starting them early

We've been trying to read to our 3 week old son. He can't even see the pictures yet, ha ha! I guess we're starting good habits.

Classifieds...Boom Baby!

This is just one of the great ways that the media impacts my life. A pretty easy $15.00 if you ask me.

Perfection M.D.

I watched House this week...first time in close to a year. I really like the show but here's what drives me crazy about medical dramas...they're not real. Excuse me for being a cynic for a moment but the fact of the matter is--Doctors do not know everything! I'm sorry for having committed this grevious error but in my opinion Doctors receive too much unadulterated trust. Example, someone goes to the doctor and expects that she/he will be able to tell them exactly what is wrong with them and what to do about it, and they expect this on their first visit. The truth is, while in many cases this is true, it isn't always. In some cases it takes a long time, my dad went through tests for about three years before they found out that he had a gluten intolerance. A friend of mine has been seeing doctors for two years and has undergone every test imaginible for a stomach problem to no avail. The funny thing is that when the doctor is unable to find the solution we say "oh...it must be psychosomatic" or "maybe it hasn't been discovered yet" assigning the lack of answers to either the friend's obviously poor state of mental health (which up until this point we thought was great) or to the offbeat chance that your friend has some yet-to-be-discovered illness.

My aunt is a professor at the University of Illinois (I put this in so you know that she's competent), a couple of years back she was having some health problems, when the doctors couldn't figure out what it was many of her family members decided it was psychosomatic. How interesting that when a stranger with a piece of paper on his wall (and several years of training) says that he doesn't know what it is that we automatically believe our friend/cousin/sister/brother/parent is going a little wacky! Turns out my aunt wasn't wacky she just had to find the right doctor. The truth was...she just has some health problems 'gasp!'.

Anyway, I think that this is mostly due to American's belief that science can solve everything and that scientists already know everything which, if it was true, Dr. Coyne probably wouldn't have a job. In addition, and more relevant to the class, is my belief that another large part of the problem is caused by our wonderful medical dramas, which of course show us only the most dramatic of experiences, because who would want to watch anything else? When it comes to M.D.s I think we could allow for a little more scrutiny and a lot more reality. Not because I have anything against Doctos personally but rather because they're human too. Perhaps this would solve the mal-practice insurance debacle, which would mean doctors wouldn't need to charge as much and patients would ask for more realistic care (meaning they wouldn't request every possible and unnecessary drug/treatment combo) thereby reducing healthcare costs and allowing everyone to receive affordable health care!

Darn you Doogie Howser!

just picked up my first "Seventeen"

For our group project I had to go and buy a "Seventeen" magazine...wow. Luckily the employees at Borders books are pretty open-minded, needless to say I felt like a real creeper. I've never looked inside of a woman's magazine let alone a teen magazine, never had the interest, and I was not disappointed by what I found. No offense to anyone that enjoys them but they are really low on the entertainment totem pole.
An Uncle of mine and I were discussing entertainment options the other day. He has a rating system for the different types, he refers to reality tv shows (which are the lowest ranked) as "burrito" shows. Meaning that they are just something that you eat to get full, and he's not saying that he doesn't like burritos it's just that they are not the most nutritious of foods. If reality TV is a burrito then "Seventeen" is like a deep fried twinkie. Sure it's probably tastey but if you eat more than one you'll chances are you'll die the next day.

So why do I think of "Seventeen" this way? It is really just my first impression, but if you want a list:

Top reasons why "Seventeen" magazine, sorry, the January 2010 issue of "Seventeen" (don't want to generalize) is like a deep fried twinkie.

Reason #1--The exterior is really dressed up
Both covers (front and back, which is funny that it has two front covers hmmm...An insult to a woman's intelligence? Could be.) Either way the fake women on the front are really just a sugary coating to make someone want to take a bite of something worthless.

Reason #2--It contains absolutely nothing of real value
Maybe this is harsh because it could be argued that there are some great beauty secrets and boy advice in there however I would counter by saying that following the make-up tips and advice are only going to make you into someone who you really don't want to be.

Reason #3--It makes you sick
This is probably different for everyone. For me it was the fact that the magazine seemed to portray that women are supposed to be extremely fit, always in fashion, etc. which on the one hand it's a great thing to be healthy and to feel good about yourself at the same time and in the words of Coach Blitzer from Cool Runnings "if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it". I like to think that women have a lot more to offer the world than the way that they look.

There are probably a lot more reasons but I'll just stop at 3. There are so many forms of entertainment in the world and all of them shape our perceptions of the world around us. This magazine gave a perception that I didn't particularly care for, namely that women are objects of desire and that it's ok for teenage girls to be running around as fountains of youthful lust (The sex questions page was particularly disturbing). Ladies, give yourself some credit, you're worth a lot more than that.

Baby's come in about 4.5 minutes

So last May my wife and I were in Miami visiting my mother-in-law. We didn't know it at the time, but Brittany (my wife) was pregnant. We were watching some show about women that didn't know they were pregnant and then had the baby in a public place of some sort. It was the weirdest show I've ever seen.

This combined with the multitude of other "emergency deliveries" that I've seen in my life (all of them on TV) caused me quite a bit of duress when after 5 hours of my wife being in labor last Saturday the nurse came in and told us that she probably had 10 more hours to go! I give the credit to the media, I knew that labor wasn't the same as it was on TV, obviously, but I didn't understand that it would take so long! Of course not all labors are that long, but the average first labor is 12 hours! Anyway, I understand why they do it the way they do it, I wouldn't watch a 12 hour labor and I don't think anyone else would. I just think it's one of the interesting ways that the media has shaped my perception of the world.