Random Reamin' Ramblings

Told ya...random.

I certainly don't have any shortage of random thoughts. Most of you know this by now. The rest of you need to wake up and learn. There really is no order or flow to these thoughts today whatsoever...hence random. My goal is to make you ponder these things for a few moments. Maybe it'll inspire you to delve into your own random thoughts. If not, well...you can leave it to me, something tells me I'll touch on it eventually. Okay, I feel like I'm sort of stalling. Here we go...

• There's a Pepsi commercial I've been seeing a lot lately since the most recent Super Bowl. It stars Beyoncé. It has nothing to do with Pepsi until she takes a sip with a few seconds left in the ad. I could go on and on about how aggravating it is that commercials don't have anything to do with their products anymore, but that's a futile point nowadays. My bigger concern is how easily entertained people can be. I'll get the obvious statement out of the way: Beyoncé is a gorgeous woman, period. In no way do I think that her beauty could have any influence on whether I drink Pepsi or not, though. She can shake her ass, jiggle her jugs and wear minimal amounts of clothing, and it wouldn't even begin to change my preference of soda. The scary part is how many people are easily swayed by things like that. That does prove some guys to be chauvinistic simpletons, but you would think that even their more animalistic, primitive desires would be no factor in what beverage they choose. Pepsi did not create the commercial with any feeling that it wouldn't help their sales in some way, so it's obvious that they are well aware how easily-manipulated the average mind is these days. I guess the main focus of my rant is that those individuals that are convinced by things like this need to start making decisions for themselves based on the characteristics of the product itself and not the half naked millionaire sex symbol who is being paid a load of cash to tell you it's the best. It's bad enough that the majority of her music sucks (which is a whole other opinion that I won't bother to tackle tonight), now we have to tolerate her fifteen to thirty second presence on the commercial interruptions during my television watching so she can act like I give a damn what she thinks of Pepsi. The less I have to see of her, the better. Actually...scratch that. The less I have to hear from her the better. I'm a guy, so seeing her isn't all that bad. If my girlfriend was the one on the commercial instead...I'd be singing a whole different tune. That's when I'd say give me all the Pepsi you've got. Maybe that makes me biased, but what can I say? (Normally, this is where I'd provide a direct link to the video for that commercial...but I don't even care enough to look it up. She isn't worth my time.)
• There's a new feature on Amazon Kindles that enables you to set a time limit on games and reading for your children. I think this idea is not bad, but far from flawless. Let's dig deeper into it, shall we? Kids nowadays don't experience much in the outside world. Everything is so technologically driven, they don't even know what fresh outdoor air is anymore. I'm pretty sure I've discussed this before, but I remember when it was time to socialize and play, I was all but kicked out of the house and told to create my own fun. Video games were one of the least of my concerns unless the weather was crappy and I had nothing else productive I could find to do. Now that the Kindle is much more than just an electronic reading device, Amazon felt that they had to come up with a way to prevent it from simply becoming another gaming device for kids. So the ad shows a kid playing some "educational" game and...uh oh...time expires. I'm sure that kid is thinking, "Oh no! Oh well, I guess I'll go outside and play now!" Yep...that's got to be it. Actually, it's more like, "Oh no! Oh well, I guess I'll go start up my X-Box instead!" Is the company really that naive or is it more the parents that think these kids will be instantly forced to get some exercise? If they're that eager to play video games, they'll find some to play. A little timer isn't going to stop them. Hell, sometimes a parent telling them not to do it doesn't even stop them. Again, I applaud Amazon for their ingenuity, but kids will be kids and that's a very minor roadblock to them. Some kids are so technologically savvy that they'll know where and how to cut the timer off entirely, defeating the purpose altogether. I still think with this issue, our society needs to think a little more outside the box...the X-Box.
• Pharmaceuticals scare me. It's pretty ridiculous how many medicines are out there in the first place, but then you have to consider all of the side effects of each one. Let's get the obvious fear out of the way: some of these side effects could lead to heart attack, stroke and other means of death. First it makes you wonder what sort of lethal chemicals are even involved in these pills and potions that could cause you to no longer exist. Then you have to think about how weak some peoples' immune systems are that they can't even fend off the negative effects of these medicines. Furthermore, I theorize that the excessive use of other pharmaceuticals may even weaken these peoples' immune systems when it comes time to use the most recent one they've been prescribed. If you don't think that's bad enough, the likelihood of the the development of a more obscure condition increases with certain medicines. Examples: treatments for low testosterone can lead to breast cancer in males and treatments for rheumatoid arthritis can increase your chances of contracting tuberculosis. Male breast cancer is far from common and tuberculosis is not exactly an illness that is frequently diagnosed in the US thanks to the vaccinations we receive when we are young. Let's put it this way...I'm pretty sure I can find other ways of dealing with a little reduced testosterone and some sore joints so I don't develop crap like that. You can take your chances if you'd like. I like my man breasts cancer free, thank you very much. This is all comparable to taking a cough syrup that makes you more susceptible to the Ebola Virus. Is it worth the risk? I think not.

Meh.

Pfft.

No thanks. I'd rather not contract Super-AIDS or be the
first person in decades to have smallpox because of a pill.

That's about all for today. On a side note, today is Memorial Day. Take time to concern yourselves a little less with the barbecue and pool party you may be at and thank the men and women that have served to make it possible for you to enjoy that freedom. There's a reason we proudly hang flags and celebrate what those soldiers have done for us, and it has nothing to do with ribs, burgers and hot dogs. Just remember that.

Thank you to all who have served. God Bless America.

D.

Cloudy Pee, Cloudy Mind

Yup...actually, not really.

Been a while, I know. So sue me...

...actually don't, I'm poor.

So a lot has taken place over the last few months. I'm dating a beautiful woman with an awesome daughter, and although it's a long distance arrangement for the time being, things are going very well. This plays a key role in this story. I've driven up to Maryland several times to visit my lovely lady and her family, and I was up there again this past weekend. She left for work, and after a quick visit to her at her job, I made my way back down south. After a brief stop in Virginia Beach to meet up with some old coworkers, I was back on the road and making great time. I crossed into North Carolina and that's when things got...fuzzy.

I was feeling a little dizzy and my vision was getting a little cloudy (which felt like dry contacts more than anything), but I was chalking that up to being tired or just needing some more water. So I stopped for gas, relaxed for fifteen to twenty minutes, chugged some water, then continued on my journey. I felt a little better after my rest, but as I drove farther along, it quickly got worse. My vision wasn't getting any better and after a couple of phone calls to my girlfriend, I was having a very tough time verbalizing my thoughts. I thought it would be best to pull over and call for an ambulance. So the paramedics start asking me tons of questions, which is where it becomes tough to explain what exactly was going through my head at the time.

They asked me my name, and I was able to slowly tell them that. Then they asked me my birthdate, and  again the delivery wasn't quick, but I was able to get it out. Here are some examples of questions I couldn't give them answers to:

• What's your mother's name?
• Where do you live?
• Where were you coming from today?
• Do you know where you are now?

They also asked if I was on any medications or took any drugs, both of which were definitely a 'no'. They had a hard time believing me because of my "altered mental status" but there's never a chance in hell I'd risk my health on an idiotic addiction. 

Think about this for a moment though...I remember now the questions that I couldn't answer then. Is that not weird? It's not like the paramedics came back to my hospital room and told me all the things that happened when I was as incoherent as I was. I remember everything I was awake for, but can not explain why I couldn't give them the answers to their questions. That's why I don't say I "forgot" the answers, but rather had a mental block from my thoughts to my words. I knew the answers...I just couldn't spit them out. It was easily one of the worst experiences of my life, and I hope nothing like that ever happens to me again. I'll get back to the diagnosis in a bit.

So I get to the hospital and they have a packed house. Considering it was a hospital in that halfway point between I-95 and the middle of nowhere, it was rather surprising how busy the emergency room was. From the time that I arrived to the time I was given fluids and had a blood/urine sample taken, somewhere between two and three hours had passed. That was a long time to be dizzy, disoriented and becoming more and more nauseous. After taking the samples, they came back with medicine and all they told me was that it would likely put me to sleep very soon, but they didn't tell me what it was for.

Here's where I'll skip the disgusting details and just say that after getting sick multiple times, they ended up admitting me into a room because they had more tests to administer. Shortly after being brought into my room, I was then told that both my girlfriend with a coworker and my mom and stepdad were on their way to see me. It wasn't until the early morning that everyone had arrived, and by then (to my surprise) I was completely coherent and was able to answer all the questions everyone was asking me, but I was just fatigued as all hell. It still didn't make any sense to me how only hours previous, I couldn't verbalize my thoughts at all, yet now I was fine. That day, they did a CAT scan, an MRI, an EEG and kept asking me questions to see where my mental status was at, and everything came up normal (shocking, right? I jest...). Only then did the nurse tell me that I had a bladder infection, which is what the antibiotics were for. Even after that actual diagnosis, the geniuses at this hospital claim it was exhaustion or dehydration that led to my hospital stay. OR?!?! Way to commit! No, definitely neither of those.

So after talking to some family members and doing a little research, here is what I found out:

• Bladder infections in men are not as easy to detect as they are in women. They don't typically hurt men like they do women, plus the only way to tell is when your urine gets noticeably cloudy, which I hadn't honestly analyzed my pee enough to feel concerned about it.
• When left untreated, you can begin experiencing symptoms similar to dementia. That explains my dizziness, confusion and "forgetfulness".
• When medicated, those symptoms almost immediately go away and your mental state pretty much returns back to normal...within reason...

With all of that said/experienced, here's some real life advice for you men out there: pay closer attention than you normally do to how clear your urine is. I'm not talking about clear versus yellow, because that's usually just a matter of sodium, sugar or certain vitamins making a difference. I'm talking about a cloudy look. If you see that, go get checked out by a doctor. It's a scary feeling to know your mom's name and where you live, yet you can't physically say it. Don't let that happen to you.

By the way...I'll try to update this more often. I do miss it...I just hope you do too.

D.