Saturday Nine n' Stuff

Lauren has had all-over body pain, like fibromyalgia, to varying degrees since her junior year of high school. She's been in a particularly bad episode for a few weeks now. Her first experience with a pain specialist yesterday was horrific. After five minutes, he said she was young and would probably get over whatever it is within a few months, and sent her off with some muscle relaxants.

That garbage after making her wait an hour-and-a-half past her appointment time, which is absurd, and a major pet peeve of mine with doctors. I don't put up with it at all, except from my OB/GYN, who has an excuse to run late. (With her, I just make early appointments and hope for the best.) Otherwise, if a doc makes me wait more than about 15 minutes past my appointment time, I find another doctor who values my time as much as I value his. I have truly exceptional doctors, and even THEY manage to keep their schedules 95% of the time. GRR. Get over yourselves, late doctors.

Anyhoo... she's going back to our family doc next week, to see if he can either figure out her meds to get her back on track or give her a referral to a less quacky pain specialist. There were hardly any good reviews of pain specialists in Austin on Angie's List. Patsy gave me her guy's name, who she raved about. He's in Cedar Park, but if he's good, it would definitely be worth the drive.


Saturday 9: Tunnel of Love

1) Do you enjoy amusement park rides?
Yes! In the last ten years or so, I have gotten to where I don't like being too strapped into rides- like the roller coasters that hold you in from the top with a big rigged-up contraption and strap you in from the bottom with a seat belt and a bar, so you can't move a finger during the ride. The coaster is awesome, but being trapped in a seat like that gives me the heebie-jeebies.

2) In this song, Bruce likens romance to riding through the tunnel of love. The Red Hot Chili Peppers sing about a "Love Rollercoaster." What amusement park ride reminds you of your relationships?
The swing rides, like the Gunslinger (for you Six Flags over Texas fans out there). You start on the ground, then everything goes up into the clouds and floats along nicely for a while, then it goes a bit wonky and there are ups and downs, then everything straightens out again. But most of all, there's a lot of swinging.

Just kidding! (Jeff's like, YAY!)

3) Bruce's nickname is The Boss. Who was your best boss? What made him/her a good supervisor?
My best boss was Mike at A&M. He was the nicest person I think I've ever met. His feathers never got ruffled about anything. He was the type of boss who let you run with your ideas and effectively managed projects while giving you control over your own responsibilities.

4) Bruce's father was a bus driver and his mother was a legal secretary. What professions did/do your parents work in?
My dad was a visual simulation engineer. He originally worked in space flight simulation for NASA, and later in other simulation applications like surgery, armed forces vehicles and aircraft, police and EMS driving, etc.

My mom was a secretary with the Military Intelligence Corps in Europe when she was 19-22. (Aww. I can tell you that, but now I have to kill you.) Then she was a stay-at-home mom until I went to middle school. She did typesetting for a family-owned print shop for a few years. Then she started as a secretary at IBM, and worked her way into mapping technologies and location analytics.

5) Bruce met his wife Patti at a bar in Asbury Park. Do you believe you can pick up lasting love in a bar?
Certainly. You can also pick up regretful one-night stands and a plethora of diseases, so know the difference.

6) Springsteen was unable to work for years because he was embroiled in a lawsuit with his management company. Have you ever been sued, or sued someone else?
Nope

7) Bruce won an Oscar for writing the title song for the Tom Hanks movie Philadelphia. Do you have a favorite Tom Hanks movie?
Big

8) Bruce's official Twitter account (@springsteen) has more than 389,000 followers. Do you tweet? If so, how many people follow you?
I did several years ago, for about 3-4 months. I had like 10 followers. I had no idea what I was doing and didn't post very much.

9) Bruce's drummer, Mighty Max Weinberg, led the band on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Who do you think is funnier -- Conan or Jay Leno? Or are you looking forward to Jimmy Fallon?
I don't like Conan or Jay. Conan can be funny, but he constantly interrupts guests to make jokes or talk about himself, which is annoying. Jay comes from a pissy place in his comedy. He has some good lines of course, but he just seems a bit wrapped around the axle. Love Jimmy Fallon, who is the funniest of those three, but I have to say, I've been a dedicated David Letterman fan since college. He's got my vote all the way.