Things I've Learned

School has started, and this is Sophie's first year of Kindergarten. And guess what? Going down in the number of children at home, even if it is just going down from 2 to one, and even if it is just for a half day, is a nice thing. Don't get me wrong; I love my children. But I might love the school year even more...

Oh, and Sophie lost her first tooth. When she realized that it was loose, she got all excited. "I even know how much I'm going to get from the Tooth Fairy....TWO DOLLARS! Because that is how much Jordan got." We don't see Jordan much anymore.

So, I yanked the tooth out with a string, and Sophie did great. Excited all day. Cleaned the tooth. Put it in a baggie under her pillow. Went to bed. Then Niki and I had the following conversation while watching TV that night at about 10 pm.

Niki: Hey Scott, do you have a dollar in your wallet?
Scott: No, I never carry any cash. I'm a debit card kind of guy. Why, don't you have a dollar?
Niki: No, the smallest I have is a $10.
Scott: Well, I'm not going to the store to buy something for 25 cents to get change from your $10.
Niki: Crap...let me think....

The solution is as follows: We snag a dollar bill that we gave to Talia for some reason. She had lost track of it, and it ended up in the Money for Charity box. We take that, slide it under Sophie's pillow, take the tooth, and all is well. Yes, our house regularly redistributes the assets as needed.

So, on Saturday, I think I have a Zit in my eyebrow. On Sunday, I think it is a bad zit, maybe a mosquito bite, maybe even a couple of mosquito bites. On Monday, as the redness, swelling, tenderness, and bumps travel through my eyebrow, I'm sure it is a bug bite, probably multiple spider bites. On Tuesday, my day off, Niki asks me what is going on with my eyebrow. I tell her it's a spider bite, probably multiple spider bites. "Are you kidding me?" was Niki's response. "Are you trying to tell me that a spider bit your eyebrow, the side of your nose, and then did subsequent bites through your entire eyebow? Over the course of three days?" It sounds kindof improbable when it is put like that, so I reluctantly let Niki make a doctor's appointment for me. And guess what?

I got THE SHINGLES. So, chicken pox is caused by the Herpes Zoster virus. We never get rid of it; we just subdue it. It then lives in our body, specifically in the nervous system, for the rest of our lives. Sometimes, the virus re-activates, causing Shingles. Since the virus lives in the nervous system, the outbreak is usually localized to one dermatome (Google it). And, since it is along the nerves, it hurts really bad. And I had the god fortune of having the outbreak on my face. Specifically, the right eyebrow, a little on the forehead, and I had a couple of itchy spots on the top of my head. That is one dermatome. Can't remember the nerve, though (maybe occulomotor?). So, I just finished my anti-viral pills, have a few days left on my anti-biotics (it got infected when I picked/popped it while it was still a zit and/or a bug bite), but now have a nice little store of Tylenol #3. Oh, and I got a week off from work. I guess people don't like their nurses to have dripping, inflamed ulcerations on their foreheads. On the bright side, during my week off, I got to walk Sophie to the bus stop for her first bus ride, calked the shower, went to see The Simpson's movie, went to the amusement park with the family, and Niki did a lot of writting on the legal book she is doing now (she has a big deadline coming up).

That's about it for me.