Live from Austin!

One of IBM’s better ideas is to encourage employees to take part in an active health management program. I just filled out the annual survey, putting in my most recent set of figures for blood pressure, cholesterol levels and so on.

Here’s the result:

I’m mildly surprised. I always feel like everyone else is exercising more diligently than me, is stronger than me, and so on. I wonder if my "peer group" is everyone my age, or just IBM software engineers?

Anyhow, with my back injury pretty much gone, I’m back on the treadmill–or rather, the elliptical. 30 minutes a day 4-6 times a week. I bribed myself with a doughnut yesterday, but that’s not going to be a regular thing, I just need something to get my enthusiasm started and get the momentum going.

I got bitten by a squirrel.

It wasn’t really her fault. She was hungry and nervous, and went for what looked like a tasty peanut, and discovered it was a finger. She stopped biting as soon as she realized, but because she was in a hurry she bit far enough to break the skin.

That’s the point at which a lot of people would be yelling "Oh my god! Rabies! Help!" However, I did the research before I started feeding squirrels, and basically nobody ever gets rabies from tree squirrels. As one state’s department of health page summarizes :

Tens of thousands of squirrels have been tested for rabies at the Department of Health Branch Laboratories. Only two were reported positive — a squirrel in 1913 and, the most recent, a flying squirrel collected from Pinellas County in 1961.

So I followed CDC recommendations: I washed the wounds thoroughly with soap and water, then I soaked them in a strong saline solution, then I applied iodine, and finally a touch of antibiotic ointment.

In addition, I followed the protocol generally advised for riskier mammals like racoons: I observed the squirrel in question for a period of 10 days. The ten days are up, and I’m glad to say she is still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when she visits us each morning.

So, I’m reasonably confident I don’t have rabies. Nor have I developed any strange squirrel-like powers; I still need to use a nutcracker to open nuts.