We recently learned that an uncle (who is 4-6 years older than us, I believe, I can't remember) in the military is going to be among the new wave of soldiers sent to Iraq. His duty will be disposing of IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices).
When my daughter heard us discussing it, she asked all sorts of questions and was very concerned. "Could he be hurt in Iraq?" Yes, we answered. We also told her that there is the possibility that he could die there. We didn't want to scare her, but she was asking the questions and wanting to know.
I'm not sure she even knows his face; he and his family live out of state. All the same, she is concerned for his safety, and for his immediate family. "Will they be all alone while he is in Iraq?" Yes, we answered, although we also indicated that their friends, family, and community would support them.
"When is he going to Iraq; is it next week?" No, we answer, he is going in March, we believe, after he learns his specifics of doing his job over there.
Just today, I learned from my daughter that he was the subject of her show and tell this last Monday. I knew she was concerned from the questions she had asked, but I hadn't realized the depth of pride she has in this relation serving his country, and putting himself in harm's way for us all. I hadn't realized the strength of the impression his military service, and his assignment to Iraq, had made on her.
We don't let her watch much of the news on TV at all, but she does see and hear snippets here and there, there is discussion of current events at school at times, as well as hearing reports on the radio as we drive about town. She knows there is a war in Iraq (well, WE know that the war supposedly ended, a new government is in place, Saddam is captured, sentenced, and sentence carried out, etc.), and that it is dangerous and a scary place, from her perspective. It seems so to me, as well.
I am proud that my daughter is proud of her great-uncle (that sounds so strange, since he is so close in age to my husband and myself!)! I am proud that she thought/thinks enough of him, and what he is doing, to talk about him for her show and tell this week. I am proud that she is concerned for his and his family's well-being, as she is a thoughtful, caring, and concerned child.
Both my husband and myself are also proud of our uncle and his military service, although we are especially concerned for him as he is assigned to this dangerous duty. We are concerned for his immediate family, too.
A few days ago, my husband and I watched Future Weapons on The Discovery Channel. On this particular episode, they showed a *brief-case looking device, that is so top-secret the name could not be revealed, although I note that apparently they had no problem showing and discussing the device on this show. This device is designed to disarm and separate the explosive fuels/components from car bombs/IED's, aiding in the disposal of such devices/materials.
The device has two shaped compartments of water, between which is nestled a charge of explosives, of a certain type. The charge is shaped, I THINK, but the water compartments also serve to shape the explosion, as well as having other purposes. The bottom compartment also serves to quench any fire(ball) that does go in that direction, and the top compartment of water is shaped by the special explosion, into a tall, thin, extremely damaging KNIFE of water. This knife of water cuts upwards with surprising precision (although, of course, the materials in this area don't look "neat" afterwards).
The result is a separation of the explosive materials of the IED, from the IED's other components. I was surprised by how effective this device was. I immediately thought of applications of this device in the field, as they discussed, particularly in Iraq, where car bombs are one of the types of IED's that are encountered. I would hope that this sort of thing gets into the hands of those who are tasked with dealing with IED's, such as our uncle. I hope it's not years before this device is sent to the field . . .
*Note: If you click on the videos, go to the third tab, Future Weapons Season 2, and scroll down to "BootBanger". This is the device I am talking about.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Mental Health Parity Bill
Click the title to read a short article about it.
Sounds good to me, altho I'm not clear on how it SAVES billions of dollars.
Sounds good to me, altho I'm not clear on how it SAVES billions of dollars.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Here I am . . .
See the brightest comet in 30 years . . ..
A blast from the past . . . .
Ok, before I get to the stuff about choosing a new psychiatrist, above are two interesting astronomy links.
Re: the comet, go out before sunset and look west. Follow the directions that link says and you may see this comet, but after a few days from now it'll be too close to the sun. Go out before sunset because just after sunset it dips below the horizon, or some such.
On the second one . . . . it really is a blast from the past! It's like our own personal view backwards through time . . . . any astronomical viewing is, really; the sunlight some of you may be seeing right now down there in Australia is 8 minutes old; that's not TOO far back, but at least if the sun is gonna shoot some killer CME our way we'll have an 8 minute warning. I'm not sure that coronal mass ejections have ever killed anybody, but then again, they probably have, due to resultant power outages.
Anyway! I spoke with my ologist today about the closest iatrist's on my insurance's provider list. I'll be checking out Dr. O first. I'm going to see if I can set up a 10-15 minute phone call with him so's I can see if it's even worth both of ours' times to meet. I should be able to tell right off if he's going to come off as . . . well, Dr. B-ish as Dr. B did, right off the bat. If Dr. O wants a face to face meeting for this preliminary feel-out (er, that doesn't sound right . . .) then that's fine, too, although I gotta see what, if any, he wants to charge for that. I think maybe docs don't, for that, because it saves them time and money in the long run if I and they see at that meeting that we just don't fit, right off the bat.
On the other hand, it's worth it to see if perhaps we might be compatible, and then also to get an idea of their style (I now gotta ask about this, because Dr. B's style was so . . . forceful.), philosophies in regards to issues that would affect my care, how we handle med issues, etc. (ie, Dr. B doesn't and wouldn't prescribe lithium), their preferences as well, like that, and stuff. Gee, that's alot for 15 minutes . . . but I'm afraid of taking too much time.
Anyway, I'll give Dr. O a call tomorrow and see what their secretary/receptionist has to say about the way they run the office, anything she can tell about how they work (emergency coverage, usual hours (i.e., does he take a particular mid-week day off, like some docs do, etc.), and other stuff). And see what I can set up in the way of a sort of prelim to having this iatrist be chosen by me as the one for me, kind of meeting.
Maybe I'm just gunshy after the last (my first) one, but I think it'll be wise and best for my health if I can ask him some questions and stuff. I guess I also feel like I have to justify my desire to ask questions, and even apologize . . .
I also gotta call my ologist tomorrow and clarify something I told him. I brought some things to light that I realized were coming up in regards to our therapeutic relationship, including feelings of hating him (lol) and stuff. Anyway, I was quite pleased to identify these feelings, bring 'em forward, and figure out WHY. This means we can, as he would put it, "work it in a way that will be beneficial to me"; ie, we can work through any issues in the therapeutic relationship, and not only will the results of working it through be good for me, the process itself is sort of an incubator of learning for me, if that makes any sense . . .
I hate my therapist, good on me! Woohooo!!!! Okay, so I'm being silly. I also know I don't hate him, but that these are feelings brought up by issues and events my psyche is getting stuck on, that I didn't realize I was getting stuck on, until I identified these feelings of resentment and (mild?) hate or whatnot, about it . . . they are the CLUE that points to a problem, a stuck area, and I'm pleased I figured all that out on my own (more fodder for therapy, but I gotta clarify on the phone tomorrow something about it, anyway).
The therapeutic relationship is like a canvas that feelings, often buried, or "belonging" (ie, transference), to other events or relationships, get splashed across in sometimes disturbing, but quite often interesting, and sometimes silly ways. Well, silly isn't the right word . . . but I find some of the things that happen on this canvas kinda humorous, anyway.
Dokey okey, that's about it for now.
Oh, I'm feeling better, although a nagging and more than lingering cough w/junk in my lungs that won't come out hanging around and making things less than fun, from this icky flu.
Wish me luck w/Dr. O.
A blast from the past . . . .
Ok, before I get to the stuff about choosing a new psychiatrist, above are two interesting astronomy links.
Re: the comet, go out before sunset and look west. Follow the directions that link says and you may see this comet, but after a few days from now it'll be too close to the sun. Go out before sunset because just after sunset it dips below the horizon, or some such.
On the second one . . . . it really is a blast from the past! It's like our own personal view backwards through time . . . . any astronomical viewing is, really; the sunlight some of you may be seeing right now down there in Australia is 8 minutes old; that's not TOO far back, but at least if the sun is gonna shoot some killer CME our way we'll have an 8 minute warning. I'm not sure that coronal mass ejections have ever killed anybody, but then again, they probably have, due to resultant power outages.
Anyway! I spoke with my ologist today about the closest iatrist's on my insurance's provider list. I'll be checking out Dr. O first. I'm going to see if I can set up a 10-15 minute phone call with him so's I can see if it's even worth both of ours' times to meet. I should be able to tell right off if he's going to come off as . . . well, Dr. B-ish as Dr. B did, right off the bat. If Dr. O wants a face to face meeting for this preliminary feel-out (er, that doesn't sound right . . .) then that's fine, too, although I gotta see what, if any, he wants to charge for that. I think maybe docs don't, for that, because it saves them time and money in the long run if I and they see at that meeting that we just don't fit, right off the bat.
On the other hand, it's worth it to see if perhaps we might be compatible, and then also to get an idea of their style (I now gotta ask about this, because Dr. B's style was so . . . forceful.), philosophies in regards to issues that would affect my care, how we handle med issues, etc. (ie, Dr. B doesn't and wouldn't prescribe lithium), their preferences as well, like that, and stuff. Gee, that's alot for 15 minutes . . . but I'm afraid of taking too much time.
Anyway, I'll give Dr. O a call tomorrow and see what their secretary/receptionist has to say about the way they run the office, anything she can tell about how they work (emergency coverage, usual hours (i.e., does he take a particular mid-week day off, like some docs do, etc.), and other stuff). And see what I can set up in the way of a sort of prelim to having this iatrist be chosen by me as the one for me, kind of meeting.
Maybe I'm just gunshy after the last (my first) one, but I think it'll be wise and best for my health if I can ask him some questions and stuff. I guess I also feel like I have to justify my desire to ask questions, and even apologize . . .
I also gotta call my ologist tomorrow and clarify something I told him. I brought some things to light that I realized were coming up in regards to our therapeutic relationship, including feelings of hating him (lol) and stuff. Anyway, I was quite pleased to identify these feelings, bring 'em forward, and figure out WHY. This means we can, as he would put it, "work it in a way that will be beneficial to me"; ie, we can work through any issues in the therapeutic relationship, and not only will the results of working it through be good for me, the process itself is sort of an incubator of learning for me, if that makes any sense . . .
I hate my therapist, good on me! Woohooo!!!! Okay, so I'm being silly. I also know I don't hate him, but that these are feelings brought up by issues and events my psyche is getting stuck on, that I didn't realize I was getting stuck on, until I identified these feelings of resentment and (mild?) hate or whatnot, about it . . . they are the CLUE that points to a problem, a stuck area, and I'm pleased I figured all that out on my own (more fodder for therapy, but I gotta clarify on the phone tomorrow something about it, anyway).
The therapeutic relationship is like a canvas that feelings, often buried, or "belonging" (ie, transference), to other events or relationships, get splashed across in sometimes disturbing, but quite often interesting, and sometimes silly ways. Well, silly isn't the right word . . . but I find some of the things that happen on this canvas kinda humorous, anyway.
Dokey okey, that's about it for now.
Oh, I'm feeling better, although a nagging and more than lingering cough w/junk in my lungs that won't come out hanging around and making things less than fun, from this icky flu.
Wish me luck w/Dr. O.
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