No more nuts in the drive thru!

Ok, ok, I ran across this on Huffington post - a story about how McDonald's donated $20,000 to some homosexual organization and has since inflamed the ire of wacky, tacky, and true Christians on some horrible website.

The most hilarious part of this article were the comments found on this said website... lemme lay 'em out for you. (I swear, no editing on my part!)

"YOU DID NOT BILD YOUR COMPANY ON HOMOSEXUAL PEOPLE! IT WAS BUILD ON FAMILY VALUES! MAN,WIFE.CHILDREN!MOSTLTY CHILDREN! THEY DON'T COME FROM HOMO PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"What next, Adam & Steve in the children's happy meals? i WILL not condone the Corp. of Mc Donalds to force me to shop where it is not in lign with my believe in God and HIS scripture..."

"I have stopped at my last McDonald. If you support homos, that is fine with me. I do not have to eat your burgers. Maybe there are enough homos around to keep your arches open."

"I suppose next the playground will be open for pedifiles in order to not offend them."

Now I can't say these people are wrong for not liking some one's life style since I don't like their life style. But, for being such good Christians and adhering to the true word of the Bible, I'm surprised they've forgotten Leviticus 19:18. "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD." This isn't the wuss New Testament Bible, but the old school pain and suffering Bible. God, not his hippie son, said (yes in Leviticus too) hey, you don't have to like the homos, but chill out man.

Word. pwnd. Homo-burgers all around. Makes me think I should start eating at McDonald's again.

The ladies of medical school... or at least my new class

Was this the case before but I just didn't notice? Has there been a social shift whilst I've been researching away? Maybe it's just the composition of this class.

From my initial observations there seems to be a high proportion of women in the class of 2010 who give women doctors a bad name. A certain seriousness is lacking. They whisper and giggle during class. They e-mail or fuck around on the internets during class. A maturity is lacking.

Of course I have a personal bias. I've never really like the way women socialize. Intricate rituals of mutual flattery and co-dependence. Equal chances of fawning friendship and back-stabbery in this cohort.

The good news is, several of the women are solid. I like them and hope to get to know them better. I suspect some of them are in the silly clothing because that is the meme of 2010, I will have to ferret them out.

*singing* I've got a new attitude!

Medical school, 2.0.

Since this blog ostensibly was all about me dealing with medical school... well, here I find myself compelled to write. (Me thinks it will be good for me!)

I think my attitude has changed. Graduate school, and all the experienced contained within that time, has changed me. Let me splain. I remember during my 2nd year internal med rotation a clinician was ripping into me about my patient presentation. I almost cried. My happiness, my identity as medical student was so wrapped up in what these people thought of me that when I was considered sub par, I considered myself sub-par.

Fast forward to my re-entry.

On Monday we were practicing our suture/surgical ties and trying our hand at laproscopic surgery. Surgical residents were on hand to lend their expertise. My group was directed by a 5th year general surgery resident who was intense. For each of us, this was our first time putting scalpel to living flesh and we were not skilled. Incisions took several tries and were too big. We kept puncturing vital organs with our laproscoic tools. And through it all we were criticized and insulted. I wasn't affected. In fact I wasn't bothered at all. I countered. I started praising my teammates and offering encouragement. Sometimes inappropriately...

In retrospect, I should have not been a smart ass (another day), but I discovered I had changed. I could see this resident as someone who had bought into the bullshit and pitied her because I knew her personal value was tied into how someone else viewed her. I knew the insults she was spewing were simply ones she had experienced. I was not dismissive of her, though. I actively participated in this lab and wanted to improve my technique - not strive for an impossible level of expectation that I knew was not attainable. I thanked her when she constructively criticized how I tied my knots. That day was valuable for review and practice, I really enjoyed it.

So what did these graduate school years give me? Maturity? Security? I'll have to reflect on it, but, in short, I am bolstered. I know I have the ability to return to the clinic and not be personally destroyed when I do terrible against unachievable expectations. I'm going in to learn and do my best, but I am more than that rotation grade.

Fuck yeah. You go girl!

Hillama Obamary

This primary season has seen record number of voters turn out for the democrats. They're not braving the snow/tornadoes because they hate Bush or the republicans - we'd never see numbers like this. Voters are turning out because they like their choices. What a difference 4 years makes.

While the primaries today may determine a clear front runner (probably not), I'm compelled to reflect on how good we have it. I believe that Clinton and Obama both inspire people, with different messages of course, but they are motivating people to vote for them instead of against the republicans. I also believe both would make decent presidents. Perhaps even great ones. I believe both are intelligent people, like a president should be.

Compare this to the republican candidates... when there were more. The republicans just didn't really like them. Guiliani - democrat with philandering on the side in addition to a couple scandals. Thompson - "Weekend at Bernie's." Romney - Mormon. Huckabee - believed people with AIDS should be quarantined and looks like a doofus. Tancredo/Brownback/Hunter/Gilmore - who? At the end of this process of elimination the party is left with McCain. And they just can't seem to rally.

I'm proud of the democratic party this season. Yes, we have two great candidates. But we have two great candidates who are not white and male. This point resonates with me. We put forth our best and they're not like every other president.

Go Hillama Obamary! May the best wo/man win!

The kids are sick

Occasionally reality TV comes up with something wonderful. Blind squirrels finding nuts and what not. MTV with it's storied history of The Real World, Next, and The Ex Factor has created a show that is simply amazing. America's Best Dance Crew is self explanatory, but cannot do justice to what you see.



I've been fixated to MTV when this show comes on. Seeing these people and how talented they are makes for compelling TV. People eating bugs? Hos sleeping with other hos? Whatever. Give me real people who can do the extraordinary.

Go Kaba Modern!

Good for what ails ya

(And I ail.)

Olive oil! I ate olives soaked in delicious olive oil. I'm eating white flour pasta in olive oil. Personal pissiness? Gone!

My friend kr had some recent insights about bloggers and blogging. These insights slapped me into a personal re-realization. Rolling around all the negatives about -insert your worries here- don't help. Don't work. Don't change what you're worried about. Personal re-realization = hey! I've slipped back into that very unproductive way of thinking!

I'm worried, I'm stressed. I know what I need to do. So I'm doing it.

The good news is that I'm loved and recently fed. And have Placebo on the iTunes. The good news is that I'm capable and people believe in me. The good news is that I have 5 more months.

*cough*

Lemme shake off the cobwebs here...

Promises, promises

Accountability time, kids.

My long term success as future doctor scientician relies on constant reading. Papers, reviews, journals, books. I have not been doing so well in this arena. (Damn you, WoW!) I often stack up papers electronically and physically, then one day try to plow through. I don't remember, it doesn't stay, it's not a long term solution.

*Holds right hand over heart, left hand in pledge position*

Today's the day.

Today I read articles from the NEJM. Several articles discussed long term mortality following bariatic surgery for the obese. As is popular to point out in the lay press, the procedure is admittedly, very risky. What isn't put together as often is that the procedure, the snip snip of the intestines with a little sewing, is quite simple. The risk comes from the patient population. Morbid obesity is a deadly condition. The ability of the body to circulate blood to necessary organs, to heal its self, to handle anesthetics are all impaired because of the burdens of the flesh. This equals poor surgical candidate. A couple studies published in this issue demonstrate a decrease in mortality in patients who undergo bypass surgery versus those who do not.

The case report of a 61 y/o man with fever of unknown origin was a fascinating read. A surprise ending, but an expected ending.

Finally the image of the week is a nice flashcard like review for me. Physical manifestations of disease that are diagnostic are rare, but god damn do they like to pimp us on that. I think it's because if you know the diagnosis it will reduce the number of tests one needs to order and therefore the cost. I did pretty well, considering current state of medical knowledge. The associations are still there. A little foggy. For example this weeks current picture talked of a young boy with GI distress and pigmented lesions on his oral mucosae. It's P-G something. Seeing the name just rung a bell that reminded me those things go together. Why? I have no freakin' clue, but they just do. It's there by god, it's still there.

This is a good start. I need to set a time table for when I start reading my medical review books to really begin gearing up.

Plus I need to read some Immunology articles.

My how I've grown!

Funny, the things you find then lose in the NYT.

They (I think...) had a story about psychologists doing research on behaviors that led to relationship sabotage. They created an on-line quiz for participants to take. It starts out standard question and bubble answer, then it turns into a create your own relationship adventure!

Being a child once in love with the choose your own adventure books, I took the quiz.

According to your questionnaire responses, your attachment-related anxiety score is 1.89, on a scale ranging from 1 (low anxiety) to 7 (high anxiety). Your attachment-related avoidance score is 1.78, on a scale ranging from 1 (low avoidance) to 7 (high avoidance).

Combining your anxiety and avoidance scores, you fall into the secure quadrant. Previous research on attachment styles indicates that secure people tend to have relatively enduring and satisfying relationships. They are comfortable expressing their emotions, and tend not to suffer from depression and other psychological disorders.

Awesome, I'm secure! Bad news, I can't get the graph on here...

While I think this test does measure a baseline level of personal security and relationship styles, I think the current romantic relationship one is in also plays a part. This quiz could almost be a barometer for the health of a current relationship. I would not come out so well if my present situation weren't so fantastic. And, of course in the past,there were people I have dated who made me insecure and I would have come out with higher anxiety. There were people who I didn't have a whole lot of respect for, and would have been higher avoidance.

In conclusion, way to go, current relationship. You rule.