29 JUN 2007 – 01 JUL 2007
Last Thursday and Friday Amanda got me all wrapped up in the Helmet Wars again (bicycle helmets, that is) as she decided to do a morning report on bicycle helmets, what primary care physicians should know about them, blah blah blah. I allow that helmets could (possibly) help an individual avoid or lessen some theoretical injury, but I do not believe that their use should be mandated, and I do not think studies have been convincing otherwise. That their use should be mandated, that is, as there are many more confounding factors involved. We got in to a spirited argument again about all this again as I have read way too much about this subject, although nothing in a while: a point that Amanda drove home that new studies have appeared, and I had to concede that I have not kept up on the issue.
One of my earliest talks with Amanda when I first met her was about bicycle helmet use. She did not believe me about the limitations of a perfectly fitted and intact bicycle helmet and insisted I calculate by hand the forces involved (which I did). Most people equate bicycle helmets with full closed faced motorcycle helmets, and they are really not in the same league.
Anyways, I read a lot more recent stuff, and I still don’t think the case has been made.
Of course, Amanda went ahead with her presentation entitled something like “the Efficacy of Bicycle Helmets or How My Husband is Very Very Wrong”.
Helmets are mandatory here in Seattle, which is unfortunate. The police should spent more time ticketing all the bicyclists who ignore traffic rules instead. IMHO of course.
Amanda had ordered a steam cleaner earlier in the week as her anniversary present, and that arrived, so I tried it out on the carpet in the office and the lower staircase. It was shocking how much stuff came up that the Dyson Animal could not get. The carpet definitely looks a lot better. I did determine that all the dark spots on the carpet were not due to my foot traffic, but rather dirt and oils from the piglet! All the spots are where she typically sleeps. Crazy really, since she always seems so clean. I guess the carpet does a good job.
We had a very early dinner at El Sombrero in Columbia City to celebrate Amanda’s R3 promotion. El Sombrero’s service is very good, and they always card me. I take that as a compliment. The food itself is alright.
Saturday I went to the gym while Amanda and Mandy went grocery shopping. When they returned, all of us (including Bryan) went strawberry picking at Remlinger Farms in Carnation. The fields were quite picked over when we got there. Since we were only getting stuff for jam, though, our standards were a lot lower, so we were able to get a goodly amount of berries. We thought a lot of people were going to be unhappy in the evening, because they were not picking with good posture (all that bending over will kill them later).
We also took a look at their raspberries, but they were not really ready yet.
Remlinger Farms is one of those destination farm places: they have a playground, a ride area, u-pick areas, crafts, a big market, a restaurant,etc.. We had lunch at the restaurant, and the food was good. They serve a healthy portion of fries which I always appreciate.
The evening was low key as we got back from the farm pretty late. We had the usual salad and bread dinner. I’ve been drinking a lot of boxed wine because Amanda does not partake anymore and boxed wine is really pretty good for the price and more importantly it stays relatively good for weeks. So I can have one glass with dinner easily.
Sunday, we had brunch at Eve and Karl’s house. It was good to see them as we have not since Amanda and Eve’s combined birthday party as they had been traveling and life has been busy. I got to see Satchel for a second, but he More Important Things To Do rather than be friends with me.
After brunch, we went on a short jaunt to Tukwila to again look for some buttons for the sweater Amanda knit for her coworker who recently had her baby.
Amanda has been feeling pretty crappy over the past week, and because of that and other reasons we went to Urgent Care after obtaining the buttons. Among other things, we got to see all 4-5 mm of the progeny who is in the correct place and presumably happy except for the bombardment of ultrasound waves.
We were at Urgent Care for a long time, maybe 5.5-6 hours (mostly waiting as one might imagine), so we walked down 15th Ave to get something to eat since we were both starving and it was pretty late. We ended up eating Thai at Jamjuree.
Amanda eventually went back to the hospital as one of her patients (the sister of her coworker who just had a baby in fact) was also in labor. Fortunately for both she was not there all night but returned around 2:30am.