Troubles McSteans

Short post today. Just got back from a cleaning at the dentist. Cleanings can be a bit pokey sometimes, but way gentler than a 14 gauge needle in your arm so I can't complain. Also your mouth feels groovy afterwards. I seriously don't want to eat or drink anything the rest of the day for fear I'll mess up the hygienist's work. This morning my mom came 'round to help me with some cleaning and totally re-grouted our gross shower. She is my hero. What an awful job, but it looks 110% better now. Thanks, Mom! Two of my friends had kiddies born this week. Jen Shaw gave birth to a girl - Sloane Julianne - Sunday, June 7. My hat's off to the Shaws for going old school and giving the kid a rad name like Sloane. Yesterday was also Jen's birthday so Happy Birthday to Jen and Sloane! Letty and Juan had a little boy named Noah yesterday afternoon. I'm sure Noah will in no time at all be making delicious deserts along side his talented mother. Congratula...

So there was this article on CNN.com this morning about using your pet to help you exercise. I assumed this was a "yeah no kidding" piece on how walking your dog is good for you. A portion of the article did, in fact, discuss this revolutionary idea. I have to admit, I'm currently getting more out of my Lucy walks than I'd ever imagined. We go for about 2 miles on this nice woodsy trail that circles the neighborhood, 4 times a week (dialysis days I don't make any promises). Walking Lucy is like trying to walk a steam train. For being such a runty little Lab, she's a little powerhouse. We gave up about a year ago trying to train her to walk properly so I'm using this to my advantage and getting great resistance training for my arms out of it. I know, I know, the Dog Whisperer would be appalled. Whatever, Cesar, it's great exercise. The other half of the article was focused on using your cat in your workout. I'd definitely seen this before,...

I got my first migraine when I was 18 right before heading off to Trinity U. It was triggered by what I considered a traumatic event, in this case a trip to the dermatologist's office. At the time I had these warts on my hand so the doctor advised a thorough spraying of liquid nitrogen. I don't know if you've ever had cryotherapy, but for even a small area of skin it's not pleasant. This was the entire top of my hand. It took forever and hurt like a b@#%^. By the time he had finished I didn't know if I wanted to pass out or hurl. I went for option B. By the time I got home I was yacking about once every 20 minutes. About 10:00 that night we decided a trip to the ER was in order. I got a little morphine, a good night's rest, and problem solved. I had just survived my first migraine. Over the next year I had maybe three or four more. By about the fifth one I had been prescribed what migraine sufferers consider a miracle drug - Imitrex. Imitrex was at t...