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Spine Center and California
Nov. 14th, 2022 01:04 pmI drove Shawn to her appointment at the Spine Center today, despite the very slippery conditions and snow. While I waited for her, I spent my time in the car checking out the new Duolingo format. (The short of it: I don't hate it. Not sure I love it, but it's fine?)
She came out all smiles. The doctor she talked to was apparently from California and so they'd ended up chatting for an extra half hour. Those of you from my birth state might be thinking that I am making some kind of jab at you, but my personal experience is that the typical Californian is generally perceived as sixteen thousand times more chatty and friendly than your average native Minnesotan. I realize that not everyone in a state can be categorized one way, but since this is, for me, a positive association, I guess I'm willing to take the heat if people want to argue with me. To be fair, Shawn is used to me and so I think that there's something that other Californians just sense in her--that she will be receptive to the fact that the guy she went to for spinal expertise ALSO wants to talk about archives and history podcasts and Trumpism and everything. I was only sad that I was sitting in the car and not in on this conversation. I suspect if both of us Californians (I was only born there, but SOMETHING stuck) had been in the room at the same time, we would have all ended up to dinner together because that's how I roll among my people.
The good news is that the doctor feels that some PT and muscle relaxants might significantly improve the problem for Shawn. He also tried to convince her (jokingly) not to think of it as spinal "degeneration," but "age-related wear." To which my clever wife, responded, "Ah, yes, like 'moving through the demographic cycle' instead of aging."
Okay, back to the kitchen painting grind for me!
She came out all smiles. The doctor she talked to was apparently from California and so they'd ended up chatting for an extra half hour. Those of you from my birth state might be thinking that I am making some kind of jab at you, but my personal experience is that the typical Californian is generally perceived as sixteen thousand times more chatty and friendly than your average native Minnesotan. I realize that not everyone in a state can be categorized one way, but since this is, for me, a positive association, I guess I'm willing to take the heat if people want to argue with me. To be fair, Shawn is used to me and so I think that there's something that other Californians just sense in her--that she will be receptive to the fact that the guy she went to for spinal expertise ALSO wants to talk about archives and history podcasts and Trumpism and everything. I was only sad that I was sitting in the car and not in on this conversation. I suspect if both of us Californians (I was only born there, but SOMETHING stuck) had been in the room at the same time, we would have all ended up to dinner together because that's how I roll among my people.
The good news is that the doctor feels that some PT and muscle relaxants might significantly improve the problem for Shawn. He also tried to convince her (jokingly) not to think of it as spinal "degeneration," but "age-related wear." To which my clever wife, responded, "Ah, yes, like 'moving through the demographic cycle' instead of aging."
Okay, back to the kitchen painting grind for me!