how difficult is it to get a 78 year-old man to his doctor’s appointment?

This winter, I tell ya.

Back in September of last year, we lost my mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer and we’ve been dealing with the various tasks that need to be done in the aftermath of her passing.

One such task is getting my father-in-law to his doctor’s appointments. Seems like that would be one of the easier tasks, but the reality has been far from easy.

My mother-in-law was Dad’s caretaker. She made sure he was fed, took his meds, and made it to see his doctors. With her gone, Dad has moved in with my brother-in-law and his wife. My brother-in-law lives about a 35 minute drive away from me and my family. And the doctor’s office is another 40 minute drive from there. My in-laws had lived about an hour north of us.

My brother-in-law, his wife, and I all work during the day, while my wife is a stay at home mom, so the task of getting Dad to the doctor has gone to her. Part of the agenda when Dad gets to the doctor is to get a referral to a doctor closer to the Twin Cities, or, at least, closer to where Dad is currently living.

We’ve been trying to get him to his doctor since December!

Every time his appointment day arrives it coincides with a snow storm or a bitterly cold day. And I mean high temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit bitterly cold. We have a ’97 Plymouth Grand Voyager with over 170,000 miles on it and we don’t want to chance it in that kind of weather, so the appointment gets rescheduled. Again and again.

The appointment has been rescheduled four or five times now!

Before you freak out, Dad’s appointment is in the check-up vein and not necessarily a dire need to immediately consult his physician.

One rescheduling was technically due to a play being put on by my son’s class, in which he was the lead. As typical proud parents, we did not want to miss that. But the reason we had to reschedule for the play was due to the fact that the play had been postponed due to (any guesses?) winter weather. You see, we have had five days this winter that were so cold the State of Minnesota had declared all public school classes canceled.

So, the play had been rescheduled on the same day of one of Dad’s many rescheduled appointments. The weather, if indirectly in this case, was still playing havoc with us.

The rescheduling was made. The appointment is set for tomorrow. Can you guess what the weather forecast calls for? It calls for five to seven inches of snow and blizzard like conditions.

This winter, I tell ya.


dimland radio 2-15-14 show notes

Last Music Show

A sad occasion, sort of, as this was my last music show on Z Talk Radio. At the end of this month, Z Talk will no longer have a license to play signed artist’s music, so I decided to do a three hour long musical cavalcade to go out with a bang. I went with a mix of excellent tunes from the 60s on up to the 00s and my son, Hayden, once again sat in to help old Dad with the show.
I am not allowed to archive music shows, so you would have had to tune in to listen. The following is what you missed if you weren’t there…

Playlist  

Whip – Devo
Burning Down The House – Talking Heads
Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder
No Reply At All – Genesis
Photograph – Ringo Starr
Across The Great Divide – Semisonic
Message Of Love – The Pretenders
Kodachrome – Paul Simon
That’s Not My Name – The Ting Tings
Miserlou – Dick Dale
Da Da Da – Trio
905 – The Who
Only You- Yaz
I Feel Love – Donna Summer
Mexican Radio – Wall of Voodoo
Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel
Somebody Wants To Love You – The Partridge Family
Driven To Tears – The Police
Smooth Operator – Sade
Space Oddity – David Bowie
Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles
The Mayor Of Simpleton – Husker Du
Band On The Run – Paul McCartney & Wings
Beautiful Stranger – Madonna
Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie
Waterloo – ABBA
Radio Free Europe – REM
Overkill -Colin Hay
Nowhere Man – The Beatles
Tell Me Why – Berlin
Cars – Gary Numan
Vanishing Girl – The Dukes of Stratosphear
Spanish Bombs – The Clash
Groove Is In The Heart – Deee-Lite
Back Stabbers – The O’Jays
Beatle Boots – Love Tractor
Surrender – Cheap Trick
One Way Or Another – Blondie
Ballroom Blitz – Sweet
This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ To Glide – The Kings
Can’t Hardly Wait – The Replacements
Other Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio Music Show opening & closing theme song: ‘Twist’ by Tones On Tail

That’s it! You should know that I am not able to archive the music shows I do due to the limitations of Z Talk Radio’s music license. So, if you want to hear the music you have to tune in. Next month I will do another music show on www.ztalkradio.com otherwise be sure to tune in Saturday 11pm Central, midnight Eastern for another regular edition of Dimland Radio. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com
 
You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 2-8-14 show notes

An Announcement
Nothing so dramatic, but Loud City will be shutting down. Z Talk Radio had worked with Loud City to distribute our shows. Our shows will go on (goon?), but our ability to play music shows will be going away. We can still play independent artists who aren’t signed to a major label.
 
I don’t what to do the work to support independent artists. Well, it may not be that much wok, but I will not be doing music shows anymore after this month. Next week I will be doing a three hour music show, so get some sleep so you can stay up and boogie. Or just listen.

The Human Species Isn’t All That Bad

I hadn’t been aware of this phenomenon until fairly recently and I was very impressed and encouraged when I did find out about it. It’s the reviews of unusual or very mundane products offered on Amazon.com. I don’t know how long this has been going on, but people have been writing very funny, very clever reviews and Amazon has been leaving them up.

I featured three such products.  Please read the reviews for:

Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl. oz
Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer

Science Vs Not Science
The highly anticipated “debate” between Bill Nye The Science Guy and Ken Ham The Not Science Guy over evolution/creation took place last Tuesday. I have not yet watched the debate, but my hubris was enough that I talked about it anyway. Actually, I talked more about the reaction to the debate, both from before and after it.

Many science-minded skeptics and scientists thought it was a bad idea for Bill to do it, but there are others who think that this sort of confrontation should be done. Ken Ham may never change his mind, but someone else listening in just might.

I have lots of links on this one:

 
Rebecca Watson’s don’t do it take.
Hemant Mehta’s advice to Bill Nye.
Steve Shive’s post debate review.

Here is the debate. (You’ll need fast forward 13 and a half minutes.)

Phil Plait’s blog review of the debate.
Daniel Loxton’s blog on Carl Sagan’s take on such debates.

I think that’s enough links on this topic.

22 Messages

 
Buzzfeed.com featured 22 messages from creationists to people who believe in evolution (believe is the wrong word, accept is better). I gave my responses, but here are Phil Plait’s. His are better.

And, to balance things out, Buzzfeed.com also feature 22 messages from evolution believers to creationists. I responded to those as well. So far, Phil hasn’t.

 

Movie Recommendation: Capote (2005)
 
United Artists

 

“Ashton Kutcher survives.” Those probably weren’t the last words of Philip Seymour Hoffman, but nevertheless it is true, he does still live.

The great actor died this past week and I figured I should recommend one of his best performances out of a vast catalog of great performances. So, ‘Capote’ it is. Hoffman was awarded the Oscar for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote as he was researching the murder of a Kansas farming family for his non-fiction novel, ‘In Cold Blood’.

It’s a very good movie and a great performance. But it’s hard to find a bad performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: ‘Monkeys‘ by Echo & the Bunnymen & ‘Maddox Table by 10,000 Maniacs
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Age Of Consent‘ by New Order & Los Angeles by X
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

That’s it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 2-1-14 show notes

More Wisdom Tooth Talk
Something weird happened more than a week after the extraction of my wisdom tooth. A yellowy, purply, old-looking bruise showed up on my neck just below my Adam’s Apple. I don’t recall the surgeon leaning on my neck and Amy hasn’t try to strangle me for a couple months. So, what gives?

It was explained to me by a Facebook friend (sure, he may not be an expert, but his explanation seems very plausible) that the bruise was the result of some of the loosed blood heading inside and pooling in that spot. He had it explained to him by his dentist that after his wisdoms were removed it might appear as though the dentist had been beating on his chest.

More Winter Weather Talk

Again, this winter has been a pain in the ass. Way cold for a few days, then snow, then way cold again. It’s very tiring.
 

So this past week, I had to do some driving in a snowstorm, plenty of shoveling, help get a driver unstuck and broke my shoe in the process. Which led to…
More Sears Talk
I had to buy new shoes, so I went to Sears where I always get my shoes. Just habit, I guess. I talked about my experience at check out and the cashier peppering me with needing my phone number, did I want to be a rewards member, and did I want a Sears credit card. I just wanted to pay for my stuff and get the hell out of there.

More Atheist Talk

 
I spotted this video clip on the Facebook. It features a dentist and his patient discussing the existence of god and dentists. It’s a straw man fallacy created by Christian apologists who don’t understand atheists. Watch the clip but beware the inevitable facepalming.
 
More Farrah Talk

I decided to indulge myself, but, really, isn’t my entire show just me indulging myself? Anyway, I noted that February 2nd would have been Farrah Fawcett’s 67th birthday. To commemorate the occasion, I read the blog I had written the day she had died.

You can read it here. 

 
The Power Of Art (Thought I Was Gonna Use More Again, Didn’t You?)

Thomas Kelly, a 37 year-old, homeless man who suffered from schizophrenia was beaten to death by several Fullerton, CA police officers. Three officers were charged with crimes, two were brought to trial and acquitted. The third had the charges dropped after the acquittal of the other two officers.
 
I don’t know all the particulars, just what I’ve read on the Wikipedia account. I do know that artist Michael Em captured something powerful in his illustration of the beating. It hurt my heart.
 
 

Movie Recommendation: None This Week

 

You’re on your own.

Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: ‘Insect Mother’ by Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians & ‘Y.O.Y.O.Y. by Cheap Trick
Second ad break bumpers: ‘Cat’s In The Cupboard‘ by Pete Townshend & Tears by The Chameleons UK
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

That’s it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

dimland radio 1-25-14 show notes

One More Wisdom Tooth Gone
I talked about the second wisdom tooth removal in four years and likely the last.  At nearly 50 years of age, I am finally down to two wisdom teeth left.  I didn’t have them removed when I was in my teens, when most people have theirs removed, because they were way deep in the jaw, so my dentist figured I’d be ok waiting.  And I was until about four years ago.

Both of the removed wisdoms have been in my lower jaw.  The two in my upper jaw are looking like they are going to stay put.  As the oral surgeon said of them, “They are asleep.”

The Worst Aspect Of The Wisdom Removal

I recounted the most disturbing part of the whole wisdom tooth removal experience was the realization that the Health Partners clinic at which my procedure was carried out also offers chiropractic and acupuncture treatments! Yep, right down that hallway you will head away from the science-based medicine to the crap-based medicine (my thanks to the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe for those phrases).

I ought to write a letter.

Some Winter We’re Having, Eh?

This has been quite a pain in the ass winter so far. The snow hasn’t been a big problem, even though we do have quite a bit piling up. It’s really been the extreme cold we’ve been experiencing that has put this winter high on the misery scale. As I write this, we await the probable announcement that school will be cancelled again for Monday. This will be the fourth day this school year that classes were called on account of cold.

Hayden and his classmates might be happy to stay home, but it looks very possible that one or two make-up days will be added at the end of the school year.

Absent-Mindedness
With all these cold snaps passing through, I’ve been starting and running the company van at work to be sure it runs. The van sits out in the elements and doesn’t have a tank heater to help it survive the cold.  The other day, I started it up and let it run for a bit. Well, a little more than a bit. I left the van running for FOUR HOURS!
 
Whoop, whoop.

Movie Recommendation: WW and the Dixie Dancekings (1975)

20th Century Fox
 

During last week’s music show I played a song from this movie.  I lamented that I had not seen this film, a favorite from my childhood, for many years and that it’s not available on Netflix.  Well, never fear! You can watch the entire film on YouTube.


It stars Burt Reynolds as a charming, gas station robbing, big talking con man who hooks up with a struggling country music band called the Dixie Dancekings. Somehow, he takes them under his wing in order to get them to stardom and the Grand Ole Opry stage. Art Carney plays very pious, bible quoting (I guess that makes him a con man, too), lawman on WW’s trail.

Not the greatest film ever made, it still has its charms. And that’s country music’s gentle giant Don Williams as the Dancekings’ bass player.

Music heard on the show…

Dimland Radio opening theme song: ‘Ram’ by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: ‘Alice’s House‘ by The Psychedelic Furs & ‘Luka by Suzanne Vega
Second ad break bumpers: ‘We Got The Beat‘ by The Go-Gos & Requiem by Killing Joke
Closing song: ‘Angler’s Treble Hook’ by $5 Fiddle

That’s it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.