Secular Confessions

[demigraf]

I hope he went down before midnight, Bridget. I'm glad to hear he seems to be on the mend.

DH & I have started watching this show on the History Channel called The United Stats of America. It's these twin comedian brothers who present different topics in terms of the statistics around them... things like what inventions contributed to population distribution in the country, why the US is the fattest country when we used to be the tallest, what determines who will get a tattoo, how are we likely to die, etc. The last show was about time, how we spend it and how to maximize it. They shared statistics that suggested that if you spend a few minutes every hour on a diversion like FB or some other non-productive activity, it actually makes you more productive for the rest of the hour. So I have embraced that statistic and will try to check in here more often.

[missychrissy]

Nice!! That show sounds interesting.

We had our "All Staff" picnic/celebration today. Who would have thought a bunch of white, middle aged people that work for Cornell's Alumni Affairs would get down to hip-hop? I have to say, it was the most fun I had at work, without alcohol, ever. They're nuts! (in a good way). And we were released for the day WOO HOO!

[Smplyme89]

Nice!! That show sounds interesting.

We had our "All Staff" picnic/celebration today. Who would have thought a bunch of white, middle aged people that work for Cornell's Alumni Affairs would get down to hip-hop? I have to say, it was the most fun I had at work, without alcohol, ever. They're nuts! (in a good way). And we were released for the day WOO HOO!

I can just picture it!!!

[AmeriBrit]

That's a pretty funny scene to picture, Chrissy! I'm known to blast the 2pac myself when the kids aren't in the car with me! (And that's on the list of Stuff White People Like....lol)

Have y'all seen a cartoon called Adventure Time? The only cartoon channel that they'd had on the cruise was the Cartoon Channel and it showed that show and The Adventures of Gumball....those 2 cartoons are really whack! I really kind of like them, though. Spongebob has always been my fave since being a teen, but these 2 are more for adults than kids...kind of like something I would have made up in my imagination as a kid.

Any way, I know that was totally random! My houseguests just left. It was really fun to have them over (friends that used to live in the UK but now live in the US), but it's nice to have the house back to ourselves now.

[missychrissy]

I'm glad your visit went well Ash. I never heard of either cartoon. I also never heard of Stuff White People Like. Is that a web site?

[AmeriBrit]

Yep, it's a web site. And really funny because it's so true. Some stuff on there that I'm like, yeah, that's so me are-Conan O'Brien, My So Called Life, and the World Cup soccer.

[missychrissy]

I must not be white.

[3andMe]

Stuff White People Like is pretty funny. I haven't looked at it in a long time, but I remember thinking it was fairly accurate at the time.

I have never heard of the cartoons, though.

I'm just jumping in here on my work break which is over in another minute, although I stayed up-to-date on my road trip. I wanted to tell you about the sweetest thing DD said the other night. We were all having dinner and she asked if it was ever possible for two girls to marry. DH and I said yes. So she looked at me and said, "Mommy, do you think when I grow up, that I could marry you?" It makes my heart swell every time I think about it.

Welcome back to everyone who has been gone!

[missychrissy]

That is so sweet!!

[Gwenn]

I just melted. That's adorable.

[demigraf]

I wanted to tell you about the sweetest thing DD said the other night. We were all having dinner and she asked if it was ever possible for two girls to marry. DH and I said yes. So she looked at me and said, "Mommy, do you think when I grow up, that I could marry you?" It makes my heart swell every time I think about it.

Did anyone else hear that they optioned Stuff White People Like for a movie? I wonder how that'll translate. The movie versions of Fast Food Nation and Freakonomics didn't really fry my burger.

[missychrissy]

I hadn't heard, but then I never heard of the site either. It's funny, but I can't say it's been very accurate from what I read so far. Just to use Ash's examples above, I'm not into any and know no one that is! Conan is like nails-on-a-chalkboard to me, I don't know what my so called life is (I'm assuming a tv show, but I've never even seen it while flipping channels) and I certainly don't get into the World Cup stuff. I'd almost rather attend church than get a jersey and participate in a WC party.

See. I'm not white!

[AmeriBrit]

Hmm....I'm looking at the site now to see if I can prove that you're white, Chrissy. LOL. I see things like: Facebook, The Onion, and Barack Obama, but that's all....you must not be palest shade of white!

[missychrissy]

I like two out of those 3. I'm not a fan of the Onion. I often look at it and go Huh? But I do love me some Obama and Facebook.

[AmeriBrit]

The first time I ever read The Onion was in NYC on our honeymoon. A homeless guy came in to the pizza shop where we were eating and shoved it at Dh and was like "buy this." and dh was like "how much?" When he replied 10 dollars, my dh was like hell no, but then the guy said: can't you read? It says right here that it's 5 dollars. Lol. We bought it to get rid of him.

[missychrissy]

I probably would have too. There are always interesting characters in NYC.

[AmeriBrit]

The most aggressive homeless people I've ever come across, though, were in Memphis. They walk along side you to intimidate you to give them some cash. I now know what parts of Memphis to not stray in to!

[Bridget]

I love The Onion. It was started in my hometown!

[Cosmosmom]

Dh used to read it all the time in college. But it was always a free thing that was around campus. He would read me parts sometimes but often it wasn't my sense of humor.

[Ky'sMom]

The most aggressive homeless people I've ever come across, though, were in Memphis. They walk along side you to intimidate you to give them some cash. I now know what parts of Memphis to not stray in to!

They are like that here in Atlanta too, very aggressive.

You should read the Stuff White People Like blog, it is pretty funny. I also don't agree with a lot of them (from knowing the white people I know who think most of them are about things liberal west coast white people like) but they are funny all the same.

I have heard of the Onion but never read it.

[girlwonder]

File this in the "He who laughs last" file: Guess whose second immersion blender in two weeks broke? Yep. Guess who is now thinking we need a powerful ice-crushing blender? yep. We aren't going to be getting the $450 blender, though. I just got an Oster to see how that does for a while - it was $30. I hope it lasts longer than the $60 Cuisinart immersion blender that lasted 10 days.

[missychrissy]

Oh my that's funny! I bet the cheap one lasts longer

[3andMe]

I'm guessing that even if the new blender breaks within a short period of time, you won't be quite as upset.

I've had pretty good luck with cheapie appliances, for the most part. I mean the small kitchen appliances. Not washers or dryers or anything like that. My blender has held up to all kinds of things, and my cheap crock pot lasted a good 10 years of hard wear. So did my toaster.

Mandy, I've been thinking about what you wrote about S. maybe having some subtle hearing impairment, like maybe unilateral or low frequency, and I've been watching him and thinking about him in the past few days, seeing if I could pick up any more cues besides him just being really loud sometimes. I also mentioned it to DH. Is there anything else we should be looking for? Because I can't think of anything else, besides him being really continuously loud sometimes. He can be really quiet. He has a very broad dynamic range. He loves music and carries a tune and sings better now than the twins do at several years older. He can hear really quiet noises. He doesn't seem to turn his head when he listens, as if he favored one ear. The only way he would quiet down on our drive back was when I sang something unfamiliar to him (medieval songs in minor keys). He expresses a lot of vocalizations, again, more than the twins did and at a much younger age. DH thinks he is just clamoring for attention and likes being loud because there were times when he was little that we almost forgot we had a third child. We don't forget now. Do you think it's worth checking into?

I like the Onion too, for the most part. Not enough to go seek it out, but enough to find it amusing when I read the articles.

[Gwenn]

The main thing to look for with a unilateral loss would be difficulty localizing the source of a sound. But, hearing is so complex, your ear is organized by frequency on each side so if he was missing only certain frequencies on one side, it would be almost impossible to tell at home, especially as you actually transfer sound through the bones of your skull to both ears. A unilateral loss is extremely hard to catch informally. That's the biggest reason schools do hearing screenings of their students throughout the elementary years.

I actually have a frequency-specific loss, just at 500 hz and only in my left ear. I can hear that frequency at 30 dB (indicating a moderate loss), but not any lower. I can hear all other frequencies at normal threshold. The only reason in the world I know this is from volunteering for a hearing study when I was an undergrad in communication disorders. The results of my test were a little off, so I asked my professor about it and he gave me a full hearing test. He said it was most likely genetic in nature and there was no telling how long I had had it. I do have trouble localizing certain sounds, such the slamming of a car door, but others I can localize just fine. Every so often DH and I will end up in an argument over the source of some low banging sound in the middle of the night, and I have to remember I'm probably not hearing it correctly. But I sing and have a good sense of pitch, so it doesn't affect that. Like I said, I would never have known unless it was tested. You couldn't test informally while controlling for every frequency, because noises in nature are not pure tones, even notes on a piano or keyboard.

[Suja]

Reading, but not posting much. Don't have anything to say. Plus, I'm in a vile sort of mood, really short tempered and snappy, especially with Mira (who has a bad cold and has reverted to her whiny, clingy, super defiant self). Not good company right now.

[Gwenn]

I haven't posted much in here recently, either, Suja. I've also been feeling a little grumpy do I sympathize.

So tell me I'm not a bad person (well, maybe I am). I just went to a local sandwich place and got a sandwich to go. They have a big basket of brownies, cookies, and cake next to the register, so when the cashier asked me if I wanted anything else, I picked out a brownie, held it up, and told him, "this brownie." he charged me for it, I paid, etc. When they brought me the bag with my order in it, they put another brownie in the bag - so I ended up with two. Now I feel like I just stole a brownie.

I will add that I have been going to this restaurant for over 20 years, and I always pick my own brownie from the basket, and he saw me do it.

[3andMe]

Should I have him screened at this point? Or would it be difficult to test? I know the twins were tested by headphone at their 4-year-appointment, and they were able to raise their hands when they heard the tones, but I don't think S. would be able to cooperate. Mandy, thanks as always for your advice!

Suja, I hope things get better for you. It's so hard to have a sick child. My sympathies!!!!

Here is a funny conversation between my twins from the way home tonight:

C: I can run faster than a cheetah. That's why they call me cheetah girl.
R: I am faster than an eagle can fly. Or a person can fall.
C: Well I am just really fast.
R: I am faster than a polar bear can swim.
C: That is actually not that fast.
R: I am really fast, though. I am faster than a hyena can run.
C: I guess you are fast.

And some more:

R to my mom. "Why did you name her Lydia? You should have named her Beautiful, because that's what she is."

And singing a song they are rehearsing for their graduation ceremony from preschool, wherein they mention that the world will live together in harmoly. I ask them if they are sure it's harmoLy, because that's not a word and harmoNy would make more sense. C says, "Well, it might make more sense, but harmoLy sounds more beautifuller and I think it rhymes better so I think we'll keep it in there."

[Gwenn]

Harmoly! Cute.

They have ways to test younger kids. They can do OAEs, and I know my loss showed up on an OAE test, and that's what sent me asking my professor about it in the first place.

Sometimes for toddlers they do a sound-field test where the child is conditioned to look in the direction of a tone and rewarded by an animated stuffed animal lighting up and moving. The problem is that this manner of testing would not reveal a one-sided loss because both ears would be exposed. If he would tolerate headphones, the stuffed animal technique would work because they could test only one ear at a time (and they "mask" the other ear). If he will tolerate that method with headphones, it's the best way to do it.

[3andMe]

Speaking of The Onion, this is one of the reasons I have issues with it. It can often be more depressing than funny. It's funny, yes, but depressing at the same time.

Middle-Aged Woman Angrily Demanding Price Check On Rice Pudding Was Once Carefree Youth, Onlookers Speculate


Mandy, that seems like a lot of testing to be done just because my toddler shouts a lot. I could probably write to my pediatrician and ask for it, but it might be all part of his whole kind of general personality spectrum that seems to be a bit more high maintenance. Would you recommend that I ask about it?

[Gwenn]

You're right, it could easily just be part of his personality. They way I look at it, a hearing test is non-invasive and has no risks, and of something is found, if nothing else there would be an explanation. It might not need treatment (I don't need a hearing aid or anything) but it would allow you to work around the issue or take extra care if he has an ear infection in the good ear. If his hearing is good, you can rule it out.

Then again, some parents find testing their child's hearing pretty stressful because they can cry or not tolerate the headphones and parents don't want to put their kids through that. Not all kids react that way, but certainly some do. I understand. I would probably test my own kid in that circumstance, but I'm sure I'm likely to be more aggressive about that than most parents are. Still, it's a good first step and as I said, painless and risk-free.

Eta: I agree about the onion. I do find it funny, but it is a cynical enough that I don't seek it out.