So after spending more than an hour waiting...

the doctor at the V.A. (a resident, but clearly thorough and competent) tells me that the swelling in my right hand is some kind of cellulitis infection.  She prescribed antibiotics and insisted on an x-ray to rule out any possibility of something being broken.  Between the wait to see her, to see the pharmacist, to wait for the pharmacist to talk to the doctor over a potential medication interaction, the wait to get the prescription filled and the wait for an x-ray, I was there three hours.  And it wasn't really busy.  And that's unusually fast for a walk-in.  There were at least fifteen people in the Emergency Room's waiting area, although I have no way of knowing how many were waiting to be seen and how many were just relatives of people waiting to be seen.

Things I'm pondering today:

Without mentioning who, can you guess what parents got their 17 year old daughter a pair of $1,200 shoes for Christmas?  I guess considering she's probably making enough on her own to afford a dozen pairs of them if she wants them, it's not a big deal.  If a woman wears a pair of shoes that cost that much and happens to stop at the gym to work out, is an armed guard posted next to her locker in the locker room?

Why do people ask if seats are being saved when it's obvious they are?  If the cups in the holders and the jackets or purses on the seats aren't enough of a clue, maybe the arms of the people in the adjacent seats laying across those seats in a possessive manner might be an indication?  I went to see a movie today and watched at least a dozen people trek up to the top row where I was sitting and ask if any of the four vacant seats between people around me were "being saved".  One guy was actually pissy after everyone told him that all the seats were saved.  I guess he figures he's so important he can show up less than five minutes before a big movie starts on its second day in theaters and get a great seat.

Spike Lee has criticized the use of the N-word, among other things in the new Tarantino movie "Django Unchained".  Now Sarah Silverman says that Lee's criticism is inappropriate.  My question is, is Sarah Silverman's opinion on dramatic films all that important?

Why in the world do people use such simple PIN codes for their ATM cards?  According to one researcher, almost 30% of ATM card PIN codes can be guessed with only 20 attempts.  There are 10,000 possibilities when it comes to four digit PIN codes.  Frightening.  Then again, my email account was recently hacked and I had a 14 character password for it that was alpha-numeric with both upper and lower case letters and one special character.  I've replaced it with a 21 character password that is even more complicated and no, I didn't have to write it down to remember it.

Who cares that Mark Cuban says "the Nokia Lumia 920 crushes the iPhone 5"?  He may be a billionaire and owner of an NBA team but I don't recall asking him for advice on what smartphone to buy.

Is there anyone anywhere with any modicum of intellect that thinks arming teachers is a good idea?  I know a lot of teachers.  They are almost all incredibly talented, intelligent people who are fully engaged in the educational process.  And I wouldn't want to see any of them carrying a gun on school grounds.  I know a certain former school headmaster who once voiced his desire to have one gun on school property, locked in his office where only he could retrieve it in case of emergency.  I had this vivid image of him shooting himself in the foot twice, before someone took the gun from him.  Fortunately that never got beyond the wistful mention phase.  If we reach the point where we need armed guards to keep schools safe, we need to hire people who are fully qualified to "serve and protect", rather than to instruct.

Do people really think that additional laws on gun control will keep guns out of the hands of people who are planning to commit multiple murders?  Do they still think that when you remind them that there are over 200 million privately owned firearms in the U.S.?  I am in favor of additional registration and sale restrictions on guns.  I'm in favor of requiring people to have undergone training and licensing to own a gun.  But I don't believe for a moment that any of those things will keep guns out of the hands of people who are planning multiple murders.  Maybe someone has a workable solution.  I sure don't.

How many of us knew that Jimmy Buffett, who hasn't had a hit since before Ronald Reagan was President, was worth $400 million?  He is apparently one damn smart businessman and has turned "Margaritaville" into an empire.  Meanwhile, Max Baer, who played "Jethro" on "The Beverly Hillbillies" can't get his proposed "Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Hotel/Casino" off of the drawing board.

Did anyone else notice that L.A. area TV sportscaster Jim Hill is making more errors these days?  When he did a piece on the tonight's Lakers game, he said "the Lakers ended their five game losing streak with a loss to the Denver Nuggets".  They were on a winning streak, Jim.  You don't end a losing streak with another loss.

Are there really laws that prevent stores from selling "candy cigarettes"?  Wow.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1831, Charles Darwin sailed on the HMS Beagle, where he would formulate his theory of evolution.
On this date in 1845, Ether was used as an anesthetic during childbirth for the first time.  No, the mother giving birth did not yell "give me drugs and give them to me now".
On this date in 1923, a Japanese student tried to assassinate Prince Hirohito.
On this date in 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.  Back then there were only two Rockettes.
On this date in 1945, the World Bank and the International Money Fund were created when 29 nations signed an agreement.  Later that day, their loan department was accused of "red-lining".
On this date in 1968, Apollo 8 splashed down, ending the first manned mission to orbit the moon.
On this date in 1978, Spain became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.  By then, "Saturday Night Live" was no longer using the running gag "Our top story tonight; Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead".
On this date in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
And on this date in 1960, actress and Bond Girl Maryam D'Abo was born.