mamatulip – that’s about par for the course from my experience with doctors as well and particularly with pediatricians, which are a very polarized bunch. i either love a pediatrician or hate them. luckily there’s a couple of really kick ass peds here when the kids see me

I can’t answer that with certainty because I don’t have anything to compare it to, meaning I’ve never received medical care anywhere other than Canada, in my home province. And honestly? I think there are good doctors and bad doctors. Example: when I took Julia to the ER just a few weeks ago she was seen by a doctor at the ER who looked at her for, oh…thirty seconds, concluded that she was allergic to Chewy, said she couldn’t go home until the cat was gone and I’d cleaned sufficiently and then launched into a lengthy speel about hypo-allergenic dogs and how fantastic his Schnauzer is, and how when they first got the dog he showed the dog who was boss by hitting him “really hard a couple of times.”

I just sat there and gaped at him, and when he was finished I pointed to Julia and said, “So, my child?”

Thankfully, he referred us to a pediatrician across the road who was FANTASTIC. Very thorough, listened to me, asked the right questions and diagnosed her with croup — NOT allergies.

And I’ll hedge a guess that the same kind of thing happens in the US, too. I’ll bet there are American doctors who go the extra mile, take the extra time to listen to patients and parents and really give a thorough examination, and I’ll bet there are American doctors who, just like that bozo in the ER that I had the pleasure of dealing with, grab the first thing that seems obvious and runs with it without really checking more in-depth.

You know?

” A boy, in the midwest of this land, will grow up in a home where your book will be on the shelf and spoken of often. He will grow up with these ideas in his head. He will grow into a great orator. He will speak and his words will be heard throughout this land and throughout the world. This boy will become leader of this country and begin a movement of great change. He will speak of you and your words and your book will be the seeds of many of his great thoughts. They will be the seeds of change.” how can you NOT like it? I mean the SUSPENSE alone had to have had you foaming at the mouth….

E – yeah a hyrbid might be some sort of solution, i dunno. i should be talking about fart jokes though, that’s funnier

Cupcake meetings sound awesome!

SQT – yeah, the people having to wait for procedures sounds bad, but people being refused treatment or going bankrupt to me is unacceptable. maybe there’s a hybrid system that would be some sort of solution, but i’m very unsure

Jocelyn – wait, a second… I don’t remember a red headed sister. or even worse the dreaded flavorflavicon… boyeee

On another note: there are few things I’m certain of, but I daresay I will never, ever create a flavicon.