Oaths

I’ve been thinking about how many times I’ve taken the military oath.  Between initial sign up, Officer Training School, my commissioning, joining the National Guard, and finally, the Air Force Reserve, it adds up to maybe a half a dozen times.

In short, I swore to uphold the the Constitution of the United States.    I still feel that I’m under oath to protect it.  I’m ok with that. I like the constitution. Of course that includes the amendments--- all of them.  I suppose, if there were an amendment I didn’t like, I’d be obligated to uphold it, too.  Fortunately for me, I like them all.  I think people forget that it’s a package deal.  You don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the constitution you support.

Maybe it’s time to give the old thing a quick scan, just to refresh in our minds what is says, and why, and what it really means.

 

Here is a quick summary of the entire Constitution.

Horseless Carriage Antique Auto Club

We stopped by the cemetery where C's parents are buried to freshen up the flowers.  Directly across the street (two lane blacktop) is the Oil Museum.  My Grandfather and C's Father worked for The Pure Oil Company.  Gathered around the museum grounds were over a dozen antique cars.  These are real antiques, from 100 years ago.  It was a tour of the Horseless Carriage Club.  We took pictures with our new Droids an a few videos. Here’s a video.  (You also get to here the dulcet voice of my lovely wife.)

Katie Was a Jack Russell Terrier

She was a typical JRT, which means she was an extraordinary dog.  This is the dog that people like to put in movies and TV shows, mostly because they are so charismatic and smart.  They never fail to steal the scene.  Katie was like that.

She had Cushing’s Syndrome, which is an abnormality of the pituitary, but causes damage to the liver.  Four days ago, an X-ray showed her liver to be nothing but a ghost if what it should have been.

She left us today at 2:45 PM.

She will not be forgotten.

A Crane at our Pond

Ava Gardner

Two years ago, my wife and I got hooked on watching re-runs of “What’s My Line.” It was a prime time game show that was on during our pre-teen years, the “early” days of television. GSN, the Game Show Network, carried it late at night, so I recorded it to watch in the evenings.
There were two reasons I enjoyed it. It was pure nostalgia, and it had Steve Allen on it, one of my personal heroes.
The show had a panel of minor celebrities, known more for their credibility than for star power, whose task it was to guess a person’s line of work by asking yes or no questions.
The contestant could win a whopping fifty dollars for stumping the panel.
The thing that really hooked us, was that on each show, they would bring out a “Mystery Guest” that would likely be a truly famous person. Usually a leading lady or man, my jaw dropped to see a young Charlton Heston, just finished with “The Ten Commandments”, but, frequently, someone that had become a household name for other reasons, a politician perhaps. For these contestants, the panel would wear blindfolds and the contestant would disguise their voice. Imagine Ronald Reagan speaking like a cartoon character.
One night, the mystery guest was Ava Gardner. Below is a clip of that segment.





If you watch the clip closely, you can see a look that Ava gave John Daly just as she sat down beside him. Fortunately, for John, he didn’t see her looking at him. It was a look that would reduce most men to gibbering fools. It certainly would have had that effect on me.

The “Big A” was before my time, in that I was too young to see the type of movies she made. That’s too bad. I would have loved to watch The Night of the Iguana or The Barefoot Contessa in the theater.

Through out her appearance, I kept thinking, “I never knew she was so beautiful!”

There is a recent, well done biography of her by Lee Server, Ava Gardner, “Love is Nothing”. I’ve just finished reading it. She was literally, born and raised on Tobacco Road, and became the biggest femme fatale of the 50’s and 60’s. Married to Mickey Rooney, Arti Shaw, and Frank Sinatra, pursued by Howard Hughes, she had men tripping over themselves to be near her.

For a while she lived just four miles away from my home near Madrid, Spain, but a decade before I got there.

If you are stuck for something to read, I recommend it. If you are out of ideas for videos, put some of her movies in your Netflix cue.

Sadly, GSN no longer carries What's My Line.

I'm Speachless

Mileage vs. Octane

 

I occasionally have a lucid moment in which I notice something that had been staring me in the face for years. A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that the price difference between regular gas(87 octane) and super(91 octane) had seemed to stay the same (around 20 cents) even from the days when gas was a buck fifty a gallon. Since my teenage years, it had always been axiomatic that high test gas was only for rich folks that had fancy foreign cars and utterly foolish from a economic point of view. Then I got to thinking. At around $3.50 a gallon for regular and $3.75 for super, if I got only a one mile per gallon improvement in mileage on my family car, it would be cost effective.

Here's how it works at today's prices. I filled up at Sam's Club gas stand in Renton this morning. The 87 Octane was $2.91, the 92 Octane (they claim 92!) was $3.11. I get about 19 mpg city and 21 mpg highway in my Ford Ranger, let's call it 20 mpg avg. I only need to get a 7% improvement in mileage to pay for the extra expense. That would be a 1.4 mpg improvement. (I would have needed twice that if the price difference stayed the same when gas was around $1.50 per gallon.) My driving routine varies so much, it would be hard to detect that small of a difference.  But, clearly, my long held prejudice against paying for high test gas is no longer valid.

A little research on the web, (this is one result) and I have come to the following epiphany: Use what your Owner's Manual recommends!

It comes down to the ECU. It will be set up for what the manufacturer recommends.

If you use a lower grade of gas, it will "de-tune" the engine to avoid knock, aka pre-ignition. Using the cheaper gas will almost certainly decrease performance. 

If you use a higher grade of gas, it won't recognise the better fuel and change injection and timing accordingly. You probably wont get significantly better mileage with it.

Paul Potts won the British version of American Idol

This is an interesting story. I may be late bringing this to your attention, but just in case you missed it.

Actually there is an "America's Got Talent."

A Belated Happy Canada Day

July 1 was the big day for our Canadian friends. This video has popped up on YouTube and is enjoying a revival in popularity. I get a little nostalgic, myself.

Gas Price in Italy

This works out to be about $5.07 per gallon.

There Had to be a First

Watch Mr. Wizard

I wouldn't be the geek I am today if it hadn't been for him.

Computer Whisperer - Psychic HelpDesk

Mad Skillz or Dumb Luck? I'm going with Dumb Luck.

Sometimes computer problems just go away. Occasionally, someone will tell me about a problem they're having, and when I try to help them, the problem's gone. Sometimes, I don't even have to be present.

Our scheduler has had a new smart-phone for a month now, but couldn't use it because it wouldn't sync with her computer. The computer didn't even recognize that something had been connected. Last week, two technicians and the department phone expert tried unsuccessfully to get it working. I promised to take a look at it when I had some time. Today, I did. I had the scheduler connect the phone. She did, then I sat down at her desk to watch what happened. ActiveSync popped up and was ready to connect to the smart-phone and sync with no problem. People started looking at me funny. Someone said I was the "Computer Whisperer."

Now I understand how all those Psychic con-men get lured into fooling all their believers; it's kinda fun!

Mother's Day Mimosas

Lahaina Harbor

Catamaran

Maui Sunset, Sailboat, Girl

I've got to get better travel partners!

We went to Martina Franca's old town for dinner again last night. There are four of us pilots, an Evergreen Airlines pilot, an FAA Pilot, me, and the guy who's in charge of this mission, R.

R took us to a cafe he'd had his eye on since we got here. As the four of us got settled at a table an angel with dark hair came to our table and gave us four menus. We studied them for a minute, then R said "There's no pasta on the menu, just pizza." (The sign said pizzeria.) "I want pasta tonight."

"Are you suggesting that we leave?"

"Yes, let's go to the place we ate last night."

The angel was back now. "Can you look at that face and tell her 'No, I don't want to eat here?' "

"I really want pasta."

So, amid lashings of apologies, we left. I gave R trash about it the whole night.

Later, on our way back to the hotel, we met some of the young engineers and technicians supporting us. They ate at the pizzeria and had fallen "head over heels" for the two waitresses. Yes, two!!! The angel we snubbed had a sister!

Easter Family Reunion

 

Easter is a big part of our family tradition, especially the Easter egg hunt. We can trace it back to my Dad's childhood, which would put it in the depression era. Back then, Poppa (my paternal grandfather) would count the eggs before-hand and make the kids keep hunting until they were all accounted for.

By my childhood, it had evolved to the point of being our primary family reunion. It still is today. It marks the debut of all the new babies. It is also the first time tha family gets a look at the new wives and husbands to join the family. And that's not for the faint of heart! My aunts still have a wicked sense of humor.

The family has grown so that Easter might see over a hundred grownups. It's not unusual to have a thousand eggs hidden for the big hunt. Of course, only a small percentage are real eggs. Most "eggs" are the plastic kind that will hold jelly beans and money. One innovation that someone came up with is marking the boiled eggs prior to dying so that it will say something like, "Collect 25 cents from Uncle Don." So after the hunt, a mom will point out one of us, then the child will approach offering the egg as proof that we owe them some money. We, of course, will make a big deal out of being extorted out of our hard earned change. It's a fun way of teaching the young ones who us older guys are.

About twenty five years ago, the venue was changed from the old homestead to Mom and Dad's farm. Dad had a brand new barn, an all metal, insulated, plumbed building. It had a finished concrete floor that, after being triple sealed, turned out perfect for dancing and family gatherings. We had about six acres next to the house that would make a perfect field for the hunt.

 

There was a problem, though. That field served as a kind of nursery/hospital. Since it was so close to the house, cattle that needed special care were put in it for observation. Mom and Dad needed to partition off a couple of acres so it would be "clean" for the hunt. There was not enough time to build a proper fence, so they purchased the materials for an electric fence. The set up was quick, it took about half a day. Mother, ever the humane care-taker, decided that the cows needed a visual cue so they had a fair chance at not getting shocked. She got some red ribbon and tied flags to the wire at several intervals along the two hundred yard length. When everything was ready, they flipped the switch and watched. The flag thing didn't work. Cows are smarter than we imagine and are naturally curious. One heifer thought the flags might be something edible. My parents tried shooing them away, but they came right back. Mother related the story to me over the phone. She said, "She tried to eat the ribbon, and when she got to the knot where it was tied to the wire, a pulse hit her. A fine mist sprayed out of both ends of that heifer."

Happy Easter everyone.

The Dancing Horse

Wiki How - Home Design

Russian Photo Blog

Code Monkey

As you know, the earth is not a perfect sphere. It's sort of pumpkin shaped. This makes the mathematics for navigation a little more complicated. Especially for large distances. But it effects short distances, too. In a previous career, these distances were important. If you used spherical geometry to calculate the number of feet between two points that were 15 or 20 miles apart, you'd get errors on the order of a few hundred feet. I knew how to correct for this. I was also the proud owner of a Texas Instruments SR-52 programmable calculator. (Again, I'm dating myself.) I decided to write a program for my trusty SR-52 that would take the drudgery out of making the corrections. It took me a while, first creating the equations, then squeezing the code into the 224 steps. My program was accurate to within a dozen feet or so over a 20 mile distance, perfectly acceptable. I just did it for fun. It had been four years since I'd worked as a programmer while I was in college.

I told you that story so I could present the following with a little credibility.

For Pandora Fans

I found this by accident. Really.
But it's pretty nice to have the Pandora player minimized to your tray.

You Can't Stop the Signal

The RIAA is at again. Streaming internet radio is threatened by punitive fees that will virtually shut it down if allowed to happen. There is a petition to stop them. Please check it out here, on Pandora.com's blog, do whatever research you need, and sign the petition.

My Son went to India

Last summer, my son went to Australia to teach the care and feeding of some industrial strength software that his company provides. He was kind enough to let me quote his emails home here.

In January, he went to India. He tought classes in both Bangalore and New Delhi, spending a week at each location. Below is a lengthy post of his experiences and observations about this trip. I have taken excerpts of about 15 pages of his report and pieced them back together again, but be warned, this is not a completely glowing travelogue.

I've seen starships off the belt of Orion. ... whoops, sorry.

Dogs, cows, monkeys. I've seen them. Bangalore started rounding up stray dogs the week that I arrived, because a young girl died from a dog attack (rabies). There were more attacks while I was there. I didn't see any cows blocking traffic. Speaking of which, I remember a video of crazy city traffic that was posted somewhere in the web.

It's &%*&^$% TAME!!!

Imagine:

NASCAR (not necessarily that fast) on a four lane highway (sometimes divided, sometimes not) with cars, trucks, buses, tractors pulling huge over-filled wagons, camels pulling pulling huge over-filled wagons, cyclists (2 & 3 wheels), pedestrians, cross-traffic, motorcycle rickshaws (capacity = driver plus two) filled with 12-15 people. People crossing the highway (day and night), tractors or cars going against traffic in your lane (left-hand roads). The horn is used during the daytime, dimming your high-beams at night (and still using the car horn) to signify that you are passing on the right. Larger vehicles have the right of way. It's like playing chicken without stopping until you arrive at your destination.

Accidents:

Not really.

1 - I saw a truck and a car that were nose-down in ditches. These were next to each other, so the may have happened at the same time. Probably one was turning against traffic. These had happened before I arrived.

2 - I was walking on M. G. Road (Mahatma Ghandi Road) when I heard a plasticky wallop from behind my left shoulder. I turned and saw a moped and two bodies on the road. A crowd gathered and helped the people. Both could walk, though the lady was motionless on the street for a few minutes. My guess is that the petite lady tried to cross through traffic and was hit by the guy. Maybe she was driving the moped, but more guys than women drive.

Squalor:

I've seen tent villages next to construction sites, and a guy washing his face with water from a puddle.

Part of it made me really sick. I saw baby monkeys, puppies, calves, and human infants. They are all part of this world of dirt and trash,

Imagine a fast food restaurant's dumpster up-ended.

Cows standing in a pile of trash, nibbling. Dogs sniffing for food. The night gets cold, so people will gather what they can and burn it for warmth. Sometimes wood. My nose sniffed burning plastic; trash.

More Miscellaneous Thoughts:

My current hotel is like a theme park. Four restaurants; one bar; one dance club; one banquet hall; one game hall with bowling, billiards, skeeball, air rifles, and video games; one electric bull surrounded by an inflatable landing pad; gokarts with a racing track; and a cricket batting cage. And two roaches in my bathroom.

Perspectives using Texas as a unit of measurement

Texas

268,581 square miles

23,500,000 people

87.5 people per square mile

India Where Texas is 1.0 (ed.)

Area=4.5

People=46.8

P/M²=10.5

India is crowded. There are probably smaller countries with higher ratios of people per square mile.

Three meals per day for five days is my limit for Indian food.

Money doesn't grow on trees. It grows on foreigners, especially Americans.

A couple of students talked about U.S. politics. One asked my opinion about the war in Iraq. The other suggested that U.S. military spending be used to help the poor in the U.S. I pointed out that we have the following:

- Minimum wage

- Free medical emergency care for those who cannot afford it

- Free public schools, including lunch, for those who cannot afford it

- Programs like the Texas Workforce Commission

- Scholarships and grants for college students who are poor

- Taxes are paid to people/families if they earn too little

We're a great country and ranked number 4 for Economic Freedom (today's India Times). Hong Kong is #1. UK, New Zealand, Canada, and others are in the top ten with us.

Karma

Indians believe in Karma (sanskrit for "Action"), usually interpreted as Fate. If they are sick, then it is the result of their Karma to be sick, so they just accept it. I think it's the result of my Karma to have issues with the taxi ride back to the hotel.

What do I like about India?

I have photos of Taj Mahal. I met an honest taxi driver. (I'll explain after I return.)

The people here are very industrious and friendly. Some work every day for 10+ hours.

Fashion - the ornate designs on women's dresses/saris/shawls are amazing.

Industry - people work. No work equals no money. There are no government hand outs from what I can tell. People protect there jobs in an almost union-like way. If a person's job is to open the door and he stepped away, then he may run to the door so he can open it for you. I had three people direct me to the restroom (no guess-work or getting lost), and two opened doors for me. If an Indian has a job, then other Indians respect his/her right to perform that job.

History & Culture - President (?) Nehru wrote a history of India starting 7000 years ago. India is a mix of influences form Hindis and Muslims. The Taj Mahal shows the variety arts and styles. India produced many discoveries that we enjoy. Buddha was born in India, so that's especially important to me.

Welcoming - Indians accept everybody. There were some controversies earlier in history when the rulers were Muslim and the masses were Hindi. That is resolved now with the democracy. The division of India/Pakistan (1947/1957 ???) was supposed to separate Hindis and Muslims. India is 80% Hindi and still has more Muslims than Pakistan. It still seems that the Hindis tolerate the Muslims who are here. Maybe not.

I've met some nice people. One taxi driver, one guide at the Taj, the students in my classes, and the people who support the classes. Sales people in shops can be nice, too, especially if you are buying something.

Toothbrushes accidentally rinsed under tap water and immediately thrown into the trash can: Monday morning, Tuesday morning, and Thursday night

There are a couple of guys who provide refreshments for the classroom. I wanted a "coffee with milk" yesterday, and the guy remembered today. Kind of cool. So he grabbed a coffee mug for me instead of a paper cup (like yesterday). He held it with both hands, one on the bottom, and one on the top. Then he rotated it. I'm not sure if this was an absent-minded motion, or if he was cleaning the rim with the palm of his hand. Then he made the coffee (it's a pretty cool coffee/tea/chocolate machine in the office) and I accepted it. I returned to the classroom and cleaned the handle and rim with Purell hand sanitizer.

The Chinese restaurant at the hotel (one of four restaurants) has really good Chinese food. It's not Indianized; it's what I would expect from an American Chinese restaurant. My stomach still hurts, and dinner has been my main meal this week. Breakfast and lunch are just enough to keep me going without causing more pain. I'm glad I'm on antibiotics.

Okay, it's 10pm-ish. I'm heading to bed. Good morning, ya'll.

_________________

Oh, Dear God, I'm in a spot of trouble. ...but it's the good kind.

I started the day with a startle, and finished it with a stun.

I slipped on my trousers and undershirt so I could open the door and grab the newspaper. Something scurried across the paper and I jumped. I followed it to the left, and saw a rat run into an open panel. I looked up, and an Indian hotel person giggled. I'm sure he thought the rat was good luck or something.

The students applauded me at the end of class. The argumentative student said I was the best instructor ever. He was from the group who walked out of the class on the first day with the previous instructor. Two other students (session two with the previous instructor) gave me gifts. I now have an Indian hookah and a lantern. We took group photos. I read the reviews, and almost all were glowing.

Maybe the rat was good luck, after all.

The Trouble:

How do I get a hookah and a lantern back to Dallas? It's not an issue with them being illegal or anything. The problem is that each is maybe the size of a Nerf football. Each one has a glass shell joined to silver-coated metal. British Airways only permits one (as in one-and-only-one) carry-on bag for the flight. I'm checking two bags and carrying the laptop. My two large bags are full. I could fit them into the garment bag, but it's a garment bag that will go through three airplanes to arrive in Dallas. I don't think so.

I don't know if I'm dreading my return flight because of non-stopness that begins at 3am, or if I'm looking forward to it so I can get home as quickly as possible.

It's two BA flights and one AA; I'll be relieved as soon as I fasten my seat belt

I'm on vacation after I return. All I need to focus on is documentation, which is low stress. I'll hide in a library to do the work.

Group hugs and hot chocolate!!! (Something I need to help me recuperate once I return.)

I found the correct quotation from Bladerunner:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die. - Batty

The week ended well, mainly from the glowing student feedback and gifts. The students said that Jaipur, Srinagar, Kerala, and Kashmir are beautiful. They also recommended Goa (beach resort town), and Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras) kind of get my attention. Would I come back to India? I might. Would I look forward to the trip? Maybe. If I could do a two-week tour of the above mentioned cities, then maybe yes. If I have to stay in the same hotel in Bangalore for work, then maybe no. If I have stay in the same hotel in Delhi for work, then maybe.

HOME, HOME, HOME-ITY, HOME!!!!!!!!!!

Afterthoughts on History and Culture:

When Indian women wear western clothes (jeans & shirts), then they look like other Latin women. I think the Indian saris/sarees are pretty, and Indian women look pretty when they wear them.

Delhi will host the 2010 Commonwealth Games. They are doing construction - adding new things (like a bridge) and improving the airport. The poor will have jobs. They need more.

Sikhs. I flew on Jet Airways from Bangalore to Delhi. I read the restrictions list posted by the security screening area. No liquids, walking sticks, pool sticks, cricket bats, knives, et cetera. Sikhs have one exemption from the list - their sword.

The Sikh Kirpan (the Sikhs have five symbols, all starting with the letter K) is a ceremonial sword. It is worn purely as a religious symbol (representing dignity and the historic struggle against injustice), not as weapon!

Even though the Sikhs have the one exemption from the security list, it is a diminutive version of this sword that is permitted. IIRC, the dimensions are 3" and 6", though I don't remember which is for the handle and which is for the blade.

The other four Sikh symbols:

Kesh - long, unshorn hair (spirituality). Turbans are mandatory for males, optional for females.

Kangha - a comb (hygeine and discipline).

Kara - steel bracelet (strength, continuity, restraint).

Kachha - underpants (self-control and chastity).

Sikhs make up 2% of the Indian population. Male Sikhs are given the title of Singh (lion), and females are given the title of Kaur (princess). I had a Singh in class, and a Kaur was an airline stewardess.

Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966. She was assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards. Indira was the daughter of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (India's first PM, and close associate of Mahatma Gandhi). IG was followed by her son as the PM. He was assassinated, too.

I spoke with my parents tonight. I almost finished the conversation with "it was a good trip." Not yet. My dad went to India, and he experienced similar things. We agreed that the poverty and begging are everywhere, and he was on a "free" trip where he was brought to a shop at the end and was expected to buy something. He said it will take a couple of months before I'll be ready to think of traveling anywhere. I'm going to East Texas for the weekend for extra recuperation.

Education:

America has public schools, and we are one of the greatest nations in the world. (Depending on which measurement(s) you prefer, then America is the greatest nation in the world.)

India has no (zero) public schools. The country would go broke if they tried to fund public schools. Even if they did public schools for something equivalent to K-4, the country couldn't afford it. There is the expense for the masses of students, which is only compounded by the corruption that would sap any educational funds.

Yes, America has corruption, but it's not as prevalent as what I experienced in India. Some of the India corruption is subtle - "free-taxi-ride-that-ends-at-a-shop." Other is blatant, and all of it is everywhere.

I'll fight/scream/yell to protect our public schools. Yes, they are not perfect, but (I heard) there are more good schools than bad. And I believe they are vital to American prosperity. Arguments for privatizing our public schools are a step in the wrong direction. If education in America becomes "what you can afford" then there would be a noticeable increase in uneducated poor. I don't want that. I believe everyone can prosper, and they should in America.

I'm a very proud father. My son is now in Iceland! Can't wait for that report!

Images From China

More images from this site.

Subway Maps of the World

This was on Digg.com, but there is much more information on the full up web site. Go to Travel Tools.

Mary Chapin Carpenter and my Great Grandmother

I listened to "Family Hands" this morning. It always reminds me of my Great Grandmother. Although, not in the same sense that the song reflects. Born Mary Emma Glenn, (it's how I'm distantly related to John Glenn) She was my mother's father's mother. She was not what you might picture. She lived her life in Central Texas, about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. Rough, arid, cattle country, hers was not an easy life, and it showed on her face, thin and hard. Nor was she indulgent to us youngsters. She loved us, no doubt, her lemon meringue pie alone proved that, but she didn't have patience for foolishness. One telling thing about her was that she cautioned us not to disturb or hurt the black King snakes that we might find around the house. They were sacred. They kept the rattlesnakes away.

We loved going there for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The food was amazing and there was "The Mountain" to explore. The mountain probably didn't qualify technically, but it was the tallest thing I'd ever seen until I was a teenager. Covered in several varieties of cactus and mesquite trees, it was not easily negotiated. Did I mention rattlesnakes? OK, so I never actually saw one, but they were there. We usually visited in the cooler months, so they weren't very active. There was a small hill about a third the way up, we called the "Knob". From it you could see the house, the town of Gordon to the east, and the terrain to the north. You had to be older to get permission to climb to the top of the big mountain. I remember my first time to do it. Two cousins and I scrambled through all the brush to get there. (We never came down without a session of plucking out the fine hairlike needles of prickly pear cactus, found at the base of the large needles and on the "fruit" itself.) When we got to the top, one of our much older relatives was already there. "How did you get up here so fast? we asked. "I followed the cow path." DOH!

I was nine when my great-grandmother died. I didn't really know her. I wish that I'd had the wisdom to talk to her more and that she'd had the patience to tell us her stories.

Travel and Health

 

We arrived in China on Wednesday and on Sunday my colleague and I were both sick. We had done a lot of things right: Used bottled water for brushing teeth as well as drinking, avoided eating food from suspect sources, but we still got sick. AJ, my partner, had stomach problems, and I had "flu like symptoms", basically achey joints and a dry cough.

What we could have done better is carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer in our pants pockets when we were out and about. Public lavatories are not frequent and don't have the amenities were used to.

And we didn't pack prescription drugs with us before we left. You can go to your family doctor, explain what your about to embark upon and (s)he will write prescriptions for the most likely problems.

The dumb thing I did is that I have a company issued travel kit that contains:

Gentamicin Sulfate eye drops for eye infections.

Diphenhydramine, Benadryl, which you don't need a prescription for, and by the way the cheapest way to get this is in Tylenol-PM.

Loperamide, which is a little safer than Lomotil.

And finally, the big gun, Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim. This is a powerful antibiotic which I would only use in an emergency.

I had this kit in a convenient zippered pouch and left it in my desk!!

Fortunately, we were still able to work, and were only knocked out of exploring the area for two days.

I had made a promise to AJ that my plan was to go in healthy, come out healthy, and don't let 'em kill us. Technically, I kept my promise, we just got sick in the middle.