How a One Nighter Shouldn't End

Blind Via Facebook?

I found out this week I'm legally blind in one eye. But that's not the topic of this entry. Because the blindness is a "no big whoop" thing because the "legally" part means "according to the books". I see, read and all's good for the most part in that eye; I simply have (very) limited vision; it's not new so I'm already adjusted. Yay.

The cool part of the "blind" revelation is how I found out.

Messing around on Facebook I found an old high school mate/ex-neighbor. We exchanged greetings and caught up; I'll call him "George" (because that's his name). Turns out George graduated Harvard Med School and practices opthamology and specializes in glaucoma in San Francisco.

Hey! I lived in San Francisco! I wrote back. And I have advanced glaucoma!

George asked for details. And wondered why I haven't had surgery.

As luck would have it, I had an appointment with my glaucoma specialist the same week. So I posed George's question to him. And funny thing is, my doc knows George's name from the American Glaucoma Society. They're both members.

And so my doc explains that when I came in to see him the 1st time, I was legally blind then. And he and his glaucoma surgeon colleague (consulted on my case) chose not to operate because they fear a drop in pressure during surgery will kill off remaining live fiber optic nerves.

Mystery solved.

The breakdown:
By way of a childhood classmate from Cincinnati who now lives in San Francisco, a person in Israel who used to live in San Francisco discovered details of her medical condition through another specialist living in Israel who studied in Chicago (Northwestern).

All thanks to and via Facebook. Tres, tres cool. Welcome to the New World.

The Candy Shop

Let's preface this next one by saying that while I do like some of 50 Cent's stuff - In Da Club, despite the gangster theme, reminds me of an old friend who lovingly addressed me with: Yo, Whassup shorty? - I don't necessarily agree with 50's themes. I certainly don't troll for his material.

This came to me sort of by accident. I was looking for a Bar Refaeli video to put up on another blogsite and came across a video with images of Bar and the music from this video as backdrop.

I listened to the lyrics and knew I had to take a peek.

Listen to the lyrics. 50 definitely has a sense of humor.

Viagra & the Black Market

If I open my Inbox and find Spam mail there, I am generally not amused.

But I have to hand it to the inexorable hawkers of black market Viagra: They DO NOT cease attempting to cajole into clicking on provided links.

On any given day I average 4-5 messages with eye catching, dramatic subject lines and garbled text containing glowing links which, if clicked, will undoubtedly cast me into Viagra hell and render my computer viral. I "Delete All" and don't give it much thought otherwise.

This week, however, I received a message that made me cluck my tongue and nod appreciatively.

"Even James Bond uses Viagra"

Well done, underworld marketeers. I'll drink a martini to that.

I'm still not clicking.

Rapper's Delight

Living in Holy Land Central (HLC), you get some way out there Hebrew to English translations sometimes. On menus. Public signs. Or the web. And it can be really really funny. Or unfortunate. I guess it depends upon where you're sitting while taking in the view.

One Tel Aviv wedding/bar mitzvah rapper put up a website, for instance, in an attempt to advertise his wares.

He should have had someone help him choose his URL. Big time.

Click and read the URL.

See what I mean? No wonder Google traffic's a problem.

Revenge

You know how I'm going through the change and how I wake up every night at all hours?
Well I decided that if I'm awake, he's darned well going to be awake too. I call him at 2 a.m., 4 a.m. - whenever I get up. And then I hang up.

But doesn't he have caller i.d.?

Who cares? Let him know it's me! It makes me feel great!

Menopausal friend sharing her method of revenge against an ex-lover who scammed and then jilted her.

The U.S. in Iraq

I'm not one of those who supports a U.S. military presence in Iraq.

& IF I had doubts (which I don't), these Reuters pictures further bolstered my stance.