Elliott’s Blog

Today, we spent the whole day in Divonne–very relaxing. We started at the Divonne Market, which seems to happen every Sunday morning (in season??). For photos of the market, see our new “Photo Bolg” at this web site. We got the BEST French bread ever there. We are running out now to see when they open–for 80 euro-cents for a baguette, it can’t be beat!

Then we spent the afternoon swimming in the Divonne lake. Very pleasant! there was a small interruption while a helicopter flew back and forth over the lake. We think that they were looking for a suicide victim, at least, that is what the 8-year-old French boy seemed to be saying.

Joanne and I got way too much sun, though. Although the sun is a lot milder than, oh, South Carolina, spending the hourse from 1PM to 6 PM in the sun was enough to pink us us just fine!

I am still a bit hung up on the topless women–there were several at the lake today. Joanne says that my “attention” here is cultural. She’s right, but I don’t like being so transfixed by this phenomenon.

There are two interesting customs in this part of France that we learned today.

The first one is that the article of clothing called a men’s bathing suit is somewhat different here than in the US. This is a typical USA suit:

And here is what they call a bathing suit here:

In fact, you can wear a Speedo. The thing is, you CANNOT wear a longish, pant-like bathing suit (even if it has a mesh underwear insert thingy) in a French swimming pool. I tried today, and the nice lifeguard patiently explained (in French) that my suit was unacceptable. This was a little unnerving and very disappointing. I think that, maybe, I could have removed my suit and swam that way, but I didn’t try it.

I look forward to buying a Speedo and showing them myself that way. THAT will teach them! Well, maybe not. There were several men, much larger than me, in Speedo’s. Oy! That was hard to look at!

The second interesting custom here is that tops for women are completely optional. This is a bit it is ironic (to me), especially around the pool (two or three such women were there). We ended up swimming in the lake (where our bathing suits were legal), and there were at least four topless women enjoying the sun there.

This is going to take some getting used to.

I love that one of the villains in Spiderman 3 became “super” by accidentally falling into a “Particle Physics Test Facility”. (”Don’t worry, it is probably just a moth,” aid the white-coated lab specialist. Yeah, that’s just the level of safety we have at Fermilab.) It didn’t look a lot like either Fermilab or CERN. It must have been Brookhaven–it is so near to New York City.

The movie (seen on a plane) was too long and there were too many stupid twists, especially twists in a character. It is hard to assign “stars” since, in my experience, the minuscule screen on a plane detracts from almost any movie. Whatever: Two (outta 5) stars.

The three of us arrived this morning in Switzerland.  The flight went well (well, we sat at the gate in NJ for about 30 minutes–we left the gate about 30 minutes early).  The weather in Geneva has been cool (66F) and drizzly, but there was some sunshine.

We drove around a bit–for example, we saw the outside of our apartment in Nyon.  It really is in the central location!  I can’t wait to get in.

Jet lag has been hard on Jo so far, but she is asleep already.  Sterling says “I’m not going to bed at 6 o’clock!”

I had a bit of a scare last Friday when I developed (again) tonsillitis.  We hit it with antibiotics, and (thankfully) they kicked in as we were leaving for O’Hare.

Well I really shouldn’t push it today.  More tomorrow.  And don’t forget to visit my Professional/anonymous blog at Blogspot.com/  I have some things to say about CERN and LAFS.

We saw this in Columbia, SC.  My ever-alert wife grabbed her camera.  It was a good thing, because the sign was cleaned later that day.

I am 50 years old, and “they say” I should have a colonoscopy.  Well, I did, and it wasn’t all that bad.  Here are the key elements to this procedure (I am keeping it breif so YOU will read it).

1. Make the decision to get the procedure.  This means that you talk to your Primary Care Physician, get a refereal to a colonoscopy doc and make that first appointment.
2. Go to the appointment with the colon screening doctor.  S/he will take your history; you will set a time for the procedure and get a prescription for a world-class, Drano-caliber laxitive (WCDCL).
3. Get the WCDCL from the pharmacy (my favorite pharmacy was out, so they had to search for it) and mix it about 36hours in advance of the procedure.
4. Don’t eat anything solid for lunch, the day before (just before you start the WCDCL).
5. Drink the WCDCL!  This was the worst part for me.  I was not sure what to expect.  In hindsight, I was expecting the WCDCL to give me diarrea and make me sick.  I know this sounds stupid, but I know now that this is how I felt.  Well, it did NOT make me sick–I wouldn’t even say it gave me “the runs”.  It just cleaned me out.  The WCDCL made 4 liters, but the instructions said to keep drinking until you were passing clear water.  That happened for me after 2.5 liters.  The last liter was horrible!!  I was almost at the gag point, but I got the last liter down without incident.  I downed 3 liters.
6. Get up and to to the hospital.  Be sure to take a driver.
7. Get hooked up to an I.V.  This is always hard for me–it will probably be nothing for you.
8. Get wheeled into the O.R.  The nurse says that they are starting the drugs.  The next thing I knew, it was about 20 minutes later–I do not remember anything.
9. Go home and go to sleep.  I slept from the bottom of the first inning of the Cubs vs. the Mets to the top of the ninth inning.

They tell me that my colon was completely clean.  Hurray!

Hindsight: Fear of the WCDCL was the worst part for me.  Everything else was simple and easy.

Moral: If you are over 50, have good insurance and have not had a colonscopy, then you are a complete wimp, a scaredy cat, a Bozo, an idiot.