My fashion sense, never strong, has recently devolved from “I don’t care,” to “I’m looking for the wrong kind of attention.” I flatter myself by saying each carefully-chosen item fulfills a specific purpose, and is eminently practical. But when I get dressed, I have to consider my sitting disability, the weather, and any stops I might make during the day. The end result is, admittedly, discordant.
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There Will Be Charts: Making Health Decisions as a Type C
Knowing I was type C personality gave me a useful frame for understanding why I approach medical care the way I do. I trust doctors up to a point, but I’m not afraid to challenge them, and I need to see the data before I’m convinced a certain course of action is the right one. It’s always bothered me that doctors don’t have a patient-friendly reading list handy for any given condition or treatment. My first impulse when I want to know about anything is to read a book about it.
In This Office, Standing Was Mandatory
One man complained about the expectation to stand all day, while the other shushed him. Didn’t he realize that this expectation was keeping them both employed? If they eased the physical requirements of the job, the clerks would soon be replaced with women (cheap labor).
How to Find Scientific Papers (for Free)
The truly aggravating thing about digging through research papers is that so many of them are behind a paywall. The good news is that many biomedical papers are freely readable in some form or other if you just know how to find them. Here are my tips for doing so.
Don’t Believe Everything You Read: The Limitations of Health Reporting
The problem, of course, was that the press people didn’t actually understand what the articles were saying, because the articles were cloaked in scientific jargon and had a lot of tables. So the press people read the abstract and perhaps an email from the Editor-in-Chief and wrote a press release with a catchy headline.
My Coronavirus Survival Strategy? Treadmill Desk.
When I count my blessings, that treadmill desk is at the top of the list. Not only can I walk inside the house, I can walk and work at the same time. I feel like I’ve found the secret to time travel because I get so much more done in a day.
Upright Globetrotting
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that I am a person who is not like the others, because I’ve built so many accommodations for myself into my life. But when I travel, I come to appreciate how many modifications I’ve made in order to keep up the pretense of normalcy. Last month I flew to Scotland, where I spent three weeks visiting family. It should have been a restful and relaxing trip. After all, I wasn’t working and had no real responsibilities besides being a support babysitter and making one meal a day. But since I left the little terrarium I’ve…