All My Wisdom is Gone

I know I have not updated in a while. This may have a lot to do with the fact that I have been in excruciating pain and unable to really eat for over a week or it could be just because I am exceptionally lazy. But let's go with option one to make me feel better. Ironic that my pain would somehow make me feel better.

The surgery to extract my wisdom teeth went relatively smoothly. I was in and out in about an hour and home on pain meds and icing within another hour. (I was only prescribed Tylenol with Codeine but I had some vicodin on hand just in case.) However, I did not - unlike what everyone told me I would do - sleep the rest of the day. I was tired for most of the day but was completely unable to sleep. I did, however, relax and lay around most of the day and try to come to terms with the fact that I couldn't eat. Overall, though, I would say the pain was not too bad. It was a lot like when I had my shoulder surgery - there was some dull pain and only severe pain when I tried to do something I really shouldn't.

Oddly, the pain in the lower left half of my mouth became worse a few days later and I developed a fever of over 100 and decided that I must have an infection. I was on aZpack ever since the surgery but I eat antibiotics like they are going out of style. What the hell does a Zpack really mean to my skewed immune system? So, I went back to see my oral surgeon and he decided I couldn't possibly have an infection, as the wounds seemed to be healing so well and everything else looked great. I still think I had a secondary infection. However, I was already on the Zpack. So, I left his office hoping that would be enough. Oh, and he also gave me more pain meds. Unfortunately, my stomach decided it did not really like pain medication anymore after a few days and I mostly played hurt.

As time progressed, I was able to isolate my increased pain to what felt like bruising of my jaw bone and lots of nerve pain, but almost all of it was contained to the lower left hand side of my mouth. It became a waiting game. A test as to how long I could survive on yogurt and applesauce, and it turns out I can do so for over a week. However, after all of that, I go on some crazy burger binge, which somehow seems to ease the pain. I have no scientific evidence to prove it but I will say I felt marked improvement after every day that I ate a burger. Just sayin'.

The bright die to all of this, other than the discovery of the medicinal uses of cheeseburgers, is that I never have to have my wisdom teeth out again.

The Dark Horse

The day before I went in for my surgery, I stumbled upon an interesting Website. The site has a series of questions that you answer and then it helps you pick the presidential candidate that most matches your priorities.

The shocking part of all of this was that when I finished, the candidate it had selected that most matched my ideals and priorities in this upcoming election was Cynthia McKinney. My first reaction was who the heck is that? My second reaction was we have another woman running for president? How have I never heard of her? Oh, but the plot, she doth thicken, as it turns out that not only is Ms. McKinney a woman, but she is also black and she's the Green Party's candidate for president.

Holy smokes! I was completely blown away. How is it that not one single media outlet happened to mention this? They have been tracking this Joe The Plumber guy for days and learning everything there is to know about him, but a black female is on a national party ticket for president and I don't hear a peep about it? What the heck is that? I know they have the time. I know because all I do is hear the same darn stupid stories about McCain and Obama every single day. It would be nice to break that up with something new.

I guess it's only exciting that a woman is running for president when it's Hilary and Barack is the only black candidate that ranks. However, it sure would be nice if the people were informed of their other alternatives.

Extraction and Race

This is it, folks. The week I go in and my four wisdom teeth come out. I am really not looking forward to this, as so many folks keep talking about how miserable and painful it is. However, at least one or two people have said it was not that bad for them. I just want the pain to be short lived, and not to have a month of infections afterward - like what happened with my shoulder surgery.

I see quite a few bloggers I read are espousing the virtues of Obama. For them, education appears to be their number one issue. I think this is good. I think education should be everyone's number one issue, as one of the best ways to uplift a society is through education. On the other hand, I feel like finding quality educators and resources can be difficult. I think I feel dumber after reading half of whatever mainstream media has put out there, and I often think it is not just the inputting of facts and information into a person's head that is important, but also teaching them how to think and question and really get down and dirty with the facts. I do not feel that is done enough.

I also do not feel Obama supporters necessarily have the high ground in the debate. I think Obama is the smarter and better candidate. However, I have trouble viewing him as better or more honest. I have pointed this out before here. I was commenting to my girlfriend last night that I think it would be really awesome if a candidate decided one year to just be completely truthful and honest with the American people and the media about what they did and did not do and what their plans actually were. It would be interesting to see if the media picked up on this and there started to be some sort of contest as to which candidate could be the most honest. Instead of having to rely on factcheck.org to tell us what the truth actually is. The worst part is that I am not sure such services work.

I was listening to a news story recently discussing some scientific studies that have been done over the years and it appears the refutation of erroneous facts does not work. Hence, if someone tells you that the administration knows that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction or that the president's economic plan will save our economy, often the subsequent refutation of those statements with facts will not change the your original opinion. In fact, conservatives end up believing the originally stated erroneous fact more vigorously when it is refuted. This heightened state of belief did not seem to occur with non-conservative participants in the study, but that may have been because the questions involved were hot button conservative questions. It is unclear. What seems to be pretty clear is that once bad facts are out there, it is really hard to unring that bell. Perhaps we should institute fines on any political figures that deliver erroneous facts. It really seems odd to me that we, as voters, do not demand more. We get Obama and we are happy. Somehow it does not seem like enough.

Has Obama lied during the last two presidential debates? Of course. Has John McCain? Absolutely. Yet, we would like to elect one of these liars into our highest public office. Because "everyone does it". It somehow just does not feel right. What, liberals have the moral highground when voting for Obama because he wants to teach children? What does he want to teach them? If you lie well enough and tell enough people what they want to hear, you too can be president? It frustrates me that this is even acceptable. Not only acceptable but there are people so fervent in their support that they will wear buttons and T-shirts promoting their favorite liar. And make no mistake about it - McCain is no better. He cheated on his wife, inflated his accomplishments, omitted important facts and has done all sorts of inappropriate things. However, I wonder if Obama's record would be any cleaner if he had been in office for thirty years.

Sorry, I wandered off the path. I guess it is all of that wisdom still stuck in my head. Don't worry, though. They swear they will take it all away this week. Although, I hear it is very painful.

Too Tired to Drive

So, apparently, I need a new bed. I also need a new car, and it seems the bed is going to cost almost as much as the car.

When I went to New York a few months ago, we slept on a Tempurpedic-esque king sized bed, which was really made by Isotonic. It was an amazing bed, as I have mentioned here before. In fact, I have not slept as well as I did there since I returned home to my nice queen sized bed. It may be because I am no longer on a semi-vacation or it may be because of the bed and either its age or size or comfort level. That part is not clear. What is clear is that my trouble sleeping is affecting everything, including my ability to consistently get to the gym, as I will find myself waking up at 3 in the morning and not being able to fall back asleep, which makes my body particularly displeased with the notion of exercise. I also seem to be experiencing back pain after sleeping in the bed and my girlfriend has a degenerative disc condition. It is quite the trifecta.

As to the car, my air bag light came the same day I left for New York and it never went away. I know something is wrong with my system restraint system - either the seatbelts or the airbags, but I also know that to fix it will cost at least one to two thousand dollars, and my car already has well over 100,000 miles on it because I drove it all over the state for years and years. Somehow, I have trouble justifying spending that much money to fix my car when I know I need a new one. Hence, I have been saving my money to get a new car. It would be cool if I could hold out until next spring and get the new Honda hybrid that is supposed to run a mere $18,000. However, I have been eyeing the Prius. Either way, I think I want a car that does not cost as much as most of the luxury cars, that keeps my gas consumption low and that makes an environmental statement. Plus, a hybrid will provide me with unfettered access to the HOV lanes. You really cannot put a price on that in South Florida.

This weekend, the girlfriend said we should go mattress shopping. This seemed like a good idea. However, when you walk out of the store and realize that you have actually just spent probably more than what your old car is worth just to acquire the new bed and you still need a frame and sheets, your body begins to experience what I like to call complete and total shock and the thought of how will I pay for this begins to enter your head. It is unfortunate that there is no way to really know if such a purchase is the right decision. While the bed is purchased, I have not yet authorized delivery, as we decided we should do some more research and ask around - I can decide on which bed we actually want at any time prior to delivery.

It appears that Tempurpedic beds can be great or not so great depending on the particular one that is delivered to your house. Some have more off-gassing than others (meaning they smell like chemicals for longer) and some have more indentation problems than others. Also, some people find them to be too hot to sleep on, as they have trouble ventilating. We also looked at latex beds, which seem to have different benefits and different issues. It is all very confusing. Who the heck thought buying a bed would be so confusing or so expensive? The two things that have been the most helpful is that we actually know people with the Tempurpedic that love it and we also found a really great Website for researching things like beds and pillows. It seemed totally unbiased and was very informative. I still do not feel it has removed all of our doubts but I think at this point, I would spend any sum of money just to be able to sleep through the night and get to the gym on a daily basis again. Now I just need to find the money for the car.

Come, All Ye Voters

Earlier this week, one of my good friends called me. I have been driving around with a huge bag of rice in my car all darn week so that I can give it to this guy, so that he can give it to Haiti (as part of his relief efforts). Hence, when he called, I figured he must be calling to schedule a meetup to get the rice. "Want to volunteer with me this Saturday? We need attorneys."

"Where would we be volunteering?"

"I'm not sure."

"What time?"

"I'll need to get those details."

"What will we be doing?"

"I don't know exactly. Something about felons voting."

"What?! Ok, well call me back when you know more and I'll see you on Saturday." I have a small collection of friends that if they ever needed me, I would drop almost anything to help them if I could. He happens to be one of them. For a period of time in law school, there were four of us who were completely inseparable and this still bleeds into our daily lives today. Granted, most of us now live at least three hours apart, but we are still there for each other as much as we can be. So, when one of these friends asked me if I would help him by volunteering some of my time, there really was only one possible answer.

Turns out I will be working with the ACLU this weekend to help convicted felons register to vote - seeing if their records can be suppressed or expunged and, as a result, become qualified to vote under the laws of the state of Florida. In some ways, it makes me a little nervous to be volunteering with convicted felons. However, at least with such situations, you know who to watch out for. In other areas of the law, you are never quite sure. I know one woman who spent years practicing real estate law in Florida, with an emphasis in home owners association regulation. She said she eventually started doing criminal defense because it felt much safer and she did not have to worry about as many stray bullets.