Back again

It has been almost 3 years since I’ve updated this blog.  I’ve had many life changing experiences and have much to catch-up on.  Will post more later but enjoy the site now that it is up again!

Now and Then . . .

So, I’ve been messing around this weekend out here in San Diego.  The weather was wonderful and I couldn’t have had a better time.  I was able to attend Prospect Avenue Baptist Church and meet a bunch of new people.  I always love fellowshipping with Christian around the world and how easily we can just sit and talk like we’ve known each other for years.  

Four years ago I took a personality test and retook it 2 years ago and then yesterday.  Each of the results show a difference in my personality as I progressed through medical school.  I’m not much more open but am more confident, extroverted, empathetic, trusting in others, feminine, spontaneous and stylish.  Yep, I am a more well rounded individual and medical school taught me much more then I could imagine.  Only one more month of medical school and then I have two months off until I graduate on Dec. 10th.  

Well, off to life again.

Time to work

Well, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to complete tasks, work-up new ideas and check items off the todo list when I have free time. Today is one of those days when I’m trying to complete stuff on my todo list and flesh out new ideas.  No matter, I am taking time to enjoy the day as Ronald Reagan said, “It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?”  So far so good for the weekend, however, helped install a garage door opener and fixed two toilets.

Memphis

I’ve been in Memphis for two weeks now finishing my last rotation at UT.  It is a strange but odd feeling. One might expect it to generally be filled with joy and excitement but in my case it is somewhat anti-climatic.  Similar to a made field-goal in football.  Filled with relief and satisfaction after a long and tense expectation of failure.

So, I’ve only two weeks left.  What am I doing with myself.  I will be studying radiology next week and then palliative care the following week.  I’ve settled on a specialty – Emergency Medicine.  It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to those who have been following my blog for the past year.  After immersing myself in wilderness medicine and then finishing up an Emergency Medicine rotation two weeks ago I finally figured out that it fits me – or I fit it.  Either way, I had a blast in the Emergency Department and learned a bunch.  It fits best in my future career plans and allows for the greatest flexibility.  

So, how is the finger?  It is great.  Today is exactly 1 and 1/2 months after the accident.  I really think healing has been greatly accelerated by a new product I’ve been taking that help reduce inflammation and overall health.  It is distributed by a company called Max International.  I started taking it about 2 weeks before the accident and then after thought – well, I’ll learn a lot about it. It is a glutathione supplement and after taking it and seeing the results – my anecdotal evidence matches their scientific findings (warning it is a pdf).

Day 11So, only ten days after the accident, I had up to 50% mobility and by 14 days I was up to 75%.  As soon as I removed the bandage I was able to type and at 14 days I was able to play the piano and do most everything including pull-ups.  Only thing I haven’t tried is guitar again.  Because of the scar tissue I cannot flex much beyond 80% but I’m continuing to work at it.  I’ve included pictures chronicling the healing of my precious pinky and then some of the last few weeks.

Lately –

My pinkySometimes things happen that are best left to the imagination, food poisoning, C. Diff infections, major trama to an extremity.  Well, 12 days ago at 3:15pm my pinky, yes the smallest of my phalanges, was rendered useless to me for the next week and 1/2.  Yep, my pinky got smooshed.  It was a random collection of events (bad judgment, big part of lake, unseen wake) that ended with my pinky between two boats.  All things considered, however, I was very fortunate to sustain only soft tissue injury.  No broken bones, no loss of motion or sensation just a really nasty wound (more graphic pictures of my finger after the break).  As you can imagine – typing and other activities requiring a pinky have been rather difficult the past week or so.

Group BattleshipOtherwise, I’ve been hanging out with friends playing games, biking Cades Cove and doing a lot of working and reading.  I learned a new game, a group version of the classic battleship game.  Everyone is given a sheet of paper where you mark your ships and after everyone has placed their ships turns are taken lobbing bombs.  It is somewhat a bingo/battleship collage.  It was fun watching and learning.

Opthalmology humorAs to school, recently I did surgical subspecialties (last month) and am currently on Emergency Medicine.  Surgical subs consisted of ENT, Urology, Ortho and Ophthalmology (hence the pic).  I have to say I had expereinces in doctor’s offices I’ve never seen before or probably will never see again.  It was fun and I learned alot.    I’ve really been enjoying the ED or emergency department.  For the longest time I’ve considered doing Family Medicine and then doing a fellowship in Emergency Medicine, however, all the doctors I’ve spoken to have highly suggested I just do the Emergency Medicine residency if that is my interest.

Well, count this as your warning – graphic pictures after the break – and this time they are real.

OuchDay Three and 8 stitches

Today

iPhone 4 Grip of Death?

So, I’ve had my iPhone 4 since the day before launch or July 23rd.  My initial thought was, “This is the way the iPhone was meant to be.”  Fast, able to task switch, really no need for me to jailbreak anymore.  Then there is the plus of great new hardware.  Or so I thought, at least until the “Grip of Death” came along and all the media controversy surrounding it.  After playing with three iPhone 4s since July 23rd and using it in every situation I would have in the past, it is better and has met all expectations I had coming from the iPhone 3G.  Yes, I can hold the phone in a certain way to make the signal drop.  But I have never dropped a call and, in fact, have 5 bars in places I used to always loose signal.  

There is one thing regarding iPhone 4 I’ve not heard discussed anywhere.  It is the one thing that makes me believe Apple that the problem is more a software issue then hardware.  Apple’s “real-world” testing process.  

We know from the infamous Gizmodo incident that Apple did a good job of camouflaging iPhone 4 as a iPhone 3GS, etc.  So, I would infer Apple did almost all of their “real-world” testing of iPhone 4 with a case on it.  Hum, no wonder the “software” (or as I would think the radio firmware) was tuned to work better with a case than without one.

A week in review

Well, it has been a good week.  Lots of stuff accomplished and getting my schedule setup for the rest of the year so that I’ll graduate in Dec.  Yeah, it is 6 months late but all in all I’ll still be an MD.  It is different, but, I’m enjoying the life of an M4.  Did Rheumatology last week and am doing it this week as part of my ambulatory medicine rotation.  It has been good and I’ve been able to see interesting conditions.  Looking forward to this week.  Cutting back on extraneous activities and trying to focus on my core tasks to cross some stuff off the list that has back-logged for the past couple of years.  Well, onto the e-mail backlog.  Just noticed I have an e-mail from 2008 I need to answer.

Its been a while –

Wow, studying for Step 2 (both CK and CS) has really kept me busy for the last few weeks (interspersed was a week of being sick).  I didn’t realize it has been almost a month since I posted.  I’ve been working on the WIFI and think I’ve actually figured out how to enable it.  I’m still trying to figure out if the SD8686 kernel module has the necessary android commands enabled to use it.  The main resource I’ve found to do this is this howto for Android wireless.  More later . . .

IGEPv2 – It boots Android

Well, it took rebuilding my HTPC, countless forum post readings and finally just trying something to figure out installing Android on the board was quite easy.  I don’t have any pictures or anything, just search Google for a video of the IGEPv2 booting.  Mine doesn’t look much different.  I’ll have to say it isn’t worth much right now since the current kernel doesn’t have wifi enabled – my next project after Step 2 CS next Monday. 

The process of installing it was quite simple.  I just used Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit by following the instructions on the Andoid dev page for compiling on a 64-bit machine.  Once that was all setup, I went to Project Rowboat, downloaded donut and compiled it.  Used the same tool-chain from the Rowboat project to compile the kernel for it and prepared the card as suggested on the Ubuntu Wiki page at http://wiki.myigep.com/.  Inserted the MicroSD card and waited for about 5-10 seconds before the Android logo appeared it booted.  Very simple, yet very obtuse finding the instructions.

Along those lines, I also built and installed Ubuntu 9.10 on it.  The performance was a bit sluggish compared to android which just flew.  I’ll have to play around to figure out what OS I’ll end up with but given I want it in the car and I’m ultra familiar with Java, I’m leaning to Android.  When I get a chance I’ll post pictures.

Another unexpected week/a tribute

So, it has been quite the week.  Nothing has gone according to plan or expectations.  One week ago today, my best friend’s mom died after an extended illness.  It was one of the most surreal experiences, knowing for so long the day was coming but finally experiencing it.  Facing the finality of life and being reminded of it’s briefness.  Remembering all of the fun times we had together, trips taken and the many lessons learned through shared life-experiences.  It has been a blessing to be included in their family for so many years and was a blessing to be able to share such a precious time at the grave-side service with them.

Thank you, Mrs. Brown, for the part you played in making me the man I am and I look forward to seeing again . . .