefits, and for all my bemoaning our modern existence, I wouldn't turn the clock back.

The anachronistic Walkman?

Last week I watched Super 8 when it came out on disc, and kicked myself for not having gone to see it in the theater. It's one of the best movies of the year, and a lot of fun, especially for anyone who grew up in the 1980's. The film is set in the summer of 1981, and has a certain strange nostalgia for that time period. This is the era I grew up in, before cell phones, the internet, or even most video games. The main characters are filming an amateur movie on Super 8 film (hence the name), which was pretty complicated at the time, even though you could probably get a better result with a Flip camera or decent smartphone nowadays. I won't spoil the plot (seriously, you should see it) but the kids get involved in a disaster and mystery that plays out through the rest of the movie.

There's one particular scene, however, that caught my attention. In that scene a convenience store clerk doesn't notice the events going on outside because he's listening to a Sony Walkman. The moment I saw that scene my over-developed sense of detail started flashing a warning in my head. Were Walkmans around in 1981? Before the scene was over (and it's a really good scene) I had already pulled up Wikipedia to see when the Walkman was invented and when it came to the U.S. The information on the page was actually inaccurate, but it did eventually link me to a TIME magazine article about the history of the Walkman. It turns out that yes, Walkman's were introduced in the U.S. in 1980, and while they weren't immediately successful, it would be believable for a store clerk to be sporting one in the summer of 1981. 

I got a kick out of how the Walkman looked when it was first introduced. The batteries were so big that they required a separate case and belt clip. But this was cutting edge technology at the time, and it really took off. Walkmans (and their imitators) were so ubiquitous when I was growing up, with over 200 million units sold worldwide, that they basically defined the 1980's as much as the Apple iPod defined the last decade. 

So it turns out that there was no anachronism in Super 8 after all.  Walkmans were right at home in 1981.  The device changed a lot over the years, slimming down and losing the separate battery pack. Eventually  Sony released versions that played CDs, mini-discs, and later mp3s as new media formats gained popularity. 

But the funny thing is, there still is something of a real-life Walkman anachronism, because I learned that the old cassette tape Walkmans are still being sold to this day. The new versions are nearly half the size of the original model sported by the store clerk in the movie, and they now run on a couple tiny AAA batteries rather than the large separate battery pack. But the device lives on, produced in China instead of Japan, and there is a small but steady demand for the old school format. That may seem out of place, but the same nostalgia I felt for the era depicted in Super 8 makes me smile to see that the old style Walkman for sale. 

A couple weeks ago I went down to my basement to get out some of my winters clothes. As I looked for  the right box, I opened a box of stuff from when I was in high school: some year books, sports t-shirts, photos, and an old Walkman-style cassette player with a bunch of tapes. I think I'll get it out tonight, find some batteries for it, and give it a listen.

Movie recommendation

I saw Page Eight over the weekend, and it was really quite good. Good enough, in fact, to break a 10-month drought over at my oft neglected movie blog to write about it. And since it's available to view online at video.pbs.org, you should watch it too. Because it's good, and the cast is great. Really, if you put Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Ralph Fiennes, and Michael Gambon together in a movie, I don't know how you can go wrong. Just make sure you watch it before December 7, because it won't be available for free after that. So go, enjoy! You'll thank me later.

The ugly side of Nissan

I like to look at cars. It's a great past-time that helps me forget that I drive a 13-year-old bucket of bolts. Right now one of my favorite cars on the road is the Nissan Maxima, which has some great lines and looks very good in gunmetal gray.

Nissan North America is based out of the Nashville area, so the cars are pretty popular here. And it seems like the company is doing a lot of things right. Nashville is one of the markets for the Nissan Leaf, the first large-scale electric car to be produced by a car company. I see them pretty often around here, and I appreciate that they aren't quite as silly looking as the Toyota Prius series. In fact, there's a lot to like about Nissan. 

But I also recently realized that Nissan seems to be trying to take the ugly car award away from now-defunct Pontiac. I've gone on the record saying that the Pontiac Aztek is the ugliest car ever made, and I stand by that statement. But the new crop of Nissans have several vehicles that are pretty hideous. For example, the Quest is Nissan's minivan. It has been pretty ugly for the past few model years, looking like an over-styled vehicle attempting (and failing) to show it was cooler than its kid-hauling roots. 

But just when I thought the Quest couldn't get any uglier, they introduced the 2011 model. And wow. I mean, wow. It's like they took the retired space shuttles and threw on some wheels and a coat of paint.

That's one vehicle that never should have made it past the concept car stage. And yet, it also has a decidedly antiquated appearance. Where have I seen that look before? 

Ah yes, the Pontiac Transsport from the early 1990's. It was ugly then, and it is ugly now. Proof positive that Nissan is taking some of its ugly cues from Pontiac. (Also note that Pontiac's penchant for cutsey model names went back at least to 1991. Aztek with a 'k'? Transsport? Trans-sport? Get it? The horror! The horror!) 

Of course, if the ugliness were confined to the minivan category, we could all pretty easily forgive Nissan. You really can't do much to make a minivan look cool anyway. But unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Exhibit B, the Nissan Cube:

I have a hard time explaining how much I dislike this vehicle. The funny thing is, I'm not entirely against the boxy, utilitarian look. The Scion xB sort of grew on me, and once Honda toned down the amount of plastic paneling they used on the Element, I could pretty well tolerate it. But the Cube is like a bubbly bit of 1980's science fiction that never should have hit the road. Those rounded windows like ship portholes, those bulbous bumpers and headlights, and that unforgivable wrap-around window and swinging rear door. Practical, perhaps, but just plain nauseating. This is what happens when designers run amok in the show room.

Once again, I'd be more likely to overlook these excesses if Nissan showed any signs of stopping, but alas, the latest model year has some real doozies too. Not as ugly as the Quest or the Cube, mind you, but definitely not on the right track. Take, for example, the Nissan Juke.

Even that glamour shot from Nissan can't quite hide the fact that this is a ridiculous piece of stylized rubbish.  (Edmunds called it a "bionic frog.") The over-under headlights seem to hearken back to the Pontiac Aztek, which is never a good sign. The grille is absurd. And most unfortunate of all, this vehicle doesn't even have the utilitarian excuse of the Cube. It sells itself as a crossover or an SUV, but it has the interior space of a compact car. 

Yet another vehicle Nissan got carried away with is the Murano CrossCabriolet. With a convoluted name like that, you know it is going to be weird looking. And you'd be right. The original Murano was a fairly sleek small SUV. It's not my style, but it's not bad. The CrossCabriolet, however, is unfortunately what you might expect from such a name. Essentially, they cut off the roof of the Murano and made it a drop top. 

The thing is, I bet the CrossCabriolet could be fun to drive. Most convertibles are. But there's a reason convertibles arent' SUV's. That huge roll bar on top does nothing for style or enjoyment. And it just reminds me of the Suzuki X-90, which tried to be a little bit sports car and a little bit SUV, and failed at both.

The moral of the story? Style elements for cars should not be taken from amphibians, canceled space program vehicles, 1980's sci-fi movies, or anything made by Pontiac. Ever.

A sad day

I am in the market for a new phone.

Long story short, I walked out to my car after church, had a flat tire, and had to pump it up with a bicycle pump enough to limp home. I had pulled my phone out to call for a ride before I remembered the bicycle pump in the trunk, and set it on the trunk while I pumped up the tire. I remembered the phone just as I was pulling out into the street, and realized it had probably fallen off when I pulled out. I quickly turned around, saw the phone, parked next to it, and got out to get it.

Just in time to watch an SUV run it over.

My daughter's vote of confidence

Daughter: Mom, how can I be a rock star when I grow up?
Wife: It takes a lot of work and practice.
Daughter: Could I be a rock climber?
Wife: Sure... Why don't you want to be a rock star anymore?
Daughter: Because it takes a lot of work.
Wife: Anything you want to be will take a lot of work. Even being a mom is hard work.
Daughter: What about being a dad?

In which I lose my wife's phone (and get it back)

Last weekend we had a small family reunion in Kentucky. We rented a beautiful old farmhouse, and had a lot of fun with family members. (If I am a halfway decent blogger, photos will soon follow.) But the vacation got off to a rocky start, because when we got to the farmhouse and wanted to call my parents to let them know we arrived, we realized that I left Becca's phone in a Wendy's in Elizabethtown. Becca had handed me her phone when she went to the restroom, and I had set it on a different table than the one we were sitting at. And then we left and drove a couple hours to the farmhouse. Yeah, that was not a happy half-hour after we realized what happened, and not one of my better moments.¹ Becca's phone is an iPhone, which means it had all her passwords, account information, email information, photos, etc. Basically, I left the keys to her life in a fast-food restaurant. 

Whenever I screw up, my first instinct is to hurry and try to fix it. I first tried calling the phone, to make sure we didn't have it with us, but no one answered. I then sent a text saying whoever had the phone could return it to the Wendy's where it was left, no questions asked.² My next priority was to call that Wendy's location and see if an employee picked it up. Unfortunately, we had only sporadic cell phone service, and it took us a while to get online because the rental didn't post the password to the wireless network.³ Eventually I got the phone number, found a spot out in the yard where I got a couple bars of service, took a deep breath breath, and made the call.

I asked the employee who answered the phone if they had found an iPhone in a blue-green case. She wasn't sure, so she asked the night manager. The phone at that Wendy's was sensitive enough that hear the whole conversation between the employee and the night manager. I could hear the manager asking a couple other employees if they had seen an iPhone, and my heart sank when I heard them respond that they hadn't. The night manager then got on the phone and said that they hadn't seen the phone, but that I could try calling back the next day when the day manager was there to see if he had seen anything. I hung up the phone feeling pretty rotten, and walked inside to deliver the bad news. We immediately reported the phone as lost to our carrier, and Becca started changing all her online passwords. 

The only silver lining of the day was that she had just put a password on the phone the week before to keep my daughters from playing with it. We figured that would stop any casual thief from immediately accessing the data on the phone, and that it would at least buy us the time to disconnect the accounts. I planned on calling back the next morning, but I didn't dare get my hopes up. There were dozens of young people in the restaurant when we were there, and it would be easy to imagine one of them picking it up and keeping it.

However, the plot thickened the the next day when I talked to the day manager. I asked him about a phone, and he immediately said, "Yeah, we found that phone. Let me see where it is." But my elation was temporary, as I overheard the day manager question another employee about the phone. "I gave it to Matt to hold at the register," he said. "Where's Matt?" Silence. After a few moments, the day manager got back on the phone (probably unaware that I could hear the whole conversation) and said in a serious voice that they had the phone yesterday, that they were not sure where it was now, but that they were definitely going to find out. He asked me to call after 3pm during the overlap of the day and night shift, so both managers could get to the bottom of it. 

During the whole weekend, the saga of the phone was a source of continual interest for all my family members. They kept asking for updates and speculating about where the phone could be and what someone might have done with it. Every time I went came back inside after making a call, they all looked at me expectantly and wanted to know exactly what they said. The news about the suspicious employee set off a new round of speculation and condemnation as they commiserated with us. But we all agreed that knowing the identity of the likely thief was better than nothing.

When I called later that day, I spoke again to the night manager. She was very embarrassed to say that three of her employees had lied to her the night before about the phone. Two of them had basically covered for "Matt," and they had already been disciplined and assigned to write essays about the importance of honesty. (I thought that was an amusing solution.) But Matt was not there that day, and he was not answering any voicemail or text messages. The night manager said she was going to go to his house after she got off work to try to get the phone back. I thanked her and told her that if the phone was there by the time we came back from our vacation, we would not press charges. We agreed for me to call back the next day, and I went back inside to report the latest turn of events. 

At first, the loss of the phone it had sort of cast a pall over an otherwise cheerful vacation. But as we got closer to unraveling the mystery, it became a source of fascination and almost entertainment. We were all on pins and needles when I called the following afternoon after the night manager came on shift. The first thing she said was "We got your phone!" and I did a little dance in the yard. She repeated her apologies, and then said that Matt would probably be fired as a result. If he couldn't be trusted with a customer's phone, what about the cash register? I told her that was up to them, but that we would definitely not file a police report.

It was sort of a proud moment when I walked back in the house and announced that they had the phone. Everyone cheered, and the final shadow lifted from our cheerful weekend. The next day we drove home and stopped by the Wendy's to get the phone — and a celebratory Frosty. Becca has since reactivated the phone and was able to confirm that no information on it was accessed. So pretty much a happy ending.

Lessons learned from the whole ordeal:

• Keep track of your valuables, and don't trust your unreliable husband to watch things for you.
• If you have any valuable information on it, put a password on your phone. Today.
• There are always a few bad apples, but most folks are good people and will help you out.
• If you do something stupid like losing a phone, make sure you do damage control immediately (deactivate, change passwords, etc.).

_______________________
¹  In fairness, forgetting the phone was something of a team effort. We both saw it on the table and both thought the other one would get it. But I really don't know what I was thinking when I put it in a different place than where Becca set it down. 
²  I actually got the idea from a family member who used psychology and tech-fu to get her stolen phone back. I don't know if it worked, but it can't have hurt.
³  In a great bit of low-tech but clever hackery, my mom actually guessed the wi-fi password and let us get the restaurant contact information. That was actually really important early on.


Photo credit: JaredEarle.

Internet authority

The other day my daughter had a bad diaper rash, and we decided to look it up online to see if we should take her to the doctor. We actually have child health reference books, but the entry wasn't particularly helpful ("consult a doctor") so we wanted more information. It occurred to me that our automatic reaction to look something up online is a quintessentially 21st Century response, and it got me thinking about sources of authority online. I made a quick mental list of the sources I trust on the internet, and I thought I'd write them down and see if anyone had other or better sources.

• General Knowledge: Wikipedia. This choice can be a bit controversial, since Wikipedia is inherently vulnerable to manipulation. But if you follow the hyperlinked footnotes, you'll find that Wikipedia is a phenomenal source of information. As a long-time user and editor, I have gotten used to reading articles with a critical eye, and if it's not well-cited, I don't always rely on it. But most Wikipedia articles nowadays are pretty well referenced. Hot-button or controversial topics are always suspect, but even those articles can be useful to point you to other sources. 
• Movies: IMDb. The Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, is the authority on movies and television shows. . Seriously, it's one of the best things ever conceived by the interwebs. 
• Books: LibraryThing. There doesn't seem to be any single, definitive book website like there is for movies. But I often consult LibraryThing for reviews and information. It isn't my only book destination, however, as I also go to Goodreads and occasionally Shelfari. Both LibraryThing and Shelfari are partly owned by Amazon, which is actually an excellent source of information about books, due to its very strong recommendation engine and extensive user reviews. In fact, the only reason I don't use is more is my vague notion that the fact that Amazon is trying to sell me stuff somehow colors the content. 
• Health: WebMD. There are some other good sources, but I habitually go to WebMD for health-related information, like my daughter's diaper rash, or how high a fever can be before you take a child to a doctor. Other good sources include the websites of the National Institutes of Health and various respected hospitals, like the Mayo Clinic or the Cleveland Clinic.
• Deals: SlickDeals. I like getting stuff for cheap, and though I check multiple sites, the best and most comprehensive site in my opinion is SlickDeals. Other people have different favorites, and if you're especially interested in a certain type of product, SlickDeals might not be the best for you. But with a huge user base and extensive forums, it has a lot to offer. If I want to buy a new computer or TV or want a coupon code, SlickDeals is my first stop.
• Legal: Legal Information Institute. I know most people don't read legal stuff if they can avoid it, but the LLI is a fantastic collection of legal primary sources. It's got a good pedigree, too, since it's run by Cornell University's Law School. I use it almost daily, even though I have a subscription to WestLaw, because the LLI is easier to use for some things. And it's free. Honorable mention goes to FindLaw and Justia, and I also use Google Scholar's legal search tools.
• Consumer Reviews: Amazon. As the world's largest online retailer, Amazon has consumer reviews for almost anything. The reviews are often more than just opinions—they often contain information about how to set the product up or how to tinker with it to use it for something else. Amazon wins with high quality and sheer volume. For tech devices, I also really like CNET's video reviews, and the decidedly gearhead reviews on NewEgg are also invaluable. 
• Cars: Edmunds. I am definitely not a car expert, but Edmunds seems to be the best site for reviews, resale values, repair advice, etc. Given my lack of expertise, however, I'm open to other suggestions.
• News: National Public Radio. This is a tough choice, and I've gone back and forth on my preferred news source. The truth is that I never rely on one source for news, but if I had to pick one, it would be NPR. I listen to it in the car a lot, but in recent years the NPR website has become very good. I still ready the New York Times site frequently, as well as the BBC and my local newspaper websites. But I go to NPR first and most frequently.
• Everything Else: Google.There is an awful lot of information not grouped into one of those categories above, and the easiest way to find it is just to Google it. I actually like using some other search engines, and I don't like using one dominant search engine, but I must admit that Google still is the best at finding what you need. And there is some extremely valuable tips and information buried in the thousands of bulletin boards, blogs, and other sites that make up the rest of the web.

I like all the sites, and I've used most of them for years. But if you can think of a category I totally missed, or think you have a better site than one of the ones I listed, I'm all ears. 

The taste of summer

We have a tiny patch of dirt in front of our porch that we're using as a garden. Last year it was a spectacular failure, with all but the parsley wilting or getting eaten by insects. But this year we have had an enormous yield with our tomatoes, and some decent basil as well. We only have three tomato plants, but we'll probably get several dozen tomatoes out of them during the course of the summer.

It's sort of exciting to see them ripen—it gives you a sense of anticipation and excitement that you don't get when you buy food at a store or market. The girls watch them closely and announce to us when they think the tomatoes are ripe.Yesterday Becca picked a couple for dinner, and sliced one up right after picking. It was perfectly ripe, still warm from the sun, and she said "It tasted like summer." I immediately knew what she meant.

For me, though, the real taste of summer is really good corn on the cob. I'm not a particularly huge fan corn on the cob, but I like it, and when I get a really sweet ear of corn it reminds me of grilling in the backyard when I was growing up. 

One of the clients at my work brought by some ears of corn from his garden. I took them home and we had them for dinner last week. My soon-to-be kindergartener loves corn on the cob, but the 2-year-old had never had it before. She seemed to like it, though. The best part about the dinner was shucking the ears with my daughters on the front porch. They had never done that before, and their reactions were hilarious when I peeled back the husk and they recognized what was inside. They eat corn all the time, but it comes in a frozen bag. It reminded me that a lot of kids (or adults) don't really know where their food comes from.

To be honest, it wasn't the best corn on the cob, but it still tasted like summer. We'll have to pick some up at one of the road-side stands soon, because I want some of the good stuff. I love when half the kernels are white and half are yellow, and they're so fresh that the kernels snap in your mouth as you take a bite. 

I don't have pictures of them, but we also got some cherries last week. They were even worse than the corn, actually, which is probably why I don't have pictures of them. But they reminded us of a summer 8 years ago, before we were married, when I camped with Becca's family on the shore of Lake Erie. We were going to Cedar Point the next day, it was a lazy summer evening, and we got a huge bag of really delicious cherries to eat after dinner. We spent all evening eating them and spitting the pits across the campsite to see who could spit the farthest. I think my happy memories are somewhat colored by the fact that I was with Becca after having been apart all summer. Being head over heels in love with someone tends to make everything better. But I think those were good cherries anyway.

Borders, books, and bookstores

I listened to this NPR article on the way home today, and it got me thinking about my reading habits and the future of bookstores. If you haven't heard, the nation-wide chain of Borders bookstores couldn't even hold it together in bankruptcy, so the whole chain is going out of business and is liquidating. I know Borders has really taken a hit in the last few years. They bet big on brick-and-mortar stores right around the time Amazon was starting to dominate and Barnes & Noble was moving much of its sales online. They also invested heavily in CD sales, right around the time the bottom dropped out of that market. So Borders lost both those bets. They hadn't been profitable in the last five years, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that it's all over.

Having Borders go out of business really won't affect me much, since the local Borders closed some time ago. But I'm guessing it is going to have some longer-term affects.

1. First, as sad as it is to see a big chain (and 11,000 jobs) go down, the silver lining is that it might pave the way for smaller local bookstores to find a foothold. 
2. I like going to bookstores. I like browsing, I like leafing through books and picking up ones that have attractive covers or authors I recognize. But I almost never buy new books because I perceive them to be too expensive. I can't be the only one.
3. I don't rely on bookstores for recommended reading. I rely on friends and family. If that doesn't work, I rely on book blogs or sites like Goodreads. If that doesn't work, the recommendation systems of Amazon and other online vendors are very good. And if that doesn't work, I'm still probably more likely to consult a librarian than a bookstore. 
4. One thing that stood out to me in the NPR article (which you really should read or listen to, by the way) is the quote from the guy who analyzes Barnes & Noble. He said he was agnostic to supplier and device agnostic. He just wants to read, and he doesn't care much about whether it comes from Borders or Walmart or Amazon. He also doesn't care much if he's reading it on a Nook or Kindle or in paper. That's how I feel. I like a real book better, but there are some significant advantages to ebooks. Bottom line is that I just want to read stuff, whatever the easiest or cheapest way is to do that. 
5. Speaking of ebooks, they apparently are the future. Certainly not the exclusive future, because paper books are just nice and people still like them. But now that Amazon is selling more ebooks than printed books, the writing is on the wall. And apparently that's how Barnes & Noble escaped the same fate as Borders--they went online and made their own e-reader. 

If you have any other predictions about the future of books, I'd love to hear them. I actually care a lot about books--they fill my home and have been a big part of my life since I was small. My love of reading is a huge part of who I am and what I do for a living. There's a lot to lament about the change of the book world, but I'm actually fairly optimistic that there will still be room for bookstores as long as people are reading. And despite hundreds of cable channels and thousands of video game titles and all the wonders of "teh internets," people still love to read.

Photo credit: MorBCN.