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Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Dental Implants

I've had a dental implant for over two years now. Many years ago one of my molars got a bad cavity and it was in need of attention. For a few years I lived with a filling. Then it got deteriorated to the point that it required a root canal and a crown. Root canals aren't as scary as some people imagine. They're just an annoying procedure with a long Novocain hangover. I've had a couple done and can't recall having a horrible experience. The trick is to have them done by someone who has the proficiency. A few years passed and the crown dislodged. Turns out the molar had become too rotten to provide a base for that crown and I was finally forced to have it pulled altogether. I had three options at that time. Get a bridge, get an implant, or live with the gap.

I chose the easiest and cheapest option. I just left it empty. I was warned that having that gap in my teeth would cause the other teeth to close in to fill in the empty space, resulting in more trouble later on with crooked teeth and other gaps opening, so I resolved to get it fixed as soon as I was mentally and financially ready. Six years passed and during a visit at an oral surgeon's office to have an impacted wisdom tooth pulled, I decided that it was time to get the gap filled with an implant. Luckily, during that long period my surrounding teeth had maintained their position and hadn't leaned in to fill the empty spot. There was also the risk of bone loss in that area, making it difficult to install the implant, but again, fortunately, my jaw bone apparently hadn't been affected too negatively. And so after the agony of having my wisdom tooth pulled out in pieces, the surgeon screwed in the titanium base for the implant. The procedure involved drills, ratchets, and wrenches; I felt like I was in a machine shop being worked on by a mechanic. Robocop would have been proud. A few months later, with the screw base tightly bound to my jaw bone, I finally received the crown and once again I had a full set of teeth.

Dental implants, if installed right, are truly a miracle of modern medicine. They work and feel just like natural teeth and in some respects they are even better as they are supposed to last a lifetime without the risk of cavities. As long as proper care is taken to keep them clean, one wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Except that last weekend, while eating, I suddenly felt the crown being tossed around in my mouth. The cement had deteriorated and the crown had come loose. I wrapped the crown in a napkin and went about my weekend with the implant's base exposed, an unnatural looking peg sticking out of my gum.

Going to the dentist today to have the crown reset, I inquired about the reason why the supposed permanent fixture had come loose. The answer was that my dentist had opted to use temporary cement instead of the permanent kind. That would make the removal much easier should there ever be a need to work in the area to correct possible problems. The downside was that during the two-day weekend period the gum tissue had grown around the base causing a painful pinch when the crown was positioned on top. It sure felt uncomfortable when I saw the dentist sticking what appeared to be a razor blade in my mouth to remove the excess gum. A few cuts here and there and the crown was back in its place with another gob of temporary cement. It was ready for service immediately.

As far I know, dental implants aren't suited for everyone. Apparently they require strong jaw bones for anchoring with enough distance from nerves and other parts to avoid damage to one's face. They are also expensive and receive little or no coverage from many insurance plans. But if you are a suitable candidate to receive one, they may be worth a look. Just make sure it's done by a skilled oral surgeon.
dental implants,dentists,oral surgeons,teeth,tooth decay,cavities,root canal,crowns
<Dental Implants>

// posted by rh

4 comments |

Sunday, August 28, 2005

My top 5 most hated drivers

I've been a driver for nearly 20 years and like anyone else, I've made my shares of mistakes behind the wheel. My worst offense was getting caught while driving insanely above the speed limit on a highway. I was a teenager at the time filled with that mental drug called invincibility.

Well, the judge wasn't amused. He fined me a sum that seemed to me like a small treasure at that time, and my license was suspended for 20 days. An expensive lesson that has stayed with me to this day. As the adage goes, "with age comes wisdom", or perhaps cowardice. Whatever the case, these days I can't fathom driving even near those speeds of the yesteryear. I have now pretty much turned into a defensive driver who tries to get along with the other fellow riders. But there are a few types of drivers that irritate the hell out of me, and here is the top 5 list starting with most irritating:

1-Cell phone chatterers - These people irritate me everywhere, but mostly when they are driving. You can tell by the erratic driving and lack of attention to the rules. The worst offenders are those driving standard cars, juggling the wheel, the phone, and the stick-shift, while supposedly paying attention to the road. Thankfully laws are being passed banning this practice. If not for safety, it should be banned just for its annoyance. Hang it up.

2-Indecisive souls - You’ve seen them. Blinkers indicating left turn, while they are making a right. They ride the middle lane on a two-lane road at 5 mph. They are more of a hazard than I was in my teenage years. If you can't make up your mind, you don't belong behind the wheel. Walk.

3-Tailgaters - What exactly is the point of tailgating? I realize that slow drivers are sometimes aggravating, but tailgating them isn't going to turn them into Earnhardts. It could even annoy them enough to slow it further down. Tailgaters are too dumb to realize this, and somehow they are conditioned to believe that this practice gets them to their destination faster by inspiring the driver up front to see the error of his ways. Back off.

4-Traffic light runners - I know the urge of squeezing your car past that yellow light is strong, but it's not worth it. I was once hit by one of these types, who apparently believed that running a freshly turned red light is legal. Needless to say that he got to his destination much later than if he had obeyed the rules. Yellow light means prepare to stop, and when you realize that the light is about to turn red, conquer that obsession to beat it. Stop the car and relax. The light will turn green again. Promise.

5-Oncoming high-beamers - Some are forgetful, others are too arrogant. I can deal with the first type fine, since it happens to most of us. A gentle flash corrects the situation. Being confronted with someone's high beams in the back roads is not just a nuisance, it's dangerous. Every time a high beam catches my eyes at night on a dark street, it renders me pretty blind and driving becomes a stunt act. A small obstacle like a fallen rock could yield a big disaster. So how do I deal with the arrogant drivers shining their lights in my face? I give them a taste of their medicine by flipping my lights high. Admittedly, two blind drivers are worst than one. But in most cases they get the message and knock it off, and I immediately reciprocate and we end up with two sighted drivers passing each other.

If you fit one or more of the above types, just put down your cell phone and switch to low beams when you see me coming. You can find plenty more drivers to annoy.

drivers,cars,speeding,cell phones,traffic,high beams
<My top 5 most hated drivers>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

Friday, August 26, 2005

Advertising - two for one

What does Sprint have in common with BMW? SAS Institute with Amazon.com? Nissan with Microsoft? Give up? The dissimilar pairs have recently appeared in the same ads in some popular magazines. One company uses the other as a case sample in the ad, and they both score brand recognition on one page. talk about killing two birds with one stone.

The concept is nothing new. I'm pretty confident I have seen it over the years. Perhaps I never paid attention to it, or maybe they weren't as prevalent as they are these days, or perhaps the companies running the ads weren't as renowned as the ones I have seen recently.

Since I wasn't able to find a term for this practice, I decided to call it covertising, as in cooperative advertising. I work for a publishing company, but I'm not intimately familiar with the industry practices. Perhaps the host company gets a kickback from the mentioned company. This would be akin to an ad within an ad, or a sponsorship arrangement. Or perhaps the money flows the other way. In that case the host company pays the mentioned company a certain amount for the privilege of using them as a success story in the ad. Or maybe it's a wash since both companies are already well-known, and they receive relatively equal exposure.

As far as I can tell, covertising is a great concept and it allows both parties achieve win/win. It's a symbiotic relationship that is more than the sum of its parts. By that I mean that each company receives more than half exposure, if not the same value as having an entire page dedicated to themselves. The support and counter-support value adds a positive dimension to the companies involved.

The potential losers in covertising are the publishers. While they might have been able to score two separate ads, they would generally charge the host company for one insertion. However, if more companies take up covertising, publishers could start demanding higher fees for these ads. But for now advertisers seem be enjoying the benefits of covertising - less cost (maybe) and more exposure.

advertising,magazines,covertising,publishers,companies
<Advertising - two for one>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

Saturday, August 20, 2005

My top 5 most hated stores

A couple of days ago I was given the unenviable task (by guess who) of buying something from The Home Depot in my lunch hour. This has been one of the worst summers in my recollection in terms of Home Depot trips. I feel like I'm in the store every other day aimlessly walking about looking for something I can live without.

Anyways, searching in the Home Depot isles looking for hinges, it occurred to me that there are a few places that I really hate to shop or dine, and so I decided to make a short list. Now, let me make it clear that this is just one man's opinion. If you disagree, leave a note. I can handle opposing views just fine. So here's the list from worst to less worse:

1- Wal-Mart - If this store was as famous as K-Mart when the movie Rain Man was made, you would have heard Cruise telling Hoffman, "Wal-Mart sucks." And does it ever. I'm no pretentious snob (at least I don’t think so), but looking for lowest prices in a warehouse full of Chinese-made junk isn't my idea of fun. But lest you think I'm judgmental, I actually defied my wife a few times and tried Wal-Mart. The result was items that I disposed of quickly, or leaving the store empty-handed with a headache.

2- Taco Bell - I'm not much of a fast-food diner, but my last visit to Taco Bell was six years ago and I haven't been back since. What I experienced was bad food and no sanitation. Yeah, run for the border and don't come back.

3- The Home Depot - This is one of those stores that I hate to shop at, but I keep finding myself in there over and over. They have decent quality and selection, and prices are fair. But finding what you want and paying for it takes immense patience. The omni-present crowds, especially on weekends, is a test of endurance. I always have to mentally prepare myself before shopping there.

4- Neiman Marcus - I told you I'm not a snob, otherwise I would have loved this store. Want to rub shoulders with a bunch of pretend-wealthy people? Then that's the store for you. I can't find anything in there that even my daddy can afford, and fur isn't my style anyways.

5- Car dealers - Okay, I couldn't come up with a particular one because they're all the same. Pushy salespeople and that feeling of being taken for a ride (no pun intended) no matter what. The last time I bought a car from a dealer was over 15 years ago when I had just graduated from college and finally had a job with a steady income. Being giddy with my whopping 30K salary, I succumbed to the obligatory ritual and bought that semi-new car, a demo VW Golf. What I really ended up with was inflated financing, inflated insurance, and inflated tax. The only good car is a used car you buy cash from a dealer you really trust.

If you work for one of these places or are a loyal customer, feel free to disagree. Like I said, it's just one man's opinion, and, needless to say, subject to change.

wal-mart,walmart,taco bell,home depot,neiman marcus,car dealers,k-mart,vw
<My top 5 most hated stores>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

E-ZPass service fee scam

For those you who have E-ZPass (EZPass or EZ-Pass, I can never spell it right) tags, you'd better take a look at your recent statement. No, this is not about phantom charges for some bridge you never crossed. It's about a $1 service charge that was quietly added in july.

Generally, when I receive my E-ZPass statements in the mail, I just glance over the balance amount and if it seems in line, I toss it. For some strange reason, I actually reviewed my last statement to see what kind of charges they have on it, and that is when I discovered the mysterious $1 account service fee.

The next day, I asked one of my coworkers if he knew anything about this. No, he said. But then he checked his account online and sure enough he was also being charged. So finally I decided to call E-ZPass and see what was up. It turns out that the E-ZPass tags are assigned by various authorities in new york, including Port Authority, New York State Thruway, and MTA. Mine was issued by the MTA. The Port Authority had been charging its E-ZPass customers the $1 service fee for a while, and the MTA, apparently feeling left-out, decided to silently add the fee.

What a perfect scam, bait and switch, swindle, robbery. First they sucker you into getting one of these tags so they can save money on toll collectors, then they charge you a service fee for the privilege of charging you at the toll plazas. And on top of it all, they sneak the charge in, hoping people wouldn't notice. When Kozlowski taps Tyco's money, that's fraud and embezzlement, and he must be punished. But when the government steals (and these outfits are quasi-government sorts), I guess it's called legitimate practice.

Hey Spitzer, are you awake?

E-ZPass
EZPass
toll
mta
New York
Port Authority
fees
scam
<E-ZPass service fee scam>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Cult of religion

The Israeli pull-out of the Gaza settlements is a time for me to reflect on how throngs of people are misled into believing that their religious beliefs gives them a higher status than others.

Strangely, Arabs and Jews have a lot more in common than what appears on the surface. They share the same genealogy, and both sides continue to believe in antiquated ideas instilled by their parents and perpetuated by their religious leaders for generations.

Stoking the flames of hatred and feelings of supremacy over other races and religions, these religious extremists are no doubt aware of the absurdities they feed their followers. And why not? There is immense amount of fame and fortune for these bigots in what they do. Even for those misguided few who might believe in what they preach, there is the promise of after-life rewards.

Under their sinister guidance, many people grow up believing that their race, their creed, and their god is superior to those of others. They feed on the society without giving anything back. Indeed, they give back superstition, vitriol, and empty promises of redemption.

If they devoted even a tiny margin of their influence and eloquence to preach about the real issues facing the world today such as hunger, poverty, disease, and environmental crises, perhaps they could make a positive difference. But alas, self-serving cults (and make no mistake about it, many religions are cults, only on a grand scale) were never intended to make a positive impact. As long as they persist, so will the bigotry.

jews
arabs
israel
palestine
god
religion
cult

<Cult of religion>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

Friday, August 12, 2005

Flying Song

Last week I was in San Francisco at a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) event that my company produces. I go to these shows as a technical person to support our registration system. The system is used to register people on site, it also synchronizes with the online server back home, and it produces bar-coded badges for the attendees among other tasks. I developed the program a while back, so I can't sing its praises enough. But I digress.

As usual I hadn't checked my flight paperwork until a couple of days before the trip, so when I saw I was flying with an airline called Song, I wasn't sure what to think of it. Arriving late at the airport and rushing to the terminal, I realized then that Song was actually part of Delta Airlines.

I hear that Song is modeled after Jet Blue. I've never flown Jet Blue, so I don't have a basis for comparison. The plane's interior is rather colorful, and the announcements were definitely more cheerful than the dull ones you hear on traditional flights.

There is beverage service, but if you want a meal, you have to pay. Meal prices are moderately expensive for the quality and if you don't act fast enough, they may run out of what you want from the menu. I suppose they only stock a minimum amount. Flight attendants seemed pretty friendly; as friendly as they could get these days, I suppose.

The best feature of the flight is the entertainment. Every seat has a built in TV screen with a number of channels broadcast by the Dish network. There are also movies and games available, but you guessed it, you'd have to pay to get those. As usual, not a whole lot to watch on TV, but the music and the trivia games made up for that. There was a number of albums you could choose to listen to. The selections were limited but I found some decent albums in there. The interface is like an mp3 player; you can skip songs and switch albums. I found out that the band "Better than Ezra" has some decent tunes.

The trivia game is also another attraction. There are groups of twenty questions about movies, fashion, sports, etc. and players have a certain amount of time to choose the right answer. The faster they pick the correct answer, the higher their score. The interesting part of the game is that other passengers can get in on the game and compete with each other. I never won the game, but came close a few times.

All in all, I think Delta Song has a good thing going. Mine was one of those rare times that a long flight actually didn't seem so long, mainly thanks to the music and the trivia games.
delta
song
airline
flight
jet blue
<Flying Song>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Credit card opt out

When is having good credit a bad thing? When it contributes to wasted paper and jamming your mailbox with junk mail. If you, like many others, are cursed with good credit, no doubt you've been hassled with these come-ons everyday. Apparently the credit card companies are so desperate for new customers that even those with marginal or no credit receive copious offers every week, if not multiple invitations every day.

The recent tactic is stuffing the envelopes with real-sized sample credit cards and printing "Do Not Bend" on the outside to make them seem like important letters. There are now so many of these envelopes floating around that it is inevitable that some would fall into wrong hands and that's a recipe for a long nightmare.

As usual, these institution are too happy to offer you credit when you don't need it. Of course, if you ever needed a credit card, they would be happy to provide one for exorbitant fees and high interest rates. So what is a consumer to do to stop this avalanche? I suppose one way to fight back is to return the pre-stamped envelopes empty. Nowadays, however, many issuers have barcoded the return envelopes so they can identify the senders. You could cut out the barcode before mailing the empty envelopes back, but why should they be allowed to take up so much of your time to begin with. Besides, unless everyone started to send back the empty envelopes, they would just write that off as the cost of marketing and the junk mail would continue to flow.

That's why I was delighted to finally find out a relatively obscure Web site, ran by the major credit bureaus, to stop them from sharing credit data with the issuers. You see, the issuers routinely pay the bureaus for lists of people with good credit to mail their junk mail to. The practice is known as pre-screening. Without such a clean list, their cost of marketing could become prohibitively expensive, and they would stop the practice. By opting out of such lists, you would forbid the bureaus to share your information with the issuers and your name would be eliminated from the list, hence the junk mail should logically subside.

You can opt out by calling 888-5-OPT-OUT (888-567-8688), or visiting the Web site at https://www.optoutprescreen.com/. I can't say with confidence whether opting out of pre-screening would help reduce the amount of credit card junk mail. But given no other alternatives, I decided to add my name to this list and see what happens. Even if it cuts down the junk mail by a small margin, it would be a welcome relief.

credit card
opt-out
junk mail
prescreen
<Credit card opt out>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

Sunday, August 07, 2005

NYC Hiking

My wife and I set out to New York City today to check out a free Persian concert she wanted to see at the very north end of Central Park, the Dana discovery center. As I had mentioned in my previous blogs, I am not fond of Persian music nor am I a big fan of big cities, but she is a lot more cultured than I am and I just couldn't deny her the experience. Besides there was the promise of Persian food for lunch, and there is no way I'd pass up on that.

One of the best ways to experience the city is by walking it. Of course, I don't just walk, I hike, and that is another incentive for me to visit the city. We live about 80 minutes north of Manhattan. Parking on the side of the street on Sundays is no problem, so we parked at the corner of 10th avenue and 56th street and began the journey on foot.

First order of the business was lunch, so we walked to 5th avenue and 30th street to the restaurant and had a nice Persian meal. Then we started the hike to the upper west corner of Central Park, 5th avenue and 110th street. It was a warm and humid day and once we got to the park, we decided to walk uptown through the park. Central Park is a nice reprieve from the noise and commotion of the city, but walking the whole length of the park is not for the faint-hearted. Sweaty and weary, we finally made it to the concert an hour late and spent the next hour listening to a variety of Persian music. It was a decent show, and I even liked a couple of the performances.

At the end of the show, my wife suggested that we take a cab back to the car, but considering my preference to walk I hatched a plan to get in as much hiking as possible. So I suggested for us to find some water first before hailing a cab. Our search for water took us about 30 or so blocks downtown, and by the time we reached a street vendor to purchase bottled water, we decided to walk the rest of the way back.

When we finally reached the car, we calculated that we had walked 170 blocks. I'm not sure how many miles 170 blocks spans, but I venture to say that it was decent hike. My wife had the blisters to prove it and my hat's off to her for her tenacity. Recently a study was published claiming urbanites live healthier lives than their rural neighbors. I had some doubt about this study, but after observing so many people walking, running, roller-blading, biking, and generally being active in city, it is no wonder you don't run into too many over-weight people. They may not walk 170 blocks every day, but burning lots of calories is a reality of life in a big city.

new york
manhattan
hiking
central park
<NYC Hiking>

// posted by rh

0 comments |

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Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Dental Implants

4 comments |

Sunday, August 28, 2005

My top 5 most hated drivers

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Friday, August 26, 2005

Advertising - two for one

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Saturday, August 20, 2005

My top 5 most hated stores

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Tuesday, August 16, 2005

E-ZPass service fee scam

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Sunday, August 14, 2005

Cult of religion

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Friday, August 12, 2005

Flying Song

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Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Credit card opt out

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Sunday, August 07, 2005

NYC Hiking

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