Capable of spilling water and burning toast

I didn't finish any books last month. I started one, which isn't bad but also not particularly compelling, and I haven't felt like trying another one. Thanks to Furious Mold and the City of Asylum bookstore I now have a towering stack of new books that hopefully, someday, I will feel like conquering. 

I did finally go to my regular doc because of the dizziness. She had me move my  head around and figured out that the problem was in my right ear, then she looked in the ear and said, "oh, there's something wrong here." To be honest, I was relieved. So many symptoms seem to get dismissed as aging, stress, or shrug emoji, and i was worried that would happen again. She said that she could see something pressing against the eardrum. Unfortunately, she had to refer me to an ENT, because she doesn't have the tools or expertise. It is most likely a cyst, but it could also be assorted crud (hearing aids mean that my ears don't empty of ear wax or scar tissue like normal) or, sigh, a tumor. 

Even in the DC area, home to something like 6 million people, there is a physician shortage. I was able to get an appointment at the ENT office Brent uses... on November 3rd, about 10 weeks out. I might have been able to get in sooner somewhere else, or go to an urgent care facility (the receptionist seemed doubtful about the wisdom of waiting), but I've already lost 80 to 90% of my hearing. I don't want just anybody sticking surgical instruments in the ear with the most hearing left. So, that means waiting. Thanks for refusing to give credentials to new medical schools, AMA!

I haven't been able to ride my bike because of the dizziness, so for the CSA pickups I've been driving halfway and walking the rest. It takes longer (I'm a slow walker, and even walking I sometimes get dizzy and have to stop) than riding a bike, but at least I get some exercise and avoid the worst of the traffic.

We saw another Smithsonian Associates installment of the series on UNESCO World Heritage sites. Samarra was the capital of the Abbasid caliphate for about 50 years. As usually happens, a caliph decided to move the capital (this time ca. 700 CE), and after his son and successor died, the caliph moved the capital back to Baghdad. The interesting thing about Samarra is that it was abandoned and never rebuilt, so its ruins are still there, degraded by the elements and looting but not by subsequent municipalities. There is a modern city of Samarra, but it doesn't overlap the ancient city. Most of what archaeologists know about the Abbasid caliphate comes from Samarra. The most famous parts of the ruins are the two spiral minarets, which, if you are brave enough on several levels, you can climb. The presenter, Justin Jacobs, said that very few Westerners have been to Samarra in the last 50 years because of political instability, so he was floored when, during the Q&A, several people in the audience mentioned that they had been to Samarra. I assume that they were either Iraqi refugees or US military. 

We were in Pittsburgh last weekend, and Furious Mold and James were kind enough to show us the fantastic bookstore and chat with us for a while. Downtown Pittsburgh was hopping: Pitt's homecoming was Saturday, the Steelers were at home Sunday, and it was the last weekend that The Lion King was at a local (judging by the crowds) huge theater. There were also roughly 5000 roboticists at the convention center, and about 60 or 70 of them came to our reception celebrating the 10th anniversary of Science Robotics. I did the logistics of finding and reserving the venue, and I have to say that I understand why people have events in hotels. The staff were top notch and told me what to order etc., and everything turned out fantastic. We got a lot of compliments, and it wasn't super expensive. Was it the best food and beverage ever? Absolutely not. Was the room memorable? Nope! People still had a great time and could focus on talking to each other. We had a table of at least a dozen women, which was really great. We had a nice mix of old legends and emerging leaders, and we gave away a bunch of merch.