ECG

I'm not really sure what it is about ECGs, but I find them infinitely fascinating. I know almost nothing about them, but I think they are so interesting. Well, I can tell some of the basics, but I have no idea about the thousand or so rhythms that can occur. Maybe it is the challenge of the so many possibilites that I enjoy. I'd consider cardiology if I could do invasive cardiology. I know it sounds sadistic, but I like to cut people. I think it is something about instant gratification that draws me to it. We'll see what happens when I do my rotations. I'll probably like everything, well other than family practice. Not a huge fan of family practice. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of pursuing primay care in the least. It just doesn't fit my personality type. Also the reason why I can't be a PA. If i'm in the plane, I have to be the pilot.

Running sick

Everyone gets a rhinovirus infection at some point or another. Great. What does that mean? Rhinovirus is the most common infective agent causing the common cold. Does this prohibit you from following your training program? I know that some colds make your head feel as if its going to explode. Mine feels that way right now. I feel as if I got chained to the railroad tracks, which are oh so abundant in TH, and a train ran over my head. So how do you decide if you are too sick to workout? In honor of my own cold, here is an article to help you with that decision.
In Sickness and in Health

New Year's Resolution

So, as part of the two or three resolutions that I made a couple weeks ago, I included one about my blog. I resolve to include more articles about running and cycling and outdoorsy things to prove that I don't just sit inside and read medical stuff for 14 hours a day. Its more like 10 hours devoted to indoor torture in the form of my Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease book. So, here we go.

I know that many runners and cyclists suffer from this plague upon our training schedules. Mental blockage. You feel like you start a training plan with all the energy needed to run a marathon that day. Unfortunately training programs can be inherently boring unless you spice them up. Here is an article to coax you out of your exercising doldrums: Change Your Mind

Let me know what you think.

Post-Winter Break/Pre-Spring Break Slump

January, possibly the lonliest month of the year. The Holiday season has left you with 80% liver function, less for some of us, and now the only thing that you have to look forward to is... MLK day? Certainly not Valentine's Day for those of us that are and will continue to be single. V-day is a touchy subject sometimes. I feel that I teeter back and forth on whether I think that it truly is a capitalistic holiday, a brain child of the people at Hallmark, who right now sit in their $2,000 leather office chairs and chuckle at our desire to fulfill what has become a cultural norm of chocolates and cards for a gloomy day in the shortest month of the year. OR... I sometimes think that it represents a day when you should gift things to the ones that you care about most. Not gift in the capitalistic Christmas sense, which has also become a cultural norm (more about that later), but more like a true appreciation of one's wellbeing and friendship, a sort of Thanksgiving for the beginning of the year. Of course my feelings on the issue tend to depend on whether or not I am dating someone at the time, and on the amount of Elliott Smith that I listen to in the days or weeks preceeding the holiday.

Here is my aside for Christmas, and how it has become so little of what it was intended to be. One of my friends, who is Hindu, asked a doc at the hospital how his Christmas was. Innocent question, aside from the fact that the doctor was Hindu as well. He responded that it went well and both went about their business. I said to my friend, "Dude, you don't believe in Christmas." He responded with, " No, I don't, but we put up a tree and have presents underneath it at home." I was taken aback for a second. This is the kid who's mother won't touch meat because she is such a strict vegetarian (a Hindu norm), and he's telling me that they have a freaking Christmas tree? It took maybe half a second and then we talked about how it was not a Christian tradition any longer, but an American tradition, well... maybe I should say a Western tradition. Ponder that my sociologically inclined friends.

Back to the lonliness of January. I got up the other day to pitch black skies and a brisk breeze blowing into my face when I left my apartment after 8:00 A.M. (I usually leave much before then. I had a late class.) What a shitty deal. I don't get home until its dark either. So, during January, I see the sun in passing through a hallway or walking to the hospital. Possibly some other time for a brief moment I get an occasional glimpse. All told I will probably see the sun for less than 7 hours a week, and that is probably being too generous about it. That is less than an hour of sun a day. I now know why Alaska has the highest suicide rate among the 50 states. It is either black for months or the sun is up all night and you can't sleep. Not that I'm having suicidal ideations, but it sucks nonetheless.

Out of TH in less than 5 months...

Music selection: What else? Elliott Smith. If I'm never going to see the sun, I might as well play the depression music. My favorite line right now: "Cut this picture into you and me. Burn it backwards. Kill this history." -"Sweet Adeline"
Closely followed by: "I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Better stop now before I start crying." -"Twilight"

Holidays

Holidays are a time for everyone to brave the family they consistently attempt to avoid and enjoy friends they haven't seen in a while. Gifts from family members who have the impression that you will perpetually be 10 years old. The only thing you can do in this situation is to smile and try not to shake your head in disbelief. The wonderful holidays are augmented by a downright obligation to enjoy food and drink. This acts to loosen the collective tongues and usually acts as a harbinger of conflict. In the event that a conflict does not erupt, there are always people who feel obliged to talk behind other people's backs once they have left. This is of course moot if you actually like everyone in your family, but who has one of those families? You should love everyone in the family, but that doesn't mean you have to like them at all times. You know the family members of whom I speak. Everyone has them in their family. That's what I love about American families, the disfunction. And, as screwed up as you think your family is, let me remind of you of the monkeys that appear on talk shows (namely, Jerry Springer). Those people are screwed up.

(This is an aside, prepare yourself) I saw the title of a talk show, don't remember which one, but it was something like: "I slept with your husband and son." What kind of attention craving monkeys go on these shows? Now, I understand that the producers of the shows pit these people against eachother, and in many cases make up the story (because no one can be that stupid), but honestly... Is your life that boring that you feel the need to go on Springer and fight someone?

Anyways, holidays are incredibly funny if you take a step back and look at them from a distance (along with many things that happen in our daily lives).