Lung diseases, the element Si, and outer apparel

I was over at the John Brook’s again tonight, picking up some diet tonic water; the checker who rang me up was complaining to another employee about smelling "pneumonia" in some container that she had opened. I didn’t say anything, but maybe I should’ve. At work, I correct people for making similar mistakes, although there I think that’s my duty. A common mistake I hear is confusion between ‘silicon’, ‘silica’, and ‘silicone’. Silicon is the element, the stuff they make transistors and computer chip out of. Silica is silicon dioxide (formula SiO2); basically sand. And silicone is the polymer that is often associated with breast implants (if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know what I think of those) but is in many other useful day-to-day items such as bathtub caulk or those new-fangled rubbery baking trays (the latter taking advantage of the excellent heat resistance of silicones). The monomer present in silicon is -Si(CH3)2-O-, although other organic groups can take the place of the -CH3.

Anyway, a checker at John Brook’s recently complained that I never said anything. I explained that I was quiet, but the real reason (I’m definitely not quiet) is that I don’t like to small talk too much. In fact, I’m downright bad at small talk. In Vegas, I’ve tried to chat with my fellow Blackjack players about the luck of players at the table, or some similar shallow topic, but I just end up falling on my face socially.

Speaking of small talk, the temperature here has taken a sudden downfall. I love the fall....I really like this slight chilliness (well, at least at night... the day is still 70 degrees here), the crispness of the air, the smell of turning leaves. But an issue I’ve been dealing with related to fall is my need for a new jacket appropriate to this season. I’ve got a jacket that is reasonable comfortable, but it’s kind of a middle-aged man’s jacket (in fact, I saw a middle-aged guy earlier this year wearing the very same coat). I tossed out my Dickie’s jackets. I liked those quite a bit, but they were falling apart and on their last legs. New Dickie’s jackets all have a Dickie’s logo on the front, which I don’t like. I enjoyed the anonymous style of these jackets; I don’t want to be accused of wearing a fashion jacket. So now I’m stuck; I want a light coat that is hip, but not trendy. And I’m not ready to be middle-aged yet (even when in middle-age, I hope to maintain some semblance of fashion sense. If anyone catches me wearing something like this, please shoot me).