With an attention span of a goldfish , I always found myself making calendars and to do lists during lectures. I would try to plan out major events or tasks, i.e. finishing medical school, papers due, boards, vacations, rotations, finishing residency. I remember the last time I made the calender task list was probably last summer, prior to starting 3rd year residency.
It was the home stretch. Job was lined up (link), baby on board… Just had to pass boards and get to July 2012. Well, despite a few unexpected kicks in the nuts, which I won’t get in to here, I secured a great job, better than I could have imagined mind you, passed boards, and graduated residency.
Now I am about to reach the end point of my last calander/planner. once I start work I know there are always tasks to plan for, but as for those life events… What do you do when you reached your foreseeable goals? Obviously you make new goals.
I never thought this day would actually come.
It’s funny, I didnt realize this until just now… I will obviously be planning for events that far more important from now on. These events will make all those past milestones seem like mere fluff… I will be marking down/dreading events such as April 20th, 2022 and 2027… When ViviBear becomes a teenager and wants to start driving!
I know many people have had this thought regarding me… my god, Alex is a dad…
Back to the point at hand… new era starts July 16th. Can not wait.
So I have two weeks+ to get stuff done that I have been putting off for many years or have not thought of doing it. How did I spend my first day no long as a resident?
1. started cleaning out parent’s basement: MommyMD always gets on my case about hoarding boxes and items that she deems useless. I always tell her “I MAY NEED IT LATER”. Usually i never ever ever need it again, until I throw it away. That’s how it always happens right? Well I learned this from my parents. They are incessant about keeping boxes and… well everything, down to broken projection screen TVs. WTF are we keeping this stuff? At least if it is broken, I wont keep it (usually). Well today I brought up a 45″ projection screen TV up by myself, and I tell you that was difficult. Stupid thing is I could have asked for help but I didnt. My parents are currently getting work done on their house with Paul Werner from Werner Contracting, they are the company (and my neighbor) that built our patio and deck. They are in the middle of tearing out their old rotting deck, and fixing up the exterior. Back to the story, they were available, but for some reason I did not want to bother them so I took it upon myself to bring that stupid TV upstairs. The frame isnt that heavy with the components removed, but I did need help to throw that POS on top of the dumpster. Well there is still more cleaning to do, and I really don’t think I will be able to get it totally clean in order for Paul & Co to start finish the basement (phase 3 of my parent’s projects). I did clear out a bunch of firewood (by the way do not keep firewood in the basement). Then there are these empty boxes, which I can go throw and break down to recycle (the dumpster is full). Then there are these boxes full of papers my dad has collected over the past… 30 + years. I really dont think a lot of this stuff will ever be looked at again or used again. Very frustrating, because I want to throw it away, but am not sure if I am allowed to. I would think if I threw it away, he wouldn’t even notice, which brings us back to… the dumpster is full, so we need another dumpster… ahhhhhhh.
Attempting to clean out their basement out has opened my eyes to how MommyMD must view me. I always keep boxes… I mean I may need to return something or sell it or …. or ship something. Well I realize now it is not worth it. Typically I dont return things, and if I do sell something, can just put it in a different box. All those papers I have collected over the years… time to use it in the fire pit I suppose. I really hope I do not end up on hoarders one day.
2. Dropped by the new office today. I wanted to take another gander to figure out what else I need to get settled in, set up the computer, and figure the lay of the land prior to starting. Also helped configure their new T1 internet connection. I brought a penguin print I bought myself for fathersday
“Dude”
Already have my Diploma and Board License up… I think I need more penguins. Since I’m trying to clean up my parents house, I think I might as well take some of the penguins and take them to work:) Also need some family photos.
3. Took Vivi to the pool yet again, this time we had more success with her not crying. I think the key is to stay in the very very very shallow end until she is ready. Seemed to work. Many 102 degF… pool felt great!
“ready to swim”
*need to do still*
4. Need to hire a medical assistant. I tried to fish away some great people I’ve worked with before, but they probably know better than to work with me, or have a good gig as it is. So apparently they will be putting an add out Monday. If you know of any GOOD Medical assistants that are looking to work with an awesome, handsome, smart physician, tell them to keep looking, otherwise if they want to work with me… let me know.
“the original medical assistant,” I do hope the person I work with doesn’t really look like this.
5. Finish mulching the yard
6. Clean out KoiPond – it is green yet again… ALGAE!!!!
7. Will be getting a new phone and hopping over to Verizon… there you go Ed. I did it. I also opted for a new number, so for those of you that care enough, rest assured you will have it. Wont get the new phone and # until Mid July.
Coming off work, I zipped on over to the future office to sign my contract. I can confidently say I will be joining a wonderful group of docs. After a whirlwind of a journey, I can most definitely say: “PHEW!” The more I think back the more I realize how lucky I really am. Maybe there is a higher power that is looking out for me? Or maybe there is a cosmic set of checks and balances. Whatever it is, all I k now is I need to go through a manic phase and celebrate this good fortune. Buy a few Llamas, maybe a Koala bear and scooter.
I was feeling pretty good already, imagining my future seeing my own patients, having my OWN office. Yet I had this lingering sensation of dread… not knowing if I passed my boards. I’ve been counting down the days from when I took the test. We were informed 8 weeks from that day. As of this morning I had to wait ~2 more weeks. Right after the test, I felt horrible. I was for sure I bombed it. I did not feel prepared at all, and I definitely felt that the test was hard. For the next few days I had some difficulty sleeping, because I kept thinking to myself… CRAP CRAP crap crap CRAAAAP. I got over it for a little bit, but after recently watching Greys Anatomy *spoiler alert* seeing “Apes” fail her boads and see her job offers get pulled away got me thinking again. What if I failed, what if my future employer says… well since you didnt pass, we cant take you on… if I dont pass I will have to take it again, and pay… AGAIN! Suffice it to say I did not sleep well the past few days. Heck I havent really worked out for the past 2 months (ever since March due to board studying and the post board aftermath feeling of crappiness).
On my way home, I was on the phone with MommyMD and were discussing my current sensation of triumph with signing my contract. I did also mention my reservations with whether I passed or failed the boards. As I arrived home, I went to check the mail. MommyMD still on the phone, I caught my eye on an envelop addressed to me marked Confidential. THen I notice who the sender was… IT IS HERE!? Could it be? Early? With bated breath, I hesitantly open the epistle… I cant bear to read it. I try to look at it from the back… oh what the hell. I read it. I read it 2-3 times to make sure I read it right… YOU PASSED!. what? WHAT? I PASSED!
YES! I PASSED! I yelled out a screech of victory and joy (as MommyMD was still on the phone). I still couldnt believe it. I had MommyMD read it just to make sure I am not hallucinating.
I still fear I will wake up and find this to have been a dream. nope. not a dream. Cant get better than this.
ViviBear is walking
Job is secured
Boards are passed.
now what… nothing to hold me back…. the ship is leaving the dock.
p.s. thank you to all that truly believed all would work out. :-)
At least once a year I seem to post about this same topic. The day Darshan and Clement stole a part of my childhood away. It was a snowy day in middle school. I believe it may have been a snow day even. While I was in the solitude of my home, two of my so called pals were frolicing in the snow, sledding down the “Great Hill of Gahanna”. Despite the fact it was a snow day (indicating the roads are bad enough to shut school down), and the fact that Gahanna is 30 minutes from my location, Clement and Darshan opted NOT to invite me to go sledding. Who knew the unfortuante consequnces of their actions would be so dire for the future generations to come.
Clement was gracious enough to send me this photo of the decree given by the city of Gahanna.
The home made uncrustable. Why pay $4 a box (about 1$ a sandwich) when you can just make it yourself. Reality is: it tastes the same, and you can do so much more. I personally like whole wheat, and avoid white bread when possible. You gotta have the fiber!
CutNSeal
Dont want colon cancer one day (or hemorrhoids or constipation for that matter). Eitherway; I scoured the internet for a while looking for other “sandwich sealing” and “decrusting” devices. I came across one device from the Pampered Chef. From my earlier post I linked to a page the showed you how to make your own uncrustable as well [http://jonandlaura.blogspot.com/2009/04/im-in-love-with-cut-n-seal.html]
I really didnt want to fork over $10.00 (not including shipping) for this contraption. Let alone my biggest issue with this device… IT WASTES SO MUCH BREAD! Being circular… and most bread loafs are… well not.
Pan Pita: Sandwich Press and Seal and Decruster
I wanted something that was lest wasteful. With a lengthy google search I finally came across this one from Japan. I purchased it on amazon.com for about $3 and some, with free shipping. I actually later found it at my local Japanese Grocery Store to be about a dollar less, but after you add tax, meh. evens out.
Wonderbread made one too, but I didnt like the way it looked. I tried to find one that would make a shape of a penguin, but didnt really find anything.
Looking at the back of the package, there were some instructions in Japanese with pictures. You dont really need instructions to figure out how to stick some bread inbetween this device and press, but the pictures did give me some great ideas about making some ham and egg sandwiches (like you find at the Asian bakeries- at least the ones in Asia). For the purpose of this post, I am just going to stick with PB&J.
Instructions
That said, I will do my step by step instruction for making my own uncrustables.
Pan Pita - decrusting and sealing device1. open it up2. Get the bread/PB/J3. Stick the PB&J in the center and the loaf centered on the device
Here I like to get a little wild (though it is now demonstrated in the photo) and get the PB and J all the way to the edge. I figure that once I cut the crust off, I dont want to waste it, so I am going to eat it anyway. Might as well have some PB&J on it already.
4. Stick the other side of the bread on top5. Place the top part on and PRESS!6. Peel crust off7. Take top off (the device not yours)8. Voila - Done9. Place in sandwich bag and freeze.Yummmmmmmmmmm
What I did the first day I tried it was I used a whole loaf of whole wheat bread. Made some uncrustables, placed them in a baggies and threw them in the freezer. For one thing, this will keep my bread from going stale. I usually eat a whole bunch, then forget about the bread. Then the bread goes bad.
At least this way it will be preserved better. Just like the Smukers Uncrustabels, when you want to eat it, take it out of the freezer, let it sit for about 30-4o min. Then voila. Chomp down as one would on the left. I figure when ViviBear goes to school in about 5 years from now, I can have her take PB&J with her. I wont have to wake up extra early just to make her lunch. What a great money saving time saving idea!!! I also figured each time I make the sandwiches from a whole loaf, I’d be able to just eat the crust as my lunch or what not. I’d hate to waste all that crust. I never understood why people hated the crust so much. I actually like the crust.
So with my stash of PB&J without crust sandwiches, I had some snacks premade for the next few days. I noticed each time I checked them out, my stash was slowly disappearing. Turned out MommyMD was taking them to work to eat. Well someone is eating it.
Overall review of the Pan Pita: Cheap. Easy to clean. easy to use. Some bread (if smashed a bit) will not fit perfectly, and you may have some residual crust. I’d rather have that than waste too much bread as you would with the Pampered Chef CutNSeal. Buy one if you want to be lazy like me and premake the PB&J. When I showed this to my mother her response was: why are you so lazy? Just make the sandwich when you want it. meh…
My buddy Tejal introduced me to this amazing invention. Apparently it has been around “for a long time” yet I have never seen or come across it before. I was sitting in the dining room and I saw Tejal with this apple pie/dumpling looking snack. It appeared very tasty. When she told me what it was I was in awe, yet dumbfounded. Why would anyone buy this? It is probably much more expensive than getting two slices of bread, some jelly and peanut butter. If you really hate the crust just cut it off. It just looked so good I decided to go pick up one up in the cafeteria as well (after eating lunch already).
First impressions: just two pieces of bread with PB&J crimped along the edges. Yumm! Well no less yum than a PB&J sandwich, but YUM nonetheless.
PROS: with the ends crimped, you dont really have to worry about the jelly falling out on one end. It’s premade and comes frozen. You let it thaw at room temp for 30 min and then eat it up to 8 hrs (according to the box). If you hate crust… voila no crust. Easy for the lazy or kitchen challenged parent to grab one, throw it in a lunch box, and send the kiddies on their way to school.
CONS: cost! about 3$ for a box of four. I dont think it comes in whole wheat.
Overall: cool idea, and I wonder if they sell crimpers to make these things at home in case Vivi hates crust, and I want to premake PB&J weeks in advance.
Suffice it to say, on my milk run tonight I opted to buy a box or two and share with MommyMD.
Thanks Tejal for introducing me to such a cool treat.
here’s a little diddy I found from a google search on making your own:
Well here I am. May is coming and still pending any finalization with a future employment. No worries though, because I am not worried. I was able to come across a variety of great opportunities. Not only are they are stable and offer a much more pleasant atmosphere it would seem. I have been able to narrow it down to two different places, and I am awaiting some final details before I can make an definite choice and sign that elusive contract. Back to the point though with the blessing in disguise. I was much more vague in the initial post, but care less currently about being vague. Suffice it to say, when people say “maybe it’s a blessing in disguise” there are many ways to interpret the events that unfold, but I have to say PHEW. Despite having a rug tugged from under my feet, I fortunately landed in a field of mangoes. (I love mangoes, so I figure landing in a field of mangoes would be a good thing). More to come later I suppose when things are final, but I must say. Things are on the up and up.
Seriously, what the heck is with all the spam comments. None are getting posted because my spam filter on WordPress is catching them all, but holy crap. I’ve deleted over 70 spam posts today. If I really had so many hits, I’d be flattered that people are coming to my site, but… not so much.
Please stop spamming. I will not approve your useless comments about Viagra or Tiberland or Acer, nor will I promote your useless blogpages that are selling medications or whatever.
Maybe this is falling on deaf ears since most spam is probably created by spambots. Only if this spam was the type people could eat, then the world would never go hungry… EVAR!
P.S. your comments will never be displayed spammers, so why bother?
can the right incentive shed the pounds (for good)?Just Dance 3 (for XBOX360)
I am sure people already have some fangled setup using the kinect to lose weight, but I wonder if we can actually entice patients to lose weight more effectively using video games. They are more fun, and would more likely keep attentions spans longer.
Games like Dance Central and Just Dance are very exhausting, yet still fun. Other cool thing is your progress is tracked, and I think you should be able to share the progress online via the XBox Live. I am pondering if we can do a study that would have people play the kinect consistently every day for about 30 minutes a day, and eat a healthy diet. Maybe there would be more compliance and success with weightloss. You might think, “duh, if you exercise and eat right you will lose weight.” That is a no brainer, but the hardest part about doing that is… doing it. I’ve tried many times to finish P90X, but it just gets kinda of boring. It’s a great workout and I have no doubt if I stuck with it every day, I’d have
"X ME!"
Abs like Thanh Nguyen. Also if I had no obligation every day, I would definitely not mind spending 90minutes a day with Tony Horton and him telling me to “x” him.
They were trying to see if people would have more compliance/success with weight loss if there was a monetary incentive/benefit. Their conclusion:
The use of economic incentives produced significant weight loss during the 16 weeks of intervention that was not fully sustained. The longer-term use of incentives should be evaluated.
Employees of Ohiohealth who have the employee health insurance are able to enroll in this “Health Miles Program”. You get this pedometer and you can get money back if you log a certain amount of steps/activity every day throughout the year. You can get up to 500$. There is no cost for you to enroll either. Now you would think this is a great incentive to stay active, but I never made it to the $500. Some days I was too busy to wear it, and there were many days that I was still just too lazy to stay active. Another drawback is people cheat, I have see many people [at least when it first started] that sit there on the hospital floor and just shake the pedometer in their hand…. yah. anyway.
Maybe my friend, we’ll call him Qi, has the right idea, and compete with your friends in “the biggest loser” contests, where you win something for losing the most weight. Then again, the goal should be to be healthy and lose weight, not get fat as you can and then crash diet to win the contest.
Then again we have the people who see me for the first time and want to talk about weight loss. They tell me “I don’t eat anything” and “never lose weight”, and ask me to prescribe Adipex (weight loss pill, stimulant, more or less not good for you). I usually ask them to keep a food diary/activity log so they can visualize how much they “are not eating” or rather ARE eating. Of course, I would say 99% of the people don’t follow through, or don’t come back. Endocrine disorders aside, it’s really simple math. Calories in minus calories out. If you get a positive number, you are taking in too much or not using enough. If you get a negative number, then you really should be on your way to shedding weight, (or you are logging your cals wrong).
I am not a big fan of diet pills because of the dangerous side effects. I wouldn’t want my patient’s heart to explode because they were too rev’d up from the diet pills. I mean there is a place (I suppose) for the use of these medications, but if you are not going to make an effort at watching what you eat and try to exercise… a diet pill is not going to do it for you. It’s the same for the bariatric surgeries, some people expect the surgery to do all the work. They don’t change their life style, and they end up gaining their weight back.
Well, I think I got a little side track with this post. Maybe I will see if MommyMD will give me some stimulants so I can lose weight too, and forget about this P90X and Tony Horton can just X himself. (I jest).
drowning aint fun; O, I'm OPEN!bumblebee man (Simpsons)
There are defintetly a couple of things that I fear. One is Bees, and the other is drowning. O, I guess another would be wrestling practice [for another time]. I just dont like bees because they can/will sting you just for the hell of it and it will hurt like a mofo. I dont think I actually have been stung before, but to the point, it’s annoyig how they follow you around and wont leave if you shoo them. It may actually piss them off and they will sting you. It’s like, who the hell are you to get up on me and invade my personal space. I really hate it when they hover around because you have food (mainly seems when I have a hotdog with ketchup). It’s sort of like when a person comes off the street and asks you for a dollar, and gets up in your face at night. You are not sure what to do at first, and may even fear they will whack you.
This post is not about my fear(hatred) of bees, alas. This is about the dreaded abyss. The home of neptune. The aqueous hell that stand in the way of graduating from highschool (I’ll get more into this later). If you havent figured it out yet, I’m talking about swimming.
"not going in!"
I wouldn’t say I am afraid of water, probably more likely afraid of the prospect of drowning. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been afraid of water that was higher than my head. This would be problematic at water parks, lakes, oceans etc. I spent a lot of my time at the kiddy pool. Maybe if they had a 3-4ft depth section, I would be able to venture into the waters (when I was at least 1 ft length above the water with feet on ground. So one would ask “cant you swim?”
Well no I cant. Actually that is not accurate either, I am just not good at swimming. Well if it was prior to highschool, I guess I’d have to say yah, I did not know how to swim you a-hole. From what I can recall, my mom first enrolled me in swim lessons when I was around 5 or 6 at the Josephinum Pontifical College in Worthington (Ohio). I refused to go into the pool (wasting my mom’s money for the class). My brother initially afraid as well. She tried to bribe us with these pens that were personalized with out names on it. My brother was easily coerced and was soon jumping off the diving bored. The ingrate that I was, I took the pen and stayed on dryland with mommy.
Second try was in Taiwan, where my mom enrolled us yet again in swim classes. The thing I didnt like about pools in Taiwan was that we had to wear these swim caps. I felt they made me look stupid (not like the wake up and go bedhead/asian kid look wasnt stupid). I did go in the pool, but I never did learn how to swim well. I just remember practicing kicking while holding onto the wall. Most of the time I was too afraid of ingesting the chlorinated water.
I then remember all the times we went to Wyndotte Lake, a water park in Columbus now known as Zoombezie Bay (sp). I hated the wave pool, and spent all of my time at the shallow end.
One summer in Cali, my aunt took my brother and I to a water park. There was this thing where you would climb across the water holding on to a rope and step on the floating foam platforms. Well my upper body strength was never great and of course I fell in. Unfortunately the water was probably 6 ft, and I was likely 4’6″ at the time. I remember almost drowning and splashing around. The life gaurd was a little pissed off at me. Asshole didnt jump in but luckily some pushed me to the edge and I climbed out. I was told not to go in anymore if I can not swim. Makes sense, but that was embarrassing.
Another time in Hawaii (my dad used to go to a lot of conferences and took us with him) we were at this awesome resort. I went on this waterslide, but I did not know how deep the water at the other end was. Well again it was over my head and I remember frantically splashing around to stay afloat. I dont really remember how I got out of that one.
Now both these times I was trying to get over my fear of water (and I didnt realize how deep the water was).
Now these near drowning experiences always left a bad chlorine taste in my mouth so to speak.
I figured if I stayed land locked, I would never really have to worry about the water issue, but for whatever freak’n reason my high school had a mandatory swim test. You had to pass in order to graduate. For those who know me, I do get anxious about many things, neurotic to a point. With this looming over my head freshman year was not fun. When it came time, we all had to jump in, swim a length of the pool down, swim a length back and then tread water for 5 minutes. Well I was one of the first ones in. I tried my hardest to swim down the length. Slowly my classmates passed me by, then passed me again on their way back. My buddy Dennis had knee surgery not long ago, and was one of the last ones in. He also passed me and again on his way back. I actually splashed and flailed my way to one end and back to the other. The problem was the treading water. I was definitely panicking (I was doing this the whole time mind you), and I started to go under a couple of times. You’ve probably seen it on TV where the poor sap starts to dip under the water, head will bob out, hands flail, water splashes, then head goes under again. I started to drag some people down, but Eddie Haas was nice enough to push me to the edge of the pool. Suffice it to say I failed the swim test that day. I had to then take a remedial swimming course during gym time. That was probably a good thing since I was able to learn how to properly tread water and not freak out while in the pool. If anything I learned to drown calmly.
Vivienne's Next Activity
Now this brings me to the original inspiration for this post. I wonder if Vivienne is going to have an issue with water, and how should I go about making sure she learns to swim. I heard that with babies, you should be able to throw them in a pool, and they naturally know to hold their breath underwater. Something to do with the fact that they were swimming for about 9 months (less I supposed if you don’t count the embryo stages) prior to being pushed out into this dry/eczematous world.
They offer classes at my highschool, as well as the local gym. Maybe I should just ask a friend who swims. I guess MommyMD knows how to swim anyway – by the way, she is a horrible swim teacher. When she goes swimming with me she just comments “I don’t understand why you cant swim”. Not very productive if you ask me- She will likely have a different approach with the ViviBear.
Now I found this picture on the right via a google search. It seems they strap these babies (and I only saw asian babies with this) head only in, and let them float. It actually seems like some form of torture, but they don’t appear to be unhappy.
-edit- after reading stell’s comment, I decided to actually read the page that I jacked this photo from. no mention of CP for those asian heads, just “development”. –
Overall ViviBear seems fine with bath time:
I figure maybe I will take lessons with ViviBear. I think my problem with swimming really is the fact that I dont like the feeling of not breathing. I hate ingesting chlorine water, because it’s dirty. So far my records is doing 10 laps total. (not continuous).
If any of you have any suggestions, I am all ears. Feel free to post a comment or something as well. I just keep getting these spam comments selling viagra and some other diet pills.
O yah, after the remedial swim course I did pass the swim test (hence graduating). Still not a fan of swimming. or bees. or wrastl’n.
, I always found myself making calendars and to do lists during lectures. I would try to plan out major events or tasks, i.e. finishing medical school, papers due, boards, vacations, rotations, finishing residency. I remember the last time I made the calender task list was probably last summer, prior to starting 3rd year residency.
