Upstream of the Herd

  I'm starting a collection of these but some of them are quite obvious and intentional, others less so, and still others just may not be true: Progesterone- Pro-gestation hormone. Premarin - Pregnant mare's urine. Lasix- Lasts six hours. Morphine- named after Morpheus the Greek God of Dreams. Ambien- am (morning) bien (good). Surfactant- Surface active agent. Protonix- a proton pump inhibitor, it "nixes" protons. Lovenox- no Factor x, or no x ("Xa" is a coagulation enzyme). Vicodin- hydrocodone is 6x stronger than codeine. The Roman numeral for 6 is VI. VI+codeine =Vicodin. Macrobid- Macrodantin, twice a day. Glucophage- glucose phage, or glucose "eater" Versed- very sedating. Labetolol- "beta"- beta blocker. Procardia- "ca"- calcium channel blocker. APGAR- appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, respiration.

 I'm not making these so much any more. Not sure why- that needs some exploration. It could be Covid. And/or the losses. Or that I find it hard to offer hope- three lost this past week alone- when the risks are so high. Or that this is/was a ridiculous idea to begin with. Or perhaps that I've just run out of childish ideas. I dunno. Bur here are some I've made lately. There were more but I don't feel like hunting them down and posting them. Apparently I like giraffes.

" Mewling, puking babes. That's the way we all start. Damply clinging to someone's shoulder, burping weakly, clawing our way into life. All of us." Jean Shepherd from here:  The Endless Streetcar Ride into the Night, and the Tinfoil Noose From  In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash By Jean Shepherd https://www.nsftools.com/misc/EndlessStreetcarRide.html IF you find yourself feeling alone in the world, you aren't wrong about that. You have no one to rely on but yourself. That's just the way it is. Those that birth us often invest much in our survival. But that may be the extent of their investment. IF during your life and by some chance you happen to find someone who loves you for yourself, just they way you are, you are very fortunate indeed. It's unlikely that this will happen but it could. And IF that person turns on you- even after a significant amount of time- just remember:  " Mewling, puking babes. That's the way we all start. Damply clinging...

  As someone with many years at one facility and who is looking at retirement soon let me say this: Take care of yourself first. Any business has the primary goal of making a profit. If a business ever needs to decide between you and making a profit, they will choose profit-making, not you. So take care of yourself first. They do. You should too. So if that means job hopping periodically to increase your take-home pay and benefits, do it. Everyone always focuses on pay but benefits are important too. Hospitals and most medical facilities are wildly profitable- even the so-called "charitable organizations". It's a false belief that charitable organizations are self-sacrificing and aren't interested in making a profits. If you don't believe me, look at their financials yourself. They all issue "annual reports". You will be surprised at how much they make in profits. Here's what I would recommend: Got to work for whomever you please and sign up for thei...

 A guest post by my favorite person: "Let me tell y'all about the Pecos Cantaloupe, something I did not know nor care about until ten hours ago. The Pecos Cantaloupe is a rare variety of cantaloupe originating from—you guessed it— Pecos, Texas. It is often regarded as the best variety in the world and was once grown in large quantities throughout the Pecos region. However, the discovery of oil in west Texas inspired many growers to drop the whole "cantaloupe farmer" thing and pursue a much more lucrative career in fossil fuels. These days the Pecos Cantaloupe is grown almost exclusively by the Mandujano Brothers in the small town of Coyanosa. That doesn't mean there isn't commerical demand, though. My first (unwitting) encounter with the Pecos Cantaloupe was as a child, during a tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. There had evidently been a bumper crop of the cantaloupe that year, inspiring Blue Bell to buy a whole bunch and use them to produce a limite...