Random Rants LXXIII: "You've had this place redecorated, haven't you? I don't like it."

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Oh ho ho well this is shaping up to be one of my worst physical days of the year yet.

The heat has been unbearable. Covering myself in ice packs just makes me sweat more. It's too hot to play video games to distract myself as the laptop is overheating just by being on. It's not even that hot. Only 29 C. Alas. It shall continue until Tuesday next week.

As a result of the heat, I'm so ill that I can't stop myself up. Intestinal spasms out the wazoo. The spasms lead to constrictions in the rib cage and now the costochondritis is having a flare. Getting my back cracked/reset between my shoulder blades can provide relief but I can't do it myself. I can reduce the intensity by laying on my stomach and putting pressure on my chest but I can't do that with the intestinal woes.

I waited until it was below 20 outdoors before cracking open a window and putting both of my fans on high. Marginal effect. One of the fans overheated and blew out its motor. Now I have one fan.

Can't sleep because of the above. Gave up at 2:30 AM. Can't go for a walk/pace around the apartment because my new exercise regime has totaled my knees. So now I am here, ranting, spreading cheer to my fellow peers.

Oh yeah, and my headphones broke yesterday. :mad:
 
It's 31 C here (that means ~88F for my metrically challenged Amerifriends) and I'm enjoying it. Only thing I have to rant about is that I am getting more and more impatient the older I get. I am always looking at my plants getting excited with every little bit of progress.

I feel you with the headphones though.. I get a new pair every 6 months or so.
 
These have lasted for about a year. Can't expect much with $12 earphones I suppose.
 
Synsensa said:
Oh ho ho well this is shaping up to be one of my worst physical days of the year yet.

The heat has been unbearable. Covering myself in ice packs just makes me sweat more. It's too hot to play video games to distract myself as the laptop is overheating just by being on. It's not even that hot. Only 29 C. Alas. It shall continue until Tuesday next week.

As a result of the heat, I'm so ill that I can't stop myself up. Intestinal spasms out the wazoo. The spasms lead to constrictions in the rib cage and now the costochondritis is having a flare. Getting my back cracked/reset between my shoulder blades can provide relief but I can't do it myself. I can reduce the intensity by laying on my stomach and putting pressure on my chest but I can't do that with the intestinal woes.

I waited until it was below 20 outdoors before cracking open a window and putting both of my fans on high. Marginal effect. One of the fans overheated and blew out its motor. Now I have one fan.

Can't sleep because of the above. Gave up at 2:30 AM. Can't go for a walk/pace around the apartment because my new exercise regime has totaled my knees. So now I am here, ranting, spreading cheer to my fellow peers.

Oh yeah, and my headphones broke yesterday. :mad:
Click to expand...
Are there any forest fires near you? Any smoke blowing in from where the fires are? I've seen on the news that things are pretty bad in the Okanagan.

Seriously, if you're having trouble breathing or not being able to cool down, at least call a medical hotline (I assume there are such things there). Describe your symptoms, your situation, and they should at least be able to advise you if you need to get to a clinic, or even emergency. It's not wimping out, it's just good sense.

And keep hydrated.
 
I haven't noticed any hit to the air quality. The fires are due east and the wind has been switching from northeast and southeast.
 
Got woken up by the mother of all charlie horses. I drank a ton of water yesterday too... :dunno:


Also had to cancel my biopsy that was scheduled for Friday due to the incompetence of the receptionist at Orange County Ear Nose & Throat. I called yesterday to see if there were any special instructions pre-biopsy (do I need to fast?) only to find out I was not scheduled for a biopsy. Apparently this doctor doesn't perform one of the most common diagnostic tests for thyroid cancer that basically all other ENT doctors perform. I don't believe that, I just think the receptionist is a stupid, mean-spirited, lazy assclown.

She started the phone call with attitude and ended up hanging up on me, despite me staying calm and collected with her throughout. She basically told me that a) the doctor doesn't do that procedure and b) my appointment was basically just to meet him and refer me to another doctor, despite the urgent care doctor referring me specifically to this doctor specifically for this procedure and he sent over all my other test data. I called her out and asked her exactly what would I be seeing this doctor for if I have already been referred? The receptionist said she had no clue and hung up on me.

It ruined my day and I had to cancel PTO I had already put in for the procedure and now have to scramble to find another doctor to perform the biopsy. Yeah and my primary care doctor still won't help me/talk to me until I have an appointment which isn't until the end of next month.

Edit: I just left a nasty review on google maps. Unsure what else I can do about the situation.
 
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You know I don't actually know what that means. The first time you wrote that I thought it was a typo. :dunno:
 
Bad support staff can ruin a doctor and their patient relationships.

Kinda dumb that they'd refer you to an ENT who would then refer you to an ENT.
 
I see an ENT every 9 months to monitor the progression of an inner ear condition I have. As I was leaving his office once, he walked over to where his secretaries were sitting, looked down and saw some kind of chart, and loudly exclaimed "was anyone planning on showing me this?!" He sounded really pissed.

@Synsensa are you able to lie in the bath tub? When I'm overheating, lying in cool water for a period of time is the most effective way I know of to bring my temperature back down.
 
My rant (and yes I checked): I can never remember which rant/rave thread is for good things and which is for bad, since both words can be used for both things.
 
shadowplay said:
@Synsensa are you able to lie in the bath tub? When I'm overheating, lying in cool water for a period of time is the most effective way I know of to bring my temperature back down.
Click to expand...

In theory, yes. Drawing a bath in the middle of the night isn't really possible, though. This house isn't insulated against sound very well so it would almost certainly wake up the neighbours and landlords.
 
So, it's July 2018, a hundred years after the turning point of the First World War. Centennial literature on the war has not been as common (or as good) as I'd have liked, but it's nice to see things that relate to my interests all the same.

Naturally, the June-July battles get notice in America for another reason: they marked the first significant participation of American troops, which launched an attack on the Germans in Belleau Wood during what is sometimes called the Second Battle of the Marne. According to legend, the US Marines fought there and single-handedly blunted the German drive on Paris, saving the entire Entente cause. The Marines were so ferocious in battle that the Germans were said to have called them "devil dogs", which the Marines variously rendered as "Teufelshunde" or "Teufel Hunden". In official reports, the German officers opposing the Americans singled out the Marines for valor, bravery, and skill.

The legend is nonsense.

Germany's offensive was not aimed at Paris and the fighting in Belleau Wood did not single-handedly save the allies from defeat. Belleau Wood was a relevant sector of the front during the German BLÜCHER offensive, but it was also a small one, and the overwhelming majority of troops in the area were French. Furthermore, half of the American troops committed at Belleau Wood were US Army, not Marines; elements of two divisions were committed, and of those divisions the Marines only contributed a single brigade.

The Americans - Army and Marine both - did indeed fight with valor and distinction in the forest, and they won the battle. But there are absolutely zero indications that the Germans had anything special to say about the Marines. They barely registered the existence of the Marines in their reports following the battle. They certainly did not call them "devil dogs". All of the words the Marines claimed the Germans would have used for them are not actually words that Germans would ever use, and there is no evidence of any kind that the Germans used anything even close to them.

Like much of the lore of the US Marines, the legend of Belleau Wood comes up often if you talk to jarheads. It's annoying to listen to them, but correcting them is usually pointless. Sometimes there's no harm in letting people enjoy their delusions about history. It's much better than the delusions that many British people like to perpetuate about the war, namely that Britain won the whole thing, that France was basically a broken reed, and that the Americans were irrelevant and terrible at war anyway, all of which are completely wrong and actively harmful if not chauvinistic. Letting the Marines give their moment a bit of cosmetic surgery is better than pretending they didn't have any moments at all.

But now that American websites have belatedly recognized that the centennial is upon us, the last month and a half has been full of commentary on Belleau Wood - and unlike the average jarhead in his cups, who has an excuse for being wrong, these Internet authors have no excuse for resurrecting myths about devil dogs.

Jerks.
 
hobbsyoyo said:
Got woken up by the mother of all charlie horses. I drank a ton of water yesterday too... :dunno:


Also had to cancel my biopsy that was scheduled for Friday due to the incompetence of the receptionist at Orange County Ear Nose & Throat. I called yesterday to see if there were any special instructions pre-biopsy (do I need to fast?) only to find out I was not scheduled for a biopsy. Apparently this doctor doesn't perform one of the most common diagnostic tests for thyroid cancer that basically all other ENT doctors perform. I don't believe that, I just think the receptionist is a stupid, mean-spirited, lazy assclown.

She started the phone call with attitude and ended up hanging up on me, despite me staying calm and collected with her throughout. She basically told me that a) the doctor doesn't do that procedure and b) my appointment was basically just to meet him and refer me to another doctor, despite the urgent care doctor referring me specifically to this doctor specifically for this procedure and he sent over all my other test data. I called her out and asked her exactly what would I be seeing this doctor for if I have already been referred? The receptionist said she had no clue and hung up on me.

It ruined my day and I had to cancel PTO I had already put in for the procedure and now have to scramble to find another doctor to perform the biopsy. Yeah and my primary care doctor still won't help me/talk to me until I have an appointment which isn't until the end of next month.

Edit: I just left a nasty review on google maps. Unsure what else I can do about the situation.
Click to expand...
Is she just a receptionist, or does she also have some kind of nursing credentials? If the latter, report her. Or complain to the doctor. There is no excuse for attitude like that.

Synsensa said:
Bad support staff can ruin a doctor and their patient relationships.

Kinda dumb that they'd refer you to an ENT who would then refer you to an ENT.
Click to expand...
There's one receptionist at the clinic I go to who, when I ask her to ask the doctor to call me, insists on me asking her the question. I just point out that since she isn't my doctor and only my real doctor can answer what I need to know, it would be pointless to ask anyone else.

And then there are the receptionists who pay no attention to the purpose of the visit and set everything out for procedures that are just not going to happen without my consent, and seem very surprised when I tell them I've come to discuss my prescriptions, or that I need the doctor to fill out paperwork for one of the agencies in town that requires a doctor to sign an application form for some service I need. And since talking is all we're going to be doing, I have no intention of undressing, thankyouverymuch.

Synsensa said:
In theory, yes. Drawing a bath in the middle of the night isn't really possible, though. This house isn't insulated against sound very well so it would almost certainly wake up the neighbours and landlords.
Click to expand...
If it makes the difference between you coping with the heat and ending up in the hospital, they can just deal with being woken up. Your life is worth more than your neighbor's convenience, and I'm sure they would probably not worry about inconveniencing you.
 
Dachs said:
So, it's July 2018, a hundred years after the turning point of the First World War. Centennial literature on the war has not been as common (or as good) as I'd have liked, but it's nice to see things that relate to my interests all the same.

Naturally, the June-July battles get notice in America for another reason: they marked the first significant participation of American troops, which launched an attack on the Germans in Belleau Wood during what is sometimes called the Second Battle of the Marne. According to legend, the US Marines fought there and single-handedly blunted the German drive on Paris, saving the entire Entente cause. The Marines were so ferocious in battle that the Germans were said to have called them "devil dogs", which the Marines variously rendered as "Teufelshunde" or "Teufel Hunden". In official reports, the German officers opposing the Americans singled out the Marines for valor, bravery, and skill.

The legend is nonsense.

Germany's offensive was not aimed at Paris and the fighting in Belleau Wood did not single-handedly save the allies from defeat. Belleau Wood was a relevant sector of the front during the German BLÜCHER offensive, but it was also a small one, and the overwhelming majority of troops in the area were French. Furthermore, half of the American troops committed at Belleau Wood were US Army, not Marines; elements of two divisions were committed, and of those divisions the Marines only contributed a single brigade.

The Americans - Army and Marine both - did indeed fight with valor and distinction in the forest, and they won the battle. But there are absolutely zero indications that the Germans had anything special to say about the Marines. They barely registered the existence of the Marines in their reports following the battle. They certainly did not call them "devil dogs". All of the words the Marines claimed the Germans would have used for them are not actually words that Germans would ever use, and there is no evidence of any kind that the Germans used anything even close to them.

Like much of the lore of the US Marines, the legend of Belleau Wood comes up often if you talk to jarheads. It's annoying to listen to them, but correcting them is usually pointless. Sometimes there's no harm in letting people enjoy their delusions about history. It's much better than the delusions that many British people like to perpetuate about the war, namely that Britain won the whole thing, that France was basically a broken reed, and that the Americans were irrelevant and terrible at war anyway, all of which are completely wrong and actively harmful if not chauvinistic. Letting the Marines give their moment a bit of cosmetic surgery is better than pretending they didn't have any moments at all.

But now that American websites have belatedly recognized that the centennial is upon us, the last month and a half has been full of commentary on Belleau Wood - and unlike the average jarhead in his cups, who has an excuse for being wrong, these Internet authors have no excuse for resurrecting myths about devil dogs.

Jerks.
Click to expand...
Do you have an opinion on the YouTube channel/series The Great War?
 
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