How have I lived (and taken photos) without a proper flash all this time?? I am shaking my head as I see the test shots I have taken all evening in my dark backyard after buying a flash for my camera today. Not only am I giddy about finally buying the flash but I got a super sweet deal on both the sb-600 flash and the 55-200 VR Nikon lens I've been wanting to buy. This guy on craigslist wanted to get rid of both so bad and he gave me an awesome deal...too good to resist. So for the past few hours, my poor family has had a camera in the face and flashing lights in their eyes. I'm pretty sure they won't miss me when I leave! Ha!
On a side note, it has been too much fun and giggles doing Neurology at UNSOM here in Vegas. My attendings are super cool and chill and I have been seeing the most interesting neurological cases thus far. I'm sure my parents think I'm going to become a neurologist. Not quite though...I still love the babies and especially the mothers I deliver them to:) So far, I've stuck to my guns and am still thinking OB. I leave in exactly one week to head down to the DEEP SOUTH...the motherland aka "Samoa". I am so excited to go home again! It's been only a couple years but it feels like forever ago! I'll be doing my month long international elective in Obstetrics. Luckily, LBJ Tropical Medical Center is a bonafide baby factory!! Holla to the island girl that will be delivering them:)
But for now, I have to learn how to safely pack my camera gear, pack enough scrubs and tank tops (hot and humid is waiting for me on the island), and hopefully learn enough about child neurology in my one day on the service tomorrow.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
This just caught my eye
A quote I just read:
To most physicians, my illness is a routine incident in their rounds, while for me it’s the crisis of my life. I would feel better if I had a doctor who at least perceived this incongruity.
This statement is sadly true for some (hopefully not too many) patients. Coming from the medical side, I have seen this in action unfortunately. It's sad but I cannot answer to why it happens because I really don't know why some physicians do not have insight into how they act around their patients.
To most physicians, my illness is a routine incident in their rounds, while for me it’s the crisis of my life. I would feel better if I had a doctor who at least perceived this incongruity.
This statement is sadly true for some (hopefully not too many) patients. Coming from the medical side, I have seen this in action unfortunately. It's sad but I cannot answer to why it happens because I really don't know why some physicians do not have insight into how they act around their patients.
wow it's been ages
Talk about writer's block. This has been a long dry spell in my writing on this blog. It totally defeats the purpose of me creating this blog in the first place as I planned to write my every step, road block, and hill climbed through the beast that is medical school. Ultimate fail! Well...it has been a really interesting year so far. I'm currently wrapping up the last week on psychiatry and then I'm off to Vegas for a month of Neurology at UMC. My schedule worked out fabulously as I will get to spend QT with my family for a month while doing a rotation and then I have a month in the motherland (Samoa...sigh) doing my international elective in obstetrics. Yippeee! I'm really excited about getting back into some baby catching action again! It's been way too long. My OB rotation was back in Jan/Feb which seemed like forever and a day ago. So this will be a nice refresher before I get into 2 months of primary care working in outpatient gynecology early spring next year. Exciting times ahead:)
I really should be studying for my psychiatry shelf and I only signed in to "follow" a friend's blog...but the NEW POST button was calling my name. Now, seeing my thoughts go straight to print is quite therapeutic...lesson learned. I really need to post more. A few friends have created blogs recently so that was another gentle reminder for me to start up this old engine again. Until the next post...which will hopefully be sooner than later...coocoocachoo:)
I really should be studying for my psychiatry shelf and I only signed in to "follow" a friend's blog...but the NEW POST button was calling my name. Now, seeing my thoughts go straight to print is quite therapeutic...lesson learned. I really need to post more. A few friends have created blogs recently so that was another gentle reminder for me to start up this old engine again. Until the next post...which will hopefully be sooner than later...coocoocachoo:)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Pregnancy wheel app
So I finally got around to downloading the pregnancy wheel application on my blackberry although my OB rotation is ending this week. I know...kinda late! I was using the good old school method although practically every intern and resident has an iphone with the wheel application. What prompted me to finally download the app was a very LONG 24 hour call of constantly trying to locate the wheel in my overly stuffed white coat. It once took me five minutes fumbling through all four pockets. Grrrr!
Anyways, so I'm reading the reviews on the blackberry app site and just had to chuckle a little bit with all the expectant mothers rating the app with 1 or 2 stars because the wheel only provided the estimated date of delivery and current gestational date based on the last menstrual period. One reviewer was disappointed because the wheel did not approximate the size of the baby/fetus. I think the only good rating came from a nurse who said the dates were really accurate for the wards. All I kept thinking while reading these reviews was how far we have come with technology that a phone application can cause unwarranted anxiety to patients. I'm actually surprised I haven't yet come across a patient on this rotation who hasn't busted out with their iphone/blackberry with their own app and telling us their approximate due dates! The joys of technology...at least now I don't have to fumble through my pockets for the wheel and looking like a hot mess third year med student. As it is, that already happens enough times!
Anyways, so I'm reading the reviews on the blackberry app site and just had to chuckle a little bit with all the expectant mothers rating the app with 1 or 2 stars because the wheel only provided the estimated date of delivery and current gestational date based on the last menstrual period. One reviewer was disappointed because the wheel did not approximate the size of the baby/fetus. I think the only good rating came from a nurse who said the dates were really accurate for the wards. All I kept thinking while reading these reviews was how far we have come with technology that a phone application can cause unwarranted anxiety to patients. I'm actually surprised I haven't yet come across a patient on this rotation who hasn't busted out with their iphone/blackberry with their own app and telling us their approximate due dates! The joys of technology...at least now I don't have to fumble through my pockets for the wheel and looking like a hot mess third year med student. As it is, that already happens enough times!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Long weekend update
Gosh! It's been forever and a day since I last wrote. A million things have happened but I really can't update all of my activities since my last post so I will update on the past weekend/month. Right now I'm on my OB rotation. One word: AWESOME! I knew I would really like it and was about 90% sure that OB is what I want to go into before I started my rotation, but now I'm convinced this is what I really want to do. We have eight weeks of OB, so the first month (January) I spent doing inpatient. Looking back, I guess I worked really long hours but I didn't notice much (besides how much weight I lost!) because I loved being there everyday and didn't mind waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning to go to work. The weight loss probably came from not eating because I slept whenever I wasn't at the hospital, and that included most meals. What else...oh yeah! I delivered babies while I was on inpatient! The hospital I worked at was a serious baby catching factory so the opportunities to deliver are pretty much endless. By far, delivering a baby has been the coolest thing EVER! I totally forgot what the sex of the first baby (pretty sure it was a girl) was due to my initial shock and fear of dropping the poor thing that I forgot to look! I'm a mess.
On inpatient, I also got my first taste of "conversing" in Spanish because most of patients at this hospital (at least OB) are Spanish speakers only. I put it in quotation marks because it's really me butchering the language. I'm kicking myself for taking German in high school and then French in college instead of Spanish. I mean, really, when am I ever going to use either of the other two? So my plan is to buy the Rosetta stone language program for Spanish and ease my way into learning it.
So now I'm on outpatient mostly working at this large group practice. The pace is much slower, which is nice so I get more time to study for my shelf (end of rotation exam) in a couple weeks. Today is a holiday so we're all enjoying the long weekend that is coming off a long week off. DC just has the biggest snow storm in over a hundred years I guess. The President dubbed it "snowmaggedon" so now all my facebook and twitter friends have pictures of snow EVERYWHERE! I was in Dupont Circle last night for dinner and most of the cars were still buried in feet of snow. The cute little dump trucks that have been a permanent fixture all over the city for the past week and a half were still working late last night trying to get as much snow shipped out of the district before tonight and tomorrow's snowfall. Yes, we are getting more! I've come to realize that I'm not a fan of snow. Although DC doesn't really snow all that much (at least for the last two winters before this one), this snowpocalypse has given me enough reason to decide on going to the west coast for residency. I'm a fan of ocean, sand, heat, tanning lotion, and turtles. Concrete, snow, ice, and thick coats are the completely opposite.
On inpatient, I also got my first taste of "conversing" in Spanish because most of patients at this hospital (at least OB) are Spanish speakers only. I put it in quotation marks because it's really me butchering the language. I'm kicking myself for taking German in high school and then French in college instead of Spanish. I mean, really, when am I ever going to use either of the other two? So my plan is to buy the Rosetta stone language program for Spanish and ease my way into learning it.
So now I'm on outpatient mostly working at this large group practice. The pace is much slower, which is nice so I get more time to study for my shelf (end of rotation exam) in a couple weeks. Today is a holiday so we're all enjoying the long weekend that is coming off a long week off. DC just has the biggest snow storm in over a hundred years I guess. The President dubbed it "snowmaggedon" so now all my facebook and twitter friends have pictures of snow EVERYWHERE! I was in Dupont Circle last night for dinner and most of the cars were still buried in feet of snow. The cute little dump trucks that have been a permanent fixture all over the city for the past week and a half were still working late last night trying to get as much snow shipped out of the district before tonight and tomorrow's snowfall. Yes, we are getting more! I've come to realize that I'm not a fan of snow. Although DC doesn't really snow all that much (at least for the last two winters before this one), this snowpocalypse has given me enough reason to decide on going to the west coast for residency. I'm a fan of ocean, sand, heat, tanning lotion, and turtles. Concrete, snow, ice, and thick coats are the completely opposite.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Chimera
This is what Webster's defined as a chimera: an individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution. I wiki'd "chimera" first, but the definition was a little too "sciency" for the purpose of this post. Basically...my point here is that I recently discovered that my hair is in fact an example of a chimera. I recently got my hair trimmed (when I say recently, it usually means a range from 1-3 months) and the hair lady (yes, I cheated on my hair guy Kevin, but I was in Vegas in desperate need of major conditioning and apparently a trim as well) pointed out that I had two different kinds of hairs on my head. Weird!!
I, of course, knew this but it's a fact that I like to keep under wraps or on the low or on the low down dirty shame or in the hush hush...get the picture? Technically, my hair is curly...super curly in fact. But for some odd reason, the hair just above the nape of my neck is STRAIGHT. And it's not just a few random strands here and there. It's a whole spicy bunch of hair that is straight. When I flat iron my hair, there is no problemo. But what girl has the time to straight iron their hair everyday...especially when that girl has super thick samoan hair that even if you shaved half of it off to donate to Locks of Love, there's still enough left to hide the shaved parts.
The problem here happens when I maintain my "curly look", which basically entails me getting out of the shower, forcefully raking a comb through my hair and adding magical protein goop so that it doesn't look like Medusa's hair. An hour later when my hair is nice and dried, the straight hairs all come out and my head of hair proceed to look like two different people own my head...one takes the top of my head, the other takes the bottom.
It's soooo weird!!!!
I, of course, knew this but it's a fact that I like to keep under wraps or on the low or on the low down dirty shame or in the hush hush...get the picture? Technically, my hair is curly...super curly in fact. But for some odd reason, the hair just above the nape of my neck is STRAIGHT. And it's not just a few random strands here and there. It's a whole spicy bunch of hair that is straight. When I flat iron my hair, there is no problemo. But what girl has the time to straight iron their hair everyday...especially when that girl has super thick samoan hair that even if you shaved half of it off to donate to Locks of Love, there's still enough left to hide the shaved parts.
The problem here happens when I maintain my "curly look", which basically entails me getting out of the shower, forcefully raking a comb through my hair and adding magical protein goop so that it doesn't look like Medusa's hair. An hour later when my hair is nice and dried, the straight hairs all come out and my head of hair proceed to look like two different people own my head...one takes the top of my head, the other takes the bottom.
It's soooo weird!!!!
Monday, August 31, 2009
New trilogy on the shelf
I really cannot help this habit that I have. Whenever I travel, which happens to be quite a bit because I love to visit the familia in Vegas, I always stop by the newsstand or the bookstore in the airport to pick up something to read on my flight. I usually pack a book or two from my collection of unread books on my shelf at home before I travel so I don't have to spend money on yet more books. But...it never works out. I ALWAYS find something more interesting to read. This results in a bookshelf full of half-read books...all of them just waiting patiently for me to end their agony of sitting on my desk or beside my bed, all stacked up neatly one on top of the other.
I just realized this problem when I went home to my parent's house this past summer. Other than a high school photo on the wall, my old room doesn't really look like a room that I once inhabited...except for the books! My closet is full of them. The shelf has a pile and the floor of the closet has another pile. I even found some old books in the garage...still half-read! What a disaster. These books need a home, but yet they are still in lingo waiting for me to finish reading them and either put on a shelf or given away for someone else to read. Books are way too heavy for me to carry in my luggage. I have absolutely no trouble filling my suitcases to the maximum allotted weight with just clothes. Ask my friend Sala, who painstakingly helped me rearrange my clothes into HER SUITCASES throughout our entire trip in Australia just so I didn't have to pay the exorbitant luggage fees at the airport.
Oh gosh...I love how I start writing a post with the intention of describing what's on the title but it either never happens or it takes me forever and a day to get there. Anyways, I really hit the jackpot on my scavenger book hunt at the Las Vegas airport this past trip. I stumbled on the Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare. If you're like me at the moment and totally depressed because not only is Harry Potter all grown up and married to Ginny without a named-but-should-be-nameless dark wizard to fight, but Bella and Edward also have a half-and-half vampire love clan of their own in the mountains of the Northwest (sorry for the tinsy spoiler for those who haven't finished reading). This leaves me without any extended novels about enchanted worlds to read! None! Until now...thanks to a bookstore in an airport.
Update: I have read the first two books in the MI Trilogy. I'm itching to buy the third book in the series: City of Glass. CAN'T WAIT!!!
I just realized this problem when I went home to my parent's house this past summer. Other than a high school photo on the wall, my old room doesn't really look like a room that I once inhabited...except for the books! My closet is full of them. The shelf has a pile and the floor of the closet has another pile. I even found some old books in the garage...still half-read! What a disaster. These books need a home, but yet they are still in lingo waiting for me to finish reading them and either put on a shelf or given away for someone else to read. Books are way too heavy for me to carry in my luggage. I have absolutely no trouble filling my suitcases to the maximum allotted weight with just clothes. Ask my friend Sala, who painstakingly helped me rearrange my clothes into HER SUITCASES throughout our entire trip in Australia just so I didn't have to pay the exorbitant luggage fees at the airport.
Oh gosh...I love how I start writing a post with the intention of describing what's on the title but it either never happens or it takes me forever and a day to get there. Anyways, I really hit the jackpot on my scavenger book hunt at the Las Vegas airport this past trip. I stumbled on the Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare. If you're like me at the moment and totally depressed because not only is Harry Potter all grown up and married to Ginny without a named-but-should-be-nameless dark wizard to fight, but Bella and Edward also have a half-and-half vampire love clan of their own in the mountains of the Northwest (sorry for the tinsy spoiler for those who haven't finished reading). This leaves me without any extended novels about enchanted worlds to read! None! Until now...thanks to a bookstore in an airport.
Update: I have read the first two books in the MI Trilogy. I'm itching to buy the third book in the series: City of Glass. CAN'T WAIT!!!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
I never thought I would say this....
...but I officially hate flying. In the last month, I have been on ten airplanes and am getting on another one tomorrow morning to head back East. Don't get me wrong. I love traveling! But, I no longer have that uncontrollable excitement to get on an airplane anymore. I used to get all giddy because of all the free stuff you get on airplanes. (I used to collect airline blankets back in college. No one told me it wasn't free...don't judge me!) But now, nothing is free, really. Well, maybe the icky disgusting feeling of oily hair and congested face pimples that I always seem to get after every flight no matter how short the duration is.
To make matters worse, I can no longer sleep peacefully for long periods of time on any of my flights. Because I came back with a lovely DVT from my excursion in the Macchu Picchu mountains earlier this year, my doctor has recommended me to walk around on all flights every hour or so. It wasn't until I was doing aerobics with some 80 year old passengers in the back of my Qantas flight (going to New Zealand) did I realize that I really detest flying. Ugh...don't even get me started on the smell of the bathrooms on planes. Gross!
To make matters worse, I can no longer sleep peacefully for long periods of time on any of my flights. Because I came back with a lovely DVT from my excursion in the Macchu Picchu mountains earlier this year, my doctor has recommended me to walk around on all flights every hour or so. It wasn't until I was doing aerobics with some 80 year old passengers in the back of my Qantas flight (going to New Zealand) did I realize that I really detest flying. Ugh...don't even get me started on the smell of the bathrooms on planes. Gross!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Quote of the day
Came across this quote on twitter just now.
"I have an insatiable hunger for awesomeness...and a tireless pursuit for the amazing".
I like it. I'm going with it.
"I have an insatiable hunger for awesomeness...and a tireless pursuit for the amazing".
I like it. I'm going with it.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Tyranny of Popular Vote
This is an essay written by my Grandpa Janairo back in the 1930's. My dad has quoted parts of this essay since my childhood and luckily a copy was found recently. Thought I'd share it.
Tyranny of the Popular Vote
Man irks under the burden of compulsory obedience. It is repulsive to his sense of self respect that he should be made to follow blindly and to accept ungrudgingly that which is imposed upon him to be sheer superiority. He has revolted from spiritual tyranny when Martin Luther flung his memorable defiance in the Council of Nantes and declared that the human spirit can not be imprisoned by bigotry and fanaticism. Man struck the death knell of corporate tyranny when the days of the feudal lords were declared gone forever by the onrushing tide of human freedom embodied in the Magna Carta of England and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Political liberty has been since its birth the antithesis of tyranny. And yet, paradoxical as it may seem, it has brought about, by the strength of its ideal and the dynamic force of its principle, a new tyranny strong because its set is the masses, uncompromising because it springs from ignorance, powerful because it is regarded as the people’s voice. This offspring of democracy is the tyranny of popular vote.
Tyranny of the Popular Vote
Man irks under the burden of compulsory obedience. It is repulsive to his sense of self respect that he should be made to follow blindly and to accept ungrudgingly that which is imposed upon him to be sheer superiority. He has revolted from spiritual tyranny when Martin Luther flung his memorable defiance in the Council of Nantes and declared that the human spirit can not be imprisoned by bigotry and fanaticism. Man struck the death knell of corporate tyranny when the days of the feudal lords were declared gone forever by the onrushing tide of human freedom embodied in the Magna Carta of England and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Political liberty has been since its birth the antithesis of tyranny. And yet, paradoxical as it may seem, it has brought about, by the strength of its ideal and the dynamic force of its principle, a new tyranny strong because its set is the masses, uncompromising because it springs from ignorance, powerful because it is regarded as the people’s voice. This offspring of democracy is the tyranny of popular vote.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Need to write again
Wow....I cannot believe my last post was over a month ago! Crazy! I really need to start writing again. I'm actually back in Vegas to study for the boards. Finals finished last week Friday and that's all I have to say about that. Glad that's over with.
Because I will be here in Vegas for two months, my suitcases for traveling were both overweight but at least the guy at the US Airways counter felt so sorry for me (maybe I looked like a hot mess from packing and moving all weekend and from recovering from a huge hangover) that he let me check my begs without paying. Holla! He did give me some advice..."in the future, pack lighter". What a funny man.
So yeah, it's great to be back home. The heat is exhausting. I hung out with the parentals all day doing this and that and came home looking like a crispy lobster. Gotta love the heat in this city:) For dinner, we tried the new buffet at the new M hotel. OMG! By far, this has to be the best buffet in the city! They have free (as in included in the price) wine and beer. And because they had this station at the front entrance, the buffet really had me at hello:) All in all, a great day! Tomorrow...the real work starts.
Countdown to June 19th begins right now. Wish me luck!
Because I will be here in Vegas for two months, my suitcases for traveling were both overweight but at least the guy at the US Airways counter felt so sorry for me (maybe I looked like a hot mess from packing and moving all weekend and from recovering from a huge hangover) that he let me check my begs without paying. Holla! He did give me some advice..."in the future, pack lighter". What a funny man.
So yeah, it's great to be back home. The heat is exhausting. I hung out with the parentals all day doing this and that and came home looking like a crispy lobster. Gotta love the heat in this city:) For dinner, we tried the new buffet at the new M hotel. OMG! By far, this has to be the best buffet in the city! They have free (as in included in the price) wine and beer. And because they had this station at the front entrance, the buffet really had me at hello:) All in all, a great day! Tomorrow...the real work starts.
Countdown to June 19th begins right now. Wish me luck!
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