fractalwolf

I recently moved, and so I've been jumping through all the hoops of finding a new doctor, etc. (I've also accomplished a basic lock installation and re-hung some bifold doors -- go me!)

I really like my new primary care physician - she's actually a nurse practitioner, and was wearing a t-shirt under her lab coat that had the superman shield and "NP" in it. But visiting her meant that I wound up with referrals for a bunch of specialists that I was overdue for visiting, including getting a mammogram.

She didn't know of any that did seated mammograms for people who weren't in wheelchairs, but said that if the one she referred me to couldn't do it, and I could find someone who could, I should let her know so it could be in their records for future referrals. (Yay!) ( Read more... )

So I started searching around and calling until I found one that said, "Of course!" They also, incidentally, do micro-dose mammograms, so there's less radiation exposure. So, yay! One more moving-related dread dealt with.

There's a quote I run across occasionally that goes something like:
Every time I read it I sort of heh and spare half a thought to modern materialism, and then I go about my life.  To some extent I just consider it a "Back in my day...!" throwaway comment.*

Then earlier this week I was reading an article from the BBC about the evolution of the United States over the last 3 decades.  One passage in particular struck me: 
These are all facts I knew - in fact, I'd argue that I've known that kids wouldn't necessarily be better off than their parents since... oh... I guess about 2001, when I graduated with a CS degree right after the dot com bubble burst.  It seems like longer.  

But it just made me realize that my concept of "modern materialism" was formed in the 1980s, with Madonna's Material Girl and similar songs.  And I thought about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which puts "safety" as a more basic need than "love/belonging".  I I thought about how, these days, the vast majority of people in the US are to some extent struggling to get by financially, and it often seems like the only way to stop struggling is to win the lottery or some other contest and become filthy rich.  And I have to wonder if that quote has it backwards - our music is about things we can't take for granted having, and being uncertain about finances is a fundamentally less happy state to be in than being comfortable financially and uncertain about love.  

*Somewhat relatedly, I have an appeal to all the internet wags who claim older music was soooo much better than modern music: Can you possibly, maybe, just conceivably do something to prove your point other than compare the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody to the lyrics of a modern dance song?  Please?

This is so, so true... https://xkcd.com/1883/

N is interviewing in another city, so I was looking at apartment listings, and reviews thereof.

It's an old and certainly not entirely accurate adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity, but one particular review stands out in my mind because it was very much a negative review, and that review is honestly what made me decide to actually consider the place.

Specifically they were incensed that, while the manager was taking them to view an apartment, she paused to tell several people to turn down their music. And then she apparently had the gall to brag that she had in the past acted quickly on and even evicted people due to noise violations. Maybe not a great apartment complex for a partying college kid, but it sounds pretty darn awesome to me!