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I will be glad when it is next Sunday. This week will be a bit crazy in terms of interviews. I have to be at the hospital tomorrow, so I can run home and drive up to Baltimore for my interview on Tuesday. Then drive home Tuesday because I have to be at the hospital again on Wednesday and Thursday. Then it his fly up to Detroit Thursday night for a Friday morning interview, then fly to Nashville that afternoon, rent a car and drive over to Knoxville for my interview there on Saturday. T...

Parents are insane. No, really. They are. Just ask any one of them. To decide to disrupt your perfectly stable, adult, sophisticated home with little creatures who can't care for themselves, usually ignore what you say to them, can't communicate worth a darn (at least at the beginning, though I would argue the communication problems persist for many years), and just generally require all your energy, is not the act of sensible minds. Nope, we are insane. But being insane is help...

Untitled Trans-Siberian Orchestra RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina November 21, 2005 Click here for the artists site Grow my hair out (it would be very straight and blonde) give me a black, sleeve less shirt and toss a denim jacket on the top and I could head bang with the best metal-heads. And I have a soft spot for some of the more talented metal acts to make it through the dark and dreary guitar solo-less wilderness of the 90's. One of those bands I still e...

I knew it was coming. I had been planning on it since May of this year. But it was still a thrilling feeling. I tore the plastic cover from the tome, turned to the table of contents, and there it was. Flip to page 2 thousand something and caught my breath. There it was. My name in print. Co-author. So, those who want to read our hard work and see my name immortalized (ha ha) in the scientific literature can run to the closest newsstand and pick up the December volume of The Journa...

What do the masses consider appropriate etiquette for replying to your own article? I have, in the past, used one post to reply to all posts my articles had received during the time I was away. I did so to avoid appearing to be a points whore. However, I often found that my replies became long, full of all sorts of quotes and just plain difficult to follow, at least in my opinion. So lately I have replied to each reply separately, in an effort to make it easier to navigate and see to ...

One of the great things about medicine is the whole educational process. It is singular in the way it works, and is just a joy to be a part of. Really. Trust me. I promise. To be honest, it is hell. I thought applying to medical school was awful. I was naive. Enter residency. At least with med school you ultimately were the one who chose where to go. But that is another blog altogether. Looking on the bright side, applying for residency is giving me the opportunity to visit pla...

Thursday morning, 8:00 am. The pager goes off. "Hey, we are rounding in the unit at 8:00 this morning" "Really. Was anyone planning on telling me I needed to be there an hour early?" "Oh, um, yeah, the other student was supposed to let you know. I guess he forgot." "Wow, well ain't that just a bummer. The deal is, since no one bothered to tell me, I am taking my daughter to school this morning. Sorry, won't be there until about 9:00. " And that was that. After all, it was...

El Cielo By: Dredg Year: 2002 Click here for the artists site Some albums are positively disturbing. Perhaps it is the thematic content, perhaps it is the music itself. Or, in the case of 'El Cielo' by Dredg, some albums are disturbing because they are just too impossibly good. What may be even more disturbing is that this is only the band's second full-length album. I have my brother to thank for introducing me to Dredg. I had never heard of him until we were dis...

“The words of the profits were written on the studio walls. . .” –Neil Peart There must be something seductive about a blank wall. As you sit there, calmly passing the time (and something else) your eyes are drawn. You scan the tile, the metal stall door, the painted blank slate. Instinctively, the hand is drawn to the pen, ready to leave your eternal mark. Well, okay, not eternal, but a mark nonetheless. What will it be? The paragon of line art? The pinnacle of written poetry...

I realize that many of my recent blogs have been sort of cryptic. Hinting more than actually addressing anything, I have sort of beat around the bush. I apologize for doing so. Hopefully this will clarify. I mentioned many months ago that my wife and I were taking in a teenage foster daughter. It has been a very difficult road. There have been some wonderful times, and they have been accompanied by some of the worst, most horrible moments of my life. It has also inspired many blogs t...

I don't pretend to know everything. I don't think I am stupid either, but I admit upfront that there is a lot I don't know. But there are some things I feel pretty confident about, and I have a good eye for noticing when people are self-destructing. I'm sure most of us have seen it, more than a few have been there ourselves, and we know the pain. Impotent. That is how I feel. Completely unable to do anything about it. I don't even know if we can say our teaching goes in one ear a...

I vividly recall the old cliche about getting along with your spouse/partner/sig other. When discussing compromise the classic example is that of the old tube of toothpaste. One person is anal retentive and likes to sqeeze the toothpaste from the end, carefully ensuring that it is empty and the tube is left in a nice, attractive tube shape. The other likes to grab the old tube and squeeze where ever the hand may land. I always thought the example was ridiculous. Then one day it hit m...

We stand at a crossroads. Behind us is the path down which we have walked for the past nine months. There are many bumps in that road, more than our fair share I feel at times. But who can really say just how many bumps is fair? I suppose no one can. Before us we see two roads. Both extend toward that interminable horizon. Both have plenty of bumps along the way. Both involve loss, though loss of very different kinds. We might wish the choice will be made for us. I doubt it will b...

The human body is an incredible thing. I don't care if you think it is the process of random genetic mutations over the course of eons or the creation of a divine being, either way, it is amazing. The capacity to endure has limits that we rarely test. Lately, I have been trying to test some of those. In the process I have discovered some interesting things. First, there are many, many levels of tired. I was discussing this with my wife the other night, mentioning that I found it odd...