Idiscovered the Ipod

I was happily gifted with a 16gb (orange) Ipod Nano for Christmas. I can't say I have always wanted one, doing just fine with the 40-50 buck mp3 players. But, damn if I didn't keep losing the cord that plugged it into my computer (which of course, they don't sell replacements for). So I got me the real deal... and it is pretty awesome. I have not had a lot of free listening time yet, but I have certainly filled the memory to near breaking point. 16 GB almost all gone. Shit, the first computer I ever used had 4 MEGA bytes in its whole memory. Amazing.

The possibilities for this thing are endless. I like having most of my tunes with me at all times, and in a neat tiny package. As I may have mentioned in the past, music is kind of an important thing to me. When I am home (if the tele isn't on) I always have music going. It's relaxing; it's invigorating; it's a series of mini cross-sections of my life as I know and knew it. I have been trying to remember I have this convenient little device in my daily activities, trying to invent ways to use it. Just yesterday I went to clean all the dog crap out of the basement (don't ask), and thought, "hey, I should shovel dog crap into a bucket with music in my ears!" Now I get to roam around my world with a little soundtrack to everything.


Perhaps the most exciting aspect are the podcasts. What a great idea, producing little hors douvres of news and movies and indy music and radio shows and uploading them for everyone to listen to. I love having my favorite NPR programs automatically downloaded to my Ipod, so I can listen at my leisure (since I never get to listen to NPR live anymore). Hooray for This American Life. There are a number of government-type groups that have podcasts too, which is perfect since I am trying to understand and learn about some of these things. I have since downloaded Inside the FBI programs, podcasts from the Counter Intelligence Centre, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and other fascinating things. This is on top of some fun stuff like bluegrass songs of the day and neat little independent music programs. The potential for these are great, and the selections endless.

I am still afraid to carry this with me everywhere (especially the hospital) until I get a protective case. This thing feels sturdy, but I fear for it's little orange exoskeleton. For now I will play mother kangaroo to my little joey here and carry on with my adventures worthy of a soundtrack.

(And in case you were wondering... I was listening to music on my Ipod the entire time I was typing this post).

Apparently, it snows here

Soooo, H and I wanted to have dinner at this sweet little restaurant about 25 minutes away, a taqueria of sorts, but one that makes food from the Southwest. They even fly in fresh green chiles from New Mexico weekly. Anyhow, we walk out the door, and H says, "It's snowing." Yeah, it was snowing alright. No big deal to two kids straight from Oregon. But oh if the people on the road weren't freaking out. The bridge we normally go over - totally blocked with cars going nowhere, just all stopped. We had to make an illegal turn and head to another bridge and zig zag through down town to get around the idiots. The ride was smooth until we tried to get onto the regional East-West highway (22), which was backed up as far as I could see. A long story short, we had to abort our anticipated dinner with some yummy green chile burritos. Seriously, by that time, we had only gone about five minutes worth of normal driving distance, with the bulk of our trip ahead of us (in traffic).

I have certainly never lived anywhere that got snowed on during the winter. Sure, in Portland, we were very close to snow, and it snowed a couple rare weird times. But Bethlehem actually gets snow every year, in the valley (and I live on a hill). This should be interesting. Though people hint that it never snows too much, no crazy blizzards. There is the occasional ice storm that shuts down the city, which should make getting to work interesting. Well, I guess that's why one of our cars is four wheel drive and the other is all wheel drive. The question is: to buy snow tires or not to buy snow tires for Heidi? Either way, we need to get ourselves prepared for who knows what. This is definitely a different environment, and we have no idea what to expect. It's about time to put together that emergency box.

Anyhow, I babble. Here are a couple pictures from our first snow.

The Gun Hunt

Thanks to the folks buying me a beautiful Glock 34 handgun for med school graduation, I have taken up shooting as a hobby of sorts. It is as good a distracting release as any. Every physician needs that one thing to do on their day off that takes their mind off of work completely, because there is a lot to think about otherwise, a lot of little things and what-ifs that can stick in your brain. Some doctors eventually get their pilot's license and fly; some are more creative and paint or play chef; some buy expensive cars and drive like maniacs. Either way, these are activities that demand complete concentration to do well (and not hurt yourself), and make for excellent relaxation (and enjoyment). Shooting is the same way, as far as I am concerned - an activity which requires my full attention to everything I am doing in order to not hurt myself or others. And it is fun, and not terribly expensive (once the equipment is purchased... or gifted).

That being said, I have been searching for the perfect rifle to add to my handgun, an assault rifle that is. I am not much for hunting (for no particular reason), but do love to shoot. I want a handsome rifle with some sweet optics that both does well at 500-600 meters as well as in close quarters, in more tactical applications. I fell in love with a particular gun, one Steyr AUG, made in Austria and used by various militaries and SWAT folks throughout the world. But... it goes for a cool 3500 - 4000 dollars. Yikes, I know. But, a ha, there is a company here in Pennsylvania (of all places) that makes this on their own - called an STG-556 (picture below), which is only $1700 or so. I tried and tried to find it for a good deal, leaning on my few connections, but could not get it for cheaper to save my life. Oh my dream gun, we will have to wait for another day.

Since this gun is untouchable financially right now, I have been working on a backup plan, a gun which satisfies my requirements, is fun to shoot, is customizable to me, and is within my price range. After consulting my gun-toting friends and their SWAT friends, I have decided to go on a hunt for an AR-15 (see below). The problem (or beauty) with that particular gun, is that there are infinite combinations of design elements, from stocks to barrels to optics to lights and lasers. And the price range goes from pleasant to disgusting as a result. All in all, even buying a basic one with be enjoyable, and will make a nice project to build up and improve.

So that's the current plan, and if all goes well, I will be going out to a dealer friend of a friend shortly to have one custom built for me. With as much as the gun-toting rednecks in this state are freaking out about their guns being taken away once Obama takes office, I had better get it soon before they buy up everything or the gun dealers artificially jack up their prices. NRA propaganda + retards = major freakout.

Blog Envy

Yeah, so it turns out that I suck at keeping up this blog. The funny thing is that there a a couple blogs I read religiously, like click on twice a day when I get bored (see the list on the right side of my blog page). And... I get kind of pissed when one of them doesn't update anything new for days at a time (or weeks at a time, for that matter). Is there a bigger waste of fifteen seconds of my life than to type in a web address of a blog, only for it to open (finally) and find the same post I read three times already this week? There is one blog in particular that I swear I will never read again, since she only updates the damn thing once a month, maybe. But there I go, clicking away everyday, just in case there is something new to read.

So who am I to complain, really, when I never update my own blog? I suppose I could come up with some lame excuses: 1) I am too busy; 2) when I think of witty original thoughts to post, I am nowhere near a computer (and refuse to blog on the little keyboard of my phone); 3) no one reads this blog anyways so what's the point (read: I keep forgetting to tell people about it's existence); 4) Yo no se. In reality, it is a combination of those things.

The solution is to move blogging further up in my everyday consciousness; make it part of my routine before bed or something (on the days I get to go to bed). Maybe I can take little notes on Post-Its as genius phrases come to me and save them for later. All in all, I aspire to be like my favorite ER doc/blogger Shadowfax, who seems to always manage to post something about clinical work, politics, life, or a combination every single day (sometimes more than one). I don't know how you pull it off, good sir, but I will try to figure it out.

In short, I will do my best, and try to post more, so be patient. And if my lack of posting pisses you off, just send me an email and say so (and I will be sure to post more often, spreading dirty scandalous lies about you on the internet).

Bastions of Sanity

I have been on OB/GYN all month long. The idea of delivering babies all day sounds good on paper, but the reality has been quite different. In three weeks of being on service, I have delivered only 11 babies (counting weekdays only, that is less than 1 per day). Sad sad. Know what I do the rest of the day? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I get to sit there and pretend to be busy, which usually involves reading some journal article or another, or screwing around online. Normally this would be pure torture (it still is), but I have been maintaining my sanity by doing a few things here and there. These have been unconscious acts, really; but now that I think about it, such seemingly trivial activities have got me through this month with a stitch of sanity intact.

Coming and going through the trauma bay doors - There are many ways into the hospital, but I have been religiously using only the doors through the ambulance bay, which leads right in to the ER. Everyday I get to experience a little piece of my home turf, to remind me why I am here in the first place. This allows me to B.S. with some fellow residents, talk up my attendings, and say hey to the nurses and other staff I know. Today I ran into one of the medics I know, and was refreshed by his simple, "Have a good one, Doc." To some, the ER is a crazy place to be avoided at all costs; nowadays, it is a sweet little piece of home for me.

Reading about fun things at work - In order to pretend to be busy on the OB floor, I have been printing out journal articles about stuff that interests me (but is definitely not core material in the ER). Mostly I have been pouring through every possible article on Tactical Medicine (basically medical support of SWAT teams and Secret Service and FBI, etcetera). You will hear more of this, as I will be taking a week-long course next month. It is a serious topic, and a reasonably dangerous job, but an exciting distraction for me. I have also been reaidng about blast injuries and explosions, as I am planning to give such a lecture to my EMS pals soon.

Hometown radio - I love the internet for streaming audio. Almost daily I listen to my fave home-hometown country radio station as well as Portland's best-ever alternative music on my very own computer, which makes me happier than most anything. Rarely do I get to turn up the tunes on the labor and delivery floor, but when I am home, one or the other of those stations is always on. Sometimes I forget I am across the country far far away when I hear those familiar sounds and traffic reports and DJs.

Fun Fun Reading - I devoted a previous post to this, but yes, I am still reading for fun almost every night. Though this thick Paul Theroux book is taking quite a while at fifteen minutes per day. I have stopped short of reading my fun book at work though (probably frowned upon).

My puppies and my girl and my friends and family - These go without saying of course, and certainly require little detail to understand. I am bad about keeping in touch (busy, duh), but appreciate and revel in every chance I get to be reconnected.

"You can do anything for a month" - This is the mantra of residency, and pretty soon, enough months have passed that you get to graduate. So we push on.

Guten Tag Heidi

So here are some quick and random pictures of my new (used) Audi A4, Heidi. They are just shots I took real fast in m y driveway in bad light and played with effects on. I will take more quality pictures as opportunities present. There will certainly be more words and photos of the Continuing Adventures of Heidi. Stay Tuned.

Ode to the Green Goose

Last week, I traded in my old faithful good-on-gas Jetta (The Green Goose) for a new used car - a rather pretty Audi A4 (named Heidi). Being that I have personally owned the Goose for about 7 or 8 years now, and known her for a decade, I thought it fitting to take some time and space out here on the ol' blog here to commemorate her. Eventually I will introduce you to Heidi as well, but do not want to take attention away from the Green Goose right now. This is all about her. Here is a montage of the (sadly) few pictures I could find of my old car that were taken during her 187,000 miles of service. From the roads of California to the hills of PA... thanks Goose.

Why / How I Read

People (particularly those that are in the same career boat as I) often wonder out loud why it is I read so much for fun. Actually, they usually ask: "How the heck do you have time to read so much?!?" Certainly it is a valid question, seeing that most residents scarcely have time to sleep and see their families before headed back to our hospital home. The "how" question is easier to answer - because it is important to me, so I make time. Period.

And "why?" - because 1) I love reading, I always have. Well, that's not true exactly. I have been reading more or less constantly since senior year of high school (thank you Mrs. Randolph), though prior to that time it was like pulling teeth to open a book. 2) Reading is relaxing; it is my escape, my chance to forget about the hospital and the student loan bills and the huge Emergency Medicine textbook I should be reading instead. It is a time to get lost in a book, in a fictional life in interesting places and mostly improbable situations. I tend to steer clear of non-fiction for the most part (with rare exceptions) - I don't want to really learn anything. Nor do fantasy books do it for me; they are just too far out there for me, and there is not enough acid in Eastern PA to make those interesting to my brain. Modern American fiction is where my love lies, typified by the likes of John Steinbeck and Paul Theroux and Michael Chabon. And I do love a good spy novel, if well done. (Trust that if it is on the Bestseller List, you will almost never see it in my hands).

People may look at me like I am a bug when I bust out a novel before grand rounds or talk of the latest beauty of literature, but it's my thing, my love, what keeps me sane. They are just jealous anyways... :)