Micro-Blog-a-Thon

Friday, May 29, 2009

Grammar

I'm probably the only person you know who regularly laughs out loud while reading textbooks. Seriously. I tried sharing the humor with my roommates, but they usually don't get it. (Exception: One book said that Kussmaul respirations was "hyperventilation in response to academia"--supposed to be acidemia, which eveyone laughed at)
Anyway, in addition to this, I've become a little obsessed with grammar after I finally learned what a "hanging participle" is... And along those lines, here's a nice little website to help you remember when to use two little words correctly: http://www.thenthan.com/

Actually, I still have bad grammar. But "then" and "than" are different words, and I feel strongly about this.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Red Light, Green Light

I'm spending some time today reviewing psychiatry--in light of that, I have a story to tell.

Here we go: I was driving home a couple of days ago, at about 9pm. I pulled up next to a car at a red light. I guess I pulled up a little fast for some reason. Well, anyway, I looked over at the car next to me, and the guy in it was also looking over at me. We kind of made eye contact, which was a little odd, but I didn't think much of it at the time. Of import, he was the only one in his car. Also important, his appearance would probably be best described as "an unkempt middle-aged man". Well, I was just sitting in my car waiting for the light to turn green, when I heard this guy yelling, "get OUT of my car, bitch!". Being the ever-observant person that I am, I thought to myself, "isn't he the only one in that car?" (he was). So I looked over. And when I did, he was looking right back at me, kind of grinning while getting a cigarette out, and he said to me, "I do a LOT of drugs... want to have a party?" To which I replied, "Not really".

This story doesn't really have a denoument--basically, at that point the light turned green, and I wished him a good evening, and drove home.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Life

As the story goes, when the first nuclear reactor pile was built in Chicago as part of the Manhattan Project, Enrico Fermi was quite taken-aback when he learned why his American counterparts had decided to call it a pile. He had thought that the word pile had some grand and poetic meaning, and they had chosen that word specifically for such a momentous occasion. He was wrong: they just chose it because they were working with a big pile of uranium.

So, why bring this up? Well, I think it's kind of a funny story, and America at its finest, no doubt, but also because I have my own pile. Not a pile of plutonium uranium, of course, but a pile of books. Books that I've been studying from for the past couple of years. Most of the books anyway. There are some I couldn't find. So, on to exhibit A:

That's my pile. And just for reference, I measured it:

That's about 18 inches folks. Anyway, as you might have guessed, that is WAY too much to be able to read over to study for a board exam when you only have a month. Which leads me to the greatest medical book ever:

It's a whole lot of information, condensed down to just the bare bones. Its prefect for studying from, because it has just enough about everything to make you remember what you learned already. Again, for reference, I measured it. It's WAY smaller than 18 inches.
It's a great book. So great in fact, that I wish I didn't have to utilize Photoshop to get this:

I hope you believe me, that it's truly as great as I'm saying it is.

And now, just to wrap things up, I am legally obligated to mention Wolfram|Alpha in any blog post this weekend, since it finally came out. I have to admit, I spent a good bit of time yesterday typing in every thing I could think of to it. Although I'm still waiting for the beta version...

Friday, May 15, 2009

Fabrick

It's not plagiarism if I cite my sources, right? I just wanted to share a nice little quote that I got from my professor from Religio Medici by Sir Thomas Browne...

"Men that look no further than their outsides, think health an appurtenance unto life, and quarrel with their constitutions for being sick; but I, that have examined the parts of man, and know upon what tender filaments that fabrick hangs, do wonder that we are not always so; and, considering the thousand doors that lead to death, do thank my God that we can die but once." 
I'd say that's pretty applicable to me, with all the studying that I've been doing!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Just sayin'

I've heard a lot of car alarms go off. Not today, just a lot, during the course of my life. I'm sure you have too. But I have yet to hear one go off when a car was actually being broken into.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Freak-out mode

That's what I've entered. My step 1 exam is scheduled for just a few weeks away, the semester is over, and all I've got going on is studying for one exam. Ordinarily that might be a good thing, but the reason I'm in 'freak-out mode' is because the testable material is ALL OF MEDICINE! So, you can imagine my, um, distress.

Actually, it's not quite as bad as I've made it sound. I mean, its not like I don't know what I'm doing. And all this studying I've got to do has opened up the door for some really hard-core procrastination. For example, I downloaded Windows 7 and installed is "virtually", after I learned how. I've done some serious cleaning. I'm writing in my blog right now. I've discovered my keyboard (piano variety) is MIDI compatible. I may hook it up to my computer. Clearly all of this will be on the test.

The one thing that I haven't done is buy anything. That's probably good, considering I'm a bit in the red (thank you, Direct Loans).

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Hoops (and jumping through them)

Good heavens, its been awhile!

Tomorrow, I have my last final of second year!!! The last hoop to jump through before Step 1. Which is the last one before third year.  Maybe if this all doesn't work out, I could go join the circus.

I won't wax poetic. I'm not much of a poet, although I have been known to speak in iambic pentameter or limerick rhyme, from time to time (not just then, though).

Just a few random thoughts about professional sports, then, before I call it a night:
  1. Kobe should have gotten a foul
  2. Thanks, Manny--I always knew you had it in you
  3. Why won't Brett Favre just retire for good (and stay retired) so he can replace John Madden?! (or would that cause a problem with the space-time-continuum?)
Wow, this has been disjointed.