Disconnected

I am now not only notebook-less but also desktop-less as well. The IT guys came and confiscated repossessed took away my desktop under the guise of “we are going to check for viruses”!

All because I complained to them that my desktop needs a RAM upgrade (I found out that my desktop has only a 256 RAM while all the other people I know has at least 512 RAM – that’s what happens when you are the junior-most in the entire place!). After 2 emails, the IT people figured that since I claimed that it takes at least 12 minutes to start up the PC (yes I timed it) in the mornings, and when I play some music, I absolutely cannot work on the PC, when I open more than 4 windows (1 yahoo, 1 email account, 1 hotmail, 1 blog, 1 MMR) the PC hangs on me ~ the obvious diagnosis is that my PC is filthily infected!

Well, at least it’s better than what my immediate boss diagnosed the other day when she happened to use my desktop for file transfer. She said “you must have downloaded loads of stuff onto your PC!” (she didn’t exactly mentioned anything x-rated but I felt she hinted it!)

And so, I am back to the pre-internet era. Having to cope with my notebook demise, now I have to cope with being absolutely without internet connections for a few days. Sigh! I need antidepressants. Anyone has Luvox?

It must be some kinda divine intervention to wean me off blogging internet addiction. But the last I checked, my internet addiction is only 39% unlike someone I know.

Thurs, 210907 @ 1134; time goes by…so slowly, slowly….

PS: blogging this from the hospital’s free-t0-use terminals (psst…it’s behind the skin clinic) while waiting for my number to be called at the pharmacy (the missus is sick and needs meds). I don’t know why they can’t have a green-lane for staff.

Another Denialist

Last week I had a patient who was admitted with a heart attack. It was his second heart attack within a year.  He is only 45 years old and self confessed that he smokes like ‘nobody’s business’ (up to 40 cigs a day even AFTER his first heart attack!).

When I candidly advised him to consider quiting the habit, he became defensive. These were some his words to me:

“Doctor, let me tell you ah, smoking is not the issue here. People get heart attack because of all the fatty stuff they eat and it clogs up their vessels”

“My brother who doesn’t smoke at all, already has 3 heart attacks and he just went for a bypass surgery”

“Mahathir also had to undergo 2 bypasses and he doesn’t smoke”

“You see, people who don’t smoke also get lung cancer what. How can they say smoking causes lung cancer”

“Smoking is not dangerous at all, it is all the other stuffs that make a person unhealthy”

I reminded him that his brother, whilst not a smoker, had his first heart attack at the age of 56 while he has already had 2 heart attacks and he is only 45.

I also reminded him that (Tun Dr.) Mahathir is almost twice his age.

And yes, I agree that people who do not smoke also die of heart attacks or lung cancer. I tried telling him that smoking is a major risk factor for both these conditions but he cut me off mid-sentence.

In the end, I decided to just let him be. I had many other heart patients to see that morning who were more than willing to quit smoking and wished they didn’t start the habit in the first place.

Afterall, it’s his heart, not mine. Obviously he and I are not connected karmically.

Oops! I just denied the denialist!

Thurs, 200907 @ 0749; post-birthday blues complicated by 3rd day of withdrawal symptoms from notebook deprivation.