Once again, it's been awhile since I wrote anything last. I've been keeping busy, of course. I am pleased to announce that spring looks like it's finally gotten to South Bend! It did snow once last week, but I think that was just a fluke... Anyway, speaking of snow in South Bend, I have finally gotten my rotation schedule for this upcoming year, and I am mostly happy with my schedule. Except for the one thing--I've been planning on doing my Family Medicine clerkship here in South Bend, because there aren't enough spots to have everyone do that rotation in Indy, and I don't want to get get sent to just some random town in Indiana (plus, I've met some of the family medicine folks here in town, and they seem nice enough, so win-win, I guess)--I'm doing the family medicine clerkship in January... so, it's looking like I'll be spending at least part of another winter in South Bend enjoying mother nature's greatest gift: lake effect snow.

Oh, and check this out. It's the greatest thing to hit YouTube since "the bat-fetcher-trick with my teeth!"

Why am I going into medicine?

Because I would make a terrible accountant!

Take my survey!

In a "fix"

Have I ever mentioned my love of prefixes? No? Well, let me tell you, I do, in fact, love prefixes. They're like the icing on the cake that is language. In fact, there's probably nothing I like better in language than prefixes, iambic pentameter notwithstanding.

But of course, there IS such a thing as too much of a good thing. Chemists, I think we can all agree, are a little crazy. And expecially so when it comes to prefixes. They have a whole system of naming compunds based around prefixes. Its called IUPAC nomenclature, and it gives us neat names like "(11β)-​11,​17,​21-​trihydroxypregn-​4-​ene-​3,​20-​dione", where we could have just said "cortisol".

But medicine is immune to this sort of thing, right? Wrong. Ever heard of Hypothyroidism? What about Hypoparathyrodism? Or Pseudohypoparathroidism? Or (my new favorite) Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism?!?

In case you're wondering, this is what ends up happening while I'm "pseudostudying" or "hypostudying". I have yet to do any "pseudohypostudying", and I think "pseudopseudohypostudying" involves substance abuse. So, none of that for me.

Hail to the Chief

Well, in order to title this post, I had to consult that old pneumonic mnemonic "I before E except after C, or when sounding as A, like is 'neighbor' or 'way', and on weekends and holidays, and all throughout May... and you'll always be wrong, no matter what you say." (1) If you hadn't guessed, I never really "got" that rule. I would like to do away with the "-ie-" all together (although not the 'i.e.', I'm a big fan of that one). In addition, I also want to add the letter Φ (phi) to replace "ph" (of maybe just make it an "f"), and Θ (theta) to replace "th". But of course no one asked (and who am I to think I could succeed where Teddy Roosevelt failed?). And since we're talking about it, I would like some consensus on the letter "y". Is it a vowel? A consonant? Is it resonant?!


Wow, I got sidetracked. As I was saying, hail to the chief... As a pseudo-Notre Dame student, I had heard that President Obama is coming to give the commencement speech here this year. I hadn't given it too much thought, other than how much better of a speaker they'll have than was at my college graduation. I didn't realize there was such the furor over it. I guess even with crucifixes in every study room at the library (which I have developed a profound inability to study without), I forgot just how Catholic of a place it is. And how strongly the Catholic stance is on the issue of abortion. There has been quite the furor over it.

Works Cited:
1. (2009). Goodreads. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from Quotes by Brian Regan Web site: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/98398.Brian_Regan

Just a quick update on the rock-star-style life that I lead... I've been, um, studying all weekend. I also finally put in my preferences for my third year clerkship schedule (2 days before it was due, thank-you-very-much). In addition, I've avoided any more library-related incidents, which is a definite improvement.

I'm also cursing wind pollination and IgE.

I know it's only rock and roll, but...

This afternoon, I was studying at home. I had my laptop out, and I had it playing music. It was loud enough to be heard, I just had it going through the speakers. Well, I started being less and less productive, so I decided to head over to the library. So, I just shut my computer, without turning it off or anything, especially without turning off the music. I was concerned when it kept playing with my computer shut, but it eventually turned off before I had a chance to do anything about it.

Fast forward to me, at the library. I get my computer back out, open it up, and before I can even do anything, it starts back up again playing loud music for everyone in the library to hear. And my computer isn't fully "awake" at that point, so there isn't a whole lot I can do, except just kind of wait it out until it wakes up and I can turn the music off.

Basically, I made a whole bunch of new friends at the library tonight. Maybe I should post my story to this website (caution: you very well may be offended).

The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble

This weekend, my housemates and I had the privilege of going to Washington, DC for the AMA's annual medical student/resident/fellow "Lobby Day".

 

It was quite the experience. There were several hundred of us there from most of the states in the country, and we spent our time learning about how to be more effective advocates for public health and health care initiatives at some workshops and lectures Sunday night and Monday morning, and then my fellow Indiana colleagues and I got to meet with staff at both of the Indiana Senators' and our various House representatives' offices to discuss some health care issues ranging from improving access to health care in rural and underserved urban populations in our state to the impact of the massive student debt on treatment and prevention efforts and outcomes.

It is an exciting time to be discussing health care policies, given the current political climate, the new President's emphasis on health care reform, and the apparent mandate that he recieved in the most recent election to go forward with these reforms. Just last Thursday there was a huge summit of government officials, industry experts, and interested parties, which met with the President to discuss this very issue. So it's an exciting time, but also an uncertain time, because even while we all know that the proper and best solution to our health care problems is out there, there are a whole host of ways that we might be able to do this wrong.


Knowing that, I would say I have what you might call "guarded optimism" about the whole situation. But at least I won't be able to say that I didn't try my best to help our elected officials "get it right".

Well, perhaps this has gotten a bit more 'political' than is usual for me. However, that's what I've been up to the last couple of days, and even though it may be one of "the two things you don't talk about" in everyday life, it's definitely important, and something that we have to talk about at some point.