in the study

Sometimes 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.

Otherwise, 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.

As 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.

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.

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.

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 . . .

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.

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 . . .

So, it has been a couple of weeks since I've really posted anything to my blog.  Apparently it was harder coming down to earth (i.e. realworld) then i thought.  I've been trying to distract myself with various projects.  I've purchased a IGEPv2 board as a carputer for my truck which I'm rebuilding.  It has been a long process trying to do it from Memphis and while in Medical school but this summer looks promising for getting it running for the first time in about 10 years.  Wow, it's been a long time.

Anyway, I'm currently working on building Android for it.  I'm using the HTPC I built over Christmas (runs a Core i7 860) so the builds are very fast.

My second toe still has a bruise from the hike.  It looks quite lovely.  Doesn't hurt or anything but it will be a while until it heals.  

Well, I'll post some more pictures of my projects later, but for now, enjoy the picture of the IGEPv@ and what will become it's case :)

Please note all the injuries are simulated (i.e. no real blood).

After a long weekend we are starting our final week of lectures and scenarios.  The month has flown by and it is starting to sink in that we are finishing up.  Only 3 more days after today and so far the course has been great and I'm sad to see it ending.  I've met a bunch of great individuals and have learned a tremendous amount about wilderness medicine.