The Captain’s (B)log

(I don’t talk about my professional life very much, and I don’t intend to make a start at it, but this is just too interesting to pass up.)

The other day I agreed to be a member of a panel discussion about various health care related goings-on at public health clinics in the state where I live.  The panel discussion was about the various information collection systems I design, but it was the meetings that I attended before this occurred that were most notable, including those on OB/GYN examination procedures, which involved both videos and/or demonstrations.

I was the only male in attendance in a crowd of about 80 people (me being the representative from the IT department).

I had two separate women come up to me and personally “apologize” for what I had seen, which was apparently something horrible.

I must’ve missed that part, because I had no idea what they were talking about.

Well, I’m finished with my Prilosec regiment — just got done with it a week ago.

Taking the pills was a bother, like I mentioned before — you have to take them immediately after waking up (or at least before you eat anything in the morning), and optimally not eat until about an hour afterwards.  Little to say, this was a rule I often ignored.

After 14 days — well, almost;  I forgot one day and had to skip it, but the information I found on the US government’s Medline Plus site told me that it was perfectly fine if you forgot to take a day’s pill.  Either way, after about 14 days I was done.

As far as I can tell, it’s working… the other day, we had a “chili cook-off” at my workplace, and not only did I try every type of chili there (four different bowls), I followed it up by drinking a Coca-cola.

If you’re a heartburn sufferer, you probably winced a little bit at that description.

So, I waited, and… nothing.  Not heartburn, no gas — nothing.

Am I cured?  Do I still need to “take it easy?”  I still will, probably, because of one semi-unrelated thing I discovered during my regiment.

You know those boxes of “Instant Brown Rice” you can buy in stores, under various brand names?  (I just buy the Wal-Mart brand, myself.)  Yeah — my stomach, really, really, really doesn’t like that stuff.  It’s happened several different times now, with several different meals, and it’s the only common denominator — one time the pain kept me up all night.

I guess it’s got something to do with the rice’s natural “quick-cooking-by-absorbing-any-and-all-water” properties.

A key reason the Internet has been such a success is because it is the most open network in history. It needs to stay that way. Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet.

Technology | Change.gov.

I’m gonna hold ya to that, Barack.  That’s one campaign promise I’m not going to forget about when 2012 comes around.

(Just for the record, this is not an announcement of who I voted for/will be voting for.  That usually always remains a secret with me.    Though, I won’t be hesistant about publicly supporting an Obama presidency in 2012 if he’s been a good president.)