Scooter Chronicles

Will It Make A Big Difference?
Even though Marcia has been batted around by doctors like they were using her as a volleyball, she has been making strides in going further in trying to solve her migraines. Some of the more recent doctors believe that a good portion of her migraines come from a sleeping disorder of some sort (she is continually tense, even when sleeping), because she grinds her teeth very badly, as well as clenching in her sleep. They also feel it is tied to her TMJ.

One doctor though has fixed her up with an appliance to use while sleeping. It looks like a piece of chewed gum, wadded up, and put on her front two bottom teeth. This morning Marcia said that she has noticed a significant difference in how her jaw feels. She doesn’t feel the pain and tightness she usually has every morning. Hopefully this is the sign of things to come.

The biggest issue though facing her right now is pain management. None of her doctors want to take the responsibility of prescribing pain meds to her. It is a trend that is happening every where around us. Marcia had to go to the emergency room last week and the woman behind the counter said that her husband is going through the same problems with his back pain. I also sit next to someone at work whose wife has pain management needs, and yet none of her doctors are stepping up and doing anything about it.

Marcia’s sleep study isn’t until February, but hopefully this appliance will start to make a difference.

World Fastest Cab Driver?
It was REPORTED in a Yahoo news article that seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher talked a taxi driver into letting him drive since him and his family were running behind schedule to catch a flight out. Apparently the driver had no qualms whatsoever, being a fan of the great “Schumi”.

There have been some astounding men that has sat behind the wheel of so many race cars, and all of them in some way have to be daring and probably a little bit mad to drive so fast. And I don’t think I would get in the car with any of them. They all have pushed their cars beyond the limits and made mistakes, and we have seen many of those driver pay with their lives. Except for Schumacher. I watched him race for so long and only once ever saw him, or heard of him, crashing. And that was because the rear brakes failed. Therefore, I would have probably done the same thing as the taxi driver. But only for Schumi.

OK, maybe I was shift over to the passenger seat for Alain Prost, too.

No Bonus For BBWAA Awards?
There has been some back and forth from the Baseball Writers and their stance that they will not award something to a player that has a bonus clause in their contract that will pay them for winning that award. At first, I think it was a good move by the writers. However, thinking about it now, and I believe they have thought about it, REPORTED on ESPN’s web site, that they shouldn’t be telling the players, agents, and owners/general managers what they can and can’t do with contracts.

That leads me to another idea: have all contracts performance based. Sure, your base salary can be set due to past performance, but the better you play, the more you earn. That is always an argument about the amount of money some athletes make. I have no qualms about the amount of money Tiger Woods or Roger Federer makes, because if they don’t play well enough, they don’t make that kind of money. But paying a pitcher, in the American League (because they don’t have to make any plate appearances except for the rare inter-league games) $15 million a year to sit and watch four out of five games, and have him go 10-17 with a 5.36 ERA, is ridiculous.

Instant Collectors’ Item?
J. K. Rowling wrote a new book, and there were only seven handmade copies available. Yet Amazon.Com bought one at an auction for £1,950,000! You can READ about it online.

Now, is it just me, or do you think the price is a bit much? I can see some handmade original copy of Charles Dickens fetching that much at an auction, but J. K. Rowling? Sure, I have heard the Harry Potter books are good, but this craziness of something getting so popular, so fast, that a unique item like this would be worth so much, so soon just doesn’t sit right with me. But then again, that’s the beauty of commerce. If you can find some sucker, err potential buyer that is willing to part with an outrageous amount of money for the item, then I guess more power to you.