October 25, 2019
Dear Everyone:
I’ve been running all over town this afternoon trying to get ready for
another of PG&E’s “Public Safety” Planned Blackouts this weekend.
Getting cash from the bank, since ATM’s will not work without
electricity. Granted the
branch that I usually go to is at “Company Park”, which has its own
emergency power generators, but that might not extend to the Credit
Union, as it is a completely separate entity.
Making sure the gas tank is filled up.
Gas stations don’t work without power either.
I also needed to get a new book light.
My newest eReader has a battery promised to last “weeks instead
of hours”. But it’s always
nice to have a backup. For
one thing, you can’t download a new book when the power is out as the
modem doesn’t function without electricity.
So what to do if I suddenly finish the one I’m reading and
haven’t got another lined up?
(Nonsense. Of course I have
another lined up!)
During the last blackout, I tried reading a favorite history book; and
it was clear that the old book light was on its last legs, so to speak.
So today I popped over to the last known actual brick-and-mortar
bookstore in this part of the East Bay.
I had done some online research and knew that all book lights are
now the LED variety, most using an internal rechargeable battery.
If I had to plug it in to charge up its little battery, I needed
to do it before tomorrow night.
Much to my delight, I discovered several lights that actually use good,
old-fashioned AAA batteries that can be replaced when the current ones
run out of juice. (No pun
intended.) Naturally, I have
a plentiful store of batteries on hand.
Of course, in the middle of all this, the medication reminder in my cell
phone started playing its ducky little heart out.
It was time for more eye drops.
These days, I’m down to only two or three different kinds of drops,
depending on the time of day.
The trick is to be sure that I do them in the correct order.
And they have such complicated names.
Ketorolac, which I call “kettle blacks”.
And Prednisolone, also known as “pregnant solons”.
Honestly, my names make about as much sense as the ones the
pharmacology companies give them.
Actually, I know one reason why they come up with such silly names as
they do.
Nearly 20 years ago, I was chatting with the president of a small
software company. They were
launching a new product. He
told me about discussing the name with his patent attorney.
The president thought something short and easily remembered would be
good. The attorney laughed
in his face. The attorney
told the president, and his staff, to get a dictionary and a thesaurus.
Start writing down all the words you like.
Cull through them until you have a list of about a half-dozen.
Then, and only then, would the attorney start a copyright
registration search to find out which ones were already taken.
The same thing applies to medications.
All the good names are in use.
Try to name it something that at least implies what it’s for and
also sounds “scientific”. Or
take a bunch of letters and just throw them up into the air and see what
comes down.
Half of one, six dozen of the other.
Oh, and as for that “medication reminder app” on my smartphone:
It’s actually the alarm function of the built in clock.
I pick a time, give it a name, add a ringtone and it’s done.
Each time it goes off, I just reset the time to four hours ahead
until the final time in the evening.
Then I reset it to the next morning.
That way I don’t forget about the “kettle blacks” and the
“pregnant solons”.
Love, as always,
Pete
| Previous | Next |