Instead of using a tongue depressor when examining a patient's throat, ask the patient to yawn and then immediately yawn at them. This causes the patient yawn in response, raises the soft palate, and lowers the tongue, enabling you to visualize everything without having to use the "popsicle stick" and risking an overactive gag reflex! Works every time, especially for kids.
Be familiar with your health insurance policy regarding emergency room visits and specialists, as well as if a referral is required for a specialist. Most pediatrician's offices will not do stitches, and the emergency room can be daunting to a child and you will most likely wait forever for treatment. If it is during office hours, try to go directly to a plastic surgeon (if your insurance covers it) for the treatment. You will get in quickly, will get the best treatment and often the copay is less than that for the ER visit.
When playing as a DJ on a wedding, birthday party, or any event which involves a heterogeneous public:
If you are in a middle of a book and someone who has already read it before asks you where you are in the story, always name a point a few chapters earlier than where you really are. Then, if they say something boneheaded like "Oh, the part where X gets shot?" it won't ruin anything for you.
If you wish to re-use file folders, put a piece of clear tape along the length of the tab, before applying a label. Then, when you're ready to re-use your file folder, the original label will peel off cleanly.
Email:
I'm a Roller Derby skater, coach and captain for the NYC team - Gotham Girls Roller Derby. I just spent a very long day of evaluations with our all-star team, and then, when i came home, stumbled upon your site. Here's some tips I said I said over and over again today.If your feet are cramping after every jam or on long warmup drills, lace your skates up every other hole. This reduces the pressure on the top of the foot when you lean into and around turns 1 and 3.
If you still get cramps, or feel out of control, loosen your trucks a little so you get more give on the turns, making your crossovers tighter.If this adjustment helps, in the long run you will need to get softer bushings, but just playing with the tightness will help diagnose the problem.
Natily Blair aka "Ginger Snap"
Captain of the Bronx Gridlock and the Gotham Girls Roller Derby Travel Team.
gothamgirlsrollerderby.com
When pouring liquid out a large container, pour from the opposite end of the spout. Doing so will allow you to stop abruptly, and you'll have less chance of a spill.
For increased diaphragm strength and breath support, lie on your back and place a small weight on your belly. Inhale and exhale, concentrating on making the weight rise and fall with each breath. The lying down keeps your shoulders from moving; the concentration brings your breath to the diaphragm where it belongs.
Here's a trick for changing air filters on ceiling mounted return air filter grills. After you have removed the dirty filter and are ready to install the clean one, turn the "fan" switch on the thermostat to the "on" position. The intake from the fan will hold the filter in place, leaving you with both hands free to lift and refasten the grill.
Pigs are very smart, and can escape from just about any fencing you can rig up. But they can also be trained like dogs. So when they are piglets, teach them to come to you by shaking a can of rocks and rewarding them with an egg.
Then, when a pig gets out of the fence, simply stand inside the fencing and shake the can. The little piggy will come running home.
Don't user highlighters -- they only encourage passive reading. Instead, use a pen to copy down important passages into a notebook or in the margins of the textbook itself.
Highlighting helps you find passages later; writing them down embeds them in your memory, and there won't be any need to go back and hunt for them.
When recounting something to ensure your first count was accurate, just count from one to 10 repeatedly, rather than counting up through the teens and beyond. When you're done, simply verify that your final number matches the last digit of your original count. This decreases the chance that you'll lose count (was I on 87 or 97?) and have to start over.
If you run out of tailor's chalk, just use the end of a bar of soap. It smells good, it works just as well, and you can wash it away without leaving a mark on the material.
During you child's birthday party, don't try and write down who gave which gift. After each present is opened, have the birthday child and gift giver pose for a picture together holding the gift. Print the photos after the party, and you can include a copy in the thank-you card.
Fill a garbage can with water; add a bottle of Creme de Menthe and half a bottle of India ink. Soak your newly counterfeited bills in this concoction and dry them with an electric fan. They will look as though they have been in circulation for years.
If you are part of a protest march that gets out of control and the mounted police are called in, position yourself with wall or other large immovable object directly behind you. This protects you from a possible charge.
Mounted authorities wont charge a wall, for fear of injuring the horse.
When stopping for the night while driving, avoid the temptation to stay at the first hotel you see when you arrive in a city. Instead, stay at a hotel at the far side of the burg. Then, when you leave in the morning, you won't have to fight morning traffic while you cross town.
When working with heavy equipment in remote areas, wrap your lunch in aluminum foil and place it on the engine manifold of your equipment when you arrive in the morning. By lunch time you'll have a piping hot meal waiting.
When putting waist restraints onto an inmate, they will often stick out their stomach in order to have a loose fit. To stop this, get them to talk to you by asking everyday questions. It will be difficult for them to stick out their stomach and talk simultaneously.