Chris Dwan

Author: cdwan

  • The Media

    I read a blog post on scienceroll asking for volunteers to speak on-camera about their genetic testing experiences. I emailed the contact, like this:

    From: Me
    Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 08:59:24
    To: Them
    Subject: Personal genetic tests

    I saw a post on the web that you are interested in talking to people
    who have gotten online gene tests.

    I recently received my results from 23 and me, and I would be happy to
    talk about why I chose them and how the experience went.

    -Me

    The response made their intentions clear:

    From: Them
    Date: May 1, 2008 11:37:05 AM EDT
    To: "Me"
    Subject: Re: Personal genetic tests

    Hi,

    Thanks for your reply. We're looking to interview someone who's been wronged by genetic testing. Someone who for example has brought their test results to their doctor for interpretation and help going forward, but been met with resistance since, as you probably know, their doctor wasn't part of this process. If your experience was in any way similar to what we're looking for, please let me know.

    Thanks.

    So I sent this back:

    Ah. Okay then, I probably don't fit what you're looking for. I was a very informed consumer. While I've been disappointed with some aspects of the process, I don't think I'm nearly angry enough to meet your needs.

    In your specific example, one of the reasons that I like my doctor is his willingness to explore new technologies with me. He and I have a good relationship, and I feel comfortable bringing in outside information and working with him to figure out its relevance to my life. I think it's sad that people would feel intimidated about sharing information with their physicians! Far from being "wronged" by the testing company, shame on those doctors!

    Good luck in your search.

    As put it: We’ve decided what news we want to report, facts be damned!

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  • Whine

    Whining enclosed. No need to look. Move along

  • Twitch

    You know the eye-twitch that some of us get?

    Now I’ve got it in my left bicep. I’m sitting here watching my bicep go twitch-twitch-twitch. I wish it would stop.

    Anybody think this fascinating behavior is related to my recent injury to my left shoulder?

    I’m gonna go flex my bicep in an attempt to get it to stop twitching.

  • Where it’s at

    Everyone wants to be happy, nobody wants to suffer.

    We’re all pretty much the same, and we’re all in this together.

    Tomorrow’s circumstance is dictated by choices that we make today.

  • Be still my beating heart…

    Know what I want for my birthday?

    one of these.

    And a gift certificate for a custom moon-bounce. technolope and I gots an idea …

  • International news

    Hey, don’t we still have, like, 300,000 troops deployed to Iraq? Is there still a war on or something over there? There’s a lot of blah blah blah from the candidates about some kinda war or something … but I hear disturbingly little about the third of a million troops who are in harms way right now.

    And also, speaking of security: Weren’t we gonna, like, do something to help out Afghanistan or something … since long term suffering seems to be the primary breeding ground for people willing to kill themselves to try to get back at the perceived source of that suffering.

    And ummmm, is that Osama guy still on the loose? Because, wasn’t he like, the evil mastermind behind the attacks of Sept 11? I mean, seriously, to paraphrase Jesse Ventura: We can’t find a 6 foot 6 Saudi guy on dialysis, who is banned for life from his home country? Seriously? Even with all the future-toys at the CIA and the NSA?

    Enough about that, what’s up with those monks who were grabbed by the Burma Myanmar government? How about the ones grabbed by the Tibetan Chinese troops? Were we going to help out with the food riots in Darfur Haiti, or something?

    I should *not* be permitted to read the news. It only depresses me.

    — UPDATE —

    Seriously, not even the business section.

    Top headline: “Bank of America writes off $2 billion, and announces a 77 percent drop in earnings”

    Second Headline: “Halliburton 1Q profit rises on higher sales, asset sale”

    Haliburton … weren’t they somehow connected with that “war” thing before? What ever happened with them and the billions of dollars of mismanaged money?

  • Short points

    1) Almost every pillow in the apartment is currently piled on the bed for use in bolstering and supporting either a busted shoulder or a busted leg.

    2) My shoulder is bruised a fine shade of yellow, in a nice circle that goes reaches halfway down my chest.

    2.1) When you see your spouse, shirtless in the evening, one of the less romantic things you can say is “why are you yellow?”

    3) I’ve been narcotic-less for more than 24 hours. I do *not* see the appeal of those things, except for pain reduction.

    4) I would really, really like it if my primary email address would stop re-downloading and un-deleting all the messages I’ve received in the past month or so. I delete them, they come back. Grrrrrr.

  • Books to give away!

    In the spirit of capital_l and technolope, I have a bunch of books that are leaving my house this week.

    If you want any of these, give me an address to which I can ship them (All Hail “media rate” postage) or a place near Boston or Providence where I can drop them off. The remainder go to the Library / Salvos on Friday.

    Here are the pictures from the link above