free rice

a place you can kill time, get smarter, and stop world hunger all at once? YES, it exists:

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

sweet tees!!

Thanks to my friend andrew, found a great new t-shirt site. People submit designs and then there are votes and the winners get printed. click on the designs for close-ups

Some of my faves:
Giraffe guts
X-ray goggles work
Awesome subversive tee
The secret life of luggage
Adultery
Impatient
Cow puzzle
Operation game

i think i may have found a goldmine for holiday gift shopping!!

future in surgery

today i got to do a whole operation, skin to skin. it rocked!! it was only a lipoma excision and i was a little scared because the attending was paying moderate amounts of attention but really talking about the new red pickup he just ordered. i think he has more faith in me than i do . . . anyhow it was awesome and totally made my day. in fact, every time i get to do something cool in the OR it makes my day. it's cool to think some lady is walking around with a scar i helped make (small and nice, btw).


which makes me think i'll end up doing surgery. if only i can wrap my brain around the lifestyle implications . . .

one amazing reply to phone melting

From an Irish friend of mine working in aerospace in India:

Now you thought you had a bad day...Picture our indian friend Vijay who comes on duty at Chennai Airport and is carrying out his inspections on cleaning of aircraft at 2.30 am. 'Look' he says 'they've bought a new jeep' and is surprised and delighted to find the keys in the ignition. No one will notice he thinks as he jumps in and thinks this is so cool I'll be out of the rain and get my work done really fast with all the airplanes on the ramp.

Speed is irresistable, the jeep is flashy, he is checking the steering when ..oh no while talikng the hairpin bend at Brands Hatch or Minneapolis in his little Indian imagination he tips the brakes and aquaplanes...


Please see attached photos..
Vijay had no licence or security pass to drive 'airside', the jeep was not his although it belonged to the company he worked for. Of course the damage was done to another companies airplane, namely mine.

The conservative estimate for insurance is currently 18.5 million US Dollars.. Vijay earns 9000 rupees a month ($200)and you thought you were having a bad day!!

Case is sadly genuine happened Monday Morning here 0300 local time..I am stuffed as Airplane may well be written off. Team from Toulouse flew out today to assess...can't you feel those costs mounting.

phone melting

here's an email i sent my friends recently that received some fantastic replies:
Buenas noches muchachos y muchachas,

In a moment I'd like to call "Although I look and feel awake, I've slept 10 hours over the last 3 days" . . . I found my cellphone melted in the oven. For those concerned about my well being, I'm not going on simpatico strike with the french cabbies - I'm on my surgery rotation. And actually, truly enjoying it.

See attached picture for amazing Dali-esque moment right in the heart of Boston. I assume it must have slipped out of my pocket when I put my dinner in the oven. At any rate it looks like my sim card may have vaporized (like the dehydration attack in the old batman series) - I sincerely doubt that my phone numbers are recuperable. So I would like to kindly request that you send me your contact numbers (cell, home, or wherever I usually call you) for the inevitable new cellie-to-be. Thanks you!

Abrassos,

rock climbing next to icicles

Went rock climbing yesterday, in Rumney, NH. It was snowing on the way there and I started to think we were crazy. When we got there it was overcast and the rock was COLD. For the first climb, I couldn't feel my fingers at all and I had to actually look at my hand to see if I was gripping the rock or not. A very discomfiting experience. After that the sun came out and the rock warmed, we warmed, and it was a lot more fun. One climb was dotted by ladybugs all the way up - very cute.

I realized yesterday that even though I"m fine going up, I get really scared when I have to climb down (some climbs you have to go down and across for a bit before you continue up). The sticky bit is that I actually have to look down to do it and even though I trust the rope and my belay-buddy, it's a loooong way down. However, it's nice to kick fear in the nuts occasionally. Plus, being accompanied by an easy on the eyes ex-German-army-trained climber doesn't hurt . . .

i revise my opinion

sometimes when you think you are having a bad day you realize that you're being a baby and it could be a lot worse.

My friend J had a crap week. She had a one day stint planned with ophthalmology on wed. When she showed up she told the ophtho doc she had to meet our chief for a brief meeting at 10 but otherwise was happy to learn. He kicked her out of his office right then and there. Then she got stuck by a surgeon on friday (he didn't even notice). The patient refused to get tested (stupid Massachusetts law that we can't test without permission). So now she has to get tested for everything, talk to employee health about her sexual history, risk factors, partners, and get retested again in a few months. Until then she is supposed to be abstinent. now THAT is a bad week, my friends.

dancing condoms singing in telugu

I heart public health videos, especially this one:

where's necessity's kid now?

super-interesting article about how to behave to avoid the flu epidemic from killing everyone, and how that behavior is modeled

wish we could apply more nerds to medicine. also, programmers - where are you? IT in medicine SUCKS. for example, at the community hospital (rich, white, upper-class community, though), there are 3 separate systems: ED, outpatient, and inpatient. The best part - these systems DON"t talk to each other. So if you come to the emergency department tell them your whole medical history, all the medications you are taking and the dosages, great! But when you get admitted we will have to ask you all over again cause we don't have that info. not only that but a nurse and doc will both ask you separately. And all that info was already at your doc's office as an outpatient, but we can't access that either. Which really sucks because half the time it's
"well, i take a medicine for my headaches"
"what's it called?"
"i don't know, it's a little pink pill"
"hmm"
"i think it starts with a p"

oh brother.

calling all geeks - we NEED you. bad. there's gotta be a better way. i mean, what's the point of super-fancy medical implantable devices if we can't even figure out what medication you are on?

we put a man on the moon last century, for god's sake.