I bought a five-pound bag of Jolly Ranchers at BJs a few months ago. They mostly languished untouched in the pantry until one day Kelly packed them in my bag and I hauled them off to work. They’re now a big hit with the office, though even five people aren’t enough to put a dent in a five-pound bag of candy.
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May 2008
Calm after the storm
There’s something quite soothing after a storm. Its not simply that its no longer raining, or that its just like it was before the storm. A storm reorders things somehow. It fixes something we may not have even noticed was broken.
Jaw dropper
I went to the prosthodontist yesterday and received the skinny on the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is made from a mold of the patient’s mouth, then sent to a technician who builds it to fit. The appliance looks exactly like the picture on the Wikipedia page, with two little piston-looking things holding the jaw slightly forward. The dentist says it extends the jaw to 2/3rds its maximum.
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Math Mania
It must be math day. My buddy Greg shows us a pie chart we all can understand, while my friend Chris points to some word problems for future hedge-fund managers.
Might as well throw in this pie chart Jeff found that shows what Rick Astley will never do (and no, there’s no Rick Roll here).
Emails and open records
Christina Medlin, ex-girlfriend of Wake County’s deputy county manager Joe Durham, was recently busted for allegedly checking Durham’s work email for signs of an affair. Wake County announced today that steps have been taken to prevent such security breaches in the future.
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A rest doctor
Tomorrow I visit a local prostodontist for an initial consultation to discuss how a mandibular advancement device (a fancy name for a mouthpiece) might help with my mild sleep apnea. This custom-made mouthpiece is designed to prevent my jaw from sliding back at night, blocking my airway. Its a good, inexpensive first approach to correcting my apnea.
Actually, the cheapest and easiest approach is to try a sports-type mouthpiece. I ordered one of those the other day for 25 bucks. We’ll see if that is enough for a restful night.
Condi must go
Election night
It was an exciting evening last night as the results came in from yesterday’s primary election. As I predicted, Barack Obama rolled in North Carolina, 56% to Hillary Clinton’s 42%. Perdue won her race against Richard Moore as Democratic gubernatorial candidate, 56% to 40%. I was not happy with either campaign, but wound up not liking Moore more than Perdue. So I’m glad she won.
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Myanmar Cyclone
My jaw dropped when I heard the death toll this morning from the cyclone that hit Myanmar (formerly Burma). It was 15,000 then and now its up to 22,500.
Shocking.
Hammers down no more
Two weeks ago we drove up to Charlottesville for my nephew’s birthday party. As we pulled into a truck stop north of Rocky Mount for a kids’ bathroom break, I was struck by how desolate it was. There were maybe two trucks parked on the sea of surrounding asphalt. The lady behind the counter never looked over her newspaper. Rows of flashing slot machines pimping pre-paid calling cards sat empty, waiting for truckers who never arrive.
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