My mom always refers to the fact that her heart occaisionally skips a beat as a murmur, which is apparently a different thing entirely.

Yup. A skipped beat is, well, a skipped beat. It's a rhythm issue, about which my knowledge is way less than half-assed, probably more like quarter-assed. But, nope, it's not a murmur. A murmur's an extra little sound slipping in somewhere around the regular beat.

At least, those are the rough, general, layperson working definitions for kid-murmurs. For all I know, it could be same vocabulary, totally different definitions for grown-ups. Cardiology is wacky that way.

Oh noes! The scary thunder, which I guess means "You are about to get the crap snowed out of you" has reached Beverly, Mass.

Well if it's the same as in Boston you sure are. I walked into an impromptu meeting after 1 and it looked like it was raining out. Came out an hour plus later and thought it was foggy. Nope, just a white-out blizzard with thunder/lightening chaser. Yikes! Hope this blows through quickly. I also hope Deb and whoever she's with are where they were going and not en route. Also wondering if this will frell up her appearence at Kate's (and Vortex's flight).

I didn't think twice about having one (it was such an offhand comment from the doctor) until the dentist got all balky.

Mine certainly makes my dentist balky. Mine is a little more serious than "nothing", but it's not anything that was ever going to require surgery, or anything that impacted my activities. I had it checked on regularly as a child, and now the only issue is that the dentist makes me take antibiotics.

So interesting -- I had no idea any of that stuff!

And in good news, I think I really can write my paper on the thing I wanted to write about after all. I was afraid for a while that I would have to do a much broader analysis of stuff, but I don't actually think so anymore. AND I still think it's a good idea the broader thing is what I told the people I was interviewing. So there. I've already written nearly a page of what has to be 5-12, depending on if I double-space or not. IN YOUR FACE, PAPER.

Is this the same sort of murmur that makes the dentist get all reticent? I didn't think twice about having one (it was such an offhand comment from the doctor) until the dentist got all balky.

I have Mitral Valve Prolapse where one of my heart valves doesn't close properly so blood leaks through the flap when it is closed. However, I don't have what is called "regurgitation" which means that blood flows backwards through the valve. If I did have regurgitation, i would have to take antibiotics before going to the dentist.

I have no idea what my heart sounds like. I do know that it's extraordinarily hard to find my pulse.

Weekend: Saturday work, and then coworkers birthday, then maybe movie. Sunday work and sleep.

Listening to right now: The radio station next door.

I only have 2.5 hours left of work! Less than actually! Yay!!!

From waaaay upthread:

Seems to me if you have to register pets, you'd have to register all of them. Of course, I've never heard of registering cats.

My sister has two cats, and Tacoma was going to make her register them. She figured that, since they were indoor-only she wouldn't have to, but an animal control person was out roaming the neighborhoods, saw her tuxedo girl sitting in the window, apparently checked his records and saw that said cat was not registered, so he stopped and told Sis that she had to register the cats, regardless. She ended up selling the house and moving anyway, so she never did, but she thought it was highly invasive and a real PITA.

In driving-in-the-snow news, I was damn glad I had scheduled yesterday off for the SA pickup, because I didn't have to worry about my evening commute. My cubicle neighbor (who is retiring today, with two other ladies in the department) had to drive more than four hours before she got home (normally, it's about a 45-minute drive)--it probably would have taken me about the same.

When I was a kid, I had an innocent murmur...I'm not sure if I don't now or AHCCCS doctors don't care what my heart sounds like. It might be "A Modest Cost-Cutting proposal" for them not to.

I just submitted this to Reader's Digest for "All In A Day's Work":

I work for a building management company and I process all of the utility bills for our retail stores. One in particular kept giving me grief because each month, the bill was significantly less than the month prior. I called the utility company to ask if we could have a new meter read and they asked what the name of the store was. I looked down at all of my bills – Weight Watchers.

Two nights in a row of no sleep--okay, almost no sleep, and pretty much no sleep that lasted longer than 1 hour--leaves me a total wreak. But on the upside, I just arrived at work and now I am eating lunch at my desk. On the upper side, said lunch includes a Peets Americano. Also on the upper side, I drove to work in the NEW MINIVAN.

Yay!

And to reassure msbelle, my lunch is salmon and salad.