Wednesday, March 21, 2007

things i have learned today

Well, I stayed home sick from work today. Some kind of allergy/cold thing. I watched a lot of daytime TV and slept. I wouldn't say it was nice, since I felt like crap for most of it, but I did learn some interesting things.
1. Bob Barker puts up with some crazy ass weirdos on that show. I'll bet that he is counting down the days toward his retirement with an unparalleled anticipation.
2. A lot of old people are home during the day. You can tell by the commercials that are played during a show who the network believes is in the audience. Soap operas - diaper commercials. MTV - video game and condom commercials. America's Next Top Model - e.p.t. and Cover Girl commercials. The Price Is Right - Colonial Penn Life Insurance and those little motorized scooter commercials. And Rx commercials. I can't count the number of times I heard the word "Medicare" today.
3. The human body is an amazing thing. All those Lipitor and osteoporosis commercials really made me think about the human body and what a finely tuned instrument it is. With all those organs and systems and cells and parts working together, it's amazing that we work at all. When you think of the human body as just an earthly vessel, it's not surprising to find that in the end we all break down.
4. The side effects of a drug, regardless of its benefits, are enough to scare me away from it. It amazes me that we ever found medicine in the first place, given that the medicine we're taking for our blood pressure or cholesterol affects our liver function and vice versa. Fixing one thing in the body can have far-reaching and unknown consequences in some other part. How do doctors even know where to look for side effects when they're testing these meds to be sure that they are safe? It boggles the mind.
5. Ice cream sandwiches must have been created with the intent of soothing a sore throat. They are cold and soothing (and delicious) with a layer of graham cracker-like protection to shield the teeth from too much cold when taking delectable bites. Their major flaw is that they aren't all that good for me and that they can't be ingested in a continuous flow.