Tuesday, February 19, 2008

New Dentist

I went to a new dentist today. I had gone in the past to a couple of young guys who were priced very high. I had to use "Care Credit" to pay my bill with them and I hated going.

What prompted me to change, other than my dislike of the present dentists, was a flyer I received in the mail advertising "free whitening for life". My teeth are slightly discolored due to medicine I took when I was a child. They're not bad - they're light beige as opposed to stark white - and they don't look any different than they did from my sixth grade pictures - and I am now 52. I just am tired of beige teeth - and if it is free, as they say, then what the heck.

I had this flyer for a while, and last night I chipped a filling on one of my back top right molars, so I made an appointment and got right in today. I was nervous since this was a whole new office, but it seemed quite nice, modern and very clean.

The Dr. is a graduate of the University of Louisiana, and probably in his 60's. At first, his age made me nervous. I didn't like the know-it-all cockiness of the young guys I went to before, but I also didn't want someone who was past his prime either. However, he was personable and discussed what he wanted to do about the chip. He said it was a small chip and didn't take much drilling to fill. He said that filling was the best option, since I didn't need a crown - the tooth could be fixed, in other words. I'm afraid the young guys would have told me I needed a crown and before I could get the crown, I'd need surgery to lower my gums, etc. etc. etc.

So, the dentist drilled a bit and refilled the chipped area - so far no problem. He numbed me right away. In the past, I've had dentists have problems numbing me - not this one. I also have had weird feelings like my heart racing once the shot of novacaine is given, but that didn't happen this time either.

It all went so smoothly. I also asked about a small chip off the bottom of one of my two center front teeth. He said he though he could actually fill that also - he didn't think filing or a fake tooth was necessary since it's such a small chip. He did say that the filling might not last as long as other fillings - but we'll see. I'm also scheduled for a cleaning next time and for molds to be made of my teeth in preparation for the whitening stuff I'll get to take home and use.

Oh - and I got X-Rays first, of course - I forgot to mention that. So, all in all, it seemed like a good office and he seemed like a good dentist.

The bill? $58.50, of which $25.00 was my deductible for the year, now met. Can't beat that.

Green Cay in Palm Beach

We visited Green Cay Nature Center in Palm Beach on Sunday. It was magnificent. There were so many birds I used up a 2 MG photo card, which means at least 500 photos. Of course, when I got home I had to go through all those photos and pick out the 20 or 30 that I wanted to keep. That took a loooonnnnngg time, but it was worth it.

My only complaint was some of the people that were at the Nature Center. Yes, it was a weekend day, so there were many more people. So many of them were just there to get exercise, so they walked fast and conversed loudly about anything and everything except where they were. This one pair of women literally walked the entire place twice and never shut up for even 2 seconds. Each time they speeded past me, they were blabbing and gossiping about someone or something, talking about recipes, illness - you name it - and loud? You could hear them coming for a while. I had to stifle the urge to tell them to shut up, trip them - or ask them to walk in their own neighborhoods from now on. After all it didn't matter a hoot where they were, they were totally wrapped up in their silly conversations - so why not walk around their blocks instead of spoil the time for everyone else at the Nature Center who were there for - guess - NATURE!! There was even a sign as we came into the Nature Center that prohibited speed walking, but, unfortunately, not speed talking - what difference anyway, since those women obviously didn't pay any attention to the rule about speed walking, they wouldn't have heeded the non-speed-talking rule if there was one either. Those kind of people should stay home.

Below are some of the highlights in pictures:












Saturday, February 16, 2008

Weeds in My Back Yard

All the following pictures were taken in my back yard. We don't have much grass in the back yard, but we do have a lot of ground cover weeds that don't look bad at all - and have some beautiful flowers:










































































































































































This is the uninspiring macro view of the bit of ground where most of those weeds are flowering - they are so tiny you can't enjoy them much with the naked eye.






















Next - I played with some lenses a little bit and took some "effects" photos of my clerodendrums and blue lantana in bloom.



























































Lastly, some blue glass we have hanging on a bird feeder branch, a clear picture of the clerodendrums and a little bee I saw while lying in the grass.


































































Oops - I almost forgot - an aloe-like, cactusey kind of plant that is flowering right now.















Thursday, February 7, 2008

Hiring Women - 1943

My husband sent me this article with humorous intent, but I find it very interesting. It's an Adobe Acrobat file that I saved as a JPG, so I'm not sure it'll copy here - and the copy I have is pretty messy looking. It's an excerpt from Savvy and Sage Maagazine, but I don't know which issue.



Hopefully, you can read this. It contains tips for men having to hire women during WWII. As I read through the tips, I realized that women in general were not used to working outside the home. Hence the need to give them solid instructions because they don't tend to find work for themselves to do - what we call today a "self starter". Evidently, in 1943, women in general weren't the best employees and their shortcoming had to be recognized in order to get a good days work out of them.

The sensitivity issue has never gone away. Women are more sensitive, and it becomes a pain in the neck at times. Instead of just walking up to a female employee and giving her instructions, you have to stop, say hello, ask how she is doing, how is her family, etc. I usually don't do that - I just cut to the chase, which is why I'll never be "employee of the year".

In any case, this article is a glimpse into a world where women didn't HAVE to work outside the home, and, as such, didn't HAVE to be tough.