I have noticed forum posts about folk's points here. I see my own (rather paltry) rank, and others with more entries than I can shake a stick at and points coming out the wazoo. There is a scoring system in place here, other forums give posters different "user levels", post counts keep track of how much we have to say (or how full of crap we are, as it may be). It would appear we are addicted to stratification. We see it every where we go. The government does it all the time, placing u...

Ever since I can recall we have heard time and time again that we need ~8 hours of sleep a night to function properly and maintain our health. And while that sounds like a great idea I have to ask: Is that realistic? Is there anyone here who regularly gets about 8 hours of sleep a night? That just doesn't seem even possible to me. I started adding up my hours this week and realized that I am doing good if I get 4 solid hours each night. There just aren't enough hours in the day to g...

I mentioned it a few articles ago, but I am now working hard on my OB/Gyn rotation. I was really not looking forward to it, nor did I think I was going to have a good time. I tried to go into it with a good attitude though, and found a pleasant surprise. I am having a great time. Sure, it takes some getting used to. But it is so much fun. Kind, generous ladies let me come into the room, talk to them, and (with the physician there) let me learn how best to examine them. I get to lis...

As some of you know I am currently in my second year of medical school at Duke. We do things a bit different here, we cram the normal two years of classes into our first so we can get on the wards and clinics in our second year, rather than waiting for our third. This carries with it numerous advantages. We have a lot more time to think on what type of residency we want to apply to, and even have a year in which we can do research in that field (if we want to). I worked for a number of ...

Our age is a curious thing. On the surface it seems like it should be really quite universal and absolute. After all, 25 years is 25 years, right? I am not so sure anymore. I am quickly coming up on my 28th birthday. That seems pretty straight forward. On that day I will have been alive for 10,227 days. Anyone with the same birth date as me will have been alive for the exact same amount of time. I mean, how much more objective can you get? So why is age so subjective? Grante...

So spring break has begun. I am done with my 90+ hour weeks at the hospital, for a few days at least. And I was overjoyed last night to think that finally I could sleep in. In fact I was so excited to sleep in that I decided that, since I was here alone, I would stay up late, play some computer games, and then just sleep late. And I did. It was a blast. I stayed up until about 3:00 am, listening to music, reading, and playing some games on my PC. I finally went to bed, relishing the ...

I am fed up with it. Every morning I awake feeling worse than I did the night before when I reclined and rested my head upon my blessed pillow. The dreams won't leave me alone. I can't call them nightmares. I don't awaken full of fear, dread, or even unease. But I awaken. Multiple times. I toss and turn. I probably even make noise. My wife is tossing and turning as well. At least she has a good excuse, right? I don't. I wish I did though. Every day I go into work (because t...

Weather widgets are all the rage. Just look around at the OS customization websites. Desktop X has just short of 100 objects (plus lots of widgets as well), Konfabulator has some, Samurize does as well. Avedesk has them as well. And then there are the stand alone programs that check the weather for you. Weatherbug, The Weather Channel's little toy, Netscape's new Desktop Navigator, and a host of others all sit on your desktop. or comfortably tucked in your system tray and tell you the te...

I hate soup. I really do. I can't stand the thought of eating soup. But once I start eating it I don't really mind. Yeah, it is weird. I don't think I could ever actually want to eat soup. My wife loves it, so she makes it when she wants to or when we have the stuff for it. She knows I don't like it, and it has become a regular inside joke between us. But I eat it. I even enjoy it. Home made chicken noodle, black bean and rice, chicken and dumplings, taco soup, all of them are...

Disclaimer Sure, this could possibly go in the Personal Computing category, or even OS customization, but since the crux of the article doesn't focus on either of those I am tossing in the dirty bin also known as Misc. End Disclaimer Yes, the title is correct. Last night I forked over $15 for a piece of software that is still in the beta stage. What type of madness has gripped BlueDev you may ask yourself. And it is a question worthy of an answer. For those who may not know wha...

The first day on the Gynecologic Oncology service was thoroughly depressing. As medical students we were instantly put in our place at the bottom of the rank and file, stripped of any real responsibility, and relegated to running and doing inane tasks for the intern and residents. We were informed our notes were not “valid”, told that we should not sign them if we really felt the need to write them (which is fraud and something we adamantly refused to do), and not assigned any patients to f...

We have all seen it. People who walk around either so full of themselves or so insecure in themselves that they ever have a chip on their shoulder. Quick to offend and even more swift to take offense, they look for the insult in each and every action. And if your opinion differs from theirs, well, take cover, because they will come out with their sleeves up, ready to rumble. Some see it as a sign of courage, some see it as a sign of aggression, and yet others see it as a sign of deep co...

It seems that everywhere I look these days I see it. It raises it hideous head in whatever situation I seem to find myself in some way. Like the hydra of old, it attacks from multiple angles, its vicious maws coming at us from every side. And our best efforts to combat it seem just as fruitless, two heads springing up where there once was only one. It truly is a monster that plagues us all today. A monster with such a simple name. Hate. It has many forms and varying degrees. We se...

I just woke up from a little nap after my first ~30 hour day of call on the Labor and Delivery unit at the hospital. It is a weird experience to be there that long. I was rounding on patients this morning and had to keep reminding myself to talk to them about their delivery yesterday, even though it was all one big day to me. And, yep, I did catch, all by myself, two little babies while I was there. I also got to be part of three C-sections and observe a couple other, more complic...

Some days. Some days I love what I am doing. Some days I am convinced it is the best thing for me to do, that it is the right path. Some days I am truly excited about the future. Some days I wonder why I made such an idiotic decision. Some days I wish I had made some course corrections along the way. Some days I just want to be part of the standard, blue-collar working class. Some days this just sucks. Every day I pay out my nose (or other orifice if you prefer) to work for othe...