I did it again...

I'd like to make this public to help others avoid making the same awkward comment that I have recently made for the third - count it - first, second, third time.

Three times now, in an attempt to give a gal a compliment about her youthful appearance, I have created an awkward situation. I am somewhat famous for creating awkward situations, but I do like to avoid them whenever possible. How the scene plays out is: a woman tells me that she has a child who is X years old. I say, "wow, you don't look old enough to have a child that age." Instead of saying "thanks!" like I expect her to, she then becomes uncomfortable and tells me that she had the child when she was 14, 15, or 17 respectively. It's especially awkward if this person is your boss.

I am somehow amazed that I've managed to do this three times without learning my lesson. I'm reminded of a time when I told Katie Noble that I had just eaten 3 oranges. She said, "it's not that eating three oranges is that crazy - it's that after having eaten 2 oranges, you might say to yourself, 'I think I'll have an orange'"

-Angie

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday 10/17 to the lovely and delightful Courtney Greenberg. Hope you had a great time in New York - happy day!


Happy Birthday 10/18 to my new little niece - Mckenzie Lyn Ridenour! 8 lbs, 1 oz - Couldn't be happier for you, Ryan and Joey! Congratulations!!!

For Justin, An Opinion Post

id·i·o·path·ic: adj. Of, relating to, or designating a disease having no known cause.

I think that the term "idiopathic" should be something of an embarassment to the medical community. Of course, it's only reasonable to acknowledge that not everything can be known. There is research yet to be done, and there are some things we just don't know yet. My particular beef with the term idiopathic, though, is that it seems like it's trying to hide its own meaning. It sounds like a word that a knowledgeable person would know, yet it actually works to cover up a lack of knowledge. I assume that a doctor doesn't want to say, "um, yeah, we don't know why you're having migraines," so he says, "you're having idiopathic headaches" - as though that were a satisfactory diagnosis.

I have a similar problem with the notion of an exclusionary diagnosis. I'll put a finer point on that and talk about SIDS. First of all, it's the syndrome that dare not speak its name for any parent of infants, so I hardly dare type it, but I think about it all the time, so I may as well mention it here. We don't know what causes it. The name, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, itself should be an embarassment - our diagnosis: your infant has suddenly died. And we don't know why, we just know what didn't cause it.

I accept that modern medicine has its limits, but let's call a spade a spade.

-Angie

Four Months

The official four months shot
Getting ready to start eating solids! He loves his booster seat.
Fun in the big bath tub for the first time. We probably won't return until he's sitting on his own a little better, but it was good fun.
Justin has requested an opinion post, and Matt and I are both trying to come up with suitable topics. Suggestions welcome, but I promise, an opinion post is forthcoming.