Micro-Blog-a-Thon

Friday, February 27, 2009

Mental Status

So, I tell you this real short vinaigrette vignette because I thought it was funny. Yesterday I was doing a history and physical on this guy, and I came to the part for the "Mental Status" check. Well, as you probably know, or would have guessed, that's the part where I've got to ask things like, "What day is it?", and "What time is it?", and "Who's the president?", and stuff like that. Well, we were in just your standard hospital room, I'm sitting in a chair, talking with this gentleman, and I say, "What is today's date?" Well, he kind of looked above my head, and said "February 26th!". I thought to myself, "that was pretty fast", and then said "Do you know what time it is?". He replied that it was 2:30. "Incorrect!" thought I, it's only 1:30. Then it dawned on me: what do they put on the walls in hospital rooms? CALENDARS and CLOCKS! So I said to him: "It's right behind me isn't it?". I turned around in my chair and sure enough, there was a big date calendar directly above my head, with a big clock (an hour fast) right next to it!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Return Policy?

Well, it was another exciting day of studying. After I got done with that at about 11:30pm, I decided to go to the store to buy groceries.

As I was checking out, I was behind these three (apparently) high school guys, who were trying to return some car stereo part, while obviously high. It was also obvious (to me, anyway) that what really happened was that the guy bought one of whatever it was before, broke it, and then decided to go buy another one, switch the broken one for the new one in the packaging, and return the broken one. It's not rocket science. Of course, the cashier went right along with it, because, what's she gonna do, right?

At least, that's what I thought was going on.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Why are they called cartoons, anyway?

First of all, I'm feeling political, so here's George W. Bush as a monkey...

I hope you all like it ;)


Since last we met, I've been spending a whole lot of time studying. Exciting, right? I also got clearance to schedule my third year rotations, which is pretty exciting. They sent me this whole big grid of the different options, all color coded, with two-letter abbreviations for everything, which instantly made ME feel like a monkey (and also gave me a headache). So, sometime in the next month or so, I've got to get all of that figured out.

In other news, since I'm still in my preclinical years, that means that I still get spring break, which is coming up in about two weeks! The big news for spring break this year is that Mr. Matt is going to Washington, namely for the AMA's "Medical Student/Resident Lobby Day" in Washington, DC. Which means I'll be heading to the capitol, and meeting with my representatives about issues in health care--I've been told they already have me scheduled in. So, we'll see what we can get done in, um... one day.

In case you WERE wondering, according to the Online Etymology Dictonary, "cartoon" is from the French "carton", meaning "strong, heavy paper, pasteboard," thus "preliminary sketches made by artists on such paper". So, depending on how you feel about the French, you may want to reconsider watching that Family Guy episode someone just "shared" with you on The Pirate Bay...

Monday, February 16, 2009

Achoo!

Just for the record, I'm still at it. I've been enjoying the wonders of pedigrees for the last several days in a row. Which means, of course, that I've got a Medical Genetics exam coming up.

Of course, I spend basically all my waking moments thinking about medicine, and even when I'm not studying, I'm still thinking and reading about it (I just can't get away no matter how hard I try!!), and because of that, I came across this article about not blowing your nose when you've got a cold. They did a study, with a CT scan and everything. I read the research article (there's a link in the NY Times page) and they used CT scans and everything. They also cited a study that found that the average person blows their nose 45 times in the first 3 days they have a cold (who knew?)...

So, basically, this may put Kleenex out of business!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Speed Dating

So... last night I took part in "speed dating"!

WHAT?!?


Yeah, that's what I said, but it really wasn't what you're thinking. It was actually "Specialty Speed Dating", which means that the AMA folks at my campus got a bunch of docs from all different specialties to come to this hotel on the ND campus and talk to us (the med students), in a format similar (so I'm told) to speed dating. So, basically we just talked to them for about 5 minutes each, and then went on our merry way. Anyway, I thought it was pretty beneficial, and I got hear hear all the reasons that I should go into basically every single medical specialty there is. Unfortunately, this does not make deciding what to go into all that much easier.

But I did get a free pen, so... that was good.

Well, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. Have an absolutely wonderful Thursday. I know I will!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Runes and Cauldrons

Check this out.



It's called PhotoZoom, its from Microsoft Live Labs, and while I don't have any real good use for it, I decided to upload a few of my pictures and see how they look.

You've got to download Silverlight to see it though.

Unfortunately, I don't understand how any of this stuff works (sorcery?). But I can pretend.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Twenty-Three

Earlier today, I was at the gym, and I heard a song on the radio, and in that song, it says "nobody likes you when you're twenty-three, and you still act like you're in freshman year...". Anyway, that got me thinking; I'm twenty-three! Do I act like I'm in freshman year? And second (if yes), does nobody like me? (don't answer that... ;) ) And thirdly, what other songs out there are about being twenty-three?

So I thought long and hard about that (hey, I get bored when I run sometimes...), and I came up with at least a couple. And since in addition to being Tuesday, this is also my half-birthday (but you remembered that, right?), I decided to share them with all four of you that read this the world! So here we go!

Number 1: "What's My Age Again" by Blink 182. Again, listen to the part where he says; "nobody likes you when you're twenty-three, and you still act like you're in freshman year".

Number 2: "Pardon Me" by Incubus. Listen for the part where he says something like; "I never thought I would be, at twenty-three, on the verge of spontaneous combustion. Woe-is-me." Actually it's right at the beginning, so that one shouldn't be that hard.

Number 3: This one's actually called "Twenty Three", and it's by Yellowcard. To be honest, I don't really know this song, and the only way I found it was searching it on Google.

Now, I've tried to make other song lists in the past, but it never got too far. As a matter of fact, I tried to make a list of songs about drugs in honor of taking my pharmacology final in December, but that fizzled, because the only songs I could think of that weren't about illicit drugs like cocaine, heroin (arguably), or marijuana was "Manic Depression" by Jimi Hendrix, which isn't really about a drug, and the only connection is that you might treat manic depression (AKA Bipolar disorder) with lithium, which IS a drug. So that list never made it. Til now. And the only other list I'm working on is an ongoing compilation of "pathology food analogies", which just might turn your stomach if I ever decided to put it on here. For the record, cottaged cheese IS on the list, but I'll leave it at that.

Any way, I hope you've enjoyed my semi-mindless rambling. If you want something a little more intellectual, I suggest you download the new Google Earth, and look at the bottom of the ocean (its a new feature), or perhaps the surface of Mars, or the Crab nebula. Or if you're feeling "Ivy League", chech out this video from Harvard University that shows you the complex inner workings of the cell (complete with musical score).

Well, it's been fun. But now, I must go, because I've got to get to bed so I can make it to lecture at 8am tomorrow... I think they're talking about Pap smears, which I assure you, are no fun for anyone, including medical students.