Friday, December 3, 2010

freezing

The original plan was to be in Rochester for an event yesterday.
I chose instead to visit the dentist.
Thank goodness.

Police closed Interstate 90 Thursday after a truck jackknifed and vehicles became backed up and buried in blowing snow, State Trooper Daniel Golinski said. Drivers also were stranded on a 3-mile stretch of Interstate 190.

Though parts of I-90, better known as the New York Thruway, were reopened by midday, an 11-mile stretch remained closed as darkness fell. Traffic, mostly big rigs, was backed up for about two miles in the eastbound lanes and a mile headed west after sunset. Authorities expected it would take several more hours to clear the mess


Oddly this band of lake effect snow (that Buffalo gets every year) was barely 3 miles wide.

But, if I can put off something, for a day, a month, a year or two, I will. So I put off going to this event in Rochester for another week because I really could not put off the dentist any longer. In fact, I was almost looking forward to going, if only for the release of the nagging, intense, sharp needle pain in my tooth. Surely, the freezing needle could not be worse.

Turns out, those needles are not nearly as bad as my memory tells me they are. I specifically chose this dentist because he was available when I had an abcess and because he used nitrous oxide - the great laughing gas. Then one time, he decided that since what needed done was such a small job he would just freeze it, and somehow the gas was forgotten. He puts some sort of tropical topical gel on that this time tasted suspiciously like banana pudding. This was way better than the usual tastes of bubblegum or mint. I haven't liked bubblegum since I was eight and I have never liked mint. Which makes buying toothpaste a rather long, unpleasant exercise. Not far off having to taste the toothpaste. And the unfreezing experience isn't at all as I remembered it, either. In fact, there was nothing to it. I dribbled a bit when drinking, but nothing out of the ordinary, really.

All in all, far better than freezing in a cold car on a thruway for 21 hours.

15 comments:

  1. I'm glad you had the far better experience and tell me, are you relieved of your pain now?

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  2. Nora: the tooth that was bothering me is much better, but he also filled another tooth and now that one is a bit sore. sheesh.

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  3. Very nicely done - the tie in between the freezing weather and the freezing of the teeth. Glad your dentist visit was not as bad as feared.

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  4. OMG! I am glad you went to the dentist too! Nothing worse than being stuck on a freeway! Especially during a blizzard! Yikes!!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  5. Yeah, it would have been no fun for you, though in reality, you probably might have escaped it, depending on which route you took. Like the news pointed out, it was an incredible thin stretch of I-90 that got hammered, but they got close to 3 feet of snow.

    We got barely a dusting here in Rochester.

    In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing you next week. Let me know what day you're coming, and remember, there is no Sunday show next week...Closing night is Sat.

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  6. LGS: I distracted myself by writing this post in my head, though it was changed considerably when I got home and watched the news!

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  7. SueAnn: just because I had nowhere to go, I probably would have needed to ... several times ;)

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  8. Mr N: I heard that Grand Island also only got a dusting. will try again for this Thursday, but I hear there will be lots more snow on the way up to Wednesday so we'll see...

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  9. I think this is the first post ever saying that going to the dentist was better than something else. Anything else. Wow. You are truly unique. Stay warm and tooth-pain free!

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  10. Geewits: I bet Dr Kim would find this amusing!

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  11. I've conveniently forgotten a dentists appointment. You've made me feel quite guilty!

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  12. Yes, I think I would prefer the dentist too!

    Your snow sounds like our snow.......

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  13. Ken: sorry!

    Gilly: except that where I live there is NO snow.

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  14. I think I would have asked for the tropical gel! I am glad your tooth is on the mend and you were not stuck on I-90. The small shops in Frederick always do a great job of decorating for the seasons (more images coming Thursday on my Window Views). The lights on the trees in town are new this year - our blizzard last year destroyed many of the old ones.

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  15. So the snow is finally heading in your direction - that explains why it's thawing in my part of Scotland today. The motorways in central Scotland ground to a halt in blizzards a couple of days ago and plenty of people were stuck in their cars overnight, poor things. I have a frisson of schadenfreude (hey, two good words there) to know that it's not just us who can't cope with the snow. Oh, I went to the dentist today too - better than a night in a car, but I still hate 'em. (No offense, dentists...)

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