Brrrrr
Somehow the 4°F air temperature that it is now seems better than minus 16°C which, of course, is the same temperature measured with a different measuring stick. Whichever you prefer, it is once again brutally cold on the mountain this morning.
This cold snap will not help with the water situation which had improved over the last few days of relatively warm weather. Indeed, I would not be surprised if the underground pipes froze completely shut this time around. If that happens then it is a matter of waiting for the spring thaw!
I did manage to make it off the mountain yesterday to visit with my new quack down in Elkin. He has a German name — Andras Neumark — but is Hungarian. So were Leo Szlard and Edward Teller (atomic chain reaction and bomb), John von Newmann (mathematics, game theory, digital computer), Erno Rubik (Rubik Cube), and, of course, Atilla the Hun. He's a nice fellow and, by all accounts of those waiting in the lobby, a very good doctor.
He was nevertheless horrified at my Depression Cocktail. My best assurances that the combination of drugs was not unusual and had been prescribed by a competent medical doctor were not enough. "I cannot treat you if you expect me to prescribe them!" After a protracted discussion, it seems that he simply had little experience with Depression Cocktails. The net result is that I'll visit a shrink (MD) who will be familiar with them and can assure him that my present one will not somehow kill me.
Otherwise, our initial meeting went very well.
This cold snap will not help with the water situation which had improved over the last few days of relatively warm weather. Indeed, I would not be surprised if the underground pipes froze completely shut this time around. If that happens then it is a matter of waiting for the spring thaw!
I did manage to make it off the mountain yesterday to visit with my new quack down in Elkin. He has a German name — Andras Neumark — but is Hungarian. So were Leo Szlard and Edward Teller (atomic chain reaction and bomb), John von Newmann (mathematics, game theory, digital computer), Erno Rubik (Rubik Cube), and, of course, Atilla the Hun. He's a nice fellow and, by all accounts of those waiting in the lobby, a very good doctor.
He was nevertheless horrified at my Depression Cocktail. My best assurances that the combination of drugs was not unusual and had been prescribed by a competent medical doctor were not enough. "I cannot treat you if you expect me to prescribe them!" After a protracted discussion, it seems that he simply had little experience with Depression Cocktails. The net result is that I'll visit a shrink (MD) who will be familiar with them and can assure him that my present one will not somehow kill me.
Otherwise, our initial meeting went very well.
I'm sorry to say that there is nothing German in Andras' name.
ReplyDelete"Andras" is thoroughly Hungarian and goes for "Andreas" (German), or "Andrew" (English). In Hungarian, the two "a" in Andras are to be pronounced like the "o" in "sorry", and the "s" like "sh", so: Ondrosh. "Newmark"? That may have a German background and would be "Neumark", but it could as well be English, I guess.
Actually his surname is, indeed, spelled with a "u" as Neumark. (My brain did the translation into English against just now!) He introduced himself as "Doctor Neumark" with the American pronunciation (Newmark) but later confirmed that in Hungary it is pronounced more like "Nowmark". I've not heard him pronounce his given name.
ReplyDeleteThat German Neumark-name with a Hungarian is not surprising. In Hungary, German family names are nothing unusual. The country had a considerable German minority until 1945/46, and some are still there. They came in the 18th century, recruited by the Empress Maria Theresia, after her Field-Marshal Prince Eugene of Savoy had chased the Turks (Osmans) out of Hungary. They are called "Donauschwaben" (Danube Suebians), and those who are still there speak amongst thenmselves an ancient Suebian dialect, because originally, most of them came from the area around the Germany city of Ulm. The city located at the Danube in Suebia (Schwaben), of course.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is interesting that he attended medical school at Semmelweis University in Budapest where one can attend in the Hungarian-, German- and English-language programs. The university is named in honor of Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, the father of modern medical hygiene, who was born in Budapest to a wealthy German-speaking family from Austria in 1818.
ReplyDelete