In case you wondered
Yes I did feel the eastern Caribbean earthquake. I was sitting in the Bourne Lecture hall chatting with my friend Jose during a lecture break and felt my chair gently sway beneath me for a good long time. No damage here in Grenada though.. all is well.
Last Round(s)
Here I am with my intrepid clinical medicine group on our last day of rounds at the hospital. I really must say I got very lucky getting assigned randomly to work with this group of people. No big egos were ever on display, we worked hard and supported and learned from each other.. And had a good time. The doctors who taught us were uniformly patient and good teachers. It is time for me to get used to that white coat, it will be the uniform soon enough!
Time is flying
Medical students do strange things to turkeys this time of year. The injection method worked really well actually. The turkey was for my first of three thanksgiving diners.. this one here at the Grand View, tonight I'll be celebrating with Molly at her home (Named "The wild Orchid" or so says the plate on the outside of the house) And then I will be cooking another turkey for another thanksgiving at my buddy Lenny's house on Sunday. For a lot of us, this is our last chance to get together before we are scattered to the four winds.. many folks are leaving right after exams..
Yesterday I went whale not watching with my friend Kira and some other folks. We saw a nifty bleach bottle on our four hour cruise but no marine wildlife.
The time and tides are changing.. quite literally. I woke up to the sound of surf this morning.. the seas are generally so calm here I don't hear the small waves that lap the shore down the embankment from my hotel. But today I hear them. I leave for the states three weeks from Monday. Two more scan-trons to fill out here. Two years in the Caribbean gone.. didn't I just get here last week?
Good news about Shade
Shade has had her last chemo treatment and has come through with flying colors. There is no longer evidence of cancer in her bladder, although there is still some problems in her urethra. All in all though, it is the best possible news. Kudos to my Mom and Magda who have sheperded her through her chemo in my absence. Keep your thoughts and prayers for her coming!
Long time no post, again
Yup was studying for another round of exams. They went fine. My dashboard widget tells me I have 37 days left on the island. It does feel a smidge like I have been living in a episode of lost. It has been raining a lot here and I have been holed up in my room watching videos and thinking about the fact that I don't have any winter socks, or shoes, or clothes that fit since thank god I have lost weight since coming here. Mostly it is the socks though. I am a little worried about the sock thing. I have had the Ac up high enough that I need a sweater. I have been drinking lots of tea. I think I have been practicing for a season that is not summer.
I am feeling strange about repatriating, enjoying my last days here at the grand view ( that's my place top floor and 4 balconies in) I have been looking for sublets in Manhattan where I will be taking a USMLE prep course this winter and it seems as bizarre and surreal a concept to me that I will be living on that island as moving to this island ever did. I will have some tentative news about where my clinical placement will be for my third year of medical school in early December, although it is my understanding that nothing is for certain until I walk through the hospital doors. My clinical rotations should start around June 1st 2008.
And as everyone said I can't believe how quickly it all has gone. If you are doing your math you will note that I will have a couple of months off between taking my board exams the first week of March and starting clinical roations in the first week of June. I would be perfectly content to spend that time visiting my far flung friends should my little dog and I be invited for a visit. So if you would like to see me this spring, invite me around and I may just show up.
What's so funny about the WGA strike
In a world full of big problems, like a president who again seems to be beating the drums for a new war while the media seems more intent of the race to replace him the television writers strike perhaps seems like not so much of a big deal. But speaking as someone who is getting close to concluding yet another expatriate experience I feel especially well equipped share the brave new world I have seen. I get almost all my media via the internet. I read the NY times online, download the daily show and tv dramas on itunes and listen to NPR on podcasts, and I do it all on my schedule, not a a schedule predetermined by a radio or tv station. I can’t imagine going back to broadcast. Why that is important is what is really at the heart of this strike as I understand it, that writers get paid for any profit made from web content. And I firmly believe that the folks who write all those tv shows I have been watching on my laptop should be fairly compensated.
TV may not seem that important, but speaking as an unrepentant do-gooder, I will tell you that TV is part of the picture that has helped me stay sane and happy, so I can face the rigors of medical school at the young age of 43, persevere and go on to do good. So 5 years from now, when I am that really cool doctor who you can’t find in the office because I have run off to somewhere in Africa on some infectious disease project or I am in Peru working on nosocomial TB transmission, good TV writing will have been part of what got me there. And you would no doubt find me curled up in the evening with downloaded episodes of the Daily Show and whatever Joss Whedon has decided to put on the air
Here is a link to a website in support of the WGA writers--- there you will find links to petitions, addresses to send postcards to etc..
http://www.fans4writers.com/promote.shtmlFor a funny and erudite look at the strike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind and second generation Hollywood scribe Joss Whedon click here:
http://whedonesque.com/comments/14650/To think some deep thinky type thoughts about the nature of writing, free speech, and how as a nation we seem to be blithely stripping ourselves and others of their civil liberties read this:
NY times - Guantanamo by the numbersAnd now in honor of the real work that writers do, I will give the keyboard a rest...
Medical students do strange things to turkeys this time of year. The injection method worked really well actually. The turkey was for my first of three thanksgiving diners.. this one here at the Grand View, tonight I'll be celebrating with Molly at her home (Named "The wild Orchid" or so says the plate on the outside of the house) And then I will be cooking another turkey for another thanksgiving at my buddy Lenny's house on Sunday. For a lot of us, this is our last chance to get together before we are scattered to the four winds.. many folks are leaving right after exams..
Yesterday I went whale not watching with my friend Kira and some other folks. We saw a nifty bleach bottle on our four hour cruise but no marine wildlife.
Yup was studying for another round of exams. They went fine. My dashboard widget tells me I have 37 days left on the island. It does feel a smidge like I have been living in a episode of lost. It has been raining a lot here and I have been holed up in my room watching videos and thinking about the fact that I don't have any winter socks, or shoes, or clothes that fit since thank god I have lost weight since coming here. Mostly it is the socks though. I am a little worried about the sock thing. I have had the Ac up high enough that I need a sweater. I have been drinking lots of tea. I think I have been practicing for a season that is not summer.
