Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Stuff about Me You Don't Really Care About

My guilty pleasure is a reality show I was watching last night called Bait Car. Basically, the cops have this car that lhey leave in a crime-y neighborhood with the keys in it and then wait to entrap some sucker which usually takes about 30 seconds. What I like is it takes me to a place I've never been -- inside a car that's being stolen since the thief is often accompanied by friends so you hear and see inside the car. The cops are able to lock the doors and make the car stop. So after a minute or so, they disable the car, have a cop car pull them over, and often times the thief/thieves try to run but they can't get out and will kick and pound on the windows/doors.

What else I enjoy, guiltily, is the absolute lies they tell the cops -- long involved stories, swearing to God, their mother's grave and their kids' heads -- about how it's their friend's car or some such nonsense. Then the cops tell them that it's Bait Car, and they sort of just say "Oh."

The household task I hate the most is folding sheets.  I hate it because I'm so bad at it and don't have the patience for it. I would rather fold three loads of other stuff than fold a set of sheets.

The household task I find somewhat pleasant is taking out the garbage. Which I did today. Not so much the taking out, but the walking back in and being done with it. Makes me feel efficient.

The bad habit which I pondered today is not getting up from work immediately the first time I realize I have to go to the toilet. I tend to want to "just finish this page" or something and then I get used to the feeling so by the time I realize you MUST get up NOW I'm doing a dance to the bathroom. I tell myself, "How would you like to have a boss who forbade you from getting up?"

What I learned today: Reading my Grover Cleveland book, the author was talking about the development of surgery, prior to Pasteur and Lister identifying germs. Typically the mortality rate after surgery was 100%. Surgeons prided themselves in the many coatings of blood their surgical gowns had because they thought it showed they were experienced.  I didn't really know much about Joseph Lister, but I learned he was a real evangelist about spreading the word about germs in hospitals and medical schools.

The surgeon who performed the surgery on Cleveland met Lister and put his germ theory into practice at his hospital in Philadelphia and mortality rates dropped immediately. So this was all quite interesting until I learned that Listerine was not invented by Lister -- I don't know -- just assumed there was a connection, but there is no connection and the company just stole the use of his name.

2 comments:

Barbara said...

I care about all this stuff!

Pat said...

that's why I love you. Also, you appear fascinated by my dreams (night time ones, not life goals)and want to talk about them with me. Now THAT'S a friend!