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Music Monday

This week some mentioned the anniversary of Jim Henson’s death, which reminded me of the song “Storyteller.”  In concert it’s been stated it was written in response to Jim Henson’s passing.

Song credits: Performed by Alexander James Adams; lyrics & music by Heather Alexander.

The Dose Makes The Poison

[A study], published in 2011, followed 28,800 subjects with high blood pressure aged 55 and older for 4.7 years and analyzed their sodium consumption by urinalysis. The researchers reported that the risks of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and death from heart disease increased significantly for those consuming more than 7,000 milligrams of sodium a day and for those consuming less than 3,000 milligrams of sodium a day.

— Gina Kolata in the NY Times

Wow, it’s almost like the extreme might be the problem.  Sometimes “the dose makes the poison” is worth remembering.

I’m a grownup, right?

Forty-seven years old.

Working in software (not rocket science, but involves brains) over 20 years.

Employed and promoted by a company that prides itself on “hiring and promoting the best.”

Have been taking various meds for allergies for over 30 years.

….so why did I forget the Flonase again???

(I’m sure it has nothing to do with flonase being a nose spray, which I inhale better after my shower, vs the other morning meds which I have trained myself to take right after getting up. Nope. :P )

Music Monday

From NASA’s Commander Chris Hadfield comes a revised version of the song “Space Oddity”.

From the credits:

Guitar and vocals: Chris Hadfield, recorded on board International Space Station

Video produced by Evan Hadfield, edited by Andrew Tidby

Music (recorded on Earth) produced and mixed by Joe Corcoran, piano arrangement by Emm Gryner

With special thanks to David Bowie, NASA, ROSCOSMOS and the CSA.

Necessary, but not sufficient

Money is not sufficient for happiness. Money is necessary to avoid certain forms of unhappiness.

It’s really not that complicated. It only appears complicated to those who: A) have enough money; and B) don’t have enough happiness.

The word they don’t understand there is “enough.” This is not entirely their fault, because much of our culture is based on preventing any of us from understanding that word. But it’s a really important word — particularly when the subject is happiness.

— Fred Clark at Slacktivist

When home’s not home

We cannot bring you back when home’s not home
We can’t make you pay debts you will not own
We cannot reason with the unforeseen
We can’t compromise when there’s no in-between

— Marian Call, in her song “In The Black”. She’s released both studio and live versions.

This reminds me of my parents; making my own life meant that my home wasn’t theirs anymore, that I didn’t own the obligations they thought I had, and there wasn’t always a good in-between. (And, of course, with Mother’s Day in May and Father’s Day in June, I’m getting reminded of my parents a lot.)

Full lyrics are at this page.

Things to Read

By way of Slacktivist comes a piece on recognizing silencing techniques.  Some are definitely too familiar.

Security guards do not always improve the learning environment.  Art teachers might be better.

Petition to drop the charges against Keira Wilmot for a science experiment gone wrong and re-enroll her in school has over 36000 signatures — does it have yours?

From an article on mammograms, and why they haven’t dropped the incidence of metastatic breast cancer: 

Mammograms, it turns out, are not so great at detecting the most lethal forms of [breast cancers] a treatable phase. Aggressive tumors progress too quickly, often cropping up between mammograms. Even catching them “early,” while they are still small, can be too late: they have already metastasized. That may explain why there has been no decrease in the incidence of metastatic cancer since the introduction of screening.

At the other end of the spectrum, mammography readily finds tumors that could be equally treatable if found later by a woman or her doctor; it also finds those that are so slow-moving they might never metastasize. As improbable as it sounds, studies have suggested that about a quarter of screening-detected cancers might have gone away on their own.

 It’s a long article, but worth reading. 

Fat Bias Isn’t Just About Rapport

As noted on Twitter, the article Tara Parker-Pope wrote for the New York Times about a study in Obesity looking at how fat patients aren’t always welcomed by doctors. Not news, though I suppose it’s good to have quantitative research supporting it.

Really, though, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Here’s some more.

For patient stories on health professionals, check out the crowdsourced http://fathealth.wordpress.com

ASDAH is collecting videos on weight bias in healthcare.

The Yale Rudd Center is not a fat-accepting organization, but they do research on weight bias and their publications page can be very useful.

Naafa on weight discrimination.

Series of Quotes: Behave

Working at the Food Bank with my kids is an eye-opener. The face of hunger isn’t the bum on the street drinking Sterno; it’s the working poor. They don’t look any different, they don’t behave any differently, they’re not really any less educated. They are incredibly less privileged, and that’s it.

—Mario Batali

To suppose as we all suppose, that we could be rich and not behave as the rich behave, is like supposing that we could drink all day and stay sober.

—Logan P. Smith

If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.

—Anne Lamott

You’ve got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body’s sermon on how to behave.

—Billie Holiday

Don’t tell me what you believe in. I’ll observe how you behave and I will make my own determination.

—Alex Trebek

 

A Periodic Welcome Post

Welcome!  Hello and thank you for reading this blog.  This post is to explain some things so’s to avoid confusing newbies.

What’s this blog?

I started this blog to have a place to talk about fat acceptance and how my life is and isn’t affected by being very fat.  Some notable sub-sections are the “Day in the Life” section and my posts on exercise.

Do you look like the really fat people used to illustrate stories about overweight folks? 

Yes, even though most fat people are MUCH thinner than I.

Aren’t people your size common these days?

Not really, no.

Are you trying to lose weight?

I’m not trying to manipulate my weight up or down.

Why not?

Because losing weight doesn’t work long-term for most people. Including me.

Well, fat is okay if you’re healthy, but —

No. 

But what about health issues caused by being fat?

There are no health issues that only fat people have, which makes it hard to believe that weight alone causes them or that losing weight is the only treatment.  And, losing weight doesn’t work long-term for most people. Including me.

But you agree that if someone is REALLY, REALLY fat then they really SHOULD lose weight, right? 

No.

Fat acceptance?  Tell me more. 

Fat acceptance, as implied by “fat” and “acceptance” being together like that, is about accepting body diversity instead of focusing on weight loss.  On a societal level it’s about fighting weight discrimination and encouraging lawmakers and public health officials to stop the emphasis on weight.  More info is here.

Do you have a job? You were posting about interviewing.  What’s the story? 

I was “let go”, aka fired, from my software job in October 2010.  I started a temp job in March 2011, converted to a perm employee in December 2011, and was promoted in March 2013.  The new job pays me significantly better, I feel more comfortable in the work culture, & it has a more walkable workplace than the old job.  I consider it a win.

What’s the deal with your father? You were posting about him, now you’re not. 

In the summer of 2010 I realized that my father was drinking to excess again and seemed to be having trouble coping with life.  In 2011 I became concerned that he was weakening physically (and in denial).  I called social services to help convince my father he needed help.  He was hospitalized that spring and diagnosed with bladder cancer, dementia, and decreased kidney function.  I took over managing his care, his money, and selling his house.  He died in March 2012. I am still dealing with his estate.

And your mom?

Mom died over 5 years ago.

Anything else? 

I’ve lived in or near Seattle, Washington for all my life.  I studied computer science in college and work in software.  I’m white, married, bisexual, middle aged, wear glasses, sleep with a bite guard and CPAP, sunburn easily, and have naturally curly hair.  I drive an 11-year-old Prius.  I play computer games like Freecell, Simcity, and Tropico. I’m an only child and not really close to my remaining birth relatives.  I have asthma, sleep apnea, vitamin B12 and D deficiencies, some arthritis in my knees,  “light bladder leakage”, astigmatism, and a history of depression.

“Big data” and hiring

Having job-hunted recently I found this article in The Economist interesting:

Evolv mines mountains of data. If a client operates call centres, for example, Evolv keeps daily tabs on such things as how long each employee takes to answer a customer’s query. It then relates actual performance to traits that were visible during recruitment.
Some insights are counter-intuitive. For instance, firms routinely cull job candidates with a criminal record. Yet the data suggest that for certain jobs there is no correlation with work performance. Indeed, for customer-support calls, people with a criminal background actually perform a bit better.

Also are observations about trying to gauge honesty and that folks with higher “honesty” scores often aren’t as good at sales.  Ahem?

I was amused at the assumption that folks who use a non-default browser to fill out job applications are better candidates.  I can’t count the number of times a job application form would crash in non-IE browsers!

N things make a post

17) It’s the 17th week of 2013. I think.

12) I’ve been married 12 years.

11) My car (which currently isn’t starting) is 11 years old.  Probably needs a new battery.

8) I’ve interviewed eight potential coworkers recently.

5) Five loads of laundry today. This is not counting the mattress cover and comforter, which went in the dryer on high to kill dust mites.

3) I worked late 3 nights last week. (Planning not to do that this week.)

2) Two electrostatic air filters washed.

1) Sounders won their game 1-0.

What’s notable with you today?

Thankful Thursday

[An occasional exercise in gratitude.]

It’s Thursday.  I made it to Thursday.

Monday I took 5 hours out of my day for a training class on interviews (with a special focus on behavioral interviewing, joy) followed by working late. Then my carpool buddy and I drove to the 1 post office still open so he could drop off his tax extension.

Tuesday I conducted two 1-hour interviews and a half-hour informational interview and, again, working late while carpool buddy was a morale event. By the end of the day I felt like my brains were mush.

Wednesday I had no meetings, no interviews, just work. One of my team members was out, but I still got lots done, including figuring out a bit of code that delighted me.

Today, Thursday, I had multiple meetings, including my annual performance review discussion with my boss.  Since I’d been promoted to management I had an idea it would go well, and it did. I got a raise, some stock, and a renewed sense of impostor syndrome. Also a feeling of “now what?”

….and then it was off to the Fairmont hotel for dinner with the man of house at his company’s quarterly dinner thing.

I’m grateful that what started as a temp job just over 2 years ago has turned into a place where I’m comfortable, liked, and rewarded.

I’m grateful that my boss and coworkers appreciate me.

I’m grateful that I can direct the raise into saving for emergencies.

I’m grateful that I can go back to work tomorrow and maybe have a normal day. ;)

Music Monday

I discovered Jeff & Maya Bohnhoff’s parody of “Get Off Of My Cloud” this summer at Westercon. Lately I’ve been listening to it a lot more. Why?

My birthday is coming up. I’m going to be 47, which moves me kinda-sorta-maybe closer to my “late forties“. Most of my coworkers are in their 20s and 30s, which increases my feeling old.  And I’m in software, and yes, a lot of what I’ve worked with in my career might as well be ancient history.  So, taking “a stop-bugging-me, post-teenage-alienation song” and turning it into a “leave me alone, you little hooligans!” song works for me right now.