I wrote previously about trying out a new dentist, since my childhood dentist was something like 40 minutes away now that I'm farther east into the city. It turned out to be a very bad experience -- partly because he told me I had to have my wisdom teeth out, and partly because he didn't answer my questions and didn't have a nice chair-side manner. In addition to needing my wisdom teeth out, he told me I had cavities, and would need to go back to have them filled.
I wasn't in any hurry to go back, but when I started having discomfort in my remaining lower molars, I called my childhood dentist to make an appointment. She wasn't available but the receptionist suggested another DDS (Dr. Matthews) in the same office, whom I ended up seeing, and it was an entirely different (and very much improved!) experience. For starters, he spent at least half of his time with me explaining how various dental things work. He didn't talk down to me, but didn't talk over my head either. He told me that I did not have any cavities, and explained how the previous dentist might've made that mistake. He told me that my discomfort was actually due to me grinding my teeth at night -- I wasn't aware of it, but he said he could clearly see the wear on my teeth. He also said that the cleaning I had had 3 months prior was done very poorly, and that I really should have it done again that day (which I did).
While I was happy to end up continuing my no-cavities streak, the extra cleaning was out of pocket, since I had had the insufficient one only a few months before. It's hard to put a price (either in dollars or time & mileage) in having a doctor that you trust and respect, so I will definitely be willing to make the longish drive in the future, rather than try and shop around.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Lost At Sea
I went kayaking down the mighty IL River this weekend, and I figured it would be a great opportunity to try out both my new G1's camera and some Android GPS tracking software (on the G1)...
The sea was angry that day, my friends. A giant wave overtook me and my little boat, sinking the lot of us, and when I surfaced I found that both my G1 and my keys were gone. The keys, of course were mostly unduplicated -- I had a valet key stored at my mom's, but I had never bothered to make copies of my apartment keys (which in hindsight seems like it would have been a good idea).
While everyone else went off to Fast Eddie's in Alton, me, my passenger (Laura, whose keys were in my car), and a friend (Jenn) with AAA coverage hung out at the kayak place, waiting for a tow truck to come open the car. Even though it wasn't her car, the AAA coverage somehow applied, and that didn't end up costing anything other than time.
A day later, I'm back in my apartment (my landlord gave me the orignal set of keys, for me to copy and return). I have my valet key, and a new phone will be in the mail in the morning. Last week, when the T-Mobile salesman asked if I wanted to pay $6/month for insurance, I almost said no, but he specifically mentioned water damage, and I thought of the upcoming kayak trip and said yes. So, for $6 plus my $130 deductible (which feels like a rip-off), I'm getting a new phone. I'll call the Honda dealer in the morning to see about getting a new key. I remember them telling me when I bought the car that the keys are expensive, because of some chip inside them, but I'm hoping that the phone will remain the costliest part of the day.
Sadly, I'll have to take bolt cutters to my bike lock.
Pictures
The sea was angry that day, my friends. A giant wave overtook me and my little boat, sinking the lot of us, and when I surfaced I found that both my G1 and my keys were gone. The keys, of course were mostly unduplicated -- I had a valet key stored at my mom's, but I had never bothered to make copies of my apartment keys (which in hindsight seems like it would have been a good idea).
While everyone else went off to Fast Eddie's in Alton, me, my passenger (Laura, whose keys were in my car), and a friend (Jenn) with AAA coverage hung out at the kayak place, waiting for a tow truck to come open the car. Even though it wasn't her car, the AAA coverage somehow applied, and that didn't end up costing anything other than time.
A day later, I'm back in my apartment (my landlord gave me the orignal set of keys, for me to copy and return). I have my valet key, and a new phone will be in the mail in the morning. Last week, when the T-Mobile salesman asked if I wanted to pay $6/month for insurance, I almost said no, but he specifically mentioned water damage, and I thought of the upcoming kayak trip and said yes. So, for $6 plus my $130 deductible (which feels like a rip-off), I'm getting a new phone. I'll call the Honda dealer in the morning to see about getting a new key. I remember them telling me when I bought the car that the keys are expensive, because of some chip inside them, but I'm hoping that the phone will remain the costliest part of the day.
Sadly, I'll have to take bolt cutters to my bike lock.
Pictures
Friday, July 17, 2009
Google Phone
My 1 year old AT&T phone has been randomly shutting off, and it's been getting worse with age. When I went to the store a few months ago and complained, they assured me it was the battery (even though I had already tried a new battery). I told them that if they were wrong, and just wasting my time, that I was gonna drop AT&T, and I finally found the time to do that this week.
I ended up getting a G1 (aka gPhone or Google Phone). It's great! Since I use a ton of google services already, I benefit from the seamless integration between all their apps and the phone.
My first task was to use a custom map I created on Google Maps to drive around and photograph some houses for my dad's genealogy project. The default maps program didn't support my custom maps, so I had to download My Maps Editor from the marketplace, but the whole process (figuring out what I needed, finding it, and downloading it) only took about 10 minutes, which wasn't a big deal. For each house, I got direction and GPS tracking, and when I got there, I could use My Maps Editor to take and upload a picture (to google maps), and change the flag on the map from red to green. And, it was very easy and intuitive, other than the poor integration between My Maps Editor and the default maps app, which is needed for GPS and directions. (Hopefully those two will be merged into one app before long.)
Ultimately, I'm looking forward to using the non-Big-Brothered Android marketplace to write some apps, which I'll write about on techspeak if I ever make progress with.
There are three downsides I've seen so far, and unfortunately two are significant.
I ended up getting a G1 (aka gPhone or Google Phone). It's great! Since I use a ton of google services already, I benefit from the seamless integration between all their apps and the phone.
My first task was to use a custom map I created on Google Maps to drive around and photograph some houses for my dad's genealogy project. The default maps program didn't support my custom maps, so I had to download My Maps Editor from the marketplace, but the whole process (figuring out what I needed, finding it, and downloading it) only took about 10 minutes, which wasn't a big deal. For each house, I got direction and GPS tracking, and when I got there, I could use My Maps Editor to take and upload a picture (to google maps), and change the flag on the map from red to green. And, it was very easy and intuitive, other than the poor integration between My Maps Editor and the default maps app, which is needed for GPS and directions. (Hopefully those two will be merged into one app before long.)
Ultimately, I'm looking forward to using the non-Big-Brothered Android marketplace to write some apps, which I'll write about on techspeak if I ever make progress with.
There are three downsides I've seen so far, and unfortunately two are significant.
- My T-Mobile plan is about $20/month more expensive than my old AT&T plan. To be fair, if I had a comparable phone (iPhone) at AT&T, I think I would have to upgrade my plan anyway. I did, though, have a decent employer discount with AT&T, which I've had to give up.
- The battery life is really horrible with this thing. I get a day out of it if I'm not driving around using GPS. But, since it's my new toy, I'm using it pretty heavily and I've seen plenty of "You have 15% battery power remaining." messages. Fortunately I have a car USB power adapter, so I should just need to get a spare USB-gPhone cable, to combat the expensive GPS features.
- This thing has a full QWERTY keyboard, which is nice, but the letters light up when you're using it. At night this is helpful, but when it's not dark the letters light up and become the same color as the keys, which means you're typing on effectively a blank keyboard. I can touch type fine on a real keyboard, but just because my fingers know where the keys are doesn't mean my eyes do, and I find myself holding the phone at a severe angle to try and see the letters. I don't consider this too bad a defect, because I know my keyboard well enough that I think I will become comfortable with the blank keys before long, but it would be much more of an inconvenience for some.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Chain Update
Ok, so several weeks ago I started a chain. The idea was to get out and ride (or otherwise exercise) for 5 hours a week (up from zero). For a couple weeks I diligently blogged my progress, and then I stopped reporting.
The good news is that even though I wasn't talking about my progress, my chain does remain intact. I've gotten a ton of biking in, seen lots of deer and turkey families, and annihilated my previous record by riding 92 miles one particularly energetic week!
I'm starting to really appreciate St. Louis' (and Missouri's) great bike culture. I live in the city (proper), and I have several nearby options for after-work rides, and some great longer trails for the weekends. If I ever end up in another city I imagine I'll miss the environment here, so I'm definitely trying to appreciate it while I'm here.
The good news is that even though I wasn't talking about my progress, my chain does remain intact. I've gotten a ton of biking in, seen lots of deer and turkey families, and annihilated my previous record by riding 92 miles one particularly energetic week!
I'm starting to really appreciate St. Louis' (and Missouri's) great bike culture. I live in the city (proper), and I have several nearby options for after-work rides, and some great longer trails for the weekends. If I ever end up in another city I imagine I'll miss the environment here, so I'm definitely trying to appreciate it while I'm here.
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