Farewell, Dear Rusty

Rusty - final photo

Sad, sad news. My beloved golden retriever, Rusty died earlier this month. He was nearly 9 years old. He was part of our family for eight years. We had many good times with him, several of which were shared on this blog. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Brown Sugar Incident or Sweetest Dog Ever!

The Soggy Doggy Easter Egg Hunt

His first blog story, Pancakes for Puppy.

A short story of mine that included Rusty was published this month in the ALDAReader, a publication distributed at the national ALDA convention. The piece was based on this blog post in which dependable Rusty served as my "icebreaker" at a hearing loss support group event. I never dreamed when I submitted the story that he wouldn't be around when I received my copy. I'm really glad I picked that one to share.

Rusty and Blondie - final photo together

We are all heartbroken and Blondie is a little lost without her buddy. She stayed very close to him during his final days. In the first photo, you can even see her fluffy tail by Rusty's nose.  Everyone asks when are we going to get another dog. We are just not ready to think about it yet.

What I've Been Reading: In Pursuit of Silence

After stumbling upon it in Google Books, I recently read In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise by George Prochnik. I think it's a wonderful companion to the book I reviewed in 2011, One Square Inch of Silence: One Man's Quest to Preserve Quiet by Gordon Hempton. If you missed that review, you can read it here.

Prochnik's book is also a quest of sorts. He travels all over to explore why humans are noisy and to seek out places of silence. Naturally, he encounters the deaf community along his way and devotes part of a chapter to discussing Deaf Space, an inclusive architecture project at Gallaudet.

I highly recommend his book to you as a very interesting read. To learn more about the author, check out this online interview (deaf friendly as it is all text, no video) in which he discusses his affinity for silence and why people are afraid of silence.

If you've already read this book, published in 2010, let me know what you thought of it.

You Might Be an Audiologist If ...

I was asked by ReSound if I would be willing to share this post of theirs with my readers. I found it amusing and said yes right away. I hope you will enjoy this lighter moment with me today. You may want to pass it along to your hearing care professional and make their day too.

You Might Be an Audiologist If ...

• Every time you tell someone your profession, they say “huh?” or “what?”
• You have a random copy of hearing aid software in the trunk of your car.
• You have alcohol swabs hidden in every pencil case and otoscope bag you own.
• Ears are the first thing you look at on a person.
• You cringe when someone mentions using Q-tips in their ears.
• When you’re drunk and feel like the world is spinning, you grab someone and ask them to look at your eyes to see if you have nystagmus*.
• You bust out your sound level meter app….. in church.
• You have ever used the term “externship”*.
• People ask you if you’ve seen the light on the other side
• You’re not grossed out by cerumen*.
• You have an urge to push an elderly person’s earmolds in properly when you’re standing behind them at the supermarket checkout.
• In public places, you try guessing what kind of BTE a person is wearing like you’re on a game show.
• You have a pair of ety plugs* on your keychain.
• You look at what type of earphones people are using at the gym as they walk by you.

*Not being an audiologist myself, I needed to look up a few of these terms. Here are explanations for
Nystagamus
Externships
Cerumen means earwax.
Ety plugs are earplugs.


Here are some more responses from ReSound's Facebook community shared with me via email:

• You find battery stickers all over everything you own, and especially on the bottom of your shoes and in your hair.
• You give your card to the guy in the car next to you with his speakers blasting and tell him to call you in a few years.
• You can't help but look at other people's ears in a crowd to see what types of hearing aids you can identify from a distance.
• You find yourself talking loudly for no reason.

Did you enjoy that? Can anyone come up with some answers for You Might Be Hard of Hearing If...