Elevators are not for talking in! Elevators are for staring at the numbers. Like Steven Wright's grandfather trained him.

My elevator provides me with news updates, random factoids and word-power vocabulary improvement.

Are they Otis elevators? A friend's father writes software for Otis Elevators.

Hmmm. OK, then maybe small talk isn't my problem so much as the transitioning into actual topics and sustaining that kind of conversation when you don't really know someone (or an entire room full of someones). Eh. It depends on the person. I think that's the bottom line for me, and that's probably not unusual. Some people you click with, some not so much. Or, like Xander, I like the quiet.

I have a tendency to strike up conversations with people in line and other times so I guess I like small talk. Although sometimes I realize I say the wrong thing, so I'm probably not *good* at small talk.

This afternoon I had a follow up appointment with the endocrinologist about my ultrasound and a monthly update since the last meeting.

The ultrasound was okay, no worry about bad cysts on my ovaries. My cholesteral levels were good, not great but not high.

I've only lost 4 lbs, which is frustrating, but I've been forgetting to take my morning dose of meds, so the doctor changed me to an extended release so I can take the same dose, but all at one time. I'm sure it's not available as generic so I'll stay with the generic for a bit before I switch over. I see her in 4 months. She said again she wants me walking 5 times a week.

Tep, did you know that the NY Times has an online feature called "The Lede: Notes on the News"?

Whenever I see "lede" I think of you and your old-school journalism schooling.

Heh. The cool kids know that old school is the way to go.

In re: small talk -- I recognize its utility, and I recognize the situations in which it's appropriate/required, and I know how to do it.

I just loathe it because I don't, actually, give a good goddamn about someone's kid's school play.

Which is why, as I said earlier, I'm not an Aspie; I'm a dick. A curmudgeon, if you will. I know this, and I'm good with it. I'm quite happy in my curmudgeon-ness.

Small talk is just social lubrication.

Or, in my case, social sandpaper.

Whenever I see "lede" I think of you and your old-school journalism schooling.

It drives me crazy that Web Boggle won't allow that.

It doesn't? Web Boggle deserves a Special Comment, then. Blah, blah, Magna Carta, blah blah, Fourth Estate. Have they no respect? (Sort of a reader's digest Special Comment. Forgot the telegraph and some thing that totally makes sense to jocks but leaves the rest of us in the dust till the end...a telegram to Ty Cobb, perhaps?)

Sounds like an overall good appointment, askye, even though you're frustrated by the amount of weight loss. Particularly good about the no bad cysts. Excellent.

She said again she wants me walking 5 times a week.

maybe the hardest part, but it is the best thing you can do. To put it the way my doctor does, the more you move the big muscles - the more glucose you use. The more glucose you use - the easier it is to control what you eat ( oddly too much glucose that your body isn't useing is what makes the cupcakes at the grocery store 3 miles away scream your name.) But useing the big muscles is the key - it doesn't have to aerobic- just move. Actually this might be a great place for a pedometer- just push for more steps