My Thoughtful Spot

it's in the mail

Today I FedEx'd my application to sit for the first part of a two part examination to become a board certified surgeon. It's huge, really; seeing all the work I've done through these five years and putting my operative log and schedule on the application.

And yet I know that is not all I've done. There have been so many things that I've done as part of residency that doesn't get put into my case log. Also, you can only take credit for one thing from each operation. Say, for example, that I'm doing a case for colon cancer. That entails 1) opening the abdomen, 2) removing the part of the colon with the disease in it, and 3) either reconnecting the loose ends of the colon or making a colostomy. But I can only take credit on my operative log for one of those three things. I'm not sure what their reasoning is for that, but them's the rules.

At the end of the application there is a place for my program director to sign. Just above his signature is the following:

I certify that the applicant exhibits sufficient medial knowledge; ability to apply basic science to surgery; diagnostic and manipulative skills; surgical judgement; technical operative experience; and interpersonal skills as to be considered fully prepared for independent responsibility as a Specialist in Surgery. This applicant is recommended for examination.

I think I'm going to have to read this several times in the next few months. Maybe even for the whole next year.

snapshots from vacation

I'm not one to often post pictures here. I don't often post from my computer at home, which is where all the photos are stored. But today I had the opportunity to download a bunch of pictures onto my computer. Something that sorely needed to be done; the last time was last summer!

Before I get to photos from last week's vacation, however, Dan Mega requested a pic of my phone, which I am still in love with. It is an LG, and the model is the EnV. It's the best.

Now here are the pics from last week's trip to the central coast of California.

This is at one of the wineries we visited on the way there.

Here's Daniel enjoying a Manhattan at a restaurant near our B&B. He looks so... dashing.

These anchovies are swimming around and around in the ceiling as you enter the jellyfish exhibit at the aquarium.

There were so many jellyfish there. So many of them are just barely there; so transparent that my automatic focus camera couldn't "see" them.

Sanddollars

Thanks to my horrible sea sickness, this is probably the closest I'm going to get to what a scuba diver would see...

Touch pool! The most unusual thing in there was the sea cucumber. Really soft and squishy. So delicate, in fact, I asked how they survived attacks. Turns out they don't have any natural predators. Unfortunately, they don't photograph well. :-P

fridays feast

Feast One Hundred & Eighty Eight

Appetizer
Name something you would categorize as weird.
Ladies at the gym who put on a bunch of make up and perfume is weird.

Soup
What color was the last piece of food you ate?
Red. Tomatoes from my leftover dinner of Capellini Pomodoro.

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how much do you enjoy being alone?
Eh, 2. If I really didn't like people and wanted to be alone most of the time, I certainly picked the wrong profession! Sure, there are times when it's good to be alone like at the gym or studying or something. But I have the most fun when I'm with my friends and/or family.

Main Course
Fill in the blank:
I will definitely not vote for a candidate who opposes 2nd amendment rights in any election.

Dessert
Describe your sleeping habits.
I have to "turn my brain off" to be able to go to sleep. That means no new or interesting conversations, tv, or movies at least an hour before bed. So I usually fall asleep watching something I've seen a million times. Ideally, the temperature should be in the low 70s because I like to cuddle up with a lot of blankets. I also can't lay on my back because (according to Daniel), I snore. So if I ever find myself there, he rolls me over onto my side.

mini vacation, days three/four

I woke up leisurely again, this time starting my day off with a yogurt and berry parfait. Then it was off to explore and learn at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There are so many cool things about this aquarium; chief among them it that it used buildings from old canneries on Cannery Row as it's structure. Inside, there are old boilers from when the sardine industry was booming in the 1940s during the war and how most soldiers ate the from the silver stream of fish that flowed from the bay.

One of the primary missions of the aquarium is to teach education and preservation of our oceans. While there, we picked up a safe to eat seafood list. There are three sections; green, yellow and red. It's pretty simple; avoid anything on the red list. It's either endangered or farmed in a way that is unhealthy for the oceans or people. It's called Seafood Watch and it's updated by region twice a year.

Then we had lunch at the restaurant in the aquarium. It sits practically over the water and there are binoculars with a sealife sheet to help you identify what you see. We saw tons of birds, of course, but we also saw lots of sea otters floating in beds of kelp. When the bay isn't as healthy as it is today, the marine mammals weren't around. They said that the fact that the mammals have returned is a sign of a healthy ocean. So all their efforts have worked!

Most of the day's itnerary was planned around the fact that the Red Sox game started at 4pm. There are no obvious sports bars on Cannery Row, so we darted into a few likely places around lunchtime. While that particular establishment would not be showing the game, the locals sitting at the bar told us where we could find it. Satisfied with our answer, we finished exploring the aquarium and headed out to a sports bar to watch the Angels/Red Sox game. We went on a bit of a wild goose chase in search of said bar, but in the end, the locals didn't lead us astray. The bar was great and they put the game on for us without a problem. It's a good thing the game started at 4, however, because by the time the San Jose Sharks hockey game started, some people kept grumbling about "who was watching baseball when it was hockey and basketball playoff season?" Yeah, well, bite me!

Too stuffed with bar food for a real dinner, we headed back to the B&B and watched a Family Guy episode on the computer via wifi. Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be free of tv at a B&B. But I can't be away from tv for that long! We even tried to find the movie theater, but came up short. "Run Fat Boy, Run" will have to wait for another day.

The next morning we had our last breakfast; Daniel again with a belgian waffle and I had the blackberry french toast souffle. That was the best breakfast of them all. Then we began the long drive back to southern California. We got home in time to see the Red Sox game and missed all bad traffic.

We're currently in the midst of doing laundry and feeding some very hungry kitties, who only ate one meal a day generously provided by my brother. Then I'll re-pack for my trip to see my family tomorrow. Daniel has to stay behind and do some work. I know I just saw them last weekend for the Grizzlies game, but since I have the chance to go now, I'd like to go again! Carpe diem, right?

mini vacation, day two

Sleeping in is such a wonderful thing. It's really sad that we, as humans, have taken this gift away from ourselves. I didn't even sleep that late. The sun gently woke me up at 7. But it was so much more pleasant than that stupid alarm.

We got ready and headed out to the main room for breakfast. I was going to order the berry and yogurt parfait, but Daniel told me that I was on vacation. And if I didn't order the Belgian waffle, he was going to order it and tantalize me with every bite. So I did, and it was great. :-)

The we decided to walk around Fisherman's Wharf. It was still relatively early, only about 10 o'clock, so all the sea otters were out making tons of noise. As we were watching them, someone else said they are such a nuisance and they never shut up. He happened to own a boat and he can't sleep on it because they make such a racket. But they are federally protected creatures, and you can get in trouble for even trying to push one off your boat. So the argument "It's comin' right for us!" won't work? Damn. Good thing I never want a boat.

Speaking of never wanting a boat, we passed the place that will forever live in my nightmares and other visions of hell; the launch point for our infamous 3 hour whale watching tour. Briefly, 2 hours and 35 minutes of that tour were spent with my head over the back of the boat (yes, I know there is a name for it, but I frankly don't care what it is) vomiting almost non-stop. I don't even want to go to Catalina now, which requires an hour long boat ride to get there.

We then went on to Cannery Row; the historical location where the book of the same name is based. There are no canneries there anymore, of course. Now it's full of shops, hotels, restaurants, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We stopped at Cool Cat Cigars, which is where Daniel likes to go when we're on vacation and indulge in something he likes. I don't care for smoking myself, but he does it so infrequently, I can hardly begrudge him a smoke a couple of times a year.

Then we had a few beers at a pub, accompanied by lunch, and then Daniel wanted to go back to the cigar store to smoke one of them. You can smoke outside of course, but it's still pretty chilly. It's the off-season here. Then back to the B&B to enjoy their afternoon tea spread and read in front of the fireplace.

For dinner, we decided to venture out for sushi. The first place we stopped at was a little scary... dingy, dark, and the old woman who cleared off our table from the previous people didn't even wipe it. So we got up and left. Lack of cleanliness is never a good sign, especially at a sushi place. Fortunately for us, there was another one just down the street. It was newer, brighter, and cleaner. And all kinds of locals kept coming in for dinner. Daniel ordered the "Green Goblin Roll" which was a rolld stuffed with yellowtail, salmon, halibut and then topped with eggs that have been soaked in wasabi oil. Hence the green. I had the "Mahalo Roll" which had some macadamia nuts sprinkled on top. :-)

mini vacation, day one

For the first time since October, I'm on vacation! We're technically supposed to get four weeks of a year, but this year our administrators decided it was too difficult to have the chiefs missing and let us all stop working two weeks earlier. Which really won't be a vacation for me, since I'll be studying for the surgical boards. But I digress.

Sunday morning we left to head up the coast. Our final destination was Monterey, but we had some well-planned detours along the way. The first was a winery in Santa Maria called Cambria. We had some excellent wines, including some unusual chardonnays. One of them was called Katherine's Chardonnay that we liked very much. Since that's also my sister's name, we decided to get a few bottles; likely one will end up as a gift to her!

The next stop wasn't much further up the coast; it was in San Luis Obispo and the winery is Latetia. We had a boxed lunch outside overlooking the vineyards. As we sat there, soaking in the views and the sun, the winery's cat, Silver, came to pay us a visit. She was very friendly, but obviously an outside kitty. She was dusty and had very calloused paws. When we spent enough time rubbing her ears, she flopped over and gave us her tummy. But we found a mass in her pelvis. It was round and mobile; it didn't feel particularly malignant. We told the girl who poured our wine tastings and she said she'd pass it on to the owners. She also told us they were famous for their pinot noirs. They were good, but a little pricey, I thought. We ended up getting a brut sparkling wine and one of the few tempranillos grown on the cntral coast, which was excellent.

We headed back in the car to complete the 330 mile trek north. The scenery was gorgeous; I love driving among the farms. The climate up here is so mild that much of the crops are lettuces. Some of the growers even had signs out like, "This will soon be full of lettuce" which was neat. Because, honestly, when you're wizzing by at 60mph, you can't tell the difference between radishes and romaine.

We finally got to our bed and breakfast by 5:30 and checked in. We were just in time for their afternoon tea spread. But that, of course, meant more sitting. I had just sat for like six hours! I understand that driving for that long isn't relaxing and I would share in the driving if given the chance. (Daniel gets pretty car sick if he's not driving.) So after about 30 minutes of me not reading my book, walking around their little garden and figeting on the couch looking through local menus, I decided it was time to take a walk.

It was pretty cold -- mid-50s with a brisk wind off the ocean -- but I said I wanted to go for a walk anyway. In about 30 seconds I had buttoned up my coat all the way. In about 2 minutes, my mittens were on. And Daniel started hysterically lauging at the irony. We ducked in to a restaurant to escape the wind and ended up having a drink. Once we were warmed up, we walked back and drove out for dinner.

We had persian food at a local restaurant. There's another little bit of irony. We live in a place that has one of the largest populations of Iranians outside of Iran, and we drive over 300 miles to have Persian food. Not only that, but it was our first time ever eating Persian food. The owner of the restaurant thought that was hilarious. The dinner was excellent and we headed back for a good night's sleep.

new toy!

I think most Americans will tell you that a cell phone is a necessity. And if they don't think that, as soon as they get one, they think it is. I can assure you that doctors see a cell phone as a necessity. As long as we have the damned electronic leash (pager), that can start screaming at any second of any day, we need a means to answer that scream.

On our drive up to see my family last weekend, my phone, which has served me faithfully for nearly two years, just stopped getting a signal. In a major city. I had been complaining about the buttons not working and the battery being all screwed up for months, so it was just time to get a new one.

I love my new phone. It's orange. It flips open to a full keyboard. It has a widescreen with stereo speakers. It has a 2MP camera with a cover so the lens doesn't get scratched. It has a flash for the camera. And, it has a strong signal. I even bought the fisher-price hard plastic shell because, like every three year old, I drop my phone on a pretty routine basis.

We're not a big electronics heavy household, so this is a major deal for me. It's so great!!!

ok. scary...

I was trying to get some things done when the title of this article on Fox News caught my eye: "Cleric: Islam Will Conquer Rome." Being a Roman of sorts, I clicked on the link. Here is the article in its entirety. It pretty much speaks for itself. Say what you will about Catholics, but I am fairly confident in saying that priests don't stand up on Sundays and talk about conquering Islamic cities through suicide bombings.

A sermon last Friday by a prominent Muslim cleric and Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament openly declared that "the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital," would soon be conquered by Islam.

The fiery sermon, delivered by Yunis al-Astal and aired on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, predicted that Rome would become "an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread though Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, even Eastern Europe."

"Allah has chosen you for Himself and for His religion," al-Astal preached, "so that you will serve as the engine pulling this nation to the phase of succession, security and consolidation of power, and even to conquests through da'wa and military conquests of the capitals of the entire world.

"Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our prophet Muhammad," he added.

Al-Astal last June preached how it was the duty of Palestinian women to martyr themselves by becoming homicide bombers.

"The most exalted form of jihad is fighting for the sake of Allah, which means sacrificing one's soul by fighting the enemies head-on, even if it leads to martyrdom," he said in a June 23, 2007 interview.

"When jihad becomes an individual duty, it applies to women too, because women do not differ from men when it comes to individual duties," he said, calling Jews "the brothers of apes and pigs" who should "taste the bitterness of death."

Friday's rant repeated that theme: "Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam.

"I believe that our children, or our grandchildren, will inherit our jihad and our sacrifices, and, Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will come from among them.

"Today, we instill these good tidings in their souls – and by means of the mosques and the Koran books, and the history of our Prophets, his companions, and the great leaders, we prepare them for the mission of saving humanity from the hellfire at whose brink they stand."

weekend away

This past weekend we were lucky enough to be able to drive up to see my mom, sister and her family. The last time we saw everyone was actually at the beginning of December! That's far too long, especially when they live about 4-5 hours away. But when I look at what rotations I have been on since then, it's really no wonder. Jan/Feb was horrible for me on Vascular Surgery and there was just no good weekend in March.

When we got there, I realized just how long it had been. My nephew, who, in December, was no taller than 5'3" and still had his boyish voice, had grown to be at least 5'7" and had a deep voice! That was fast! But he's such a cool kid. He takes everything in stride and just shrugs it off. So while some boys are probably freaking out about puberty, his whole attitude is just, "eh."

Our whole trip was planned around going to see the minor league team that plays in my home town. Even though baseball season has been in full swing for a few weeks now, this is the first time The Grizzlies have been home. It's a great park; smaller than a major league stadium, of course, but that makes it more fun in a way. The food is better and cheaper! The fans are also different at a minor league park -- let's face it, if you're watching minor league baseball, you must really love the game.

I often like to score the games on paper. (Yeah, I'm a nerd.) My seven year old niece Zoe sat next to me and she was very interested in the whole thing. She wanted to try it, so I gave her the clipboard and told her how to record each ball or strike. We were sitting behind home plate, so I told her to watch the umpire and she would know what kind of pitch was thrown. In no time, she was recording plays! I'd have to tell her if it was a 6-4-3 or whatever, but she had the placement of everything down pat. I told her dad, who played baseball in college, and he replied, "That's my girl." But everyone always tells me that she is exactly how I was at that age... and for all the ages that have come before. My sister has even commented that she can't escape me; I grew up with her and now she has my clone for a daughter. So of course, I thought, "That's my niece." ;-)

So, we're plugging along and it's the top of the 8th. "Now, pinch hitting for the Tuscon Sidewinders, number 33, Trot Nixon."

Wait. WHAT?? Trot? Cowboy up Trot, formerly Red Sox #7 in RF???

Yep. It was him. I debated for a few outs if I should try to go over and have him sign my shirt. Two defensive outs away, Daniel, Steven (my brother), and I, decide to go over to the side of the visitors' dugout. The last out was called, and we start yelling, "Trot! Trot!" Slowly, he looked over at us; he seemed to be very tired. He saw my Red Sox shirt, gave us half a smile and a nod, and turned away. Poor Trot. It's okay; at least I got to see him.

Sunday morning, Daniel and I met Mom and her husband at church -- the church I grew up in. It was neat being back there. I didn't see anyone I knew, but nothing else had really changed much. The rest of the day was very relaxing, just hanging out. We started to head back home around 5:30 or so.

We've made the drive back and forth so many times that we have our pit stops all planned out. But last night, we were making especially good time, so we decided to try something new. There was a restaurant that had opened near one of the gas stations we frequent. I think it used to be a Perko's. Now it's Don Pedro's Restaurant, with a tarp stating as much hung over where a permanent sign should be. It was a great find! Authentic Mexican food, reasonable prices, and large helpings! If we ever decide to stop for dinner, this will be our go-to place.

I'm not sure when we'll be able to go back. Summer at the latest. I hope it's not that long, though!

riddle me this, riddle me that

Stole this from Dawn: now I can play!

1. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Ben and Jerry's Phish Food. Those fudge fish swimming in ribbons of caramel and marshmallow are so tasty!

2. What shampoo do you use?
Loreal Professional Color... I don't know the technical name. It's in a pink bottle though.

3. How do you like your eggs?
Scrambled with a bit of chedear cheese. Or in omlete form.

4. What's the first thing you do when you get online?
Update Twitter! I love twittering.

5. What is your favorite tv show?
The Simpsons and Family Guy are equal favorites

6. Which do you prefer, the sunrise or sunset?
I like sunrises better. Each day is a gift and the beauty of sunrises breaking over a sleeping world usually take my breath away.

7. When is the last time you went to the mall?
This past Monday to return something at Banana Republic and get mascara.

8. What was the last food you ate?
A whole wheat pita that went with my black bean soup for lunch.

9. What is your favorite animal?
My two kitties are my favorite animals. :-)

10. Do you collect anything?
Baseball t-shirts (Red Sox first, then Angels) and Disney shirts for when I spend time at the parks. Which is not infrequent. (LOL! When I first typed this, it was a mistake and the question came out "Do you collect any clothing?" I kept the answer though.)