The Curmudgeonly Professor

Pink Western Sky to Greet the Sunrise on March 31 2012 in St. George UT

A Nickel For Your Thoughts? Canada Does Away With the Penny

Canada has announced that it is doing away with the penny, which costs more than one cent to make.  So, rather than subsidize pennies, all transactions will be rounded up or down to the nearest nickle.  What if this decision is made here in the US of A?  We will have to change many things, including:

• The cost of a thought will rise from a penny to a nickle.  Instead of saying "a penny for your thoughts", we will have to gt used to saying a nickle for your thoughts.
• No more pennies will fall from heaven.  Instead of pennies from heaven, we will have nickles from heaven.
• No more penny ante.  Nickle ante will take its place.
• Not worth a red cent will become not worth a red nickle.
• Penny pinchers will become nickle pinchers.
• Ben Franklin will have to arise and rephrase "a penny saved is a penny earned" to "a nickle saved is a nickle earned."
• Henny Penny will become Henny Nickle.
• Little girls will have to be named Nickle, instead of Penny.

And you can probably think of other drastic changes to our lore, culture, and everyday language.  So, hoard your pennies.  Penny collections may become as rare as $2 bills unless our productive Congress decides to forestall the end of pennies and continue to produce them as a public service and as a means of preserving tradition.  A Lincoln Nickle?  Who ever heard of such a thing?

Yellow Tulip March 31 2012

Red Tulips in late March

Two Yellow Daffies and a Red and Yellow Tulip

The Heart of a White Tulip Nearing its End for the Season

The Curmudgeonly Professor Reads the Newspapers on March 29 2012

Here's the news that's worth knowing from the Salt Lake Trib:

• If you're a Virgo, you are supposed to "focus on your desires and long-term goals."  Really?
• In "comic" Mary Worth, sad looking girl tells homeless man pushing cart full of cans that she's all right, so he says "then I'll just be on my way."  Excellent use of paper, ink, trees, and time.
• Jeremy tells Mom in Zits after she suggests he read "The Scarlet Letter" that the book says "Best read before December 1972."
• Need for donated food for children who depend on the Boys and Girls Club for snacks and supper soaring, writes Heather May.  Tough to think about hungry kids.  And parents.
• Young Utah Jazz kiddie corps runs into old guy buzz saw at Celtics game last night.  Jazz still fun to watch, even though age and experience trumped young legs and blossoming skills.  Besides, Doc Rivers made many kind comments about Jazz players and coach.  Thank you, Doc.
• Liquor package agency owners die in Duchesne County leaving county residents without booze till April 10.  Sad.  You'll have to drive awhile to stock up.

Other than that, Congress dithers, Prez Wannabe candidates blast away, Supreme Court holds our fate in its hands, sick people worry, people with pre-existing conditions are fearful, bloviators bloviate, fact checkers check fibs, and we stumble into spring and summer trying not to give up.  Have a nice day.

 

The Curmudgeonly Professor's Recipe Recommendation for March 29 2012

Here's your recipe to try today: Mama's Asian Chicken and Rice.  Better than orange chicken from the takeout.  Something I'll definitely make again, soon.

Pair of Yellow and Red Tulips

A Single Orange Tulip for March 29 2012

I saw these tulips in the space between the street and the sidewalk in front of a home on the way to the dentist yesterday.  The tulips were past their prime, but tulips pas their prime are better than no tulips at all so I took a bunch of pictures.  Not great photos, but tulips are gorgeous in any condition.

St. George UT LDS Temple

The St. George UT LDS Temple is easily the most photogenic and prominent landmark in St. George. The temple appears from afar to be higher than its surrounding area, and many people are surprised when they come to the site to find that the temple grounds are no higher than the rest of the area.  Double click to see the intricate details.

First Lilacs of Spring from St. George UT LDS Temple Grounds March 28 2012

The Curmudgeonly Professor Reads the Newspapers on March 28 2012

The Curmudgeonly Professor had written an incredibly outstanding post on the newspapers yesterday, but when I tried to post it, my internet connection died.  I apologize to all of my viewers who were required to dwell in abject ignorance of what was happening in the world, but mainly what was happening was the same song second or third verse.    I had to leave for the dentist before rectifying the disaster. So here is the rundown today.

First from Salt Lake's Deseret News (Again, not a misprint, a pioneer word; does it mean honeybee? I don't remember and may look it up some day).

• The military coup in Mali has raised concerns in Utah, since Utah has several ties to Mali.  Hunter Schwarz writes that "Yeah Samake, a BYU graduate, is running for president of Mali and is the executive director of the Raising Mali Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to expand educational opportunities."  Schwarz outlines other Utah connections.  What a small world.
• The nation is twiddling its thumbs, scratching its head, and either cheering or weeping, as the Supreme Court continues deliberations on health care

Now for the SL Trib:

• Tom Harvey writes about the forthcoming May trial pitting Brigham Young University against Pfizer, alleging that Pfizer "reneged on a contract and misappropriated research from professor Daniel Simmons that led to the creation of the anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex."  The battle is described as "potentially the largest civil trial in Utah history."
• Three U of Utah students won $5K in a contest "to develop a marketing plan for hand-poured lollipops."  Who said the lollipop industry wasn't important?
• Hunger Games now way outclassing Vampires and Twilight.  What will be next?

So, until next time, the Curmudgeonly Professor will carefully monitor the newspapers and bring you whatever you need to know to live a happy, productive, healthy, and uncontroversial life.  Have a nice day.

Yellow Alstromeria on March 28 2012

What Do You Do When Your Doctor Retires?

When I last reported my doings, I was on my way to see my cardiologist.  Dr. M has been my cardiologist for about 12 or 13 years.  We have traded book reading lists and discussed the books we have read. We discussed our mutual and hopeless problems with stuffy noses. We shared our mutual fear of having our blood pressure checked since we both have hypertension, and she said "We're afraid to get it taken because it may be high." Several years ago, I gave her a framed enlarged photo of white blooming saguaro cactus. We have traded life stories.

 I told her this story the other day: "When I went to have my pre-induction physical at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver after being drafted out of school during my senior year at the University of Wyoming in 1953, I was held back by the main examining physician and sent to see a cardiologist. The cardiologist diagnosed me with 'psychoneurosis with psychogenic cardiovascular reaction'.  When I returned back to Laramie, I was thankful not be drafted into the army because I was newly married with a baby on the way but, at the same time, felt a tinge of guilt as all of my buddies were on their way to training and then Korea.  I went up to the University infirmary to see the kindly lady physician who mothered the UW students to find out what my diagnosis meant.  I asked her, 'does this mean I'm nuts?' "  At this point in my current exam, Dr. M. burst out into hilarious loud and sustained laughter. She said, "If only I had learned that diagnosis before.  I can use that on a half dozen of my patients."

But then the bad news came.  I learned Dr. M., who has been threatening to retire for several years, was actually going to do so on July 1.  When she semi-retired several years ago, cutting back to a couple of days a week, she got rid of many of her patients.  I had told her a couple of times that she was really mean, after which she just told me "shut up and take your pills."  I thought I would be a logical person to dump.  But she kept me.

What made Dr. M. so exceptional was that she was more than a physician.  True, she had a gruff exterior and could be blunt and a tad grouchy if the occasion warranted.  But underneath she had a heart of mush, and it took me a while to learn that.  When I went in the other day, the first thing she asked me was "How is your wife doing?", since she knew from the time before that my wife was battling critical and serious health issues.  When we were finished, she accompanied me out to the waiting room to speak to my wife, something she had done before.  My wife was touched by her caring.

Some doctors I had in the past weren't much of a doctor.  One physician never listened to my heart in about ten years of occasional visits despite my high blood pressure.  He would take my blood pressure and say, "Hm, a bit high, we'll just watch it."  Dr. M., on the other hand, when I first went to see her, started me on a rigid and uncompromising regimen of medications and tests to make sure I was all right.  There was no fooling around.  It took several years to find the right combinations, control excess fluid weight, control A-fib, and straighten out a few things.  While I was being put through the ringer, I was seeing her once a week.  During this period, she sent me to a GE for a colonoscopy, discovering diverticulitis.  She sent me to a heart surgeon to do an angiogram.  The surgeon told me he was disappointed I didn't need a stent, he was hoping to put in a couple of them to make a payment on his boat.  She sent me for nuclear stress tests, which makes you feel like having a heart attack.  I called her Mean Dr. M.  She never suggested you go do this or that, she went out of the examining room, made the appointment, and told you to be there at 8:00 o'clock the next morning.  You got the idea you had better be there.

The point is, I strongly believe Dr. M. at least prolonged my life, and perhaps even saved it.  She is easily one of the most influential and important people I have known in my entire life.  And now she is retiring. What am I supposed to do?  I know there are other competent cardiologists and, in fact, Dr. M. referred me to one of her colleagues  in the same office.  But how do I know that will work out? The problem is, there has been, and is, only one Dr. M.  And now she is gone.