February 2nd, 2009
Family Medicine in Huntsville
I believe that I have found a new place to study. The Lister Hill Library on the campus of UAB appears to have all of the needed facilities that I require. Furthermore, I have accessto the web that lets me find those pesky powerpoints, check the email, and well, write a few lines on this blog thingie (when I am not studying). I even looked over all of the material that I have for class tomorrow. And no, Internet Explorer is not a friend of the WordPress creators. So, I installed Firefox, and we are all set to go for another round of musings in the library at weird hours of the early morning, afternoon, and night.
Tags: Add new tag, library, musing, studying
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January 31st, 2009
Leave it all on the line at the top of the hill. No regets.
Tags: Add new tag, bicycle, challenges, musing
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January 29th, 2009
When you look up at the clock, the position of the hands are never in the same position. Even if you look at the clock at the same time during the day, the time will still be different. Today has been one of those days when time seemed to be a little slower for better or worse. I have been told that human beings have the ability and tend to think at approximately 1000 words per minutes but can type, in my case, approximately 100 words per minute. If I stopped using the delete key, I wonder how many more thoughts from the stream of 1000 words I could put on the monitor. Who knows?
Tags: musing, time
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January 25th, 2009
Every few days, I find a few minutes to type some randomness for my little corner of the web. Hey, at least I am not using some free web page service like googlepages or yahoo or geocities. I moved my little corner from those types of sites years ago. Reflecting on the progress of the “personal” web page, I find that most people consider a MySpace page big. Woohooo. You get to throw around some pictures and use patterns developed by some guy or gal with a lot of free time on their hands. Come on people, at least understand what a HTML tag is. Then again, in the general scheme of the Internet, I believe most people are never going to type in some characters with < and > surrounding a phrase. Instead, the people will type in something just like this WordPress blog and never understand why someone would want to use the HTML tab instead of the visual tab. *shrugs* Who really cares?
The beast known as Endocrine will rear its wonderful head one more time this Friday. Yes, 40% of my final grade will be accounted this week, and then the scores will be tallied like some sick hockey game. Some may have scored more goals than yours truly. Some may have not. What I have come to understand and believe is that you need to finish what you start. Whether you are running strong as you cross the finish line by breaking the paper tape that has some obnoxious advertisement or literally crawling hand over hand, elbow over elbow (army style), over the finishline, then so be it. Even if I tuned everything out of my mind and only focused on endocrine, guess how much it would change my class ranking? Let me see…. Not that much! Really. So, let’s just solidify what I have and move on to bigger and better things. Then the real problem solving begins. I was about to type that people’s lives may be in my hands in a few months. Yet, that statement is not entirely true. With multiple levels of interns and attendings, ultimate responsibility does not rest in your hands. But you can make a difference in the amount and quality of care provided by those individuals by the effort and desire on your part.
The musings continue.
Tags: challenges, endocrine, musings, realization, test
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January 22nd, 2009
- Main Entry:
- 1pass
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈpas\
- Function:
- verb
- Etymology:
- Middle English, from Anglo-French passer, from Vulgar Latin *passare, from Latin passus step — more at pace
- Date:
- 13th century
Well, I can thank those English who borrowed from the French who borrowed from people who spoke Vulgar Latin for the word that describes what I did with the endocrinology test this afternoon. Now, I am not saying that I flew over the top of the test with a 98. No, sir! However, I performed where I am used to performing which is a little less than an 80. Blah. Works with me. Instead of stressing up and down about how you have to study every minute detail from A to ZZZZ, I have learned to be somewhat content in my performance. On the walk back to the apartment, I realized that being content is a peril of life. If you are not content, you are always imagining that the grass is greener on the other side of the hill. In reality, the grass on the other side of the hill is JUST as nutritious as the grass on the current side of the hill, but it is composed of a different set of the same nutrients. So, there we have it folks! Nevertheless, I must be mindful and watchful that I do not get too content. This is where individual learning really appears. If I want to learn more about volitile anesthetics, I can because I have a foundation upon which I may learn more material. To be ever increasing in knowledge, in the reformation of what I have already learned is the objective in my medical and personal life.
So, on to bigger and better things. I need to score a 19 aka 47.5 on the final test in endocrinology to pass the course. If we have approximately 55 questions on the next test, I will need to correctly answer 27 out of 55 to pass my class. Hurrah! Time to go riding! (Priorities call.)
Tags: content, endocrine, musing, test
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January 22nd, 2009
The 5 minutes before the test is always a little unnerving. Endocrine here we go!
Tags: endocrine, test
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January 21st, 2009
- Main Entry:
- 1study
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈstə-dē\
- Function:
- noun
- Inflected Form(s):
- plural stud·ies
- Etymology:
- Middle English studie, from Anglo-French estudie, from Latin studium, from studēre to devote oneself, study; probably akin to Latin tundere to beat — more at contusion
- Date:
- 14th century
Yes, it is studying time. Well, I have been doing that over the past few days now. Tonight, I looked at some histology images for endocrine. Thankfully, the images that were assigned to us did not have as much detail as previous modules. Endocrine is a strange beast. On one had the module seems really laid back and smooth sailing; however, at other times, the module has a vicious bite that could happen if put into a corner. We will see what happens tomorrow during the test. Oh yes, the test might happen at 7:30 AM or 12 noon. I really don’t know for sure. One of my classmates wants to switch times. We will see in the next 12 hours.
Tags: endocrine, studying
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January 17th, 2009
- Main Entry:
- 1tri·al
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈtrī(-ə)l\
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- Anglo-French, from trier to try
- Date:
- 15th century
From Merriam-Websters, we can see that the origin of the word trial is from French. Ugh! Then again, the French have been put through ample trials and had their share of wins and defeats with more on the side of the latter. Sure, some areas of life present themselves as bigger trials than other areas. Creating trials helps expand personal horizons. After the Step 1, I will form an 8 week time trial series called, “Time Trials for Wishes.” 
The fee for each 15 km time trial will be $5 with $4.00 going to Make-A-Wish, and $1.00 going to the timer. The timer will receive $10 for his/her services for pressing a button for about an hour. The course will be an open country road. Each cyclist will be responsible for their own safety on the course. Hold harmless agreements will need to be signed before participating in this little endeavor. But that is how cycling goes. This area could use a time trial series. There are a lot of cyclists and triathletes. Not many get the opportunity to race against the clock. I will post the weekly results on my web site. Let’s get this thing off the ground.
Tags: cycling, Make-A-Wish
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January 16th, 2009
Entry:
- 1net·work
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈnet-ˌwərk\
- Function:
- noun
- Date:
- 1535
Yes, let’s network. I was fortunate to get some face time sharing a scholarship dinner meal with the chairman of the anesthesiology department last night. As a MS2 looking towards in the distance to residency, he would be a good person to have fostered a professional relationship. In a little soul searching for where I would like to go for residency, UAB keeps bouncing up to the top of the list. Sure, pastures may seem greener in other parts of the world. But as one of the lecturer’s stated today, “Sometimes you have to play the statistics.” As a UAB medical student who would apply to a UAB residency, you get a little bonus in your score category. It is getting harder and harder to walk into a room of any UAB anesthesiology attendings and not know at least one with the more common occurence of knowing multiple. If you add another few residents whom I have started to get to know, the number increases even more. These relationships can only be described in the same sense as adding small deposits into the bank. A few cents here and a few cents there are dropped into that small account. Nevertheless, then the time comes, having a little money in the bank will be an advantage that no one can be compared. Students from other instituations may have an educational score advanatage (MS1-M2 grades and probably Step1 scores) over me, but I will have a significant tally of anesthesia research, relationships, letters, and UAB status.
Tags: anesthesiology, musing, networking, relationships, residency
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January 15th, 2009
I was going to write another entry on how much I think that anatomy lab needs to change, but guess what? I can count the number of times I will be attending the lab on one hand. So, in light of that fact, let’s be positive. I believe that the anatomy lab experience suits some people’s learning much better than others. Futhermore, if you have a great interest in such activities, you will learn even more. However, I do not really have an interset in that method of learning, and the general subject matter really does not fit into how I will be tested on that material. Kudos to those who want to attend the lab and learn that way. I will keep on doing what I am doing and learn the way that I want to learn.
Tags: Add new tag, anatomy, curriculum, lab
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