Author: James Amos

I'm a retired consult-liaison psychiatrist. I navigated the path in a phased retirement program through the hospital where I was employed. I was fully retired as of June 30, 2020. This blog chronicles my journey.

Bathroom Fan Timers are Now Required by Code!

OK, so maybe you already knew that bathroom exhaust fan timers for reducing moisture are required by code.

But we didn’t, which is why we were both a little spooked when the hallway bathroom fan came on all by itself on our first evening in our new house. It has done that a few times, even though we barely use that bathroom. It’s the only bathroom in the house which has a fan timer. I don’t think it’s supposed to come on by itself, so it’s probably haunted.

It’s made by Intermatic and Sena finally flagged down an electrician working in another house under construction on our street who found an instruction manual for our model. He told her it was installed because it’s code.

Imagine if every bathroom in your house had a bathroom fan timer in it. I’m sure some people love the idea. I also realize some people might think it’s crass of me to admit I would love to disable it.

I don’t think I can disable it. The initial setup instructions alone contain 28 steps. Then you get to actually program it, which gets you to 41 steps. If you ever have to edit the programming, you’ll need to develop a serious drinking problem. You have to scan a QR code to get your latitude and longitude. That’s not a joke.

The unit runs partly on batteries. I think the model we have is the ST01 and it takes a single CR2 battery. A newer model takes a different kind of battery and you need two of them. They control the clicking noise and the time and date. You also need strong fingernails or a tiny flat head screw driver to open the battery compartment. See the video below.

If you figure out how to disable it, please comment. Otherwise, I guess you could call the 800 number in the manual to access what might be an automated recorded answering algorithm which ends up recommending mayonnaise or Miracle Whip for your Braunschweiger sandwich.

ADDENDUM 9/10/2024: I pressed the MODE button once and the timer went from AUTO to MAN (manual). We haven’t had it turn on automatically so far after that.

Casey’s Pizza Deja Vu

We had a deja vu thing with our final move out of the hotel and into our new house.

Just before we first moved into the hotel two months ago, it was really late at night and we stopped at Casey’s to get a pizza. We were exhausted.

Today, we finally moved out of the hotel and into our new house. It was late in the afternoon, and we had been flattening boxes and enduring other tortures of moving. We took the boxes to the recycling center (that will not be the last time by any means). And on our way back, can you guess what we did?

Yep. We stopped at Casey’s and got a pizza. Spooky. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

FDA Approves Updated Covid-19 Vaccines to Better Protect Against Currently Circulating Variants

On August 22, 2024, the FDA authorized new Covid-19 vaccines (2024-2025) “to include a monovalent (single) component that corresponds to the Omicron variant KP.2 strain of SARS-CoV-2. The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been updated with this formula to more closely target currently circulating variants and provide better protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. Today’s actions relate to updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by ModernaTX Inc. and Pfizer Inc.”

Hit Them Back with Love

I didn’t get to listen to the Friday blues with Big Mo last Friday because my little Sony Dream Machine radio audio kept cutting out.

But on the Friday blues of August 9, 2024, I heard a tune I liked. It was “Hit ‘Em Back” by Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Shemekia Copeland.

Some blues songs can be gritty and dark, but the title “Hit ‘Em Back” isn’t what it makes you think. The song is really about turning the other cheek, emphasizing the growing importance of getting along with each other.

Getting along with each other is hard to do. I know to most old people (including me) that used to be a lot easier. Old people say that, like saying “What happened to the good old days?”

Well, when I reflect on the past just from my perspective, I have trouble remembering the so-called good old days. In general, we all struggle to get along with each other.

I think the song “Hit ‘Em Back” is a novel way of expressing how relationships between people and nations usually go, but also suggest we “hit” them with love. We mostly hit each other back-in a bad way. The lyrics send an apparently paradoxical message which gets your attention.

And then you get it. Let’s not hit each other. Let’s listen to each other instead.

Thoughts on the Homeless Mentally Ill

The homeless man who lives on the sidewalk outside our hotel reminds me of a couple of things. One is Dr. Gerard Clancy, MD who is University of Iowa Health Care Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Emergency Medicine, and Senior Associate Dean of External Affairs.

I remember Gerry, who was in the department of psychiatry when I was a resident. I saw his picture in the newspaper and hearing about him riding a bicycle around Iowa City doing a sort of outreach to the homeless mentally ill.

I found an archived article mentioning him published in 1995 in the Daily Iowan. The story starts on the bottom of the front page, entitled “I.C. opens new doors for area’s mentally ill.” It continues on page 9A.

The story mentions Dr. Clancy and what was called then the Clinical Outreach Services and the Emergency Housing Program (EHP). The challenges then sound a lot like what they are now: long waiting lists for psychiatric evaluation and treatment, a lack of funding for the treatment of mental illness, and a lack of preventive care. The most common mental illnesses in the homeless mentally ill are chronic schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder. The idea of reaching out to them “on their own turf” as Clancy was quoted, was to help them feel more comfortable talking about their mental illness.

The housing situation for this population of those struggling with mental illness was dismal then and it’s still dismal.

The homeless guy I’ve been calling Bob lives on the sidewalk next to a busy street. It’s just my opinion that he’s mentally ill based on my observations of his behavior. I’ve never tried to talk to him. However, Bob gets visits from people who obviously have differing views about the way he lives.

Some of them do talk to him and, although I can’t hear their conversations, the actions tell me important things. Some bring him what I call “care packages,” often food, water, and other items. They may start by acting kind, although may get impatient with him. Others try to clean up his sidewalk, and may criticize him. The police occasionally visit and have so far not taken him into custody.

It looks like things have not changed much since 1995 regarding the homeless mentally ill based on what I write here about my observations. In fact, it’s easy to find current news stories that say things are getting worse.

At the beginning of this post, I said I found a couple of things. The other thing was a very thorough teaching presentation about the current state of formal outreach to this population. It’s available on the web as a power point presentation by another University of Iowa faculty, Dr. Victoria Tann, MD, entitled “Assertive Community Treatment 101.”

Dr. Tann is currently an IMPACT Team psychiatrist. It’s an excellent source of background on the history of this effort at outreach to the homeless mentally ill. It also summarizes what’s happening with the program now.

The Cat is a Witness?

I have watched the Men in Black movies dozens of times, and I still get a little puzzled at the scene in which Agent J ask the deputy medical examiner (Laurel) where the cat Orion is.  Orion is carrying a tiny galaxy on its collar. You’ll have to see the movie to get the context about it.

Agent J asks where Orion is but the way he asks about it is odd. He says he’s looking for the cat because it’s a witness in a murder case and he needs to ask it some questions. Laurel doesn’t bat an eyelash and just says the cat’s not around but wants Agent J to take her with him instead.

Ok, I realize there are a lot of weird things in the MIB movies including a giant, ill-tempered talking cockroach. Nonetheless, it still seems out of place (at least to me) that he tells Laurel he wants to talk to a cat. Laurel has seen the little galaxy hanging from the cat’s collar. That doesn’t mean the cat talks. In fact, all Orion ever says is “meow.”

Why doesn’t Laurel ask why Agent J wants to try to ask a cat questions? After all, Agent K has neuralyzed her a couple of times, so she doesn’t remember seeing or hearing anything weird. I’ve scanned the internet to see if anybody else wonders about it. It looks like I’m the odd man out. You really need to see the scene and the movie for context. I didn’t see any comments about questioning the cat in a YouTube clip below, but I might have missed it.