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	Wednesday, September 24, 2003

TiVo Therapy Hilarious piece by Joshua Allen in The Morning News on seeking therapy as a result of TiVo. Speaking as someone who has a very active relationship with TiVo and regularly sees a shrink, the article is priceless. This exchange between Joshua and his therapist is deadly funny: ‘It [TiVo] plants this seed in your head. This idea that you can make anything your own, no matter how prepackaged or limited or controlled. It’s all just a matter of transferring it – quickly and efficiently – to a new realm that’s completely separate from the source.’ ‘And you’re applying this technique to other aspects of your life.’ The motions she’s making with her pen look less and less like writing. ‘To all aspects,’ I say, glancing at her over my shoulder. ‘As an example, I taped last week’s session with you.’ ‘With the TiVo.’ ‘With a pocket-sized audiocassette recorder. I then hurried home, transferred that recording to my computer, and re-edited it so our conversation went more to my liking.’ ‘I see,’ my therapist said. (In the revised version she will say: ‘You astound me.’) ‘And does your re-edit conclude with some sort of complicated sexual encounter?’ ‘Complicated, no. There was an elegant minimalism about it.’ 8:10:46 PM    comment []

Geek Eye for the Luddites Hilarious geek take-off in Fortune on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The experiment: Let loose three tech experts in an average family's home. The result: gizmo nirvana (well, almost). Speaking as a geek (and as a member of that very rare geek subspecies - girl geek), it is much easier to pass on fashion tips than to outfit a home with working tech gear. For three days the Fab Three took over the Burkes' home. And at the end, it was nearing digital nirvana. But, O, Fortuna! It is not so easy being geek. 7:59:20 PM    comment []

It's Come to This Today, my doctor taught me how to give myself shots. sheesh. I have a huge shot phobia and one of the more entertainingly ironic side effects of my particular manifestation of CFS/FMS is that I've ended up receiving an average of three shots per week (read here for the list of my injectibles). My rear end bears a strong resemblance to a pin cushion. But the shot cornucopia has made a huge difference in my overall health. And my new GP has turned me on to a suped-up variant of B12: methylcobalamin. It seems to fall into the alternative medicine category - of which, I tend to be a bit leary. However, (and this is going to sound like one of those late night infomercial-testimonials) the "methyl-B12" is pretty amazing. Twenty four hours after receiving an injection, my cognitive function improves dramatically - I can even do a significant portion of the Saturday New York Times Crossword Puzzle. The improvements last for about three days. I have never experienced anything like it before. It really penetrates the well known "Fibro Fog". Actually, I'm reminded of the movie Charly based on the book Flowers for Algernon. Cliff Robertson plays Charly, a mentally handicapped man who is the subject of a psychological experiment. He's given a whiz bang drug and within a few days becomes Einstein reincarnate. However, the drug wears off and its effects cannot be duplicated. Fortunately, at least up to this point, the methyl-B12 effects are repeatable. But, to maintain my comparatively suped-up cognitive levels, I need a shot every five days - which logistically is a real pain in the patootie (subtle pun intended). Getting to and from the doctor every five days for a shot is just ridiculous. So, that's how we arrived at self-injections Actually, self injection isn't bad. I whined at my doctor quite a bit before I actually screwed up the courage to stab myself in the outside of my thigh. But, it's nothing compared to my weekly gamma globulin peanut butter shot in the butt - it's definitely doable. So, watch out - every five days, I'll have a spurt of amazing intelligence - for about 5 seconds. And then I'll revert back to my usual doofus self. 7:46:57 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Stephanie A. Kesler. Last update: 3/5/2005; 8:36:34 PM.