Ok since a few peeps seem to be looking for places, I swiped this flyer at work today. But there's no date on it, so in all honesty it could be from last year- I don't know how often they change them.
There's a pic (sorry I don't have a scanner to include it)- but it looks like a nice little house with a small front yard and garden.

It says-
Apartment for rent
Features:
-first floor, 2 bedrooms, nice closets
-hardwood floors, berber carpets, freshly painted
-well insulated, LOW utility bills (gas- avg. $63/mo)
-updated kitched w/ stove and refrigerator, great cupboard space
-dining alcove off kitchen
-washer/dryer hookups/ dry basement w/ storage area
-quiet street in elmwood village, walk to shops, hospitals, etc
-owner occupies upper apt only in summer, VERY quiet
-no pets/no smoking

675/mo plus utilities, includes one off street spot
or
700/mo for the same with one garage spot.

Available July 1, call 884-5273

No idea if it's a dump, but the pix look cute so I figured I'd pass it on...

This might be the most horrible thing I've posted (and I know I've put up some bad stuff)- sorry.

So I'm working on my research project, and every article I find seems to lead to a few others... and I kept seeing references to 'noma', which I had never heard of. So I looked it up- apparently it's a horrible infection that usually infects malnourished children- mostly in Africa. Starts as a little ulcer in the mouth, and apparently over the course of A FEW DAYS it eats their whole face off and they die. 100,000 cases per year, and 70-90% fatal. And those that don't die are horribly disfigured and can't talk, eat, drink etc. Imagine not having a functioning mouth. The 'good' thing about it, I guess, is that it's high on the list of operations-plastics-guys-go-abroad-and-do-for-free-to-make-themselves-feel-like-good-people ;) which is how I kept reading about 'noma surgery'.

Has anyone ever heard of this before? I certainly hadn't. I guess I'm naive to think we hear about most of the horrible diseases out there.

But anyway, so then it led to this lovely quote.
Not much turns my stomach, but this one gets me. Reminds me of female genital mutilation.
I will spare you the pictures.

During the past forty years a concerning cultural belief has been observed in a parts of central eastern Africa. Parents are told that their infant's unerupted baby teeth are "worms" which cause sickness and diarrhoea. Babies as young as six days old and small children are having their baby teeth deliberately removed from under their gums. The soft white tooth buds are mistaken for the fever causing parasite worms, commonly found in diarrhoea. It is normally administered by village healers for a fee but also by parents, community elders, priests and even midwives with a variety of tools including knives, sharpened bicycle spokes, hot pokers and fingernails. Known locally by names such as "elbino" and "nylon teeth", this has become known in academic circles as Infant Oral Mutilation (I.O.M.). The practice always leads to pain and suffering, often resulting in disfigurement due to the damage to gums and permanent teeth beneath, and occasionally leads to death through the onset of infections like septicaemia, tetanus and noma. In the last ten years, this practice has been observed in high levels across a much wider swathe of Africa, including Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia. While it is possible that this practice has previously been "missed" in these other regions, it is widely believed to be rapidly growing as a custom, spread between communities and tribes displaced and fleeing from civil war and conflict.

Jesus. Poor babies.

My dad just sent me an article from the NYT style section a week or so ago. Unfortunately it's not free on the NYT website. But it's about this designer:



This is his "woofer" series: (he says "tweeters" are next)




And here are some cool lamps:

Ok peeps.
I like to think I'm this great humble selfless person.
But it's been brought to my attention that maybe I am really a totally crazy selfish attention-seeking drama queen.

I guess I kind of know that I am.

But I don't want to be.

So I'm going to try to stop.

Sorry!!
(and thanks for putting up with my nonsense.)

First- spam comments?! WTF. Sorry you have to deal with this shit, Paul.

Ok, but on to my crazy story. I finally got some answers, so I can spill the beans. Maybe you all won't be as stunned as I am, but I am still a little taken aback.

So...
A week or so before Christmas, I got a message on Myspace. It said "hi, my name is G. I'm a surgeon, relocating to WNY. How do you like the area?" So I checked out his page. Seemed legit... And he's not just any old doc, but a pediatric neurosurgeon. And, the icing on the cake- he's hotter than hot. So I wrote back, he wrote back, etc. He asked if I used AIM. I gave him my info, and after that we started chatting. And for the next two or three weeks, we 'talked' pretty much daily, for at least an hour or so- one time for FIVE hours. I learned a lot about him. He was charming and interesting. He was in the Navy (a SEAL, no less), but then left the navy for med school. Married his girlfriend from med school. After med school, residency, fellowship, etc, he and his wife were working in Pittsburgh. And then one day, about 2 years ago, his wife was killed in a car accident. And he just had to get away, and so he rejoined the Navy. Is now serving in Iraq. But his 6mo tour of duty was almost up. He said a recruiter in Buffalo got in touch with him, because Children's is looking to expand the peds neurosurg faculty. So he accepted the job, and was gearing up to move to buffalo.

Like I said, we were talking a LOT. And I can't say I had FEELINGS for him, but he really seemed like a great guy. We joked a lot and bitched about work... He had a great sense of humor, and it was nice to talk to someone who knew medicine inside and out, and I found the Navy stuff fascinating. I really looked forward to seeing his name listed as online in my buddy list. The last time I heard from him, he was talking about using a big black marker to count down the six days he had left in Iraq. Then a few days in Germany for debriefing, then a Lufthansa flight to NYC, then to Buffalo. Some paperwork etc, and then he told me he had patients to see at children's starting the 23rd or so.

The last time we talked, he added me to his myspace 'friends'. Then the next morning, we chatted for a sec. he said he had just gotten back from the gym, and needed to shower, but would be back later. That was fine, b/c I had stuff to do too. I also noticed at that time that he had deleted me, and ALL his friends, from his myspace list. Hmm, odd, but I didn't think much of it. And then he never came back online. Whatever, he's busy, didn't think much of it. Well, that was 3 weeks ago. I haven't heard a word from him since. And he hasn't signed back in to myspace. According to the timeframe he gave me, he should be in Buffalo by now, and should have started work. I figured maybe he was one of the soldiers that had to stay longer in Iraq. I was a little sad to not hear from him at all, but I was trying my best to not be some obsessed stalker psycho girl- I mean I've never even MET the guy!

But after a while, I started to wonder. I googled him. NOTHING. And I thought that was a little odd. I mean everyone comes up in google. And you'd think a hotshot neurosurgeon would definitely come up. So I checked out the website for the neurosurgery program he said he trained at. It has a list of graduates. His name is NOT on that list. At least, not the name he told me. I finally went so far as to call children's, and ask if there's a new guy coming. They didn't know what I was talking about.

I know, I know, at this point I had crossed the line to psycho behavior, but now it was a mystery, and I wanted answers. I kept hoping there was some innocent explanation. Maybe he was delayed in Iraq. Maybe the internet service at the base was down. Maybe his days as a Navy SEAL made him paranoid about putting his info on the web, so he gave a fake name. And as much as I wanted it to be something innocent like that, I had a hunch that something wasn't right.

I emailed my friends in neuro to ask if they'd heard anything about a new guy. But I didn't get a response. Then I sent a girl on myspace a message. She was his only friend on there for most of the time I was talking to him. And, oddly enough, she is a friend-of-a-friend. For real. My friend out in AZ worked with her- she was his med student. I mentioned that to him one day, like 'hey, small world... that girl N was my friend's med student!" And he responded "oh yeah, she's a nice girl. She did a rotation at bethesda when I was there and we worked together."

So I sent her a message... Didn't allude to any of my suspicions. I played it naive, and just said 'hey... you don't know me, but I think you know this guy G, and he said he's moving to town but I haven't heard anything from him in a while... Just wondering if you have... I hope he's ok."

Well last night she wrote me back.

She said "I'm sorry I can't help you. This freaks me out a little bit. I don't know him. I never worked at Bethesda. He told me the same story, except that he's moving to LA, not Buffalo." [she's an anesthesiology resident in LA.]

HOLY SHIT!

So now I don't know what to think...

I mean obviously he's a fraud. But... why?? and why me??
And- how? I mean, he was CONVINCING. And I know I'm pretty trusting and gullible and naive... but your random guy can't talk in detail about neurosurgery for five hours straight without slipping up... At least I couldn't! And it was CHAT, not email. No time to fact-check and do research on the side.

I'm just kind of astounded.
He never asked me for anything... it's not like he was trying to swindle me for my credit card info or anything...

And if he's not really moving to buffalo, it's not like he was trying to seduce me.

I just don't get it.

And now I wonder how much was true, if any. Is he even a doctor? Is he really in Iraq? How many girls across the country is he feeding this story to? And, why did he stop? Did someone figure him out? Who is he?

And finally, I'm sad about the whole thing. I feel let down.
I mean, I was really excited about this guy. I was trying my best to not get ahead of myself, emotionally. But we had such good 'talks'. And he's literally Dr. McDreamy. A HOT neurosurgeon...

And now I feel like an idiot. Like some stupid sucker who fell for a con artist's tricks.

I guess I should have known it was too good to be true.
Things like that don't happen to me.

But I was hoping that just maybe, just once, I'd get lucky.

Sigh...

whoever you are, G, you got me good. I just wish I knew why.