View From the Bushes

I had hoped that a good night's rest would fix whatever was wrong with my shoulder, but instead I woke up at the unholy hour of 4:30 am and I was in as much pain as ever. Fortunately, my work has a well-staffed employee health clinic and I was able to get in first thing in the morning. The doctor prescribed some muscle relaxant and some anti-inflammatories. My resistance to most drugs, particularly sedatives and pain-killers, is extremely low. The muscle relaxant was only 10 mg of cyclobenzaprine, but I'm definitely feeling a little loopy after taking one three hours ago. The upshot is that if I happen to wander off into a discussion of Spam's affect (the mystery meat, not the unsolicited e-mail) on global commerce with specific emphasis on East Asia, you'll know why.

See, the fact is that Spam is, for some reason, incredibly popular in east Asia, particularly in Micronesia. Wait, where was I? To illustrate my lack of resistance to sedatives, let me relate the story of my endoscopy. I went into have a camera shoved down my throat so that the Doc could figure out what was causing my acid reflux. As I recall, they gave me Valium. The majority of people are awake for the procedure -- they just don't care. Almost everyone wakes up in time for the post-op lecture. I, on the other hand, was still passed out when it came time to go home, which led my wife to wheel me to the lobby and then leave me there, my tongue hanging out and drool running down my faces while she went and fetched the car. I can just imagine some medical professor walking by with his med students and pointing me out as a great example of someone in a persistent vegetative state.

Someone in the comments asked me about Tyler Hamilton. Well, as you can see from reading this article, Tyler Hamilton (arguably the second best know american cyclist, with the exception of Armstrong himself) has been accussed of blood doping. The article also points out that the test they used for this is pretty new. In fact, Hamilton was the first one to show up as a positive under this test. I'll have to corner one of the pathologists and get his take on the test.

Carpe Diem Quam Minimu Predula Costero
Ross